A system 10 for designing an automotive component such as an air induction tube 22. A CAD system 18 receives certain programmable parameters 14 and a user selected integer value 16 by way of a user interface 12, and generates a tube design 22 having a number of curved portions which is equal to the integer value 16. Each portion the resulting tube 22 is independently programmable or modifiable, thereby providing a designer with a large degree of flexibility in altering the design and/or configuration of tube 22 without having to redesign an entirely new tube.

This invention relates to a system and a method for designing a component and more particularly, to a system and a method which utilizes a computer aided design system to provide an automotive component design which is relatively quickly, easily and efficiently generated and/or modified.
Computer aided design systems, commonly referred to as xe2x80x9cCAD systemsxe2x80x9d, are used to efficiently design and develop a diverse variety of components and assemblies, such as automotive components and assemblies. CAD systems typically include a computer display or terminal which operates under stored program control and which selectively allows a user to generate, view and modify the component or assembly which is to be designed and/or developed. Particularly, a user selectively enters the data which is used by the CAD system to generate the component design, and manipulates the data to alter the shape, size and/or design of the component in order to meet certain guidelines or criteria.
While computer aided design systems allow components to be relatively quickly generated and designed, they suffer from some drawbacks. For example and without limitation, when designing a component or assembly having a relatively complex shape or geometry, such as an automotive air induction tube, a user typically begins the design process xe2x80x9cfrom scratchxe2x80x9d (i.e., without using a template or platform), and programs or designs the component based upon various rules, guidelines and constraints which must be met or satisfied. The component is defined by a single set or group of equations, coordinates and/or data which describe the geometry or dimensions of the entire component. As a result, the generated component design is created to serve only one purpose, (i.e., to make a single production part) and is difficult to alter or modify. Hence, whenever an alteration or modification of a component is required, designers must begin the design process anew, rather than modifying a previously generated design. This inability to readily modify existing designs undesirably increases the time and expense required to design and develop complex objects or components, thereby decreasing the efficiency and flexibility of the design process.
There is therefore a need to provide a system for designing components which overcomes at least some of the various and previously delineated drawbacks of prior systems and methods, and which provides for the relatively simple creation and modification of component designs.
It is a first object of the invention to provide a system for designing a component which overcomes at least some of the previously delineated drawbacks of prior design systems.
It is a second object of the invention to provide a system for designing a component which allows the component to be relatively quickly and easily generated according to certain design constraints or rules.
It is a third object of the invention to provide a system for designing a component which produces a design which may be relatively easily modified or altered.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, a system for designing a tube is provided. The system includes a user interface which accepts first data corresponding to an integer value. The system further includes a computer aided design system which is communicatively coupled to the user interface, which receives the first data from the user interface, and which generates a tube design having a certain amount of curved portions, the certain amount being equal to the integer value.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, a method for generating a tube design within a computer aided design system is provided. The method includes the steps of generating a first tube portion which is defined by a first set of independently programmable parameters; generating a second tube portion which is defined by a second set of independently programmable parameters; and connecting the first and the second tube portion, thereby forming the tube design.

System and method for designing a component


An externally adjustable directional canopy luminaire is disclosed that may be easily and quickly adjusted from the outside of its housing to direct light toward a particular target area. The luminaire includes a lamp shroud assembly including a door frame, a shroud and a lamp socket which is connectable to an electrical power source to power a replaceable lamp, an external adjustment member, and an internal mechanism movably connected to the external adjustment member through the shroud and indirectly connected to a portion of the lamp socket, wherein adjustment of the external adjustment member can alter the angle of direction of the lamp socket and thus the direction of light emitted from the replaceable lamp through the opening of the shroud.

Luminaires are used in many commercial and consumer venues to illuminate particular areas of a site, such as lighting for a service station, storefront or restaurant, and are typically mounted on or within a support structure such as a ceiling, canopy structure or building exterior.
Luminaires of currently existing designs are typically mounted on their support structures either by direct attachment to the structure or by creating an opening and installing the recessed luminaire into the opening. A typical drawback associated with many existing luminaires is that the lamp is mounted in a fixed position on or within the support structure, thereby prohibiting redirection of the light emanating from the lamp toward specific, desired areas below. Although lenses can be used to direct the light toward a particular area and focus the light output downward, a substantial portion of the luminous output of the lamp is nevertheless emitted in other directions.
Some existing luminaires permit movement of the luminaire body to direct the light output, most notably track lighting. However, such existing luminaires are not designed to withstand outside environments, such as weather and insects. Further, many have limitations in the rotational range of the lamps and cannot be easily locked into place. U.S. Pat. No. 6,802,627 to Fischer ("the '627 patent") discloses an adjustable canopy luminaire capable of withstanding outdoor use. However, the luminaire of the '627 patent can only be tilted to a fixed predetermined angle relative to the opening by opening the door of the luminaire and then lifting and placing the lamp edge on tabs that are located within the housing. Thus, the luminaire of the '627 patent provides only a limited number of angles for aiming the lamp, and it is not possible to adjust the lamp from the outside of the housing.
Another common problem with canopy luminaires is the amount of electricity consumed by the lamp and the complexity of the lamp's electrical system. While a variety of types of lighting lamps can be used, including common fluorescent and incandescent lamps, luminaires in commercial applications often use high intensity discharge (HID) lamps to provide the desired level of lighting. The use of HID light sources can have many drawbacks. HID light sources are regulated by control gear, which may include a ballast alone or in combination with other components such as capacitors, igniters, or other such equipment. This control gear may be as large as or larger than the lamp itself. Further, the lamp and control gear are frequently contained within a box-like housing, which must be mounted to the support structure. HID light sources also use more electricity than lighting alternatives.
One other drawback associated with existing canopy luminaires, again relating to the difficulty in directing the light output toward the intended area, involves the need for using a larger lamp, such as a HID lamp, to provide the desired level of lighting. As the lens cannot efficiently direct the high intensity light to specific areas, much of the light is scattered toward unintended local and distant destinations. This scattering results in light pollution issues ranging from the disturbance of neighbors to interference of night sky viewing.
Thus, there is a substantial need for a luminaire that has increased adjustability over the prior art. It would also be advantageous to provide an externally adjustable luminaire that is easily and quickly adjusted from the outside of the luminaire housing. It would also be advantageous to provide an externally adjustable luminaire that can be aimed through its opening in an infinite number of angles and directions. There also exists a substantial need for a luminaire that may be easily and quickly adjusted to direct light toward a particular target area without scattering light to unintended areas. Further, there is a significant need for a luminaire that is capable of using a smaller lamp and consuming less electricity in its operation while providing the same degree of illumination.

Externally adjustable directional luminaire


A plurality of abbreviated names are generated for evaluation based on a full name of a point-of-interest (POI) on a map. A plurality of address names comprising the full name of the POI or any of the abbreviated names to be evaluated are obtained from a predetermined area of the POI. A phrase status vector used to indicate a location status of the target phrase in each particular address name is calculated for a target phrase based on each address name, the target phrase including the full name of the POI or any of the abbreviated names to be evaluated. A similarity is calculated between a phrase status vector for the full name of the POI and a phrase status vector. A particular abbreviated name corresponding with a calculated similarity greater than a predetermined threshold is associated with the full name of the POI corresponding to the calculated similarity.

A point-of-interest (POI) on a map can be a house, a shop, a school, a bus stop, etc. When the map is searched for a POI, a commonly used search method is to search for the POI by using an abbreviated name of the POI. For example, when the map is searched for "Beijing Normal University", an abbreviated name "BNU" of "Beijing Normal University" can be alternatively entered to locate the university on the map. Therefore, to support the method for searching a POI by using an abbreviated name of the POI, some abbreviated names corresponding to a full name of the POI need to be obtained to establish a mapping relationship between the full name and the abbreviated name. As such, a corresponding full name can be determined accurately based on an abbreviated name entered by a map user, and a target address searched for by the user can be fed back to the user. In the existing technology, an abbreviated name of a POI is usually obtained through manual labeling, but the workload for manual labeling can be relatively high and efficiency is relatively low. As the data volume of a map increases, the efficiency of the manual labeling can become even lower.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for obtaining abbreviated name of point of interest on map


A user equipment (UE) for wireless communication is configured to perform bandwidth part (BWP) switching operation in response to receiving a system information change indication. The UE receives the system information change indication via a currently active BWP in a BCCH modification period. The system information change indication notifies the UE that contents of system information have been changed. The UE switches from the currently active BWP to an initial active BWP to receive the changed contents of system information which are required for the UE. The UE receives the changed contents of system information via the initial active BWP in a next BCCH modification period that immediately follows the BCCH modification period. The UE updates the system information according to the changed contents.

In a cellular network, a UE-specific serving cell may configure one or more bandwidth parts (BWPs) in downlink and uplink respectively for a UE by dedicated RRC signaling. One the other hand, a UE may be allocated to with at most one active DL BWP and one active UL BWP at a given time by the cell. A single scheduled downlink control information (DCI) may be applied to switching from one active BWP to another for an operating UE.
For a UE, an initial active DL BWP is defined as the frequency location and bandwidth dedicated for broadcasting remaining minimum SI (RMSI). When the NW sends to a Connected_UE a system information (SI) change indication that notifies of system information change, the Connected_UE may have to switch from the currently active BWP to the initial active BWP for accessing the RMSI and updating to the changed SI if there is no SI broadcasting on the currently active BWP. Furthermore, the Connected_UE may not successfully complete SI update if there is no clear UE behavior defined for BWP switching. As a result of BWP switching inability problem, the UE may not be able to update system information.

