Determining, based on asymmetric spalling of rock at a wall of a wellbore of a hydrocarbon well, that the wellbore is experiencing a spider web borehole failure (SWBF); and in response to the determination: generating a forward model of rock strength for the well (including a rock strength reduction function defining a rock strength reduction factor (r) as a function of angular width of a borehole failure (W)); determining an angular width of the SWBF (WSWBF); determining, based on application of the angular width of the SWBF (WSWBF) to the rock strength reduction function, a rock strength reduction factor (r) for the well; determining, based on the rock strength reduction factor (r) and an unconfined compressive strength of intact rock (Co), an unconfined compressive strength of fractured rock (Cfrm); and operating the well based on the unconfined compressive strength of fractured rock (Cfrm).

A well generally includes a wellbore (or "borehole") that is drilled into the earth to provide access to a geologic formation below the earth's surface (or "subsurface formation"). The well may facilitate the extraction of natural resources, such as hydrocarbons and water, from the subsurface formation, facilitate the injection of substances into the subsurface formation, or facilitate the evaluation and monitoring of the subsurface formation. In the petroleum industry, hydrocarbon wells are often drilled to extract (or "produce") hydrocarbons, such as oil and gas, from subsurface formations. The term "oil well" is often used to refer to a well designed to produce oil. Similarly the term "gas well" is often used to refer to a well designed to produce gas. In the case of an oil well, some natural gas is typically produced along with oil. A well producing both oil and natural gas is sometimes referred to as an "oil and gas well" or an "oil well." The term "hydrocarbon well" is often used to describe wells that facilitate the production of hydrocarbons, including oil wells and oil and gas wells.
Creating a hydrocarbon well typically involves several stages, including a drilling stage, a completion stage and a production stage. The drilling stage normally involves drilling a wellbore into a subsurface formation that is expected to contain a concentration of hydrocarbons that can be produced. The portion of the subsurface formation expected to contain hydrocarbons is often referred to as a "hydrocarbon reservoir" or "reservoir." The drilling process is normally facilitated by a drilling rig that sits at the earth's surface. The drilling rig can provide for operating a drill bit to cut the wellbore, hoisting, lowering and turning drill pipe and tools, circulating drilling fluids in the wellbore, and generally controlling various operations in the wellbore (often referred to as "down-hole" operations). The completion stage involves making the well ready to produce hydrocarbons. In some instances, the completion stage includes installing casing pipe into the wellbore, cementing the casing pipe in place, perforating the casing pipe and cement, installing production tubing, installing downhole valves for regulating production flow, and pumping fluids into the well to fracture, clean or otherwise prepare the reservoir and well to produce hydrocarbons. The production stage involves producing hydrocarbons from the reservoir by way of the well. During the production stage, the drilling rig is normally removed and replaced with a collection of valves at the surface (often referred to as "surface valves" or a "production tree"), and valves are installed into the wellbore (often referred to as "downhole valves"). These surface and downhole valves can be operated to regulate pressure in the wellbore, to control production flow from the wellbore and to provide access to the wellbore in the event further completion work is needed. A pump jack or other mechanism can provide lift that assists in extracting hydrocarbons from the reservoir, especially in instances where the pressure in the well is so low that the hydrocarbons do not flow freely to the surface. Flow from an outlet valve of the production tree is normally connected to a distribution network of midstream facilities, such as tanks, pipelines and transport vehicles, which transport the production to downstream facilities, such as refineries and export terminals.
The various stages of creating a hydrocarbon well often include challenges that are addressed to successfully develop the well. During the drilling stage, a well operator may have to monitor the condition of the wellbore to ensure it is advancing in a suitable trajectory, and it is not experiencing issues that may jeopardize the drilling of the wellbore or the overall success of the well. For example, during drilling of a wellbore, a well operator may continually monitor the wellbore for evidence of instability, including deformation and expansion of the wellbore, such as keyseats, washouts, drilling-induced fractures (DIFs) and breakouts (BOs). A keyseat can include a small-diameter channel worn into the side of a larger diameter wellbore, caused, for example, by a sharp change in direction of the wellbore. A keyseat may include an asymmetrical erosion of the wellbore wall due to mechanical impact of the drilling components on the wellbore walls, resulting from a change in the wellbore azimuth or deviation (or "dogleg") or differential mechanical wear of hard and soft rock. A washout can include an enlarged region of a wellbore, caused, for example, by weak or unconsolidated formation rock, formation rock weakened by drilling fluids, high bit jet velocity, or mechanical wear by downhole components. A washout may include an enlarged wellbore cross section in all directions around the wellbore. DIFs and BOs can be systematically explained in terms of hoop stresses around a wellbore, and can be used to assess stress and strength of formation rock around the wall of a wellbore. A DIF includes a localized tensile deformation of a wellbore wall, such as a crack, caused when a tensile hoop stress exceeds the tensile strength of the rock at the location of the DIF. A breakout (BO) can include a localized shear deformation of a wellbore wall, manifested as localized rock spalling of the borehole, caused when a compressive hoop stress at the location of the BO exceeds the unconfined compressive strength of the rock at the location. DIFs and BOs typically occur offset from one another by 90 degrees (°). For example, sets of DIFs may occur oriented at about 0° and 180° along a length of a wellbore, accompanied by BOs oriented at about 90° and 270° along the length of a wellbore.

Systems and methods to identify and inhibit spider web borehole failure in hydrocarbon wells


A vehicle tire rubber composite material, raw materials of the vehicle tire rubber composite material comprise the following components by weight: 30-40 weight distributions of solution-polymerized styrene-butadiene rubber, 35-55 weight distributions of rare earth butadiene rubber, 10-30 weight distributions of phenyl modified natural rubber, 5-14 weight distributions of polyurethane elastomer, 3-9 weight distributions of acetylene carbon black, 2-5 weight distributions of multifunctional abrasion-resistant flame retardant Cu@HNT@MoS2-PZE, 3-6 weight distributions of elastic fiber, 1-3 weight distributions of heat stabilizer, 2-3 weight distributions of silane coupling agent, 1-2.5 weight distributions of anti-scorching agent, 1-2.5 weight distributions of turpentine oil, and 4-6 weight distributions of accelerator.

Rubber products are widely used, and a consumption of rubber products is large. According to data from the Malaysian Rubber Export Promotion Council (MREPC), global rubber production increased to 26.9 million tons in 2016. The International Rubber Research Organization (IRSG) also predicts that from 2017 to 2025, total rubber consumption will grow at an average annual rate of 2.8%. In the vehicle field, with the development of the vehicle industry, the modification of natural rubber and the development of energy-saving or low-energy consumption, abrasion-resistant rubber composite materials have great significance to increase its service life and reduce energy consumption and costs during its use. At the same time, rubber is also a flammable material, and it is also an urgent requirement for vehicle tires to have flame retardant properties. In the production of rubber products, a large amount of consumption has also resulted in a large amount of waste. However, the cross-linked structure in the rubber makes it difficult to degrade naturally, causing a certain amount of pollution. Tire pyrolysis is one of the feasible methods to treat rubber waste and realize resource utilization.


A mechanical pencil comprises a shaft cylinder (1), a lead pipe (3) axially movably inserted into the shaft cylinder (1) and biased in a retract direction, and a chuck body (45) provided within the shaft cylinder (1) in front of the lead pipe (3) for releasably griping a writing lead (S). The lead pipe (3) and the chuck body (45) are separated, the lead pipe (3) is inserted into the shaft cylinder (1) with axial movement thereof being permitted and circumferential rotation thereof being restricted, and the chuck body (45) is positioned within the shaft cylinder (1) in front of the lead pipe (3) so as to be movable in an axial direction and circumferentially rotatable. A lead rotation mechanism (5) is provided between a back part of the chuck body (45) and a front part of the lead pipe (3). When the lead pipe (3) is advanced by a knocking operation or retracted by the release of the knocking operation, when writing pressure is applied to the writing lead (S), and when the writing pressure is released, the lead rotating mechanism (5) rotates the chuck body (45), but does not transmit the rotation force to the lead pipe (3).

