A rangefinder apparatus includes an autofocus data generator for forming an image of light from an object at a distance to be determined by rangefinding onto a pair of line sensors. Each line sensor includes light detecting elements, and generates AF data for computing a correlation value according to signals produced by the light detecting elements; an AF data acquirer for acquiring the AF data from a pair of sensor areas used for rangefinding, within the pair of line sensors. A correlation value computer determines a pair of window areas for selecting the AF data to be used for computing the correlation value within the pair of sensor areas, and successively computes correlation values while shifting the pair of window areas; an interpolater for detecting correlation extreme values among the correlation values computed by the correlation value computer, and interpolating the correlation extreme values detected to compute interpolated correlation extreme values. A highest correlation value detector detects, as a highest correlation value, the interpolated correlation extreme value exhibiting the highest correlation among the interpolated correlation extreme values. A shift amount computer computes the shift amount of the window areas yielding the highest correlation value; and an object distance calculator calculates distance to the object according to the shift amount computed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rangefinder apparatus, more specifically, to a rangefinder apparatus comprising an AF (Auto Focus) sensor of passive type, and a camera equipped with the rangefinder apparatus.
2. Related Background Art
Conventional rangefinder apparatuses determine the reliability of a correlation local minimum value, shift amount of which is used for calculating the distance to the object, in order to avoid erroneous rangefinding.
For example, a rangefinder apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2707569 determines the reliability of a local minimum value detected first while changing the shift position of the window areas by checking the difference between gradients, one being the gradient between the correlation local minimum value and a correlation value of the previous shift position, the other being the gradient between the correlation local minimum value and a correlation value of the following shift position. Also, in this rangefinder apparatus, a new correlation local minimum value obtained by interpolation of the respective correlation values of the shift positions before and after the correlation local minimum value is divided by the greater gradient among the above-mentioned gradients, and thus obtained normalized interpolated correlation local minimum value is compared with a reference value so as to determine the reliability of the correlation local minimum value.
When the above-mentioned two determinations are favorable, the conventional rangefinder apparatus adopts the correlation local minimum value detected first for calculating the distance to the object. Therefore, when a repeating pattern such as the one shown in FIG. 25A is subjected to rangefinding, for example, it chooses the result of a correlation shift region SI shown in FIG. 25B initially subjected to the reliability determination. As shown in FIG. 26, when the difference in correlation value gradients around the correlation local minimum value detected first (the correlation local minimum value on the right side in FIG. 26) and a new interpolated correlation local minimum value obtained by interpolation are favorable, the correlation local minimum value detected first (the correlation local minimum value on the right side in FIG. 26) is adopted for calculating the distance to the object without carrying out shifting to the area yielding the smallest correlation local minimum value (the correlation local minimum value on the left side in FIG. 26), whereby causing rangefinding error.
Thus, when a plurality of correlation local minimum values exist in correlation values, a correlation local minimum value which really is not the smallest correlation local minimum value may be adopted as the smallest correlation local minimum value. When the distance to the object is calculated based on the shift amount of thus erroneously adopted correlation local minimum value, the erroneous rangefinding occurs.
In view of the problem mentioned above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a rangefinder apparatus which can suppress erroneous rangefinding, and a camera equipped with such rangefinder apparatus.
The present invention provides a rangefinder apparatus comprising AF data generating means for forming an image of light from an object to be subjected to rangefinding onto a pair of line sensors each including a plurality of light-receiving elements, and generating AF data for computing a correlation value according to signals obtained from the light-receiving elements, AF data acquiring means for acquiring the AF data from a pair of employed sensor areas used for rangefinding in the pair of line sensors; correlation value computing means for determining a pair of window areas for selecting the AF data to be used for computing the correlation value within the pair of employed sensor areas, and successively computing correlation values while shifting the pair of window areas; interpolated correlation extreme value computing means for detecting a correlation extreme value(s) among the correlation values computed by the correlation value computing means, and interpolating thus detected correlation extreme value(s) so as to compute an interpolated correlation extreme value(s); highest correlation value detecting means for detecting as a highest correlation value the interpolated correlation extreme value exhibiting the highest correlation among the interpolated correlation extreme value(s); shift amount computing means for computing a shift amount of the window areas yielding the highest correlation value; and object distance calculating means for calculating a distance to the object according to the shift amount computed by the shift amount computing means.
This rangefinder apparatus detects a correlation extreme value(s), and interpolates it (them) so as to compute an interpolated correlation extreme value(s). When a plurality of correlation extreme values exist, interpolated correlation extreme values are more reliable for detecting the real smallest correlation extreme value as the highest correlation value. The smallest interpolated correlation extreme value is detected as the highest correlation value, and the shift amount of the highest correlation value is computed. Therefore, as compared with the conventional techniques detecting the highest correlation value from correlation extreme values before interpolation, there is lower possibility to erroneously calculate the distance to the object.
The xe2x80x9cAF dataxe2x80x9d in the present invention include the light intensity data obtained from respective light-receiving elements and the data obtained by processing the light intensity data. Such data processing includes contrast extraction processing that is described in detail hereinafter.
Preferably, the rangefinder apparatus in accordance with the present invention is the one further comprising oscillation degree calculating means for calculating a value indicative of an oscillation degree of the AF data; the interpolated correlation extreme value computing means computing the interpolated correlation is extreme value(s) on the condition that the value indicative of the oscillation degree calculated by the oscillation degree calculating means is greater than a predetermined reference value; and the highest correlation value detecting means detecting the highest correlation value from the correlation extreme value(s) that is not interpolated when the value indicative of the oscillation degree calculated by the oscillation degree calculating means is at or smaller than a predetermined reference value.
Preferably, the rangefinder apparatus in accordance with the present invention is the one further comprising comparing means for detecting a first correlation extreme value exhibiting the highest correlation and a second correlation extreme value exhibiting the second highest correlation in the correlation extreme values that are not interpolated, and judging whether a difference between the first correlation extreme value and the second correlation extreme value normalized by the first correlation extreme value is adequately large by comparing a ratio of the second correlation extreme value to the first correlation extreme value with a predetermined reference value; the interpolated correlation extreme value computing means computing the interpolated correlation extreme value(s) on the condition that the comparing means judges that the difference is not adequately large; and the highest correlation value detecting means detecting the highest correlation value from the correlation extreme value(s) that is not interpolated when the comparing means judges that the difference is adequately large.
By omitting the interpolation computing in case the reliability of the correlation extreme values is verified by the oscillation degree calculating means or the comparing means, overall computation load can be reduced.
Preferably, the rangefinder apparatus in accordance with the present invention is the one further comprising first determining means for determining the validity of the interpolated correlation extreme value(s) computed by the interpolated correlation extreme value computing means; the highest correlation value detecting means detecting the highest correlation value from the correlation extreme value(s) that is not interpolated when the first determining means determines that the interpolated correlation extreme value(s) is invalid.
Preferably, the rangefinder apparatus in accordance with the present invention is the one further comprising second determining means for determining the capability to calculate the distance to the object by comparing the difference between a first interpolated correlation extreme value exhibiting the highest correlation and a second interpolated correlation extreme value exhibiting the second highest correlation in the interpolated correlation extreme values computed by the interpolated correlation extreme value computing means with a predetermined reference value.
By withholding the adoption of unreliable interpolated correlation extreme values by means of the first determining means or the second determining means, the rangefinding becomes more accurate.
Preferably, the rangefinder apparatus in accordance with the present invention is the one wherein the second determining means changes the predetermined reference value according to the first interpolated correlation extreme value. It becomes possible to determine the capability to calculate the distance to the object further in detail by this configuration.
Preferably, the rangefinder apparatus in accordance with the present invention is the one wherein the shift amount of the window areas yielding the highest correlation value based on the interpolated correlation extreme value(s) is computed using an arithmetic expression that is used in computing the interpolated correlation extreme value(s). Accurate shift amount can be obtained by this configuration.
The present invention provides a camera comprising any of the rangefinder apparatus mentioned above. The camera is not only still cameras such as film cameras and digital still cameras, but also video cameras.

Rangefinder apparatus and camera equipped therewith


This invention relates to rigid polyurethane foams which are co-blown with a mixture of a hydrocarbon blowing agent and a halogenated olefin blowing agent. This invention also relates to a process for preparing these rigid polyurethane foams, and to an isocyanate-reactive component containing a polyol blend and the mixture of blowing agents. Phase stable isocyanate-reactive blends are also described.

