Systems and techniques to derive virtual objects at run-time from persistencely stored objects. In general, in one implementation, the technique includes receiving a request for a target object from a requesting application. It is determined whether a delta link is associated with the target object. The delta link includes a location of the target object and information describing a desired difference between the target object and a derived object to be returned to the requesting application. The target object is located and a derived object is generated from the target object and the information in the delta link. The derived object is then returned to the requesting application. The target object, and derived object, may include a number of elements. The elements may be name-value pairs, or “properties”, or a number of child objects in an object hierarchy.

The following description relates to software layers in computer systems, for example, a generic layer for virtual object resolution.
Computer systems may include different software layers. Objects may be stored in a persistence layer and utilized in a presentation layer, which represents the run-time environment of the computer system. Objects may be passed between the software layers, e.g., from the persistence layer to the presentation layer for utilization by a requesting software application.
The term "object" may refer to discrete objects, which may hold data in the form of name-value pairs, or "properties". For example, a web page may be defined by an object including a number of name-value pairs which correspond to, for example, background color, font, layout, and page content.
The term "object" may also refer to object hierarchies, which may include a top-most "parent" object with many depending, or "child", objects below it on the hierarchy. An object hierarchy may be used to organize data and enable a user to navigate efficiently through data stored in the hierarchy.
An object may be pre-defined and stored in a computer system, e.g., in a database or system memory. The object may be accessed by different applications in different contexts. The context may depend on the device or browser in which the application is running or be specific to the user of the application. It may be desirable to present different versions of the object in different contexts. Multiple versions of the object may be stored in the database, however, this may create inefficiencies relating to addressing the object and storage capacity.

Generic layer for virtual object resolution


A server device may store policy information that includes subscription information associated with one or more user devices, and an indication of how to route traffic upon detecting traffic associated with the one or more user devices associated with the stored subscription information. The server device may receive information associated with a particular traffic flow, where at least some of the received information is derived from the particular traffic flow. The server device may compare the received information to the stored policy information. The server device may detect, based on the comparing, that the particular traffic flow is associated with a particular one of the one or more user devices associated with the stored subscription information. The server device may route the particular traffic flow based on the stored policy information.

Service provider networks transport network traffic associated with a variety of services, applications, and content. The network traffic may include voice, text, video, and/or other data. Service provider networks are sized and/or scaled to transport an increasing quantity of traffic that is sent by and/or received from more and more user devices and/or content providers. Additionally, the increase in the quantity of traffic corresponds to an expanding demand for various types of services, applications, and/or content.
Unfortunately, service provider networks are not always able to dynamically handle traffic based on the nature of the traffic itself, or based on conditions detected in an access network. Additionally, service provider networks are not always able to concurrently provide multiple services to users. For example, while service provider networks may be able to provide a content filtering service to a user device, or provide a service that treats certain types of data streams to or from the user device in certain ways, service provider networks may not easily be able to provide both types of services to the same user device.

On-demand contextually aware steering rules


The present disclosure relates to a method for controlling shooting in a football game, including: responding to a first touch operation acting on a shooting control, and determining an auxiliary input reference graphic within a preset range of the shooting control; and responding to a second touch operation acting on a screen region corresponding to the auxiliary input reference graphic, determining a target shooting position in a goal in the football game according to touch point position information of the second touch operation and a mapping relationship between the auxiliary input reference graphic and the goal, and controlling a virtual character in the football game to execute a shooting action. In addition, the present disclosure further provides an apparatus for controlling shooting in a football game, a computer device and a storage medium.

With the popularization of smart phones in daily life and the increasing entertainment functions provided by the smart phones, mobile games are becoming more and more popular. Especially after the popularization of large display screens and 4G network technologies, more and more users play games through the smart phones, such as football games and basketball games.
Generally speaking, during the process of playing games with a mobile phone, the user inputs relevant control operations like positioning, motion track, shooting action and the like in the football game through touch operations such as slide trace, long press operation and the like. In this process, different input requirements are controlled by a pressing duration, slide trace or direction, slide speed, etc., inputted by the user. For example, in the football game, a shooting operation is inputted through a slide operation, where a shooting angle and a shooting strength are respectively related to a direction and a speed of the slide operation. Under such operation, the user can roughly control the shooting angle and the shooting strength, but it is realized by the inventor that from the view of the user, an intuitive relevance is low, and it is difficult to master accurate shooting, especially for junior players, which seriously affects the game experience of the user.
That is to say, in the current game schemes such as football, there may be a problem of insufficient control accuracy in the input schemes for game operations such as shooting.
It should be noted that the information disclosed in the above background section is only for enhancement of understanding the background of the present disclosure and therefore may include other information that does not form the prior art that is already known to those of ordinary skills in the art.

Method and apparatus for controlling shooting in football game, computer device and storage medium


A semiconductor device with a bitline structure has a stud type capping layer. A method of fabricating the same achieves sufficient process margins and reduces parasitic capacitance.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
This disclosure generally relates to a bitline structure of a semiconductor device, and more specifically, to a damascene bitline structure of a semiconductor device and a method for fabricating the same that reduces parasitic capacitance and that improves process margins by forming a stud type capping layer.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the size of semiconductor devices is reduced, the line width of bitlines and data lines is also decreased, thereby increasing the bitline resistance. To solve this problem, a metal film like tungsten is often used for bitline materials, instead of a metal silicide such as tungsten silicide (WSix).
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a semiconductor device of the prior art that has a COB (Capacitor Over Bitline) structure. FIGS. 2A-2D and FIGS. 3A-3D are cross-sectional diagrams illustrating fabrication methods for a conventional semiconductor device, wherein FIGS. 2A-2D are cross-sectional views taken along a line IA-IA′ of FIG. 1, and FIGS. 3A-3D are cross-sectional views taken along a line IB-IB′ of FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional diagram of the conventional semiconductor device, taken along a line IC-IC′ of FIG. 1.
Referring to FIG. 2A and FIG. 3A, a semiconductor substrate 100 including active regions 101 and field regions is provided. Through a conventional STI (Shallow Trench Isolation) process, STI isolation films 105 are formed in the field regions of the semiconductor substrate 100.
Referring to FIG. 3A, gates 110 are formed on the semiconductor substrate 100, each including a gate insulating film 111, a gate electrode material 113, and a capping layer 115 in stack and a spacer 117 formed on a sidewall.
Referring to FIGS. 2A and 3A, after forming a first inter-insulation layer 120 on the entire surface of the substrate including the gates 110, contacts 125 exposing portions of the active regions 101, for instance, SACs (Self-Aligned Contacts) are formed. And, contact pads 130 comprised of a poly-silicon film and others are formed on the contacts 125. At this time, though not shown in the drawings, the contact pads 130 are electrically connected to impurity regions of a predetermined conductivity type formed in the active regions 101.
Then, after depositing a second inter-insulation layer 140 on the first inter-insulation layer 120, bitline contact holes 145 are formed to expose corresponding ones of the contact pads 130, that is, the corresponding contact pads that are to be connected with bitlines in a subsequent process.
After depositing a metal film for a contact pad, for example, a tungsten film on the entire surface of the substrate including the bitline contact holes 145, the tungsten film is etched by a chemical-mechanical polishing process (CMP) or an etch back process, thereby forming bitline contact pads 150 in the bitline contact holes 145.
Referring to FIG. 2B and FIG. 3B, a conductive material 161 for a bitline, such as a tungsten film, and the bitline capping layer 165, such as a silicon nitride film, are sequentially deposited on the second inter-insulation layer 140 and patterned to form bitlines 160. Each bitline includes the stacked conductive material 161 and the capping layer 165. The bitline 160 is electrically connected to the bitline contact pad 150 formed in the bitline contact holes 145. An insulating film, such as a silicon nitride film, for a bitline spacer is deposited on the second inter-insulation layer 140 including the bitlines 160 and etched to form bitline spacers 170.
Referring to FIG. 2C and FIG. 3C, a third inter-insulation layer 180 is formed on a second inter-insulation layer 140 including the bitlines 160. By etching the second and the third inter-insulation layers 140 and 180, storage node contact holes 185 are formed to expose corresponding contact pads of the contact pads 130, that is, the corresponding contact pads connected to the storage node contact pads to be formed in a subsequent process.
After depositing a poly-silicon film on the third inter-insulation layer 180 to fill the storage node contacts 185, storage node contact pads 190 are formed through a CMP method and others. The storage node contact pad 190 is electrically connected to the contact pad 130 through the storage node contact holes 185. Then, storage nodes 200 of capacitors connected to the storage node contact pads 190 are formed.
The prior art method forms bitlines by etching a metal film like a tungsten film through a photoetching process, thus there may be restrictions on an etching of a metal pattern having a small line/spacer due to high integration as well as increased process complexity.
In addition, since cleaning solutions that include OH radicals such as SC1 (Standard Cleaning 1), with excellent detergency for particles and polymers, can not be used while patterning a metal film for forming bitlines, it is impossible to perfectly remove particles during the cleaning process, thereby causing defects.
To solve the above problems of the prior art, a method of forming bitlines through a damascene process has been suggested. When forming bitlines of a semiconductor device having a COB structure with a damascene process, it is necessary to surround the bitlines by forming materials having etching selectivity with an inter-insulation layer of an oxide film, for instance, a capping layer and a spacer comprised of a silicon nitride film on tops and side walls of the bitlines, in order to protect the bitlines during the next process of forming a storage node contact hole.
A technology of protecting the bitlines by perfectly surrounding a damascene bitline with the capping layer and the spacer has been suggested in Korean Patent Laid Open Report No. 2001-55685. The above technology forms a bitline that is perfectly surrounded by a spacer comprised of a silicon nitride film, thereby obtaining process margins by protecting the bitlines during the storage node contact hole process. However, it causes the increase of parasitic capacitance since a silicon nitride film between neighboring bitlines has a higher dielectric constant than an oxide film.
Embodiments of the invention address these and other disadvantages of the prior art.