A conventional popular mechanical pencil comprises a shaft cylinder having a tip member, a lead pipe inserted into the shaft cylinder and biased in a retract direction, and a chuck body coupled to a tip of the lead pipe for releasably gripping a writing lead. The lead pipe is advanced by a knocking operation so that the writing lead protrudes from the tip member for writing.
Such a conventional mechanical pencil is used for writing in a state where the writing lead protruding from the tip member is gripped by the chuck body so as not to rotate. Thus, when the mechanical pencil is used for writing with the shaft cylinder grasped by a user in a fixed orientation with respect to a sheet of paper, a lead tip of the writing lead is worn down unevenly due to abrasion, resulting in change of thickness and density of written lines. In order to overcome this, the shaft cylinder should be intermittently rotated during writing. Such an operation is troublesome, and inconvenient in terms of usability.
A mechanical pencil which comprises a chuck unit and a lead rotating mechanism for rotating a writing lead together with the chuck unit by retracting the chuck unit via a pressing force of the writing lead on, for instance, a sheet of paper, is also provided (for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).
In a mechanical pencil disclosed in Patent Document 1, a chuck body rotating means (lead rotating mechanism) is disposed in a shaft cylinder. By retracting a writing lead while a chuck body opened and closed by a chuck ring grips the writing lead, the chuck body rotating means rotates a so-called chuck unit comprising the chuck body and chuck ring. The chuck body rotating means is comprised of a sliding element, a rotor abutting the sliding element, and a cam on an inner wall surface of the shaft cylinder. The sliding element abuts the back end of the chuck ring opening and closing the chuck body; the rotor moving in association with movement of the sliding element abuts the sliding element; the sliding element, chuck body, and rotor are biased forward; and a writing lead tank is secured to a back part of the chuck body (Patent Document 1: paragraph [0005]). When the writing lead is slightly strongly pressed against a sheet of paper, the sliding element, chuck body, and rotor are retracted against the forward bias. When the press of the writing lead against the sheet of paper is released, the sliding element, chuck body, and rotor rotate while advancing by the forward bias. This rotation causes the chuck body to rotate together with the lead tank, which in turn rotates the writing lead gripped by the chuck body.
In a mechanical pencil disclosed in Patent Document 2, a chuck unit is provided within a shaft cylinder so as to be rotatable and movable forward/backward. The mechanical pencil comprises a rotation-driving mechanism (lead rotating mechanism) for rotation-driving a rotor in association with retraction of the chuck unit by writing pressure of a writing lead. The rotation of the rotor is transmitted to the writing lead via the chuck unit. Since the chuck unit is coupled to a tip of a lead case (Patent Document 2: paragraph [0030]), the rotation-driving mechanism is configured to integrally rotate the chuck unit gripping the writing lead and the lead case.


To determine the level of frequency drift of a crystal oscillator as a result of a change in the its temperature, the temperature of the crystal oscillator is sensed and used together with previously stored data that includes a multitude of drift values of the frequency of the crystal oscillator each associated with a temperature of the crystal oscillator. Optionally, upon initialization of a GPS receiver in which the crystal oscillator is disposed, an initial temperature of the crystal oscillator is measured and a PLL is set to an initial frequency in association with the initial temperature. When acquisition fails in a region, the ppm region is changed. The temperature of the crystal oscillator is periodically measured and compared with the initial temperature, and the acquisition process is reset if there is a significant change in temperature. The GPS processor enters the tracking phase when acquisition is successful.

The present invention relates to a clock reference signal used in a global positioning system (GPS), and more particularly to a method and apparatus for calibrating a crystal oscillator.
The GPS is a satellite-based navigation system which requires a very stable local timing reference to ensure accurate navigation. There are currently three GPS systems, namely the NAVSTAR Global Positioning System controlled by the United States Defense Department, the GLONASS system maintained by the Russian Republic, and the GALILEO system proposed by Europe.
To decode these satellite signals, a GPS receiver must first acquire the signals transmitted by a minimum number of satellites. A GPS receiver required a very accurate internal frequency reference in order to lock on to the GPS signals.
In general, a GPS receiver has an internal crystal oscillator that is free running when the receiver is first turned on. Acquisition will not be successful if the difference between the PLL frequency of the GPS receiver and the GPS frequency is larger than the carrier frequency offset search range in acquisition.
Conventional GPS receivers typically use a temperature compensated crystal oscillator to provide a stable and accurate internal reference frequency. Such temperature compensated crystals are very stable with time and temperature and provide the GPS receiver with a short amount of time to acquire satellite signals. Conventional temperature compensated crystal oscillators have a frequency drift of ±1 PPM or "ppm" (parts per million) or less throughout the operating temperature range of the crystal.
However, temperature compensated crystals are very expensive. In addition, the initial acquisition time of the satellite signals may be long. A need continues to exist for a low-cost crystal oscillator for GPS receivers. The present invention provides a technical solution to overcome the frequency shift of the uncompensated crystal oscillators and simultaneously enable a fast acquisition time.


A power conversion device is configured to have reactors and is configured to have chopper circuit units, connected in series, that chop the output of a rectifier configured to rectify an AC voltage from an AC power supply. The power conversion device includes: an AC switch disposed on a side closer to the AC power supply than the chopper circuit units; an AC reactor that is connected in parallel to the AC switch; and a switching control unit that stops the switching of the switching elements when the contact of the AC switch is open.

Conventionally, to suppress damage due to harmonic components included in the power supply current, internationally regulations are provided on the electronic devices which generate a harmonic current. To clear this regulation, there are policies which perform the power short-circuit by performing the chopping of AC or DC using a converter, and suppress the harmonic current included in the power supply current.
In a converter which performs the chopping of DC, there is an interleave type converter in which a plurality of chopper circuits is connected in parallel and is switched at each of the different switching phases to cancel the ripple caused by the switching in the input current as the sum of the current flowing in each chopper circuit unit, thereby suppressing the harmonic current. In this type, a technique for achieving a loss reduction by bypassing a chopper circuit with a relay is disclosed (for example, see Patent Literatures 1 and 2).

Power conversion device, motor drive control device equipped with power conversion device, compressor and blower equipped with motor drive control device, and air conditioner equipped with compressor or blower


A fire log system for providing an efficient corn based fuel that is burnable within conventional fireplaces. The fire log system includes a housing having a front opening, a volume of particulate corn within the interior of the housing, a plurality of corn cobs within the front opening of the housing for retaining the particulate corn, and a plurality of retaining members secured about the front opening. The housing with the corn cobs and particulate corn is preferably dipped within a wax material after formed. A wick member preferably is positioned within the front opening for assisting in the lighting of the fire log system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to fire logs and more specifically it relates to a fire log system for providing an efficient corn based fuel that is burnable within conventional fireplaces.
2. Description of the Related Art
Logs have been in use for years. A conventional log is simply comprised of a piece of wood from various types of trees. Modern logs are comprised of particulate wood material bonded together into a cylindrical structure that are commonly wrapped in a flammable wrapping to initiate the fire.
Conventional log devices are difficult to ignite by conventional means and often times require the user to apply a flammable chemical which can be dangerous to ignite and cause significant pollution. Another problem with convention log devices is that they can be extremely messy to utilize with portions of the log such as the bark falling from the log onto the floor of a user""s home. Another problem with conventional log devices is that they need to be replaced after a relatively short period of time with a fresh log.
While these devices may be suitable for the particular purpose to which they address, they are not as suitable for providing an efficient corn based fuel that is burnable within conventional fireplaces. Conventional fire log products do not utilize corn based fuels.
In these respects, the fire log system according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of providing an efficient corn based fuel that is burnable within conventional fireplaces.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known types of artificial logs now present in the prior art, the present invention provides a new fire log system construction wherein the same can be utilized for providing an efficient corn based fuel that is burnable within conventional fireplaces.
The general purpose of the present invention, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a new fire log system that has many of the advantages of the artificial logs mentioned heretofore and many novel features that result in a new fire log system which is not anticipated, rendered obvious, suggested, or even implied by any of the prior art artificial logs, either alone or in any combination thereof.
To attain this, the present invention generally comprises a housing having a front opening, a volume of particulate corn within the interior of the housing, a plurality of corn cobs within the front opening of the housing for retaining the particulate corn, and a plurality of retaining members secured about the front opening. The housing with the corn cobs and particulate corn is preferably dipped within a wax material after formed. A wick member preferably is positioned within the front opening for assisting in the lighting of the fire log system.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and that will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of the description and should not be regarded as limiting.
A primary object of the present invention is to provide a fire log system that will overcome the shortcomings of the prior art devices.
A second object is to provide a fire log system for providing an efficient corn based fuel that is burnable within conventional fireplaces.
A further object is to provide a log system for providing a log system that is easy to light which burns longer and cleaner than conventional logs.
Another object is to provide a log system that does not utilize non-flammable materials in the construction.
An additional object is to provide a log system that may be utilized as a portable seat.
A further object is to provide a log system that provides a pleasant appearing flame.
Another object is to provide a log system that may be easily transported.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become obvious to the reader and it is intended that these objects and advantages are within the scope of the present invention.
To the accomplishment of the above and related objects, this invention may be embodied in the form illustrated in the accompanying drawings, attention being called to the fact, however, that the drawings are illustrative only, and that changes may be made in the specific construction illustrated and described within the scope of the appended claims.