System information updates in band width part (BWP) switch operation


A gutter drainer assembly comprising an elongated flat flexible strip that is dimensioned for installation in a rain gutter to prevent clogging of the rain gutter and downspouts. The strip includes two grooves formed therein and extending longitudinally along the length of the strip in parallel spaced relation for folding the strip into an inverted U-shaped channel which is installed in the gutter. The folded strip includes a top portion and two side members with a plurality of scalloped openings formed along the outer edges of the side members to allow water to flow through the openings and into an open channel created by the folded strip installed within the gutter. Pieces of the flexible strip may be connected together to cover the entire length of the gutter including inlet openings for downspouts. The gutter drainer assembly further comprising end members for covering the open ends of the folded strip at the ends of the gutter.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for improving the flow of water in rain gutters and downspouts, and more particularly, to a gutter drainer assembly that is installed within a rain gutter to prevent clogging of the rain gutter and downspouts, and to allow the free flow of water within the rain gutter and downspouts.
The roofs of homes and other buildings typically have rain gutters or eaves troughs hung on the outer edge of the eaves below the roof line to catch and redirect rainwater flowing down from the roof. The gutters receive and redirect the flow of water into a downspout which carries the water to the ground.
A common problem with rain gutters and downspouts is that leaves, branches, pine needles and other debris often collect and accumulate within the gutters and downspouts, clogging them and preventing water from flowing through the gutters and into the downspouts. Also, when water from rain or melting snow flows down the roof, the debris on the roof is carried into the gutters and downspouts, clogging them both. If the gutters or downspouts are clogged, the gutters overflow onto the ground possibly causing soil erosion and/or damage to the building's foundation.
There have been various devices invented to prevent the clogging of rain gutters and downspouts. Specifically, there are patents that disclose cage-like structures positioned over the inlet of the downspout to prevent it from clogging. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,535,554 issued to Harris, Jr. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,409,602 issued to Sorenson.
In addition, there have been other devices, such as screens placed over the top of rain gutters, or devices inserted within the rain gutters that allow water to flow through the rain gutters to the downspouts and out onto the ground. Devices such as these can be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,949,514; 5,107,635; and 5,109,640.
However, most of these prior art devices are relatively difficult to install and maintain. Therefore, there is a need for a simple inexpensive device that effectively prevents the clogging of rain gutters and downspouts, and is easy to install and maintain.


An apparatus for transferring load between:                a) a towing vehicle having front and rear wheels which comprises a tow assembly including a tow bar; and        b) a towed device which includes a drawbar;            wherein the tow bar and drawbar attach to one another, the apparatus including a shock absorber; and a load transfer mechanism configured for adjustably transferring at least a portion of the load of the towed implement to the front of the vehicle in a region leading the front wheel axle via the shock absorber.

For ease of reference only the present invention will now be discussed in relation to farm tractors. However, this should not be seen as limiting the scope of the resent invention which has applications to other vehicles and other towing operations.
At present problems are often typically encountered when vehicles such as farm tractors are used for towing device such as above ground working implements including seed drills, scoops, large trailers and cultivating discs. In general, these problems arise due to the tractor and/or towed implement encountering:                Obstructions e.g. rocks        Muddy or wet ground        Hills or hollows
The above situations cause problems as they can adversely affect the traction of the tractor's driving wheels and render the towing of such implements a dead weight dragging operation.
The above difficulties are currently overcome by using tractors which have:                Ballast added; or        Increased horse power/weight; and/or        Four wheel drive; and/or        Dual wheels
However, as will be appreciated the above remedies suffer from either increasing the cost of the tractor required to perform the job, or add time and effort to the job in relation to adding ballast to the tractor.
In relation to underground working implements such as ploughs and rotary hoes the above mentioned difficulties for towed implements have been overcome by the implementation of a hydraulic draft control system associated with the three point linkage of a tractor. The draft control system operates by either raising or lowering the implement depending on whether its effective load has been increased or decreased. By this, means the draft control system is able to transfer load (weight) between the implement and tractor to maintain the desired degree of wheel slippage.
The inventor's previous apparatus for addressing these problems is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,533,307. Whilst this apparatus is very effective at overcoming these difficulties it requires the tractor to have a draft control system which is not always present on many tractors particularly in North America. The present invention therefore allows for the effective transfer of the towed load to the tractor, to avoid or at least significantly reduce, wheel slippage, without the need to utilise a draft control system.
The present invention is also particularly concerned with dispensing with the need for tractors to carry additional ballast sometimes in the order of 1.5-10 tons in order to prevent wheel slippage.
It would therefore be an advantage if there could be provided some means by which the draft control system already present on many tractors could be utilised in the towing of above ground implements also.
It would also be useful if there could be provided a load transfer apparatus and/or method of load transfer which could improve the towing and/or braking ability of road vehicles towing a load.
Further aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the ensuing description which is given by way of example only.
All references, including any patents or patent applications cited in this specification are hereby incorporated by reference. No admission is made that any reference constitutes prior art. The discussion of the references states what their authors assert, and the applicants reserve the right to challenge the accuracy and pertinency of the cited documents. It will be clearly understood that, although a number of prior art publications are referred to herein, this reference does not constitute an admission that any of these documents form part of the common general knowledge in the art, in New Zealand or in any other country.
Throughout this specification, the word "comprise", or variations thereof such as "comprises" or "comprising", will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated element, integer or step, or group of elements integers or steps, but not the exclusion of any other element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or steps.
It is an object of the present invention to address the foregoing problems or at least to provide the public with a useful choice.
Further aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the ensuing description which is given by way of example only.


Bacillus thuringiensis serovar japonensis strain Buibui (FERM BP-3465) belonging to Bacillus thuringiensis serovar japonensis and capable of producing insecticidal toxin proteins to kill coleopterous larvae, and an insecticide containing, as an effective ingredient, the toxin proteins produced are disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a novel microorganism belonging to Bacillus thuringiensis serovar japonensis, to an insecticide derived from this novel microorganism, and to DNA coding for the insecticide.
2. Description of the Related Art
The reported activity spectrum of B.t. covers insect species within the order Lepidoptera, many of which are major pests in agriculture and forestry. The activity spectrum also includes the insect order Diptera, which includes mosquitos and black flies. See Couch, T. L. (1980) "Mosquito Pathogenicity of Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis," Developments in Industrial Microbiology 22:61-76; Beegle, C. C., (1978) "Use of Entomogenous Bacteria in Agroecosystems," Developments in Industrial Microbiology 20:97-104. Krieg et al. (1983) Z. ang. Ent. 96:500-508, describe a B.t. isolate named Bacillus thuringiensis var. tenebrionis, which is reportedly active against two beetles in the order Coleoptera. These are the Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata, and Agelastica alni.
In European Patent Application 0 202 739 there is disclosed a novel B.t. isolate active against Coleoptera. It is known as B. thuringiensis var. san diego (B.t.s.d.). U.S. Pat. No. 4,966,765 discloses the coleopteran-active Bacillus thuringiensis isolate B.t. PS86B1. European Patent Application 0 337 604 also discloses a novel B.t. isolate active against Coleoptera.
Coleopteran-active B.t. strains can be used to control foliar-feeding beetles. The Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata), for example, is susceptible to the delta-endotoxin of B.t.s.d. and larvae are killed upon ingesting a sufficient dose of spore/crystal preparation on treated foliage. Strain cells among Bacillus thuringiensis serovar japonensis are known to produce insecticidal proteins that kill lepidopteran larvae. However, none of the strain cells among japonensis are known to produce toxin proteins other than the insecticidal proteins that kill lepidopterous larvae. Thus, no such strain cells have been available for use as an insecticide to kill insects other than lepidopterans. Furthermore, Bacillus thuringiensis san diego and Bacillus thuringiensis tenebrionis have no insecticidal effect on larvae of Anomala cuprea Hope, which are very destructive to firewood, taro, sweet potato, peanut, and the like.
The current inventors have found a new type of microorganism belonging to Bacillus thuringiensis serovar japonensis that produces insecticidal proteins to kill coleopterous larvae as distinct from lepidopterous larvae.

Polynucleotide encoding a toxin with activity against coleopterans


3D glasses and a method of controlling power and pairing thereof are provided. The method of controlling power and pairing includes: restricting supply of a specific power of 3D glasses; performing, by the 3D glasses, pairing with a display apparatus; and if it is determined that the pairing is performed, lifting the restriction on the supply of the specific power. Therefore, a user may perform pairing between the 3D glasses and the 3D display apparatus easily and prevent power of the 3D glasses from being unnecessarily wasted.