Bitline of semiconductor device having stud type capping layer and method for fabricating the same

Abstract: The device may include an insulating film formed on a semiconductor substrate and having a bitline contact and a groove-shaped bitline pattern, a bitline formed on the bitline contact and on a portion of the bitline pattern and that is surrounded by the insulating film, and a bitline capping layer formed on the bitline within the bitline pattern and the insulating film that protrudes from the insulating film. A protruded portion of the bitline capping layer is wider than a width of the bitline.


A light source apparatus includes an optical resonator provided with a plurality of gain media that amplify light and an optical waveguide and a control unit configured to individually control amplification factors of the plurality of gain media, in which the plurality of gain media have mutually different maximum gain wavelengths whose amplification regions are mutually partially overlapped, and a wavelength at which a total gain by the plurality of gain media becomes a maximum value is set to be variable on the basis of the control on the amplification factors.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light source apparatus capable of changing an oscillation wavelength and an image pickup apparatus using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A variety of light sources, in particular, laser light sources, which are capable of changing an oscillation wavelength have been utilized in a communication network field and a field of an inspection apparatus.
In the communication network field, a high-speed wavelength switching is demanded, and also, in the field of an inspection apparatus, a high-speed broadband wavelength sweeping is demanded.
Use applications of a wavelength-variable (sweeping) light source in the inspection apparatus include a laser spectrometer, a dispersion measurement device, a film thickness measurement device, a swept source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) apparatus, and the like.
The optical coherence tomography (hereinafter, which will also be referred to as OCT) is configured to pick up a tomographic image of a sample by using an optical low-coherence interference, and this is an image pickup technology whose research in a medical field has been activated in recent years because a micron-order spatial resolution can be obtained, a noninvasive property is attained, and the like.
Currently, the OCT is used for an image pickup in eye clinics, an image pickup in dental clinics, or the like as a resolution in a depth direction is set as several microns and also a tomographic image up to a depth of several mm can be obtained.
The SS-OCT is designed to temporally sweep an oscillation wavelength (frequency) of a light source and falls within a category of a Fourier domain (FD) OCT. A spectrum domain (SD) OCT that also falls within the category of the FDOCT needs a spectrometer for dispersing an interference light, but the SS-OCT is also expected to obtain an image in which a loss of a light amount is small and an SN ratio is high as the spectrometer is not used.
In a case where a medical-use image pickup apparatus is composed by using a wavelength sweeping light source, a period of time for obtaining an image can be shortened as a sweeping speed is faster, and the apparatus is suitable to a vital observation (so-called, in situ-in vivo imaging) in which a biomedical tissue is not collected from a living body and the biomedical tissue is directly observed.
Also, as a sweeping band of the wavelength is wider, the spatial resolution of the tomographic image can be increased.
To be more specific, a depth resolution is represented by the following expression (1) while the wavelength sweeping width is set as Δλ, and an oscillation wavelength is set as λ0.
                    Expression                                                  1                                                                                2                        ln                                                                          2                    π                ×                              λ            0            2                                Δ                                                                          λ                                              (        1        )
Therefore, in order to increase the depth resolution, an expansion of the wavelength sweeping width Δλ is needed.
For the wavelength sweeping light source used in the SS-OCT, one based on a dispersion tuning system which is developed in a communication band is disclosed in Yamashita, et al. Opt. Exp. Vol. 14, pp. 9299-9306 (2006) (hereinafter, which will be referred to as "Non-patent Document 1").
In this dispersion tuning system, by utilizing a state in which a free spectral range (FSR) of the resonator has a wavelength dependence, the oscillation wavelength in an active mode-lock state is controlled. At this time, the wavelength sweeping is performed by changing a frequency of a modulation signal that may cause a mode-lock. In other words, by sweeping a mode-lock frequency, the central wavelength at the time of the mode-lock is swept. For this reason, in order to perform a high-speed wavelength sweeping, it is necessary to change the frequency of the modulation signal at a high speed.
The FSR indicates a frequency interval in a resonator mode with respect to light circulating in the resonator and is represented by the following expression (2) while the light speed in vacuum is set as c, a refractive index of the resonator is set as n, and a resonator length is set as L.
                    Expression                                                  2                                                            FSR        =                  c          nL                                    (        2        )
Also, according to Non-patent Document 1, in the dispersion tuning system, a wavelength sweeping range is represented by the following expression (3).
                    Expression                                                  3                                                                      Δ                                                              λ                =                  n          cDN                                    (        3        )
Where n denotes the refractive index of the resonator, D denotes a dispersion parameter of the resonator, and N denotes an order (natural number) of the mode-lock.
Also, aside from this, for a purpose of an optical wavelength division multiplexing, a mode-lock laser technology for constructing an apparatus provided with a plurality of gain materials in a resonator and carrying out pulse oscillations in a plurality of spectrum bands at the same time is proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-90050 (hereinafter, which will be referred to as "Patent Document 1").
According to the dispersion tuning system based on the active mode-lock disclosed in the above-described Non-patent Document 1, the wavelength sweeping can be performed, but the sweeping range is limited to a relatively narrow range in principle, and also the sweeping speed is not necessarily sufficient. Also, wavelength sweeping notches at the time of the sweeping are not constant as the FSR has the wavelength dependence, and in order to obtain a quasi-smooth sweeping, a devise on a detection side is demanded.
On the other hand, according to the laser apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1, oscillations at a plurality of wavelengths can be carried out, but it is simply assumed that the oscillations are carried out at a plurality of wavelengths at the same time point, and an intention of performing the wavelength sweeping does not exist.
Furthermore, for the wavelength sweeping light source, one using the above-described pulse light source and also one using CW light (continuous wave: continuous wave oscillation light) are conceivable, but a light source having a wide sweeping range and a sufficiently high sweeping speed is not obtained in an actual situation.