A method, system, apparatus, and computer program product are presented for management of a distributed data processing system. Resources within the distributed data processing system are dynamically discovered, and the discovered resources are adaptively monitored using the network management framework. A network or system administrator configures some mission critical endpoints with multiple network interface cards (NICs) and specifies mission critical endpoints, non-mission critical actions, etc. During status collection activities associated with network or system management activities, the categorization of an endpoint as a mission-critical or non-mission critical endpoint affects the manner in which the status collection activity is performed. Applications can request the performance of actions at endpoints without regard to the categorization of the endpoint or without regard to the categorization of the requested action, and the network management system routes the action based on whether or not the specified endpoint is a mission critical endpoint.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved data processing system and, in particular, to a method and system for multiple computer or network management. Still more particularly, the present invention provides a method and system for computer network monitoring.
2. Description of Related Art
Technology expenditures have become a significant portion of operating costs for most enterprises, and businesses are constantly seeking ways to reduce information technology (IT) costs. This has given rise to an increasing number of outsourcing service providers, each promising, often contractually, to deliver reliable service while offloading the costly burdens of staffing, procuring, and maintaining an IT organization. While most service providers started as network pipe providers, they are moving into server outsourcing, application hosting, and desktop management. For those enterprises that do not outsource, they are demanding more accountability from their IT organizations as well as demanding that IT is integrated into their business goals. In both cases, "service level agreements" have been employed to contractually guarantee service delivery between an IT organization and its customers. As a result, IT teams now require management solutions that focus on and support "business processes" and "service delivery" rather than just disk space monitoring and network pings.
IT solutions now require end-to-end management that includes network connectivity, server maintenance, and application management in order to succeed. The focus of IT organizations has turned to ensuring overall service delivery and not just the "towers" of network, server, desktop, and application. Management systems must fulfill two broad goals: a flexible approach that allows rapid deployment and configuration of new services for the customer; and an ability to support rapid delivery of the management tools themselves. A successful management solution fits into a heterogeneous environment, provides openness with which it can knit together management tools and other types of applications, and a consistent approach to managing all of the IT assets.
With all of these requirements, a successful management approach will also require attention to the needs of the staff within the IT organization to accomplish these goals: the ability of an IT team to deploy an appropriate set of management tasks to match the delegated responsibilities of the IT staff; the ability of an IT team to navigate the relationships and effects of all of their technology assets, including networks, middleware, and applications; the ability of an IT team to define their roles and responsibilities consistently and securely across the various management tasks; the ability of an IT team to define groups of customers and their services consistently across the various management tasks; and the ability of an IT team to address, partition, and reach consistently the managed devices.
Many service providers have stated the need to be able to scale their capabilities to manage millions of devices. When one considers the number of customers in a home consumer network as well as pervasive devices, such as smart mobile phones, these numbers are quickly realized. Significant bottlenecks appear when typical IT solutions attempt to support more than several thousand devices.
Given such network spaces, a management system must be very resistant to failure so that service attributes, such as response time, uptime, and throughput, are delivered in accordance with guarantees in a service level agreement. In addition, a service provider may attempt to support as many customers as possible within a single network management system. The service provider's profit margins may materialize from the ability to bill the usage of a common network management system to multiple customers.
On the other hand, the service provider must be able to support contractual agreements on an individual basis. Service attributes, such as response time, uptime, and throughput, must be determinable for each customer. In order to do so, a network management system must provide a suite of network management tools that is able to perform device monitoring and discovery for each customer's network while integrating these abilities across a shared network backbone to gather the network management information into the service provider's distributed data processing system.
Hence, there is a direct relationship between the ability of a management system to provide network monitoring and discovery functionality and the ability of a service provider using the management system to serve multiple customers using a single management system. Preferably, the management system can replicate services, detect faults within a service, restart services, and reassign work to a replicated service. By implementing a common set of interfaces across all of their services, each service developer gains the benefits of system robustness. A well-designed, component-oriented, highly distributed system can easily accept a variety of services on a common infrastructure with built-in fault-tolerance and levels of service.
Distributed data processing systems with thousands of nodes are known in the prior art. The nodes can be geographically dispersed, and the overall computing environment can be managed in a distributed manner. The managed environment can be logically separated into a series of loosely connected managed regions, each with its management server for managing local resources. The management servers coordinate activities across the enterprise and permit remote site management and operation. Local resources within one region can be exported for the use of other regions in a variety of manners.
Meeting quality-of-service objectives in a highly distributed system can be quite difficult. Various resources throughout the distributed system can fail, and the failure of one resource might impact the availability of another resource. A signification amount of management activity may be introduced into the system in order to provide fault tolerance.
However, within a system that performs network management tasks for a million devices or more, a tremendous amount of computational resources throughout the system could be consumed for the managerial functions. For example, function calls could be constantly blocking to wait for a security function to complete, and significant network bandwidth would be consumed by status messages throughout the system.
When management activities are performed at a particular machine, a measurable amount of bandwidth will be consumed. In general, a customer does not want to experience a reduction in system performance, such as slower communication speeds, when a system is busy performing system management activities, whether or not those management activities might be considered critical to overall system or network performance. A service provider should attempt to minimize the reduction of bandwidth that is caused by any system management activities while also attempting to increase the reliability of the system through fault-tolerant solutions.
Typical solutions for maintaining the bandwidth of the overall distributed system require the addition of hardware to individual machines throughout the network. For example, storage subsystems can be used to mirror data, which may have the additional benefit of increasing fault tolerance. However, solving one performance problem may introduce another problem. Depending on the network installation, mirroring data from one machine to another machine may reduce the data traffic at a particular machine but increase the data traffic on the overall network, thereby reducing system performance at other points. The introduction of additional machines throughout the network may also be problematic because the number of addresses within the distributed system may be scarce.
One manner of increasing bandwidth performance and fault tolerance for a given machine is the installation of redundant hardware at the machine. However, this technique cannot necessarily be applied without regard to the operation of other components within the machine. For example, installing a second network interface card (NIC) within the machine does not automatically ensure fault tolerance because duplicate hostnames and addresses may be avoided by certain management software solutions. The installation of an additional NIC and the assignment a duplicate IP (Internet protocol) address does not necessarily increase bandwidth for the machine because the network stack commonly uses the MAC (Media Access Control) address to route packets. Hence, the bandwidth bottleneck might be shifted from hardware to software.
Some of these considerations may be eliminated for certain systems when the service provider places a high priority on both performance and fault tolerance. For example, when installing or configuring a given distributed data processing system, the service provider may ensure that IP addresses are plentiful, which can be accomplished in several different ways, and that each machine has a second NIC, which is a viable option as the cost of NICs decreases.
Therefore, it would be particularly advantageous to provide a method and system that provides a flexible polling and monitoring scheme associated with network management tasks in a highly distributed system. It would be particularly advantageous for the network management system to provide redundant, fault tolerant capabilities that distinguishes between mission critical and non-mission critical actions supported by different NICs.

Method and system for network management with redundant monitoring and categorization of endpoints

International Business Machines Corporation


A device for regulating the flow in a drainage siphon tube, includes a rigid tube connected to the outlet end of the siphon tube. The rigid tube is placed on a brace such that it can oscillate around a horizontal axis by means of a counter-weight. Pivoting upward of the tube is limited by a high block stop and pivoting downward is limited by a low block stop in such a way that when the siphon tube is delivering above its critical point, the tube is tilted downward, resting on the lower block stop and when the critical outflow is reached, the tube empties itself and comes to rest against the higher block stop by means of the counterweight. An increase in the pressure at the inflow end of the siphon tube results in a rise of the water in the rigid tube until the imbalance makes it pivot to the downward tilted position where it rests on the low block stop and delivery higher than the critical point ejects the gas bubbles accumulated at the high point of the siphon tube.

