A container having separate storage chambers is disclosed having a main body containing a first substance, a lid member tightly engaged with the main body, an airtight member for encapsulation of at least a second substance, a holder assembly for retaining the airtight member therein, and an opener with a cutting portion for releasing the second substance from the airtight member. The lid member is in tight contact with the holder assembly so as to prevent spillage or leakage of the first substance. The airtight member can be cut open by the cutting portion of the opener, thereby releasing the encapsulation of the second substance and allowing mixture of the first and second substance in the main body, the opened-up airtight member remaining held by the holder.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to containers, and more particularly, to a container having separate storage chambers capable of keeping different ingredients separate before use.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, when preparing formulas for daily use or consuming a beverage that requires mixing up formulas with additives, liquid solution, gas, or other ingredients, it is often necessary to separately tear open the packages containing additives or formulas that need to be mixed, such as Antabuse, fresh vitamin C powder, carbon dioxide., etc, and then add the formulas to the liquid solution, such as water, beauty lotion, oxygen, or other ingredients that need to be mixed before the mixture can be readily used or consumed. This procedure is rather troublesome and time-consuming.
In order to address the above-mentioned drawbacks, the TW Utility Publication No. 231632 discloses a container having separate storage chambers, wherein a lid member can seal the opening of a drinking bottle. Referring to FIG. 1, the container comprises a main body 1 containing a first substance 12 and a lid member 2, engaged with the main body 1. The lid member 2 comprises a sealing ring 22, a storage vial 3 extending through the sealing ring 22, a protective cap 5 enclosing the storage vial 3 to protect the storage vial 3 from being pressed, and a disposable sealing member 52 covering the lid member 2. The storage vial 3 having a storage chamber S for storage of a second substance 6 includes a vial body 31, a push bar (not labeled) sealing a top end thereof, and an opened end opposite to the push bar. The opened end of the storage vial 3 is sealed up by a sealing film 4 that is attached to the sealing ring 22. In use, the disposable sealing member 52 is first torn off, then the push bar is depressed to cut open the sealing film such that the second substance 6 falls into the first substance 12 and is mixed with the first substance 12. However, the lid member 2 is usually formed without a guide mechanism or a positioning mechanism for the storage vial 3, which easily result in the storage vial 3 overly rotating relative to the sealing ring 22, such that portions of the sealing film 4 are prone to be cut off and fall into the first substance 12, resulting in contamination of the first substance 12. Though the lid member 2 of the prior art improves on the drawbacks of the conventional mixing process and reduces packaging, it cannot ensure that the first substance 12 is free of contamination since the sealing film may be cut away and fall into the container.
In addition, the disposable sealing member 52 formed on the top of the protective cap 5 of the lid member 2 is not sealed airtight, which can only be achieved by means of precisely tight contact between the storage vial 3 and the sealing ring 2, which would necessitate increased manufacturing precision and thus increase the manufacturing costs. Furthermore, the tight contact between the storage vial 3 and the sealing ring 2 would likely make it difficult to depress the push bar for releasing the second substance 6.
To solve the above problems, an improved beverage container having separate storage chambers for receiving ingredients has been proposed. The beverage container comprises at least a main body (not labeled) and a lid member 9. Referring to FIG. 2, the lid member 9 comprises a sealing structure 111, two pieces of sealing film 113, and a push vial 117. The sealing structure 111, and the sealing films 113 jointly form a storage chamber Sxe2x80x2 for receiving ingredients 110 therein. In the case of a beverage container, the ingredients 110 are released from the storage chamber Sxe2x80x2 and are mixed up with the liquid solution contained in the beverage container by depressing the push vial 117 and cutting open both the sealing films 113. This necessitates a considerable amount of chamber for configuration of the push vial 117 and the storage chamber Sxe2x80x2 for receiving ingredients 110. As a result, the lid member 9 is not suitable for containers that are commonly used nowadays. In addition, such a lid member 9 is manufactured by a complicated molding process, resulting in unduly high manufacturing costs. Employing two pieces of sealing film 113 to store the ingredients 110 is also troublesome and inconvenient to implement. Thus, the problem of unduly high manufacturing and assembly costs is exacerbated.
FIG. 3 depicts another conventional container that is capable of separately storing a first substance 7 such as a liquid solution, and a second substance 8 such as ingredients. The first substance 7 can be mixed up with the second substance 8 by depressing and pulling a cap 9. An outlet 10a is defined in an opening 9a of the cap 9 for accessing the mixed first and second substances 7 and 8. In assembly of the container, the cap 9 is first attached to an upper body 11a. First and second engagement bodies 11a, 11b, and a cutting member 10 are assembled to the upper body 11a in order. The assembled upper body 11a is then secured to the lower body 11b to constitute the container, which is assembled by a number of individual parts. However, such a container cannot easily provide an airtight sealing effect due to its inherent complexity. Also, the process of assembling the container is unduly complicated and time-consuming. This design is also not suitable for application to existing containers. Furthermore, in view of the complicated assembly process, once the contents stored in the container are used up, it is troublesome to refill the container for repeated use.
In view of the above, an objective of the present invention is to provide a container having separate storage chambers, which has a simple structure and is easy to manufacture.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a container having separate storage chambers which are reusable, and in which it is convenient for the user to access the mixed contents contained in the container.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a container having separate storage chambers which is applicable to existing containers.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a container having separate storage chambers which can provide a satisfactory airtight seal to preserve the contained substances from deterioration.
In order to achieve the above objectives, a container having separate storage chambers in accordance with the present invention comprises a main body containing a first substance, a lid member, an airtight member, a holder assembly, and an opener.
The main body has a storage chamber for accommodating a first substance, and an opening for accessing the storage chamber. The lid member is closely engaged with the main body. The lid member includes a cap, a circular peripheral ring adjacent to the cap, and a leakproof member disposed on an interior of the cap between the cap and the circular peripheral ring. The airtight member is for the tight encapsulation of a second substance to be mixed with the first substance.
The holder assembly is disposed within the opening of the main body. The holder assembly includes an outer part and an inner part. The outer part has an outer axial hole and a shoulder adapted for allowing the outer part to rest on the main body while providing tight contact between the shoulder and the leakproof member, so as to avoid spillage or leakage of the first substance. The inner part has an inner axial hole. The inner part is coaxially engaged in the outer axial hole of the outer part. Edges of the airtight enclosure are securely sandwiched between the inner and outer parts. The inner and outer parts respectively comprise positioning portions for ensuring a fixed interrelationship thereof and providing a reinforcement to hold the airtight enclosure.
The opener is coaxially disposed in the inner part. The opener includes a pressing portion around a top thereof, an active cutting portion around a bottom thereof for cutting open the airtight member, an inactive dull portion adjacent to the active cutting portion for preventing the airtight member from being completely cut off, and a through hole defined therein. The through hole is in communication with the inner axial hole, the opening, and the storage chamber. When the pressing portion is depressed to a point where the pressing portion is in contact with a top of the inner part, the airtight member is cut open by the cutting portion, thereby releasing the encapsulation of the second substance and allowing mixture of the first and second substances, with the opened-up airtight member remaining attached to the holder.

Container having separate storage chambers

9F-6, No. 2, Lane 150, Sec. 5, Xin-Yi Rd.