Light source apparatus and image pickup apparatus using the same


A temperature measuring apparatus measures the temperature of a medium according to the propagation time of ultrasonic waves propagated for a predetermined distance through the medium. The apparatus has a transmitter 11, 12 for transmitting ultrasonic waves having a fixed frequency at predetermined timing and a receiver 13, 14, 15 for receiving the ultrasonic waves and providing a received signal. A delay time detector 24 detects, in response to the received signal, a delay time between the transmission and reception of the ultrasonic waves and a wave number calculator 21 calculates an integral wave number according to the delay time and a period of the ultrasonic waves. A phase difference detector 25 detects a phase difference between the transmitted and received ultrasonic waves modulating the received signal with a frequency that is sufficiently higher than the frequency of the ultrasonic waves. An operation unit 21 calculates the propagation time of the ultrasonic waves according to the wave number and phase difference, and according to the propagation time, the temperature of the medium. This apparatus has a wide range of measurable temperatures, and is capable of precisely measuring the temperature of a wide area of a medium.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic temperature measuring apparatus employing ultrasonic waves to measure the average temperature of a medium, and particularly, to an ultrasonic temperature measuring apparatus that correctly calculates the propagation time of ultrasonic waves propagated for a predetermined distance through a medium, and according to the propagation time, correctly determines the average temperature of the medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
The velocity of sound waves propagated through a medium depends on the temperature of the medium. According to this fact, the temperature of the medium is measurable. The velocity V [m/sec] of sound waves propagated through the medium and the temperature T [.degree.K.] of the medium have the following relationship: EQU V=331.45+0.605T [m/sec] (1)
When the sound waves are propagated for a predetermined distance L through the medium, the sound velocity V is calculable as follows, if a propagation time t of the sound waves for the distance L is measurable: EQU V=L/t [m/sec] (2)
The temperature T of the medium is, therefore, expressed as follows: EQU T=(L/t-331.45)/0.605 (3)
An example of an ultrasonic temperature measuring apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 63-39646. The apparatus employs a transmitter for transmitting ultrasonic waves through a medium toward a receiver spaced apart from the transmitter by a given distance. The apparatus measures a propagation time of the ultrasonic waves between the transmitter and the receiver, and according to the propagation time, determines the average temperature of the medium.
Another example of such a measuring apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 54-102181. This disclosure employs a transmitter and two receivers spaced apart from each other by a given distance along an ultrasonic propagation path in a medium. The transmitter emits ultrasonic waves, which pass through the medium and are received by the receivers. The apparatus measures a phase difference between the emitted ultrasonic waves and the received ultrasonic waves and converts the phase difference into time. According to the time, the apparatus calculates the average temperature of the medium.
The former apparatus is capable of operating over a long distance for ultrasonic propagation. Accordingly, this apparatus can measure a wide range of temperatures over a wide area of the medium. The propagation time measured by this apparatus, however, fluctuates depending on a level of received ultrasonic waves, so that the temperature measured by this apparatus is inaccurate.
The latter apparatus can accurately measure the temperature, because the phases of the ultrasonic waves are not affected by a level of the received ultrasonic waves. A detectable phase difference range of this apparatus, however, is narrow. For example, the phase difference is within only one period of ultrasonic waves. Accordingly, this apparatus is unable to measure a wide range of temperatures over a wide area of a medium.

Ultrasonic temperature measuring apparatus


The present invention is an apparatus for detecting fault conditions, such as missing or improper hardware, in the operation of a fastener press. It includes a workpiece die that is aligned with and cooperates with a punch assembly in the insertion of the fasteners into holes in the workpiece. The die has a linear displacement member mounted for reciprocal movement in response to the operation of the punch assembly. The position of the linear displacement member, which represents whether or not a fault condition exists, is detected and an alarm indication is generated when there is a fault.

This invention relates to an automated press for semi-automatically installing fasteners, such as clinch nuts end standoffs, in a workpiece. The workpiece may be a sheet metal plate used to fabricate the cabinets or chassis electrical equipment. Normally holes are pre-punched in the sheet where the fasteners are to be inserted. The press has a punch assembly adapted to engage the fasteners and ram the fasteners into the pre-punched holes. The press has a fastener dispensing assembly for delivery of the fasteners to the punch assembly. The punch assembly cooperates with an anvil or die on which the sheet is mounted. The die has a spring-biased alignment pin. The press operator places the sheet so that the spring-biased pin extends through a pre-punched hole. The punch assembly is then activated whereby it captures a fastener. Continuing its insertion stroke, the punch assembly with captured fastener engages the spring-biased pin forcing the pin to a retracted position and the fastener is secured in the hole.
The above describes a prior art automated fastener press. U.S. Pat. No. 3,452,418 provides a more detailed description of a prior art press of this type.
Upon occasion, a fastener may not be properly seated in the workpiece. For example, a fastener may not have been properly fed to the punch assembly and therefore not be present when the punch assembly is activated. Another fault condition occurs when an improper fastener, such as one that is of the wrong length for the particular operation, is fed to the punch assembly. Also the sheet or workpiece may not have been properly positioned causing the fastener to pierce its own hole either partially or entirely. Unless the operator visually notices the fault condition, it would not become apparent until the workpiece was subsequently used for its intended purpose such as assembly as a cabinet for electronic equipment. At that point the workpiece which by then has been formed to its proper configuration may have to be scrapped in its entirety because of the missing, improperly located, or improper hardware. It is quite common for the press operator to fail to detect or notice these fault conditions. The operator is required to conduct a number of repetitive operations in a short period of time and may lose the concentration required to detect a fault. Moreover, the operator may become distracted. A defective workpiece can cause a considerable number of problems as one attempts to complete a more complex assembly with the defective part. The actual loss can be much greater than simply the defective part. Despite a recognition of this problem from the prior art, there has been no adequate solution developed until the present invention.


The invention relates to a device for the leak-tight sealing of openings in containers and for the purification of the ambient air located therein as a result of opening and closing cycles, said containers being intended for the packaging of products that are sensitive to gaseous pollutants present in the ambient air. The inventive device is particularly suitable for the packaging of solid-state medicaments in the form of pellets, tablets or capsules, having a reactivity and physical integrity that must be fully conserved.