1. Field
Apparatuses and methods consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to three-dimensional (3D) glasses and a method for controlling power and pairing thereof, and more particularly, to 3D glasses which are interlocked with a 3D display apparatus and a method for controlling power and pairing thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, developments in wireless communication technologies have been focused on technologies using low-cost and low-power wireless apparatuses or wireless links and thus, various technologies regarding wireless communication have been developed and realized. Bluetooth is a wireless communication method based on short-range radio technology and operates in 2.4 GHz Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) frequency band. Bluetooth has been widely used since it is capable of transmitting audio and data at a maximum speed of 1 Mbps in a radius of 10 m and consumes a relatively low amount of power.
In particular, a Bluetooth module is adopted by a mobile communication terminal in many cases and thus, pairing between a mobile communication terminal including a Bluetooth module and other Bluetooth apparatuses is essential. The process of pairing may be performed using authentication, a PIN code, or encryption. Authentication is a process of determining whether to exchange a PIN code (e.g., a pass key) to be connected with another Bluetooth apparatus, a PIN code is a type of a password and represents a process of unifying a PIN code between Bluetooth apparatuses, and encryption is a process of encrypting data which is exchanged by Bluetooth apparatuses.
Recently, Bluetooth has been widely used as a communication method between a 3D display apparatus and 3D glasses. In order for a user to watch a 3D screen using 3D glasses, authentication should be performed between the 3D glasses and a 3D display apparatus every time a 3D display apparatus is paired with 3D glasses, causing inconvenience to a user. In addition, if a 3D display apparatus is paired with 3D glasses, the power of the 3D glasses is used even when the 3D glasses are not in use.

Three-dimension (3D) glasses and method for controlling power and pairing thereof


A ball valve is provided with an internal check valve which is of modular construction and with an external valve casing that includes a lateral extension defining an access port. The modular check valve assembly is threadably connected to the ball and the lateral extension is closed with a threadable closure. The threadable closure for the lateral extension and the threadable check valve assembly both have sockets to receive access tools and both sockets preferably have the same unique tamper proof configuration to receive the same access tool.

It has been common practice for many years to provide two separate valves in a fluid-carrying pipe when it is desired to prevent back flow of the fluid. One type of shut-off valve, known as a ball valve, has been provided to shut off the flow of fluid when desired and a check valve has been additionally provided downstream from the ball valve to prevent back flow of the fluid in the event of a loss of pressure downstream from the ball valve.
The expense and inconvenience of installing two separate valves can be avoided according to the disclosure in U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,221 for BALL VALVE WITH BUILT-IN CHECK VALVE, issued Jul. 11, 1989 to Kitz Corporation of Tokyo, Japan upon application of Tonaharu Kanemaru. The Kanemaru patent discloses a valve casing having a ball with a built-in check valve that is moved into operable position when the ball is rotated to the open position in the usual fashion to permit the flow of fluid. This built-in check valve is an improvement over the prior practice of using two separate valves.
But, check valves inevitably need repair or replacement. When Kanemaru's check valve needs either repair or replacement, it is first necessary to close a shut-off valve upstream from the damaged check valve, then remove the valve casing containing the damaged check valve, and then remove the ball from the valve casing to gain access to Kanemaru's check valve within the ball. The parts of Kanemaru's check valve 3 requiring repair or replacement must then be dis-assembled and replaced with operative parts which need be carefully re-assembled within Kanemaru's ball 2 in order for his movable valve body 7 to operably register with the valve seat 6 in Kanemaru's ball 2.
The aforesaid difficulty and inconvevience of gaining access to a valve within a ball is obviated by the disclosure in U.S. Pat. No. 3,146,792, issued Sep. 1, 1964, to Donnelly. Donnelly shows a ball 3 with an excess flow valve assembly 31 inserted in the hole in the ball, and a lateral extension 11 for gaining access to the excess flow valve assembly 31 when the ball 3 is turned to the closed or shut-off position. The outer end of Donnelly's chamber 13 is closed by a threaded cap 63, which may be removed with a conventional tool for access to the excess flow valve assembly 31.
Neither Kanemaru or Donnelly show a modular check valve in the ball. Donnelly's easily removable threaded cap 63 is dangerous because of the possibility of the cap 63 being accidentally or maliciously removed while the ball 3 is turned to the open or on-line position; or maliciously removed for the purpose of tampering with the valve or contaminating the contents of the pipe line system in which the valves are installed.

Ball valve with modular check valve assembly and access port


In a circuit board device having an electronic component mounted on an electrode land on a board by reflow soldering, voids that adversely affect the solder joint in various ways are prevented from forming. The electrode land corresponding to a component electrode for the electronic component is divided into a plurality of land regions by solder resist having a prescribed width. The component electrode is laid above the solder resist so as to form a clearance communicating with the outside of the component electrode, so that gas generated by vaporization of a flux component contained in the solder during reflow-heating is passed through the clearances and let out of the component electrode. In this way, voids in the solder part can more readily be prevented from forming without increasing the number of person hours as compared to the conventional method.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a circuit board device and a manufacturing method thereof, and more particularly, a technique of preventing voids from forming in the solder joint between an electronic component and a circuit board when the electronic component is mounted by reflow soldering.
2. Description of the Related Art
When an electrical component is mounted on a board by reflow soldering in the manufacture of a circuit board device according to a conventional method, solder paste is applied on an electrode land formed on the board by screen printing or the like, and then the electrode land is provided with a component electrode for the electrical component thereon. Then, reflow heating is carried out to solder the component electrode and the electrode land. According to the conventional method, a flux component contained in the solder paste is vaporized into gas during the reflow heating, and the gas does not completely escape outside and forms voids in the soldered joint. For an electrical component having a relatively large soldering area, in particular, it is not easy to let out the gas generated during the reflow heating, so that large voids are generated in the soldered joint between the component electrode and the electrode land.
As a technique of preventing voids from being left in the solder joint, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-68637A proposes a method of soldering including providing, on the solder paste, two kinds of solder chips having different melting points both beyond the melting point of the solder in the solder paste and thicknesses larger than that of the solder paste, and carrying out reflow heating as an electronic component (power transistor) is supported on both sides. According to the method, gas generated in the solder paste having the lowest melting point is let out from a space secured by the solder chips, then one solder chip having the lower melting point among the two solder chips melts, and then the other solder chip melts, so that the electronic component is in contact with a melt solder surface while it is inclined. According to the disclosure, the gas is removed and does not remain as voids in the solder joint.
As described above, in the manufacture of the circuit board device, when voids are generated at the time of mounting an electrical component to the board by reflow soldering, the solder joint cannot have sufficient mechanical strength. In addition, a crack can be generated in the solder joint because of the void, and the joint strength can be lowered as the crack extends. This is attributable to a reduction in the electrical characteristic of the electrical component. Furthermore, the thermal resistance at the solder joint increases by the presence of the voids, which degrades the heat radiation characteristic of the electrical component and increases the temperature. This eventually breaks down the electrical component.
While the method of soldering an electronic component disclosed by Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-68637A is effective against gas generated from the solder paste that melts first, gas generated from the solder chip that melts last is trapped between the electronic component and the previously melt solder paste and could still remain as voids. In other words, the method would not be extremely effective in preventing voids from forming. The use of the solder paste and the two kinds of solder chips having different melting points increases the number of kinds of solder or the application amount of the solder, and an adhesive is used to fix the solder chips, which can increase the cost of the joint materials. Using the three kinds of solder having different melting points, it takes longer to apply the solder, and the quality of the solder must be controlled. This is inefficient and disadvantageous in terms of productivity.

Circuit board device and manufacturing method thereof


A method of fabricating a non-volatile memory cell on a semiconductor substrate is disclosed. An area of a first region of the semiconductor substrate designated for a layer of floating polysilicon is blocked while a second region of the semiconductor substrate designated for a layer of non-floating polysilicon is exposed. Exposed regions of the semiconductor substrate are doped with charges.

Charge retention is an important characteristic of reliable non-volatile memory devices. The oxide surrounding the polysilicon of the floating gate device of a non-volatile memory cell serves as an insulator for preventing charge loss. Damage to oxide surrounding the polysilicon of floating gate devices has been associated with charge loss in non-volatile memory devices. Damage to the oxide may result, for example, from the actual doping of the oxide and/or from an increased chemical doping level of the polysilicon next to the oxide.
In the past, the application of a hard mask oxide was used to minimize damage to the oxide surrounding floating gate devices. The hard mask minimized damage on the oxide by isolating both the oxide and the polysilicon from doping processes such as those used for source drain implantation. Current salicide processes, however, utilize a layering process which involve application of a metal, such as titanium, over the polysilicon in order to lower the resistive properties of the polysilicon. This process prevents the application of the hard mask.
Thus, what is needed is a method and apparatus for addressing the problem of oxide damage along the polysilicon gate.

