A cartridge detachably mountable to an apparatus body of an image forming apparatus, includes a grip member that is provided on the frame member for gripping the cartridge when the cartridge is mounted on or dismounted from the apparatus body, the grip member including a first molded member that is integrally molded with the frame member, and a second molded member that is integrally molded on the first molded member with a second resin after the molding of the first molded member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a process cartridge used in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus that uses an electrophotographic process performs image recording by uniformly charging a photosensitive drum, which is an image bearing member, to form a latent image based on selective exposure on the photosensitive drum, developing the latent image with a toner, which is a developer, transferring the toner image onto a recording medium, and applying heat and pressure onto the transferred toner image to fix the toner image on the recording medium.
Such an apparatus requires toner replenishment and maintenance of the various parts relating to the above-described image forming process. To facilitate the toner replenishment operation and maintenance, process cartridges have been developed. Specifically, the parts relating to the image forming process, such as the photosensitive drum, charging unit, and cleaning unit, are integrated into one frame member as a cartridge. This cartridge detachably mountable to the image forming apparatus body. In this process cartridge system, since the user can perform the apparatus maintenance by himself/herself, operability can be greatly improved. Consequently, such a process cartridge system is now widely employed.
In this process cartridge system, when replacing a process cartridge, the user needs to pull the process cartridge from the image forming apparatus body and push the process cartridge to a predetermined mounting position. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-8501 discusses a configuration in which a grip member that lets the user grip the process cartridge is provided on a frame member of the process cartridge. By providing such a grip member, the user can easily mount and dismount the process cartridge, so that operability is improved.
One example of a method for providing such a grip member on a frame member of the process cartridge is to form the grip member integrally with the frame member using a resin. In this case, the thickness of the grip member should be limited to the thickness of the frame member portion. This is because a grip member having a greater thickness is more difficult to mold into a desired shape due to the occurrence of sink marks.
During the mounting/removal operation of the process cartridge, since the grip member has to support almost the entire weight of the frame member side including the toner, the grip member needs to have a certain level of strength. However, depending on the design of the process cartridge, it may not be possible to make the grip member thick enough. In such a case, there may be an adverse impact on usability due to flexing in the grip member as a result of the load applied during the mounting/removal operation.

Cartridge having a grip provided on a frame


In a threaded joint for steel pipes comprising a pin and a box capable of mating with each other, the pin having an externally threaded portion and an unthreaded metal contact portion as a mating surface, and the box having an internally threaded portion and an unthreaded metal contact portion as a mating surface, the mating surface of at least one of the pin and the box is coated with a lower porous zinc or zinc alloy layer by blast plating and with an upper coating which is either a solid lubricating coating (comprising a lubricating powder in an organic or in organic binder) or a liquid, heavy metal powder-free coating (e.g., a liquid coating based on a highly basic organic acid metal salt such as a highly basic metal sulfonate). The threaded joint exhibits improved galling resistance, rust-preventing properties, and gas tightness even after exposure to a high temperature and makes it possible to perform repeated fastening (make-up) and loosening (break-out) in a high-temperature oil well without application of a compound grease containing a heavy metal powder.