A drive can include a positional sensor within an outer housing of the drive so as to provide an output indicative of a position of the drive. The positional sensor can be an inclinometer. The inclinometer can be used for feedback control of an inclination of the drive. The drive can further include control electronics within the same housing, so as to provide feedback control of a motor of the drive. The control electronics can include an input for receiving a requested inclination and can be configured to drive the motor until the inclinometer outputs a signal indicative of the requested angle.

Some larger solar collector installations include an array of sun-tracking, solar power collector assemblies. Such assemblies can be used in conjunction with photovoltaic modules, concentrated photovoltaic modules, as well as concentrated thermal solar collector devices.
Such sun-tracking collectors include hardware for automatically adjusting the position of the collector devices to track the sun as it moves across the sky. This tracking movement can be accomplished in a number of different ways. Some systems use a single axis tracking system in which the collector devices pivot about a single axis. Such single axis type tracking systems often include a drive shaft or "torque tube" which defines a single pivot axis.
Concentrated photovoltaic solar systems can provide significant cost savings over non-concentrated photovoltaic systems. This is because concentrated photovoltaic systems only use a fraction of the amount of photovoltaic material to collect about the same amount of sunlight. However, sun-tracking accuracy becomes more important with concentrated systems. For example, it is known that efficiency of a solar collector can drop if the mirrors of a concentrated system are misaligned by as little as 0.1°. Thus, high performance of such systems is more likely to be achieved if the components of the concentrated systems are manufactured to precise tolerances. Additionally, such concentrated photovoltaic systems are more affordable, if the hardware and/or labor required to construct such a system is reduced.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Drive with integrated inclination sensor


The present invention breaks up the frequency bands which can be filtered by a simple low-loss band-pass or low pass filter. The second harmonic frequency is reduced by use of a non-linear clipper element which controls the driving waveform symmetry and can reduce the harmonics by as much as 5-15 db which makes the filter much simpler and allows the amplifier to remain wide-band. The output waveform from the amplifier is symmetrical or nearly symmetrical.

Wide-band amplifiers can reduce system costs and provide improved performance in many applications. Envelope tracking techniques can provide linear performance of wide-band amplifiers by running them deep into saturation. The improvement in efficiency is substantial with, for example, a 10%-20% improvement with LTE signals.
The problem for wide-band, envelope tracking amplifiers is that driving transistors deep into saturation produces substantial harmonics that can interfere with many receiving systems. While filter circuits can be used to reduce such harmonics, this results in reduced bandwidth and requires many discrete surface mount devices (SMDS). The additional filter circuits add power loss to the system and reduce the power amplifier efficiencies. A low pass, or band pass, filter can be used at the output of the amplifier to roll off the harmonics to acceptable levels. The hardest harmonic to filter is the second harmonic since it is the closest in frequency to the fundamental frequency. Typical power amplifier specifications require the second harmonic content to be 30-40 dbc.

Wide-band amplifiers using clipper circuits for reduced harmonics


A system for identifying a driver comprises an image capturing device, a processor, and a memory. The image is captured during vehicle operation and of an expected driver location. The processor is configured to detect a face of a driver in the image, determine a set of face data from the image, and identify the driver based at least in part on the set of face data. The memory is coupled to the processor and configured to provide the processor with instructions.

There is a need in fleet management to accurately determine a driver's performance. Performance information can be used to properly reward safe driving behavior, provide helpful feedback to a driver for future improvement, and fairly assess insurance. Currently, driver performance is evaluated by monitoring driving data such as driver behavior and vehicle operation through a variety of sensors placed onboard vehicles. Driving events captured via the onboard sensors are scored to provide a measurement of driver performance. In a large fleet, a driver is typically not permanently assigned to a particular vehicle, but rather is assigned to a vehicle based on availability. This creates a challenge in assigning captured driving data (e.g., captured driving event data from vehicle operation) to the proper driver in order to evaluate that specific driver's performance. Although driver badges (e.g., a Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) badge), are sometimes used to match a driver to driving data, badges have not been reliable because drivers do not consistently carry their badges. Because of this, driving data are often manually assigned to drivers by human operators. In some cases, the manual assignment has led to an unacceptable number of incorrect matches between driving data and driver.

Driver identification based on face data


A glass laminated structure includes a core of curable flowable material sandwiched between first and second glass panels. A pair of frame members sealed to the panels with an ultraviolet curing adhesive overlap marginal portions of the panels so that an overlapping portion of the core abuts the peripheral edges of the panels to absorb stress and inhibit delamination. The laminating apparatus includes platens with vacuum ports for securing the panels to the platens without excessive panel deformation, recessed portions for proper frame member alignment, and elastomeric seals supplanting the usual vacuum grease. The methodology proceeds by retaining the glass panels and frame members in position using the platens, and sealing the frame members to the panels. Then, the curable flowable material is introduced so that it flows between the frame members to abut the peripheral edges of the glass panels. The flowable material is then cured, with the overlapping portion of the flowable material bearing against the peripheral edges to offset stresses and inhibit delamination.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to laminated structures, and more particularly to a glass laminated structure suitable for use as a thermal energy barrier.
2. Background Information
U.S. Pat. No. 4,439,392 to Schutzler et al. describes a glass laminated structure suitable for blocking high intensity thermal radiation such as might result from a nuclear blast. It is fabricated according to a novel method which includes retaining first and second panels against first and second platens, introducing a photochromic epoxy material between the panels, and curing the epoxy to produce the laminate.
The laminated structure of the Schutzler et al. patent includes glass panels that abut generally coplanar frame members that circumscribe the panel peripheries in end-to-end relationship, and deformable seals disposed between the panels and frame members that seal the panel-frame interface. This arrangement provides the desired peripheral framework sealed to the glass panels, but it results in the epoxy-panel interface that tends to delaminate under certain extreme temperature conditions.
The tendency to delaminate results from the different thermal coefficients of expansion exhibited by the epoxy core and the glass panels. This difference produces stresses that translate to a shearing force couple at the epoxy-panel interface of sufficient magnitude to defeat the bond. The stresses are not adequately absorbed so that defective structures may result. Consequently, it is desirable to have a new and improved glass laminated structure that overcomes this concern.
The method and tooling of the Schutzler et al. patent are very effective and applicable to the making of the improved glass laminated structure of this invention. However, certain aspects of the laminating process and tooling described in the Schutzler et al. patent could be made even better. For example, the elongated grooves for retaining the glass against the platens tend to result in the glass deforming into the groove. Also, the vacuum grease used in sealing the glass panels against the platens sometimes contaminates the inner panel surfaces that are to be bonded to the epoxy core, and this impairs the bond.
The silicon sealing material used as a seal between the glass panels and the frame also contaminates the inner panel surfaces occasionally. In addition, it takes relatively long to cure. Furthermore, tape is often used to seal the outer edges of the frame, and this takes additional time and care. Therefore, it is desirable to have an improved laminating apparatus and methodology that overcomes these concerns also.

Glass laminated structure, laminating apparatus, and methodology


A hybrid platform for a software defined radio (SDR) includes a receive/transmit antenna, a radio frequency (RF) frontend, a baseband processor, and a SDR positioned along a signal path that couples the antenna, the RF frontend, and the baseband processor. The SDR includes a transmit processing chain, a receive processing chain, and a FPGA that includes control logic to reduce distortion caused by signal transmission within the SDR.