Method and apparatus for reducing charge loss in a nonvolatile memory cell


A wide viewing film and a TFT-LCD having the same. The wide viewing film includes: a prism layer, and a substrate layer. Wherein, the prism layer is fixed on the substrate layer, and a light emitting surface of the prism layer is contacted with a light incident surface of the substrate layer. Besides, each of the prism layer and the substrate layer is made of a transparent material, multiple quadrangular pyramid-shaped protrusions are disposed separately on the light incident surface of the prism layer, and the light incident surface of the prism layer between adjacent quadrangular pyramid-shaped protrusions is a planar surface. The TFT-LCD includes a first polarizing film, a liquid crystal panel, a color filter, a second polarizing film and a wide viewing film disposed along a light propagation direction. Wherein, the light incident surface of the prism layer faces a light emitting surface of the second polarizing film.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a viewing angle compensation field of a liquid crystal display, and more particularly to a wide viewing film and a wide viewing thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal-display (TFT-LCD) having the same.
2. Description of Related Art
The thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) is one of the liquid crystal displays, and mainly uses the thin-film-transistor technology to improve the image quality. General speaking, the TFT-LCD can be regarded as two glass substrates and a liquid crystal layer disposed between the two substrates. The upper glass substrate is a color filter, and a lower substrate is provided with thin-film transistors. When current pass through the transistors, the electric field is changed such that the liquid crystal molecules are tilted so that the polarizing polarity of the light are changed. At the same time, polarizing film can be provided to change a bright and dark status of pixels in order to control the emitting of polarized light of each pixel in order to achieve an expected display.
In the conventional art, the problem is that after back lights pass through the polarizing film and TFT, the outputted lights has directionality. That is, most of light is perpendicularly emitted out from a screen. Accordingly, when viewing the LCD with a larger angle, the original color cannot be seen. Even, only full white or full black can be observed. FIG. 1 is a relationship among a white picture brightness, chromaticity and viewing angle, as shown at a left drawing of FIG. 1, when the brightness at an observation direction is decreased to one third of the brightness at a normal line direction, the viewing angle is less than 100 degrees. At the same time, when the when the brightness at an observation direction is decreased to one half of the brightness at a normal line direction, the viewing angle is smaller. Two drawings at right side of FIG. 1 are respectively chromaticity coordinates in an X direction (a horizontal direction) and in a Y direction (a vertical direction). As shown in the two drawings, the color shift at a large viewing angle is more serious.
Besides, along with the demand for the quality of the image of the display, the requirement for the LCD is higher. For example, the LCD becomes larger and larger so that many people watch a same TV such that the viewing angle of the LCD should be widen. Therefore, developing a technology for widening the view angle of the LCD is urgent.

Wide viewing film and wide viewing TFT-LCD having the same

Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd.


A core consisting essentially of a wide band-gap material has a shell consisting essentially of graphene conformally disposed about at least a substantial portion thereof. By one approach the core has at least one bisectional dimension that does not exceed 100 nanometers. By one approach a connection between a pathway that connects the shell to the core comprises a photovoltaic junction.

Graphene is a substance made of pure carbon, with atoms arranged in a regular hexagonal pattern similar to graphite, but in a one-atom thick sheet (hence leading to the oft-used graphene descriptor "two-dimensional"). Graphene is the basic structural element of many carbon allotropes including graphite, charcoal, carbon nanotubes, and fullerenes. Graphene has a number of interesting optical, electrical, and thermal properties and has been the subject of much recent research. For example, the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics went to researchers working on "groundbreaking" experiments involving graphene.
Recent interest includes exploring the use of graphene in a photovoltaic component such as a so-called solar cell. Note, for example, that a stack of forty-three graphene layers has an opacity of about ninety-nine percent and essentially completely absorbs light throughout the visible and near infrared regions of the solar spectrum notwithstanding having a film thickness of less than fifteen nanometers.
That said, and although a graphene layer having a thickness of only about one ten-thousandth the width of a human hair would in fact absorb essentially all of the light incident upon it, other requirements must be met in order for graphene to function as a useful part of a solar cell. In such a device, the absorption of electromagnetic radiation results initially in the excitation of electrons accompanied by the creation of electron/hole pairs. A corresponding useful behavior is therefore the existence of a potential barrier that impedes excited electrons from recombining with holes. Rather than recombining with the release of energy as heat, electrons and holes in a useful device are preferably enabled to travel in opposite directions, thereby allowing the completion of an electrical circuit from which energy can be extracted as electricity.
The prior art has sought to meet this requirement through the creation of alternating layers of graphene and a material that captures the photo-generated electrons. For example, multilayer hybrid films consisting of alternating layers of graphene and electron-capturing titanium oxide have been realized and characterized for their potential as photovoltaic devices. Those hybrid layers were built up using laborious layer-by-layer procedures that required elaborate, expensive, synthetic methodologies. Accordingly, even though such hybrid films exhibit interesting photovoltaic properties, the corresponding burdens associated with their synthesis discourages those skilled in the art from seriously considering such films as candidates in a commercial application setting.
Elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and/or relative positioning of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention. Certain actions and/or steps may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in the art will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence is not actually required. The terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary technical meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions by persons skilled in the technical field as set forth above except where different specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.

Apparatus pertaining to a core of wide band-gap material having a graphene shell


The invention provides an apparatus for developing and fixing a silver salt photosensitive material. The apparatus uniformly applies a fixed amount of new or unused processing solution onto the photosensitive material so as to maintain processing quality and reduce a required volume of the processing solution and labor for maintenance.. New or unused developer supplied from a developer nozzle 82 and temporarily stored in a basin 143 is uniformly held in pores on the surface of a developer applying roller 93. While the developer applying roller 93 is rotated, the new developer held in the pores of the roller 93 is applied onto the surface of a photosensitive material PM, which is pressed against the circumference of the roller 93 during conveyance, to develop the photosensitive material PM. The apparatus of the invention develops the photosensitive material with new developer applied to the roller 93 and thereby maintains processing quality even when a large number of photosensitive materials PM are processed. Furthermore, the invention does not require troublesome discharge or replacement of processing solution, which is generally carried out after processing of a certain number, thus saving time and labor. The processing method of the invention also reduces a required volume of processing solution.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to method and apparatus for developing, fixing, and processing silver salt photosensitive material including printing paper and photosensitive paper and films for direct plate making.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Process cameras are applicable to produce a plate directly from an original for in-plant printing, as offset print and mimeographing. A photosensitive material used for such reproduction generally consists of plural layers of different functions adhering to a water proof base sheet. The laminate includes: a layer for preventing halation; a layer of photosensitive silver salt emulsion; and a hydrophilic layer mainly composed of gelatin with nuclei for physical development such as silver dispersed therein. Irradiation with light changes properties of the emulsion layer. In portions irradiated with light, diffusion of reduced silver from the emulsion layer to the surface layer under the influence of developer is efficiently prevented. On the contrary, in other portions without irradiation, silver halide is complexed and diffused from the emulsion layer to the surface layer. The silver halide diffused onto the surface is physically developed to deposit metallic silver. In subsequent fixation, printing ink is mounted only on lipophilic portions with deposited metallic silver and is not on other portions. A plate for in-plant printing is accordingly prepared.
The photosensitive material reacts with processing solution such as developer at a high rate. A momentary hold of the material in the processing solution or rough surface of the solution may cause unevenness of development or other processes. Still processing solution is hence required to maintain high processing quality. A method proposed to fulfill the requirement is that photosensitive material is soaked in a large volume of processing solution such as developer or fixer stored in a tank. In this case, there is need of large apparatus or equipment for storing a large volume of processing solution.
A photosensitive material soaked in a large volume of processing solution is conveyed slowly so as to keep the surface still, and is taken out of the process tank on completion of processing such as development or fixation.
This method, however, has some drawbacks: a large volume of processing solution stored in the process tank deteriorates with a number of photosensitive materials processed, and alkaline developer in the tank is oxidized with the elapse of time. The changeable properties makes the quality of processing unstable. Frequent replacement of processing solution each after completion of processing of a predetermined number of photosensitive materials is essential to maintain the processing or developing quality. The replacement is, however, time consuming and furthermore changes the processing performance drastically.
This conventional method further requires a relatively long warm-up time for raising the temperature of processing solution to an optimal value. A large capacity of temperature control heater is needed to shorten the warm-up time. It is also difficult to maintain the constant temperature of processing solution in the large volume of tank.
On the other hand, a smaller process tank and thereby a smaller volume of processing solution resuscitate the problem of uneven development or processing. Furthermore, slow transport of photosensitive material through the process tank is required to complete the processing; namely, processing in the smaller tank is time consuming.

Method and apparatus for processing photosensitive material


A bridge label including two adhesive portions, the adhesive portions defining a first face of the bridge label; and a non-adhesive portion extending between the two adhesive portions, the non-adhesive portion also defining the first face of the bridge label. A splicing system including the bridge label in combination with a top sheet of a new roll, and a splicing tape provided across the top sheet of the roll. A second face of the bridge label, which opposes the first face, is affixed to an exposed adhesive portion of the splicing tape. The adhesive portions of the bridge label affix the first face of the bridge label to an expiring web. A splicing method including affixing the bridge label to a splicing tape that is adhered to the roll.

