The application relates to a method for the automatic determination of the geometrical dimensions of a tool having a machining region in worm thread form, in particular of a grinding worm, in a gear cutting machine, wherein at least one parameter of the tool is automatically detected and/or determined by means of at least one sensor.

Methods and apparatus are known from the prior art in which grinding worms that are used at high to very high speeds can be dressed using a known and proven profiling process at low speeds and nevertheless have the required exact profile geometry at working speeds, i.e. in the stress condition under centrifugal force.
It is known that the measuring of the grinding worm profile can take place, for example, directly at the grinding worm by means of a contactless measurement system—such as laser optical distance measurement—or indirectly via the grinding and measuring of a sample workpiece. It is furthermore known here to measure the grinding worm profile at a profiled grinding worm that is slightly deformed due to the effect of the centrifugal forces at a working speed.
A multi-stage setting up process is required when setting up a gear cutting machine for machining precut gear workpieces. The geometrical dimensions of the tool first have to be manually determined outside the gear cutting machine or can also be taken from tool data sheets depending on the dimensions. These data subsequently have to be stored in the machine control. Some of these geometrical data change over the course of time with dressable tools—e.g. during dressing—such as the worm diameter or have to be additionally modified with a changed worm diameter to avoid profile errors such as applies, for example, to the lead or to the pressure angle. These data also have to be recorded over the grinding worm usage time so that they are available again on a repeat changing in of the tool.
In a further step in the setting up process, the location of the tool threads relative to the rotational position of the tool axis has to be stored in the control. This information and the position of the tool tooth spaces relative to the rotational position of the workpiece axis are required to be able to carry out an error-free, generator-coupled gear machining process. These further process steps are frequently called meshing.
In the subsequent machining process, only the location of the workpiece tooth spaces of each workpiece to be machined then has to be determined by means of a meshing sensor and the matching rotational position of the workpiece axis has to be stored. The rotational position of the workpiece axis is then synchronized with the rotational position of the tool axis in the machining process so that the tool threads can dip into the tooth spaces without collision and the workpiece can be machined in a generator-coupled manner.
To date, some of this total process is disadvantageously carried out manually or only semiautomatically despite the already highly automated gear cutting processes. The operator has thus previously had to position the tool relative to the tooth space of a workpiece during the first meshing after the substantially manual input of the geometrical parameters of the tool. For this purpose, the tool is manually rotated about its axis of rotation for so long until the teeth of the tool can dip into the tooth spaces without collision. The tool is subsequently delivered and a respective contact is established between the left and right tooth flanks of the tool by shifting or rotating the tool and the measured value for this is recorded. The tooth center position of the tool relative to the tooth space can be calculated from these contact dimensions and the rotational position of the tool at which it can dip into a known tooth space without collision can be determined therefrom.
All these manual worksteps bring about disadvantages such as increased dressing times and, due to the manual operation, possibly occurring incorrect settings of the gear cutting machine.
Only the measurement of the grinding worm profile shape has previously been known at the working speed of the grinding worm. What is not known, however, is using a contactless measurement system for determining various geometrical parameters of a tool having a machining region of worm thread shape. Tool parameters can be fully automatically determined and incorrect inputs can thus be prevented by the automated determination of the different geometrical dimensions of a tool which the gear cutting machine requires for the workpiece machining.
The tool can advantageously be a grinding worm. Other tools of similar design can, however, also be subjected to the method such as peel hobs when in so doing the special feature of the worm threads interrupted by the gashes are taken into account in the parameter determination.
It is therefore an object of the application to carry out a fully automatic determination of process-relevant geometrical parameters of the grinding worm, to determine an automated determination of the location of the worm thread position relative to the rotational position of the grinding worm about its axis and to enable an automatic meshing of the grinding worm in the gear teeth of a workpiece.
This object is achieved in accordance with the application by a method having the features including the automatic determination of at least one parameter of a grinding worm of a gear cutting machine, said method being including that at least one parameter of the grinding worm can be automatically detected and/or determined by means of at least one sensor.
"Parameter" can here be understood as different geometrical dimensions such as the worm diameter, the worm width, the lead angle and lead direction, but also the number of starts of the grinding worm. A "parameter" in the sense of the application can, however, also include other aspects.
The "meshing of the grinding worm" can mean that a so-called rolling engagement is realized between the grinding worm and a toothed workpiece. An exact positioning and alignment of the worm thread or, with multithread grinding worms, the worm threads of the grinding worm and relative to the teeth of the toothed workpiece are therefore an absolute necessity.
The basic requirement for the method is first a calibration process in which the exact location of the sensor with respect to the grinding wheel and its positioning within the gear cutting machine is determined and stored. This is in particular the case since the sensor cannot necessarily be arranged centrally with respect to the grinding worm or otherwise in a known or defined position and the method would thus not deliver any usable results with an unknown position of the sensor.
In accordance with the application, the parameters can thus be determined faster and more exactly in an automated manner. This method can likewise provide an inexpensive and grime-resistant possibility for determining the parameters of the grinding worm. This provides the advantage with respect to the initially described prior art that incorrect settings by the machine operator can be reduced and a faster tool change can likewise be realized.
It is furthermore advantageous that it is possible to react to temperature changes or temperature-induced changes of the gear cutting machine geometry and that object shifts, etc. can be detected by means of the sensor and can be compensated where necessary.
Advantageous embodiments of the application form the subject of the dependent claims.
In accordance with a first embodiment, the pitch, the module, the diameter, the lead and/or the location of the worm in the tool holder and its outer dimensions in the V direction can be determined by a calculatory processing of the detected and/or determined values.
In the method in accordance with the application, a calibration process can be carried out in a manner known per se where required to determine the location of the sensor with respect to the grinding worm and/or to the positioning within the gear cutting machine. The calibration process here means a step that could be carried out every time on the carrying out of the method in accordance with the application before the further steps or before the further step or that is alternatively carried out on a first carrying out of the method before the further steps and that can be omitted in following applications of the method. The location of the sensor with respect to its positioning within the gear cutting machine is inter alia determined in the calibration process. The sensor here does not have to be literally arranged within the gear cutting machine, but can rather only be part of the structure of the gear cutting machine and can thus, for example, be arranged at one of the outer sides of the gear cutting machine.
In a further embodiment, the grinding worm is moved to a predefined reference point, the alignment of the A axis to 0°, to determine the number of starts. A plurality of revolutions, in particular three revolutions, of the grinding worm about the B axis is thereupon subsequently detected by the sensor.
Provision can be made in a further embodiment of the application that at least one respective measurement is carried out by means of the sensor above and below the axis center of the grinding worm to determine the lead direction and/or that the grinding worm is rotated and the lead direction is determined by a mutual displacement of the sensor and/or of the grinding worm in the V direction. In the first-named variant, a measurement is, for example, carried out above and below the center and in particular spaced apart from the center of the grinding worm in an axial direction, with it being possible subsequently to calculate and thus fix the lead direction of the grinding worm in a calculatory manner by the determination of these two points on the grinding worm. In the second-named variant, the determination of the lead direction is carried out such that the lead direction is determined by means of a rotation of the grinding worm and of a simultaneously occurring relative displacement in a specific V direction. With a previously correctly assumed lead direction, the signal obtained remains constant since the sensor moves synchronously with the worm thread. The assumption of the direction can thus be confirmed. If the signal drops because the sensor has moved relative to the worm thread, a conclusion can be drawn from this that the lead direction was incorrectly assumed and the direction of movement of the sensor has to be adapted accordingly. The lead direction can likewise be accordingly determined by means of the sensor.
In accordance with a further embodiment, the grinding worm can be traveled along its longitudinal axis direction or V axis direction or V direction to mesh the grinding worm, with the position of the teeth along the V axis direction being determined by means of the sensor and the center position between two teeth being calculated or determined from this.
In accordance with a embodiment, the sensor can be an optical sensor, an inductive sensor, a capacitive sensor, or an ultrasound sensor and can work in an analog or digital manner. The combination of the different principles and, alternatively or additionally, an embodiment of the application with more than one sensor is accordingly conceivable, with the sensors also being able to be configured differently here. This provides the advantage that a respective sensor can be used in dependence on the material of the grinding worm to be detected and a variable embodiment of the method is accordingly possible.
In an embodiment, a determination of different parameters by means of the sensor is possible for the automatic meshing of asymmetrical profiles. This provides the advantage that the meshing of a grinding worm having an asymmetric worm profile can likewise be carried out automatically and reliably.
The application is further directed to a gear cutting machine for carrying out one of the aforesaid methods, wherein a sensor is provided for scanning a grinding worm.
Further features, details, and advantages of the application are explained with reference to the embodiment shown by way of example in the Figures.

Method for the automatic determination of the geometrical dimensions of a tool in a gear cutting machine


An adjustable cargo support system comprising: at least one pair of spaced apart tracks that are generally vertically oriented proximate at least one wall of a transport vehicle; at least one support cross member with two ends and an intermediate portion therebetween; and a means for adjusting a height of the support cross member, which includes one actuator device that is generally located between the support cross member ends, so that a user adjust the height of the support cross member at a central location, thereby allowing the support cross member to be moved generally vertically without the user alternatingly having to move one end of the support cross member and then the other end of the support cross member.