Rigid polyurethane foams are widely known and used in numerous industries. These foams are produced by reacting an appropriate polyisocyanate and an isocyanate-reactive compound, usually a polyol, in the presence of a blowing agent. One use of such foams is as a thermal insulation medium in the construction of refrigerated storage devices. The thermal insulating properties of closed-cell rigid foams are dependent upon a number of factors including the density and average cell size of the foam and the vapor thermal conductivity of the contents of the cells. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC's) were historically used as blowing agents to produce these insulating foams because of their exceptionally low vapor thermal conductivity. However, CFC's are now known to contribute to the depletion of ozone in the stratosphere and, as a result, mandates have been issued which prohibit their use.
Initially, the most promising alternatives to CFC's appeared to be hydrogen-containing chlorofluorocarbons (HCFC's). While HCFC's, such as HCFC 141b, have been used as alternatives to CFC's, they have also been found to have some ozone-depletion potential. There is, therefore, mounting pressure to find substitutes for HCFC's as well as CFC's.
Alternative blowing agents such as hydrofluorocarbons (HFC's) and hydrocarbons (HC's), which do not pose a threat to the ozone layer because they do not contain chlorine, are currently favored. Neither of these two classes of materials, however, have all the attributes of "ideal" blowing agents. That is, although HFC's and HC's are environmentally more acceptable than CFC's and HCFC's, they are frequently inferior in certain physical properties such as vapor thermal conductivity, solubility, flammability, and boiling point. For example, many of the HFC's and HC's are gases at room temperature which makes them difficult to handle, and many are flammable, thus requiring changes to the foam processing methods and equipment and/or increased risks in their handling and use as blowing agents.
In addition, HFC's such as, for example, HFC 245fa, have high Global Warming Potentials (GWP's) which contribute to climate change. It is therefore anticipated that HFC 245fa and other HFC's will be banned in the United States beginning in 2020.
Thus, there remains an unfulfilled need in the art to develop rigid polyurethane foam systems which do not utilize CFC's, HCFC's or HFC's, but which produce foams with a good balance of properties including excellent thermal conductivity, a high closed cell content and a low density, while maintaining acceptable compressive strength and dimensional stability, and which require few changes to the existing foam-forming processes and equipment. Because most commercial foaming processes employ a pre-blend of the polyol, additives, and blowing agent, it is important that the isocyanate reactive blends are phase stable and do not separate over time.

Polyurethane foams co-blown with a mixture of a hydrocarbon and a halogenated olefin


A system and method using a protocol exchange server providing bi-directional exchange of secure data protocol attributes between a first computer system and a second computer system, the method include at a protocol exchange server for bi-directional exchange of secure data protocol attributes between a first computer system and a second computer system, electronically storing a plurality of computer readable attribute records in a computer database for users associated with the first computer system and the second computer system.

There exists a need in the art for technology system for message protocols products and packages that communicate seamless on a wide-area network (WAN), a local-area network (LAN), a wireless network, a digital subscriber line (DSL) network, a frame relay network, an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network, a virtual private network (VPN).

Method and system for secure protocol exchange


An analysis apparatus that analyzes a branching structure of a panicle includes an image capturing unit that captures a panicle image; a portion extracting unit that extracts branches and seed grains from the panicle image; a branching-state determination unit that determines a branching state of the branches; and a data file that has a tree structure corresponding to the branching state of the branches, wherein the branching-state determination unit stores the branching state of the branches in the data file.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for analyzing a branching structure of a panicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
A technique called QTL (Quantitative Trait Locus) analysis is adopted in plant breeding of plants including crops such as rice. In the QTL analysis, a useful property such as plant morphology is digitized and compared to a genetic type, and thereby estimating where in a chromosome a gene involved in the property is located. For example, properties such as rice panicle morphology, the number of seed grains, and heading dates are used as parameters in the rice QTL analysis.
However, because the rice panicle morphology is complicated, conventionally manual measurement was required for digitizing the rice panicle morphology as the parameters. Specifically, one panicle is manually spread to measure the number of branches, a branching state of the branches, a length of the branches, the number of the seed grains, and "fertility" and "sterility" of the seed grains. A long time and skilled work were required to perform the manual work.
Recently there has been developed an apparatus that measures and selects a shape of the seed grain (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2002-312762 and 2005-55245). However, unlike the seed grain, the rice panicle has a stereoscopic, complicated structure. Although X-ray CT (Computed Tomography) or MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) is also used as the method for analyzing the stereoscopic structure, the apparatus is large and an amount of processed data becomes huge and therefore the apparatus is not for general purpose use. Thus, the general-purpose analysis method and analysis apparatus for analyzing the structure of the panicle, such as the rice panicle, which includes a branching state of the branches, have not been developed yet.
Accordingly, there is a need for the general-purpose analysis method and analysis apparatus for analyzing the panicle morphology of the branching structure of the panicle such as the rice panicle.

Method and apparatus for analyzing panicle structure


A conductive structure includes a contact plug extending through an insulating layer on a substrate, and first and second conductive lines extending alongside one another on the insulating layer. The first conductive line extends on the contact plug. A connecting line on the insulating layer extends between and electrically connects the first and second conductive lines. Related integrated circuit devices and fabrication methods are also discussed.

Example embodiments relate to conductive pattern structures and methods of manufacturing the same. More particularly, example embodiments relate to a conductive pattern structure including a metal material and a method of manufacturing the same.
As semiconductor devices become more highly integrated, wiring of the semiconductor devices may be required to have a smaller or narrower pattern width and/or lower resistance. Therefore, the wiring has been formed using metal materials having low resistance. Such metal wiring may be difficult to form by patterning through a photolithography process. Therefore, a damascene process has been applied for the formation of the metal wiring.
When metal wiring having a relatively wide pattern width is formed by the damascene process, a metal may be deposited to completely fill up an opening formed for forming the wiring. A metal layer formed on a region other than the opening is removed. In order to completely fill up the opening, a deposition thickness of the metal layer may be increased and so the thickness of the metal layer to be removed may also be increased, thereby increasing a manufacturing cost. Frequently, the opening may not be sufficiently and completely filled with the metal layer, which may cause defects.

Low-resistance conductive pattern structures and methods of fabricating the same


DNA isolates coding for a vascular endothelial cell growth factor may be used to produce the protein via recombinant expression systems. Such protein is useful therapeutically to treat conditions in which a selective action on the vascular endothelial cells, in the absence of excessive connective tissue proliferation, is desirable.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a vascular endothelial cell growth factor and to the means and methods for its production in therapeutically significant quantities.
2. Description of the Background Art
Considerable research has been devoted to the morphology and physiology of the secretory cells of the anterior pituitary and pars tuberalis. However, until recently, little was known about the function of the follicular or folliculo-stellate cells (FC), a morphologically well characterized population of granular cells. The FC are stellate cells that send cytoplasmic processes between secretory cells.
A method for the culture of homogeneous populations of FC is described by Ferrara et al., Meth. Enz., (ed. Conn, P. M.), Vol. 124, pp. 245-253 (Academic Press, New York, 1986). The growth pattern and expression of the dome formation by FC in culture and their ultrastructure have been elucidated. Ferrara et al., Am J. Physiol., 252: E304-312 (1987). In addition, FC have been characterized as ion transport elements, possibly involved in the regulation of ion composition and osmolarity of the interstitial fluid in the adenohypophysial cell cords. Ferrara and Gospodarowitz, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm., 157: 1376-1382 (1988). In addition, FC produce the angiogenic sitogen basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF). Ferrara et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., U.S.A., 84: 5773-5777 (1987).
The gene encoding bFGF, disclosed in Abraham et al., EMBO J. 5: 2523-2529 (1986), does not code for a conventional signal peptide, required for the extracellular transport of proteins according to classical secretory pathways. Walter and Blobel, J. Cell. Biol., 91: 557-561 (1981). Neither does the gene coding for acidic fibroblast growth factor (aFGF), disclosed in Jaye et al., Science, 233: 541-544 (1986). Accordingly, the growth factor is not appreciably secreted into the medium [Moscatelli et al., J. Cell Physiol., 129: 273-277 (1986); Klagsburn et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 83: 2448-2452 (1986)], and responsive cell types are dependent on exogenous bFGF for optimal proliferation in culture, even though they may contain significant intracellular concentrations of the mitogen. Neufeld et al., Endocrinology, 121: 597-602 (1987); Schweigerer et al., Endocrinology, 120: 796-802 (1987); Schweiger et al., Exp. Eye Res., 46: 71-80 (1988). It has been suggested that bFGF may be incorporated into the basement membrane and be subsequently released in a soluble form only when the matrix is degraded following the action of specific enzymes. Vlodavsky et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 84: 2282-2286 (1987). Such a mechanism of release suggests a role for the growth factor mostly or exclusively in events that involve degradation of the basement membrane or cell lysis, such as organ remodeling, wound healing, or neoplasia. Folkman and Klagsbrun, Science, 235: 442-447 (1987).
Moreover, bFGF and aFGF are both potent mitogens for corneal endothelial cells, lens epithelial cells, BHK-21 fibroblasts, adrenal cortex cells, and keratinocytes, as well as vascular endothelial cells. Gaspodarowitz et al., Endocrine Reviews, 8: 95-114 (1987); Baird et al., Recent Prog. Horm. Res., 42: 143-186 (1986).
There is a need for a growth factor that, in contrast to aFGF and bFGF, is not sequestered inside the cell source but rather secreted, with resultant direct access to target cells. Such a growth factor may play a more dynamic role in the physiological regulation of vascular endothelial cell proliferation, either in the cyclical growth of blood vessels that takes place in organs such as the corpus luteum [Bassett, Am. J. Anat., 73: 251-259 (1943)] or in the tonic maintenance of the differentiated state of the endothelium in the vascular tree.
There is also a need for a growth factor that is specific for vascular endothelial cells, in contrast to aFGF and bFGF, which are active on a very broad spectrum of cells. Such specificity may be useful therapeutically for conditions in which a selective action on the vascular endothelial cells, in the absence of excessive connective tissue proliferation, is desirable, such as diabetic ulcers or traumatic vascular injuries.
Although a vascular endothelial cell growth factor meeting the above needs can be isolated and purified from natural sources for subsequent use, the relatively low concentration of the protein in FC and the high cost, both in terms of effort and expense, of recovering in commercial quantities purified growth factor from FC hinder its broad-scale use.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to isolate DNA encoding a vascular endothelial cell growth factor and to produce commercially useful quantities of the protein from a therapeutically acceptable source.
It is a further object to obtain the vascular endothelial cell growth factor in a form unaccompanied by the glycosylation associated with the corresponding native growth factor.
It is an additional object to prepare amino acid sequence and other variants of the vascular endothelial cell growth factor that do not substantially adversely affect the biological activity of the protein.
It is yet another object to produce a vascular endothelial cell growth factor completely free of other naturally occurring (source) proteins.
These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from the specification as a whole.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Production of vascular endothelial cell growth factor and DNA encoding same