A splicing tape can be used, for example, as a flying splice for splicing a new roll of paper to an expiring, running sheet or web of a depleting roll of paper. The splicing tape is first attached to the top sheet of a new roll. Then, the new roll is accelerated to the speed of the running web using, for example, a belt drive. Finally, the splicing tape on the new roll is brought into contact with the expiring web. When the splicing tape is brought into contact with the expiring web, the new roll adheres to the expiring web causing the new roll to be spliced to the expiring web. U.S. application Ser. No. 10/274,268, which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses an example of such a splicing tape.
FIGS. 1a and 1b each show a belt drive 350 having a belt 351 used to accelerate a new roll of paper or other material 210 in the direction of arrow "A". This technique is employed, for example, in the commercial printing and newspaper markets. The belt drive 350 is lowered onto the new roll 210 so that the belt 351 contacts with the new roll 210 at a corresponding belt contact area 260. When the belt drive 350 is operated to rotate the belt 351 while in contact with the new roll, the new roll 210 rotates.
As shown in FIG. 1a, the new roll 210 includes a splicing tape 140 laid across the new roll along an axial direction X of the new roll. Since the splicing tape is laid over a part of the contact area 260, the belt 351 will contact the splicing tape 140 when it is lowered to drive the new roll. However, allowing the belt 351 to contact the splicing tape 140 can cause significant problems. One such problem occurs when the splicing tape 140 is attached, as shown in FIG. 1a, to both the top sheet 211 of the new roll 210 and to the sheet 212 underlying the top sheet 211.
As shown in FIG. 1a, the splicing tape 140 can be an "all in one" type that has adhesive on both sides, such as that described in U.S. application Ser. No. 10/274,268. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 1b, the splicing tape 140′ can be a single sided, adhesive coated tape fixed on underlying sheet 212 with tab tapes 140a that are broken when the splicing tape 140′ is contacted on expiring web 220. Either arrangement allows the new roll 210 to splice with an expiring web sheet. However, since the splicing tape 140 (140′) is typically placed along the width of the new roll 210 (i.e., parallel to the axis X), the belt 351 of the belt drive 350 will contact or roll over a portion 141 of the splicing tape 140 (140′) that is positioned along the belt contact area 260 of the new roll 210. When the belt 351 rolls over the splicing tape 140 (140′), the adhesive of the splicing tape 140 (140′) tacks onto or adheres to the belt 351, causing the splicing tape 140 (140′) to prematurely release from the underlying sheet 212. Premature release of the splicing tape 140 (140′), or a portion of the splicing tape, can have a detrimental effect on the proper splicing of the new roll 210 to the expiring web sheet. In particular, the premature release of the splicing tape 140 (140′), or a portion of the splicing tape, can cause the top sheet 211 of the new roll 210 to be moved from the proper position for splicing with the expiring web.
Bridge labels have been used to overcome this problem. A bridge label is typically a die cut tab that is applied on top of a splicing tape at the portion of the splicing tape that would otherwise contact the belt of the belt drive. When properly applied, the bridge label will have an exposed lower tack surface with a lower adhesive strength than that of the splicing tape so as to provide some tack to the expiring web when the new roll is spliced to the expiring sheet without causing the splicing tape to release from the underlying sheet. If the bridge label did not have any exposed adhesive, the splice between the new roll and the expiring web at the position of the bridge label would pucker. This pucker could cause the splice to fail.
FIGS. 2a and 2b show a conventional bridge label 100 having an adhesive layer 120 and a non-adhesive (i.e., non-tacky) layer 130 provided on top of the adhesive layer 120. The non-adhesive layer 130 has ¼ inch diameter holes 126 that are spaced at intervals of ½ inch. As a result of this configuration, adhesive dots 122 from the adhesive layer 120 extend through the holes 126 to provide some adhesiveness, adhering the bridge label 100 to the expiring web when the new roll is spliced to the expiring sheet. On the other hand, the adhesiveness of the bridge label 100 is not strong enough to cause the bridge label 100 to adhere to the belt 351 so that the splicing tape 140 does not prematurely release from the underlying sheet 212.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,488,228, which is fully incorporated herein by reference, discloses another method of preventing the splicing tape from adhering to the belt drive. In accordance with this patent, a portion of the release liner is maintained on the splicing tape at a position corresponding to where the belt drive contacts the new roll. In accordance with this method, the bridge label does not have any exposed adhesive and the splice between the new roll and the expiring web may pucker at the position of the bridge label as explained above.
Referring to FIG. 3, aspects of a printing operation on a spliced web 200 will be described with respect to the splicing tape 140 of FIG. 1a. As shown in FIG. 3, the spliced web 200 includes the expiring web sheet 220, the end of the top sheet 211 of the new roll 210, and the splicing tape 140 and bridge label 100 that splice the top sheet 211 to the expiring web sheet 220. During the printing operation, the spliced web 200 is sent through a dryer to dry the inks on the web and burn off the ink solvents. As the spliced web 200 is moved forward in the direction of arrow "B," high temperature (e.g., 350-400 degrees Fahrenheit) air 500 is directed toward the spliced web 200 to dry the ink.
However, when a conventional bridge label 100 is sent through the dryer, the bridge label 100 acts as an air dam since the splice portion at the bridge label is thicker than the remaining splice. The air dam causes the air 500 that builds up at the bridge label to become so hot that the adhesive of the bridge label 100 melts. As schematically illustrated in FIG. 4, this problem is further exacerbated in the case of the conventional bridge label 100 of FIGS. 2a and 2b. When this bridge label is sent through the dryer, the adhesive dots 122, which extend through the holes 126 of the non-adhesive layer 130 and which are adhered to the expiring web 220, further obstruct the flow of air 500 and raise the temperature of the hot air 500 that has entered the space between the bridge label 100 and the expiring web 220.
Furthermore, since the adhesion of the bridge label 100 to the expiring web 220 is lower than that of the splicing tape 140 due to a reduced contact area, it is easy for the bridge label 100 to be peeled off of the expiring web 220 by the force from the flow of air 500. In fact, if one of the adhesive dots 122 of the conventional bridge label 100 is peeled off the expiring web 220, it becomes more likely that an adjacent dot 122 will also be peeled off since the stress that is holding the paper is thereafter concentrated on the remaining dots 122. Eventually, all of the adhesive dots 122 are likely to be peeled off the expiring web 220. The resulting lack of adhesion along this portion of the splice causes the splice 140 to pucker and break in a manner similar to when a bridge label without exposed adhesive is used.
In short, the bridge label has the dual functions of preventing the splice from adhering to the belt of belt drive, while also providing adequate adhesion between a new roll and expiring web. However, conventional bridge labels have not adequately performed these two competing functions well.


A device for extracting ammunition casings from linked tubes of a flexible ammunition carrier is described which in a preferred representative embodiment comprises a generally tubular chute having an upper wall and a lower wall and first and second side walls which are divergent from each other along the length of the chute thereby defining a passageway through the chute extending from an entrance end to an exit end thereof which substantially uniformly increases in width along the length thereof; first and second channels defined along respective first and second side walls of the chute and configured to diverge one from the other in correspondence with the divergence of the first and second side walls and sized to receive respective annular flanges on the casings and the tubes of the ammunition carrier; and a rotatable paddle wheel disposed near the entrance end of the chute and including a plurality of paddles sized and spaced to engage spaces between adjacent tubes of the ammunition carrier which provides means for forcing the ammunition carrier through the chute whereby the respective annular flanges of the casings and tubes are separated along the length of the chute in correspondence with the divergence of the first and second channels and the casings are thereby separated from the tubes near the exit end of the chute.

The present invention relates generally to handling systems for belted ammunition, and more particularly to a portable device for extracting spent ammunition casings from a flexible linked tube ammunition carrier, which is simple to operate and can be used in applications remote from conventional sources of power.
Weapon staging area functions include downloading of spent ammunition from weapon systems. It is highly desirable to remove casings from spent ammunition carried in flexible belted carriers so that the empty flexible carrier may be reused in the staging area or returned to the supplier for refilling with new rounds. Extracting spent casings from flexible ammunition belts can be particularly difficult and time consuming because of the weight and unwieldiness of the belts. Presently used systems for extracting casings are generally electrically powered and require several persons to operate.
The invention eliminates or substantially reduces in critical importance problems with conventional systems by providing a portable, manually operated device for quickly and easily removing spent ammunition casings from a flexible ammunition belt. The invention is characterized by its light weight and lack of requirement for an external source of power. The extractor is attachable directly to standard ammunition cans, and carries an ammunition belt through a chute defining internally flanged channel on either side thereof for engaging on one side of the chute the annular flanges on the casings and on the other side of the chute the annular flanges on one end of the tubes comprising the flexible ammunition carrier. The chute is configured so that the two channels diverge along the length of the chute from the entrance end to the exit end whereby as the carrier is forced through the chute the casings are separated from corresponding tubes of the carrier. A manually operated feed paddle wheel may be mounted on the chute for forcing the carrier along the chute.
It is therefore a principal object of the invention to provide a light weight, portable device for extracting spent ammunition casings from a flexible ammunition carrier.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a manually operated extractor for separating spent casings from a flexible ammunition carrier requiring no external source of power.
These and other objects of the invention will become apparent as a detailed description of representative embodiments proceeds.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force


Methods and systems are disclosed which utilize liquid-philic surfaces and liquid-phobic surfaces to more safely and efficiently boil liquids and/or condense vapors. The methods and systems generally utilize two separated surfaces for nucleate boiling, where one of the surfaces is liquid-philic and the other is liquid-phobic. The methods and systems can utilize a condensing surface for condensing vapors, where the condensing surface can have liquid-philic regions and liquid-phobic regions.

