A cutlery utensil dispenser having at least one utensil compartment and a dispensing mechanism is disclosed. Each utensil compartment is so dimensioned and configured to house a stack of utensils. The dispensing mechanism includes a drive member in operable communication with at least one driven member, each driven member being associated with a respective one of the compartments. Actuation of the drive member causes simultaneous actuation of each driven member that causes a utensil to be dispensed from each compartment in repeatable succession one at a time. Also disclosed is a cutlery utensil dispenser having an electric motor in operable communication with the dispensing mechanism, and a controller in operable communication with the motor. The controller includes a processing circuit responsive to computer executable instructions which when executed on the processing circuit facilitates dispensing of a utensil from the utensil compartment by operation of the motor on command.

The present disclosure relates generally to a cutlery utensil dispenser, and particularly to a multi-stack cutlery utensil dispenser.
Eating facilities often provide cutlery utensils in dispensing bins, where all customers place their hands into the bins in order to retrieve a knife, fork, spoon or spork. While such arrangements provide for economical dispensing of cutlery utensils, as opposed to sets of utensils being separately wrapped in plastic sleeves, the open air bins are not very hygienic, and can spread hand-carried bacteria and the like to other utensils in the bin or potentially to another customer.
In an attempt to address concerns relating to the dispensing of hygienic cutlery utensils, enclosed dispensers have been employed where a stack of cutlery utensils are placed in a utensil compartment and dispensed one at a time on command by operation of a dispensing lever. Such arrangements may be suitable for their intended purpose, but are also limited by the capacity of utensils they are capable of holding. One remedy to such a deficiency may be to simply make the utensil compartment taller, thereby enabling multiple stacks of pre-measured and pre-assembled cutlery utensils to be placed one on top of the other. However, such a dispenser would be quite tall, would require refilling from a relatively high level, and would require each of the separate stacks to be properly aligned one on top of the other during refilling so that the cutlery utensils are properly aligned for dispensing. In view of these and other deficiencies, there is a need in the art for an improved cutlery utensil dispenser.


Control device for activating/deactivating functions, comprising a supporting plate comprising a contact surface providing electrical contacts, a control member for selecting a function with the actuation of a switching means, the control member mounted rotatably about an axis of rotation and pivotably about a pivot axis separate from the axis of rotation, rotation and pivoting of the control member facilitating selection of a function and confirmation of the selected function. The control member may be associated with an actuating lever, of which one end comprises the axis of rotation, and of which the other end is mounted pivotably about the pivot axis, the lever being displaceable between a rest position and at least one active position in which at least one electrical switching means on the supporting plate is actuated for purposes of confirming a function, the axis of rotation and the pivot axis extending in separate extension planes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the technical field of control devices associated in particular with automobile vehicles. More particularly, the present invention concerns control devices located near the steering wheel of a vehicle as well as steering columns provided with such control devices.
2. Description of Related Art
The task of optimizing the positioning of control devices in a vehicle often involves the dual objectives of facilitating convenient access to the control devices on the one hand and avoiding the user having to let go of the steering wheel or avert the user's eyes from the road on the other hand. It is known that a control device can be constructed for activating/deactivating functions, particularly of an automobile vehicle, comprising:                a housing in which is produced a contact surface, making electrical contacts,        a control member selecting and confirming a function with the actuation of electrical contacts, the control member being mounted rotatably on an axis of rotation and pivotably about a pivot axis separate from the axis of rotation, rotation and pivoting of the control member making it possible to select a function and to confirm the selected function respectively.
There is known, for example, through document EP-1 251 536, a control member mounted rotatably on a first axis of rotation and pivotably on a pivot axis orthogonal to the axis of rotation. In this device, the two axes are co-planar, and the pivot axis is embodied by a trunnion mounted in a complementary receptacle integral with the housing and arranged under a supporting plate comprising an electrical circuit. The device also has a control member traversing the supporting plate. Unfortunately, such devices necessitate the use of a large number of parts and entail relatively complex assembly procedures insofar as some of the parts in such devices must traverse the supporting plate. This often gives rise to high costs. Moreover, the use of stepping-down by a gear system in such devices inevitably results in the presence of hysteresis and play in operation and assembly, contributing to complexity in the assembly process and decreasing reliability in the use of such devices.


Systems, methods, computer programs, and user interfaces are provided to project, by a projection device, a pattern of invisible light onto a surface; position a vehicle at an image capture position on the surface, the vehicle including an image capture device oriented to capture an image of a view at the image capture position; capture, by an invisible light sensor connected to the vehicle, a pattern image at the image capture position, the pattern image including at least a portion of the pattern of invisible light projected onto the surface; and send the pattern image to an application server, the application server determining the image capture position relative to the projection device based on the portion of the pattern of invisible light.

Photographs of geographically distributed features (e.g., buildings, roads, or natural vistas) are useful in a variety of applications. For example, map services may store images of geographically distributed features and provide those images to users in response to a user request for images near or of a geographic location. It may also be useful to obtain photographs of the interior of structures such as buildings, stadiums, museums, etc. The interior photographs are useful for constructing models of the structures, e.g., interior photographs of a museum may be used to construct a virtual model of the museum that can be accessed via the Internet.
Certain applications based on interior images of structures often have an incomplete set of images. Certain portions of the structure may not be imaged, or certain perspectives of the structure may not be imaged. Further, the interior images of the structure may lack desirable attributes, such as pose or position information that may be used to position the interior images (e.g., relative to other images, relative to the surface of the Earth), etc.

Method, system, and computer program product for image capture positioning using a pattern of invisible light


An eject mechanism with a grip in a finisher is disclosed, in which papers ejected from a digital output device are temporarily stacked on a paper eject tray and exactly aligned so that the papers are gripped to move to a stacker tray without scattering. The eject mechanism with a grip in a finisher includes a paper eject tray that temporarily receives papers ejected from a digital output device, a paper moving means gripping the papers received in the paper eject tray to move them, and a stacker tray stacking the papers moved from the paper moving means, wherein the paper moving means includes a guide side plate provided with a rail groove circulating along the papers and a curved cam disposed near the rail groove, a paper grip means driven to grip the papers received in the paper eject tray when it is in contact with the curved cam while moving along the rail groove of the guide side plate, and a driving means that drives the paper grip means to circulate it along the rail groove.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a finisher that connected to a digital output device such as a copier and a printer so as to align and eject papers, and more particularly, to an eject mechanism with a grip in a finisher in which papers are ejected onto a stacker tray that receives the papers, without scattering.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Generally, an image forming device such as a copier and a printer includes a stapling function for stapling papers in the finishing process of ejecting the papers onto a stacker tray from a medium and an aligning function for aligning papers ejected on the stacker tray.
A related art eject mechanism in a finisher, as shown in FIG. 1, has a roller structure that enables a roller 89 to move papers to a stacker tray 103 up and down. The roller structure is to movably push papers fed after moving the roller 89 to the stacker tray 103.
In the above structure, scattering or sliding of papers may occur in the process of moving papers using rotation and frictional force of the roller.
Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 2, poor alignment of papers may occur in the process of moving the papers onto the stacker tray 103 using the roller 89. Moreover, error alignment of papers may occur due to friction between the papers when the papers are ejected onto the stacker tray 103. For this reason, inconvenience arises in that an operator should repeatedly align the papers after the papers are ejected onto the stacker tray.


A fax machine provided with an optical reader, a roller, a heat sensitive head for printing, a heat sensitive head press piece, a roller transmission mechanism, a heat sensitive head sustaining mechanism, and a steering clutch mechanism. As the fax machine receives a transmitting signal, the sustaining mechanism urges upwardly the heat sensitive head so that there is a substantial clearance between the heat sensitive head and the roller to ensure that the heat sensitive paper (the fax paper) is not rolled out when transmitting graphic information. As soon as the fax machine has received a reproducing or receiving signal, the steering clutch mechanism directly actuates the roller transmission mechanism so as to initiate the operation of reproducing or receiving graphic information while the heat sensitive head is not urged upwardly.

The present invention relates to an improved transmission mechanism of a fax machine, and more particularly to an improved one-roller type transmission mechanism replacing a two-roller type transmission mechanism used in the conventional fax machine of the prior art.
A fax machine is capable of transmitting, receiving, and reproducing graphic matter. As shown in FIG. 1, a mechanical design of the early model of a fax machine includes two motors 10 and 11 for actuating two rollers 12 and 13 respectively. The projective reading of graphic information 14 by an optical reader 15 is driven by motor 10 and roller 12 when the fax machine is executing a transmission and reproduction of graphic information 14. Motor 11 and roller 13 are responsible for driving the heat sensitive paper 16 (the fax paper) to make contact with the printing lead 17 to print out graphic information which the fax machine has received as an incoming message. In other words, such transmission mechanism includes an information-reading portion 10, 12, and 15 and an information-reproducing portion 11, 13, and 17. These two portions are completely separated by design in order to prevent them from interfering with each other when the fax machine receives an operation signal initiating the internal control system to instruct one of the transmitting or receiving mechanisms to operate. In view of current industrial trends to add versatility to products and to miniaturize products, fax machines are nowadays made with the inclusion of an electronic device, such as memory, to broaden its peripheral application. As a result, the design of the transmission mechanisms of a fax machine, in which the reading mechanism and the reproducing mechanism are separately set up, has evolved into a more ingenious system, in which only one motor is used to actuate two rollers, as shown in FIG. 2. Such a design includes a clutch device 18, which is used to actuate rollers 12 and 13 upon receiving an operation signal. It is apparent that such a transmission mechanism with only one motor 19 is more efficient in terms of cost control and energy consumption.
This inventor is of the opinion that the information reading mechanism can be set up in combination with time information reproducing mechanism because both mechanisms make use of the rollers 12 and 13 to roll out, respectively, the graphic information paper 14 and heat sensitive paper (the fax paper) 16. However, in the process of transmitting graphic information by the fax machine, heat sensitive paper 16 must not be rolled out, and graphic information paper 14 can be easily actuated and driven by a slight force exerted upon the graphic information paper 14 located between the roller 12 and the clear view window 151, as shown in FIG. 2. On the other hand, the information reproducing mechanism is dependent on the roller 13 and the printing head 17 each of which must exert a substantial force on the heat sensitive paper 16 so as to ensure that the heat sensitive paper 16 makes good contact with the printing head 17 in order to reproduce a good copy of incoming graphic information that the fax machine has received. If we want to design a fax machine having only one roller to do all the jobs instead of two rollers 12 and 13 as described above, we must find, first of all, a way to prevent the heat sensitive paper 16 from being rolled out at a time when the process of transmitting graphic information is in progress.