The present invention relates to a device for regulating the flow in a siphon tube assembly. More particularly, it relates to a device fitted to the outlet end of a drainage siphon tube, allowing it to function continuously, or intermittently, with an overflow superior to a defined minimal critical outflow determined by on-site parameters.
In my earlier patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,284, I disclose a device for draining soils in depth, the subject matter of which is incorporated herein.
French Patent No. 2,593,203 and European Patent Application No. EP 0 230 918 disclose a drainage siphon device capable of functioning continuously, and in an autonomous way, without the risk of unpriming, as a result of which there is no need for repeated care or systematic surveillance. While satisfactory in the great majority of situations encountered in the field, it happens, however, that the functioning of this device is, under certain circumstances, problematic where the water to be siphoned comprises a significant amount of dissolved gases. When the water rises within the tube forming the siphon, its pressure decreases and part of the gas is freed in the form of bubbles. These bubbles are drawn along the water flow as long as the latter remains adequately strong. However, below a certain minimum outflow, called a "critical point" the bubbles are no longer drawn along but instead they all rise to the highest point of the siphon, meet there and form a large bubble by coalescence.
Tubes of interior diameter superior to the 10 mm and those whose interior diameter is less than 6 mm present noticeably different behaviors.
In the last case (6 mm and less) when the critical point is reached, the bubbles take up or occupy the entire cross section of the siphon tube, as a result of which outflow is stopped. At the same time, the continuous feed flow from the borehole in which the drain is placed results in an increase in the water level within the drain and thus, an increase in the hydrostatic pressure. This increased pressure reaches a point where it is strong enough to completely eject the large bubble which has accumulated at the highest point, following which the siphon tube works normally again until it enters a new "stopping phase", caused by reaching the "critical point" again and the formation of another bubble.
For tubes of a diameter larger than approximately 10 mm, the bubble stagnating at the highest point of the siphon tube does not at first, take up the whole cross-section of the tube and allows for a certain time a certain outflow until, by coalescence, it also is large enough to totally stop the outflow. Here too, the hydrostatic pressure increases in the borehole until it is strong enough to eject the bubble and allow the outflow to resume. However, the pressure necessary to eject the bubble can, in certain situations be unacceptable or at least undesirable. As discussed in the above patents, this problem can be solved by equipping the drain with several siphon tubes of different diameters, working simultaneously or in turn, according to temporary conditions. However, this solution requires fittings which can be costly, cumbersome and complicated due to the several siphon tubes involved.

Device for regulating the flow in a drainage siphon tube


A modular interactive connector unit is provided which has a base block with an array of male pins on one side and opposed female pins on the other side for interconnection between an electronic control assembly for an automotive engine and a wiring harness otherwise intended for direct connection to the electronic control assembly. The base block contains an array of contact points and adapter points which correspond with the control circuits in the electronic control assembly. Circuit completing electrical adapters from the adapter arrays on the base member support a board element having spaced apart arrays of adapter points for insertion of a circuit altering device in selected control circuits. A cap protects the board elements. The circuit altering devices alter the voltages read by the electronic control assembly to enhance performance of an engine. The modular unit may be removed and the wiring harness connected directly to the electronic control assembly to return the control circuits to their factory settings.

Modern automotive vehicles, mass produced for the consumer market, have been the recipient of a surge in application of computer arts to the control systems. Most of the activity which began in the 1970's and has accelerated in the 1980's, has involved the application of small digital or analog computers to monitor and control the operating parameters of the automotive engine and its components. Most of the applications involve the connections of a computer "box" to a wiring harness which collects wires leading to and from sensing elements and control elements. A multiplicity of such wires are collected at a wiring harness which has a set of male connector pins which are removably plugged into a female connector plug on an electronic control assembly. Alternately the wiring harness may have the female connecting plug and the electronic control assembly a plurality of male connecting pins insertable therein. In this way, each wire leading from a sensor or control element becomes a circuit which is easily connected and disconnected to the proper lead of the electronic control assembly computer. The circuits completed through the wiring harness and electronic control assembly and the voltages and resistances of the various control and sensing elements are pre-selected at the factory to produce average performance of the engine.
In order to produce enhanced performance of the engine it has been found desirable to add certain circuit altering devices in some of the sensing and control circuits, but there has been no easy inexpensive way to accomplish this. One possible way would be to replace the electronic control assembly with one containing different values for certain circuit elements or operating at different voltages, but this is expensive and impractical. Another solution would be to break an individual wire leading to the wiring harness to add certain resistors, capacitors, transistors, and/or diodes, or to replace the sensing or control elements with ones having different values for operation. This approach would be equally expensive and difficult and could not be done quickly and easily. Moreover, such changes would be permanent and not easily reversed if it was desired to put the control system back to its factory settings.
The present invention provides an inexpensive, compact interactive interconnecting unit insertable between the wiring harness and the electronic control assembly to instantly and simultaneously enhance the performance characteristics of the engine by adding circuit altering devices. The modular unit can be quickly and easily removed to return the control functions to their original factory settings.

Interactive connector unit for a wiring harness


A connector for a flat flexible cable or flat printed cable includes a housing portion and a plurality of terminals. The housing portion includes a plurality of terminal receiving passageways each receiving a contact portion of one of the plurality of terminals. A plurality of conductors exposed in a window extending through an insulation material of the flat flexible cable are each clamped in a terminating portion of one of the plurality of terminals by a clamping force applied thereon by a cover selectively fixable with respect to the housing portion.

As understood by those skilled in the art, flat flexible cables (FFCs) or flat flexible circuits are electrical components consisting of at least one conductor (e.g., a metallic foil conductor) embedded within a thin, flexible strip of insulation. Flat flexible cables, as well as similarly-configured flat printed cables (FPCs) are gaining popularity across many industries due to advantages offered over their traditional "round wire" counter parts. Specifically, in addition to having a lower profile and lighter weight, FFCs enable the implementation of large circuit pathways with significantly greater ease compared to round wire-based architectures. As a result, FFCs are being considered for many complex and/or high-volume applications, including wiring harnesses, such as those used in automotive manufacturing.
The implementation or integration of FFCs into existing wiring environments is not without significant challenges. In an automotive application, by way of example only, an FFC-based wiring harness would be required to mate with perhaps hundreds of existing components, including sub-harnesses and various electronic devices (e.g., lights, sensors, etc.), each having established, and in some cases standardized, connector or interface types. Accordingly, a critical obstacle preventing the implementation of FFCs into these applications includes the need to develop quick, robust, and low resistance termination techniques which enable an FFC to be connectorized for mating with these existing connections.
A typical FFC may be realized by applying insulation material to either side of a pre-patterned thin foil conductor, and bonding the sides together via an adhesive to enclose the conductor therein. Current FFC terminals include piercing-style crimp terminals, wherein sharpened tines of a terminal are used to pierce the insulation and adhesive material of the FFC in order to attempt to establish a secure electrical connection with the embedded conductor.
Due in part to the fragile nature of the thin foil conductor material, these types of terminals have several drawbacks, including much higher electrical resistances than conventional round wire F-crimps, inconsistent electrical connectivity between the conductor and the terminal, and mechanical unreliability over time in harsh environments. Further, a connector to which an FFC is terminated includes a plurality of terminals that each must be crimped to establish the electrical connection with the embedded conductor. Current FFC terminal connectors require complex equipment to terminate the crimp and are inefficient by requiring individualized crimping of the terminals.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved electrical connector assemblies and accompanying termination techniques for adapting FFCs and/or FPCs to these environments.


Technology is described for steep angle of a focal track of an anode of an x-ray tube. In one example, an anode includes a disc-shaped anode and a focal track. The disc-shaped anode includes a bearing-facing surface, a window-facing surface positioned opposite the bearing-facing surface, and a focal track positioned between the window-facing surface and the bearing-facing surface, wherein the focal track is angled with respect to the window-facing surface, and the angle between the focal track and the window-facing surface is between 45° and 89°.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this disclosure and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
An x-ray system typically includes an x-ray tube and a detector. The power and signals for the x-ray tube can be provided by a high voltage generator. The x-ray tube emits radiation, such as x-rays, toward an object. The object is positioned between the x-ray tube and the detector. The radiation typically passes through the object and impinges on the detector. As radiation passes through the object, structures of the object attenuate the radiation received at the detector. The detector then generates data based on the detected radiation, and the system translates the radiation variances into an image, which may be used to evaluate the structure of the object, such as a patient in a medical imaging procedure or an inanimate object in an inspection scan.
The x-ray tube includes a cathode and an anode. X-rays are produced in x-ray tubes by applying an electrical current to an emitter positioned within the cathode to cause electrons to be emitted from the cathode by thermionic emission. In a vacuum, the electrons accelerate towards and then impinge upon the anode due to the voltage difference between the cathode and the anode. When the electrons collide with a target on the anode, some of the energy is emitted as x-rays, and the majority of the energy is released as heat. The area on the anode in which the electrons collide is generally known as the focal spot. Because of high temperatures generated when the electron beam strikes the target, specifically the focal spot, the anode can include features to distribute the heat generated at the focal spot on the target, such as rotating a disc-shaped anode target at a high rotational speed. A rotating anode typically includes the disc-shaped anode target, which is rotated by an induction motor via a bearing assembly. The x-ray tube can also be enclosed by x-ray shielding material, such as lead, to keep other non-useful x-rays, such as back scatter x-rays, from being emitted from the system.
The radiation detector (e.g., x-ray detector) can include a conversion element that converts an incoming radiation beam into electrical signals, which can be used to generate data about the radiation beam, which in turn can be used to characterize an object being inspected (e.g., the patient or inanimate object). In one example, the conversion element includes a scintillator that converts a radiation beam into light, and a sensor that generates electrical signals in response to the light. The detector can also include processing circuitry that processes the electrical signals to generate data about the radiation beam.
The x-ray tube and radiation detector can be components in an x-ray system, such as a computed tomography (CT) system or scanner, which includes a gantry that rotates both the x-ray tube and the detector to generate various images of the object at different angles. Often, x-ray tubes are relatively heavy due to the materials used, such as lead (Pb) for x-ray shielding. Reducing the weight of x-ray tubes can reduce the strain on the gantry for CT applications and allow a user to manipulate the x-ray tube during an examination with greater ease.
The technology (systems, devices, and methods) described herein provides solutions to reduce the weight and improve the form factor of x-ray tubes.