Boiling is a phenomenon of vital importance in a broad range of industries such as power generation, desalination, chemical processing, refrigeration and electronics thermal management. Nucleate boiling is an efficient way of transferring heat, for a given difference between the heat transfer surface and the fluid temperatures (the so-called wall superheat). The heat transfer coefficient and compactness of boiling heat exchangers increases with increasing heat flux, but beyond a critical value of the heat flux (or critical heat flux (CHF)) a continuous vapor layer develops on the heat transfer surface, thus severely limiting heat transfer (as seen by orders of magnitude reduction in the heat flux), a phenomenon referred to as the 'boiling crisis'.
Often referred to as the "film boiling regime", the development of the vapor layer is characterized by the absence of liquid contact on the heat transfer surface and can be ultimately accompanied by the physical destruction of the heater (or heat transfer surface) depending on its material of construction. CHF is the chief thermal performance limiter in light water-cooled nuclear reactors, and the main reason why industrial boilers are forced to operate at significant heat-flux safety margins. Enhancing CHF can lead to substantial cost savings in terms of reduced capital investment, and significant reductions in carbon emissions.
For example, the occurrence of CHF can deteriorate the integrity of fuel rods of water-cooled nuclear reactors that contain radioactive fission products. Therefore, the water-cooled reactor cores have to be designed to preclude (i.e., to assure the very low probability of) the occurrence of CHF during normal operation and anticipated operational deviations.
As another example, treatment of produced water, which is an unwanted by-product during oil & gas production, is a stringent environmental requirement and the treatment is normally a cost to the company. Desalination is a critical step in treating produced-, sea-, or other saline-water for drinking, industrial usage, and/or irrigation purposes. The global market size of desalination alone is set to reach $26.8 billion in 2025 and the global produced water treatment market is expected to reach $9.79 billion by 2024. Various thermally-, pressure-, and chemically-activated technologies are being used for desalination. Each of these desalination technologies has some merits and demerits over the other technologies. For example, thermal desalination technologies can handle very high salinity feed water and produce very low salinity water (<10 ppm), however, they are energy-intensive. Likewise, reverse osmosis is relatively less energy-intensive, but, has technical issues such as membrane clogging and requires pretreatment of feed water.
High-energy demand and the associated cost is a major concern for thermal desalination technologies. For example, depending upon the total dissolved solids (TDS), the estimated desalination cost for Oklahoma produced water ranges from $3.58 to $7.49 per barrel. To significantly reduce the desalination cost, it is essential to reduce the energy cost for boiling and to improve the boiling process.
The high-energy requirement is mainly due to the high latent heat of vaporization, and inefficient boiling processes especially due to 'boiling crisis', which is a phenomenon responsible for a huge decrease in the heat flux (about two orders of magnitude from the critical heat flux).
Accordingly, technologies that avoid the issues related to the boiling crisis are of interest to a broad range of industries. Such technologies could significantly reduce the cost for industries which utilize nucleate boiling, such as power generation, desalination, chemical processing, refrigeration and electronics thermal management.

The Board of Regents for the Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges


An auxiliary capacitor line driving circuit (5), provided in a surrounding region located around a display region (R1) in a liquid crystal display panel, generates auxiliary capacitor driving signals, and includes: first and second voltage trunk lines (VCS1, VCS2) which carry two different voltages, respectively; at least one control signal line (VCTRL1, VCTRL2) carrying one control signal; and a plurality of TFTs (T1, T2, T3, T4) each alternately supplying, to the respective auxiliary capacitor lines (CSn, CSn+1, and the like) in a given cycle, the two different voltages supplied to the auxiliary capacitor line driving circuit (5). Therefore, a liquid crystal display device employing multi-picture element drive method can be provided as a liquid crystal display device that achieves narrowing of a picture frame region as a non-display region and an external circuit board.