A radio is a device that wirelessly transmits or receives signals in the radio frequency (RF) part of the electromagnetic spectrum to facilitate the transfer of information. Today, radios exist in a multitude of items such as cell phones, computers, car door openers, vehicles, and televisions.
Traditional hardware based radios limit cross-functionality and can only be modified through physical intervention. This results in higher production costs and minimal flexibility in supporting multiple wireless communication standards. By contrast, software defined radio (SDR) technology provides an efficient and comparatively inexpensive solution to this problem, allowing multi-mode, multi-band and/or multi-functional radios that can be enhanced using software upgrades.
SDR defines a collection of hardware and software technologies where some or all of the radio's operating functions (also referred to as physical layer (PHY) processing) are implemented through modifiable software or firmware operating on programmable processing technologies. These devices include field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), digital signal processors (DSP), general purpose processors (GPP), programmable System on Chip (SoC) or other application specific programmable processors. The use of these technologies allows new wireless features and capabilities to be added to existing radio systems without requiring new hardware.
Thus, a SDR is a radio whose components, which in a hardware-based radio would have been implemented in hardware (e.g. mixers, filters, amplifiers, modulators/demodulators, detectors, etc.), are instead implemented by means of software on a personal computer or embedded computing devices. Software defined radios find use in the afore-mentioned personal computer and a number of other portable devices. A basic SDR may include a personal computer equipped with analog-to-digital converter, preceded by a radio frequency (RF) frontend. Significant amounts of signal processing are handled by a programmed general-purpose processor, rather than being done in special-purpose hardware. Such a design produces a radio that can receive and transmit widely different wireless communication protocols based solely on the software used.

Hybrid platform for a software defined radio

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A processing method for a bump-included device wafer which includes an adhesive providing step of providing an adhesive in an annular groove of a carrier wafer so that the adhesive projects from the upper surface of an annular projection of the carrier wafer; a wafer attaching step of attaching and fixing the front side of the device wafer through the adhesive to the front side of the carrier wafer so as to accommodate bumps in a recess of the carrier wafer after performing the adhesive providing step; and a thickness reducing step of grinding or polishing the back side of the device wafer to reduce the thickness of the device wafer to a predetermined thickness after performing the wafer attaching step.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a processing method for a semiconductor device wafer, and more particularly to a technique of facilitating the handling of a semiconductor device wafer reduced in thickness.
2. Description of the Related Art
In processing a wafer having a plurality of devices on the front side, such as a semiconductor device wafer and an optical device wafer, the back side of the wafer is ground to reduce the thickness of the wafer to 50 μm or less, for example.
When the thickness of the wafer is reduced to 50 μm or less, the handling of the wafer becomes more greatly difficult as compared with the case that the thickness is larger. For example, there arises a problem such that chipping occurs on the outer circumference of the wafer or the rigidity of the wafer is remarkably reduced.
As a technique to cope with this problem, it is known that the back side of the wafer is ground in the condition where the front side (device formed side) of the wafer is attached through an adhesive or the like to the front side of a carrier wafer (which is also referred to as a support wafer or a support plate) formed of glass or silicon.

Processing method for bump-included device wafer


Provided is a method for detecting decrease in an inner pressure of a tire with excellent accuracy by calculating accurate dynamic load radii by comparing the GPS speed information with tire rotational speed information collecting data only when a stable measurement of the dynamic load radii is possible, as well as by utilizing GPS positioning information for a running state of a vehicle, and an apparatus and a program thereof.

The present invention relates to a method for realizing an apparatus for detecting decrease in an inner pressure of a tire with excellent accuracy at a low cost.
JP-A-2005-186739, JP-A-2003-146037 and JP-A-2003-94920 disclose a method of detecting decrease in an inner pressure of a tire from a vehicle speed calculated from GPS information, a distance, and a tire rotational number.
However, in order to detect decrease in an inner pressure of a tire from the vehicle speed calculated from GPS information and the tire rotational speed, it is necessary to detect change of the tire rotational speed only by decreasing the inner pressure. Namely, it is necessary to exclude the change of the rotational speed caused by a running state of a vehicle.
JP-A-2003-94920 discloses a method for detecting decrease in an air pressure of a tire by comparing a running track of a vehicle calculated from information of tire rotation with a running track of a vehicle obtained from the vehicle positioning information using such as GPS, but it does not indicate that the change of the rotational speed caused by the running state of a vehicle is excluded.
JP-A-2005-186739 and JP-A-2003-146037 specify the running state from the comparison of rotation states of the mutual tires, but when decrease in an inner pressure of a tire occurs, the relation of the mutual rotational speeds of four wheels already loses a balance, and an accurate running state cannot be specified.
Further, a method of detecting decrease in an inner pressure of a tire by calculating the tire dynamic load radii from the movement distance calculated from GPS information and the tire rotational numbers is known, but since the exclusion of the change of rotational numbers caused by the running state of a vehicle is inadequate, accuracy is inadequate.

Method for detecting decrease in inner pressure of tire using GPS speed information

Abstract: The present invention is characterized in judging decrease in an inner pressure of a tire from change in size of dynamic load radii by comparing an effective dynamic load radius with an initial value preliminarily stored as a dynamic load radius at a normal inner pressure, wherein the effective dynamic load radius is obtained by calculating an apparent dynamic load radius of a tire at running by successively comparing a calculated speed of a vehicle by a GPS device, in which the speed of the vehicle at running is calculated from information obtained by the GPS device, with a rotational speed of the tire obtained by a tire rotational speed detection apparatus installed on tire rotational portions of four wheels of the vehicle, and judging the apparent dynamic load radius to be effective only when a running state is judged to be straight on a flat road at a constant speed from GPS positioning information.


The present invention provides a display substrate comprising a plurality of pixel regions and a thin film transistor provided in each of the pixel regions. Each of the pixel regions comprises a transmissive region and a reflective region, and a protection layer is provided on the thin film transistor. A portion of the protection layer corresponding to the reflective region is a protrusion portion, and a portion of the protection layer corresponding to the thin film transistor is provided with a via therein.

Nowadays, liquid crystal displays (LCDs) have become mainstream products on the market due to their excellent performances and mature technologies. The liquid crystal displays may be classified into transmissive liquid crystal displays, reflective liquid crystal displays and transflective liquid crystal displays according to the type of light source thereof. Among the liquid crystal displays, the transflective liquid crystal display has been widely used in portable mobile electronic devices because it combines the advantages of the reflective liquid crystal display and the transmissive liquid crystal display and thus is suitable for both indoor use and outdoor use.
In a transflective liquid crystal display in the prior art, in one aspect, a light transmittance and a light reflectance thereof restrain each other, i.e., the light reflectance is low if the light transmittance is high, and the light transmittance is low if the light reflectance is high; in another aspect, the display contrast in a reflective mode is decreased due to a difference between an optical path of reflected light and an optical path of transmitted light; in yet another aspect, a transflective liquid crystal display in the prior art is formed by an aligning and assembling process, and thus the manufacturing process thereof is complicated and there is a defect of light leakage due to an error in the aligning and assembling process.