Mechanical transmission mechanism for fax machine


The invention relates to a method performed by a home agent serving a mobile node in a home network upon attachment of a mobile node to the home network as well as to the home agent. The invention also relates to a method for enabling simultaneous use of a plurality of interfaces by a mobile node being attached to a home network through one of the plurality of interfaces and to at least one foreign network through at least another interface of the plurality of interfaces. Moreover, the invention provides a mobile node and a proxy acting on behalf of the mobile node. To enable a mobile node to use a home network and at least one foreign network for communications the invention suggests the registration of the mobile node's home address or of a network node's address within its home network as a care-of address in the home network.

Long Term Evolution (LTE)
Third-generation mobile systems (3G) based on WCDMA radio-access technology are being deployed on a broad scale all around the world. A first step in enhancing or evolving this technology entails introducing High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and an enhanced uplink, also referred to as High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), giving a radio-access technology that is highly competitive.
However, knowing that user and operator requirements and expectations will continue to evolve, the 3GPP has begun considering the next major step or evolution of the 3G standard to ensure the long-term competitiveness of 3G. The 3GPP launched a Study Item "Evolved UTRA and UTRAN" (E-UTRA and E-UTRAN). The study will investigate means of achieving major leaps in performance in order to improve service provisioning and reduce user and operator costs.
It is generally assumed that there will be a convergence toward the use of Internet Protocols (IP), and all future services will be carried on top of IP. Therefore, the focus of the evolution is on enhancements to the packet-switched (PS) domain.
The main objectives of the evolution are to further improve service provisioning and reduce user and operator costs as already mentioned.
More specifically, some key performance and capability targets for the long-term evolution are:                Significantly higher data rates compared to HSDPA and HSUPA: envisioned target peak data rates of more than 100 Mbps over the downlink and 50 Mbps over the uplink;        Improved coverage: high data rates with wide-area coverage;        Significantly reduced latency in the user plane in the interest of improving the performance of higher layer protocols (for example, TCP) as well as reducing the delay associated with control plane procedures (for instance, session setup);        Greater system capacity: threefold capacity compared to current standards.
Another key requirement of the long-term evolution is to allow for a smooth migration to these technologies.
Mobility Management
For mobility management in a system with heterogeneous access networks different protocols may be applied. On the one hand global mobility protocols may be used for inter Access System mobility. A well-known example for a global mobility protocol is the client-based network layer protocol Mobile IP (MIPv6). With this protocol the mobility is transparent on a mobile node for layers above the network layer. On the other hand local mobility protocols are used for intra Access System mobility, examples thereof are NetLMM or GTP. Especially these two examples are network-based, i.e., their use is completely transparent to the mobile node, in particular the network layer. NetLMM is IP-based and independent of the underlying network technology, whereas GTP is especially for the 3GPP network and is coupled with the technology, e.g., relies on 3GPP specific identifiers.
MIPv6
Using Mobile IPv6 as specified in RFC 3775 (available at http://www.ietf.org, incorporated herein by reference) a mobile node (MN) is reachable by its home address even when away from home. For this the mobile node is associated with a care-of address (CoA), which provides information about the mobile node's current location. The home agent (HA) of the mobile node and also a correspondent node (CN) set up a binding between the home address and the care-of address in a cache and packets destined for the mobile node are directly sent to the care-of address. If the mobile node is at its home network, it deregisters the care-of address and receives packets directly with its home address.
In order to allow a home agent to intercept traffic for a node the proxy Neighbor Advertisements of the Neighbor Discovery protocol are used. According to Mobile IPv6 if there is a binding cache entry in the home agent for a mobile node, the home agent sends proxy neighbor advertisements so that the neighbor cache entries of the nodes in the vicinity of the home agent are updated and all traffic to the mobile node is sent to the link-layer address of the home agent.
In the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) discussions are ongoing how to enhance Mobile IPv6 to support Mobile Nodes with multiple interfaces. This simultaneous use of the multiple interfaces increases service quality for the terminals and makes better use of the network capacity.
Mobile Node Returning "Home"
When returning home, i.e., one of the mobile node's interfaces is attached to the home link, two possible approaches are described in the state of the art.
In the first approach the mobile node sends a binding update to the home agent with its home address as a care-of address, the home registration bit set and lifetime set to zero, to instruct its home agent to no longer intercept or tunnel packets for it. In this case the home agent deletes the binding of the mobile node from the binding cache and stops sending proxy neighbor advertisements in behalf of the mobile node. On the other hand the mobile node starts to send neighbor advertisements with its own link-layer address on the home link, so that the neighbor cache entries in the routers are changed and all traffic is directly sent to the mobile node.
In a second approach the mobile node de-registers the binding for the interface on the home link and stops using the interface. In this case all traffic previously sent to the de-registered interface is then sent to the remaining registered interface, i.e., through a foreign network to which the mobile node is still connected.
In both scenarios it is not possible for the MN to use the home link and a foreign link simultaneously.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Enabling simultaneous use of home network and foreign network by a multihomed mobile node


The present invention has for its object to isolate a gene coding for the enzyme synthesizing the coenzyme Q10 side chain from a fungal strain of the genus Saitoella and exploit it to advantage for the efficient microbial production of coenzyme Q10.