1.Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for the leak-tight sealing of openings in containers and for the purification treatment of ambient air located therein as a result of opening and closing cycles, these containers being intended for packaging of products that are sensitive to gaseous pollutants present in this ambient air.
2.Description of Related Art
The invention is related particularly to a device for leak-tight sealing of the access opening in containers and for purification treatment of ambient air located in these containers as a result of opening and closing cycles, these containers being intended for packaging of products sensitive to gaseous pollutants. This leak-tight sealing and purification treatment device is composed of the following, according to a new combination of known or unknown means:                a leak-tight sealing means in the container access opening,        a means of assembly of the sealing device on the container access opening,        a means of connection between the sealing means and the assembly means of the device,        at least one means of checking tamper resistance        a mechanical assistance means controlling the amplitude of the opening angle and assisting with opening and closing of the said sealing means.
The leak-tight sealing and purification treatment device is a single part made of thermoplastic materials using plastics technologies.
In the following and throughout the description of the object according to the invention:                The gaseous pollutants that may be present in the ambient air in the leak-tight packaging containers for sensitive products may for example be water vapour, oxygen (O2), ammonia (NH3), alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, sulphur dioxide (SO2), hydrogen sulphide (H2S), mercaptans, alkenes particularly including ethylene, alkynes, carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), alkanes and particularly methane (CH4), halogens and particularly fluorine, bacteria in suspension in the ambient air and others.        Products sensitive to gaseous pollutants present in the ambient air may be defined as being:                    materials in the solid state, in a wide variety of forms such as powdery, granules, pellets, particularly for effervescent, sugar-coated or agglomerated products, and/or            objects that may be in various shapes and particularly oblong shapes.
Thus, and according to this definition:                Materials sensitive to pollutants like those mentioned above to be packaged in a leak-tight container are usually medicaments, particularly effervescent medicaments, that should be protected so that their reactive effectiveness does not change in time due to reaction with at least one of the pollutants, and/or so that their physical integrity is maintained in the long term, and for example to avoid a change to their mechanical cohesion.        Objects sensitive to pollutants, to be packaged in a leak-tight container are particularly oblong in shape, and they may have an approximately polygonal, circular, elliptical or elongated cross-section and are consumables. Such objects include particularly small tongues, reactive bands or rigid lamellae used for example for diagnosis or checking purposes in the medical field, dressings, food products such as chewing-gum, tooth picks, small sticks or others.
For obvious reasons, particularly hygiene reasons but also to prevent any degradation and thus improve the conservation life of products sensitive to pollutants present in ambient air, these products are placed in containers protected from physicochemical attacks caused by the concentration of gaseous pollutants, but also protected from light, particularly UV rays, or from degradation due to mechanical causes such as shocks.
Establishment of the state of the art demonstrates the existence of stoppers for closing containers, the essential function of which is that they have drying properties: these particular containers are designed to receive and contain products sensitive to ambient humidity, that must be protected by creating the driest possible internal ambient atmosphere to prevent a regain of humidity, since such regain of humidity by absorption could in particular react with the said products and reduce their reactivity causing mechanical weakness under shock, spalling or disintegration in the container.
Many products are particularly sensitive to ambient humidity, and for example and more precisely may include medicament test materials in powdery form or in more sophisticated forms such as granules, tablets, pellets, oblong shaped objects such as bands for tests or other purposes, more specifically including products that are particularly sensitive to humidity.
These drying and leak-tight containers according to the state of the art for the storage of products sensitive to ambient humidity are tubular shaped or may be in any other shape and, provided with an opening, are closed off by a stopper that may or may not be fixed to the tubular part through a solidarisation means such as a narrow flexible strip made from a polymer material identical to the material from which the container and the stopper are made.
These drying and leak-tight containers are provided with internal drying means that are either a coating or insert made using a drying thermoplastic polymer composition placed inside the containers on the inner surface of the bottom of the tube and/or on the inner surface of the sidewall of the tube, or a drying granular material placed in a particular housing on the inner surface of the stopper.
All these drying means are put into place separately or simultaneously to increase their dehydrating efficiency due to a mass effect.
These closed containers are formed from:                a tubular casing provided with a bottom at one of its ends, the other end being left open so that the said casing can be filled,        and a closing means that may be a removable stopper that fits into the open end of the tubular casing, or a stopper-cap that also fits into the open end but is connected to the tubular casing by a flexible link such as a narrow flexible polymer strip acting as a hinge.
All these containers and their removable or connected closing means are made from thermoplastic polymer compositions according to techniques well known in plastics techniques.
Means of sealing containers and the drying containers closed by these means for packaging materials and/or objects sensitive to ambient humidity, are described in the state of the art and are distinguished from each other essentially by their architecture, particularly by drying means used in the said containers and by the architecture of the container closing means.
According to a first type of drying container sealing means used in the state of the art, this first closing means is a male type stopper-cap connected to the tubular part of the casing of the drying container through a mechanical means composed of a force fitting ring surrounding the said tubular casing and a flexible and narrow connecting strip between the stopper-cap and the ring, the drying container being formed from a tubular casing open at one of its ends to provide access to the receptacle area.
A document (U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,556) describes such a sealing means and a drying container closed by this means, the closed assembly forming the container being composed of:                a sealing means comprising a male type stopper-cap, a ring for a force fitting of the said stopper-cap on the tubular casing of the container, a tamper resistance telltale to be torn off, connecting the assembly ring to the outer periphery of the stopper-cap and a flexible strip acting as a narrow connecting hinge between the stopper-cap and the said ring, the sealing means being made from a thermoplastic polymer material that may be different from the material used to make the tubular casing;        a tubular casing made of a thermoplastic polymer material, provided with a bottom at one of its ends and open at other end, acting as a receptacle for the materials to be packaged, on which the sealing means is installed through the ring.
The male type stopper-cap is formed from a bottom and a descending peripheral skirt called the outer skirt that delimit a cylindrical cavity inside which there is a housing containing a powdery drying agent in direct contact with the internal gaseous medium to be dehydrated.
The sealing means comprising the stopper-cap, the force fitting assembly ring, the tamper resistance telltale, and a single, flexible, narrow connecting strip connecting the stopper-cap to the ring forms an assembly made of a thermoplastic polymer material independent from the tubular casing forming the receptacle of the drying container.
This type of drying stopper-cap designed to close a tubular casing used for packaging of products sensitive to humidity raises uncertainties about its capability to guarantee fast and complete desiccation of the said products when opening/closing the said packaging container. This fact appears to be:                the result of insufficient leak-tightness between the male type stopper-cap and the tubular casing, since the architecture of the said stopper-cap does not appear to be suitable for making the container leak-tight when external-internal exchanges of gaseous volumes containing humidity that should be quickly dehydrated;        also, at least partly, the consequence of the flexible connecting means between the cover-cap and the force fitting ring surrounding the casing, since it is impossible to achieve correct positioning of this means consisting of a narrow flexible strip made of a polymer material acting as a hinge when closing the casing, due to lack of any guidance prior to the said closing.
This type of stopper-cap also requires a manipulation of the closed container with two hands, both to open it and to close it.
Another type of drying container sealing means known in the state of the art is a female type stopper-cap fixed to the drying container casing through a means consisting of a narrow flexible connecting strip, the tubular casing, the stopper-cap and the connecting means being made by injection with the same thermoplastic polymer material.
A document (EP 1 352 844) describes such a type of drying container closing means, the closed assembly forming the container being composed of:                a tubular casing made of a thermoplastic polymer material provided with a bottom at one of its ends and open at the other end;        a female type stopper-cap without a descending inner skirt that covers the wall of the open end of the container casing when in the closed position, leak-tightness being capable of being assured by the contact between the inner surface of the bottom of the cap of the stopper-cap and the periphery of the open end of the tubular casing, the said stopper-cap being provided with a perforated cavity on its inner surface into which a drying agent in pellet form can be added and connected to the casing through a link consisting of a narrow flexible polymer strip, the casing, the cap and the connection between the cap and the casing being made in a single part during a single plastics forming operation, for example by injection moulding;        a drying insert consisting of a thermoplastic polymer material containing drying materials, this insert possibly covering the bottom and the inner wall of the said casing simultaneously;        the stopper-cap without a descending inner peripheral skirt cannot create a surface-to-surface type leak-tightness with the inner surface of the open end of the tubular casing, leak-tightness is apparently only obtained through contact between the inner surface of the bottom of the stopper-cap and the periphery of the open end of the casing;        the stopper-cap is not particularly suitable for creating leak-tightness between the inside and the outside of the container due to its architecture, but also due to its flexible connecting means with the casing, since this means cannot be used to position the cap when it is closed due to this very high flexibility and consequently the lack of sufficient longitudinal and lateral mechanical stiffness necessary for guidance of the stopper-cap at the time that it is closed;        it requires the use of two hands to manipulate the closed container for opening and closing.
Another document (GB 2 224 309) describes a hinged sealing device, in other words a stopper for a thermoplastic container and more particularly for containers comprising a very narrow, coaxial distribution opening and intended for distribution of liquid. The stopper comprises a tubular peripheral wall on the inner surface of its upper end with a section adapted to the section of the narrow distribution opening to be sealed, and making the stopper leak-tight when the stopper is in the closed position.
The said device is composed of two parts, the first part being a click fitting cap pivoting on two hinges composed of two flexible strips defining a first rotation axis, the second part being a base to be fixed on the opening of a container to be sealed, and a flexible and elastic link making the connection between these two members and being such that the stopper can occupy two rest positions, one closed and the other open, on each side of an intermediate position occupied during the movement.
The said flexible link with a return function is "S" shaped and is connected semi-rigidly and elastically firstly to the stopper at a precise point, and secondly to the outer surface of the base at another precise point. The connection between the ends of the flexible link firstly to the stopper and secondly to the outer surface of the base is characterised by the lack of hinges due to the continuity of the thickness of the wall.
However, this device has several disadvantages that can be the result of a form of embrittlement of the material forming the flexible link. The "S" shape of the flexible link when the device changes from a closed position to an open position contributes to creating two opposing forces about an inflection point located approximately at the middle of the flexible link, this inflection point delimiting a convex area of the strip on the downstream side and an area of the strip on the upstream side that remains concave.
Thus, the slope inversion due to the "S" deformation at the time of closure causes an acceleration of the movement acting on the convex part of the strip, in other words between the cap and the inflection point, to restore the initial stable concave state of the entire strip.
Therefore this type of flexible link performing the return function is deformed by the slope inversion over its entire length, this total and constant mechanical mobilisation of the material from which the flexible link is made tending to weaken it.
Thus, apparently none of the drying stoppers-caps according to the state of the art is adequate for packaging products sensitive to relative humidity and/or other gaseous pollutants in appropriate containers under optimum conditions, and to enable these containers to develop remarkable characteristics such as:                quickly absorbing humidity and/or gaseous pollutants, particularly the pollutants mentioned above in a container even after a fast opening/closing cycle,        easy manipulation of the said stoppers-caps with a single hand and keeping the container sealed, and        providing mechanical assistance with opening/closing the stopper-cap.
Many objectives are assigned to the leak-tight sealing device according to the invention for packaging containers and for purification treatment of the ambient air located in the container by elimination of the gaseous pollutants present, such that it minimises the above mentioned disadvantages and provides appropriate solutions better than the solutions provided with the various means used in sealing devices described in the state of the art.
Some of the most important objectives of the sealing device according to the invention for packaging containers for products sensitive to gaseous pollutants are means that in combination assure:                easy opening/closing of the leak-tight sealing and treatment device by precise mechanical guidance of the sealing means so that sealing takes place precisely with no manual guidance, with excellent positioning,        mechanically assisted opening/closing of the leak-tight sealing and treatment device to accelerate opening and closing of the sealing means and to limit the amplitude of the opening angle at the end of travel so as to put the sealing means in a suitable position for closing with the use of a single finger of the hand holding the container,        complete leak-tightness set up between the opening to be closed and the sealing means,        at least one tamper resistance means of the container before first opening,        dynamic treatment of gaseous pollutants, and particularly the water vapour present in the container, better than what is observed in the state of the art, in other words with a greater capacity to eliminate internal pollution created when the container is opened and closed, to prevent packaged products sensitive to gaseous pollutants from adsorbing and/or reacting partly with the said pollutants and an ability to keep the content of gaseous pollutants internal to the container at a low and relatively constant level, except during opening/closing cycles, to provide the best possible protection to the packaged products sensitive to these pollutants.