An untied shoelace warning system with a shoelace receiver and first and second sensors coupled to an indicator that activates when the system senses a shoelace segment, but senses it in an untied condition. The first and second sensors couple the indicator to a battery, and may all be contained within a housing. The first sensor is normally closed, but opens when a shoelace segment rests against it in a tied condition, and closes if the shoelace segment falls off the sensor, activating the indicator by coupling it to the battery. The second sensor is normally open, closing when it detects a shoelace segment. The system activates the indicator when a shoelace segment is not sensed by the first sensor, but is sensed by the second sensor. The system does not activate the indicator when a shoelace segment is not in the system, because neither the first nor the second sensor senses the shoelace. This way, the untied shoelace warning system does not activate the indicator when the shoe is not being worn. The indicator may be a sound device, e.g., a piezoelectric buzzer, a light or a series of lights, e.g., light emitting diodes or LED's, a vibrating device, or a combination of the aforementioned devices.

Walking in shoes with untied shoelaces can be a dangerous activity. Many injuries per year are inflicted on people that, while walking in shoes with untied laces, stepped on the laces, and thereby tripped and/or fell. Resulting injuries range from small cuts or bruises to broken bones or even a head injury.
Another problem with untied shoelaces is that stepping on them damages the lace ends. This occurs even if stumbling, falling, or injury does not result. This allows the lace to unravel which causes it to ruin, especially if the lace falls back from the last eyelet in the shoe. Re-inserting the lace end through the eyelet may not be possible.
Shoelaces are laced into shoes of all kinds and styles. No matter what the kind or style, however, shoelaces often come untied. Few people notice an untied shoelace until injury or damage to the lace has occurred.
Untied shoelaces are particularly prevalent with young children and their shoes. A young child may be between five and eight years old before they may effectively tie their shoelaces. Double-knotting shoelaces and shoes with hook-and-loop fasteners are employed to remedy the young child's lack of ability. Yet, even double-knotted shoelaces come untied, and a young one that can only tie shoelaces ineffectively, can expect the shoelaces to be untied again later.
The young child rarely notices an untied lace and even if he or she does, usually cannot tie the shoelace him- or her-self. Unaware of the problems and dangers of untied shoelaces, the child never asks an adult for assistance. Injury to the child or ruin to the shoelace is likely to occur.


In one embodiment, an airfoil includes an airfoil body portion, an airfoil tip portion disposed radially outward of the airfoil body portion, an airfoil root portion, and a plurality of radial cooling passages extending through the airfoil body portion from the root portion to the tip airfoil portion. The airfoil body portion and the airfoil tip portion are joined at a braze interface or a weld interface. The airfoil tip portion includes at least one manifold fluidly connecting at least one radial cooling passage to at least one other radial cooling passage.

The disclosure relates generally to cooled structures of a gas turbine and more specifically systems and methods relating to turbine airfoils.
In a large frame heavy-duty industrial gas turbine engine, a hot gas stream generated in a combustor is passed through a turbine to produce mechanical work. The turbine includes one or more rows or stages of stator vanes and rotor blades that react with the hot gas stream in a progressively decreasing temperature. The efficiency of the turbine—and therefore the engine—can be increased by passing a higher temperature gas stream into the turbine. However, the turbine inlet temperature may be limited to the material properties of the turbine, especially the first stage vanes and blades, and an amount of cooling capability for these first stage airfoils.
The first stage rotor and stator components are exposed to the highest gas stream temperatures, with the temperature gradually decreasing as the gas stream passes through the turbine stages. The first and second stage airfoils (blades and vanes) should be cooled by passing cooling air through internal cooling passages and discharging the cooling air through film cooling holes to provide a blanket layer of cooling air to protect the cooled surface from the hot gas stream.
The turbine rotor blades are often formed using investment casting and metallic super-alloy materials, which have high tolerance to mechanical stress and strain, as well as thermal stresses and gradients. However, the geometries and features that can be formed via the investment casting process are limited.


A method for operating a memory device includes performing a single read operation that includes additional one or more combinations of read and/or write cycles, and performing a single write operation that includes additional one or more combinations of read and/or write cycles. For example, a method for auto-correcting errors in a memory device having plurality of memory cells includes performing a first read operation of the memory cell to obtain a first read data value, performing a first write operation to the memory cell to write a second data value, which is a complement of the first data value, into the memory cell, performing a second read operation of the memory cell to obtain a third data value, and performing a second write operation to the memory cell to write a fourth data value, which is a complement of the third data value, to the memory cell.

The present invention relates to semiconductor memory devices, and in particular to a semiconductor resistive memory device such as Magnetic or Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory (MRAM), Phase Change memory (PCM), Resistance memory (RRAM) etc.
The nonvolatile MRAM with Spin Transfer Torque (STT) programming has become a topic of great interest. This SST MRAM can be manufactured with the Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (COMS) technology for both the embedded application as well as the stand alone memory device. MRAM combines the desirable attributes of today's memory technologies such as the volatile Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), and the Non-volatile Flash Memory. Some of the key attributes are fast access time, random address selection, low cost, high density, and non-volatility.
However, conventional MRAM suffers from many limitations as will be described below. Therefore, techniques for improving operations of MRAM are highly desired.

Method to reduce read error rate for semiconductor resistive memory


A brake adjuster mechanism including an input shaft, a one-way clutch, and a torque limiting clutch. The input shaft is coupled to an input element of the torque limiting clutch. The one-way clutch is coupled to the torque limiting clutch. The torque limiting clutch further includes an output element and a coupling portion, with the coupling portion including a projection for selectively rotationally coupling the input element and the output element. One of the input element and output element includes a first recess circumferentially spaced from a second recess. The projection is selectively biased into the first recess and the second recess. The input element is frictionally coupled by a friction device to the output element to resist rotation of the input element relative to the output element.

EP0937210 shows a brake adjuster mechanism for a disc brake. The brake adjuster mechanism includes a torque limiting clutch and a one-way clutch. When the brake is applied a gear segment rotates one part of a torque limiting clutch. At relatively low torque (i.e. at torques below the limiting torque of the clutch) rotation of the first part will cause rotation of the second part which in turn drives an adjuster gear of the brake via the one-way clutch. The adjuster gear adjusts the brake mechanism so as to compensate for wear of the brake pads. If no wear adjustment is required, the limiting torque will be exceeded and ball elements of the torque limiting clutch will be forced out of associated pockets thereby enabling the first part to rotate relative to the second part when the limiting torque is exceeded. Upon release of the brake the first part is rotated backwards and the ball elements returned to their original pockets and the torque limiting clutch returns to its original position. The one way clutch ensures that the adjuster gear remains in its adjusted position. Thus, upon substantially every application of the brake the torque limiting clutch will exceed its torque limit and therefore the components of the adjuster mechanism will be subjected to a torque equivalent to the torque limit. This causes wear of the adjuster components.
EP0963520 shows an alternative arrangement whereby a gear segment drives a torque limiting clutch which in turn drives an adjuster gear via a one-way clutch. The components of this mechanism are subject to the limiting clutch torque upon substantially every application of the brake, which leads to wear.
Typically, when a brake disc is not being applied there will be a running clearance between each brake pad and the disc. For a heavy vehicle this running clearance is of the order of 0.5 mm between each pad and the disc, i.e. a total of the order of 1 mm from the brake assembly as a whole. The running clearance is determined by the backlash in the adjuster mechanism. The adjuster mechanism is therefore designed with a predetermined amount of backlash, equivalent to the required running clearance of the brake. As the components of the adjuster mechanism wear, then so the backlash in the adjuster mechanism increases which results in an increase in the running clearance of the brake. This is undesirable.
Thus, an improved form of brake adjuster is required which is subject to less wear.