Large angle anode target for an X-ray tube and orthogonal cathode structure


A method, apparatus and program storage device for providing mutual failover and load-balancing between interfaces in a network is disclosed. An active virtual interface and a passive virtual interface are provided for each of a first and a second computer interface. The active virtual interface of the first computer interface is communicatively coupled with the passive virtual interface of the second interface. The active virtual interface of the second computer interface is communicatively coupled with the passive virtual interface of the first computer interface. Data flow is directed over each of the first computer interface-active virtual interface and second computer interface active virtual interface when the first and second computer interface is available, else data flow is directed to the active virtual interface and passive virtual interface of an available first or second interface.

1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates in general to network computer systems, and more particularly to a method, apparatus and program storage device for providing mutual failover and load-balancing between interfaces in a network.
2. Description of Related Art
Computer systems linked to each other in a network are commonly used in businesses and other organizations. Computer system networks ("networks") provide a number of benefits for the user, such as increased productivity, flexibility, and convenience as well as resource sharing and allocation.
Networks are configured in different ways depending on implementation-specific details such as the hardware used and the physical location of the equipment, and also depending on the particular objectives of the network. In general, networks include one or more server computer systems, each communicatively coupled to numerous client computer systems.
As the use of networked computer systems increases, the need has arisen to provide additional bandwidth to handle the electronic traffic on the network. For example, inadequate bandwidth can result in data stalling in the pipeline between a client and a server. This stalling can significantly limit network performance.
Network interface cards (NIC) are used to connect a server or any computing device to a network. Such NICs include, for example, Ethernet cards or Token Ring cards that plug into a desktop computer or server. The NIC implements the physical layer signaling and the Media Access Control (MAC) for a computer attached to a network. Multiple NICs effectively attach a computer to a network multiple times. This increases the potential bandwidth into the network proportionally. Multiple NICs also provide resiliency and redundancy if one of the NICs fails. In the case of a failure of a NIC, one of the other NICs is used to handle the traffic previously handled by the failed NIC, thereby increasing overall system reliability. Accordingly, it is necessary to be able to detect when a NIC fails and, when a failed NIC is detected, to switch to a functioning NIC (this is referred to as fault tolerance and fail over support). NICs are typically represented in the host operating system through kernel objects referred to as "network interfaces." Herein, the network interfaces that are directly used by the Internet Protocol (IP) will be referred to as "IP interfaces." Furthermore, interfaces directly corresponding to the NICs will be referred to as the physical interfaces. Interfaces derived from physical interfaces, as described herein will be variously referred to as logical or virtual interfaces.
Load balancing is a technique used to reduce data bottlenecks caused by an overloaded communications network. In load balancing, the traffic between a server and a network is shared over multiple NICs. Such load balancing typically requires special software. Load balancing also provides fault tolerance, which maintains data communication between the server and the network in the event of a disruption in a data link. When a link fails, the load is failed over to a backup or secondary link such that signal continuity is maintained.
A well-known technique is to group multiple physical links together so that they appear as a single network interface to the Internet Protocol (IP) layer of the TCP/IP stack. The load balancing and failover are then implemented among the links without the IP layer being aware of it. Examples of such techniques are the 'bonding' driver in Linux, Etherchannel or IEEE 802.3ad link aggregation standard.
However, these techniques suffer from several disadvantages. For example, since the system considers the multiple physical links as a single NIC the load balancing is implemented below the IP layer. In other words, the multitude of NICs is presented as a single interface to the IP protocol. Therefore the network layer information, e.g. the routing table, cannot be used to load balance the data traffic. Generic tools that work at the network layer do not apply as well. These disadvantages also apply to the failover mode.
The link aggregation techniques described above further require specialized switches that can consider multiple switch ports as one; in the case of directly connected peer systems, both ends must be configured to support the standard. Furthermore, the failure of the switch causes all the links to loose connectivity. In an alternative mode which supports failover only but not load balancing the links may be connected to different switches, however in such a configuration, only one link can be active at a given time.
Load-balancing can also be provided at the IP layer wherein the load is balanced across multiple IP interfaces. The data is load balanced in accordance to the routing table entries, which point to a particular IP interface for a given route. On failure of a NIC an alternative method for failover must be implemented and the routing table updated which can take time. The link level fail over described earlier occurs within a short (millisecond) interval whereas route propagation can take much longer. In addition the IP address needs to be associated with the backup interface and failover MAC address informed to the peers. Therefore, a method is required that allows for load balancing at the IP layer while providing a fast failover.
It can be seen then that there is a need for a method, apparatus and program storage device for providing mutual failover and load balancing between interfaces at the IP layer in a network.

Method, apparatus and program storage device for providing mutual failover and load-balancing between interfaces in a network


An optical system and detector capture a distribution of radiation modified by interaction with a target structure. The observed distribution is used to calculate a property of the structure (e.g. CD or overlay). A condition error (e.g. focus error) associated with the optical system is variable between observations. The actual condition error specific to each capture is recorded and used to apply a correction for a deviation of the observed distribution due to the condition error specific to the observation. The correction in one practical example is based on a unit correction previously defined with respect to a unit focus error. This unit correction can be scaled linearly, in accordance with a focus error specific to the observation.

A lithographic process is one that applies a desired pattern onto a substrate, usually onto a target portion of the substrate. A lithographic apparatus can be used, for example, in the manufacture of integrated circuits (ICs). In that instance, a patterning device, which is alternatively referred to as a mask or a reticle, may be used to generate a circuit pattern to be formed on an individual layer of the IC. This pattern can be transferred onto a target portion (e.g. comprising part of, one, or several dies) on a substrate (e.g. a silicon wafer). Transfer of the pattern is typically via imaging onto a layer of radiation-sensitive material (resist) provided on the substrate. Stepping and/or scanning movements can be involved, to repeat the pattern at successive target portions across the substrate. It is also possible to transfer the pattern from the patterning device to the substrate by imprinting the pattern onto the substrate.
In lithographic processes, it is desirable frequently to make measurements of the structures created, e.g., for process control and verification. Various tools for making such measurements are known, including scanning electron microscopes, which are often used to measure critical dimension (CD), and specialized tools to measure overlay (the accuracy of alignment between patterns formed in different patterning steps, for example between two layers in a device) and defocus of the lithographic apparatus. Recently, various forms of scatterometers have been developed for use in the lithographic field. These devices direct a beam of radiation onto a target and measure one or more properties of the scattered radiation—e.g., intensity at a single angle of reflection as a function of wavelength; intensity at one or more wavelengths as a function of reflected angle; or polarization as a function of reflected angle—to obtain a "spectrum" or "pupil image" from which a property of interest of the target can be determined. Determination of the property of interest may be performed by various techniques: e.g. reconstruction of the target structure by iterative approaches such as rigorous coupled wave analysis or finite element methods; library searches; and principal component analysis.
Examples of scatterometers include angle-resolved scatterometers of the type described in United States patent application publication nos. US 2006-033921 and US 2010-201963. The targets used by such scatterometers are relatively large, e.g. 40 μm by 40 μm, gratings, and the measurement beam generates a spot that is smaller than the grating (i.e., the grating is underfilled). In addition to measurement of feature shapes by reconstruction, diffraction based overlay can be measured using such apparatus, as described in United States patent application publication no. US 2006-066855. Methods and scatterometers are also disclosed in United States patent application publication nos. US 2011-0027704, US 2006-033921 and US 2010-201963. With reduction of the physical dimensions in lithographic processing, there is demand to inspect smaller and smaller features, and also demand to reduce the space occupied by targets dedicated to metrology. The contents of all these applications are incorporated herein by reference.
In order to, e.g., increase the range of scattering angles that can be captured, a solid immersion lens (SIL) or miniature SIL (micro-SIL) can be provided between an objective lens and the target structure. An example of an angularly resolved scatterometer comprising a solid immersion lens (SIL) is disclosed in United States patent application publication no. US 2009-316979. The extreme proximity of the SIL with the target results in a very high effective NA larger than 1, meaning that a greater range of scattering angles can be captured in the pupil image. The application of such a SIL in an inspection apparatus for semiconductor metrology is disclosed in United States patent application publication no. US 2016-061590.
To take advantage of the increasing numerical aperture, the gap between the SIL and the target needs to be set and maintained to an optimal value. For example, the gap may be a few tens of nanometers, for example within the range 10-100 nm to maintain the SIL in the near field of optical interaction with the substrate. Arrangements for controlling the height of the SIL element are described in the United States patent application publication no. US 2016-061590 and in PCT patent application no. PCT/EP2016/058640, filed Apr. 19, 2016. The contents of all the mentioned applications and patent application publications are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference. The use of a SIL can allow formation of a smaller illumination spot, and consequently may also allow the use of smaller targets.