This invention relates to a threaded joint for steel pipes and particularly oil well pipes which has improved galling resistance, rust-preventing properties and gas tightness, and which can be used without the need to apply a liquid lubricating grease containing a heavy metal powder such as a compound grease.
Oil well pipes such as tubing and casing used in the drilling of oil wells are typically connected to each other by threaded joints. In the past, the depth of oil wells was typically 2000 to 3000 meters, but more recently, the depth of oil wells may reach 8,000 to 10,000 meters in offshore oil fields and other deep wells. A threaded joint for oil well pipes is subjected to various forces in its environment of use, including loads such as axial tensile forces caused by the weight of the oil well pipe and the threaded joint, the combination of internal and external pressures, and geothermal heat which increases as the depth increases. Therefore, a threaded joint needs to be able to maintain gas tightness without breakage in such environments.
During the process of lowering tubing or casing into a well, a joint which is once fastened for connection often needs to be loosened and then re-fastened. API (American Petroleum Institute) requires that there be no occurrence of galling, which is unrecoverable seizing, and that gas-tightness be maintained even if fastening (make-up) and loosening (break-out) are repeated ten times for a tubing joint and three times for a casing joint.
Oil well pipes are generally connected using a threaded joint with a pin-box structure having a metal to metal contact portion forming a good seal. In this threaded joint, typically, a pin is formed on the outer surface of each end of an oil well pipe, the pin having an externally threaded portion and a metal contact portion without threads. Such a metal contact portion is hereunder referred to as an xe2x80x9cunthreaded metal contact portionxe2x80x9d. A mating box is formed on the inner surface of a separate, sleeve-shaped coupling member, and it has an internally threaded portion and an unthreaded metal contact portion so as to mate with the corresponding threaded and unthreaded portions of the pin. When the pin is screwed into the box for fastening, the unthreaded metal contact portions of the pin and the box are made to tightly contact each other to form a metal seal.
In order to guarantee adequate sealing properties by the metal seal of a threaded joint in the environment of an oil well pipe, an extremely high surface pressure which may exceed the yield point of the material for the threaded joint must be applied to the unthreaded metal contact portions during fastening. This high pressure makes it easy for galling to take place. Therefore, prior to fastening, a lubricating grease called a compound grease, which is a viscous, flowable liquid, is applied to the metal contact portions and the threads in order to impart an increased galling resistance and gas tightness. Since the compound grease has good rust-preventing properties, it is frequently applied to a threaded joint before shipping the joint so as to prevent the joint from rusting before use in an oil well.
It has been proposed in the prior art to subject a threaded joint to surface treatment in order to improve the retention of a compound grease and impart decreased friction.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 61-79797 (1986) discloses a threaded joint having a threaded portion plated with Zn or Sn and a metal seal (unthreaded metal contact portion) plated with gold or platinum. Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 3-78517 (1991) discloses a pipe joint having a coating of a synthetic resin which contains 20-90% of molybdenum disulfide having a particle diameter of 10 micrometers or less dispersed therein. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-103724 (1996) discloses a method for the surface treatment of a steel pipe joint comprising forming a lower manganese phosphate chemical conversion coating and an upper molybdenum disulfide-containing resin coating. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-105582 (1996) discloses a method for the surface treatment of a pipe joint comprising forming a first nitride layer, a second iron or iron alloy plated layer, and a third, uppermost molybdenum disulfide-containing resin coating.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 62-258283 (1987) discloses a joint for oil well pipes which has a porous plated coating of zinc or a zinc alloy at least on the surface of its metal seal portion, the coating being formed by blast plating which is performed by blasting with particles having a core of iron or an iron alloy coated with a zinc or zinc alloy layer. It is described therein that the plated coating does not suffer from delayed fracture caused by hydrogen embrittlement and has good retention of a lubricant due to its porous nature, resulting in the advantage that gas tightness and galling resistance can be attained even with oil well pipes of a high-strength, high alloy steel. Thus, the coating formed by blast plating is contemplated using a compound grease as a lubricant.
All the threaded joints disclosed in the above-described patent publications are supposed to use with a compound grease to assure sufficient resistance to galling. However, the use of a compound grease involves problems with respect to the environment and gas tightness at high temperature as described below.
A compound grease contains a large amount of a powder of a heavy metal such as lead, zinc, or copper. Since a part of a compound grease applied to a threaded joint is discharged into the surrounding environment by washing off or by running out during fastening, the use of a compound grease raises a concern of causing environmental pollution. In addition, the application of compound grease worsens the work environment.