In transport vehicles for handling freight such as trucks, ships, and rail road cars, typically the cargo is placed on the floor of a container and the container is connected to and/or placed in the transport vehicle. In storing the cargo on the floor of the container only, the entire volume of the carrier may not be used, thus, a container may be transported that is not filled to capacity. Some cargo support systems have been created that allow for more packages to be stacked in a container. Examples of such cargo support systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,895,867; 6,364,583; and 6,074,143 all of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. Such cargo support systems often will include at least one support cross member that is adjustably connected at its end to a pair of vertical tracks. An example of a commercially available cargo support system is that offered under the name Lift-A-Deck® II, from Ancra, LLC.
One disadvantage faced by these cargo support systems is that the support cross member may only be moved when the user is in proximity with a lock on an end of the support cross member. The user may have to move one end of the support cross member and then move to the other side of the support cross member and then repeat these steps until the desired height of the support cross member is achieved. This may be very time consuming and inefficient as a container may include 10, 15, 20, 25 or more support cross members that may need to be moved. What is needed is a support cross member that allows the user to operate both locks simultaneously. It is also important for any such system to be able to resist static and/or dynamic forces that are applied on the support cross member during transit by the loads that are placed on the support cross member.

Single point release mechanism for adjustable decking


An array substrate for a liquid crystal display device includes a gate line on a substrate; a gate electrode connected to the gate line; a gate insulating layer on the gate line and the gate electrode and including a gate opening; an active layer on the gate insulating layer and overlapping the gate electrode; an ohmic contact layer on the active layer; a source electrode on the ohmic contact layer; a drain electrode on the ohmic contact layer and spaced apart from the source electrode, wherein one end of the drain electrode is disposed in the gate opening; a data line on the gate insulating layer and connected to the source electrode, the data line crossing the gate line; a passivation layer on the data line and the source and drain electrodes and including a pixel opening, wherein the pixel opening exposes the drain electrode in the gate opening and a portion of the gate insulating layer; and a pixel electrode on the gate insulating layer and in the pixel opening, the pixel electrode contacting the one end of the drain electrode in the gate opening.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display (LCD) device and more particularly to an array substrate including a thin film transistor having improved properties and a method of fabricating the array substrate.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Since a liquid crystal display (LCD) device has characteristics of light weight, thinness and low power consumption, LCD devices have been widely used. Among the known types of LCD devices, active matrix LCD (AM-LCD) devices, which have thin film transistors (TFTs) arranged in a matrix form, are the subject of significant research and development because of their high resolution and superior ability in displaying moving images.
Generally, the LCD device is manufactured through an array substrate fabricating process, a color filter substrate fabricating process and a cell process. In the array substrate fabricating process, array elements, such as a TFT and a pixel electrode, are formed on a first substrate. In the color filter substrate fabricating process, a color filter and a common electrode are formed on a second substrate. In a cell process, the first and second substrates are attached to each other with a liquid crystal interposed therebetween.
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the related art LCD device. The LCD device includes first and second substrates 12 and 22, and a liquid crystal layer 30. The first and second substrates 12 and 22 face each other, and the liquid crystal layer 30 is interposed therebetween.
The first substrate 12 includes a gate line 14, a data line 16, a TFT "Tr", and a pixel electrode 18. The gate line 14 and the data line 16 cross each other such that a region is formed between the gate and data lines 14 and 16 and is defined as a pixel region "P". The TFT "Tr" is formed at a crossing portion between the gate and data lines 14 and 16, and the pixel electrode 18 is formed in the pixel region "P" and connected to the TFT "Tr".
The second substrate 22 includes a black matrix 25, a color filter layer 26, and a common electrode 28. The black matrix 25 has a lattice shape to cover a non-display region of the first substrate 12, such as the gate line 14, the data line 16, the TFT "Tr". The color filter layer 26 includes first, second, and third sub-color filters 26a, 26b, and 26c. Each of the sub-color filters 26a, 26b, and 26c has one of red, green, and blue colors R, G, and B and corresponds to the each pixel region "P". The common electrode 28 is formed on the black matrix 25 and the color filter layers 26 and over an entire surface of the second substrate 22. The first substrate 12, which includes the TFT "Tr", the pixel electrode 18 and so on, may be referred to as an array substrate 10, and the second substrate 22, which includes the color filter layer 26, the common electrode 28 and so on, may be referred to as a color filter substrate 20.
Although not shown, to prevent the liquid crystal layer 30 from leaking, a seal pattern may be formed along edges of the first and second substrates 12 and 22. First and second alignment layers may be formed between the first substrate 12 and the liquid crystal layer 30 and between the second substrate 22 and the liquid crystal layer 30. A polarizer may be formed on an outer surface of the first and second substrates 12 and 22.
The LCD device further includes a backlight assembly (not shown) under the first substrate 12 to supply light to the liquid crystal layer 30. When a scanning signal is applied to the gate line 14 to control the TFT "Tr", a data signal is applied to the pixel electrode 18 through the data line 16 such that the electric field is induced between the pixel and common electrodes 18 and 28. As a result, the LCD device produces images using the light from the backlight assembly.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of one pixel region of an array substrate for the related art LCD device. Referring to FIG. 2, a gate line (not shown) and a data line 73 are disposed on a substrate 59. The gate line and the data line 73 cross each other to define a pixel region P. A gate electrode 60 connected to the gate line is disposed in the pixel region P and on the substrate 59. A gate insulating layer 68 is disposed on the gate line and the gate electrode 60. A semiconductor layer 70 including an active layer 70a and an ohmic contact layer 70b is disposed on the gate insulating layer 68 to correspond to the gate electrode 60. A source electrode 76 and a drain electrode 78 are disposed on the ohmic contact layer 70b. The source electrode 76 is connected to the data line 73, and the drain electrode 78 is spaced apart from the source electrode 76. The gate electrode 60, the gate insulating layer 68, the semiconductor layer 70, the source electrode 76 and the drain electrode 78 constitute a TFT Tr. Since the semiconductor layer 70 and the source and drain electrodes 76 and 78 are formed through different mask process, the source and drain electrodes 76 and 78 cover both ends of the semiconductor layer 70, respectively.
A passivation layer 86 including a drain contact hole 80 is disposed on the data line 73 and the TFT Tr. The drain contact hole 80 exposes a portion of the drain electrode 78. A pixel electrode 88 is disposed on the passivation layer 86 in each pixel region P and contacts the drain electrode 78 through the drain contact hole 87.
These elements of the array substrate are formed by a photolithography process. The photolithography process may be referred to as a mask process. The mask process includes a step of forming a photoresist (PR) layer on an objective layer, a step of exposing the PR layer to light using a first mask, a step of developing the exposed PR layer to form a PR pattern, a step of etching the objective layer using the PR pattern as an etching mask to form a desired pattern, and a step of stripping the PR pattern. The PR material for the PR layer is classified into a positive type and a negative type. In the positive type, exposed portion are developed. On the contrary, in the negative type, exposed portions remain to form the PR pattern.
A fabricating method of the array substrate show in FIG. 2 will be explained below.
A first metal layer (not shown) is formed on the substrate 59 by depositing a first metallic material. The first metal layer is patterned by a first mask process to the gate line and the gate electrode 60. Next, the gate insulating layer 68 is formed by depositing or coating a first insulating material. Next, an intrinsic amorphous silicon layer (not shown) and an impurity-doped amorphous silicon layer (not shown) are sequentially formed on the gate insulating layer 68 by depositing intrinsic amorphous silicon and impurity-doped amorphous silicon. The intrinsic amorphous silicon layer and the impurity-doped amorphous silicon layer are patterned by a second mask process to form the semiconductor layer 70 including the active layer 70a and the ohmic contact layer 70b.
Next, a second metal layer (not shown) is formed on the semiconductor layer 70 by depositing a second metallic material. The second metal layer is patterned by a third mask process to form the data line 73, the source electrode 76 and the drain electrode 78. A center portion of the ohmic contact layer 70b is removed using the source and drain electrodes 76 and 78 as an etching mask such that a center portion of the active layer 70a is exposed. The gate electrode 60, the gate insulating layer 68, the semiconductor layer 70, the source electrode 76 and the drain electrode 78 constitute a TFT Tr.
Next, the passivation layer 86 is formed on the data line 73 and the TFT Tr by depositing or coating a second insulating material. The passivation layer 86 is patterned by a fourth mask process to form the drain contact hole 80. Next, a transparent conductive material layer (not shown) is formed on the passivation layer 86 by depositing a transparent conductive material. The transparent conductive material layer is patterned by a fifth mask process to form the pixel electrode 88.
Namely, the array substrate in FIG. 2 is fabricated by a five mask process. As a number of the mask process is increased, production costs are increase and production yield is decreased.
To resolve these problems, an array substrate fabricated by a four mask process is introduced. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of one pixel region of an array substrate for the related art LCD device.
Referring to FIG. 3, after forming the gate line (not shown) and the gate electrode 105, an insulating material, intrinsic amorphous silicon, impurity-doped amorphous silicon, and a metallic material are sequentially deposited to form the gate insulating layer 110, an intrinsic amorphous silicon layer (not shown), an impurity-doped amorphous silicon layer (not shown), and a metallic material layer. The metallic material layer, the intrinsic amorphous silicon layer and the impurity-doped amorphous silicon layer are patterned by a single mask process, where a refractive exposing mask or a half-tone mask is used, to form the semiconductor layer 120, which includes the active layer 120a and the ohmic contact layer 120b, the data line 127, the source electrode 130 and the drain electrode 135. Since the semiconductor layer 120, the data line 127, the source electrode 130 and the drain electrode 135 in the array substrate shown in FIG. 3 are formed by a single mask process, the array substrate in FIG. 3 can be fabricated by a four mask process.
Unfortunately, there are some problems on the array substrate fabricated by the fourth mask process. In the four mask process, since the semiconductor layer 120, the data line 127, the source electrode 130 and the drain electrode 135 are formed by a single mask process using a refractive exposing mask or a half-tone mask, ends 121 of the active layer 120a is not covered by the source and drain electrodes 130 and 135. Light from an exterior space is irradiated into the ends 121 of the active layer 120a such that problems, for example, photo-current leakage, are generated in the TTFT Tr.
In addition, an active pattern 122a and an ohmic contact pattern 122b are formed under the data line 127. Light from the backlight unit under the array substrate is irradiated on the active pattern 122a such that problems, for example, wavy noise, are generated. As a result, displaying image quality is deteriorated.
Furthermore, since the active pattern 122a protrudes beyond the data line 127 and has a width greater than the data line 127, an aperture ratio is reduced. The pixel electrode should have a distance from the data line. Namely, referring again to FIG. 2, to avoid an electrical interference between the data line 73 and the pixel electrode 88, the pixel electrode 88 has a first distance d1 from the data line 73. Referring to FIG. 3, since there is the active pattern 122a, which protrudes beyond the data line 127, the pixel electrode 150 should have a second distance d2, which is greater than the first distance d1 (of FIG. 2), from the data line 127. Namely, to avoid an electrical interference between the active pattern 122a and the pixel electrode 150, the pixel electrode 150 has a third distance d3, which is equal to the first distance d1 (of FIG. 2), from the active pattern 122a. Since the pixel electrode 150 should have a greater distance from the data line 127, a black matrix, which is disposed on a counter substrate, for preventing light leakage through a space between the pixel electrode 150 and the data line 127, should have a larger width. As a result, an aperture ratio is reduced.