Display substrate, manufacturing method thereof and display device

HEFEI XINSHENG OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A semiconductor device may include a plurality of logic circuits connected to each other through input and output terminals thereof. The plurality of logic circuits comprising a first sub-plurality of logic circuits coupled to a first one of different power systems. The first sub-plurality of logic circuits is laid out and adjacent to each other in a first direction. The first sub-plurality of logic circuits includes a first logic circuit and a second logic circuit. The second logic circuit is adjacent to the first logic circuit. The first logic circuit includes a first element comprising a first diffusion layer. The second logic circuit includes a second element comprising the first diffusion layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a layout design apparatus of a semiconductor device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a semiconductor device including logic circuits having different power supply lines which are alternately connected to the logic circuits, and a layout design apparatus of the semiconductor device.
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application First Publication, No. 2009-297750, filed Dec. 28, 2009, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
As an example of a general semiconductor device, an inverter circuit (INV) circuit, a MOS logic circuit, including N-channel MOS transistors (NMOS transistors) and P-channel MOS transistors (PMOS transistors) are shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B. FIG. 10A is a view illustrating an example of a layout of the inverter circuit. FIG. 10B is a view illustrating a circuit diagram of the inverter circuit. FIG. 10C is a view illustrating a symbol of the inverter circuit.
In FIG. 10A, the inverter circuit includes a PMOS transistor P1 and an NMOS transistor N1. The gate electrodes Gp of the PMOS transistor P1 and the gate electrodes On of the NMOS transistor N1 are coupled to a gate wiring Jg which is formed on an upper wiring layer The gate wiring Jg is not shown in the figure. The drain electrode Dp of the PMOS transistor P1 and the drain electrode Dn of the NMOS transistor N1 are connected to a drain wiring Jd.
The PMOS transistor P1 is formed in a diffusion layer 101. The source electrodes of the PMOS transistor P1 is coupled to a power source line (VCC) through wiring layers M1n and Via-1. The drain electrode Dp of the PMOS transistor P1 is coupled to the drain electrode Dn of the NMOS transistor N1. The power source line may be referred to as a power supply line. The source electrodes of the NMOS transistor N1 are connected to a ground line GND (VSS) through wiring layers M1p and Via-2.
FIG. 11A is a view illustrating a layout of two inverter circuits INV1 and INV2 for forming a series connection of the inverter circuits INV1 and INV2. The inverter circuits INV1 and INV2 are adjacently formed. The inverter circuit INV1 includes a PMOS transistor P1 and an NMOS transistor N1. The inverter circuit INV2 includes a PMOS transistor P2 and an NMOS transistor N2. QP1 indicates a source diffusion layer of the PMOS transistor P1. QN1 indicates a source diffusion layer of the NMOS transistor N1. Further, QP2 indicates a source diffusion layer of the PMOS transistor P2. QN2 indicates a source diffusion layer of the NMOS transistor N2. In the figure, the source diffusion layers QP1 and QP2 are adjacent, and the source diffusion layers QN1 and QN2 are adjacent.
FIG. 11B is a view illustrating an example of a layout of the inverter circuits INV1 and INV2 in a reduced layout area of the inverter circuits INV1 and INV2. A diffusion layer QP1 (QP2) is used for the diffusion layer QP1 of the PMOS transistor P1 and the diffusion layer QP2 of the PMOS transistor P2. The diffusion layer QP1(QP2) may be referred to as a common diffusion layer QP1(QP2). A diffusion layer QN1(QN2) is used for the diffusion layer QN1 of the NMOS transistor N1 and the diffusion layer QN2 of the NMOS transistor N2. The diffusion layer QN1(QN2) may be referred to as a common diffusion layer QN1(QN2). Further, the common diffusion layer QP1(QP2) is connected to a wiring M1(Sp12), and the common diffusion layer QN1(QN2) is connected to a wiring M1(Sn12). In this way, a common diffusion layer is used for the diffusion layers of adjacent sources. The diffusion layers to be connected to the power source of the inverter circuits INV1 and INV2 are coupled to another common diffusion layer. Thereby, the total layout area of inverter circuits INV1 and INV2 can be reduced. FIG. 11C indicates a symbol of the inverter circuits formed in series connections.
There is another type of logic circuits in which series-connected logic circuits of a semiconductor device are driven by different power source lines. In this case, the different power source lines are alternately coupled to the series-connected logic circuits. Recently, this type of power supply configuration is increasingly used for semiconductor devices, such as DRAMs (dynamic random access memories), since they are installed in a mobile device or the like. Namely, such logic circuits can be used for reducing current consumption of the semiconductor devices.
In this case, the logic circuits include a sub-power source line and a sub-ground line (GND) in addition to a primary power source line and a primary ground line. The sub-power source line is coupled to a sub-power supply providing a sub-voltage (sub-electrical potential). The sub-ground line (GND) is coupled to a sub-ground supply which provides a sub-ground potential. The primary power source line is coupled to a primary voltage supply which provides a primary electrical potential. The primary ground line is coupled to a primary ground supply which provides a primary ground potential. Japanese Patent Application First Publication, No. 2007-324409 and United States Patent Application, Publication No. 2007-0278528, describe that the sub-power source line enables MOS transistors to reduce current consumption of the sub-threshold current of MOS transistors. Such power supply system, which provides different power supply lines for the circuits, may be referred to as a current source control configuration.

Semiconductor device and layout design apparatus of semiconductor device


Disclosed are a method for cancelling inter-subcarrier interferences and an apparatus for the same. The method according to an example embodiment may comprise dividing total available subcarriers into a plurality of sub-blocks, composing Alamouti code symbol pairs by mapping input symbols to subcarriers included in each of the plurality of sub-blocks, and performing inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) on the Alamouti code symbol pairs. Therefore, inter-subcarrier interferences due to frequency error between transmit antennas of a distributed antenna system or a cooperative transmission apparatus may be cancelled in the frequency selective fading channel environment.

1. Technical Field
Example embodiments of the present invention relate in general to a technology for cancelling interference in a wireless communication system, and more specifically, to a method of cancelling inter-subcarrier interference in a wireless communication system, which can efficiently cancel inter-subcarrier interference in a frequency selective fading channel environment, and an apparatus for the same.
2. Related Art
According to rapid advances of wireless communication system, demands on transmitting and receiving a high-speed large amount of data are increasing. For this, a method of installing a plurality of distributed antennas additionally in the conventional cell coverage, and performing cooperative communications between a plurality of transmitters and a plurality of receivers, which are geographically distributed, is being used.
Such the distributed antenna system has an effect of resolving a problem of coverage hole, decreasing transmission power, and enhancing transmission efficiency per bandwidth, and especially a system which makes use of relay nodes connected to a base station through optic cables as distributed antenna has a strong point in high-efficient resource allocation and cooperative signal transmissions between distributed antennas, since the system does not require additional radio resources for relaying and transmission/reception of control signals.
Meanwhile, since circuits processing a large number of subcarriers may be implemented on a single integrated circuit according to advances of semi-conductor technology, it has become possible to convert high-speed serial data into low-speed parallel data and transmit the converted low-speed parallel data. In addition, since computation has become more simplified according to adopting a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) signal processing, an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is being applied to various commercial wireless or mobile telecommunication systems.
Since a plurality of subcarriers are used in a wireless communication system using OFDM, signal can be transmitted using a property of flat channel even in a wireless environment having frequency selective fading channel. Through the above mentioned characteristic of OFDM, efficiency of bandwidth and data throughput may be enhanced, and modulation and coding scheme may be adapted to state of each of a plurality of channels. In addition, divided data resources may be multiplexed.
However, since OFDM uses characteristic of orthogonality between multiple subcarriers, it is very sensitive to frequency synchronization between subcarriers. Especially, in a wireless communication environment using a plurality of transmission points (or, nodes) such as a distributed antenna system and a cooperative transmission system, synchronization errors between subcarriers may cause significant performance degradation.
On the other hand, recently, an Alamouti coded OFDM, which obtains transmit antenna gains by using Alamouti codes in distributed antenna system, is being used. In the distributed antenna system, in order to maximize diversity gain, interferences due to frequency errors are required to be reduced.
As described above, studies for reducing inter-subcarrier interference in a wireless communication system using OFDM have progressed. However, since ongoing studies on reducing inter-subcarrier interference mainly have focused upon a wireless channel environment having flat fading property, there is a problem of performance degradation when they are applied to a frequency selective fading channel environment.