The present invention relates to a process for producing a coenzyme Q10 for pharmaceutical and other uses. More particularly, the invention relates to a process for producing coenzyme Q10 which comprises isolating a gene coding for the coenzyme Q10 side-chain synthase, which is a key enzyme involved in the biosynthesis of coenzyme Q10, i.e. decaprenyl diphosphate synthase, from a fungal strain of the genus Saitoella and introducing it into a host microorganism to let it elaborate coenzyme Q10.
The conventional technology for commercial production of coenzyme Q10 comprises isolating the coenzyme from a tobacco or other plant and modifying the length of its side chain by a synthetic technique.
While it is known that coenzyme Q10 is produced by a broad spectrum of organisms ranging from microorganisms, such as bacteria and yeasts, to higher animals and plants, the method comprising culturing a microorganism and extracting coenzyme Q10 from the microorganism is regarded as one of the most effective production methods and has actually been exploited commercially. However, the prior art methods are invariably poor in productivity, providing for only low outputs and/or involving time-consuming procedures.
The pathways for biosynthesis of coenzyme Q10 in organisms are partly different between the prokaryote and the eukaryote but invariably comprise a complicated cascade of reactions involving many kinds of enzymes. However, these pathways are basically comprised of three fundamental steps, namely the step of synthesizing decaprenyl diphosphate as the precursor of the prenyl side-chain of coenzyme Q10, the step of synthesizing p-hydroxybenzoic acid as the basis of the quinone ring of coenzyme Q10, and the step of coupling these two compounds together and effecting a serial substituent transformation to complete coenzyme Q10. Of these reactions, the reaction determinant of the length of the side-chain of coenzyme Q10 and acknowledged to be the rate-determining step of its biosynthesis, i.e. the reaction catalyzed by decaprenyl diphosphate synthase, is considered to be the most important reaction. Therefore, in order that coenzyme Q10 may be produced with good efficiency, it seems worthwhile to isolate the key gene involved in said biosynthesis, namely the gene coding for decaprenyl diphosphate synthase, and utilize it for enhanced production of the enzyme. As sources of the gene, fungi capable of producing coenzyme Q10 in comparatively large amounts can be regarded as useful candidates.
Heretofore, genes coding for decaprenyl diphosphate synthase have been isolated from several kinds of microorganisms, such as Schizosacch aromyces pombe (JP09-173076A) and Gluconobacter suboxydans (JP10-57072A), etc., but the inherent coenzyme Q10 productivity of these micrcorganisms cannot be considered high enough and neither an efficient cultural protocol for these microorganisms nor an efficient isolation and purification procedure has been established as yet. Therefore, there has been a standing demand for isolation of a coenzyme Q10-encoding gene from a microorganism capable of highly producing a coenzyme Q10.
Devoted to providing a solution to the above-mentioned production problems, the present invention has for its object to isolate a gene coding for the enzyme synthesizing the coenzyme Q10 side chain from a fungal strain of the genus Saitoella and exploit it to advantage for the efficient microbial production of coenzyme Q10.
To accomplish the above object, in the present invention, the key gene involved in the biosynthesis of coenzyme Q10, namely the gene coding for decaprenyl diphosphate synthase, was isolated from a fungal strain of the genus Saitoella in the first place. Then, this gene was introduced and allowed to be expressed in a host microorganism, such as Escherichia coli, to thereby enable the host to produce coenzyme Q10 with efficiency.
The inventors of the present invention made intensive investigations for isolating such genes coding for decaprenyl diphosphate synthase from fungal strains of the genus Saitoella capable of producing comparatively large amounts of coenzyme Q10 and have succeeded in isolating said genes.
The present invention, therefore, is concerned with a DNA of the following (a), (b) or (c).
(a) a DNA having the nucleotide sequence shown under SEQ ID NO:1
(b) a DNA having a nucleotide sequence derived from the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 by the deletion, addition, insertion and/or substitution of one or a plurality of nucleotides
and coding for a protein having decaprenyl diphosphate synthase activity
(c) a DNA which hybridizes with the DNA having the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 under a stringent condition and codes for a protein having decaprenyl diphosphate synthase activity.
The present invention is further concerned with a protein of the following (d) or (e).
(d) a protein having the amino acid sequence shown under SEQ ID NO:2
(e) a protein having an amino acid sequence derived from the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2 by the deletion, addition, insertion and/or substitution of one or a plurality of amino acids
and having decaprenyl diphosphate synthase activity.
The invention is further concerned with a DNA coding for this protein.
The present invention is further concerned with an expression vector containing said DNA. For the expression vector of the invention, various vector systems heretofore known can be utilized and, therefore, may for example be pNTSal as constructed by cloning the DNA having the sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 into the vector pUCNT for expression.
The present invention is further concerned with a transformant as constructed by transforming a host microorganism with said DNA. As the host microorganism for the invention, Escherichia coli can be used with advantage.
The invention is further concerned with a process for producing coenzyme Q10
which comprises culturing said transformant in a culture broth and harvesting the coenzyme Q10 produced and accumulated in the resulting culture. The host microorganism for this process is not particularly restricted but may be Escherichia coli to mention a preferred example. The coenzyme Q produced by Escherichia coli is coenzyme Q8 but the invention enables this microorganism to produce coenzyme Q10.
The inventors made intensive investigations on the isolation of the enzyme gene from a fungal strain which belongs to the genus Saitoella and is capable of producing comparatively large amounts of coenzyme Q10 and succeeded in acquiring a fragment of the particular gene by a PCR technique.
The inventors compared the sequence of the known gene coding for decaprenyl diphosphate synthase with the genes cording for polyprenyl diphosphate synthases, namely long-chain prenyl synthases which are analogous to said known enzyme gene but differ from the same in chain length and, for the region of high homology, synthesized various PCR primers. Using these primers in various combinations, they studied PCR conditions. As a result, they found by analysis of the gene sequence that when a PCR using DPS-1 (SEQ ID NO:3) and DPS-1 1AS (SEQ ID NO:4) as primers is carried out according to the protocol of heat-treatment at 94xc2x0 C.xc3x973 minutes, followed by 40 cycles of 94xc2x0 C., 1 minutexe2x86x9243xc2x0 C., 2 minxe2x86x9272xc2x0 C., 2 minutes, a ca 220 bp fragment of the enzyme gene can be amplified from the chromosome gene of Saitoella complicata IFO 10748, a fungus belonging to the genus Saitoella.
Then, to acquire the full length of this enzyme gene, the chromosome gene Saitoella complicata IFO 10748 is digested with the restriction enzyme EcoRI and inserted into a xcex phage vector to construct a recombinant phage library. After the plaque is transferred to a nylon membrane, the plaque hybridization is carried out using the labeled PCR fragment, whereby a clone having the full-length decaprenyl diphosphate synthase gene can be obtained.
Sequencing of the decaprenyl diphosphate synthase gene occurring in the above clone reveals that the gene has the nucleotide sequence shown under SEQ ID NO:1 of SEQUENCE LISTING. The amino acid sequence deduced from the above nucleotide sequence is shown under SEQ ID NO:2. Here, a sequence characteristic of a gene coding for decaprenyl diphosphate synthase is observed.
The DNA of the invention may be any of the DNA having the nucleotide sequence shown under SEQ ID NO:1, the DNA having a nucleotide sequence derived from the sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 by the deletion, addition, insertion and/or substitution of one or a plurality of nucleotides and coding for a protein having decaprenyl diphosphate synthase activity, and the DNA which hybridizes with the DNA having the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 under a stringent condition and codes for a protein having decaprenyl diphosphate synthase activity.
The xe2x80x9cnucleotide sequence derived by the deletion, addition, insertion and/or substitution of one or a plurality of nucleotidesxe2x80x9d means any nucleotide sequence derived by the deletion, addition, insertion and/or substitution of a number of nucleotides of the order which can be deleted, added, inserted and/or substituted by the methods well known in the art, for example as described in, inter alia, Protein, Nucleic Acid, Enzyme, Supplemental Issue: Gene Amplification PCR Technology TAKKAJ 35 (17), 2951-3178 (1990) and Henry A. Erlich (ed.), PCR Technology (the translation edited by Ikunoshin Kato) (1990).
As used in this specification, the term xe2x80x9cprotein having decaprenyl diphosphate synthase activityxe2x80x9d means a protein capable of synthesizing decaprenyl diphosphate in a yield of not less than 10%, preferably not less than 40%, more preferably not less than 60%, still more preferably not less than 80%, relative to the protein having the amino acid sequence shown under SEQ ID NO:2. Such yield measurements can be made by the technique which comprises reacting FDP (farnesyl diphosphate) and 14C-IPP (radiolabeled isopentenyl diphosphate) with the enzyme of interest, hydrolyzing the resulting 14C-DPP (decaprenyl diphosphate) with phosphatase, fractionating the hydrolysate by TLC, and assaying the amounts taken up in spots corresponding to the respective chain lengths (Okada et al., Eur. J. Biochem., 255, 55 to 59).
The xe2x80x9cDNA which hybridizes with the DNA having the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 under a stringent conditionxe2x80x9d means a DNA obtained by colony hybridization, plaque hybridization, Southern hybridization or the like hybridization technique using the DNA having the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 as the probe. Anyone skilled in the art may easily acquire the objective DNA by carrying out said hybridization according to the methods described in Molecular Cloning, 2nd Edition (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 1989).
The protein of the present invention may have the amino acid sequence shown under SEQ ID NO:2 or an amino acid sequence derived from the amino acid sequence shown under SEQ ID NO:2 by the deletion, addition, insertion and/or substitution of one or a plurality of amino acids and having decaprenyl diphosphate synthase activity.
xe2x80x9cThe amino acid sequence derived by the deletion, addition, insertion and/or substitution of one or a plurality of amino acidsxe2x80x9d can be obtained by effecting such deletion, addition, insertion and/or substitution by the technology well known in the art, such as a region-specific mutagenesis technique. Specific procedures are described in Nucleic Acid Res. 10, 6487 (1982), Methods in Enzymology, 100, 448 (1983) and other literature.
The protein of the present invention preferably has an amino acid sequence showing a homology of not less than 60%, preferably not less than 70%, more preferably not less than 80%, still more preferably not less than 90% further still more preferably not less than 95%, to the amino acid sequence shown under SEQ ID NO:2.
The xe2x80x9chomologyxe2x80x9d is calculated by aligning two nucleotide sequences to be compared in the optimum format, counting the matched base positions (A, T, C, G, U or I) between the two sequences, dividing the count by the total number of bases compared, and multiplying the product by 100. Specifically, this calculation can be made using an analytical software such as Hitachi Soft Engineering""s DNASIS, Software Development""s GENETYX, or Finland CSC""s Clustal X, for instance.
While the gene coding for decaprenyl diphosphate synthase must be ligated downstream of a suitable promoter for expression, an expression vector can be constructed, for example by excising a DNA fragment containing the gene with a restriction enzyme or amplifying the enzyme-encoding gene selectively by PCR, followed by cloning it into a vector having a promoter. In the present invention, the expression vector into which the DNA coding for the protein having decaprenyl diphosphate synthase activity may be inserted is not particularly restricted but may for example be one constructed by ligating a suitable promoter to a plasmid derived from E. coli. The plasmid of E. coli origin includes pBR322, pBR325, pUC19 and pUC119, while the promoter includes T7 promoter, trp promoter, tac promoter, lac promoter and xcexPL promoter. Further, as the expression vector of this invention, pGEX-2T, pGEX-3T, pGEX-3X (all from Pharmacia), pBluescript, pUC19 (from Toyobo), pMALC2, pET-3T and pUCNT (described in WO 94/03613), etc. can also be mentioned. Among these, pUCNT can be used with advantage. To mention a specific example, the vector pNTSal for the expression of a decaprenyl diphosphate synthase gene can be constructed by inserting the gene having the DNA sequence shown under SEQ ID NO:1 into the expression vector pUCNT.
Then, this enzyme gene expression vector is introduced into a suitable microorganism, whereby the microorganism is rendered capable of producing coenzyme Q10. The host microorganism is not particularly restricted but Escherichia coli can be used with advantage. The Escherichia coli is not particularly restricted but includes such strains as XL1-Blue, BL-21, JM109, NM522, DH5xcex1, HB101 and DH5, among others. Among these, E. coli DH5xcex1 can be used with particular advantage. For example, when the expression vector pNTSal containing the decaprenyl diphosphate synthase gene is introduced into this E. coli strain, the coenzyme Q10, which the intact E. coli inherently does not produce, can be produced in a large amount. This E. coli DH5xcex1 (pNTSal) has been deposited with National Institute of Bioscience and Human-Technology (Higashi 1-1-3, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki, Japan) under the accession number of FERM BP-6844.
Furthermore, Escherichia coli KO229 (Journal of Bacteriology, 179, 3058-3060 (1997), the octaprenyl diphosphate synthase gene-knockout E. coli strain constructed by Kawamukai et al. as the host microorganism, is incapable of producing coenzyme Q8 and can be utilized as the host for higher production of coenzyme Q10.
The gene can be used not only singly but may be introduced together with another biosynthesis-related gene into a microorganism to thereby obtain still more satisfactory results.
Coenzyme Q10 can be produced by culturing the transformant obtained according to the invention and harvesting the product coenzyme Q10 in a per se known manner. When the host microorganism is a strain of Escherichia coli, either LB broth or M9 broth containing glucose and casamino acids can be used as the culture broth. In order that the promoter may be allowed to function with efficiency, the broth may be supplemented with ascertain chemical such as isopropyl-thiogalactoside or indolyl-3-acrylic acid. Culture can be carried out at 37xc2x0 C. for 17 to 24 hours, for instance, optionally under aeration or agitation. In the practice of the invention, the product coenzyme Q10 may be used after purification or as it is in the crude form, depending on the intended use. Isolation of coenzyme Q10 from the culture can be made by using known separation and purification procedures in a suitable combination. As such known separation and purification procedures, there can be mentioned techniques utilizing solubilities, such as salting-out and solvent precipitation; techniques chiefly utilizing differences in molecular weight, such as dialysis, ultrafiltration, gel filtration and (SDS-)polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis; techniques utilizing differences in charge, such as ion exchange chromatography; techniques utilizing specific affinity, such as affinity chromatography; techniques utilizing differences in hydrophobicity, such as reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography; and techniques utilizing differences in isoelectric point, such as isoelectric focusing, among others.
The use for the coenzyme Q10 obtained according to the invention is not particularly restricted but the enzyme can be applied to pharmaceuticals with advantage.