Array substrate for liquid crystal display device and method of fabricating the same


Exemplary embodiments may provide an online automobile purchasing experience for a customer. The experience may be provided by, or associated with, a financial institution. The automobile buying experience may be accessible to both customers of the financial institution as well as non-customers. Customers of the financial institution may receive added benefits during and after the experience. Non-customers may have the opportunity to become a customer of the financial institution as part of the experience.

Many car buyers dislike the traditional car buying experience. This dislike has led to car buyers using online (e.g., Internet based) automobile buying services or loan providers. However, current online automobile buying services suffer from numerous deficiencies. For example, current online, or Internet based, automobile buying services: do not offer integrated loan applications and approval (including requiring separate credit applications at the dealer), have limited dealer participation, have vehicle restrictions (e.g., the service is restricted to only new or used vehicles), require a membership (e.g., are restricted to members only or require joining prior to using the service), fail to reflect actual new car inventory at participating dealers, lack the ability to account for trade-ins or down payments, some offer only online car choices (e.g., lack a physical dealer tie-in), are merely financing services (i.e., lack a automobile configuration or selection component). Many services have a combination of the preceding deficiencies and/or suffer from other deficiencies. Overall, these existing services fail to offer a complete car buying experience for a user.
These and other deficiencies exist. Exemplary embodiments solve these deficiencies.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Systems and methods for online automobile purchasing


A DC power conversion circuit having self-auxiliary power and self-protection against a short or open load circuit includes a DC voltage source, a driving circuit, and an auxiliary circuit. The DC voltage source is used for providing a DC power. The driving circuit includes a switch, a first resistor, a control signal generator, a second resistor, a diode and an inductor. The switch is used for conducting or cutting off an electrical connection according to an incoming control signal. The control signal generator senses voltage of the first resistor to generate the control signal. The inductor is coupled between the first resistor and a load circuit. The auxiliary circuit is parallel to the inductor and includes an auxiliary capacitor and an auxiliary diode. The auxiliary capacitor is coupled between the first resistor and the second resistor. The auxiliary diode is coupled between the inductor and the auxiliary capacitor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a direct-current (DC) power conversion circuit, and more particularly, to a DC power conversion circuit having self-auxiliary power and self-protection against a short or open load circuit.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, a light emitting diode (LED) has been widely applied to various IT and consumer electronic products, used in an indication light or display devices. Unlike a traditional incandescent light bulb, the LED is a luminescent device having advantages of low power consumption, long life, extremely short warm-up time and fast reaction. Moreover, the LED is fitly used in small-scale array devices because of its small size, high vibration tolerance and realization of mass production. According to the physical characteristic of the LED, an LED current varies with a forward bias across the LED by a exponential relationship, indicating that luminance of the LED is proportional to the current. That is, the larger the current the LED bears, the stronger light the LED emits. Thus, there is a need of a conversion circuit to control the forward bias in order for the LED to output steady light.
Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a schematic diagram of a DC/DC conversion circuit 10 according to the prior art. The DC/DC conversion circuit 10 includes a DC voltage source 100, a switch transistor 102, a resistor 104, a diode 106, an inductor 108, a control signal generator 110, a load circuit 112 and a linear regulator 114. The linear regulator 114 is commonly an IC or a simple bias circuit and used for regulating voltage provided by the DC voltage source 100 down to a proper voltage level, so as to provide working voltage for the control signal generator 110. The control signal generator 110 senses voltage or current across the two ends of the sensing resistor 104 and thereby generates a control signal Sc to control the switch transistor 102. With turn-on and turn-off of the switch transistor 102, the current outputted to the load circuit 112 can be controlled. Operations of the DC/DC conversion circuit 10 are simply described as follows. When the switch transistor 102 turns on, the diode 106 bears a reverse bias and thereby cuts off a loop L1 such that the DC voltage source 100 starts to charge the inductor 108. As soon as the switch transistor 102 turns off, the inductor 108 generates a reversed-polarity voltage. In other words, when the switch transistor 102 turns off, the diode 106 conducts the loop L1 so that the inductor 108 transfers electricity to the capacitor 110 and the load circuit 112.
In the prior art, the linear regulator 114 regulates voltage provided by the DC voltage source 100 for providing the control signal generator 110 with the working voltage. However, the linear regulator 114 of the DC/DC conversion circuit 10 usually has a poor efficiency of about 5%-10%, where the efficiency is a ratio of output voltage over input voltage of the linear regulator 114. For example, if the DC voltage source 100 provides a DC voltage of 170 Volts(V) in the DC/DC conversion circuit 10, the linear regulator 114 generally regulates the DC voltage down to 17V in a condition of a 10% efficiency. Assuming that a current across the linear regulator 114 is about 20 mA, the linear regulator 114 has power dissipation: (170−17)×20=3.06 Watt(W). As can be understood from the above, the prior art DC/DC conversion circuit 10 utilizes the linear regulator 114 having the poor efficiency, thereby resulting in large power dissipation. Therefore, the linear regulator 114 wastes energy and may be damaged due to overheat.


A method for manufacturing a rigid-flexible printed circuit board includes certain steps. A flexible substrate including an exposed portion and an attaching portion is provided. An adhesive sheet defining an opening, and a rigid copper clad laminate are provided. The rigid copper clad laminate includes an insulating layer and a copper layer. A blind first slit is defined in the insulating layer. The flexible substrate, the adhesive sheet and the copper clad laminate are laminated. An outer circuit is formed in the copper layer. A second slit is defined in the copper clad laminate, and the second slit is in communication with the first slit. A portion of the copper clad laminate is removed to expose the flexible portion of the flexible substrate.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to printed circuit boards (PCBs), and particularly, relates to a method for manufacturing a rigid-flexible printed circuit board.
2. Description of Related Art
Rigid-flexible printed circuit boards (R-F PCBs) are widely used in electronic devices. A rigid-flexible printed circuit board has a rigid region and a flexible region. The rigid region is configured for assembling electronic components and maintaining electrical connections among the electronic components. The flexible region is connected to the rigid region and can be bent relative to the rigid region. Thus, a number of electronic components can be assembled on the rigid region of the rigid flexible printed circuit board without occupying too much space.
A rigid-flexible printed circuit board is generally formed by laminating a rigid substrate to a flexible substrate which has an electrically conductive circuit. Before laminating, an opening is formed in the rigid substrate to expose one portion of the flexible substrate. As a result of the difference in respective thicknesses between the exposed portion of flexible substrate and the flexible substrate laminated together with the rigid substrate, the exposed portion of the flexible may wrinkle or crinkle, thereby causing a break(s) in the electrically conductive circuit of the exposed portion of flexible substrate.
What is needed, therefore, is a method for manufacturing a rigid-flexible printed circuit board which overcomes the above-described problems.