Method of determining a property of a structure, inspection apparatus and device manufacturing method


A calibration plate includes a first pattern in which bars and spaces are repeated, and a second pattern in which bars having an identical width to the spaces of the first pattern and spaces having an identical width to the bars of the first pattern are repeated, wherein the first pattern and the second pattern adjoin each other, and the bars and spaces of the first pattern and the bars and spaces of the second pattern are staggered.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a calibration plate used in the manufacturing of semiconductor devices, and particularly relates to a calibration plate for circuit size measurement apparatuses.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the manufacturing of semiconductor devices, size measurement apparatuses are used to measure the width of circuit wires in semiconductor devices. As the circuit density of semiconductor devices increases as a result of technological development, the width of wires used in wiring patterns becomes increasingly narrower. In response, size measurement apparatuses need to be updated accordingly. When a new size measurement apparatus is installed, calibration needs to be made as to whether values measured by the newly installed size measurement apparatus are correct. A calibration pattern used for this purpose is required to be highly accurate.
Calibration plates are typically made by fabricating metal patterns of chrome, an oxide film, aluminum, or the like on glass substrates.
FIG. 1 is an illustrative drawing showing an example of a calibration plate. A pattern in which a bar (black) 10 and a space (white) 11 are repeated as shown in FIG. 1 is fabricated by metal such as chrome on a glass substrate. With respect to this metal pattern, a pitch P, a bar width B, and a space width S are defined by their physical sizes, which may be represented in micrometers, for example.
The calibration pattern on a calibration plate is made by patterning metal such as chrome on the glass substrate. The pitch P, the bar width B, and the space width S are defined by exposure data, which is the design data used for producing calibration patterns. However, the bar width B and the space width S are affected by processing conditions relating to exposure, development, etching, etc., at the time of producing an actual calibration pattern.
The pitch P is always equal to that specified by the exposure data despite variations of processing conditions. When a calibration pattern is used, however, the bar width B or the space width S is typically used, and the pitch P of its own is not used.
Accordingly, there is error in calibration patterns that are used for the purpose of calibrating size measurement apparatuses. The presence of error may not matter if the bar width B and the space width S are accurately measured, which is unfortunately not an easy task. In order to measure an actual pattern, an electron microscope or a coordinate measurement apparatus may be used. Each of an electron microscope and a coordinate measurement apparatus, however, may create undesirable value changes in the detected bar width B and the detected space width S depending on the way a slice level is set. The slice level is a threshold for slicing a pattern that is formed by detecting reflected electrons or the like.
Accordingly, a conventional calibration pattern offers an accurate pitch P, but provides the bar width B and the space width S for which accurate dimensions are unknown.
Accordingly, there is a need for a calibration plate that offers a bar width and a space width that are accurately defined.
It is a general object of the present invention to provide a calibration plate that substantially obviates one or more of the problems caused by the limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
It is another and more specific object of the present invention to provide a calibration plate that offers a bar width and a space width that are accurately defined.
In order to achieve the above objects according to the present invention, a calibration plate includes a first pattern in which bars and spaces are repeated, and a second pattern in which bars having an identical width to the spaces of the first pattern and spaces having an identical width to the bars of the first pattern are repeated, wherein said first pattern and said second pattern adjoin each other, and the bars and spaces of the first pattern and the bars and spaces of the second pattern are staggered.
In the calibration plate as described above, at least two lines of patterns are provided, each of which includes bars and spaces repeated therein, and the bars and the spaces in these lines are arranged such that the bars and the spaces are staggered across the line boundary, i.e., the bar positions of one of the lines corresponds to the space positions of the other one of the lines. With respect to the calibration pattern produced in such a fashion, an electron microscope or a coordinate measurement apparatus is used to check whether the edges of bars and spaces are aligned across the line boundary. This makes it possible to accurately identify the width of bars and spaces in addition to the pitch size.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the calibration pattern as described above is such that said first pattern and said second pattern are formed on a reticle or a wafer, which has a product pattern formed thereon, and is used for product manufacturing.
In the calibration plate as described above, the calibration pattern may be formed on product reticles or wafers that are actually used for manufacturing products, which makes it easier to calibrate a size measurement apparatus during the process steps of manufacturing actual products.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a method of producing a calibration plate includes the steps of providing exposure data of a calibration pattern including a first pattern in which bars and spaces are repeated, and a second pattern in which bars having an identical width to the spaces of the first pattern and spaces having an identical width to the bars of the first pattern are repeated, wherein said first pattern and said second pattern adjoin each other, and the bars and spaces of the first pattern and the bars and spaces of the second pattern are staggered, performing an exposure process multiple times by using the exposure data under different exposure conditions, and producing a calibration plate having a plurality of the calibration patterns formed thereon.
In the method described above, the exposure process using the exposure data is performed multiple times by changing exposure dosages or by changing the sizes of bars and spaces of the exposure data, thereby producing the calibration plate having the plurality of calibration patterns. With respect to the plurality of calibration patterns formed under different conditions, an electron microscope or a coordinate measurement apparatus is used to check whether edges of the bars and spaces are aligned. In this manner, a calibration pattern having aligned pattern edges is identified and selected from the plurality of calibration patterns, thereby providing a proper calibration pattern.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the method as described above is such that the producing the calibration plate includes the steps of producing a reticle plate having a plurality of calibration patterns formed thereon, and performing an exposure process by using the reticle plate as a mask to produce the calibration plate having a calibration pattern that is reduced in size compared with the calibration patterns formed on the reticle.
In the method as described above, the reticle having the calibration pattern is produced first, and, then, a size reduced image of the calibration pattern is projected and copied onto the calibration plate by use of a repeater, a stepper, or the like. In this manner, the pattern is formed on the repeater reticle by using relatively large physical dimensions, and, then, this pattern is reduced in size to form the actual calibration plate. This makes it possible to produce a calibration pattern having higher precision.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a method of producing a semiconductor device includes the steps of producing a calibration plate including a first pattern in which bars and spaces are repeated, and a second pattern in which bars having an identical width to the spaces of the first pattern and spaces having an identical width to the bars of the first pattern are repeated, wherein said first pattern and said second pattern adjoin each other, and the bars and spaces of the first pattern and the bars and spaces of the second pattern are staggered, calibrating a size measurement apparatus by using the calibration plate, and measuring the semiconductor device by using the calibrated size measurement apparatus.
In the method as described above, the size measurement apparatus is calibrated by use of a highly accurate calibration plate, thereby making it possible to produce a semiconductor device through a highly precise manufacturing process.

Calibration plate having accurately defined calibration pattern


Equipment for a gun loader, which incorporates a coil connected through the intermediary of a wire to a plotting apparatus, and through the utilization of which it is possible to set the fuze of an article of ammunition from the equipment of a gun layer or aimer. Inventively, the above-mentioned object is readily attained in that the coil is fastened at such a first location on an equipment which is worn by the gun loader, with which the ammunition fuze comes into contact during the handling of the ammunition during the loading sequence; in that the plotting apparatus is fastened at such a second location on the equipment which is easily viewable by the gun loader; and that between the plotting apparatus and the equipment worn by the gun layer there is provided either a wire-connected or wireless signal transmitting path.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to equipment for a gun loader, which incorporates a coil connected through the intermediary of a wire to a plotting apparatus, and through the utilization of which it is possible to set the fuze of an article of ammunition from the equipment of a gun layer or aimer.
2. Field of the Invention
Pursuant to the current state-of-the-art, the coil as described hereinbefore is provided with a handgrip. The coil is to be positioned by the gun loader, for example, of a battle tank, coaxially onto the fuze for the setting of the latter. A switch is integrated into the handgrip, through the intermediary of which there is initiated the programming (setting). Two indicator lamps are provided on the handgrip so as to be able to control the programming. In order to be able to position the coil on the ammunition fuze through the use of the handgrip, the gun loader must have one hand free. This renders the setting cumbersome and time-consuming during the loading . sequence.