Meritor Heavy Vehicle Braking Systems (UK) Limited


A method for synchronizing an exciter clock with a modem frame clock in a broadcasting system comprises the steps of receiving a plurality of modem frame pulses that are representative of the start of modem frames of audio signals and data signals, wherein timing of the modem frame pulses is controlled by a modem frame clock, producing an exciter clock signal, counting pulses representative of the exciter clock signal to produce a count representative of timing error of each incoming modem frame pulse, and controlling the exciter clock signal in response to the count. An apparatus that performs the method is also provided.

The iBiquity Digital Corporation HD Radio™ system is designed to permit a smooth evolution from current analog Amplitude Modulation (AM) and Frequency Modulation (FM) radio to a fully digital In-Band On-Channel (IBOC) system. This system delivers digital audio and data services to mobile, portable, and fixed receivers from terrestrial transmitters in the existing Medium Frequency (MF) and Very High Frequency (VHF) radio bands. Broadcasters may continue to transmit analog AM and FM simultaneously with the new, higher-quality and more robust digital signals, allowing themselves and their listeners to convert from analog to digital radio while maintaining their current frequency allocations.
Two major components in the broadcast system architecture are the exporter and the exciter. Normally, the exporter is resident at a radio station's studio and the exciter is located at the transmission site, although nothing prohibits them from being collocated at the transmission site. The interface between the exporter and exciter is unidirectional (usually over a digital Studio Transmitter Link (STL)) typically using an Ethernet for the exciter link.
The digital audio and data signals can include a plurality of services including a Main Program Service (MPS) and a Station Information Service (SIS). The exporter contains the software and hardware required for the MPS and the SIS. It accepts analog and digital audio over an audio interface, compresses the audio and outputs the compressed audio to the exciter over the unidirectional exciter link.
An HD Codec (HDC) can be located in the studio in the exporter. The exporter outputs a signal for the STL path that contains both the HDC coded audio and all data services. The analog audio signal is delayed in the exporter for diversity delay, and output at 44.1 kHz. It may then be sent on an existing STL or resampled at 32 kHz and sent with the HDC stream on a multiplexed STL that can fit within the 300 kHz STL allocation. The RF modulation portion is at the transmitter site. This allows for a bandwidth-efficient bitstream.
The exciter contains an exciter engine (exgine) subsystem and the necessary hardware required to produce the HD Radio™ waveform. All interfacing between the exporter and exgine occurs over the unidirectional exciter link. The exciter link messages that are transmitted across the link contain the logical channel data to be modulated by the exgine as well as appropriate command and control needed between the exporter and exgine.
The coded audio and data are combined on a single transport stream, with the audio coding and data manipulation being performed in the studio. Everything passed over the exciter link is message based. Each message has a header and a body. The header includes at least an identifier, a body, a sequence number and a cyclic redundancy check. The bodies of the messages have a specific format. For the unidirectional exciter link, the body is always a command message, since there is no back channel to carry a response.
An element of the exgine system is the importer. The importer is implemented in software, and manages all of the data, including third party data, program associated data (PAD) or supplemental channels, for example. It multiplexes the data, plus the encoded HDC information from the digital IBOC signal, and feeds that information as one bitstream to the exciter.
In certain HD Radio™ systems, the HDC FM System is capable of a 20 kHz response, while the HDC AM System provides a 15 kHz response. For a 20 kHz audio response for HDC FM, the STL system must employ a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz or higher in order to pass the upper spectra. Since the HDC system requires a 44.1 kHz master clock, there is a subtle advantage to using a digital STL system that operates at 44.1 kHz, as it will eliminate a sample-rate-converter (SRC). However, STL systems employing either 32 kHz or 48 kHz sampling can also be used.
The HDC system employs a master clock to sync everything to the 44.1 kHz sampling rate. Processing can utilize two configurations: two separate units (one for HDC and one for conventional transmission), or a single dual output combination processor that provides dedicated processed audio for both channels.
Consider first the effects of clock error on the time synchronization between the exporter and the exgine. If the clocks in these devices have an error difference of 1 ppm, then one clock will slip every millionth clock time. Another way to characterize this is that the time error is one millionth of the total time lapse. For example, an error of 1 ppm drifts 3.6 msec/hr, or 86.4 msec/day, which is equivalent to 159 clocks, or 3810 clocks of the 44.1 kHz audio clock over an hour, or a day, respectively. If a 44.1 kHz clock sample tolerance of a single clock sample is required, then the clocks will drift out of spec in only 22.7 seconds at 1 ppm clock error. Thus it is clear that some sort of additional synchronization is needed.
GPS-locked 10 MHz clocks can be used in both the exporter at the studio and the exgine at the transmitter site to maintain synchronization between the two locations when they are connected via STL link. However it may be difficult in some cases to receive the GPS signal at the transmitter location due to high RF noise.
There is a need for an alternative method for generating a synchronous clock at the transmitter site.

Method for synchronizing exporter and exciter clocks


A support foot for a luggage carrier, for a vehicle, said support foot including a main part, a first clamping part, a second clamping part wherein at least one of said clamping parts are movable and a clamping mechanism, said clamping mechanism including an attachment lever, arranged to secure a load bar to a mounting rail or similar device, wherein said attachment lever is arranged at one side of said main part and is arranged to operate in a horizontal plane between a closed and an open position.

Because of limited internal space in vehicles, a variety of cargo or leisure equipment is loaded on the roof thereof. To this end, a luggage carrier is mounted on the roof of a vehicle.
The luggage carrier for many vehicles of today includes mounting rails which are provided on both sides of the roof in the longitudinal direction of a vehicle, and load bars which are transversely mounted between the mounting rails. The load bars are secured to the mounting rails so as to hold cargo at a predetermined position. When it is required to remove or to change the position of the load bars, it is necessary to release the load bar from the mounting rails. Thus, the luggage carrier is constructed so that a passenger adjusts the position of the load bar to be appropriate to the size or length of the cargo, and secures the load bar at the adjusted position between the mounting rails.
Conventional load bars of a luggage carrier for vehicles is often problematic in that it includes a support foot having fastening devices with mechanisms including levers in combination with wires and/or springs making the construction complicated, and the manufacturing cost may be high. Further, after the wires and/or springs have been used for a period of time, the durability of a product is reduced due to the deterioration of the wires and/or springs. Further, it has been found that operating the lever may be difficult.
Other, past known locking assemblies have been developed including a manually rotatable knob which can draw a cam member against the rail or tool which locks/releases the support foot and load bar. These past known mechanisms have been found unsatisfactory because they are inconvenient to the user. Vehicle owners tend to misplace tools used to release support foots while knob-operated mechanisms may be difficult to rotate with sufficient force.
The document U.S. Pat. No. 4,911,348 shows adjustable cross rails with support stanchions which includes a release mechanism which conforms to the configuration of the stanchion and the cross rails are capable of being brought into contiguous engagement to form an aerodynamic wing.
The document U.S. Pat. No. 8,302,828 shows a cross bar of a roof carrier for vehicles, which uses one wire and has a lever on only one side and which uses a two-stage locking method.
From U.S. Pat. No. 4,448,337 there is known a carrier system with fixed slat assemblies (a kind of rail mechanism) having slots for fixation of brackets, which presents disadvantages from several view points.


Provided is a charged particle beam apparatus or charged particle microscope capable of observing an observation target sample in an air atmosphere or a gas environment without making significant changes to the configuration of a conventional high vacuum charged particle microscope. In a charged particle beam apparatus configured such that a thin film (10) is used to separate a vacuum environment and an air atmosphere (or a gas environment), an attachment (121) capable of holding the thin film (10) and whose interior can be maintained at an air atmosphere or a gas environment is inserted into a vacuum chamber (7) of a high vacuum charged particle microscope. The attachment (121) is vacuum-sealed and fixed to a vacuum partition of the vacuum sample chamber. Image quality is further improved by replacing the atmosphere in the attachment with helium or a light-elemental gas that has a lower mass than atmospheric gases such as nitrogen or water vapor.

For observing a minute area of an object, a scanning electron microscope (SEM), a transmission electron microscope (TEM), and the like are used. When such apparatuses are used, a sample is typically imaged after a second housing for housing the sample is evacuated to a vacuum and the sample atmosphere is set to a vacuum state. Meanwhile, there has been an increasing need for observing a sample that may become damaged or change state due to a vacuum, such as a biochemical sample or a liquid sample, using an electron microscope. Thus, in recent years, SEM apparatuses, sample holding apparatuses, and the like that can observe observation target samples under atmospheric pressure have been developed.
Such apparatuses are adapted to have a vacuum state and an atmospheric state that are separated by providing a thin film or a minute through-hole between electron optics and a sample, in principle, and thus are common in that a thin film is provided between the sample and the electron optics.
For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses an atmospheric-pressure SEM in which an electron source side of an electron optical column is arranged such that it faces downward, and an objective lens side is arranged such that it faces upward, and further, a thin film that allows an electron beam to pass therethrough is provided on an electron beam emission hole at an end of the electron optical column, with an O-ring interposed therebetween. In the invention described in Patent Literature 1, SEM observation is conducted in such a manner that an observation target sample is mounted directly on the thin film, and the sample is irradiated with a primary electron beam from the side of the bottom face of the sample, and then, reflected electrons or secondary electrons are detected. The sample is held in a space that is formed by the thin film and an annular member disposed around the thin film. Further, the space is filled with a liquid such as water. The invention disclosed in Patent Literature 1 implements an atmospheric-pressure SEM that is suitable for observing a biological sample, in particular.
Patent Literature 2 discloses an invention of an environmental cell in which an observation target sample is stored in a plate-like cylindrical container, on the upper face of which is provided an aperture for allowing an electron beam to pass therethrough, and the cylindrical container is provided in a vacuum sample chamber of a SEM, and further, a hose is connected to the cylindrical container from outside of the vacuum sample chamber, whereby the interior of the container can be maintained at an air atmosphere in a pseudo manner. The term "pseudo" herein means that as a gas flows out of the aperture when the vacuum sample chamber is evacuated to a vacuum, observation is not conducted under an atmospheric-pressure environment in the strict sense.