Method for manufacturing rigid-flexible printed circuit board

FuKui Precision Component (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd.


An image processing apparatus receives a number of pages to be included in one file from a user, and reads an original. The image communication apparatus divides image data of the read original at each set of the received number of pages, and creates a file including the image data for each division of the divided image data.

In a mail server, because performance worsens when processing a large volume of electronic mail, often the mail server is set so as to restrict the data amount of electronic mail, and to not send more than a predetermined data amount of electronic mail. Therefore, when transmitting a large volume of electronic mail, data of that electronic mail is divided using a message/partial format MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) identifier prescribed in RFC 2046. Thus, the electronic mail is transmitted such that the data amount of the electronic mail does not exceed a data amount that has been set in advance.
Also, in an image communication apparatus that reads and transmits an original, it is difficult to predict how much data will be transmitted prior to reading the original with a scanner. Therefore, there are instances in which, when attempting to transmit image data of an original that was read, the data amount is a prescribed amount or greater and so a transmission error occurs. In order to address such problems, for example in Patent Literature 1 (PTL 1), a technique is described in which image data that was obtained by reading with a scanner is divided into page units, and is transmitted such that the transmitted data amount does not exceed a prescribed value.
Also, in Patent Literature 2 (PTL 2), a technique is described in which, in a case where the data amount of electronic mail received by a mail server exceeds a restriction value, that electronic mail is transmitted after being divided.

Image processing apparatus, method of controlling the same, and storage medium


A method and structure for an array of content addressable memory (CAM) cells is disclosed. Each of the CAM cells has a search line and a bitline parallel to the search line. Across the array, search lines and bit lines of the CAM cells are interdigitated so that the search lines and bitlines alternate across the array. CAM cell macro""s are inverted with respect to adjacent macros to balance parasitic capacitances across the array.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an integrated circuit content addressable memory (CAM) cells in which the search line and the bit line are interdigitated.
2. Description of the Related Art
Content addressable memory (CAM) cells are very popular for use in integrated circuits because of their flexibility, cost effectiveness, and other efficiency reasons. However, CAM cells have some inefficiencies relating to capacitance and capacitive coupling. The invention described below overcomes these problems by providing new structures that reduce capacitive coupling without requiring shielding or other complicated schemes.
The invention discloses an array of content addressable memory (CAM) cells. Each of the CAM cells has a search line and a bitline parallel to the search line. Across the array, search lines and bit lines of the CAM cells are interdigitated so that the search lines and bitlines alternate across the array.
In the invention, a top matchline and bottom matchline run perpendicular to the search line and the bitline. The array includes macros that have at least two of the CAM cells. Within each of the macros one of the following structures exists: a bit line is between two search lines; or a search line is between two bit lines. Each of the macros includes a common match clock line shared by the CAM cells within each macro. The layouts of adjacent macros are inverted with respect to one another. Each of the macros have a top wordline and a bottom wordline. The top wordline and the bottom wordline cross between each of the CAM macros. A match clock signal runs through each of the macros. The match clock signal includes a jog to accommodate the inverted layout of the adjacent macros.
The invention also discloses a memory array that has a plurality of content addressable memory (CAM) macros. Each of the macros includes at least two CAM cells. The layouts of the macros are alternatively inverted with respect to one another within the array so that layouts of each macro are inverted with respect to adjacent macros and to balance parasitic capacitance across the array.
The invention reduces cross-coupling noise between signals in a CAM design by interdigitating search and bit lines. Since bit lines and search lines are never active at the same time, the invention provides effective noise shielding during either a search or read/write operation. The inactive lines provide the necessary shielding between active lines. Further, the invention connects macros of CAM cells so as to balance parasitic capacitance between mirrored cells without impacting cell size by twisting match lines at separate metal levels or jogging the natty clock line connection between macros. By xe2x80x98flip-floppingxe2x80x99 macros, total parasitic capacitance mismatch between C1 and C2 of the overall design is balanced.

CAM cell with interdigitated search and bit lines

International Business Machines Corporation


A therapeutic composition which contains a potentiating or safening amount of an aqueous surfactant in combination with a bactericidal agent and/or a biological response modifier is described herein. The disclosure further describes an improved method for treating mastitis by administering the composition to an afflicted mammal. Additionally, the disclosure describes a method for screening suitable formulations for treating infectious diseases.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to new compositions in the treatment of mammalian diseases containing an aqueous surfactant in combination with a bactericidal agent or a biological response modifier to effectively enhance the biological activity and/or decrease the undesirable side effects thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Infectious diseases are a leading cause of hospitalization and morbidity in human and veterinary medicine. Improved methods of prevention and therapy remain a major unfilled need in medicine. Despite significant progress in infectious disease control due to widespread adoption of aseptic practices and antibiotic treatment, many infectious diseases remain refractory to treatment. In veterinary medicine, for example, clinical bovine mastitis is of serious economic importance and causes annual losses of an estimated $2 billion to dairy farmers in the United States alone, primarily due to discarded milk with antibiotic residues. One of the foremost etiological agents contributing to this loss is Staphylococcus aureus. Intramammary infections caused by S. aureus are usually chronic and subclinical in nature. The current treatment for S. aureus mastitis is antibiotic therapy. The conventional therapy is nevertheless considered undesirable because of its moderate to low efficacy in producing only a 25% to 50% cure rate and because of the typical three to four day milk discard due to antibiotic residues. The ineffectiveness of current antibiotic therapy has been attributed to some antibiotic resistant strains of S. aureus and to the sequestration of S. aureus within the host's cell. For this reason, bovine mastitis provides a valuable in vivo model to study infectious diseases of mammals.
Mucolytic peptides, such as lysostaphin, have been suggested to be efficacious in the treatment of S. aureus infections of humans (Schaffner et al., Yale J. Biol. & Med., 39:230 (1967) and bovine mastitis caused by S. aureus (Sears et al., J. Dairy Science, 71 (Suppl. 1): 244(1988)). Lysostaphin, a gene product of Staphylococcus simulans, exerts a bacteriostatic and bactericidal effect upon S. aureus by enzymatically degrading the polyglycine crosslinks of the cell wall (Browder et al., Res. Comm., 19: 393-400 (1965)). U.S. Pat. No. 3,278,378 describes fermentation methods for producing lysostaphin from culture media of S. staphylolyticus, later renamed S. simulans. Other methods for producing lysostaphin are further described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,398,056 and 3,594,284. The gene for lysostaphin has subsequently been cloned and sequenced (Recsei et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 84: 1127-1131 (1987)). The recombinant mucolytic bactericidal protein, such as r-lysostaphin, can potentially circumvent problems associated with current antibiotic therapy because of its targeted specificity, low toxicity and possible reduction of biologically active residues. Furthermore, lysostaphin is also active against non-dividing cells, while most antibiotics require actively dividing cells to mediate their effects (Dixon et al., Yale J. Biology and Medicine, 41: 62-68 (1968)). However, in vivo studies by Oldham, et al., J. Dairy Science, 74:4413 (1991), have demonstrated that the therapeutic efficacy of lysostaphin is not equivalent to the commercially available product CEFA-LAK.RTM. (cephapirin sodium, available from Bristol-Meyers, Evansville, Ind.).
Polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) also play a critical role in the pathophysiology of most bacterial infections. For example, it has been found that greater than 90% of the cells in an infected gland are PMNs (Daley et al., American Journal of Veterinary Research, 52 (3): 474-479 (1991)). PMNs demonstrate 10,000 fold variation in the efficiency of intracellular killing of S. aureus during somatic cell count cycling. PMNs from a gland infected with S. aureus are both quantitatively (total somatic cell count) and qualitatively (intracellular killing and phagocytic ability) different during the course of a cycling infection. Both the quantity and quality of phagocytic cells play a central role in the defense of the host against infections. It is seen that PMN activity (especially phagocytosis and intracellular killing) can be specifically manipulated using recombinant bovine cytokines and other bioresponse modifiers in the bovine mammary gland to elicit mastitis cures.
A number of cytokines stimulate the growth and differentiation of hematopoietic and other somatic cells. For example, a cytokine such as GM-CSF is able to increase the development of granulocytes and macrophages. Lymphokines such as IL-2 are found to be secreted by T cells when stimulated by antigenic substances and IL-2 receptors have been described to be expressed by T cells, B cells, macrophages and specialized epithelium. Methods for preparing cytokines are well described in the literature (see, for example, Cerretti et al., Cloning sequence and expression of bovine interleukin-2, P.N.A.S., 83:3223-3227 (1986); Maliszewski et al., Cloning, sequence and expression of bovine interleukin 1.sub.a and interleukin 1.sub.b complementary DNAs, Molecular Immunology, 25:429-435 (1988); Maliszewski et al., Bovine GM-CSF: Molecular cloning and biological activity of the recombinant protein, Molecular Immunol., 25: 843-50 (1988); March et. al., Cloning, sequence and expression of two distinct human interleukin-1 complementary DNAs, Nature, 315:641-648 (1985)). Many cytokine genes have been cloned, expressed and characterized making possible the employment of recombinantly derived proteins in the therapy of a variety of hematopoietic and immune diseases (Cantrell et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 82:6250-6254 (1985)). Many of these immunomodulators, however, cause certain undesirable side effects which severely limit their practical usefulness (Winkelhake et al., Human recombinant interleukin-2 as an experimental therapeutic, Pharmacological Rev., 42:1 (1990); Taguchi, Clinical effects of interferon on malignancies, Japan J. Cancer Chemo., 11:194 (1984); Dinarello et al., Multiple biological activities of human recombinant interleukin-1, J. Clin. Invest., 77:1734 (1986)).
Ideally, the composition useful in infectious disease therapy should be optimized for efficacy, have minimal residues and have minimal toxic effects. Considering the level of efficacy of the currently available commercial preparations for some infectious diseases, new therapeutics which would have improved biological potency with little or no side effects are highly desirable.