The invention relates to a method for controlling digital rights of the “Play N times” type for a digital audio and/or video content, referred to as controlled content, the controlled content being consumed by a consumer on a consuming device or on another device delegating the controlling of these rights to the consuming device. According to this method, charging of one additional usage is inhibited in at least one of the following cases where:                the consumer momentarily consumes another content, on the same device where the controlled content is consumed, and then returns to the controlled content;        the consumer effects a pause in the usage of the controlled content;        the consumer performs a fast-forward of the controlled content;        or the consumer performs a rewind of the controlled content.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for controlling the usage of digital rights, of the "Play N times" type, of a digital audio and/or video content and a device for implementing this method. In particular, it relates to control of the rendering, authorized for a fixed number of times, of audio content (for example music) and/or video content (for example films) on television receivers, computers, audio reproduction equipment, disc readers, portable personal systems, mobile telephones or electronic diaries.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to control the usage of their products distributed by digital networks, such as the Internet, and to avoid pirating, producers of multimedia content (by way of non-limiting examples: films, documentaries, music, music videos, video games, audiovisual material, services or other content, etc.) implement digital rights management, henceforth referred to as DRM, methods associated with the content relinquished to their customers.
The rights associated with a content may, for example, allow usage of the content over a certain cumulative period of time (rights of the "Play N units of time" type) and/or a certain number of times (rights of the "Play N times" type). The monitoring of the rights relinquished to the customer must therefore be carried out progressively as the content is consumed by the customers.
The inventors have observed the possible behaviours of the consumer when consuming digital content in order to meet their technical expectations.
The invention, in fact, results from the observation that it is not currently possible to count N usages within a device for consuming content, referred to as consuming device or management device, in the framework of digital rights of the "Play N times" type, while at the same time taking into account:                the real normal expectations and behaviours of the customers when consuming content (in particular, "zapping", rewind, forward play and pause) and        the requirement to ring-fence the N usages, in such a manner that the content may be consumed N times and only N times.
For example, when a content for which the customer has N permitted usages is consumed, the customer might wish, for a period of several seconds, to consume another product, an operation referred to as "zapping", to return to a slightly earlier point in the passage of the content, notably because something was missed, an operation referred to as rewind, or else perform a fast-forward operation.
In similar cases of zapping, of rewind, of forward play or of pause, the current accounting methods for the number of usages made by the customer count one additional usage to that in progress.
This is costly for the consumer and cannot be justified in every case.

Method for controlling digital rights of the “Play N times” type for a digital audio and/or video content and device implementing this method


A method of manufacturing a solid electrolytic capacitor is provided for which an electrolytic polymerization solution can be used semipermanently while preventing a decrease in electrical conductivity of an electrically conductive polymer layer and an increase in ESR of the resultant electrolytic capacitor due to degradation of the electrolytic polymerization solution. The method of manufacturing a solid electrolytic capacitor as provided includes the step (A) of forming a dielectric layer on a surface of an anode element made of a valve metal, the step (B) of forming a cathode layer including an electrically conductive polymer layer on the dielectric layer, and the step (C) of adjusting the pH of a solution that contains a monomer and a dopant agent and that is used in forming the conductive polymer layer, by allowing the solution to contact an ion exchange or ion capture substance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a solid electrolytic capacitor having an anode element made of a valve metal, a dielectric layer formed on a surface of the anode element, and a cathode layer including an electrically conductive polymer layer and formed on the dielectric layer.
2. Description of the Background Art
Regarding a solid electrolytic capacitor having an anode element made of a valve metal, a dielectric layer formed on a surface of the anode element, and a cathode layer including an electrically conductive polymer layer and formed on the dielectric layer, the chemical oxidative polymerization method and the electrolytic oxidative polymerization method have conventionally been known as a method of forming the conductive polymer layer. Here, the chemical oxidative polymerization method refers to a method of producing a polymer by allowing an oxidizing agent to act on a monomer to chemically oxidize and polymerize the monomer, and the electrolytic oxidative polymerization method refers to a method of producing a polymer by passing an electric current through a solution containing a monomer to electrolytically oxidize and polymerize the monomer. Generally, the electrolytic oxidative polymerization method uses a more complicated manufacturing apparatus. However, control of conditions for polymerization by the electrolytic oxidative polymerization method is easier as compared with the chemical oxidative polymerization method. Therefore, an electrically conductive polymer excellent in electrical conductivity, mechanical strength and homogeneity is produced more easily by the former method.
In order to form the electrically conductive polymer layer forming a main portion of the cathode layer by means of the electrolytic oxidative polymerization method, a first cathode layer is formed on the dielectric layer and the electrically conductive polymer layer that is a second cathode layer is formed on the first cathode layer by the electrolytic oxidative polymerization method. The first cathode layer is formed of a manganese dioxide layer produced by pyrolysis of manganese nitrate or an electrically conductive polymer layer produced by the chemical oxidative polymerization method. The second cathode layer is formed using the first cathode layer as an anode and a metal plate as a cathode and passing an electric current through a solution containing a monomer and a substance serving as a supporting electrolyte as well as a dopant agent (electrolytic polymerization solution).
In the process step of forming the electrically conductive polymer layer by the electrolytic oxidative polymerization method, as the polymerization is continued or repeated in the electrolytic polymerization solution, the monomer is consumed and the supporting electrolyte is also consumed by being taken as a dopant into the polymer. As the supporting electrolyte, a metal salt of an aromatic sulfonic acid for example is used. In the case where the anion of the supporting electrolyte salt is taken as a dopant into the polymer, it is called p-type doping. In the case where the cation of the supporting electrolyte salt is taken as a dopant into the polymer, it is called n-type doping. Generally it is considerably difficult to accomplish the n-type (cation) doping and thus usually the p-type doping is widely employed.
As for the p-type doping, the anion is taken as a dopant into the polymer. Therefore, the cation is left in the electrolytic polymerization solution to cause the pH of the solution to gradually change to become more basic. This results in the harmful effects that the electrical conductivity of the produced electrically conductive polymer is decreased and the ESR (Equivalent Series Resistance) of the resultant electrolytic capacitor is increased. On the contrary, the n-type doping causes the cation to be taken as a dopant into the polymer. Thus, the anion is left in the electrolytic polymerization solution and the pH of the solution is changed to gradually become acidic. In this case as well, some harmful effects could be caused.
As a solution to the problems as described above, the technique of adding such a pH adjusting agent as sulfuric acid to the electrolytic polymerization solution is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 11121279.
However, even when the method of adjusting the pH by adding the sulfuric acid is used, continued use of the electrolytic polymerization solution causes the sulfate anion concentration in the electrolytic polymerization solution to cumulatively increase, which makes it difficult to control the ratio between aromatic sulfonic acid ions and sulfate ions taken as dopants into the polymer. Further, degradation of the electrolytic polymerization solution becomes worse and the ESR of the electrolytic capacitor increases. Therefore, the whole solution has to be replaced regularly.

Method of manufacturing solid electrolytic capacitor


A dilatation system preferably including a dilator and a detachable handle for achieving step dilatation of a bodily opening is provided. The dilator preferably is steerable and can be visually guided using a fiber optic scope positioned in a lumen formed in a shaft of the dilator. Fluid can be delivered through the lumen with the scope positioned therein so as to distend, irrigate, or insufflate a space within the body. A kit and related methods also are provided that can include elements desired to facilitate step dilatation of a body opening.