A sheet handling assembly includes a frame, a first assembly, and a second assembly, each assembly rotatably supported by the frame and configured to contactingly transport sheet media. A member is configured to rotate the second assembly in response to rotation of the member in a first direction. The frame is configured to pivot in the first direction in response to rotating the member in the first direction, and pivot in a second direction, opposite the first direction, in response to rotating the member in the second direction.

Numerous types of imaging apparatus that utilize sheet media are known. Examples of such imaging apparatus include flatbed scanners, photocopiers, printers, optical character recognition (OCR) devices, etc. Differing embodiments of such imaging apparatus often include sheet handling apparatus that draw sheets of media one at a time away from a stack, thereafter routing and transporting each sheet while various typical operations are performed thereon (e.g., optical scanning, printing and/or imaging, etc.).
Known sheet handling apparatus as described above vary greatly in their respective configurations and methods of operation. However, many of such devices are directed to reliably drawing a single sheet of media away from a stack or reservoir of plural sheet media as a substantial first step during normal, repetitive operation. Due to various complicating factors such as, for example, friction between adjacent media sheets, static electric attraction, humidity, etc., such sheet handling apparatus are generally complex in their overall design and elemental count in the interest of providing consistent, acceptable operation.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide relatively simple methods and apparatus for consistently drawing sheets of media one at a time away from a stack of plural sheet media.

Methods and apparatus for transporting sheet media

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


An air-wound, coil-type, passive inductor includes a surface which allows the coil to be picked-up using a vacuum probe of a head of a pick-an-place machine and the surface does not interfere with adjusting the spacing between the loops of the coil for tuning the coil after the coil is attached to a circuit board. Terminal ends of the coil are placed on solder paste on interconnection pads on the circuit board, then the board is heated to reflow the solder, and then washed to remove the flux contained in the solder paste. The surface may be adapted to be removed or at least degraded by the heating, or the washing, or afterwards by a mechanical method of removal without damaging the coil.

Coils are commonly used as inductor elements in electronic circuits. The coils consist of wire bent to form a series of spaced loops. In high frequency applications, such as radio frequency broadcasting, cable television, cellular phones and other communications technology, air-wound coils are often surface mounted on circuit boards.
Circuit boards are commonly produced by forming wiring that extends on the surface and through holes in a sheet of fiberglass. The wiring includes pads for attaching components to the board. Solder paste is deposited on the pads and then terminals of the components are positioned on the solder paste. Then the assembly is heated sufficient to melt particles of metal in the solder paste to form solder alloy connections between the pads and the component terminals.
A pick-and-place machine is used to place the components onto the wiring substrate. Wiring substrates and components are fed into the machine and a head picks-up the components and places them at component sites on the board. Typically the solder paste is deposited on pads at the component site before the board is fed into the machine. The head includes either a vacuum probe or a mechanical gripper to pick-up, position, and release the components at the sites.
Generally, the position of a coil is not nearly as critical as the positioning of other common components on the circuit board substrate and grippers can place such coil components onto circuit boards without the need for a vision system. Since the surface of uncoated air-wound coils has openings, common vacuum probes can not be used to pick-up the coil components. Thus, mechanical grippers are typically used for placing air-wound coils. However, it is well known to coat the coils of an air-wound coil with a layer of epoxy to allow the coils to be handled using a vacuum probe. In some applications the coils can not be covered with epoxy because the spacing between the loops must be adjusted for tuning the coil and/or circuit of the circuit board. In such a case, uncoated coils are placed on the circuit board using a gripping head.

Method for air-wound coil vacuum pick-up, surface mounting, and adjusting


A lens module includes a holder base, which is affixed to a circuit board and has bottom receiving holes for receiving LEDs or sensors on the circuit board and a top flange with a foolproof notch, a lens device press-fitted into the top flange and secured to the foolproof notch to ensure accurate positioning and having flat protrusions engaged into respective through holes in the holder base in alignment with the LEDs or sensors, and a top cover capped on the holder base to hold down the lens device and having through holes that receive convex portions of the lens device respectively.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to lens modules and more particularly, to a lens module for use in a bill acceptor for detecting the authenticity of a bill, and the lens module has multiple positioning structures to have a lens device positively and accurately positioned in between a holder base and a top cover.
2. Description of the Related Art
Following fast development of technology, our mode of living has been changed. Various automatic vending machines (card dispensers, ticket vending machines, money exchanging machines, etc.) are used everywhere to sell any of a variety of products without serviceman. Providing automatic vending machines saves much labor cost, and brings great convenience to consumers. A money-exchanging machine generally comprises a coin acceptor and a bill acceptor.
However, venders and consumers are always assailed by the problem of counterfeit money since the use of paper currency. Following development of computer technology, evil persons may use a computer to scan, copy and print paper money. Therefore, a paper currency has anti-counterfeiting techniques. Visible anti-counterfeiting techniques of paper currency include paper material, ink, seal, mark and etc. that can easily be verified with the eyes. However, examining invisible anti-counterfeiting techniques requires a special machine or instrument to verity the authenticity. A validator for this purpose uses rollers to carry the inserted paper currency over a magnetic head, which detects the magnetic inks of the emblems and portrait and compares the detected signal with respective predetermined reference values for determining the authenticity of the paper current subject to the comparison result. However, the magnetic head tends to be contaminated by ink dirt, resulting in an inaccurate detection. Further, a counterfeit currency maker may make a counterfeit currency that carrying similar magnetic inks to cheat the machine.
Nowadays, modern valuable paper validators commonly use different LEDs (light emitting diodes) to emit different light for examining the characteristics of different paper currency. FIGS. 9 and 10 show a prior art valuable paper (bill) validator. This design of valuable paper validator comprises a first linear light source A1 and a second linear light source A2 disposed at two sides above a test zone F1, a plurality of photo sensors C1 set between the two linear light sources A1 and A2, and a first optical element B1 set below the photo sensors C1. When a document (valuable paper) E1 enters an inlet of the valuable paper validator, the inlet is blocked, and a sheet-transferring roller set is started to carry the document E1 through the test zone F1. At the same time the linear light sources A1 and A2 are controlled to emit pulsed light onto the document E1, the first optical element B1 condenses reflected light onto the photo sensors C1, and the photo sensors C1 feedback the detected value at a predetermined circulation time point. This detected value is indicative of the average PPF (paired-pulse facilitation) of the scanned surface color of the document E1. The aforesaid method is to examine the whole document. Further, a supplementary light source A4 and a fourth optical element B4 may be provided at the other side. The supplementary light source A4 is controlled to emit penetrative light that passes through the document E1 for checking the transmission of the document E1. After scanning, the operating unit of the valuable paper validator receives different values produced by different light sources and compares the values to storage reference values, thereby determining to accept or reject the document. According to this induction method, it is necessary to verify multiple strip blocks of the document E1 and to compare the scanned values produced by the strip blocks to reference values for further determination. According to this design, each linear light source A1 or A2 uses different colors of light emitting diodes A3 to emit different colors of light for verification. Further, a second optical element B2 and a third optical element B3 are set in front of the first linear light source A1 and the second linear light source A2 to correct the respective light source output angle. The arrangement of the linear light sources A1 and A2, the optical elements B1, B2 and B3 and the photo sensors C1 must be carefully calculated so that detected signals can be compared to reference values for further accurate determination.
The aforesaid prior art valuable paper validator has numerous drawbacks as outlined hereinafter.    1. Because the LEDs A3 in each linear light source A1 or A2 are spaced from one another at a distance, these LEDs A3 do not allow the document E1 to be examined at one same test zone F1 with different colors of light, and can only use the average value of all scanned light to calculate the surface color reaction of the document E1.    2. Different documents (paper currency) E1 from different countries have different anti-counterfeiting characteristics. Therefore, the main unit must provide a high capacity database for storing predetermined reference data for comparison.    3. This validation method uses the light emitting diodes A3 to emit different colors of light onto the document E1, and the photo sensors C1 with the first optical element B1 to collect reflected light from different strip blocks of the document E1 for comparing to reference values. The precision of the adjustment between the light emitting diodes A3, the photo sensors C1 and the optical elements B1, B2, and B3 is critical.    4. After scanning of different strip blocks of the document E1 with different colors of light from the light emitting diodes A3, a precision array computing procedure is necessary to verify the authenticity of the document E1. This computing procedure requires a certain length of time, not suitable for use in a vending machine to verify the authenticity of a paper money.    5. The complicated structure of this design of valuable paper validator uses so many parts, resulting in a high manufacturing cost.
Further, ATMs (Auto Teller Machines) or bill counters used in a banking system commonly use ultraviolet lamps to scan paper currency. Ultraviolet lamps are not suitable for use in a bill validator for vending machine. When an ultraviolet lamp type bill validator is used in an outdoor vending machine, air moisture may pass through gap between the lamp bulb and the electric socket, causing a short circuit. Further, the bulb of an ultraviolet lamp attenuates quickly with use. Further, an ultraviolet lamp consumes much electric power and releases much heat energy during operation. Further, an ultraviolet lamp has a big side and a short working life, and is easy to break.