Compositions for the treatment of mammalian diseases


An embodiment of the present invention enables an improvement in image resolution. A projection device (1) includes: a light source (11); a MEMS mirror (14) which reflects and two-dimensionally scans the laser beam emitted from the light source; and a free-form lens (15) which changes focusing properties of the laser beam reflected by the scanning section such that, after propagation of the laser beam to a screen (20) onto which the image is to be projected, a shape of the laser beam when viewed on the screen has a first width that is shorter than a second width of the shape, the first width being along a horizontal direction corresponding to a primary scanning direction in which the MEMS mirror scans the laser beam, the second width being along a vertical direction.

A projection device which two-dimensionally scans a laser beam so as to project an image on a projection surface (screen) is disclosed in, for example, Patent Literatures 1 and 2.
Patent Literature 1 discloses a projection device including: a collimator lens collimating a laser beam emitted from a light source; a beam contracting/shaping element that reduces a luminous beam width in a predetermined direction of the laser beam emitted from the collimator lens; a condensing lens that converts the laser beam into focused light; and a two-dimensional scanning unit configured to two-dimensionally scan and project the laser beam emitted from the condensing lens.
Patent Literature 2 discloses a projection device including: a plurality of light sources; and a lens which causes at least one target light beam to have a point image on a projection surface such that a width of the point image in the slow-axis scan direction is greater than the width of the point image in the fast-axis scan direction. The at least one target light beam is selected from among a plurality of beams constituting combined light, the combined light being obtained by combining light emitted from the plurality of light sources.


Glycero-phosphatidylcholine is acylated with a higher fatty acid anhydride in the presence of a special organic solvent in the absence of a catalyst.

This invention relates to a novel process for producing phosphatidylcholine derivatives useful as elementary material of liposomes, etc. used in the field of drug-delivery system (DDS) and clinical diagnostic drug.
As the method for producing diacyl-phosphatidylcholines (hereinafter simply referred to as "DAPC"), acylation of glycero-phosphatidylcholine is usually adopted and has been widely practised hitherto. This method can roughly be classified into the following four processes.
(1) Acylation using fatty acid chloride (Can. J. Biochem. Physiol., 37, 953 (1959), etc.);
(2) Acylation using 1-acylimidazole (U.S. Pat. No. 4,130,571);
(3) Acylation using fatty acid anhydride in the absence of solvent (Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 187, 520 (1969), etc.);
(4) Acylation using fatty acid anhydride in the presence of an esterification catalyst such as N,N-dimethyl-4-aminopyridine, N,N-pyrrolidinopyridine or the like (U.S. Pat. No. 4,690,784).
However, all these processes are disadvantageous in the following points. Thus, the acylation process (1) using fatty acid chloride is disadvantageous in that the reaction cannot progress sufficiently unless a basic catalyst such as pyridine and the like is used, and when such a basic catalyst is used the catalyst remaining in the system after the reaction must be removed by the use of ion exchange resin or the like, which makes the procedure troublesome. The acylation process (2) which comprises converting a fatty acid into imidazole derivative to activate the acyl group and then carrying out acylation with the derivative is disadvantageous in that the reaction takes a long period of time and gives only a low yield, the acylating agent liberates imidazole of which separation and removal is troublesome similarly to above, and the acylating agent is expensive. The acylation process (3) which comprises carrying out acylation in the absence of solvent by the use of a fatty acid anhydride is disadvantageous in that the reaction system has a high viscosity, workability of the process is not good, and the reaction takes a long period of time, so that the process is by no means adoptable commercially. The acylation process (4) which comprises carrying out acylation by the use of fatty acid anhydride in the presence of a basic catalyst is disadvantageous in that the basic catalyst remaining after the reaction must be removed with ion exchange resin or the like, which results in increasing the number of steps and makes the procedure troublesome.

Novel process for producing phosphatidylcholine derivatives


The present specification describes a telescopic thermometer that allows a user to measure surface or air temperature in hardly accessible places. The telescopic thermometer includes a telescopic body with a temperature sensor attached at remote end of the telescopic body and a magnet used to temporarily attach the thermometer to a place near the place of measurement for hands free operation. A display unit at user end displays the temperature readings received from the sensor. The temperature readings are transmitted to a networked device for storing and processing.

Conventional hand-held thermometers may facilitate measuring the temperature but are not very accurate in measuring the temperature of the surfaces or of the air flows. Also, the conventional hand-held thermometers are not effective in measuring temperature the temperature of remote places as the distance between the thermometer and the place of interest can cause errors in the reading. This a significant problem for HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) devices.
There are two types of thermometers that are most commonly used in the HVAC field for measuring the temperature in an operating forced air unit. A first type is the electronic probe thermometer, more commonly recognized as a meat thermometer. This type of thermometer has a rigid pointy probe (metal probe) that one, in cooking applications, would stick into the center of a cooked roast. The electronic probe thermometer works by generating a small current across the electrodes of the metal probe, measuring how much current flows through the probe and thus the electrical resistance across the probe. Inside the thermometer, a microchip is used to convert this resistance into a temperature measurement that is displayed on the screen of the thermometer. The screen is provided on the opposite side of the probe, in front of the user, for enabling the user to see and record the temperature. This type of thermometer is also used in the HVAC field, and it comes in different shapes of housing. The electronic probe thermometer is without a doubt the most accurate thermometer and the most trusted for accuracy by a HVAC technician for many years.
However, all versions of electronic thermometers in the HVAC field use the same rigid straw-like metal probe with a pointy end to obtain air temperatures.
A disadvantage of using an electronic probe thermometer for obtaining air temperatures for HVACs is when a HVAC technician is seeking air temperature in a conditioned space. In this case, in most settings (90%), the technician needs a ladder because the metal air vent register that conditioned air is blowing out of, is in many cases over 10 feet above the floor. Therefore, in this scenario a technician would walk into a home, set up a ladder, climb the ladder to get within arm's length of the of an air supply grill to measure the temperature. He/she would then pull out a probe thermometer and insert the rigid probe inside, or very near, the air vent register so that the stream of conditioned air passes over the probe triggering the display unit to show the temperature on the screen. However, the correct temperature of the air is not provided immediately; it can take a few minutes for the probe thermometer to read the true temperature of the air. The main factor for the time delay is that the thermometer has been stored in a tool bag that has been sitting in a hot environment outdoors therefore heating up the probe of the thermometer. So, when being used to measure cold air, the cold air stream must first cool down the hot probe then bring it down to conditioned air temp. The hotter the probe, the longer the wait for accurate air temperature blowing from the air vent. Because of this, an HVAC technician might have his arms up holding the probe in a fixed position on a ladder for up to 4 minutes. This can be very tiering and frustrating for the technician.
To reduce the strain of the art held-out for such a long time, some technicians use a piece of duct tape and tape the thermometer to the air vent with the probe inside the grill to catch the air temperature, freeing the arms from holding the thermometer. This allows the technician to save time and perform other tasks as for example to check the refrigerant level or change the filter while the thermometer is taking time to record accurate air temperature. After the technician has recorded the air temperature coming from the air vent and the thermometer is no longer needed, the technician must climb back up the ladder, remove the tape and detach the probe thermometer from the air vent.
To summarize, the probe thermometer is the most accurate device in use today, but it requires the use of a ladder or the like for obtaining air temperature from air vents which is inconvenient and time consuming.
A second type of thermometer is a hand-held infrared laser thermometer which does not require the use of a ladder when seeking air temp from elevated air vents in the ceiling. With the infrared laser thermometer, a technician can be at ground level and shoot an infrared laser beam at the surface of the air vent and get near accurate air temperature. This measurement is displayed on a digital screen that is located on the hand-held device. This thermometer is convenient because no ladder is needed and it can provide temperatures on air vents that are hard to access even with a ladder because of obstructions like furniture or shelves.
However, it is well recognized that these infrared devices display wrong temperature readings; the readings may be so far off the technician knows there is a malfunction. The cause of errors in infrared thermometers include the reflection of radiation from a hotter body rather than radiated by the object measured. Sometimes, especially near ambient temperatures, the readings may be subject to error due to the body of the person holding the instrument. Also, the infrared thermometers do not capture the temperature of the air itself but only of the surface of the grill near the flowing air. For example, a user can take a temperature reading from 8 feet and get a reading of 105° F. At this distance, the user can feel the air from the air vent blowing and assume the reading will be between 75° F. and 80° F., to immediately realize that the reading is wrong.
Moreover, infrared laser thermometers are expensive since they employ infrared technology. In addition, conventionally, the measured temperature readings are temporarily stored in the memory of the thermometer and are then recorded manually by the user. Manually recording the temperature is prone to human errors. Also, the recorded temperature readings are prone to loss since the readings are stored temporarily. Conventionally, there are no ways of extracting the temperature reading from the telescopic thermometer.
To summarize, the infrared thermometer is convenient because no ladder or the like is required to obtain near accurate air temperature readings from an air vent, but it is an unreliable source if an exact air temp is desired by a technician.
Considering the pros and cons of both the probe type and the infrared laser type thermometers, there is need to have a thermometer that would give an accurate air temperature reading like a probe thermometer and at the same time be able to reach air vents and read air temperature of air vents or inside the air vents that are out of reach, without the use of a ladder like a infrared thermometer.
It is extremely important to use accurate air temperature readings in the formula for calibrating the operation of an AC system, called target super heat and sub cooling formula, to obtain a system running at maximum efficiency. Another important formula that requires accurate air temperature measurements is called the "temperature split" which is uses the difference in temperature between the return and supply air temperatures. Temperature split formula is used in almost every service call in the HVAC industry.
Also, there is a need to enable proper record keeping for the temperature readings, in order to enable comprehensive maintenance and repair for HVAC devices.
It is to be noted that while the specification describes the preferred embodiments with reference to the HVAC field, the telescopic thermometer presented here may be used in any other field of activity where remote measurements are necessary.