Abstract: The present invention provides;


The meat skinning machine of this invention comprises the conventional components of a frame with a rotatably powered gripping roll having a cylindrical peripheral surface mounted thereon. A plurality of gripping teeth are formed on the peripheral surface of the gripping roll. An elongated blade holding means is mounted on the frame and extends parallel to the gripping roll and is positioned closely adjacent thereto. An elongated blade is secured to the blade holding means, with the blade having a forward edge portion protruding from the blade holding means and terminating in an elongated sharp cutting edge. The cutting edge of the blade is closely adjacent the teeth on the gripping roll. An elongated plate is on the blade holding means either as an integral part or an attachment thereto. The plate has a forward edge and an upper surface. The forward edge of the plate comprises a shoulder extending along the blade and being closely spaced rearwardly from the cutting edge of the blade to hold meat passing rearwardly thereover up and away from the teeth of the gripping roll as any membrane or skin on the meat is severed from the meat by the cutting edge of the blade. The plate can comprise a plurality of forwardly extending spaced teeth having outer spaced tips with the forward most portions of the tips collectively comprising the shoulder and forward edge of the plate.

Skinning machines for meat, poultry and fish products normally comprise an elongated blade mounted over a gripping roll having a plurality of teeth. The blade is held in a shoe means having an interior arcuate surface complimentary in shape to the outer periphery of the teeth on the gripping roll. As the meat product is moved against the blade, the skin is severed from the meat product and passes between the gripping roll and the shoe. The skinned meat product passes above and over the blade.
A problem has plagued the meat skinning operations described above, and that problem results from the teeth of the gripping roll either damaging the meat product during the skinning operation, or sometimes causing a portion of the meat product to also be severed along with the skin. It should be understood that often the skin or membrane does not continuously cover the meat product, and in certain instances, substantial portions of meat without any skin or membrane thereon pass over the skinning blade. Scoring of this meat by the teeth of the gripping roll is very detrimental, particularly to chicken.
Therefore, a principal object of this invention is to provide a blade attachment for meat skinning machines that will cam the meat product upwardly and over the blade while the skin or membrane on the meat product is being separated and pulled between the blade and the gripping roll whereupon the meat product is protected from the teeth of the gripping roll and whereupon the meat product is not scored and is safeguarded from having portions thereof severed by the skinning blade.
This and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Blade attachment for meat skinning machines


A composition of and a method of making high performance mixed matrix hollow fiber membranes is described. The membranes have a high resistance to plasticization by use of a predetermined amount of crosslinking. The preferred polymer material for the membrane is a polyimide polymer continuous phase comprising ester crosslinks and a molecular sieve material dispersed within the polymer continuous phase. The resultant mixed matrix hollow fiber membrane exhibits a high permeance of CO2 in combination with a high CO2/CH4 selectivity. Another embodiment provides a method of making the mixed matrix hollow fiber membrane from a monesterified polymer followed by final crosslinking after hollow fiber formation.

The present invention relates to the separation of mixtures using polymer membranes.
Polymer membranes have been proposed for various separations. It has been found that different molecules can be made to diffuse through selected polymers differently. For example if one component of a mixture is found to diffuse through a polymer rapidly and a second component is found to diffuse through the polymer very slowly or not at all, the polymer may be utilized to separate the two components. Polymer membranes potentially can be used for gas separations as well as liquid separations.
Polymeric membrane materials have been found to be of use in gas separations. Numerous research articles and patents describe polymeric membrane materials (e.g., polyimides, polysulfones, polycarbonates, polyethers, polyamides, polyarylates, polypyrrolones, etc.) with desirable gas separation properties, particularly for use in oxygen/nitrogen separation (See, for example, Koros et al., J. Membrane Sci., 83, 1-80 (1993), the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference, for background and review).
The polymeric membrane materials are typically used in processes in which a feed gas mixture contacts the upstream side of the membrane, resulting in a permeate mixture on the downstream side of the membrane with a greater concentration of one of the components than the composition of the original feed gas mixture. A pressure differential is maintained between the upstream and downstream sides, providing the driving force for permeation. The downstream side can be maintained as a vacuum, or at any pressure below the upstream pressure.
The membrane performance is characterized by the flux of a gas component across the membrane. This flux can be expressed as a quantity called the permeability (P), which is a pressure- and thickness-normalized flux of a given component. The separation of a gas mixture is achieved by a membrane material that permits a faster permeation rate for one component (i.e., higher permeability) over that of another component. The efficiency of the membrane in enriching a component over another component in the permeate stream can be expressed as a quantity called selectivity. Selectivity can be defined as the ratio of the permeabilities of the gas components across the membrane (i.e., PA/PB, where A and B are the two components). A membrane""s permeability and selectivity are material properties of the membrane material itself, and thus these properties are ideally constant with feed pressure, flow rate and other process conditions. However, permeability and selectivity are both temperature-dependent. It is desired to develop membrane materials with a high selectivity (efficiency) for the desired component, while maintaining a high permeability (productivity) for the desired component.
The relative ability of a membrane to achieve the desired separation is referred to as the separation factor or selectivity for the given mixture. There are however several other obstacles to use of a particular polymer to achieve a particular separation under any sort of large scale or commercial conditions. One such obstacle is permeation rate. One of the components to be separated must have a sufficiently high permeation rate at the preferred conditions or else extraordinarily large membrane surface areas are required to allow separation of large amounts of material. Another problem that can occur is that at conditions where the permeability is sufficient, such as at elevated temperatures or pressures, the selectivity for the desired separation can be lost or reduced. Another problem that often occurs is that over time the permeation rate and/or selectivity is reduced to unacceptable levels. This can occur for several reasons. One reason is that impurities present in the mixture can over time clog the pores, if present, or interstitial spaces in the polymer. Another problem that can occur is that one or more components of the mixture can alter the form or structure of the polymer membrane over time thus changing its permeability and/or selectivity. One specific way this can happen is if one or more components of the mixture causes plasticization of the polymer membrane. Plasticization occurs when one or more of the components of the mixture acts as a solvent in the polymer often causing it to swell and lose its membrane properties. It has been found that polymers such as polyimides which have particularly good separation factors for separation of mixtures comprising carbon dioxide and methane are prone to plasticization over time thus resulting in decreasing performance of the membranes made from the polyimides.
The present invention overcomes some of the problems of the prior art membranes by providing a polymer membrane and a method of making said polymer membrane that has the following properties/advantages:
a) Excellent selectivity and permeability,
b) Sustained selectivity over time by resistance to plasticization, and
c) Very large useable surface area by use of hollow fibers.
As discussed above the present invention seeks to provide a membrane and method of making the membrane that achieves the result of providing a commercially viable polymer membrane that overcomes some of the drawbacks of the prior art membranes. The membranes of the present invention can have very large available surface areas using hollow fiber technology. The membranes of the present invention also have a very high selectivity at a very high permeability. The membranes of the present invention also are quite resistant to plasticization and maintain their selectivity and permeability properties over time as is required in commercial applications of this technology. The membrane of the present invention achieves this result by providing a predetermined number of crosslinkable sites in the polymer chain and by crosslinking the polymer membrane using selected crosslinkers. The crosslinkable polymer and crosslinked polymer is achieved without degradation of the imide function (i.e. without altering the polyimide structure.)
In one embodiment of the present invention a hollow fiber mixed matrix polymer membrane is provided, comprising; a crosslinked polymer continuous phase, and a molecular sieve material dispersed within the polymer continuous phase. The resulting membrane can have a CO2 permeability of at least 20 GPU and a CO2/CH4 selectivity of greater than 20, when measured at 35 degrees C. and a pressure of 100 psia.
The productivity (permeance) of a gas separation membrane is measured in GPUs which is defined as follows:   GPU  =                    10                  -          6                    xc3x97                        cm          3                                  (          STP          )                                    cm        2            xc3x97              sec        .            xc3x97              (                  cm          .                      xe2x80x83                              Hg                )
In an alternative embodiment of the present invention a hollow fiber mixed matrix polymer membrane is provided, comprising: a crosslinked polyimide polymer continuous phase and a molecular sieve material dispersed within the polymer continuous phase having a ratio of crosslinkable sites to imide groups of between 3:8 and 1:16. It has been found that too much crosslinking can cause the hollow fiber polymer to be fragile and can also experience performance problems. Too little crosslinking can lead to plasticization of the polymer membrane over time resulting in deteriorating performance and loss of selectivity.
In another alternative embodiment of the present invention a hollow fiber mixed matrix polymer membrane is provided, comprising a molecular sieve dispersed within a continuous polymer phase wherein said continuous polymer phase comprises a polyimide polymer made from the monomers A+B+C; where A is the dianhydride of the formula;
where
X1 and X2 are the same or different halogenated alkyl group, phenyl or halogen;
where R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, and R6 are H, alkyl, or halogen;
where B is a diamino cyclic compound without a carboxylic acid functionality;
where C is a diamino cyclic compound with a carboxylic acid functionality; and
wherein the ratio of B to C is between 1:4 and 8:1.
A particularly preferred embodiment of the present invention relates to using the crosslinked mixed matrix hollow fiber polymer membrane of the present invention for the separation of carbon dioxide (CO2) from methane (CH4). In particular this embodiment of the invention relates to the removal of CO2 from natural gas comprising CO2, CH4, and other light gases.
Among other factors the present invention provides the composition of and the method of making a highly effective polymeric membrane for the separation of mixtures. The invention utilizes crosslinking of the mixed matrix polymer membrane to help achieve the high selectivity required to make the separation efficiently and to maintain the high selectivities and other properties even after being exposed to extreme conditions such as high temperatures and pressures. The invention also shows that plasticization of the mixed matrix polymer membrane can be avoided by appropriate degrees of crosslinking and appropriate selection of the crosslinking units. It has also been determined that too much crosslinking can lead to hollow fibers that are brittle and subject to failure. Another feature of the present invention is that the selection of polymer having a proper molecular weight (MW) can be important in the formation of a hollow fiber membrane. It can be preferable to have a MW above the entanglement molecular weight of the polymer. It has been found that if the molecular weight of the polymer is too low the polymer is too brittle and a proper skin layer may not form. If the molecular weight is too high processability can become difficult. It is preferable to have an average molecular weight of between 20,000 and 200,000. The present invention has thus achieved a hollow fiber polymer membrane that is both highly selective and highly permeable for the preferred separations while also being stable and durable for long term use in a commercial separation process at actual working conditions. The present invention also provides a method of making a mixed matrix hollow fiber polymer membrane precursor material that is not excessively fragile allowing effective spinning.
A preferred method for preparing hollow fibers is to dissolve the polymer in a solvent or melt the polymer, and extrude the polymer through a tubular capillary nozzle with a core fluid used for the purpose of retaining the hollow fiber shape.
Any mixture of fluids that differ in size or other properties, for example nitrogen and oxygen or ethylene and ethane, may be separated using the membranes described herein. In one embodiment, a gaseous mixture containing methane and carbon dioxide can be enriched in methane by a gas-phase process through the membrane. In other embodiments, the membranes can be used to purify helium, hydrogen, hydrogen sulfide, oxygen and/or nitrogen.