Device for the leak-tight sealing of packaging containers for sensitive products


A light source (14) is configured to emit light for lighting a predetermined area. A LiDAR sensor (15) is configured to sense information of an outside of a vehicle. A first screw mechanism (16) is configured to adjust posture of the light source (14). A second screw mechanism (17) is configured to adjust posture of the LiDAR sensor (15). Adjustment by one of the first screw mechanism (16) and the second screw mechanism (17) is performed on the basis of adjustment that has been performed by the other one of the first screw mechanism (16) and the second screw mechanism (17).

In order to realize a self-driving technique of a vehicle, sensors for obtaining information of the outside of the vehicle shall be mounted on a vehicle body. As examples of such sensors, a camera and a LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) sensor are known (see Patent Document 1, for example). The LiDAR sensor is a device configured to emit non-visible light to obtain information as to distances to an object and information as to an attribute of the object based on the reflected light.
When a light source for lighting a predetermined area around a vehicle is mounted on a vehicle body, it is necessary to adjust a posture of the light source with respect to the vehicle body or a lighting reference position of the light source. Similarly, when the sensor is mounted on a vehicle body, it is necessary to adjust a posture of the sensor with respect to the vehicle body or a sensing reference position of the sensor. It is known that, by integrating the light source with the sensor, a single adjustment mechanism is used to collectively adjust the lighting reference position of the light source and the sensing reference position of the sensor (see Patent Document 2, for example).


A pipe coupling for connecting together two plain-ended pipes in a fluid-tight manner comprises an outer tubular casing, an inner tubular casing and a tubular sealing sleeve. The sealing sleeve has two sets of inwardly projecting ribs which, in use, are pressed into sealing engagement with the respective ends of the pipes. The inner and outer casings are longitudinally split and tensioning screws on the outer casing can be tightened to tighten the outer casing around the inner casing and the sealing sleeve. Frustoconical slots in the outer surfaces of the sealing sleeves receive frustoconical gripping rings which have gripping teeth on the inner sides which bite into the pipe surfaces to secure the pipes against axial displacement.

One known pipe coupling of this type is described in Uk-A-1,582,858. The sealing sleeve is of C-shaped longitudinal cross-section having two lips extending axially inwardly towards one another so as to form a groove between the extension and the web portion. When the casing is tightened around the pipe ends the lips of the sealing sleeve are pressed into sealing engagement with the outer surfaces of the pipe ends to form a seal. In use fluid carried by the pipes passes through the gap between the pipe ends into the space between the outside of the pipe end and the inside of the web portion of the sleeve. The fluid enters the grooves between the extensions of the lips causing the sealing pressure of the extensions against the pipes to increase as the pressure of the fluid increases. A disadvantage of such an arrangement is that substantially the whole of the inner surface of the web portion is exposed to the pressure of the fluid from the pipe. Where the fluid pressure is high, this can cause the casing to bulge out at its axial middle portion.
According to the present invention in a first aspect there is provided a pipe coupling for joining together two pipes in a fluid-tight manner, comprising a tubular sealing sleeve and tensioning means for tightening the casing around the sleeve, the sleeve including two sets of annular inwardly projecting sealing ribs on the inner surface of the sleeve which engage the respective pipe ends in a fluid tight manner.
With this arrangement only the portion of the sleeve between the axially innermost pair of ribs is exposed to the hydrostatic pressure of the fluid in the pipe. The casing is therefore less prone to bulging at high hydrostatic pressures and, in consequence, the casing can be made of lighter construction than a conventional coupling with the equivalent performance specification. This means that the coupling is less expensive and easier to handle during manufacture.
Joining together pipes with plain ends with couplings without the need for pipe preparation is quicker and more economical than other methods such as welding, screw threading, flanging, grooving or shouldering. However because of the enormous axial forces that may be involved in pipelines operating at pressures of say 16 bars, it is difficult to construct a coupling that can reliably withstand such forces.
In the coupling of GB-A-1582858, axial restraint is provided by two frustoconical rings with gripping teeth on their inner edges. The gripping rings are located at the sides of the sealing sleeve and held in position within the casing by means of snap rings. When the casing is tightened the gripping teeth bite into the pipe ends to provide axial restraint for the pipes.
There are a number of disadvantages with this arrangement. The gripping teeth are sharp and are exposed. This presents a hazard to the pipe fitters who might cut themselves when handling the couplings prior to fitting.
The teeth are exposed and may come into contact with water and other corrosive liquids depending on the enviroment in which they are employed. The teeth are usually made of a hard steel that is prone to crevice corrosion.
The geometry of the toothed gripping device is upset on clamping on to the pipe. The specially shaped snap rings that are required to support the gripping rings add to the complexity of the coupling and they only provide partial support for the gripping ring. The snap rings may act as fulcrums over which the teeth are bent when loaded and there is thus a potential for the teeth to snap off.
The geometry of the gripping ring is liable to be further upset if a C-shaped sealing sleeve is used for the reasons explained above. The bulging of the casing may cause the toothed gripping ring to be lifted out of contact with the pipe leading to failure.
Another type of known coupling is described in GB-A-2167145. This coupling, does not include toothed rings as described above, but it utilises annular sealing members arranged at either end of an annular sleeve, which has wedge-shaped ends. Two flange members fit at either end of the coupling, and a tensioning means is provided so that the flange members can be urged axially towards one another. This movement compresses the sealing members against the wedge-shaped ends of the sleeve, which in turn forces the sealing members radially inwardly to form a seal against the surface of the pipes.
A plurality of hard gripping members is embedded in each sealing member. Each gripping member has a tooth or teeth formed at one end, and is arranged in the sealing member so that the teeth are flush with, or adjacent, the inner surface of the sealing member. The gripping member is inclined at an angle relative to the axis of the coupling, and the axially outer end of each gripping member is arranged to be completely covered by, but closely adjacent, the outer surface of the sealing member near the corner in the flange member. As the coupling is tightened, the flange members move axially inwardly, compressing the sealing member, and urging the gripping members towards the pipes, causing them to bite into the surfaces of the pipes. Because of the axial displacement between the inner and outer ends of the gripping members, the gripping members will pivot as the sealing member is compressed.
In this coupling, the sealing action of the sealing member against the pipes' surfaces, and the biting action of the gripping members are not independent of each other. The gripping members and the sealing members are acted on simultaneously as the flanges are moved axially. Thus the gripping members and the sealing members restrict one another's movement. If the teeth of the gripping member bite the surface of the pipe before the sealing member is properly seated against the surface of the pipe, this could affect the sealing properties of the seal.
According to the present invention in a second aspect there is provided a pipe coupling for connecting together two pipes in a fluid-tight manner comprising of a tubular casing, a tubular sealing sleeve, and tensioning means for tightening the casing about the sealing sleeve, the sealing sleeve having a circumferential slot in its outer surface and a gripping ring with inwardly projecting gripping teeth located in the slot, the arrangement being such that, in use, tightening the tensioning means causes the sealing sleeve to be pressed into sealing engagement with the pipe ends and the gripping teeth to penetrate the bottom of the slot and to engage the outer surface of the pipe.
In a preferred form of the invention a slot with a gripping ring is provided at each end of the coupling. The slot may be frustoconical with the inner end nearer the axial middle of the coupling than the outer end. The gripping ring is also preferably frustoconical and preferably is an incomplete ring so that it can easily be expanded and compressed.
Preferably the casing has an inwardly projecting flange at each end and the gripping rings are located with their outer edges in the angles between the tubular portion of the casing and the flanges.
The tubular casing preferably comprises an inner casing and an outer casing. The inner casing fits within the outer casing. The inner casing and the outer casing both have longitudinal gaps and the gap in the inner casing is offset circumferentially from the gap in the outer casing so that the sealing sleeve is supported around its entire periphery either by the inner casing, or the outer casing, or both casings.
Both the inner and outer casing may have their axial end margins bent inwardly to form radial flanges.
By locating the gripping rings in slots in the outer surface of the sealing sleeve the gripping teeth are protected and will not injure the pipe fitter when being handled prior to use.
The sealing sleeve may be provided with end seals which form seals between the flanges and the pipe ends. In this way the ingress of water and other contaminants into the seal is prevented, and so the gripping rings are protected from corrosion.
Preferably the slot in the sleeve is wider than the thickness of the gripping rings so that the sealing sleeve does not interfere with the action of the gripping ring. The ring is only restrained by the angle of the inner and outer casings formed between their tubular walls and their annular flanges. The casing bears directly against the outer edge of the gripping ring. When the casing comprises an inner and an outer casing, as described hereinbefore, the inner casing bears against the gripping ring. This further reduces the tendency of the outer casing to bulge, compared with a single piece casing.
According to the present invention in a third aspect there is provided a pipe coupling for coupling together two pipes in a fluid-tight manner, comprising an outer tubular casing, an inner tubular casing located within the outer casing, a tubular sealing sleeve located within the inner casing and means for tensioning the outer casing around the inner casing and the sleeve, the inner and outer casings having inwardly directed end flanges, the tubular sealing sleeve being located between the end flanges of the inner and outer casing, the end flanges of the outer casing being adjacent the end flanges of the inner casing and providing lateral support therefor.
Preferably the coupling includes gripping means for securing the pipes axially, the gripping means being located axially inside the flanges of the inner casing. Preferably the gripping means are in the form of toothed rings. By locating all the components inside the inner and outer casings and their side flanges a strong and stable structure is achieved.
According to the present invention in a fourth aspect there is provided a pipe coupling for coupling together two pipes in a fluid tight manner, comprising an outer tubular casing, a tubular inner casing, a tubular sealing sleeve and means for tightening the outer casing around the inner casing and the sealing sleeve, the inner and outer casing including inwardly projecting end flanges, the sealing sleeve including end seals, so that in use, when the tensioning means are tightened, the sealing sleeve is urged into sealing contact with the outer surfaces of the pipe ends and the end seals form seals between the flanges and the outer surface of the pipe ends. Preferably the end seals are axial extensions of sealing sleeve which are trapped between the flanges and the pipes. The end seals prevent dirt, water or other contaminants entering between the flanges and the pipe and corroding components of the coupling or impairing the effectiveness of the seal.
In the preferred embodiment of the invention, in each aspect, the tensioning means applies a radially compressive force to the casing.
An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:


A method for the production of improved bonded particulate articles, and the articles so produced, are disclosed. Specifically, the manufacture of particulate articles having a reduced tendency to undergo humidity-induced sag is disclosed. These articles have utility in such application as ceiling tiles.

Maintaining stiffness or rigidity of bonded particulate tile articles under high humidity conditions has long been a problem in the particulate tile industry. This problem is of particular concern since the articles are typically used in ceilings and supported only around their perimeters. Humidity weakens the tile and due to the perimeter-only support often induces an unacceptable sag of the tile.
The resistance of particulate tiles to moisture has previously been improved by applying a coating comprised of a melamine-formaldehyde resin. However, use of this resin, due to its formaldehyde content, is of concern due to the existence of regulations involving worker exposure during production of the resin and its application to the particulate tiles. Moreover, the environmental hazards associated with the use of this resin does not end with the manufacturing process since tiles bearing this coating release noxious and undesirable vapors under conditions such as those encountered in fires. Less noxious materials which exhibit satisfactory performance with regard to preventing humidity-induced sag of the particulate tiles to which they are applied have not heretofore been found.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,611,445 discloses a ceiling tile resistant to sag hen exposed to a fire comprising mineral wool fibers having distributed therein from about 1% to about 6% by weight, based on the weight of the fibers, of lithium carbonate or the fused decomposition product thereof. This coating, however, is not useful in preventing humidity-induced sag.
Various methods have been utilized in the corrugated paper art to reduce the degradation of paper strength due to moisture contact. Impregnating paper with certain resins, e.g. ureas, melamines, and phenolics, is known, but the use of such resins has only limited utility in the manufacturing of particulate tiles because these resins cure at normal paper machine temperatures and tiles coated therewith become excessively brittle during their processing. Moreover, many of these processes use coatings as noxious as those of which we seek to avoid to use.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,400,480 relates to a method of preparing water resistant paperboard through use of a crosslinking additive for starch-based adhesive compositions. These compositions are prepared by reacting acetone and formaldehyde under aqueous alkaline conditions at 20.degree.-380.degree. C. in a molar ratio of 1 mole acetone: 2-5.5 moles of formaldehyde. An effective amount of free formaldehyde is reduced to about 0.1-2% by weight. The resulting reaction product can then be added to a starch-based adhesive or first mixed with dimethylol dihydroxy ethylene urea. Due to its formaldehyde content, this resin has the same environmental and exposure concerns discussed earlier and therefore does not represent an improvement over the currently practiced art.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,600,439 discloses a coating composition for paper or cardboard, comprising a fluidizing agent and an undepolymerized starch, optionally modified, a synthetic product, such as polyvinylalcohol, or a protein, such as casein or soya proteins.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,858,273 discloses a method of improving the wet rigidity of corrugated paperboard through its impregnation with a slow-curing glyoxal-based resin in the presence of a catalyst and, optionally, an extender, such as a starch.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,288,631 discloses a method for the production of non-woven fiber webs that are stable in the presence of water comprising a water-soluble bonding agent having both hydroxyl- and carboxyl-groups and a water-soluble resin and metal salt capable of reacting with the aforementioned groups.
The above-mentioned paper coating methods are inadequate for use in the production of sag resistant tiles due to their failure to impart adequate moisture resistance and/or rigidity to a tile, thereby allowing the tile to exhibit an unacceptable degree of humidity-induced sag.
Commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/433,984 is directed to a process for the prevention of humidity-induced sag in bonded particulate articles which discloses the application to at least one side of said article a coting composition comprising water, a filler material and a binder resin which is the reaction product of glyoxal resin and a starch. The coating composition is then cured on said article. While the particle of this process does adequately prevent humidity-induced sag in the particulate articles to which it is applied, the inclusion of starch, a polymeric substance, in the coating composition causes minor processing difficulties due to the relatively high viscosity which it imparts.
It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide a process for the production of a particulate article having adequate protection against humidity-induced sag without encounting processing difficulties due to high viscosity coating compositions.

Method of manufacturing a sag-resistant bonded particulate article


This invention decreases deformation of a plastic substrate caused by thermal expansion and contraction in an evaporation process of forming a multi-layered film of an ND filter, thus helping prevent wrinkles. The plastic substrate serving as the base of the ND filter is made of a polyimide-based plastic material having a glass transition temperature of 200° C. or more, has a total transmittance of light of 90% or more, and has a haze factor of 0.5% or less. As the multi-layered film, Al2O3 films for reduction of the reflectance and TiOx films for reduction of the transmittance are alternately formed on the substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ND filter for an aperture device which is suitable for use in a photographing optical system such as a video camera or still video camera, and an aperture device comprising the ND filter.
2. Description of the Related Art
An aperture device mounted in a conventional video camera serves to control the quantity of light entering a solid-state image pickup element, and is stopped down to have a small aperture size when the object field is a high-luminance object field. Thus, on a very fine day or when photographing a high-luminance object, the aperture size becomes small. Because of diffraction of light due to the small aperture, degradation of the image quality may occur.
An example solution for this problem is attaching a film-like ND (Neutral Density) filter to an aperture blade. Then, even if the object field is bright, the aperture does not become smaller than a predetermined size. Namely, when the aperture becomes small, the ND filter is positioned in the optical path to reduce the quantity of light. This prevents the aperture from becoming extremely small even when photographing a high-luminance object.
For example, Japanese Patent No. 2592949 discloses an ND filter in which the transmittance increases stepwise toward the optical axis. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-117467 discloses an ND filter in which the transmittance increases continuously toward the optical axis. When moving an ND filter having a stepwise density change or density gradation or the like on the optical axis, one can adjust the light quantity without changing the aperture size.
Such an ND filter employs a film-like plastic substrate made of a plastic material, e.g., PET or PEN, which is a material having good optical characteristics and high durability. A multi-layered thin film, obtained by alternately stacking thin film made of a light-absorbing material and thin film for the reduction of reflectance, is formed on the surface of the plastic substrate by the evaporation method or the like.
In the evaporation process of manufacturing the ND filter, however, the longer the time of evaporation process of depositing evaporation particles, melted and evaporated from an evaporation source, on the surface of the plastic substrate becomes, the higher the temperature of the plastic substrate will rise. Thermal expansion coefficient of the plastic substrate and that of the thin film stacked on the plastic substrate are not always equal. The multi-layered thin film may thus interfere with thermal expansion and contraction of the plastic substrate. As a result, deformation such as wrinkles occurs in the finished ND filter. Such a product is not appropriate as an ND filter.
As a method of suppressing deformation such as wrinkles in the ND filter, for example, evaporation process may be performed with a pattern producing mask to form a thin film into a desired shape, being in tight contact with the plastic substrate. This can decrease deformation of the plastic substrate caused by thermal expansion and contraction.
The techniques disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-37545, 2004-37548, and 2005-62903 employ a plastic substrate which is made of a norbornene-based plastic material having a glass transition temperature of 120° C. or more. The temperature of the substrate in the evaporation process is maintained lower than the glass transition temperature of the norbornene-based plastic material to suppress deformation caused by thermal expansion and contraction, thus preventing winkles.
Recently, an improvement in sensitivity of the image pickup element leads to a demand for a high-density ND filter having a much smaller light transmittance. To obtain such optical characteristics, the arrangement of the multi-layered film must be changed. More specifically, such schemes as increasing the thickness of a predetermined layer of the multi-layered film, or increasing the number of layers in the multi-layered film is employed. Accordingly, during the evaporation process the temperature of the plastic substrate rises higher, and the high-temperature period in the vacuum chamber becomes longer. In this case, even when evaporation is performed with the pattern producing mask, being in tight contact with the plastic substrate, it cannot suppress deformation of the plastic substrate caused by thermal expansion and contraction.
Each ND filter as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2004-37545, 2004-37548, and 2005-62903 has the substrate made of the norbornene-based plastic material. In the evaporation process of forming a high-density ND filter having a density of, e.g., 1.5 or more, the substrate temperature largely exceeds 120° C., and sometimes reaches almost 200° C. An ordinary norbornene-based plastic material has a glass transition temperature of about 120° C. to 170° C. In the evaporation process to manufacture such a high-density ND filter, the substrate temperature becomes higher than this glass transition temperature. If an ND filter employing a norbornene-based plastic substrate is manufactured under these conditions, a number of wrinkles appear on the portion of the ND filter on which the multi-layered thin film is formed. It is very difficult to eliminate these wrinkles.