Physicians and veterinarians frequently rely on methods of dilatation of a natural opening in a body (e.g., the urethra) to gain greater access to internal areas of the body without making an incision and cut through tissue of the body. A not infrequent purpose of this procedure of dilating a cavity, canal, duct, blood vessel or other bodily opening is to enlarge the opening so as to permit the insertion of instruments through the opening for visualization, tissue sampling, or therapeutic treatment of areas of the body accessible through the opening.
Conventional devices for effecting dilatation in a body include sized metal rods with fixed angles. Other such devices are metallic instruments that can be bent to conform to a selected portion of the body. Still other conventional dilators are made of malleable polymeric material.
A serious drawback of these conventional devices recognized by Applicants is that they necessitate the physician's estimating how far into the body the device extends and where within the body the device is positioned. This limitation forces a physician using such a device to slowly probe with the tip of the device inside a patient's body as the device is inserted into the body. Accordingly, the physician must rely largely on tactile sensations to judge whether the instrument is being properly maneuvered within the patient's body. This poses the ever-present risk that if the physician misjudges the position of the dilatation device, the wall of cavity or organ may be perforated.
Another drawback of these conventional devices recognized by Applicants is that they pose a difficult economic choice in the sense that each dilatation device must be either disposed of after only one use—in which case, each such device will need to be relatively inexpensive to manufacture—or otherwise it must be sterilized. Sterilization is a consideration that must be addressed with any reusable medical device, but is especially pertinent with respect to those used in invasive procedures. Viruses and bacteria can be trapped on the surfaces of such devices. Moreover, the lubricants applied during the use of such devices, if they remain on the device's surface, can trap microbes on the surface. If the devices are to be reused safely, some means of sterilizing the devices are an absolute essential. Sterilization methods are available for reusable medical devices. Heat or chemicals such as glutaraldehyde can be used. These methods, however, can be expensive and can reduce the operative life of the instrument. Moreover, there is a growing recognition by others that repeated use of antibiotics for sterilization (and other) purposes can reduce their effectiveness. The only alternative to sterilization, therefore, is to make the device completely disposable. Applicants have also recognized, however, that disposable can be out of the question from a purely economic standpoint if the device is to include the advanced features needed to overcome the limitations of conventional dilatation devices.
Accordingly, there is a need for a dilator that can be accurately guided through tortuous actual and potential spaces, canals, and cavities of the body without relying on elaborate structures and mechanisms that would make disposal or sterilization of the device cost prohibitive.

Steerable dilatation system, dilator, and related methods for stepped dilatation


Embodiments are provided for ephemeral eventing. Ephemeral eventing may involve sending metadata portions associated with content items from a user device to a content management system prior to uploading the content portions of the content items. The content management system may then assign the content items to one or more events. The event assignments may then be sent back to the user device, allowing the content items to be locally displayed according to their events as if the content items had already been uploaded to the content management system.

Economies of scale and increases in the availability of high-speed network connections have made it cheap and convenient for users to store digital content in a remote storage system instead of, or in addition to, local user device storage components. Besides simply storing users' data, such remote storage systems can offer various content management solutions to improve the user experience. The user experience may suffer, however, when content cannot be immediately synchronized between a user's local user device and the content management system.
Synchronizing content items may involve sending content items from a user device to the content management system, performing at least one management function on the content items at the content management system, and sending the content items and/or the output of the management functions to the user device (and additional user devices as appropriate). In circumstances in which the content items cannot be synchronized quickly, the user may not be able to take advantage of the management functionality provided by the content management system.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Systems and methods for ephemeral eventing


A solar collector assembly comprised of a solar collector unit, which includes a solar collector panel disposed within a housing thereof, an elevation adjustment unit mounted around the housing and controlled to tilt the housing in the longitudinal axis for adjusting the angle of elevation of the housing, and a focusing adjustment unit fastened to the collector panel and controlled to oscillate the collector panel sideways for adjusting the angle of inclination of the collector panel.

The present invention relates to a solar collector assembly for use in a solar heating system which can be conveniently adjusted to change the angle of elevation as well as the angle of inclination of the solar collector panel to efficiently absorb solar radiation.
Various solar collector assemblies are known, and widely used for the absorption of solar radiation for the heating of water. The solar collector assemblies shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are similar. These solar collector assemblies can not be adjusted to change the angle of elevation and the angle of inclination. Therefore, these solar collector assemblies are less effective.
FIG. 3 illustrates an inductor controlled self-adjustment solar collector assembly which automatically adjusts the angle of inclination of the solar collector panel according to the position of the sun. This inductor controlled self-adjustment solar collector assembly comprises a photoresistance inductor to detect the position of the sun, a motor controlled by the photoresistance inductor to pump water between two water tanks on two opposite sides of the solar collector panel thereof, and therefore the solar collector panel is turned leftward or rightward to the angle of inclination perpendicular to the the sun. However, this inductor controlled self-adjustment solar collector assembly is still not satisfactory in function because of the following drawbacks
i) this structure of solar collector assembly must be sealed inside a box to protect its electric circuit against weather. PA0 ii) the installation of the motor and the water tanks and the related pipings greatly increase the size and manufacturing cost of the solar collector assembly. PA0 iii) water in the water tanks may be evaporated by the radiating energy of the sun, causing the motor unable to bias the solar collector panel. PA0 iv) the solar collector panel can not be adjusted in the longitudinal direction, namely, the angle of elevation of the solar collector panel can not be adjusted.


The present disclosure makes it possible to perform a failure diagnosis of an electric two-wheeled vehicle easily, conveniently, and immediately. The electric two-wheeled vehicle includes an electric equipment unit having an IC tag and a host unit. The host unit is capable of communicating with the IC tag, and obtains failure information of the electric equipment unit while electric power is supplied from the battery to the electric equipment unit. The information communication terminal obtains the failure information by communicating with the electric two-wheeled vehicle in a non-contact manner, and transmits the failure information to the server via the network. The server performs a failure diagnosis on the electric two-wheeled vehicle based on the failure information.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to information processing systems for electric two-wheeled vehicles, and particularly to an information processing system suitable for diagnosing a failure in an electric two-wheeled vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Apparatuses for diagnosing bicycle electric equipment unit systems in which a plurality of electric equipment components are connected have been conventionally known (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2013-32028). In a conventional diagnosis device, an electric equipment component disposed at an end of a plurality of electric equipment components connected in series via electric power line communication and a communication adaptor are connected using electric power line communication, and in a state where the communication adaptor and a management system are connected using a USB cable, the management system performs a failure diagnosis for each of the electric equipment components and other information processing regarding the electric equipment component.

Information processing system for electric two-wheeled vehicle, electric two-wheeled vehicle, electric equipment unit, and key for electric two-wheeled vehicle

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


An electrolyte reservoir plate is formed in a papermaking process. Graphite powder, reinforcing fibers, cellulosic fibers, and a thermosetting resin are mixed with a liquid to form a slurry and showered onto a screen to form a planar sheet which is dried to form paper. The paper is cut into the desired size and is lay-up with main sheets 4 and edge strips 6. The lay-up is laminated with pressure and heat, carbonized, and graphitized to form an electrolyte reservoir plate.

Fuel cells, particularly acid fuel cells, are comprised of an anode chamber, an anode electrode on a substrate, an electrolyte matrix, a cathode electrode on a substrate, a cathode chamber, an electrolyte reservoir plate, and a separator plate. These components are aligned electrically in series such that a stack of fuel cells can be employed in the production of electricity.
The electrolyte reservoir plate is a porous structure filled with electrolyte. During fuel cell operation, the electrolyte reservoir plate supplies electrolyte to the fuel cell to replenish electrolyte which has been lost by evaporation therefrom. Due to the constraints of the electrolyte reservoir plate formation process, these plates are costly to manufacture and possess limited strength.
For example, electrolyte reservoir plates can be formed in a dry-laid process where graphite powder, powdered phenolic resin, and fibers are showered onto a slow-moving belt to form a layer. The layer enters an oven where it is compacted with a second belt to form a 0.150 inch thick layer which is heated until the phenolic resin melts and coats the graphite powder and fibers. The resin is then cured, thereby bonding the graphite powder and fibers in a composite. Although this is a common electrolyte reservoir plate formation process, the forming speed is slow and it is difficult to incorporate relatively long fibers which are necessary for electrolyte reservoir plate structural integrity- Longer fibers tend to become entangled in the dry-laid feeder, thereby forming fiber bundles in the finished composite. This fiber bundling, which corresponds to uneven fiber distribution, creates weak areas within the composite which are susceptible to structural failure. Composite structural integrity is maximized at fiber lengths greater than about 1.0 mm (about 0.040 inches) while the dry-laid process is limited to fiber lengths of about 0.51 mm (about 0.02 inches).
An additional disadvantage of the dry-laid process is the post formation impregnation of two parallel edges of the composite with a substance such as hydrophilic ink to form a gaseous edge seal when filled with electrolyte. This prevents a possible mixing of fuel and oxidant utilized in the fuel cell. The impregnation, however, becomes increasingly difficult if the electrolyte reservoir plate thickness increases above about 0.10 inches, if the density increases to about 1.0 g/cc or greater, if the median pore diameter decreases to below about 20 microns, and/or if any of these parameters are not substantially uniform throughout the composite. Consequently, the tolerances in the specification for the electrolyte reservoir plate are small and the fabrication is difficult, resulting in many rejected parts.
What is needed in the art is an improved electrolyte reservoir plate which is more efficient to process, and has improved structural integrity and gas edge barriers.