A radio transceiver (100) has both a radio frequency power amplifier (102) and a relatively high output audio power amplifier (110). The RFPA amplifies a linearly modulated signal. A shared power regulator (108) provides supply voltage to both amplifiers at the same time. However, usually only one is active at any given time, and hence the supply voltage is controlled so as to follow the envelope of the signal being amplified, whether it is the transmit signal or the audio signal. When both amplifiers are active, the supply voltage can be set to a fixed level, or it can follow the higher of the two envelopes.

This invention relates in general to power control for mobile communication devices, and more particularly to optimizing the efficiency of power amplifiers in mobile communication devices.
Portable radio transceivers, such as those found in ordinary communication devices, contain both a radio frequency (RF) amplifier and an audio amplifier. The RF amplifier amplifies the modulated radio signal that is transmitted by the device, while the audio amplifier amplifies the audio signal received by the device. In all portable or mobile communication devices battery life is an important design consideration. In most mobile communication devices the RF amplifier requires a relatively high amount of power. Accordingly, they are usually designed to be as efficient as permissible within other design criteria so as to reduce the power demand, and thus increase battery life. In many mobile communication devices, such as cellular phones, the audio amplifier does not use as much power because driving an earpiece speaker, even at full volume, doesn""t require nearly as much power as the RF amplifier. However, in some mobile communication devices, such as trunked radios, the audio power is considerable because they drive a speaker that is meant to be heard at a distance. Furthermore, some cellular phones now provide speakerphone capability, which, liked trunked radio, is a form of half-duplex communication.
At the same time, several modulation formats have become popular, including some linear modulation types, such as, for example, quadrature amplitude modulation. Such modulation is used in several digital communication systems. However, one disadvantage of linear modulation is that the efficiency decreases as the difference between output and supply voltage increases. For linear RF amplifiers that are used with different power settings, the inefficiency may rival the power savings when transmitting at lower output power levels. However, the advantage of narrow channel spectral use is often found to be advantageous enough to accept such inefficiency, or to add circuitry to the device to counteract the inefficiency.
Just as linear RF amplifiers suffer from inefficiency when the voltage of the output drops significantly below the supply voltage, so to do audio amplifiers with variable power output. Since an audio signal has a variable amplitude, it is similar to linearly modulated RF signals. For the most part, the inefficiency of an audio amplifier is much smaller in most mobile communication devices, such as cellular telephones, because the earpiece speaker is driven with a small amount of power compared to the RFPA power. However, many trunked or two way radios use a much louder audio output, and some cellular or mobile telephones have a speakerphone mode of operation that likewise has a much higher power audio output compared to a conventional earpiece speaker output. The reason for the higher output is, obviously, so the user can hear from a distance the received audio signal.
In the design of portable and mobile battery powered devices the battery life is an important consideration. As such, designers strive to reduce the power demand and increase efficiency where possible. In a portable transceiver having both a radio frequency power amplifier and a high output audio power amplifier, the power consumption is generally higher than a conventional device having only a low power, earpiece audio output circuit. Therefore, in a transceiver device having a high output audio power amplifier, there is a need for a method and apparatus to increase the efficiency of transceiver operation to preserve battery life.

Portable radio transceiver having shared power source for audio and RF amplifiers


The present invention relates to a packaging assembly and a method of packaging differently sized products, such as fresh meat cuts. The packaging assembly can include at least one thermoform packaging machine having at least two forming stations. The thermoform packaging machine can also include a control unit configured for providing, during operation and in a manner that is automatically adaptable in response to the supplied products, formats with a first or a second number of troughs for placing the respective products thereinto.

WO 2002/016210 A1 discloses a packaging line for packing meat cuts in bags. In the packaging line, the individual meat cuts, which differ primarily with respect to their size, are sensed by an information acquisition stage and then fed to a packaging station. At the packaging station, a bag suiting the size of the meat cut is provided and the meat cut is packed. In the case of an embodiment comprising a plurality of packaging stations, the information acquisition stage is followed by a meat-cut distributing unit used for distributing the meat cuts to the various packaging stations based on, for example, the size of the meat cuts. Disadvantages of such a bag packaging assembly are the limited capacity of the assembly and the optical appearance of a bag package.


A mechanical timepiece has a plurality of divisional segments divided in a movable manner, a driving source operable to produce a driving rotation for moving the divisional segments, an ornamental portion to be exposed by outward movement of the divisional segments, and a plurality of driving mechanisms operable to move the divisional segments and rotate them about their axes so as to change an exposure state of the ornamental portion by using the driving rotation transmitted from the driving source.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a timepiece, and more particularly, to a mechanical timepiece such as a marionette clock.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretobefore, there has been known a mechanical clock such as a marionette clock having a dial formed by a plurality of divisional segments that are rotated about their own axes, for example, on the hour so as to expose an ornamental member located behind the divisional segments (see Japanese Patent No. 3561669).
Furthermore, there has been known a mechanical clock capable of moving a plurality of divisional segments outward so as to expose an ornamental member behind the divisional segments.
However, since the mechanical clock disclosed by Japanese Patent No. 3561669 merely rotates the divisional segments about their axes to expose the ornamental member, it cannot sufficiently present a wide variety of appearances.
Furthermore, in the case of the mechanical clock that can move a plurality of divisional segments outward so as to expose the ornamental member, a range of the outward movement of the divisional segments should be widened in order to increase an exposed area of the ornamental member. Accordingly, the clock cannot be made compact in size.


A semiconductor integrated circuit device having multilayer power supply lines includes a plurality of power supply lines formed on a semiconductor chip for supplying power to the cells. The power supply lines are constructed by the multilayer structure having three different layer levels. First-level (lower) and third-level (upper) power supply lines are arranged in parallel so as to overlap each other. Second-level (intermittent) power supply lines are arranged in parallel so as to extend in a direction perpendicular to the first-level and third-level power supply lines. The overlapping first and third power supply lines are set at different potentials.

The present invention generally relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit device having multilayer power supply lines, and in particular to a semiconductor integrated circuit device having multilayer power supply lines arranged at three or more layer levels
A power supply line formed on a semiconductor chip is mainly composed of a high-voltage power supply line and a low-voltage power supply line which are arranged in a peripheral area of the semiconductor chip. A plurality of branch power supply lines extend from each of the high-voltage power supply line and the low-voltage power supply line, and pass over cells (basic cells provided in a gate array device, or a circuit block constructing an inverter, an NAND gate, an NOR gate or the like in a standard cell) arranged in the chip. The branches of the high-voltage power supply line and the low-voltage power supply line are connected to predetermined positions on the cells.
It is well known that an integrated circuit becomes more complex and a supply current fed to the integrated circuit becomes greater as the integration density of the semiconductor integrated circuit device increases. On the other hand, an increased integration density necessarily requires a decrease in the size of the integrated circuit formed in the chip. From these viewpoints, recently, there has been considerable activity in the development of a multilayer power supply line. At current, a semiconductor integrated circuit device having power supply lines arranged at three layer levels has been presented in practical use. In the conventional three-level (three-layer) power supply lines, a plurality of lower-level (first level) power supply lines and a plurality of upper-level (third level) power supply lines extend in the same direction. It is to be noted that "a level" is a term with respect to a layer. One lower-level power supply line and one upper-level power supply lines are set at the same potential, and are arranged so as to overlap each other in the elevational direction of the device. A plurality of an intermediate-level (second level) power supply lines positioned at an intermediate layer level are separated from each other with a predetermined pitch and are arranged in a direction perpendicular to the upper and lower power supply lines. Elevationally adjacent lines may be connected to each other by a contact. One upper-level power supply line may be connected to one lower-level power supply line by two different contacts, one of which is used for establishing a connection between the lower-level and intermediate-level power supply lines, and the other of which is used for establishing a connection between the intermediate-level and the upper-level power supply lines. This configuration is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,661,815.
However, the conventional multilayer power supply line structure has the following disadvantages. First, a connection path between the lower-level and the upper-level power supply lines is very long due to the layer structure that the overlapping lower-level and upper-level power supply lines are set at the same, potential. Therefore, the connecting path has a large wiring resistance and therefore a current passing therethrough is considerably consumed. Secondly, as described in detail later, a large current capacity is required for the lower-level power supply lines, and therefore the lower-level power supply lines must be made relatively wide. In this case, there is less worth using the upper-level power supply line. Thirdly, the distance between power supply lines of different potentials such as a V.sub.DD line and a V.sub.SS line is great, and a coupling capacitance therebetween is therefore small. For this reason, the stabilization in the power supply voltages resulting from the capacitive coupling is less expected.