ND filter for aperture device and aperture device comprising ND filter


Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, applying a model to a first unlabeled traffic item to generate a classification of the first unlabeled traffic item as a first class of traffic items or a second class of traffic items, generating a first score that is representative of a first confidence of the classification, determining that the first score is greater than a first threshold, and responsive to determining that the first score is greater than the first threshold, refining the model in accordance with at least the classification, resulting in a modified model. Other embodiments are disclosed.

The ability to properly classify traffic on a network is an important aspect of maintaining and operating the network. For example, a proper classification of the traffic enables a network operator/service provider (e.g., access network providers, core network providers, cloud providers, and content delivery providers) to increase/enhance a quality of experience (QoE)/user experience in relation to services provided over the network, while simultaneously decreasing/reducing the number of network resources that are required/needed. In this respect, an ability to properly classify traffic on a network is an important parameter in relation to network efficiency and scale.
As networks continue to be placed into operational service or expanded, the amount of total traffic over such networks tends to increase. Thus, it is generally impractical/inefficient to manually examine every item of traffic that may traverse a network in order to classify each item. In this regard, a header of a traffic item may include metadata describing a class/category of the traffic item. This header may be examined via, e.g., a probe or other network element, in order to identify the metadata (and thus, the class/category of the traffic item). However, increasingly traffic is being encrypted prior to being transmitted/traversing a network in view of privacy considerations and in an effort to prevent unauthorized third-parties from accessing the traffic. Thus, network operators/service provides are unable to classify/categorize encrypted traffic items via the use of a probe or network element as set forth above.
Still further, a machine learning/deep learning (ML/DL) model-based approach has been suggested, whereby during a training/calibration phase labeled/tagged traffic traverses the network. Labels/Tags of the labeled/tagged traffic specify predefined categories/classes of traffic, such that a model is able to decipher/determine/learn patterns in traffic according to the specified category/class of the traffic. In subsequent phases, the model predicts a category/class of unlabeled/untagged traffic based on what the model learns during the training/calibration phase.
While effective in theory, the aforementioned model-based approach is ineffective in classifying unlabeled/untagged traffic in practical applications/environments due to at least: (1) cost considerations (e.g., a use of a limited number of labeled sets/items of traffic that are available during the training/calibration phase), and (2) the introduction of new or enhanced traffic (which may originate from new or enhanced applications) that the model classifies with poor results/accuracy.

Apparatus and method to facilitate an iterative, machine learning based traffic classification


The present invention relates to a circuit and method of providing a voltage having a temperature independent current compliance to a load. The circuit includes a first resistive element having a temperature dependent resistivity, a second resistive element, an amplifier, a current module generating a temperature dependent current, and a load current controller. Temperature dependent voltages developed across the resistive elements track each other to enable a constant current limit over a wide temperature range.

The invention relates to a current limit circuit and more specifically to a temperature compensated current limit circuit implemented in a solid state switch.
Voltage regulation integrated circuits provide a regulated output voltage to a load. These circuits often include a current limitation feature that prevents current in excess of a predefined limit from flowing in the integrated circuit if the load increases to an unacceptable level. Another class of circuits that rely on accurate current limit protection are solid state switch circuits. These circuits provide a low impedance connection between two nodes and limit current to less than a predetermined value. Without compensating for temperature variations, a shift in the current limit value can occur. For example, the current limit value can shift by more than forty percent over a range of xe2x88x9240xc2x0 C. to +85xc2x0 C. due to temperature dependent electrical characteristics of the materials used in the circuit components. Thus, the current limiting portion of the circuit may not provide adequate protection in certain applications. What is needed is a circuit that provides a stable current limit over a wide temperature range.
The present invention relates to a circuit and a method of stabilizing the current limit over a range of temperatures. The present invention is directed to limiting the amount of current flow through a metal interconnect, thus providing temperature current limit protection.
One aspect of the invention relates to a temperature compensated current limit circuit used in a solid state switch. The circuit, under normal operating conditions, fully enhances an integrated MOSFET, resulting in a reduced voltage drop across the switch. When the load current increases to an unacceptable level, the switch limits the current delivered to a load via a servo loop. The current delivered to a load without exhibiting any current limit behavior is often referred to as current compliance.
The circuit includes a first resistive element, a second resistive element, a load current controller, a current module, and an amplifier. The first resistive element has a first terminal adapted to receive an input voltage and has a second terminal. The first resistive element has a temperature dependent resistivity. The second resistive element has a first terminal configured to receive the input voltage and has a second terminal. The load current controller has a first terminal in communication with the second terminal of the first resistive element, a second terminal in communication with a load, and a control terminal adapted to receive a control signal. The amplifier has a first input terminal in communication with the second terminal of the first resistive element, a second input terminal in communication with the second terminal of the second resistive element, and an amplifier output terminal in communication with the control terminal of the load current controller. The amplifier provides the control signal at its output terminal in response to a load current, the resistivity of the first resistive element, the resistivity of the second resistive element, and a temperature dependent current generated by the current module. The current module has a first terminal in communication with the second terminal of the second resistive element and the second terminal of the amplifier. The current module provides a temperature dependent current at its first terminal.
In one embodiment, the load current controller is a current controlling transistor. In another embodiment, the current module generates a current that is proportional to absolute temperature (PTAT). In still another embodiment, the second resistive element includes a primary resistive element, and a secondary resistive element, each having first and second terminals. The first terminal of the primary resistive element is in communication with the first terminal of the second resistive element. The first terminal of the secondary resistive element is in communication with the second terminal of the primary resistive element. The second terminal of the secondary resistive element is in communication with the second terminal of the second resistive element. In a further embodiment, the resistivity of the primary resistive element is greater than the resistivity of the secondary resistive element.
Another aspect of the invention relates to a method of providing a voltage across a load with a temperature independent current compliance. The method includes the steps of generating a first temperature dependent voltage drop in response to the current through the load, generating a second temperature dependent voltage drop in response to a temperature dependent reference current, and amplifying the difference of the first temperature dependent voltage drop and the second temperature dependent voltage drop to generate a control signal. Additionally, the method includes the step of applying the control signal to a load current controller to provide the voltage having a temperature independent current compliance across the load. The method can be applied repeatedly to achieve a continuing current limitation function.
In another aspect, the method includes the steps of comparing a first temperature dependent voltage drop to a second temperature dependent voltage drop, wherein the second temperature dependent voltage drop is responsive to a temperature dependent current, generating a control signal in response to the comparison, and generating the voltage having a temperature independent current compliance in response to the control signal.

Solid state switch with temperature compensated current limit


Sodium hydrogencarbonate crystal particles, which comprise sodium hydrogencarbonate crystal particles having an average particle size of from 50 to 500 μm based on the mass, and anhydrous sodium carbonate, and sodium carbonate monohydrate and/or Wegscheider's salt, present on the surface of the sodium hydrogencarbonate crystal particles in such amounts that the total content of anhydrous sodium carbonate, sodium carbonate monohydrate, Wegscheider's salt and sodium sesquicarbonate in the sodium hydrogencarbonate crystal particles is from 0.04 to 1 mass % as calculated as anhydrous sodium carbonate, anhydrous sodium carbonate accounts for at least 40 mass % of the total content, and sodium carbonate monohydrate and/or Wegscheider's salt accounts for from 5 to 60 mass % of the total content. Sodium hydrogencarbonate crystal particles having a low caking property, which are useful in the field of food products, pharmaceuticals, bath additives, etc., which require no necessity to contain an anticaking agent, a process for producing them and a method for packaging them, can be provided.