Method for cancelling inter-subcarrier interference and apparatus for the same

INDUSTRY-ACADEMIC COOPERATION FOUNDATION, YEUNGNAM UNIVERSITY


A method of forming a high resolution feature on a substrate, the method includes, depositing a liquid composition comprising a substance and a solvent onto the substrate to form deposited features, heating the deposited features to a heating temperature during or after the depositing to form an intermediate feature having a central region and an edge region, applying an adhesive substance to at least a portion of a surface of the intermediate feature, and removing the adhesive substance together with at least a portion of the central region of the intermediate feature to form the high resolution feature on the substrate.

Fabrication of electronic circuit elements using liquid deposition techniques is of profound interest as such techniques provide potentially low-cost alternatives to conventional mainstream amorphous silicon technologies for electronic applications such as thin film transistors (TFTs), light-emitting diodes (LEDs), RFID tags, photovoltaics, and the like.
Solution-processable conductors are of great interest for use in such electronic applications. Metal nanoparticle-based inks represent a promising class of materials for printed electronics. However, most conventional printing methods such as inkjet printing, screen printing and flexography printing cannot offer very high-resolution features. For example, screen printing normally results in line having a width of 100 microns, while inkjet printing with a 10 pL nozzle usually forms a line having a width no less than 30 microns. Although special inkjet printers may be designed to print very small droplets, it is very difficult to achieve reliable and consistent printing results, particularly using particle-based ink, since the nozzle trends clog. Although conventional photolithography method can produce high-resolution lines, such as 1 to 5 microns, this method is too costly for low-cost electronic fabrication.
While currently available methods for preparing conductive elements for electronic devices are suitable for their intended purposes, to achieve high-resolution devices, there remains a need for a low-cost method suitable for preparing conductive structures using stable metal ink compositions, the conductive features having a width of less than 10 microns which is comparable with conventional lithographic method.

Method of fabricating high-resolution features


The current invention relates to poly(amide) and poly(ester-amide) polymers, coatings including the polymers, and narrow polydispersity drug delivery particles including the polymers.

Until the mid-1980s, the accepted treatment for atherosclerosis, i.e., narrowing of the coronary artery(ies) was coronary by-pass surgery. While effective and having evolved to a relatively high degree of safety for such an invasive procedure, by-pass surgery still involves serious potential complications and in the best of cases an extended recovery period.
With the advent of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) in 1977, the scene changed dramatically. Using catheter techniques originally developed for heart exploration, inflatable balloons were employed to re-open occluded regions in arteries. The procedure was relatively non-invasive, took a very short time compared to by-pass surgery and the recovery time was minimal. However, PTCA brought with it another problem, elastic recoil of the stretched arterial wall which could undo much of what was accomplished and, in addition, failed to satisfactorily ameliorate another problem, restenosis, the re-clogging of the treated artery.
The next improvement, advanced in the mid-1980s was use of a stent to hold the vessel walls apart after PTCA. This for all intents and purposes put an end to recoil but did not entirely resolve the issue of restenosis. That is, prior to the introduction of stents, restenosis occurred in from 30-50% of patients undergoing PTCA. Stenting reduced this to about 15-20%, much improved but still more than desirable.
In 2003, drug-eluting stents or DESs were introduced. The drugs initially employed with the DES were cytostatic compounds, compounds that curtailed the proliferation of cells that resulted in restenosis. The occurrence of restenosis was thereby reduced to about 5-7%, a relatively acceptable figure. Today, the DES is the default the industry standard to treatment of atherosclerosis and is rapidly gaining favor for treatment of stenoses of blood vessels other than coronary arteries such as peripheral angioplasty of the femoral artery.
One of the key criteria of DESs is selection of a polymer or blend of polymers to be used in a drug reservoir layer, a rate-controlling layer, a protective topcoat layer, etc. If a biostable polymer is selected, i.e., a polymer that does not significantly decompose in a patient's body, their chemical composition is often not of significant concern since they are not intended to break down and enter the patient's system. On the other hand, currently biodegradable polymers are preferred for many applications because their ability to decompose in a biological environment confers on them a number of desirable characteristics. For example, the fact that a polymer will biodegrade and can eventually be essentially completely eliminated from a patient's body can avoid the need to invasively remove a DES after its job is done. In addition, by judicious choice of biodegradable polymer, e.g., selecting one that bio-erodes by bulk erosion or one that bio-erodes by surface erosion, the properties of the polymer can be used as an added tool for the fine-tuning of the release rate of a drug.
Of course, if a polymer is going to degrade in a patient's body, it is imperative that it be biocompatible, that is, that its degradation products do no harm to the patient. This requires careful attention to the chemistry of the polymer and the properties of its degradation products. A great deal of work has gone into the effort to find suitable biodegradable polymers and one class of such polymers that is exhibiting particularly desirable properties in terms of biodegradation, biocompatibility, drug compatibility and, generally, the range of properties that can be engineered into the polymer by judicious selection their constitutional units is the poly(ester-amide) family of polymers.
As currently employed, however, poly(ester-amide)s tend generally to be rather soft and quite permeable to many if not most drugs, which limits their application in DESs to some extent. There is a need for polymers that are stronger, tougher and less permeable than those currently in use while still maintaining the other beneficial characteristics of the class.
Such polymers would have use in other areas of drug delivery including particles for drug delivery. Particles including a drug can be used for local drug delivery. Local drug delivery has advantages over systemic delivery.
Specifically, by avoiding the gastrointestinal tract, the drug is not subject to the first pass metabolism in the liver, although it will still be subject to metabolism by enzymes that exist outside the gastrointestinal tract. In addition, by delivering the drug to the site where it is needed, there is a potential to obtain higher concentrations of drug at the site since systemic delivery to obtain the same local concentration may result in toxicity or adverse events. It is often preferred that polymers used to make drug delivery particles be biodegradable. This avoids the issue of removal which may not even be feasible for small particles.
The current invention provides polymers, poly(ester-amide) polymers and poly(amide) polymers, that are stronger, tougher and more compatible with active pharmaceutical ingredients than those currently in use while still maintaining the other beneficial characteristics of the class of poly(ester-amide)s. The polymers may be used for drug delivery coatings and drug delivery particles.

Poly(amide) and poly(ester-amide) polymers and drug delivery particles and coatings containing same


A drilling rig includes an interchangeable plurality of drill pipes, wherein drill bits are arranged at an end section of an end drill pipe. The drill bit being attached to the end section by means of a threaded connection and torque being provided to the drill bit by means of a splines coupling. The drilling rig comprises a lower support device and a breaker device. The system includes a drill bit storage device arranged to hold a plurality of drill bits, a gripping arm for selective gripping of a drill bit. The gripping arm may further comprise a movement sensor, arranged to monitor movement of the gripping arm, and the system may further comprise a control unit. The control unit being arranged to receive input from the sensors and the drilling rig, and to control movement of the gripping arm, the gripping means, the drill bit storage device, and the breaker device of the drilling rig.