Crosslinked and crosslinkable hollow fiber mixed matrix membrane and method of making same


A mount for an image display apparatus allows a viewing angle, height, and aspect ratio of the image display apparatus to be adjusted. The mount includes a base, a support member disposed vertically with respect to the base, and an elevator which moves up and down within the support member. An upper bracket is engaged with the elevator, and a pivot bracket is engaged with a rear surface of the image display apparatus and rotates about a pivot shaft of the upper bracket. Rotation of the bracket causes an activation bar to move up and down, for forcing a holder into a fixed position or a released position the holder from. The holder prevents rotation of the display if the display is not already positioned at its upper position. The holder also prevents downward movement of the display if the display has been rotated.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a mount for an apparatus, and more particularly, to a mount for a display apparatus such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a plasma display panel (PDP).
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a viewing angle of an image display apparatus such as a television set or a monitor can be adjusted Using a conventional mount for the image display apparatus, the image display apparatus can be rotated to secure several viewing angles. Another mount for an image display apparatus allows the image display apparatus to be rotated by 90 degrees to perform an aspect ratio conversion. Using this type of mount, an image display apparatus which has an aspect ratio of, for example, 4:3 or 16:9 can be rotated by 90 degrees to have a converted aspect ratio of 3:4 or 9:16, respectively.
When using a computer and associated monitor, it is often advantageous that a vertical length of the monitor is larger than a horizontal length of the monitor. Such an aspect ratio conversion function is useful in this type of situation. A mount for an image display apparatus which includes a height adjustment function in addition to the aspect ratio conversion function is also available.
FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a conventional mount for an image display apparatus which has a height adjustment function as well as an aspect ratio conversion function. The mount includes a base 3, a support member 2 coupled to the base 3 which moves up and down, and an image display apparatus 1 which rotates about the center of the screen However, this type of mount has a drawback in that, when the image display apparatus 1 is rotated such that its vertical length is larger than a horizontal length and a corresponding aspect ratio is converted accordingly, the image display apparatus 1 must also be adjusted in height to prevent its lower end from coming into contact with the base 3 or another such surface, thereby damaging the image display apparatus 1 or the base 3. This becomes increasingly problematic as a size of the image display apparatus becomes larger.


One example method includes defining a configuration of SCM, receiving a stream of IOs from a client, analyzing the stream of IOs and, based on the analyzing, estimating future IO behavior of the client, and based on estimated future IO behavior of the client, reconfiguring one or more parameters of the configuration of the SCM to define an updated configuration of the SCM, and the updated configuration of the SCM enables an improvement in IO performance relative to an IO performance of the configuration of the SCM.

The combination of low latency, byte-addressability, persistence, and large capacity make persistent memory (SCM) an attractive alternative. However, SCM must be configured in the right way for optimal performance. System administrators typically lack the capability to define and implement such configurations. This is due to the fact that effectively employing SCM in a specific environment is a challenging task which may be required to account for parameters such as the type and volume of incoming IOs, the system configuration, and data block size, for example.
While some tools exist that may help in the configuration of SCM, such tools are lacking in functionality. For example such tools cannot set parameters such as the correct block size, or the correct block size based on IO depth. As well, typical tools are unable to set sub-parameters to boost bandwidth, or sub-parameters to reduce read/write latency. Finally, it can be difficult to choose the right goal, interleave, pooling, and namespace configuration, when configuring SCM.

Method to suggest best SCM configuration based on resource proportionality in a de-duplication based backup storage


A boat cradle is pushed from, and pulled onto, the bed of a combined trailer by launcher and retriever cabling in combination with a reversible drum winch and a telescoping push/pull rod. Longitudinal alignment of the cradle with the bed of the trailer is maintained by a folding stabilizer assembly. If desired, a telescoping stabilizer is substituted for the folding stabilizer component of the stabilizer assembly. The cradle has a buoyant multi-wheeled boat keel support platform and hand rails. A cradled vessel is weather protected by placing conventional light weight covered framing over the cradle. Alternatively, the vessel is protected by having an enclosure installed over the combined trailer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to launching and recovering a boat by using a trailered launcher/retriever boat cradle. More specifically, the present invention relates to providing a more compact, easily accessible, trailered launcher/retriever boat cradle having a telescoping push/pull rod, a telescoping cradle stabilizer and a buoyant multi-wheeled boat keel support platform.
2. Prior Art
My Launcher/Retriever Cradle for Trailered Boats, U.S. Pat. No. 4,911,459, provides, for the first time ever, a method for completely separating a cradle from the bed of a trailer while maintaining the cradle longitudinally aligned with the trailer bed, a buoyed, wheeled, boat transom supporting cross tee member providing a unique method for piloting a vessel from/onto the cradle keel support platform, a slide rail secured folding stabilizer/walkway maintaining the mentioned longitudinal alignment, and a solid push/pull rod having launcher and retriever cables attached at the forward end thereof, and cables training about fore pulleys and reverse wound on the drum of a reversible drum winch.
The principle object of the present invention is to have a compact trailered boat cradle.
Another object of the present invention is to protect a cradled boat.
Another object of the present invention is to have a multi-wheeled buoyant keel support platform member of the trailered boat cradle.
Still further, an object of the present invention is to have hand rails mounted upon the boat cradle.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to have ladders for climbing aboard a cradled boat.
Finally, it is an object of the present invention to have a telescoping stabilizer as a component of the trailered boat cradle.
The foregoing objects can be accomplished by providing a telescoping push/pull rod having cables attached such that a reversible drum winch will, via the push/pull rod, push a cradle from, and then pull the same onto, the bed of a trailer. A telescoping stabilizer/walkway pivotally attached to vertical cross tee arm members of the cradle and a trailered, rail captured, sliding stabilizer platform will provide longitudinal alignment of the launched cradle with the trailer bed. Flotation material can be added to the boat keel support platform member of the cradle and additional wheels added to the same. Supported hand rails can be attached at a suitable forward area of the cradle and a light weight "I" shaped ladder can be kept convenient to the device and used for climbing aboard a cradled vessel. A light weight protective covering can be installed upon the cradle, or alternately, an enclosure can be placed over the combined trailer.