In recent years, liquid crystal display devices are rapidly becoming popular as alternatives to cathode-ray tubes (CRTs). Such liquid crystal display devices are used in a wide variety of devices, such as television sets, monitors, and mobile phones, because of their characteristics such as energy saving, low-profile, and lightweight.
The liquid crystal display device most commonly used in the past is a TN (Twisted Nematic) mode liquid crystal display device that uses liquid crystal molecules having a positive dielectric anisotropy.
The TN mode liquid crystal display device has wide production margin and excellent productivity; however, the TN mode liquid crystal display device has the problem that a contrast ratio greatly lowers when a display surface of the liquid crystal display device is viewed from directions other than the front, for example, when it is viewed at oblique angles from above, from underneath, from the left side, and from the right side. More specifically, the TN mode liquid crystal display device has the problem that when the display surface is viewed from the front, multiple levels of grayscale from black to white can be clearly observed, but when the display surface is viewed at oblique angles from above, from underneath, from the left side, and from the right side, difference in luminance between the levels of grayscale becomes very unclear. In addition, the TN mode liquid crystal display device has the problem of the so-called grayscale inversion phenomenon that a darker part when the display surface is viewed from the front appears to be brighter when the display surface is viewed at oblique angles from above, from underneath, from the left side, and from the right side.
As described above, the TN mode liquid crystal display device has the problem that its image quality is significantly deteriorated when the liquid crystal display device is viewed at oblique angles from above, from underneath, from the left side, and from the right side, as compared with when viewed from the front.
Hence, the TN mode liquid crystal display device has high dependence of image quality on viewing angles, and is therefore not suitable for an application in which the liquid crystal display device is expected to be viewed from a direction other than the front.
Known as liquid crystal display devices in which such viewing angle dependence of image quality is improved are an IPS (In-Plane Switching) mode liquid crystal display device, an MVA (Multi-domain Vertical Alignment) mode liquid crystal display device, an ASM (Axially Symmetric Aligned Micro-cell) mode liquid crystal display device, etc.
Each of the liquid crystal display devices (liquid crystal display devices in wide viewing angle mode) with improved viewing angle dependence of image quality alleviates the above-described problems, i.e. the decrease in contrast ratio and the grayscale inversion, that can occur when the display surface of the liquid crystal display device is viewed at the oblique angles, to some extent. However, the viewing angle dependence of the γ characteristics, which shows a relation between display luminance and grayscale, is not still improved.
Such a viewing angle dependence of the γ characteristics is more prominent in the MVA mode liquid crystal display device and the ASM mode liquid crystal display device, than in the IPS mode liquid crystal display device.
Generally, γ characteristics of a liquid crystal display device is optimized with reference to γ characteristics obtained when the display surface of the liquid crystal display device is viewed from the front. However, when the γ characteristics has viewing angle dependence, a shift occurs between the γ characteristics obtained when the display surface is viewed at the oblique angles and the γ characteristic optimized when viewed from the front.
The amount of shift is not so great and is not a problem in the vicinities of a region showing the highest display luminance and a region showing the lowest display luminance. However, in a region showing halftones, display luminance obtained when viewed at the oblique angles is considerably higher than that obtained when viewed from the front. This results in deterioration in image quality, such as excess brightness, when the display surface is viewed at the oblique angles.
In view of this, as shown in FIG. 14, there has been proposed a liquid crystal display device employing a multi-picture element drive method (area coverage modulation), with an improved viewing angle dependence of γ characteristics, wherein picture elements are driven in such a manner that an average luminance of two sub-picture elements which constitute one picture element becomes a target luminance of the one picture element.
In the liquid crystal display device employing a multi-picture element drive method, the two sub-picture elements are allowed to provide display of high luminance level and display of low luminance level, respectively, both of which cause small variations in display luminance depending upon viewing angles, so that display of a halftone is provided by averaging luminance levels of these two sub-picture elements. Thus, it is possible to achieve a liquid crystal display device with an improved viewing angle dependence of the γ characteristics.
The following will describe a schematic configuration of an example of a conventional liquid crystal display device employing multi-picture element drive method, with reference to FIG. 14.
As shown in FIG. 14, one picture element 100 is composed of two separate sub-picture elements 101a and 101b. The sub-picture element 101a is connected to a scanning line Gn and a signal line Sm via a TFT (Thin Film Transistor) 102a. Further, the sub-picture element 101b is connected to the scanning line Gn and the signal line Sm via a TFT 102b.
That is, gate electrodes of the TFTs 102a and 102b are connected to the common scanning line Gn, whereas source electrodes of the TFTs 102a and 102b are connected to the common signal line Sm.
Further, the sub-picture element 101a has a liquid crystal capacitor and an auxiliary capacitor. The liquid crystal capacitor is made up of a sub-picture element electrode 103a, a liquid crystal layer (not shown), and a counter electrode (not shown). The auxiliary capacitor is made up of (i) an auxiliary capacitor electrode 104a electrically connected to the sub-picture element electrode 103a, (ii) an insulating layer 105a, and (iii) an auxiliary-capacitor counter electrode 107a electrically connected to an auxiliary capacitor line 106a.
On the other hand, as is the case with the sub-picture element 101a, the sub-picture element 101b has a liquid crystal capacitor and an auxiliary capacitor. The liquid crystal capacitor is made up of a sub-picture element electrode 103b, a liquid crystal layer (not shown), and a counter electrode (not shown). The auxiliary capacitor is made up of (i) an auxiliary capacitor electrode 104b electrically connected to the sub-picture element electrode 103b, (ii) an insulating layer 105b, and (iii) an auxiliary-capacitor counter electrode 107b electrically connected to an auxiliary capacitor line 106b.
In the above-configured liquid crystal display device employing a multi-picture element drive method, after writing to the separate sub-picture elements 101a and 101b is completed and the TFTs 102a and 102b are turned off, voltages on the auxiliary capacitor lines 106a and 106b are changed to mutually different voltages. This allows the sub-picture elements 101a and 101b to practically hold different voltages.
FIG. 15 is a diagram schematically showing an equivalent circuit of a liquid crystal display device having a multi-picture element structure shown in FIG. 14.
As shown in FIG. 15, the auxiliary capacitor lines 106a and 106b are electrically connected respectively to two auxiliary capacitor trunk lines 108 and 109, which are electrically independent from each other. Applied to the auxiliary capacitor trunk lines 108 and 109, respectively, are vibration voltages being substantially identical in amplitude and vibration period with each other and being about 180° out of phase with each other.
Accordingly, the vibration voltages of mutually reversed phases are applied to the auxiliary capacitor lines 106a and 106b, respectively. This allows the sub-picture elements 101a and 101b to provide mutually different luminance levels (levels of grayscale), i.e. display of a bright luminance level and display of a dark luminance level both of which cause small variations in display luminance depending upon viewing angles. With an average luminance of the luminance levels of these sub-picture elements 101a and 101b, display of a halftone can be provided. Therefore, it is possible to achieve a liquid crystal display device having an improved viewing angle dependence of γ characteristics.
However, in a large liquid crystal display device employing a multi-picture element drive method in which auxiliary capacitor trunk lines 108 and 109 and auxiliary capacitor lines 106a and 106b have high load capacitances and high resistances, a high-definition liquid crystal display device, with a short horizontal scanning period, employing a multi-picture element drive method, a high-speed drive liquid crystal display device, with a short vertical scanning period and a short horizontal scanning period, employing a multi-picture element drive method, and the like liquid crystal display devices, luminance unevenness occurs due to adverse effects of delays and waveform distortions of auxiliary capacitor driving signals (vibration voltages) applied to the auxiliary capacitor trunk lines 108 and 109.
In order to prevent such luminance unevenness, it is necessary to reduce load capacitances and resistances of the auxiliary capacitor trunk lines 108 and 109 and the auxiliary capacitor lines 106a and 106b. By providing sufficiently broad line widths of the auxiliary capacitor trunk lines 108 and 109 and the auxiliary capacitor lines 106a and 106b, it is possible to prevent the luminance unevenness.
However, the liquid crystal display device having the configuration described above causes increase of an area in which the auxiliary capacitor trunk lines 108 and 109 and the auxiliary capacitor lines 106a and 106b are formed. This results in increase in area of a picture frame region as a non-display region in the liquid crystal display device, and decrease in aperture ratio. Therefore, the liquid crystal display device having the configuration described above is not preferred.
Alternatively, in order to reduce such luminance unevenness, vibration periods of the auxiliary-capacitor driving signals to be applied to the auxiliary capacitor trunk lines 108 and 109 can be lengthened. This makes it possible to prevent the influence of waveform distortions, thus reducing the luminance unevenness.
However, in order to carry out auxiliary capacitor driving that allows two sub-picture elements 101a and 101b connected to the respective scanning lines to hold different voltages, such an arrangement is accompanied by increase in type of required auxiliary capacitor driving signals and increase in number of auxiliary capacitor trunk lines. Further, one method for accelerating the rise of a signal when a delay is significant is to employ signal pre-emphasis driving. This, however, requires the auxiliary capacitor driving signal to be a voltage of four levels of amplitude although the auxiliary capacitor driving signal is generally a voltage of two levels of amplitude.
Therefore, the above-described approach to preventing luminance unevenness requires increase in number of auxiliary capacitor trunk lines and requires a large number of voltage sources for producing a variety of auxiliary capacitor driving signals, resulting in increase of a picture frame region of the liquid crystal display device and increase of a control board (external circuit board) provided outside the liquid crystal display panel. Thus, the above-described approach to preventing luminance unevenness is not preferred.
As described above, in the liquid crystal display device employing a multi-picture element drive method, it is difficult to narrow the picture frame region as a non-display region and the external circuit board. Therefore, an attempt to narrow such a non-display region has been made.
For example, Patent Literature 1 describes the configuration by which auxiliary capacitor driving signals are supplied to auxiliary capacitor lines via buffers capable of shaping waveforms of the auxiliary capacitor driving signals.
FIG. 16 is a view showing a schematic configuration of a liquid crystal display device configured to supply the auxiliary capacitor driving signals to the auxiliary capacitor lines via the buffers.
In the configuration of a liquid crystal display panel 140 shown in FIG. 16, the structure of display picture elements 141 each of which is composed of a plurality of sub-picture elements 142 and 143, and connections of sub-picture elements 142 and 143 and TFTs 144 and 145 with scanning lines Gn and signal lines Sm are the same as those previously described with reference to FIG. 14, and descriptions thereof are therefore omitted.
In the liquid crystal display panel 140 shown in FIG. 16, auxiliary capacitor driving signals, gate driver control signals (scan start signal and driving clock signal) upon which scanning line driving signals are based, and various kinds of power supply voltages are supplied from the controller 148 to the gate driver 151A.
To the gate driver 151A, auxiliary capacitor driving signals are inputted from terminals "CSVtypeA1R" through "CSVtypeA4R" of a terminal group C1. Further, the gate driver control signals are inputted from terminals "GSPOI" and "GCKOI" of the terminal group C1 in the gate driver 151A, and the power supply voltages are inputted from terminals "VGL", "VGH", "GND", "VCC", "VCSL", and "VCSH" of the terminal group C1 in the gate driver 151A.
As shown in FIG. 16, the terminal groups C1 and C2 are provided at both ends of a terminal section 133 in a tape 131 of the gate driver 151A, and the terminals having the same terminal names in the terminal groups C1 and C2 are connected to each other. Further, the terminals "CSVtypeA1R" through "CSVtypeA4R" provided in the terminal group C1 are connected to the terminals "CSVtypeA1L" through "CSVtypeA4L" provided in the terminal group C2.
Therefore, the terminals "CSVtypeA1L" through "CSVtypeA4L" provided in the terminal group C2 of the gate driver 151A are connected respectively to terminals "CSVtypeA1R" through "CSVtypeA4R" provided in the terminal group C1 of a gate driver 151B having the same configuration as that of the gate driver 151A, via lines provided on a glass substrate 149. This allows the liquid crystal display panel 140 to have such an configuration that the auxiliary capacitor driving signals, the gate driver control signals, and the various kinds of power supply voltages, all of which are inputted to the gate driver 151A, can be supplied from the gate driver 151A to the gate driver 151B.
In addition, in the liquid crystal display panel 140, the gate driver 151A produces scanning line driving signals by using the incoming signals from the controller 148 upon which the scanning line driving signals are based, and then provide the scanning line driving signals to the scanning lines Gn connected to the terminals "OG1" through "OG272" of the gate driver 151A.
Meanwhile, the incoming auxiliary capacitor driving signals from the controller 148 subjected to waveform shaping in the buffers 121A and 121B provided in an integrated circuit 132 of the gate driver 151A, and then outputted from the terminals "CSVtypeA1″R" through "CSVtypeA4′R" and "CSVtypeA1′L through "CSVtypeA4′L". Note that the terminals "CSVtypeA1′R" through "CSVtypeA4′R" and "CSVtypeA1′L" through "CSVtypeA4′L" are connected to auxiliary capacitor trunk lines 150 in the liquid crystal display panel 140.
Further, the auxiliary capacitor trunk lines 150 are connected to the auxiliary capacitor lines 151, and the auxiliary capacitor driving signals with reduced waveform distortions to be outputted from the buffers 121A and 121B to the terminals "CSVtypeA1′R." through "CSVtypeA4′R." and "CSVtypeA1′R" through "CSVtypeA4L" can be provided to all of the auxiliary capacitor lines 151 via the auxiliary capacitor trunk lines 150 connected to the terminals "CSVtypeA1′R" through "CSVtypeA4′R." and "CSVtypeA1′L" through "CSVtypeA4′L". This realizes the configuration that allows the sub-picture elements 142 and 143 to provide display of mutually different luminance levels.
According to the above configuration, the auxiliary capacitor driving signals are supplied via the buffers to the auxiliary capacitor lines 151. This makes it possible to enhance a driving ability of the auxiliary capacitors. Therefore, even when line widths of the auxiliary capacitor trunk lines 150 are narrow, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of luminance unevenness caused by waveform distortions or for other reasons.
Further, such a configuration eliminates the need for making vibration periods of the auxiliary capacitor driving signals longer than those in the conventional configuration, and thus eliminates the need for increasing the type of auxiliary capacitor driving signals.
Thus, Patent Literature 1 described that the liquid crystal display device disclosed therein enables narrowing of a picture frame region as a non-display region and an external circuit board.


A fitting for a vehicle seat, in particular for a motor vehicle seat, has a first fitting part (11), a second fitting part (12) in geared connection with the first fitting part (11), and an eccentric (26, 27) for driving a rolling movement of the second fitting part (12) on the first fitting part (11). The eccentric is defined by at least one driving ring (26) and two wedge segments (27). The wedge segments (27) are braced with respect to one another. The driving ring (26) encloses the wedge segments (27). For each of the wedge segments (27), the outer side of the wedge segment bears along at least one outer supporting line (33) against the driving ring (26).