When performing drilling operations in rock-type materials generally special kinds of drilling rigs are used. There are different types of such drilling rig, wherein "DTH" (down the hole)-drilling rigs and top hammer drilling rigs are two commonly used rigs for such operations being performed in a vertical, or close to vertical, direction. As rock drilling is performed in hard materials special kinds of drill bits are used for such operations. Such drill bits are often heavy and may get oily and dirty when used, and may also after usage comprise sharp edges and/or chips of material which may cause harm to a person when handling such a drill bit. The drill bits will however require maintenance in the form of replacement and/or re-grinding, which in turn leads to a need to remove and attach such drill bits to the drilling rig every now and then. Due to the above described properties and circumstances surrounding handling of drill bits, such removing and attaching operations are heavy, inconvenient and at times the cause of personal injury.
To alleviate such issues drill bit change systems are used, which systems may provide a fully or semi-automatic replacement process for drilling rigs. DTH drilling rigs generally comprise a spline coupling for attaching a drill bit to such a drilling rig, whereas top hammer drilling rigs in general instead utilize a threaded connection. Therefore such drill bit changing systems are designed differently for those two types of drilling rigs.
However, there are also additional types of drilling rigs, which utilize both a threaded connection and a spline connection between the drilling rig and drill bit. Such connections are more complex as there are more interacting parts which need to be handled during a drill bit change operation, and prior art systems are not equipped to handle such drilling rigs having such different kind of connection types for fastening of the drill bit.
There is thus a need for an improved drill bit change system which may handle such specially designed drill bit connections, and which may be able to function at least semi-automatically to alleviate hard labour and the risk of personal injury for drill bit operations for such drilling rigs.

System for drill bit change in a drilling rig, drilling rig comprising such a system, and a method for changing drill bits using such a system


It has been surprisingly found that certain properties including adhesion strength to smooth surfaces may be improved by making hot melt adhesives from blends comprising a poly-1-butene polymer, a tackifier resin, and from 3 wt. % to 25 wt. % of a liquid or semi-liquid, hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated low molecular weight conjugated diene polymer prepared by anionic polymerization. Any one of the following three polymers can be used in the adhesive formulation of this invention: 1) a hydrogenated styrene isoprene diblock copolymer having a number average molecular weight from 4000 to 30,000, preferably 6000 to 15,000, a polystyrene content of 5 to 15 percent by weight, preferably 8 to 12 percent by weight, which is at least 75 percent hydrogenated, preferably at least 85 percent hydrogenated; or 2) a hydrogenated polydiene polymer which may have one diene block of either isoprene or butadiene or maybe a diblock polymer wherein one block is of isoprene and the other block is of butadiene, and wherein the polymer may have a terminal hydroxy group, and wherein the polymer has a number average molecular weight of 500 to 20,000, preferably 1000 to 10,000, and is at least 75 percent hydrogenated, preferably at least 85 percent hydrogenated; or 3) a polyisoprene homopolymer having a number average molecular weight of 15,000 to 40,000, preferably 20,000 to 30,000 which is at least 75 percent hydrogenated, preferably at least 85 percent hydrogenated.

Hot melt adhesives have found extensive use in industry in bonding, joining or fabrication of various structures, including construction of structures from synthetic polymeric films, such as polyethylene, polypropylene, etc.; foil, including metal foil such as aluminum foil, wax-coated or wax-impregnated cellulosic structures; and various non-woven materials whose constituents are based on polyolefins, polyesters, polyamides and acrylic-type polymers.
The modern trend in the packaging and disposable article industry, for example, is to use more of the plastic-based or plastic-finished constructions, such as polyethylene or polypropylene based extrusion coated, spray coated, or laminated composite constructions. The change in various packaging and disposable laminate from fibrous substrates, such as fabrics and paper or paperboard, to plastics based on synthetic polymers also necessitates that the various adhesives chosen to hold the structures together be compatible with the materials of construction, since the altered surface chemistry of such materials may not be adhesion compatible with traditionally-available hot melt adhesives.
Hot melt adhesives based on homopolymers or copolymers of 1-butene (hereinafter "poly-1-butenes") are commonly used to bond fabrics or non-woven sheets to other porous or semi-porous substrates. Poly-1-butenes' polymorphic nature and unique crystallization half-life allow adhesives based on this polymer to flow and remain tacky long after they have cooled to room temperature and thus have relatively long open time. As used herein, adhesion open time is the maximum time at which adhesion (adhesion to itself or to a substrate) can take place for material after it is cooled from the melt to room temperature. Consequently, poly-1-butene based hot melt adhesives can be easily applied to cold substrates and will cold flow into porous substrates before the material undergoes further transition and densification.
On smooth substrates such as olefinic films and metals especially painted metals and coated metals, the surface is much different from those with porous substrates. As a result, poly-1-butene based hot melt adhesives do not adequately wet the smooth surfaces and tend to pop off or delaminate after the phase transition.
Disposable articles such as baby diapers, adult incontinence briefs, sanitary napkins, etc. typically use adhesives between the outer spun-bonded non-woven fabric, often made of polyolefins such as polypropylene, and the adsorbent core. Adhesives are also used between the absorbent core and the polyolefin liquid barrier, typically a polyolefin film such as a polyethylene film. These adhesives typically have hot melt (350.degree. F.) viscosities of less than 10,000 cP and therefore can be applied by spray coating techniques.
Poly-1-butene adhesives have offered formulators unique opportunities in the market as the adhesive between the polypropylene fabric and the absorbent core.
However, poly-1-butene inherently does not adhere very well to smooth surfaces, which have less surface areas than fabrics, such as painted/coated metals and polyolefin films, especially those outer liquid barrier films made of polyolefins such as polyethylenes. Because of this, formulators and diaper manufacturers were not able to utilize poly-1-butene based adhesives to adhere outer liquid barrier films until Lakshmanan et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,833,192) added liquid polybutenes, copolymers of isobutylene and butenes, to poly-1-butene adhesives to enhance their adhesion to polyethylene film. The present invention provides poly-1-butene based hot melt adhesives with good adhesion to both polyolefin fabrics and smooth polyolefin films which are superior to those containing liquid polybutenes.

Polybutene/liquid polydiene hot melt adhesive


A tunable isolator is provided. At least one of the matching circuits for the isolator may be patterned or placed on a common substrate with the isolator. Additionally, at least one of the matching circuits includes a ferro-electric tunable component for tuning the impedance match of the matching circuit.