A new polysilane composition usable as an organic semiconductor which contains a specific polysilane compound of 6000 to 200000 in a weight average molecular weight in which all the substitutional groups and end groups being substituted by specific organic groups not containing oxygen atom, said polysilane compound not containing chlorine atom, and an acceptor level forming material or/and a donor level forming material.

Polysilane compounds were reported to be insoluble in solvents in (The Journal of American Chemical Society, 125, pp. 2291 (1924)). Thereafter, it was reported that polysilanes are soluble in solvents and films can be made of them (The Journal of American Ceramic Society, 61, pp. 504 (1978)). Since then, the public attention has been focussed on polysilane compounds. Further, as for polysilane compounds, it was reported that they can be dissociated with ultraviolet rays, and research was made on utilization of them in resists (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications Sho.60(1985)-98431 and Sho.60(1985)-119550 ). Further, it was reported that polysilane compounds have photosemiconductor characteristics in which carriers are mobile due to .sigma.-bonds of their principal chains (Physical Review B, 35, pp. 2818 (1987)). And these polysilane compounds have been expected to be usable also in electrophotographic photosensitive members. However, in order that polysilane compounds be applicable in electronic materials, those polysilane compounds are required to be soluble in solvents and capable of providing films which are free of minute defects and excel in homogeneity. As for the electronic materials, any minute defect is not allowed and because of this, polysilane compounds to be used in the preparation of such electronic materials are required to be high quality polysilane compounds, which can be structurally defined also with respect to substituents and do not cause any abnormality upon film formation. There various reports have been made for synthesis of polysilane compounds. Those polysilane compounds reported are still problematic in using them in electronic materials. There are reported low-molecular weight polysilane compounds in which all the Si radicals being substituted by organic groups (The Journal of American Chemical Society, 94, (11), pp. 3806 (1972) and Japanese Patent Publication Sho. 63(1988)-38033). Those described in the former literature are of the structure in which the end group of dimethylsilane being substituted by a methyl group. Those described in the latter literature are of the structure in which the end group of dimethylsilane being substituted by an alcoxy group. Any of them is 2 to 6 in polymerization degree and does not exhibit characteristics as the polymer. Particularly in this respect, any of them does not have an ability of forming a film as it is and is not industrially applicable. High-molecular weight polysilane compounds of the structure in which all the Si radicals being substituted by organic groups have been recently reported (Nikkei New Material, pp. 46, Aug. 15 of 1988 ). These compounds are synthesized through specific intermediates to cause reduction in their yield and it is difficult to mass-produce them on the industrial scale.
In addition, methods of synthesizing polysilane compounds are reported (The Journal of Organometallic Chemistry, pp. 198 C27 (1980) and The Journal of Polymer Science, Polymer Chemistry Edition vol. 22, pp. 159-170 (1984))). However, any of these synthetic methods is directed only to condensation reaction of the polysilane principal chain but does not touch upon the end groups. And, in any of these synthetic methods, unreacted chlorine radicals and by-products due to side reactions are caused and it is difficult to stably obtain polysilane compounds as desired.
Use of polysilane compounds as a photoconductive material is reported (U.S. Pat. No. 4,618,551, U.S. Pat. No. 4,772,525 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Sho. 62(1987)-269964). However, in any of these cases, occurrence of undesirable negative effects due to unreacted chlorine radicals and by-products caused by side reactions are considered.
Particularly, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,618,551, polysilane compounds are used in electrophotographic photosensitive members and an extremely high voltage of 1000 V is applied upon use of those photosensitive members, although a voltage of 500 to 800 V is applied in an ordinary electrophotographic copying machine. It is considered that this is done in order to prevent occurrence of spotted abnormal phenomena on images reproduced since defects due to the structural defects of the polysilane compound will cause in the electrophotographic photosensitive member at an ordinary potential. In Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Sho. 62(1987)-269964, it is described that electrophotographic photosensitive members are prepared by using polysilane compounds and a photosensitivity is observed for each of them. However, none of those electrophotographic photosensitive members is sufficient in photosensitivity and is inferior to the known selenium photosensitive member or the known organic photosensitive member in any respect.
As above described, there are a number of unsolved problems for any of the known polysilane compounds to be utilized in the electronic materials. Thus, any polysilane compound which can be desirably used for industrial purposes has not yet been realized.


A one-way clutch assembly positioned between inner and outer races for the clutch and which includes a one-piece generally cylindrical cage formed of a suitable plastic material having a plurality of openings to receive sprags therein, and a pair of integral spring fingers in each opening to engage the opposite sides of a sprag and lightly urge the sprag into contact with the interior and exterior surfaces of the inner and outer races of the clutch. To provide a full-phased sprag clutch, an additional cage ring is provided concentric to and closely fitting the cage with a plurality of openings generally aligned with the cage openings to provide a full-phased clutch operation. Further, a separate metal spring member can be substituted for the integral spring fingers, which spring member clamps onto a cross piece of the cage and provides spring fingers extending into the cage opening to contact the sprag.

Conventional one-way clutches, whether of the roller or sprag type, are positioned between inner and outer generally cylindrical races which are engaged by the rollers or sprags to lock the clutch in a single direction of rotation and allow overrunning in the opposite direction. Where a roller clutch is utilized, one of the two races is designed to provide ramps either in the interior surface of the outer race or on the exterior surface of the inner race. A one-way or overrunning clutch normally includes at least one cage and an energizing spring, both of which have a plurality of aligned openings through which the sprags or rollers extend into contact with the generally cylindrical surfaces of the races. Many clutches utilize both inner and outer cage members with the energizing spring located therebetween.
With the discovery of numerous plastic materials which are capable of withstanding the temperatures and stresses involved in one-way clutch applications, plastic materials now can replace the usual metallic cage and/or spring member in the clutch. More recently, in roller clutches, retainers have been formed of a resilient molded plastic material wherein the rims, bars and springs are formed as a single piece. Plastic materials have also been tried for the outer cage and energizing springs in roller and/or sprag clutches.


A method for protecting the video memory on a computer system from being illicitly copied. The invention decrypts a previously encrypted image and displays it on the video screen. During the time the image is displayed, the invention protects it from being copied by other running applications. This is accomplished in multithreaded operating systems by first issuing a multithreaded locking primitive to the video memory resource, and then inserting a pending video hardware request that will take precedence over any subsequent video memory access requests. The pending request serves the purpose of destroying the contents of video memory. The pending request is passive in that it does not execute unless a malicious program has removed the video memory lock.

1. Field of the Invention (Technical Field)
The present invention relates to the field of displaying digital images on a computer, and in particular to the protection of these images from unauthorized copying.
2. Background Art
One of the fundamental problems associated with making multimedia content (e.g., digital images, digital video, and digital audio) publicly available over the global internet is the inability of stopping anyone who accesses the content from copying it, and subsequently distributing it to others. For example, using the Microsoft Internet Explorer® or the Netscape Navigator® browsers, a user can press the right mouse button while a multimedia object in the browser is selected, and they are then given the option of saving this object. Furthermore, in the case of the digital images, the Microsoft Windows® 95, 98, or NT operating systems generally allow a user to perform a "screen capture", saving a copy of whatever is displayed on the screen. In these operating systems, this is accomplished by pressing the "Print Screen" button on the computer keyboard, thereby saving a bit-mapped image of the computer screen in a "clipboard". The clipboard can then be "passed" into image processing applications that can manipulate the bit-mapped image, allowing one to save selected regions of the bit-map. In addition, there are a number of software applications that provide more sophisticated image capture capabilities, including "HyperSnap-Dx", G. Koshaniak, and "Capture Professional". Recently, a number of products related to the idea of a "secure container" have been proposed, including DigiBox™ by InterTrust Technologies Corporation, "The DigiBox: A Self-Protecting Container for Electronic Commerce", O. Sibert, Dbernstein, and D. Van Wie, USENIX 1995 Electronic Commerce Workshop, and Cryptolopes® by the IBM Corporation, "Cryptolope Containers". The generic idea involves encapsulating encrypted digital content, along with a set of rules for decrypting the content, within the secure container. Users are only allowed to decrypt specific pieces of the content, as specified by the rules, once they have obtained authority for doing so. Typically, access to the encrypted content is controlled via a "key exchange" over a separate channel to each user (e.g., Cryptolope® uses RSA public key encryption). If the proper authority is granted to a user, then that user is able to use their specific key to "unlock" portions of the content, thereby obtaining a "clear view" of the content. This same concept can be extended to groups of users.
With respect to images, secure containers prevent a protected image from being viewed until a user is given the proper authority. Once the image is viewable; however, secure containers do not specifically prevent the image from being copied using screen capture programs. To address this problem, a number of "countermeasures" have been employed by content providers in order to discourage illicit copying of images once they are in "clear view". These include placing visible watermarks in an image, or only making a "low resolution" version of the image available for viewing. However, each of these approaches is lacking in one way or another. For example, visible watermarks are in general easily removed using simple image processing operations, and in both of the cases cited above, the prospective buyer does not get to view the image they may wish to buy. Ideally, a consumer should be able to view the actual content they are contemplating purchasing, but they should not be able to download this content unless the owner of the content has granted permission to do so.
An example of the present methodology for securing video images is in U.S. Pat. No. 5,881,287 to Mast, entitled Method and Apparatus for Copy Protection of Images in a Computer System. However, as can be seen, there are several deficiencies in the Mast patent. The embodiment in Mast discloses a library, plus a set of installed services to be used by other applications. The present invention is an application. The copy protection is provided to the image files, not as a run-time service to other applications. Additionally, The present invention does not require the presence or installation of services or other applications other than provided by the operating system-level components.
In the Mast patent, the sole mode of copy protection once the image has been decrypted, requires the use of windows hooks as means to protect the images in disk and video memory. The present invention does not rely or require any kind of hook mechanism. Hook global mechanisms are not favored in environments where process security is important. The present invention uses direct manipulation of video memory that will bypass hook mechanisms. Mast requires that the applications that use the protection provided by said invention, be modified to link and make calls into the protection DLL (BITBLOCK.DLL). In addition, the protection DLL must make the calls to the protected applications. The present invention does not require other programs to be modified to accommodate the means of protection. In addition, the present invention does not rely on calls to other applications to provide the means of protection. The means of protection relies solely on calls to operating system-level services.
Mast also requires the protection DLL (BITBLOCK.DLL) to install a callback function into the Microsoft Windows 3.1® BitBlt() GDI function hook chain. The present invention does not make use of protection DLLs, nor does it use callback functions to provide means of protection. The Mast invention requires a device driver and a means for intercepting memory read requests. The present invention does not rely or require device drivers or other standalone decryption services, although it can be implemented using them. Decryption is provided as a routine embedded in the application.
The general goal of the present invention is to allow multimedia content providers to make their intellectual property (i.e., their images) publicly available, while at the same time preventing those who view these images from copying them. Specifically, during the time an image is viewable, the present invention prevents the image from being copied or screen captured. Thus, if users attempt to view the image from "outside" the secure viewer, they will only see the noise-like encrypted content. Under specific conditions, the secure viewer will allow a user to copy an image, but only if the user possesses a secret key necessary to decrypt the image. This gives content owners the ability to control who is able to save their images. Note that this approach is quite different from the manner in which secure containers are used. In particular, under a specific viewing mode (and assuming the image is encrypted for this mode) a user can always view the image; however, they are never able to copy it. This security is accomplished in the secure viewer by directly controlling the client system output devices. Specifically, the present invention details how operating system services or custom device drivers can be used to gain direct control of video hardware. In its present embodiment in the Microsoft Windows® 95/98/NT platforms, it uses the services of DirectX® to directly manipulate and control the video hardware. Other embodiments are possible, as described below.