International Currency Technologies Corporation


A stopping apparatus according to the invention includes a swing unit pivotal about a first pivot shaft between an abutment position in which the swing unit abuts against a work to stop conveyance of the work and a retreat position, a driving unit, and an elastic member applying a biasing force to the swing unit in a direction in which the swing unit is located at the abutment position. The swing unit includes a swing portion pivotal about the first pivot shaft and a movable portion including an abutment portion abutting against the work. The movable portion is pivotally connected to the swing portion. The movable portion pivots relative to the swing portion such that a distance between the first pivot shaft and the abutment portion becomes short along with a pivot motion of the swing unit to the retreat position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stopping apparatus which abuts against a work being conveyed to stop the work.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is known a stopping apparatus for stopping, at a predetermined position, a work being conveyed on a conveying apparatus such as a roller conveyor (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 6-16233, 8-319023 and 11-227937). The stopping apparatus stops a work or cancels the stop of the work by moving an abutment portion such as a roller which abuts against the work onto a conveying apparatus or retreating it from the conveying apparatus. For this reason, a mechanism and actuator for moving the abutment portion are required.
As the mechanism for moving the abutment portion onto the conveying apparatus or retreating it from the conveying apparatus, a structure by which the abutment portion is reciprocally moved along a straight line and a structure by which the abutment portion is reciprocally moved by pivotal motion (this will be referred to as a pivot type hereinafter) are proposed. The pivot type can retreat the abutment portion with a smaller force than that of the structure by which the abutment portion is reciprocally moved along the straight line.
In the pivot type, a pivot shaft is often located on the upstream or downstream side of the abutment portion in a convey direction below a convey surface. In the structure in which the pivot shaft is located on the upstream side of the abutment portion, the pivot shaft is located in a region below the work which abuts against the abutment portion and is stopped. However, the region below the work is often used as a space in which an apparatus for lifting the stopped work or various sensors for confirming the stop of the work are disposed. For this reason, it is often difficult to ensure a space in which the stopping apparatus is disposed.
In the structure in which the pivot shaft is located on the downstream side of the abutment portion, when retreating the abutment portion to cancel the stop, the abutment portion draws an arcuate moving locus along which the abutment portion slightly moves toward the upstream side. For this reason, the work is slightly pushed back to the upstream side. An extra actuator output is required by this push-back force.

Stopping apparatus and temporary stopping method


An electronic product sorting system includes a conveying device; an image capturing device configured to capture at least one image of an electronic product; a storage unit configured to pre-store appearance characteristic information of a plurality of predetermined electronic products; a processing unit coupled to the image capturing device and the storage unit, configured to determine appearance characteristic information of the electronic product according to the at least one image of the electronic product, and generate a comparison result by comparing the appearance characteristic information of the electronic product and the plurality of predetermined electronic products; and a sorting unit configured to sort the electronic product according to the comparison result.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic product sorting system and a sorting method, and more particularly, to an electronic product sorting system and a sorting method capable of sorting electronic products according to pre-stored characteristic information.
2. Description of the Prior Art
AS related technology keeps improving, various kinds of electronic products with different functions are developed. Since developing speeds of the electronic products are getting faster, life cycles of the electronic products are gradually getting shorter. As such, there are some electronic products out of date even if they are still working normally. Based on needs for environmental protection, an outdated electronic product can be recycled or delivered to less-developed areas for reuse. However, there are various kinds of electronic products, it is difficult to rapidly and efficiently sort the different electronic products in the prior art.

Electronic product sorting system and sorting method


The invention relates to an angular contact bearing assembly for use in a steering column, comprising at least one rolling bearing comprising conductive components, a sleeve for mounting an conductive inner ring of the at least one rolling bearing on a shaft; and at least one conductive structure creating an electrically conductive contact between at least one of the conductive components of the at least one rolling bearing and the shaft. It is proposed that the sleeve and the conductive structure form an inseparable compound.

Steering columns in automobiles are generally equipped with angular contact bearing assemblies comprising a conductive inner ring with a concave recess forming a first raceway, a conductive outer ring with a concave recess forming a second raceway and a set of conductive balls contacting both the first raceway and the second raceway. In order to simplify the mounting of the inner ring on a central shaft of the steering column, the inner ring is mounted on the shaft via a sleeve or tolerance ring, which is usually moulded of non-conductive plastics in order to allow for some flexibility and to reduce the costs.
Steering wheels mounted on the shaft often contain electrical switches or devices and/or airbags, which may be affected by electrostatic charges accumulating on the steering wheel.
It is therefore important to ensure an electrical grounding of the steering wheel by ensuring a conductive contact between the shaft of the steering column and the chassis of the automobile via the angular ball bearings. As a matter of course, this conductive contact could be used for transmitting electrical signals as well.
The document U.S. Pat. No. 4,530,609 teaches to make the sleeve conductive by using a graphite-filled polymer material, which is, however, fairly expensive.
In order to ensure the electrical contact, mentioned above the document FR 2782758 A1 teaches to use a conductive part creating an electrically conductive contact between the inner ring and the shaft. This conductive part is a generally ring-shaped member arranged between an axial end face of the sleeve and a wavy spring or ondular washer generating an axial preload of the angular bearing. The wavy spring is preloaded with a fixing ring fitted over the shaft.
The ring-shaped member is provided with a ring-shaped main body and a latch bent around the profile of the sleeve so as to overlap with a surface supporting the inner ring such that the inner ring is in contact with the latch. The electrically conductive contact between the outer ring and the shaft is therefore established from the outer ring via the balls, the inner ring, the latch, the main body of the ring-shaped member, the wavy spring, and the fixing ring.
A similar solution with a conductive element having a ring-shaped main body and multiple latch-like axial protrusions engaging in slots of the sleeve is proposed in the document U.S. Pat. No. 6,675,360 B1.
A solution where the latches are immediately formed on the wavy spring is proposed in US 2010/0308569A1. A solution where latches are formed on the inner ring is proposed in DE 102 20 688 B4.
In this conductive pathway, there is a high number of contact points which are susceptible to degradation or interruption of the contact and the total probability of failure accumulates the individual probabilities. The conductive parts risk to break or be shifted from their proper position. This may lead to problems during the assembly or interruptions of the contact. The loose parts may damage other parts of the steering column or its surroundings.

Angular contact bearing assembly for use in a steering column


The coating includes components water, styrene acrylic polymer, refined white dolomite, processed granite, calcium sulfate, silicon concentrate 10 percent, titanium dioxide, triton x-100, butoxyethanol and light mineral spirits. Also included is the method of mixing and preparing the coating.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a modified acrylic polymer coating and method and more particularly pertains to preparing and utilizing a modified acrylic polymer coating with superior characteristics in the construction industry.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of construction coatings is known in the prior art. More specifically, construction coatings previously devised and utilized for the purpose of coating construction surfaces are known to consist basically of familiar, expected, and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which has been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
While these coatings fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the prior patents do not describe modified acrylic polymer coatings and methods that create surfaces with superior construction characteristics.
In this respect, the modified acrylic polymer coating and method according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of creating surfaces with superior construction characteristics.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for a new and improved modified acrylic polymer coating and method which can be used for creating surfaces with superior construction characteristics. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.

Modified acrylic polymer coating and method


An arrangement is provided for insuring that excessive demand is not placed on a refrigeration unit that supplies pressurized subcooled refrigerant to different channels having independent needs for use of refrigeration capacity. A separate reference channel receives a portion of the refrigerant and expands the refrigerant fully to a gas phase to establish a minimum level reference temperature. In the operative channels the refrigerant flows into individual evaporators/heat exchangers at rates set by external command signals, the refrigerant being in heat exchange relation with thermal transfer fluid in the evaporator/heat exchanger. Evaporation of refrigerant in each channel thus brings the thermal transfer fluid for that channel to the target temperature. By comparing the post evaporation temperature in each channel to the reference temperature and reducing the refrigerant flow rate whenever the difference is below a threshold, individual channels are not overtaxed and the system remains stable.