Semiconductor integrated circuit device having multilayer power supply lines


A multi-port network communication device includes a plurality of ports for the reception and transmission of addressed data packets which include media access control address data, a forwarding mechanism for directing packets received at any of said plurality of ports to at least one of the plurality of ports, a memory for the selectively controllable storage of permitted media access control addresses, and means for restricting forwarding of packets from the device in response to an examination of media access control data in said packets and said permitted media access control addresses.

Packet-based data communication systems are securely established. Packets which are employed for the conveyance of message or control data in such systems normally include at relevant times a header which contains media access control data and protocol or network address data. The former corresponds to 'layer 2' and the latter to 'layer 3' of the conventional OSI model. Protocol data is employed, for example by devices known as routers, to determine the network to which a message packet should be sent and usually also to a device identified by a sub-network address within that destination network.
Media access control addresses are intended for the local control of the forwarding of packets and a packet encapsulated with a media access control address data will contain a source address identifying a device from which the packet has come and except in such cases as for example broadcast packets as discussed later, a destination address identifying the next device for which the packet is intended.
Network communication devices such as switches and hubs necessarily include, whatever their particular architecture may be, some forwarding mechanism by means of which a packet received at one or other of the ports is directed to at least one other port of the device, subject, for example, to possible discard owing to congestion or to rejection owing to data corruption detected by a CRC check. A hub normally provides no selective examination of address data because its main purpose is to ensure that a packet received at one or other of the ports is forwarded from all the other ports of the hub. A hub may include memory for the temporary storage of packets if, for example, the hub needs to perform some contention resolution process which gives some classes of packet priority over other classes of packet.
A switch will normally include a forwarding mechanism which relies on a forwarding database which may be selectively controllable to provide some initial addresses but which is normally built up by an examination of address data in received packets. In particular, a forwarding database may examine received packets for their source MAC address and perform a look-up in the forwarding database for that particular source address. If the source address obtained from the packet is not in the database then the switch will make an entry of that source address in the database and also include such other data, such as the port number, associating the device having that source address with a port of the communication device. The counterpart to this establishment of addresses is the examination of a destination address in a received packet to determine whether that address exists in the database so that a packet having a destination address corresponding to a source address in the database can be directed accordingly, for example to the port associated with the address. Where however the received packet has an unknown destination address it is customary to 'flood' the packet to all ports, in the expectation that the packet will reach the intended destination if that exists anywhere on the network.
A switch may operate either on media access control addresses or network addresses. Where the switch primarily operates on media access control addresses it is frequently termed a bridge and is customarily employed for the connection of two or more local area networks each of which may comprise for example a hub connected to a multiplicity of users. It is known for a bridge to discard a packet of which the destination address is found in the bridge's forwarding database to be associated with the same port at which the packet was received. This feature is employed to ensure that a packet is not unnecessarily returned to its source.
It is known in network communication systems to provide security against unauthorised or undesirable access to a network by means of a 'firewall' which will permit the forwarding of packets only if the protocol or network data within the header of the packet conforms to various rules.
It is known from EP-0431751-A1 (Carter et al) to provide a repeater that corrupts a packet if all or part of a destination address and/or source address do not conform to access rules defined by an address database and it is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,640,393 (Lo) to scramble packets which do not have a destination address permitted for a particular port.

Multi-port network communication device with selective MAC address filtering

Abstract: The forwarding of a unicast packet having a source address and a destination address is prevented when neither of those addresses in the unicast packet corresponds to a permitted media access control address. The forwarding mechanism prevents the forwarding of multicast or broadcast packets to ports which are not connected to devices having permitted media access control addresses.


The invention relates to a process for the manufacture of 1,1,1,2-tetrafluorochloroethane and of pentafluoroethane.. The process which consists of gas phase catalytic fluorination of at least one pentahaloethane of formula C.sub.2 HX.sub.2-n F.sub.3+n in which X denotes a chlorine or bromine atom and n the number 0 or 1, by hydrofluoric acid, is characterized in that a catalyst is employed consisting of a catalytic quantity of chromium in an oxidation state equal to or greater than 3 and of an activated charcoal as support.. The selectivity for 1,1,1,2-tetrafluorochloroethane and pentafluoroethane reaches approximately 95% and even more.

Because the compounds F124 and F125 can be employed as substitutes for perchlorofluorocarbons (CFC) in the field of aerosols (propellant agents) and in that of refrigeration, efficient processes for their industrial production are being investigated at present.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,766,260 describes a process for the synthesis of the compounds F123 and F124 by gas phase hydrofluorination of perhalogenated olefins, the objective being to minimize the formation of F125. Example 13 (column 6) describes the fluorination of tetrachloroethylene with a CrCl.sub.3 /Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 catalyst; despite a temperature of 350.degree. C., a long contact time (60 seconds) and a high HF/C.sub.2 Cl.sub.4 molar ratio (6/1), selectivities for F124 and F125 are low (33.3% and 7.2% respectively).
The use of a chromium(III)-based catalyst (CrCl.sub.3) supported on charcoal for the gas phase catalytic fluorination of halogenated olefins forms the subject of Japanese patent application published under No. 48-72,105/73 in which Example 4 describes the fluorination of tetrachloroethylene. Here too, despite a reaction temperature of 400.degree. C. and a high HF/C.sub.2 Cl.sub.4 molar ratio (5/1), the composition of the products formed is limited to F121 (CHCl.sub.2 -CFCl.sub.2 :6.8%), to F122 (CHCl.sub.2 -CClF.sub.2 :10.5%) and to F123 (82.7%).
U.S. Pat. No. 3,258,500 describes the use of bulk or alumina-supported chromium for gas phase catalytic fluorination reactions. In particular, Example 17 (column 14) describes the fluorination of tetrachloroethylene. At 400.degree. C. with an HF/C.sub.2 Cl.sub.4 molar ratio of 6.2/1, the selectivity for F123+F124+F125 is low (47.7%); a decrease in the reaction temperature (300.degree. C.) improves this selectivity (79.7%), but the distribution is then shifted towards less-fluorinated products (F123 and F124).
European patent application no. 349,298 describes the synthesis of the compounds F123 and F124 from pentahaloethanes by gas phase catalytic fluorination over a catalyst composed of a metal chosen from chromium, cobalt, nickel and manganese and deposited on alumina. This document places the emphasis, on the one hand, on the extensive activation of the catalyst with hydrofluoric acid (at least 90% of the support in the form of AlF.sub.3 after activation) and, on the other hand, the minimized formation of F125 during the reaction. Thus, in Example 6, which describes the fluorination of F122 at 350.degree. C. and with a long contact time (30 seconds), the selectivity for F125 is only 1.1% and the cumulative selectivity (F123+F124+F125) is only 71.5%. In Example 5, which describes the gas phase fluorination of F123 over a NiCl.sub.2 /Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 catalyst at 400.degree. C., with a contact time of 30 seconds and an HF/F123 molar ratio of 4, the selectivity for F125 is only 7.5%.
A process for producing fluorinated aliphatic hydrocarbons, based on the gas phase fluorination with hydrofluoric acid of halogenated aliphatic hydrocarbons containing at least one halogen atom other than fluorine, forms the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 3,755,477, where the catalyst is a bulk chromium oxide treated with steam before calcination and activation with hydrofluoric acid. Example 25 employs such a catalyst for the fluorination of F123 at 390.degree. C. with a high HF/F123 molar ratio (9.5/1). The selectivities for F125 and F124 are 67 and 21% respectively, but a selectivity of 2.5% for chloropentafluoroethane (F115), which cannot be recycled is also observed.
From the examination of the state-of-the-art it appears difficult to synthesize the two desired compounds (F124 and F125) with a good selectivity and a high production efficiency by direct fluorination of tetrachloroethylene or of F122. When starting with tetrachloroethylene and despite long contact times and high temperatures and molar ratios it appears difficult to obtain F124 and more especially F125 in high yields. The synthesis of both these compounds is easier from F122, but a selectivity problem (extensive formation of by-products) is confronted in this case.
As for U.S. Pat. No. 3,755,477, this shows that when starting with F123 the synthesis of F125 requires a high molar ratio (9.5) and a high temperature (390.degree. C.), the association of which results in a significant undesirable formation of F115.
In view of the interest in compounds F124 and F125 as CFC substitutes, their industrial manufacture requires a particularly efficient process, that is to say one making it possible to obtain:
a very high selectivity for F124 +F125 PA1 a high production efficiency for F124 and/or F125 PA1 a high flexibility in order to direct the manufacture at will towards the preponderant production of F124 or towards that of F125, while minimizing the by-product formation.