Disclosed is a method of manufacturing rear plate barrier ribs for Plasma Display Panel (PDP), which includes the steps of: forming barrier ribs by infiltrating the barrier rib forming paste into grooves of a mold by using the capillary phenomenon, and then sintering the paste. This method causes rare environmental pollution, enables to make barrier ribs having fine and complex shapes and reduces material costs required for the barrier rib. Thus, the method may improve quality of PDP and reduce manufacture costs of the rear plate.

A Plasma Display Panel (PDP) is a flat display element, which is mainly used for large-sized display devices over 40 inches because the PDP is thin and light and gives good image quality In the PDP, pixels are formed at points where barrier ribs and address electrodes formed on a rear plate intersect sustain electrodes formed on an front plate to realize an image.
This PDP is schematically shown in FIG. 1. Referring to FIG. 1, a dielectric layer 90 is coated on a rear plate 80 made of a glass or metal substrate, and address electrodes 50 are formed on the rear plate 80 or the dielectric layer 90. Barrier ribs 60 having a long stripe shape are positioned between the address electrodes 50, and fluorescent substances are coated on the surface between the barrier ribs 60 in order to compose a sub-pixel. A sustain electrode 40 is in an front plate 1 made of glass, and a dielectric layer 20 and an MgO protective layer 30 exist below the sustain electrode 40. Thus, when the front plate 10 is combined with the rear plate 90, there generates a plurality of pixel spaces separated by the barrier ribs 60. These separated spaces are filled with He/Xe gas or Ne/Xe gas so as to create plasma therein when voltage is applied to the sustain electrode 40 and the address electrode 50. In addition, vacuum ultra violet generated from the plasma excites the fluorescent substances coated on sides of the barrier ribs and lowermost surfaces between the barrier ribs, thereby creating red, green and blue visible light.
In order to form the barrier ribs, the sand blasting is mainly used. FIG. 2 schematically shows sequential processes of the sand blasting. As proposed in Japanese Patent Filing No. 11-120905 and Korean Patent Filing No. 2000-10322 in detail, the sand blasting is executed according to the following procedure: coating paste containing glass powder for barrier rib and a ceramic filler on a rear plate substrate such as a glass board and then drying, which is repeated several times until to have a thickness of about 200 μm; coating photoresist on the dried thick film; and developing the film except portions corresponding to the barrier ribs so that areas except the barrier ribs are removed. At this time, the exposed portion is determined according to the type of the used photoresist film. And then, ceramic powder such as calcium carbonate (CaCO3) is sprayed together with pressed air onto the film coated with photoresist in order to etch the portions where the photoresist is removed, thereby forming the barrier ribs.
This sand blasting is relatively stable and thus frequently used to make the rear plate barrier ribs of the existing PDP. However, the sand blasting has drawbacks in the facts that many and complicated processes are required to manufacture the barrier ribs, the side shapes of the manufactured barrier ribs are not uniform, and the drying and coating process is executed very slowly.
Recently, as the contrast of the PDP improves, the pitch of the sub-pixel between the barrier ribs is decreased from 420 μm to 200 μm, which needs a method for making a barrier rib having a thickness less than 50 μm. In case the pitch of the sub-pixel is 200 μm and the thickness of the barrier rib is 50 μm, the open ratio becomes 50%, while in case the cell pitch is 100 μm, the open ratio becomes 0%, and thereby is it impossible to compose the display panel. Thus, it is required that the barrier rib has a thickness between 20 μm and 30 μm. However, the sand blasting is substantially impossible to obtain such thickness. Since ceramic powder and high-pressure gas are used for etching to form the barrier ribs, it is hardly possible to make a thin barrier rib since the barrier rib is broken due to the mechanical energy of the ceramic powder and the high-pressure gas. In addition, if the pitch of the sub-pixel is 430 μm and the width of the barrier rib is 50 μm when making the barrier ribs using the sand blasting, at maximum 90% of the volume of the thick film is etched and abolished. Thus, the sand blasting generates a large amount of wastes. Furthermore, since the thick film has glass frit containing a large amount of lead monoxide, the wastes may cause environmental pollution.
As another example, a method for forming barrier ribs by etching the sintered glass (SID 01 Digest, p 537 (2001).). This method is now briefly described. At first, a thick film having a predetermined thickness is formed on a glass substrate by using the paste including glass powder and ceramic powder. The thick film may be formed by using the well-known printing and drying process repeatedly, or by lamination using a dry film (or, a green tape). If the thick film is formed, the thick film is heated up to a predetermined temperature by means of a predetermined temperature profile, and then sintered to make a thick film made of barrier rib materials. A photosensitive film is coated or laminated on the surface of the sintered thick film, and then the photosensitive film is selectively exposed by using a mask. The exposed specimen is developed to form an etching protective pattern film by means of the photosensitive film, and then the exposed thick film is etched using a suitable etching liquid. And then, through washing and drying barrier ribs for PDP are finally manufactured. This method may advantageously make a barrier rib having fine and complex figure since it does not require the etching process using mechanical impacts. However, the dense glass thick film is generally slowly etched, particularly experiencing the isotropic-etching. Thus, Photonics Co. provides a method for improving a barrier rib forming speed by etching a porous thick film (SID 01 Digest, p 532 (2001)).
Such etching method has some problems as follows.
First, since the barrier rib material layer formed by sintering is etched by an etching solution such as acid, environmental pollution may be caused by wasted water. Since the layer to be etched is thick as much as 120 μm˜150 μm, an amount of the wasted water is very significant, thereby requiring much costs for treating the wasted water.
Second, physical features required for the barrier rib material such as electric resistance, dielectric constant, thermal expansion coefficient and reflectivity should be satisfied, and the material should be rapidly etched by the water-based solution. Thus, there are many limitations in selecting the material, and thus the selection of the barrier rib material is very limited.
Third, when applied to a large area, this etching method may hardly obtain a uniform etching speed. In other words, in order to have a uniform etching speed throughout the large area and give a desired shape for the barrier rib of the PDP, the etching conditions should be maintained very accurately. However, to maintain the conditions throughout the large area is very hard, thereby resulting in very low process yield.

Method of manufacturing barrier ribs for PDP by capillary molding of paste and paste compositions therefor


A device with thermal control is presented. In some embodiments, the device includes a plurality of die positioned in a stack, each die including a chip, interconnects through a thickness of the chip, metal features of electrically conductive composition connected to the interconnects on a bottom side of the chip, and adhesive or underfill layer on the bottom side of the chip. At least one thermally conducting layer, which can be a pyrolytic graphite layer, a layer formed of carbon nanotubes, or a graphene layer, is coupled between a top side of one of the plurality of die and a bottom side of an adjoining die in the stack. A heat sink can be coupled to the thermally conducting layer.

Technical Field
Embodiments of the present invention are related to embedded graphite heat spreaders for 3DIC.
Discussion of Related Art
The development of 3D integrated circuits (3DIC) has allowed for the concentration of circuitry on a circuit board. 3DICs are formed by stacking two or more IC chips and electrically interconnecting the chips to function as a single integrated circuit. The 3DIC is packaged and mounted on a circuit board.
However, thermal management in a 3DIC remains challenging. Heat can build up on individual ICs in the 3DIC and not be efficiently transferred from the 3DIC. The resulting overheating of ICs and localized hot-spots can degrade the performance and lifetime of the 3DIC and, in some cases, may lead to catastrophic failure of the 3DIC.
Therefore, there is a need to develop a better system for managing heat in a 3D Integrated Circuit.