The present invention relates to a fitting for a vehicle seat, in particular for a motor vehicle seat, with a first fitting part, a second fitting part in geared connection with the first fitting part, and an eccentric for driving a rolling movement of the second fitting part on the first fitting part, with the eccentric being defined by at least one driving ring and two wedge segments, and the two wedge segments being braced with respect to one another.
DE 199 38 666 A1 discloses a fitting of the type described immediately above, in which the eccentric required for the drive is defined essentially by the driving ring, which is arranged radially on the inside, and the two wedge segments arranged radially outside the driving ring. The driving ring and a driving bushing for driving the eccentric are connected to each other in a rotationally fixed manner by means of a cut-out and two lugs. The wedge segments bear against a sliding bearing bushing that is arranged on the second fitting part and positioned radially outwardly of the wedge segments. The wedge segments slide along the sliding bearing bushing with little friction during the rolling movement. A fitting of similar design is described in DE 101 44 840 A1, with the driving ring and the driving bushing therein being connected to each other in a rotationally fixed manner by means of a transmission profile.


Embodiments of the specification disclose a risk address identification method and apparatus, and an electronic device. The risk address identification method includes: acquiring an address word sequence corresponding to an input address; determining an address word in the address word sequence, the determined address word matching a risk word corresponding to a risk address; generating an observation sequence corresponding to the address word sequence according to the determined address word; processing the observation sequence using a hidden Markov model obtained based on semantics learning before and after address words, to obtain a decision vector, wherein the decision vector represents probabilities of the risk address being matched by address words contained in the address word sequence; and identifying whether the input address is a risk address by making a classification decision on the decision vector.

Online financial transactions are becoming more and more developed, and some users unlawfully use online finance to conduct illegal money operations, such as money laundering. In order to prevent the occurrence of illegal online financial transactions, there are already some solutions for identifying risk addresses, which are generally solutions targeted at identifying relatively regular risk addresses.
For example, word segmentation and labeling may be performed on an input address using a word segmentation algorithm, and finally address word matching is performed one by one according to the labeled information of different address words, so as to identify whether the input address is a risk address through the matching result.
Based on the prior art, a more accurate risk address identification solution is needed.

Risk address identification method and apparatus, and electronic device


In a crimp-binding device, a sheet jam less occurs when binding processing is performed. A sheet crimp-binding device includes: a conveying path along which a sheet is conveyed in a predetermined conveying direction; a placing part on which the sheet conveyed along the conveying path is placed; a stack part provided at a location downstream from the placing part in the sheet conveying direction; a discharge unit that discharges the sheet from the placing part to the stack part; a shift unit that moves the sheet placed on a placing position on the placing part in a direction along a sheet surface and perpendicular to the sheet conveying direction; a crimp-binding unit that applies crimp-binding processing to sheets that have been moved in the direction perpendicular to the sheet conveying direction by the shift unit to a crimp-binding position; a recognition unit that recognizes count information of a sheet.

There is generally widely known a post-processing device (finisher) that accumulates and aligns sheets on which images have been formed by an image forming device on a processing tray and binds the sheets. The sheet binding can be performed by, for example, a stapler device that binds sheets with staples and a crimp-binding device that applies pressure to superposed sheets and deforms them for binding.
Patent Document 1 discloses a device that is disposed to be connected to a sheet discharge port of an image forming device and is configured to receive image-formed sheets along a carry-in path, accumulate the sheets in a processing tray, bind the sheets in the processing tray by means of a crimp-binding device, and store the resultant sheet bundle in a downstream side stack tray. The crimp-binding device disclosed in the same document is configured to perform crimp-binding after regulating the sheets that have been fed to the processing tray along a sheet discharge path and accumulated by abutting with the rear end portion thereof in the sheet discharging direction for positioning, aligning the sheet bundle in a sheet width direction, and shifting the sheet bundle in the width direction, and hence reducing misalignment in the sheet bundle.
The crimp-binding device uses a binder mechanism provided with a pair of upper and lower pressurizing surfaces having ridges and grooves, respectively, to pressurize and deform sheets so as to allow the fibers of the sheets to be entangled with each other, whereby the sheets are fixedly bound together. In this device, a high pressurization force is required with a small-sized drive source, such as motor, due to structural constrains, so that the height (frontage) between the pressurizing surfaces of the binder mechanism is set small.


A key assembly including a key support structure, a switch, a base, and a moveable key. A light source, such as an LED, is mounted to the base to provide illumination for backlighting a translucent region disposed in the moveable key. In operation, when pressure is exerted against the moveable key, the moveable key axially translates to operate the switch. When the moveable key is in its at-rest position, light from the light source will be efficiently and uniformly dispersed through the key assembly to backlight the translucent region based on the location of said light source.

The present invention relates generally to switch actuators for use in keyboards and the like, and more particularly to movable keys having a backlighting function.
Generally described, a wide variety of keyboards are utilized for data entry terminals and remote control terminals. Typically, the keys of the keyboards correspond to a particular numeral or operation. Often these keys are complex in construction and operate not only to make switch contact, but to provide an operator with a tactile sensation or feedback, whereby the operator is assured of having made switch contact. Such switches employ a wide variety of structures ranging from spring loaded assemblies to dome-type switch elements to provide this tactile feedback signal.
Many of such keyboards also provide backlighting of the individual keys, so that the keyboard may be used at certain times, for example, to indicate when the key has been properly depressed, to indicate the status of a function controllable by the key, or in a darkened environment. Commonly, backlighting is provided by a plurality of light emitting diodes (xe2x80x9cLEDsxe2x80x9d) associated with each of the keys. However, the use of LEDs as the source of illumination has led to many deficiencies in the prior art. For example, the placement of the LEDs within the keys or the number of LEDs utilized to illuminate each key has caused significant problems, such as intensely illuminated areas and non-uniform illumination, i.e. hot spots, which are unacceptable in modern backlighted keys. Additionally, the number of LEDs utilized to illuminate each key has caused greater energy consumption by each key, which is again unacceptable in modern backlighted keys.
The present invention is directed to a key assembly having a backlighting function that provides a more uniform illumination of the keys, reduces the presence of hotspots, and lowers the energy consumption of the key.
In accordance with aspects of the present invention, a backlit key assembly is provided. The key assembly includes a key having a light translucent region. The key is axially movable along a longitudinal axis of the assembly. The key assembly also includes a base and a key support structure operably connected to the base. The key support structure is operable to guide the key when the key is axially movable along the longitudinal axis of the assembly. A switch operable to generate a signal corresponding to the axial movement of the key is provided. The switch includes an opaque member. The key assembly further includes an illumination source mounted to the base in substantial alignment with the opaque member. The illumination source is operable to provide light for backlighting the key assembly through the light translucent region.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a backlit key assembly is provided. The key assembly includes a key having a proximal surface and a distal surface with a translucent region. The key is movable between a non-depressed position and a depressed position along a longitudinal axis of the key assembly. The key assembly also includes a base and a key support structure operably connected to the base. The key support structure is operable to support the key between the non-depressed and depressed positions along the longitudinal axis of the key assembly. A switch disposed adjacent to the base is also provided and is operable to generate a signal when the key is moved proximally to the depressed position. An opaque portion of the switch is in substantial alignment with the translucent region. The key assembly further includes a light source coupled to the base in substantial alignment with the opaque portion, wherein the key assembly is operable to permit light from the light source to pass through the translucent region.
In accordance with still another aspect of the present invention, a backlit key assembly is provided. The key assembly includes a key having a light translucent region. The key is movable between a non-depressed position and a depressed position. The key assembly also includes a circuit board and a key support structure operably connected to the circuit board. The key support structure slideably receives the key. An actuation layer is provided that includes a depressible member that extends outwardly from the actuation layer. The depressible member includes a first electrical contact. The key assembly further includes a switch layer disposed between the actuation layer and the circuit board. The switch layer includes a second electrical contact in overlapping alignment with the first electrical contact. An illumination source is mounted to the circuit board in substantial alignment with the first and second electrical contacts. The illumination source is operable to provide light for backlighting the key assembly through the light translucent region. The first electrical contact contacts the second electrical contact when the key is movable to the depressed position, thereby generating a signal.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, a backlit key assembly is provided. The key assembly includes a key having a top surface with a light translucent region. The key is movable between a first and a second position when an axial force is exerted on the top surface. The key assembly also includes a base and a key support structure operably connected to the base. The key support structure is operable to support the key between the first and second positions. A switch disposed adjacent to the base is further provided and is operable to generate a signal when the key is in the second position. The switch includes an electrical contact. The key assembly further includes a light source mounted to the base in substantial alignment with the electrical contact and a depressible member disposed adjacent to the switch. The depressible member is operable to maintain the key in the first position when the axial force is not exerted on the top surface of the key, and operable to return the key to the first position from the second position when the force is removed from the top surface of the key.
In accordance with still yet another aspect of the present invention, a backlit key assembly is provided. The key assembly includes a key having a light translucent region. The key is movable between a non-depressed position and a depressed position along a longitudinal axis of the assembly. The key assembly includes a base and a key support structure operable to support the key and adapted to connect the key to the base. A switch is provided that overlays the base and operable to generate a signal. The switch includes an electrical contact. The key assembly further includes an actuator disposed adjacent to the key and extending parallel to the longitudinal axis. The actuator operable to engage the switch when the key is in the depressed position. An illumination source is mounted to the base in substantial alignment with the electrical contact. The illumination source is operable to provide light for backlighting the key assembly through the light translucent region.