Process for the manufacture of 1,1,1,2-tetrafluorochloroethane and of pentafluoroethane


A section setting method calculates information relating to an attainable actual fuel efficiency under a vehicle operation performed in consideration of fuel efficiency. To that end, the section setting method collects fuel-efficiency information that is information relating to the fuel efficiency required for a movement from a start point to a destination point of the vehicle, which is obtained under a plurality of kinds of vehicle operations, along with positional information of the vehicle at each time. The section setting method compares change pattern parts of the collected fuel-efficiency information with each other, thereby sequentially connecting the change pattern parts of the fuel-efficiency information from the start point to the destination point. The section setting method sets, as a section used to calculate the actual fuel efficiency, a section obtained by sectioning at points corresponding to the connection points of the change pattern parts connected.

Recent drive assistance systems using a car navigation system and the like, in many cases, present recommended routes from a current location to a destination point, and provide information related to a predicted fuel consumption for each case of taking the respective routes, that is, fuel-efficiency information. Hereinbelow, "fuel efficiency" means travelled distance of a vehicle per unit quantity of fuel. In such a case, a driver (person who drives the vehicle) refers to the recommended routes and the fuel-efficiency information for each of the recommended routes as provided, and selects a route. Conventionally, drive assistance systems as described for example in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 are known as such drive assistance systems.
For example, in Patent Document 1, a server provided in a control center configures a fuel-efficiency information processing system. The server collects respective fuel-efficiency information of an unspecified large number of vehicles during driving along with moment-to-moment location information of those vehicles by radio communication. The server collects statistics of the fuel-efficiency information for each fuel-efficiency-influencing factor that influences the fuel efficiency such as upgrades and curves by referencing map information registered in a map database based on the collected location information.
Further, a fuel-efficiency information providing device for providing the fuel-efficiency information to the destination point is installed in each vehicle to configure the fuel-efficiency information processing system. The fuel-efficiency information providing device stores fuel-efficiency information based on a driving record of the device mounting vehicle for each fuel-efficiency-influencing factor. The fuel-efficiency information providing device handles averages and modes of the stored fuel-efficiency information as the fuel-efficiency information for each fuel-efficiency-influencing factor of the device mounting vehicle. The fuel-efficiency information providing device evaluates a degree of dispersion of the fuel-efficiency information of the device mounting vehicle relative to the fuel-efficiency statistics based on a comparison of the fuel-efficiency information for each fuel-efficiency-influencing factor based on the driving record of the device mounting vehicle with the fuel-efficiency information for each fuel-efficiency-influencing factor that has been statistically collected by the server. Accordingly, when the destination point is set by the driver in the car navigation installed in the vehicle, the fuel-efficiency information providing device acquires the fuel-efficiency statistics related to the fuel-efficiency-influencing factors existing in the route from the current location to the destination point from the server. At the same time, the fuel-efficiency information providing device searches the route to the destination point based on the acquired fuel-efficiency statistics and the evaluated degree of dispersion, and predicts the predicted fuel-efficiency consumption in the case of taking the route. The fuel-efficiency information providing device provides information including the predicted fuel-efficiency consumption, the fuel-efficiency-influencing factors existing in the searched route, and the influences of these fuel-efficiency-influencing factors on the fuel efficiency of the vehicle respectively to the driver.
Further, the drive assistance system of Patent Document 2 calculates a fuel efficiency from a starting point to a destination point and such a fuel efficiency for each of links, which are unit sections that are sectioned by a certain intersection to a subsequent intersection and the like, based on actual fuel-efficiency information of a plurality of vehicles that has been collected at a control center. The drive assistance system calculates predicted fuel-efficiency information from the current location to the destination point based on the calculated information related to the fuel efficiency, and fuel-efficiency-influencing factors such as time ranges when the information are acquired and road grades, and provides the predicted values to the driver for example via a display device.
As above, according to the drive assistance systems of Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2, the driver is enabled to obtain the fuel-efficiency information required from the current location to the destination point and the presence of the fuel-efficiency-influencing factors. Accordingly, the driver can select routes and operate the vehicle with the information that is respectively provided as indexes.

Section setting method, mileage information generation device, and operation assist device


Method and apparatus for repair of a tubular fluid-containing vessel such as a pipe or hose. A repair patch includes a sheet of heat-shrinkable material and take-up means for tightly securing the sheet to itself around the pipe or hose. The method includes placing the sheet of heat-shrinkable material around the tubular vessel, taking up the two ends of the sheet relative to each other until the sheet is wrapped snugly around the pipe or tube, and applying heat to the heat-shrinkable sheet to shrink the sheet tightly around the pipe or hose and seal the leak.

Various devices have been proposed for making emergency repairs to pipe or tubing carrying a fluid under pressure to seal a ruptured area and prevent the escape of fluid therefrom without disrupting the normal flow of fluid through the pipe or tubing.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,480,043, issued on Nov. 25, 1969 to Proudfoot for an EMERGENCY LEAK CLAMP, refers to a resilient, inflatable pipe clamp which can be wrapped around a pipe in place, over a rupture in the pipe and while fluid is discharging therefrom, and inflated to stop such discharge of fluid.
Tosk, U.S. Pat. No. 2,462,504, issued Feb. 22, 1949 for a PIPE CLAMP.
Straus, U.S. Pat. No. 3,459,231, issued Aug. 5, 1969, refers to a clamp having a tensioning member and a saddle member that are attached to a pipe and circling band. The band is adapted to pull a gasket into sealing engagement with a leak in a pipe. The tensioning member and saddle member are pulled towards each other.

Repair patch for tubular fluid-containing vessel


The invention provides, in various embodiments, systems, devices and methods relating to adjustable length implantable sling assemblies for providing support to anatomical locations. In certain embodiments, the sling includes at least one elastic member to aid in the placement and tensioning of the sling.

Pelvic floor disorders afflict many women. According to some studies, about 1 out of 11 women needs surgery for a pelvic floor disorder during her lifetime. The pelvic floor generally includes muscles, ligaments, and tissues that collectively act to support anatomical structures of the pelvic region, including the uterus, the rectum, the bladder, and the vagina. Pelvic floor disorders include vaginal prolapse, vaginal hernia, cystocele, rectocele, and enterocele. Such disorders are characterized in that the muscles, ligaments and/or tissues are damaged, stretched, or otherwise weakened, which causes the pelvic anatomical structures to fall or shift and protrude into each other or other anatomical structures.
Moreover, pelvic floor disorders often cause or exacerbate female urinary incontinence (UI). Urinary incontinence affects over 13 million men and women of all ages in the United States. Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) affects primarily women and is generally caused by two conditions, intrinsic sphincter deficiency (ISD) and hypermobility. These conditions may occur independently or in combination. In ISD, the urinary sphincter valve, located within the urethra, fails to close properly (coapt), causing urine to leak out of the urethra during stressful activity. Hypermobility is a condition in which the pelvic floor is distended, weakened, or damaged, causing the bladder neck and proximal urethra to rotate and descend in response to increases in intra-abdominal pressure (e.g., due to sneezing, coughing, straining, etc.). As a result, the patient's response time becomes insufficient to promote urethral closure and, consequently, the patient suffers from urine leakage and/or flow.
UI and pelvic floor disorders, which are usually accompanied by significant pain and discomfort, are typically treated by implanting a supportive sling in or near the pelvic floor region to support the fallen or shifted anatomical structures or to, more generally, strengthen the pelvic region by, for example, promoting tissue ingrowth. A popular treatment of SUI and uses a sling placed under the bladder neck or mid-urethra to provide a urethral platform. Placement of the sling limits the endopelvic fascia drop, while providing compression to the urethral sphincter to improve coaptation. Generally, the sling is placed close to the high-pressure zone with no elevation of the urethra. When abdominal pressure increases, the sling stops the descent of the urethra and functions as a mechanism for closing the urethra to prevent urine leakage. However, if too much tension is applied, the patient may go into urine retention, unable to void the bladder. This results in a pressure build-up in the bladder, which can lead to reflux of urine up the ureters and into the kidneys, eventually resulting in kidney damage, and, potentially, kidney loss. Alternatively, if too little tension is applied, the implanted sling may not perform its function as intended.
Clinically, in vaginal incision techniques, it is challenging to both optimally position the slings and optimally adjust the tension of the sling during implantation while working through a relatively small single vaginal incision. It is sometimes necessary to modify the sling tension after the initial implantation, especially if the patient's anatomy has changed, for example due to weight gain. It would also be desirable to provide improved methods for adjusting sling tension to compensate for tension changes in the sling over time. Therefore, improved surgically implantable slings, and methods to allow for adjustment of the sling tension are needed.

Elastic sling system and related methods