Embedded graphite heat spreader for 3DIC


A pulse wave sensor includes: a light emitting unit configured to emit light onto a living body; a light receiving unit configured to receive light transmitted through or reflected from the living body based on the light from the light emitting unit; a pulse wave detecting unit configured to detect a pulse wave of the living body based on a result of light reception by the light receiving unit when the light is emitted from the light emitting unit with a normal light emission intensity; and a light emission intensity adjusting unit configured to cause the light emitting unit to emit light with a predetermined test light emission intensity in a test period prior to the detection of the pulse wave, and set the normal light emission intensity using detection light reception intensity in the light receiving unit by the light emission and a predetermined reference light reception intensity.

A conventional pulse sensor for detecting a pulse wave of a living body based on a light receiving signal of light, which is transmitted through the living body when the living body is emitted with light from a light emitting unit, has been known. In such a pulse wave sensor, since an intensity of the received light varies with a pulsation of the living body, pulse wave information (e.g., a heart rate of the living body, etc.) can be obtained based on characteristics of the pulse wave signal (e.g., a fluctuation cycle of the pulse wave signal, etc.) corresponding to the intensity of the received light.
An amplitude of the pulse wave signal depends on a light emission intensity of the light emitting unit. However, if the amplitude of the pulse wave signal becomes too small as the light emission intensity is small, it may become difficult to obtain accurate pulse wave information. On the other hand, if the light emission intensity becomes too large in order to increase the amplitude of the pulse wave signal, it may also become difficult to obtain accurate pulse wave information due to saturation of the pulse wave signal. Thus, in order to obtain the accurate pulse wave information, it is necessary to optimize the amplitude of the pulse wave signal. If there are no individual differences in attenuations (i.e., light absorbances) of light in living bodies, the light emission intensity required to obtain proper amplitude of the pulse wave signal is uniquely determined. However, there may be differences among attenuations of individuals. In addition, an attenuation may vary each time for the same person depending on how to install the pulse wave sensor, etc.
A following amplitude detection method may be considered as one of methods for optimizing an amplitude of a pulse wave signal. The amplitude detection method includes directly reading amplitudes of the pulse wave signal (i.e., a difference between the maximum signal value and the minimum signal value) by emitting light with a test light emission intensity from a light emitting unit before an actual detection period during which a pulse wave is actually detected, and then setting a light emission intensity in the actual detection period (i.e., a normal light emission intensity) based on the read amplitudes. If the cycle of pulse wave is 1 Hz, in order to directly read an amplitude of the pulse wave signal with a single test light emission intensity, it takes at least one second, generally two to three seconds to ensure some degrees of accuracy. In addition, in order to provide a high-accurate setting of the light emission intensity (i.e., the normal light emission intensity) in the actual detection period, directly sequentially reading amplitudes of the pulse wave signal (i.e., a difference between the maximum signal value and the minimum signal value) by sequentially emitting light with a plurality of different test light emission intensities from light emitting unit, and then setting the light emission intensity in the actual detection period (i.e., the normal light emission intensity) based on the plurality of read amplitudes may be also contemplated. In this case, a required time may be equal to "(the number of types of test light emission intensities)×2" through "(the number of types of test light emission intensities)×3."
When an adjustment process for amplitude optimization is performed, i.e., when an adjustment process for optimization of light emission intensity is performed, actual pulse wave detection is not performed. Thus, a shorter time required for the adjustment process is better.


A method of preventing COVID-19 infection in an individual, the method comprising the steps of providing an individual that is not infected with COVID-19; administering four antimicrobials to the individual, wherein the antimicrobials comprise: hydroxychloroquine; vitamin C; vitamin D; and zinc; and monitoring the individuals condition over a pre-determined amount of time to determine the individual does not become infected with COVID-19. A method of treating an individual infected with COVID-19, the method comprising the steps of: providing an individual infected with COVID-19; administering five antimicrobials to the individual, wherein the antimicrobials comprise: hydroxychloroquine; azithromycin; vitamin C; vitamin D; and zinc; and monitoring the individuals condition over a pre-determined period of time to determine whether the individual is no longer infected with COVID-19.

COVID-19 is a novel betacoronavirus that originated in bats in the city of Wuhan, China. This disease has rapidly spread to become a worldwide pandemic, as declared by the World Health Organization (WHO). Symptoms of COVID-19, including fever, myalgia, coughing and shortness of breath, may appear from 2 and 14 days after exposure. Approximately 20% of patients progress to severe illness, including pneumonia, respiratory distress, and even death. Cases in the US have increased five-fold over the last week, alone. The disease is spreading rapidly, and a cure is desperately needed.
Nucleotide analogues, protease inhibitors and altered cellular bonding due to pH change will maximize host protection by: optimizing levels of gamma interferon and reducing the level of pathogenic microbes in the airways, especially in 'at risk' patients.
It is known that single anti-viral agents work poorly when used alone in other chronic viral infections such as Hepatitis C or HIV infection. Therefore, the greater the number of anti-viral agents used in combination, the greater the cure rate.
Thus, there is a significant unmet need for preventing and treating this viral infection. The present invention addresses this need.


A network monitor device 20 includes: a communication cutoff unit 21 to cut off at least a part of communications performed by a quarantine target node 90; a redirect unit to make the quarantine target node 90 establish a communication connection for a quarantine process with a quarantine server 30 which executes the quarantine process of the quarantine target node 90; a cancel request receiving unit 24 to receive, when the quarantine target node 90 receives a ticket indicating completion of the quarantine via the communication connection for the quarantine process from the quarantine server 30, a cutoff cancel request ticket transmitted by the quarantine target node 90; and a cutoff canceling unit 26 to cancel the cutoff by the communication cutoff unit 21 when receiving the cutoff cancel request.

A network monitor device has hitherto existed, which guides, if a transmitter terminal of a received ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) request packet is in a pre-quarantining status, the packet from the pre-quarantining terminal to a self-device by sending a MAC (Media Access Control) address of the self-device as a response (refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2008-271242).

Communication cutoff device, server device and method


A power control circuit (10) is operable to select between a backup battery (14) on a terminal (16) and a primary power supply voltage on a terminal (12) to output a voltage to a powered device (20). The two voltages are compared by a comparator (28) that drives a well bias node (44) with transistors (36) and (38). The comparator (28) selects the highest of two voltages on either the battery supply terminal (16) or the power supply terminal (12) to power the node (44), which node (44) is then connected to the wells of switching transistors (40) and (42) which are operable to select the battery terminals (16) in the event of a fail of the power supply on terminal (12). This decision is made with a power failure device (20). In the event that both the primary power supply voltage falls below a predetermined threshold and the battery supply voltage is at a higher level, the battery (14 ) is selected for output on the line (18).

Power controllers have been utilized in battery backed-up systems to switch in a backup battery in the event that a primary power supply fails. Specifically, a comparator is utilized that compares the primary power supply voltage to a reference voltage. In the event that the voltage of the primary power supply falls below this reference voltage, a signal is generated that causes a backup battery to be switched in. Whenever the voltage of the primary power supply rises above the threshold voltage, the primary power supply is again switched over to the output of the power controller. However, these systems work on the premise that the voltage of the primary power supply voltage and the threshold voltage at which the decision is made is always above the voltage level of the battery. These systems generally utilize a lithium battery that has a voltage of around three volts, with the primary power supply having a voltage of around five volts. The threshold for making the determination as to the primary power supply being low is approximately 4.5 volts. One disadvantage to present systems is that they do not take into consideration low voltage operating modes, wherein the primary power supply voltage is approximately equal to the backup battery voltage. In such a situation, the fully charged battery could have a voltage level higher than the power supply voltage.
Whenever a system utilizes a backup battery that may have a voltage higher than the primary power supply voltage, there always exists a possibility that, during normal operating mode with the primary power supply, a current path will exist between the backup battery and the primary power supply, thus draining current from the backup battery. This occurs due to the fact that the switching transistors utilized in the semiconductor structure typically share a common source with the drains of the switching transistors connected to the respective power supply. Typically, the sources and drains of transistors are fabricated from one conductivity type semiconductor material whereas the channel regions and the surrounding semiconductor material is fabricated from a second and opposite conductivity type of material in a common region. If the drain of the transistor associated with the primary power supply were disposed at a lower voltage than the drain of the transistor associated with the backup battery, a forward biased PN junction could exist. For example, a switching transistor with P-channel transistors fabricated in a PMOS type device would require an N-type well being formed within a P-type substrate. Within the N-type well, sources and drains would be fabricated from P-type impurity implants. Typically, an N+ impurity implant is utilized within the well to provide a contact region to allow a bias to be supplied thereto. This region is typically connected to the power supply voltage provided to the system. If this voltage were lower than any of the P-type implants, such as the drain implant of the transistor associated with the backup battery during operation from the primary power supply, a forward biased PN junction would result at the interface between the drain implant associated with the backup battery power supply and the well, this being connected directly to the N+ implant that is connected to the power supply. As a result, a current path would be provided from the battery, which is at a higher voltage, to the primary power supply, thus draining the backup battery into the primary power supply, causing an unnecessary loss of current.

Backup battery power controller having channel regions of transistors being biased by power supply or battery