Sodium hydrogencarbonate (NaHCO3 which is also called baking soda or sodium bicarbonate) is widely used in the field of various food products, as ingredient of baking powder, an additive for soft drinks, etc., in the pharmaceutical industry as a dialysate, an antacid, etc., and further as a fire-extinguishing agent, as a bath additive, as a detergent, as a blasting medium, as an acidic gas neutralizing agent, etc. In most cases, such sodium hydrogencarbonate is produced and packaged, delivered, transported, stored and used in the form of powdery or granular crystal particles.
However, commercial crystal particles of sodium hydrogencarbonate generally show a caking property and has a high caking property resulting from sodium carbonate formed by drying in the production process, especially in an environment at a high temperature with a high humidity. This tendency is remarkable particularly in the rainy season. If caking occurs, the flowability of the particles will be low, and the handling efficiency will deteriorate remarkably in the respective steps from distribution to use, and various troubles are brought about. Thus, the caking is a serious problem which may impair the commercial value of sodium hydrogencarbonate.
Heretofore, in order to prevent the caking of sodium hydrogencarbonate crystal particles, e.g. Patent Document 1 proposes to incorporate various anticaking agents, such as stearates, carbonates, phosphates, silicates, kaolin, talc or silicon dioxide.
However, such a conventional method for incorporating an anticaking agent, not only requires a cost for the anticaking agent or a step of its incorporation, but also requires selection of the type of the anticaking agent depending upon the particular application. Further, for food products, pharmaceuticals, etc., it is impossible to use it, or its amount of use may be limited.
Further, Patent Document 2 discloses a method for producing sodium hydrogencarbonate crystals having a reduced caking property, by drying sodium hydrogencarbonate at from 20 to 60° C. by heated air. However, since the drying temperature is low, the treatment efficiency of a drying apparatus tends to be low, the drying apparatus tends to be large, or the drying time tends to be long.
Further, Patent Document 3 discloses a method for producing sodium hydrogencarbonate crystals having a reduced caking property, which comprises making sodium sesquicarbonate be present on the surface of sodium hydrogencarbonate crystal particles. However, in order to convert sodium hydrogencarbonate to sodium sesquicarbonate, treatment with a high humidity in a long time is required, and accordingly the equipment tends to be large. Further, in the case of treatment at a temperature of at least 30° C. to shorten the treatment time, the temperature and the humidity at the time of conversion into sodium sesquicarbonate greatly vary depending upon the carbon dioxide gas concentration in the atmosphere, and accordingly the carbon dioxide gas concentration, the humidity and the temperature must be controlled with very high accuracy.
Patent Document 1: JP-A-5-58622
Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent No. 3306873
Patent Document 3: JP-A-2003-104722

Sodium hydrogencarbonate crystal particles having low caking property and process for producing them


There is disclosed a paint roller support device attachable or integrally mounted to a roller frame handle or extension handle. The support device comprises a pair of legs that are pivotable with respect to each other, thereby defining open and closed positions, and further pivotable away from the roller frame handle or extension handle. When the legs are in the open position and oriented away from the long axis of the roller frame/extension handle, the support device provides a generally planar support surface by which the roller frame/extension handle can be placed on the floor, on a table or against a wall such that a nap of a roller cover is spaced apart from the resting surface.

Paint rollers are well known. A known problem with the use of paint rollers is that, once the nap of the roller cover has become wet with paint, the roller can not be placed on the floor or rested against a wall without getting paint on the floor or wall, because the wet roller nap contacts the resting surface. Commonly, the painter keeps a paint tray or paint bucket nearby while painting to provide a repository for the wet roller. This is frequently an inconvenience, since the painter needs to return the roller to the tray or bucket during periods of rest or while painting trim with a brush.


Methods for distributing content in an entertainment system are provided. The entertainment system includes a plurality of clients connected in a bi-directional loop configuration. Each of the plurality of clients has at least one associated video display unit. The method includes deriving a content distribution plan for distributing content files to the plurality of clients based on a theoretical symmetric system where each of the plurality of clients in the symmetric system is configured to store at least a fraction of each of the content files; and applying the derived content distribution plan for distributing content files to an actual entertainment system wherein each of the content files are stored in full in at least one of the plurality of clients of the system to provide an actual content distribution plan for the actual entertainment system. Related entertainment systems and content distribution modules are also provided.

In-flight entertainment (IFE) systems are deployed onboard aircraft to provide entertainment for passengers in a passenger cabin. Video display units are used to deliver services, such as audio/video-on-demand (AVOD), web browsing, email, voice-over-internet protocol (IP), shopping, games, and the like for the IFE.
Typically, in-flight television programs are provided through personal video display units (VDUs) installed at each passenger seat or on overhead VDUs that can be spaced over groups of seats. Audio content is provided through personal headsets connected to audio jacks installed in the seats, usually in the armrest of the seats. When installed at each passenger seat, all seats can be networked to one or more centralized content servers to receive video/audio content. Ethernet is an example communications network that can be used for data packet communications between the content server(s), which is usually installed somewhere in an airplane hidden from the passengers view, and the VDUs.
In some conventional systems, for example, the system illustrated in FIG. 1, video display units (VDUs) 120 can be connected in a logical ring network connected to a head-end server 110. Each link in the network loop may be bidirectional, thus allowing at least two non-overlapping data paths between a network node (e.g., VDU) to any other node (e.g., VDU) for redundancy.
To provide media content, the VDUs 120 are fed a steady stream of media/data from either a local storage subsystem or from the head-end server 110. In some systems all content is stored at the head-end server 110, in others all content is stored locally at the seat-back client 120.
A typical IFE operator's requirement is that each VDU 120 (client) has access to a total data volume in the order of 1 terabyte (TB). If the data is stored at one or more (for redundancy) head-end servers 110, then the cost to develop, deploy, and operate a high-performance server is necessary, for example, to handle worst-case concurrent demand. On the other hand, if the entire data volume is stored locally at each client 120, then the cost, per client 120 would be prohibitive due to the large storage requirement and the number of clients needed.
Between these extremes, there is a continuum of implementation choices for state-of-the-art in conventional systems. For example, an operator may choose to store popular data locally at the VDU (client 120) and infrequently accessed data at the server (head-end 110), thus possibly reducing the server's high-performance requirement due to lowered effective demand. However, a hybrid implementation is often more costly than just a linear combination of the two extremes' due to the high non-recurring cost of new functional development for two devices.
Alternatively, the IFE operator may choose to accept a certain level of service outage (probabilistically) and undersize the server's performance capacity to reduce server cost. If a new passenger's request exceeds the server's instantaneous spare capacity, it may be rejected. This approach may incur a less tangible cost associated with lowered quality-of-experience for the passengers. Accordingly, improved methods and systems for content distribution may be desired.

Content distribution methods for a ring network and related systems and computer program products


A plunger is described which utilizes the suction cup principle to its fullest potential. The suction cup action is actuated by a lever arm which is operatively connected to the suction cup rod. This device can further contain a splash guard which will eliminate splashing or spilling caused by the rapid plunger action.

A number of drain opening devices are known from the prior art. Those which apply force, other than that which is generated from the suction cup, include piston-type drain cleaning devices as described in U.S. Pat. Nos.: 2,218,050; 739,120; 766,734; 1,040,276; 1,047,726; 2,128,217; 2,456,092; 2,697,842; 3,641,597; 4,542,543; 4,186,451; 3,934,280; 4,733,414; 4,674,137 and Canadian Patents 339,790; 155,937; 243,319 and 529,543. The piston type suction plungers for clearing clogged drains or pipes are very complex in structure as can be seen from the above-noted references.
A second device used for clearing clogged drains relies on the use of compressed gas or air to provide the required pressure to clear the clogged drains. Examples of this type of drain clearing device can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,939,154 and Canadian Patent 358,907.
A third type is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,644,943, which utilizes the suction cup action of a standard plunger, but replaces the firm handle with a resilient handle which is compressed and stretched as the operating handle is reciprocated. This device reportedly can be operated with use of only one hand and, therefore, has certain advantages over the known plunger device.
The present drain or pipe clearing device utilizes the suction cup principle to its fullest potential, with ease, and without resulting in any slashing or spilling caused by turbulence when the drain or pipe clearing device is in use.