This invention relates to systems and methods for ensuring that a single refrigeration unit supplying refrigerant for a number of individual control channels is not overtaxed by the demands of one or more of the channels.
In a number of situations in which controllable refrigeration capacity is needed, it is advantageous to utilize a single refrigeration unit for providing pressurized refrigerant to two or more control channels, each of which is separately regulated to maintain the temperature of an existing fluid circuit or device. An example is found in the above referenced prior filed application, which is particularly described in terms of an example for controlling the temperature of a number of different tools in a cluster tool system for fabricating semiconductors. In this context, minimal floor space and high reliability are of paramount importance, so that a compact physical configuration, long term operation, and precise and stable temperature control are significant operative goals. The system described and claimed in the referenced application achieves these objectives by utilizing a single large refrigeration unit having adequate nominal capacity for total demand and providing pressurized liquid refrigerant into separate control channels, each including a control loop for adjusting the temperature of heat transfer fluid circulated through the associated tool. The flow rate of the refrigerant in each channel is separately controlled in accordance with the target temperature needed at the tool at particular point in time. In each channel, the refrigerant is fed at its chosen rate, and in a two phase state, into an evaporator/heat exchanger thus being at the evaporation temperature. In the heat exchanger heat of evaporation is given up in cooling a thermal transfer fluid also passing through the evaporator/heat exchanger at a constant rate. This occurs independently for each of the channels, which can have different refrigeration demands at any particular time. For example, a maximum demand can be imposed in one channel which is required to drop the tool temperature as rapidly as possible, as to effect a process changeover, while one or more other channels are, temporarily at least, in a relatively stable mode.
In this system, the temperature level that is to be regulated is that of the semiconductor fabrication tool, which is outside the closed refrigeration loop. Thus the superheat (the difference between refrigerant temperature before and after heat exchange) cannot be used for control and limiting of demand.
Under these circumstances, an unstable condition can arise when any channel or the refrigeration unit itself is temporarily overtaxed, since the flow rate to each evaporator is servoed to the target temperature of the remote tool. The instability arises when the return refrigerant is not entirely in the gas phase, so that liquid is present in the refrigerant returned to the compressor from one or more channels. In consequence, a well known but complex reaction can occur within the refrigeration system in which the compressor drops in efficiency (and can be damaged). When this "flooding" occurs, the greater the demand for cooling capacity the lower will be the performance (the opposite of what is wanted) and, as flow is increased the more liquid will be returned, increasing the likelihood of damage to the compressor system. It is not feasible in this type of system to place arbitrary limits on the refrigeration capacity of each channel, because this would unduly extend the costly process times involved in semiconductor fabrication, even though adequate refrigeration capacity may be available for each channel.
Although conventional proportional flow valves, including temperature responsive control valves using bimetallic elements, can be utilized in the separate channels, it is preferred, primarily because of higher reliability, but also for reasons of linearity, resolution and freedom from hysteresis to employ thermal expansion valves which are responsive to the pressure in a closed gas circuit. These closed circuits include a bulb containing a pressurized gas that is positioned proximate a temperature source at a given temperature level, such as a chilled refrigerant conduit. A tube from the bulb communicates with a volume, within the valve, that is bounded by a flexible diaphragm, which then flexes in response to the gas pressure. The diaphragm in turn controls the position of a valve element which occludes a flow orifice to a selected degree. The internal pressure within the bulb and the closed pressure circuit can be changed by command signals applied to a heater in thermal interchange relation with the bulb, and regulated by a command servo circuit As described in a previously filed application of Richard Petrulio, et al. Expansion Valve Unit, Ser. No. 08/953,101, filed Oct. 17, 1997, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, this system can incorporate a thermal insulation between the heater and the bulb in order to integrate temperature fluctuations. It can be used so as to control refrigerant flow in response to a remotely detected temperature (i.e. a tool, controlled unit, or refrigerated compartment).
Whether referred to as regulation of capacity or avoidance of flooding of the compressor, the system must avoid initiating the astable condition, while at the same time it must be able to utilize the available refrigeration capacity in the most efficient manner for each of the two or more independently operable channels that may be used in the system. Since the control temperatures and the refrigeration demands in individual channels vary independently and since total refrigeration rate also changes, these objectives present unique problems if overtaxing the refrigeration unit is to be avoided.

Systems and methods for capacity regulation of refrigeration systems


An applicator for a crease setting composition includes two or more applicator heads mounted over a surface having vacuum means for gripping a fabric. The applicator heads can be raised and lowered in unison and moved back and forth over the surface. When the rear edge of the fabric is sensed, the applicator heads drop onto the fabric and then are moved backwards while applying the crease setting composition to the fabric. When the front edge of the fabric is sensed, application of the setting composition is discontinued and the applicator heads are raised from the fabric. Channels or grooves in the surface, which supports the fabric during application of composition, receive the creases so that accurate alignment is maintained between the applicator heads and the creases. Air pressure is used for dispensing the composition.

This invention relates to a fluid dispensing applicator for crease setting compositions.
Certain garments such as shirts, particularly for uniforms, are required to be provided with creases. In particular shirts for American uniforms carry three creases on the back panel. The production of these creases is a relatively complicated and time consuming operation especially where the creases are to be set using a crease retaining method. A crease retaining method known as the `Lintrak` process is disclosed, inter alia, in GB-A-1603252 and EP-A-0067528.
An improved form of creasing press is disclosed in our co-pending U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 299,951 for the production of two or more creases simultaneously which comprises a bed portion for receiving the fabric to be creased, the bed devised into three or more lands, each of the lands being movable with respect to the next adjacent land, and each land being provided with means for gripping the fabric. In this latter application two or more, and in particular three, creases in, for example a shirt back panel, can be formed simultaneously rather than in the complicated sequential manner employed at present.
The present invention seeks to provide an improved form of applicator which can apply crease setting composition into two or more creases simultaneously which may be used with the creasing press of our above application although is not restricted to use therewith.
According to the present invention there is provided an applicator for a crease setting composition which comprises two or more applicator heads mounted over respective means for gripping the fabric, means for raising the applicator heads and moving them forward, means for sensing the rear edge of the fabric and causing the applicator heads to drop on to the fabric, means for moving the applicator heads backwards thereby applying a crease setting composition to the fabric, and means for sensing the front edge of the fabric whereby to discontinue application of the crease setting agent.
The improved applicator of the invention is particularly useful with creased shirt panels which have been produced by the creasing press of our above mentioned co-pending application. Such panels will bear two or three pressed in creases and accordingly the applicator will preferably have two or three applicator heads together with respective means for gripping the fabric. The latter is preferably accomplished by the provision of a porous surface connected to a source of vacuum. Advantageously the surface will be provided with a channel, groove or the like in which the crease will lie so that it may be accurately alligned with the applicator head. The latter may be one of the forms of applicator head described in our above mentioned patent publications and will preferably be operated by air pressure (e.g. as disclosed in Japanese patent publication 61-34273).
Once the creasing heads have applied the crease setting composition within the creases the fabric panel is preferably automatically removed from the means for gripping the fabric, for example by means of a retractable grabbing arm, and dropped on to a stack of previously treated panels on a stacking platform. It is an especially advantageous feature of the invention that the stacking platform may be programmed to move incrementally from side to side so that each successive panel is displaced from the former panel by a small amount thereby ensuring that the apexes of the creases of the upper panel do not nest in the creases of the panel immediately below which could cause the crease setting composition to be transferred to the outer surface of the upper panel thereby disfiguring it. Other alternative ways of preventing unwanted transference of composition may be employed. For example, the panels could be hung vertically or placed on a conveyor which displaces by one pitch between each successive panel or the panels could be interleaved with release paper.

Applicator for crease setting composition


An air pump structured to facilitate the installation of a pair of pistons includes a casing (17) having a pair of cylinder chambers (14) slidably accommodating a pair of pistons (16), respectively, and a drive chamber accommodating electromagnets between the pair of cylinder chambers. The pump casing has mutually opposing side walls and a cylindrical peripheral wall defining the drive chamber. The side walls have circular cylindrical inner peripheral surfaces (28-1) of the cylinders defined therein, respectively. A piston assembly having the pistons connected to the opposite ends of an armature (34) is inserted into the pump casing through one of the cylindrical inner peripheral surfaces and installed therein. The peripheral wall has an electromagnet-loading opening (26-2) through which electromagnet pedestal members (26-7) and the electromagnets are inserted into the casing and secured therein.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to air pumps and, more particularly, to an electromagnetically-driven reciprocating air pump.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electromagnetically-driven reciprocating air pump usually has a piston assembly of a pair of pistons and an armature connecting the pair of pistons in the state that the pair of pistons are axially aligned with each other. The air pump further has electromagnets installed at the opposite sides, respectively of the armature. When an alternating electric current is applied thereto, the electromagnets generate an alternating magnetic field to reciprocate the armature in the axial direction of the pistons. Further, the air pump has a pump casing having a pair of cylinder chambers slidably accommodating the pair of pistons, respectively, and a drive chamber accommodating the armature extending between the cylinder chambers and accommodating the electromagnets.
In the above-described pump casing, electromagnet pedestals are formed to project from the inner wall surface of the casing into the drive chamber to set the electromagnets at respective proper positions with respect to permanent magnets attached to the armature transversely extending in the drive chamber. The electromagnets are secured to the electromagnet pedestals. Accordingly, the electromagnet pedestals will interfere with the installation of the pair of pistons if the pistons are connected together into a piston assembly by the armature, as stated above, and the piston assembly is inserted into the casing through one cylinder chamber of the casing so as to extend as far as the other cylinder chamber. Therefore, with conventional air pumps of this type, the pistons are inserted into the cylinder chambers from the left and right sides of the casing, respectively, and after having been installed in the cylinder chamber, the pistons are connected to each other by the armature.
However, such a piston installation operation is complicated and time-consuming. Therefore, there has been a demand for the pistons to be capable of being installed more easily.
The present invention provides an air pump capable of meeting the above-described demand.