Wireless communication devices, such as, but not limited to, wireless telephones, use many electronic components to transmit and receive signals over the air. A transceiver is the part of a wireless telephone that actually sends and receives signals. The front end of a transceiver is the portion of a transceiver closest to the air interface in the signal path. The front end includes an antenna and several components near the antenna in the signal path. Several of the components required in the front end of the transceiver are power amplifiers (PA's), isolators, low noise amplifiers (LNA's) and multiplexers. Each of these components are typically manufactured as packaged devices. In the case of a PA or an LNA, this package typically includes the active device and internal input and output matching circuits for bringing the input and output resistances up to an industry standard 50 ohms.
In one common embodiment, the packaged PA is comprised of a high performance FET (e.g., GaAs) placed on a ceramic or other substrate. Other active devices can be used, such as, for example, bipolar junction transistors (BJT's) and high electron mobility transistors (HEMT's). The matching circuits may be patterned on the ceramic substrate, or they may be fabricated using lumped surface mount technology (SMT) components. The FET is bonded to the package substrate, possibly to a metal heat sink, then typically connected to its input, output and bias pads using bond wires.
Depending on the requirements, multi-stage PA devices may be used as well. This means that one PA device may include more than one amplifying transistor. This may be necessary for a number of reasons. One possible reason is to produce the required gain. In the case of a multi-stage PA device, inter-stage impedance matching circuits may be used as well, to match between the output of one stage and the input of the following stage.
The inputs, outputs and bias lines to the FET are routed down to the ceramic substrate. After passing through the matching circuits, the input and output lines are routed off of the substrate down to the underlying printed wire board (made of FR-4 in most cases) through connectors on the PA package. Further wire bonding may be required to connect the package pads to the input, output and bias lines.
The package further comprises some kind of packaging (typically polymer) encasing, in whole or in part, the FET and the ceramic substrate holding the matching circuits. The input and output bias leads can be found at the edge of the packaging.
Isolators, duplexers, diplexers and low noise amplifiers (LNA's) are handled in much the same way. As packaged devices, they each have their separate substrates with their separate matching circuits bringing their input and output impedances to 50 ohms.
Most RF test equipment can only test parts at an impedance of about 50 ohms. Manufacturers and designers typically want to be able to test each part separately. Historically, the only way this could be done was if each part had input and output impedances of around 50 ohms. For this reason, parts, such as PA's and LNA's, for example, have typically been manufactured with impedances equal to about 50 ohms. This has required the use of extensive input and output matching circuits for many of these parts.
A duplexer is one of the primary components in a transceiver front end. The duplexer has three ports (a port is an input or an output). One port is coupled to an antenna. A second port is coupled to the transmit signal path of the transceiver. The duplexer couples the transmit path to the antenna, so that the transmit signal can be transmitted on the antenna.
A third port is coupled to the receive path of the transceiver. The antenna coupled the antenna to the receive path, so that the received signal can be received by the receive path of the transceiver.
An important function of the duplexer is to isolate the transmit signal from the receive path of the transceiver. The transmit signal is typically much stronger than the receive signal. Some of the transmit signal inherently gets down the receive path. But this transmit signal going down the receive path must be greatly reduced (or attenuated). Otherwise, the transmit signal going down the receive path will swamp, or overwhelm, the receive signal. Then the wireless telephone will not be able to identify and decode the receive signal for the user.
The required attenuation of the transmit signal going down the receive path is achieved at some expense. The duplexer also attenuates the transmit signal going to the antenna for transmission. This attenuation in the transmit signal going to the antenna is known as loss. It would be beneficial to reduce the transmit path loss in the duplexer.
Additionally, the duplexer typically must be large accomplish the receive path attenuation of the transmit signal. Consumers are continually demanding smaller and smaller wireless telephones with more and more features and better performance. Thus, it would be beneficial to reduce the size of the duplexer while maintaining or improving the transmit signal attenuation in the receive path and simultaneously maintaining or improving the transmit signal loss to the antenna.


An industrial oven system for curing composite material parts can include an oven compartment configured to receive a composite material structure therein that extends along a majority of the length and/or width of the compartment, the compartment having an inner wall that defines a cavity between proximal and distal ends of the compartment. A shroud can be disposed circumferentially between the inner wall of the compartment and an outer wall of the composite material structure. The shroud defines a first longitudinal annular channel between the inner wall and an outer surface of the shroud, and defines a second longitudinal annular channel between the outer wall of the composite material structure and an inner surface of the shroud. The shroud is contoured to direct a heated airflow longitudinally along the annular channels and over the composite material structure to cure the composite material structure, the heated airflow generally being at a higher temperature than a surface of the composite material part. One or more contour elements of the shroud can direct more heat to a corresponding thicker portion of the composite material structure generally aligned with the contour element relative to an amount of heat directed to adjacent relatively thinner portions of the composite material structure so as to effect a desired heating rate of the composite material structure to achieve a substantially uniform temperature along substantially the entire length of the composite material structure, thereby inhibiting warping of the composite material structure during a curing process.

1. Field
The invention is directed to an industrial oven for curing composite material structures.
2. Description of the Related Art
Over the past two decades, military and commercial aircraft manufacturers have increased the use of composite materials in large aircraft. Among other things, composite materials tend to be lighter than conventional materials (e.g., riveted aluminum and honeycomb structures).
Composite material parts are typically made from multiple layers of "prepreg" (e.g., carbon or fiberglass fabric pre-impregnated with resin) which are draped in multiple directions over a steel, Invar, or aluminum mold (also called a "tool"). The structure is then "bagged," which involves placing high-temperature bagging material over the part and sealing it to the tool surface (e.g., with flexible sealing putty called "tacky tape"). The structure is then cured, which serves to heat the composite material part (and resin) to a sufficiently temperature to melt the resin and cross-link the resin molecules to achieve a cured part. Typically, the final cure temperature is about 250° F. or 350° F. Temperature uniformity of the composite material structure during the curing process is very important because non-uniformity of temperature on the part can result in permanent warping of the structure, thereby changing the structural and aerodynamic stability of the part.
Aerospace autoclaves have been used to cure large composite material structures for aircraft and aerospace parts. An autoclave is a large pressure vessel that incorporates high pressure, high temperature, and vacuum to consolidate, bond and cure composite material structures. However, such autoclaves are expensive to install and operate, and require the installation of a pressurized nitrogen system to deliver pressure to the autoclave, which makes the use of autoclaves not cost effective for use in the manufacturing of large composite structural parts.
Industrial ovens have also been used to cure composite material structures for aircraft and aerospace parts. Such an oven is a large box-shaped unit that has typically been used to cure small non-structural composite material parts and operates by directing heated airflow over the composite material part in a side-to-side, side-to-top, bottom-to-top or top-to-side manner across the width of the oven. Such ovens, unlike autoclaves, operate at atmospheric pressure and so do not apply additional pressure to the composite material structure.
Because most high-performance resin systems require high pressure to achieve high-pressure curing, such ovens have not been deemed suitable for curing most structural composite material parts. Additionally, though such ovens have been used to cure small parts, which can then be bolted together to form larger structures, conventional ovens have various drawbacks that make them unsuitable for curing large parts (e.g., whole wings or fuselages of an aircraft) due to their large size and tight temperature uniformity considerations. Moreover, conventional ovens are not able to achieve uniform heating of such large parts, causing large temperature gradients across the parts that cause structural warping, nor able to heat the large tool and composite materials of aircraft parts (e.g., wings and fuselages) at the typical curing specification rates of 2-5° F./min.
Accordingly, there is a need for an industrial oven that overcomes the drawbacks noted above and can cure large composite material structures, such as aircraft and aerospace parts.

Industrial oven for curing composite material structures


There is disclosed an apparatus for supporting an evaluation of equipment operability in which simulation equipment models of design object equipment or layout object equipment are arranged in a simulation space together with simulation body-shaped models patterned after humans who may operate the equipment, and the body-shaped models are moved within the simulation space so that an evaluation of operability of the layout object equipment is supported. A reference position of a body-shaped model to be arranged in the simulation space is defined in accordance with a basic posture of the body-shaped model. When the present model is changed to a body-shaped model which is different in the body form, the body-shaped model after an alteration is arranged in the simulation space so that the reference position coincides with the reference position before the alteration.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for supporting an evaluation of equipment operability in which simulation equipment models of design object equipment or layout object equipment are arranged in a three-dimensional virtual space together with simulation body-shaped models patterned after humans who may operate the equipment, and the body-shaped models are moved within the three-dimensional virtual space so that an evaluation of operability of the layout object equipment is supported.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, in order to evaluate operability of each individual equipment or operability of equipment subjected to a layout process when the equipment items are viewed as a whole, a so-called mockup is built, and when operability of the equipment subjected to a layout process is evaluated, the mockup is actually subjected to a layout process. In this manner, the operability of equipment subjected to the layout is evaluated through performing an actual operation of the layout process. Thus, there may be a need to repeatedly build the mockup. This takes a lot of time for an evaluation of operability of equipment, and in addition, can be expensive.
For the reasons described above, it is expected that tools would appear that are capable of evaluating operability of equipment through a computer simulation without building a mockup.
On the other hand, there exists CAD systems and design tools having means in which design object equipment models or layout object equipment models are arranged in a three-dimensional virtual space together with body-shaped models. For example, according to a software simulation tool referred to as "ROBCAD/MAN" (a trademark of NIHON TECHOMATIX Co., Ltd.), the simulation is performed in such a manner that the equipment models and the body-shaped models are arranged in a three-dimensional virtual space, images involved in viewpoints of the body-shaped models and images involved in viewpoints different from the viewpoints of the body-shaped models are displayed, and the body-shaped models are operated to walk and/or change in their posture.
However, since simulation tools according to the earlier technology are built for the purpose of producing an animation, producing a product image plan, a study of assembly of a manual working apparatus, a comparison of machines with human in size, and the like, those simulation tools are not suitable for an equipment design taking into consideration operability on condition that a human operates the equipment, and a layout design of a system constituted of a plurality of equipment.
Specifically, in the event that the simulation tools according to the earlier technology are used for an evaluation of operability for the equipment subjected to a layout process or individual equipment, the simulation tools according to the earlier technology are associated with the following problems.
Equipment operated by humans need to be adapted to various human bodies and postures. Consequently, it is required that an inspection can easily be carried out using various body-shaped models and also an inspection can easily be carried out using a plurality of postures. However, the simulation tools according to the earlier technology need a lot of processes for those inspections, and thus it is not realistic.
Further, of equipment which humans operate, there exists ones which are available for users who need auxiliary instruments such as a wheelchair. The simulation tools according to the earlier technology permit, for example, a wheelchair-shaped model to be arranged, but have no means for readily inspecting an alteration of a wheelchair configuration and differences of man's figure and posture. Thus, there is a need to depend on a mockup scheme.
In the event that a simulation is carried out on a computer, images involved in viewpoints of the body-shaped models and images involved in viewpoints different from the viewpoints of the body-shaped models are displayed, and evaluation is performed through the displayed images. In this case, generally, it is not easy to grasp a position relation between man's viewpoint and another object and thus it is difficult to evaluate a simulation result.
Further, while the simulation tools according to the earlier technology are also provided with a function of displaying images involved in viewpoints of the body-shaped models, it is unclear as to what portions apparently appear or come in sight. Thus, it is a problem in evaluation of operability and visibility. Furthermore, in the event that the human observes a specified object closely, movements of his head portion and his eyeballs as well are important elements for an evaluation of the operability and the visibility. However, the simulation tools according to the earlier technology have no means for simulating those movements, and thus there is a limit in the inspection by the simulation.
Still furthermore, with respect to an equipment layout, a layout of displays, lamps and switches, and the like, a distance (a visual range) between those objects and a man's viewpoint becomes an important factor. However, the simulation tools according to the earlier technology have no means for readily obtaining the visual range.
Still further, in the simulation tools according to the earlier development, in the event that there exists a lot of equipment and switches as objects in operation, which will be difficult in a determination as to whether some operation is feasible or difficult, unless a body-shaped model is actually operated, there is a large number of combinations of operation, and thus a lot of time is required for an inspection of the body-shaped model.

Apparatus for supporting equipment operability evaluation


An apparatus is provided for setting grommets around the perimeter of a tarp. The apparatus includes a feed reel from which a rolled tarp may be unwound; a table, across which the tarp may be drawn; a take-up reel, onto which the tarp may be rolled; and a grommet setter positioned relative to the table to permit an operator to set grommets on the tarp as the tarp is drawn across the table.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for setting grommets onto large textile sheets at high speed.
Conventionally, grommets are set around the perimeter of a tarp, tent, or the like sheet material with the use of a grommet setter. A grommet setter is a machine that punches a hole in a textile, and sets a grommet into the hole in one operation. The grommet setter may be of the sort in which grommets are fed into the setting apparatus one at a time by hand, by an operator, or it may be auto-loading, wherein a number of grommets are inserted into a magazine and feed one at a time into the grommet setting apparatus as it is used. The grommet setting machine, be it manual loading or auto loading, is conventionally firmly bolted to a work bench and substantially immovable. Therefore, when an operator is setting grommets around the perimeter of a large tarp (for instance) most of the time and effort of the operator is devoted to manually shifting the bulk of the tarp in a single rotational movement so that its perimeter edge can be brought into engagement with the grommet setter. The entire tarp must then be flattened out in a large space, and rolled or folded for further processing or shipping.
It will be appreciated, therefore, that the production capability of an experienced operator with a conventional grommet setting machine will be about three tarps a day. Using the present invention production is substantially facilitated, and production rates increase to about 20 units per day.
In a abroad aspect the present invention relates to an apparatus for setting grommets around the perimeter of a tarp, including: a feed reel from which a rolled tarp may be unwound; a table, across which a said tarp may be drawn; a take-up reel, onto which a said tarp may be rolled; and a grommet setter positioned relative to said table to permit an operator to set grommets on a said tarp as said tarp is drawn across said table.
In another broad aspect, the present invention relates to a method of setting grommets around the perimeter of a tarp, including the steps of: folding said tarp in two, lengthwise; winding said folded tarp onto a feed reel until a first end edge of said tarp is left unwound; setting grommets along the first end edge of the tarp, using a grommet setter mounted for rotation relative to a table; rotating said grommet setter 90% to align same with the edge of said table; unwinding said tarp onto said table part of said grommet setter, and setting grommets on the exposed edges of said tarp; winding said tarp onto a take up reel so that the second end edge of said tarp is exposed; rotating said grommet setter to face said second edge; and setting grommets along said second edge of said tarp.


Described are aggregation devices and methods for interconnecting server nodes. The aggregation device can include an input region, an output region, and a memory switch. The input region includes a plurality of input ports. The memory switch has a shared through silicon via (TSV) memory coupled to the input ports for temporarily storing data received at the input ports from a plurality of source devices. The output region includes a plurality of output ports coupled to the TSV memory. The output ports provide the data to a plurality of destination devices. A memory allocation system coordinates a transfer of the data from the source devices to the TSV memory. The output ports receive and process the data from the TSV memory independently of a communication from the input ports.

Data centers are generally centralized facilities that provide Internet and/or intranet services supporting businesses and organizations. A typical data center can house various types of electronic equipment, such as computers, domain name system (DNS) servers, network switches, routers, and data storage devices. A typical data center can have hundreds or thousands of interconnected servers communicating with each other and external devices via a switching architecture comprising the switches and routers. Conventional data centers can also be configured for virtualization, permitting servers or the like to share network interface cards (NICs), hard disk drives, or other hardware. A complex switch fabric can facilitate communications between the servers.

Devices and methods for interconnecting server nodes