The invention relates to an ionic conjugate, which is stable in a biological medium, and which is comprised of a particle vector with at least one cationic, nonliquid, hydrophilic nucleus and of polyanionic oligonucleotides. The invention further concerns the pharmaceutical compositions containing these conjugates and the use of a particle vector to carry the oligonucleotides to the cells.

This invention pertains to conjugates which make it possible to address oligonucleotides, antisense, and ribozymes, in cells. The process for their preparation, and pharmaceutical compositions containing them are also disclosed.
Oligonucleotides constitute a particularly interesting class of molecules because of their ability to form, by hybridization, specific complexes with complementary nucleic acid sequences. These complexes may include duplexes resulting from the hybridization of oligonucleotides with single-strand DNA sequences or with RNA sequences such as mRNA, and triplexes formed by hybridization with double-strand DNA molecules [1-6].
The properties cited below confer on the oligonucleotides remarkable possibilities for the study of genes, and in the area of therapeutic treatment [17]. Thus, the invention particularly pertains to antisense oligonucleotides and ribozymes, whose capacity to inhibit specifically the expression of genes on in vitro models [16,18] and the proliferation of cells in vivo [19,20], as well as the RNAse activity of the ribozymes, have already been studied.
The fixation of oligonucleotides and ribozymes on mRNA leads to the inhibition of translation of mRNA according to two general processes; on the one hand, degradation of this mRNA or the RNA/DNA duplexes by the cellular ribonuclease H (RNase H), or by the catalytic activity of the ribozymes, and on the other hand the steric blockage of the cellular machinery [1-9].
The use of chemically modified oligonucleotides makes it possible to improve their incorporation by the cell and their resistance to nucleases [10], particularly the 3'-exonucleases. Among the chemical modifications of oligonucleotides proposed in the prior art, the most promising seems to be the use of structural analogs of the phosphodiester oligonucleotides like the phosphorothioate oligonucleotides. The latter are resistant to cleavage by nucleases, and do not inhibit degradation by Rnase H [28]. These advantages have led to several cellular and pharmacokinetic studies [18,29,30], as well as to clinical tests of these compounds as antitumor and antiviral agents (31). However, the discovery of nonspecific effects has considerably limited the enthusiasm for the therapeutic use of antisense oligonucleotides (17,32,33).
In addition, a major constraint on the use of these modified oligonucleotides is that the hybridization complexes between the RNA and the oligonucleotide should be sufficiently stable so they are not dissociated by the cellular machinery. Thus, when the antisense oligonucleotides or the ribozymes are directed toward the coding region, they are separated from their target by the translation ribozymes (11-15). This dissociation can be avoided by combining the oligonucleotides with reagents that can react spontaneously, or after irradiation, with the target RNA (3-6,10,11).
For example, international patent application number WO 90/12020, proposes coupling furocoumarin to an oligonucleotide by means of a ribose or deoxyribose sugar. European Patent Application No. 316,016, International Application No. WO 89/06702, and German Patent Application No. 3,928,900 describe the use of conjugates of psoralen and oligonucleotides to block genetic expression. French Patent Application No. 2,568,254 describes the application of oligonucleotide compounds linked to an intercalating agent for the selective blockage of a nucleic acid sequence. More specifically, the application of these compounds to the selective blockage in vivo of the expression of a gene or a sequence involved in the initiation, the propagation, or the termination of the replication of a nucleic acid, the transcription of one or more genes, and/or their translation is disclosed in this French patent application.
However, these chemical methods present disadvantages because the induction of bridging by chemical agents is often accompanied by nonspecific reactions, and photochemical activation difficult to implement in vivo.
The effectiveness of the antisense oligonucleotides and ribozymes is also limited, on the one hand by their polyanionic nature, which leads to nonspecific interactions with extracellular cationic molecules [21,22] and, on the other hand, because of their weak diffusion through the plasma membrane [23-25]. To remedy these disadvantages, the prior art has proposed using, as indicated above, chemically modified oligonucleotides or transport and delivery systems [27].
The strategies of encapsulation of the oligonucleotides and ribozymes seem to constitute a better approach than the chemical modifications for favoring both transport and stability of unmodified oligonucleotides, while preserving their specificity of hybridization. Thus, the prior art conducted encapsulation of oligonucleotides in liposomes, in immunoliposomes (34,35), or pH-sensitive liposomes (36). It has been shown that encapsulation permits relative protection of the oligonucleotides against the nucleases and increases their delivery into the cells. In spite of these advantages, the encapsulation of oligonucleotides in liposomes is not entirely satisfactory, particularly because of problems in the encapsulation yield. The prior art also considers that the interaction between oligonucleotides which are conjugated to cholesterol with natural LDLs makes it possible to prolong the plasma half-life of the oligonucleotides [38] from 1 to 10 minutes, and to increase in the in vitro efficiency of antisense oligonucleotides [39]. However, the preparation of LDL from human plasma and the weak stability of the associated oligonucleotides remain major obstacles to their therapeutic use.
Cationic lipids, such as DOTMA or DOTAP, already known for DNA transfection, could also constitute transporters of oligonucleotides [40,41] and ribozymes. Their effectiveness has been demonstrated, particularly the oligonucleotide complexes and DOTAP, allowing for an increase in transport and a decrease in intra- and extracellular degradation of the oligonucleotides [41]. However, the cellular toxicity of these complexes limits their use in in vitro experiments [27,42] or for local administration [43].
More recently, the adsorption of oligonucleotides on nanoparticles of polyalkylcyanoacrylate made it possible to reinforce the protection against degradation by nucleases [44]. The inhibition of neoplastic growth in nude mice has been observed with a concentration of oligonucleotides adsorbed on these nanoparticles, 100 times weaker than with the free oligonucleotides [45]. But the possibilities for systemic use of these vehicles have not been demonstrated to date.
Therefore, there is currently no system of transport, addressing, and effective protection of the oligonucleotides, antisense and ribozymes, which would allow them to be used therapeutically.

Conjugates of a particle vector and oligonucleotides, process for their preparation, and pharmaceutical compositions containing them


A method of reading bar code symbols includes determining one or more parameters based upon the quantity and/or quality of the data which is being acquired, and providing the user with information concerning that parameter. The parameter may, for example, be the rate at which code words in the symbol are being read, and that information may be passed to the user by way of an LED which flashes at a rate which varies with the data acquisition rate. For a given bar code symbol being read, the rate of flashing varies with the position of the bar code reader with respect to the symbol. To improve the data acquisition rate, the user simply moves and/or rotates the bar code reader with respect to the symbol in a direction which causes the rate of flashing to increase. The invention extends to a bar code reader having means for providing an indication to a user of the relative suitability, for optimal reading of a symbol, of the current position of the reader.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to bar code scanning systems, and in particular to a method and apparatus for optimizing or at least improving the relative positions of bar code scanner and symbol to be read, during data acquisition.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A frequently encountered problem with bar code scanning, is the difficulty of aligning the scanner in a manner which allows optimal code word (data character) acquisition from the symbol. This may be especially true of two-dimensional bar code symbols having a very low height to width ratio. The best acquisition occurs when the scan line is parallel to the symbol, and crosses none of the rows of the symbol. In certain currently-available bar code scanners, acquisition can still be carried out at up to several degrees of parallel, but at a processing, and consequently at a speed, cost. If the scan line is too skew with respect to the symbol, then the symbol cannot be decoded at all. Decoding may also be difficult if the symbol is slightly skew with respect to the scan line, and is also a relatively long way away from the scanner.
Previous methods of improving the readability of bar code symbols have concentrated upon maintaining the printed quality of the symbol itself, and ensuring that the printed symbol can easily be read under optimal conditions. To that end, there have been several proposals for devices which check printed symbol quality, such as the relative width of the bars and spaces, to provide a warning to the printer if the bar code quality degenerates to such an extent that difficulties are likely to be experienced when the symbols ultimately come to be read (for example in a supermarket environment). One such method for checking the quality of printed bar code symbols is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,251,798, commonly assigned with the present application. Further details of a bar code verification device which was sold by the present assignee under the brand name "Laserchek.RTM." may be found in the article by J. Swartz of May 1, 1980, entitled "Percent Decode, POS Scanability, and the Laserchek Symbol Analyzer" published by Symbol Technologies, Inc.
The intention of all of these prior art systems was to reduce the number of misreads by end users (for example, supermarket checkout staff) to as low a value as possible by maintaining rigorous quality control on the printed symbol itself. Clearly, the higher the quality of the printed symbol, the more leeway there will be for a checkout operator to miss a line or otherwise mis-align or otherwise poorly position the bar code reader with respect to the symbol being read without a misread resulting.