Recently, high-temperature oil wells having a temperature as high as 250-300xc2x0 C. due to an increased depth, as well as steam-injected oil wells into which steam at a high temperature close to the critical temperature (e.g., around 350xc2x0 C.) is injected in order to improve oil recovery have increased. Threaded joints for oil wells which are used in such a high-temperature environment are required to have a good heat resistance, as evidenced by maintaining gas tightness in a test where a joint which has been fastened is kept at a temperature above 350xc2x0 C. for a certain period and then subjected to loosening and re-fastening. With a compound grease, the lubricity may decrease at such a high temperature due to evaporation of one or more constituents of the grease, thereby leading to a failure to attain a desired gas tightness when the loosened joint is re-fastened in the test.
In order to eliminate the need to apply a compound grease, a threaded joint having a solid lubricating coating has been proposed. For example, a threaded joint having a solid lubricating coating which comprises a resin such as an epoxy resin having molybdenum disulfide as a solid lubricant dispersed therein is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications Nos. 8-233163 (1996), 8-233164 (1996), and 9-72467 (1997).
However, such a solid lubricating coating is inferior to a compound grease with respect to ability to protect a threaded joint from rusting under field conditions from shipment of the threaded joint to the use thereof in an oil well. Therefore, the threaded joint is apt to rust and thus form blisters or cause debonding in the solid lubricating coating, which in turn makes fastening of the joint unstable, leading to occurrence of galling or a decrease in gas tightness.
An object of the present invention is to provide a threaded joint for steel pipes having improved galling resistance, gas tightness, and rust-preventing properties, which can assure gas tightness in its metal seal portion after being subjected to fastening and loosening repeatedly without application of a heavy metal powder-containing liquid lubricating grease such as a compound grease.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a threaded joint for steel pipes having improved galling resistance, gas tightness, and rust-preventing properties, which can assure gas tightness in its metal seal portion after being subjected to fastening and loosening repeatedly even if it is used to fasten oil well pipes placed in a high temperature environment such as encountered in a deep, high-temperature oil well or a steam-injected oil well and/or even if it is made of any of a wide variety of steels including from a carbon steel to a high alloy steel.
The present inventors have found that these objects can be achieved by forming, on the surface of a threaded portion and an unthreaded metal contact portion of a threaded joint, a lower or undercoat layer of a porous zinc or zinc alloy coating such as formed by impact plating, e.g., such as blast plating and an upper solid lubricating coating or liquid, heavy metal powder-free lubricating coating.
Although it is not intended to be bound by any theory, the mechanism for this is considered to be as follows.
A blast-plated coating of zinc or a zinc alloy can be formed on the surface of a threaded joint for steel pipes irrespective of the steel material for the joint which encompasses from a carbon steel to a high alloy steel containing more than 13 wt % Cr by employing, as a blasting material, particles having an iron-based core the surface of which is coated with zinc or a zinc alloy as disclosed in Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 59-9312 (1984).
Unlike an electroplated coating, the resulting blast-plated coating is porous. Therefore, when a solid or liquid lubricating coating is formed thereon, the lower blast-plated coating can improve adhesion of the solid lubricating coating or retention of the liquid lubricating coating. As a result, it is possible to exploit the lubricating coating to the best of its performance and thus attain improved galling resistance and gas tightness without the use of a compound grease.
The zinc present in the lower layer is a base metal and it ionizes in preference to iron constituting the substrate threaded joint and thus exhibits a sacrificial protection effect to prevent corrosion of the joint. However, because the porous coating of the lower layer includes numerous voids and has a large surface area, the sacrificial protection effect of this layer tends to be lost soon if the lower layer is not treated anymore. The formation of the overlaid lubricating coating serves to seal the voids of the lower layer and allows the lower layer to have a sustained protection effect to achieve improved rust-preventing properties. In particular, when the overlaid coating is a solid lubricating coating, a still greater improvement in galling resistance, rust-preventing properties, and gas tightness can be attained, thereby making it possible to provide a threaded joint having improved performance even in a high temperature environment.
Thus, in order to improve galling resistance, rust-preventing properties, and gas tightness, it is important that a liquid or preferably solid lubricating coating is formed on a lower porous zinc or zinc alloy layer.
The present invention is a threaded joint for steel pipes comprising a pin and a box capable of mating with each other, the pin having an externally threaded portion and an unthreaded metal contact portion as a mating surface, and the box having an internally threaded portion and an unthreaded metal contact portion as a mating surface, characterized in that the mating surface of at least one of the pin and the box is coated with a lower porous zinc or zinc alloy layer and an upper lubricating coating selected from a solid lubricating coating and a liquid, heavy metal powder-free coating.
A threaded joint according to an embodiment of the present invention has the porous zinc or zinc alloy layer and the overlaid lubricating coating on the mating surface of only one of the pin and the box. In this embodiment, the other mating surface may be either uncoated or coated with one or more coatings selected from a porous zinc or zinc alloy layer, a metal plated coating, a phosphate coating, an oxalate coating, and a borate coating.

Threaded joint for steel pipes having improved galling resistance and rust-preventing properties


A communications system sets up a multimedia session between two terminals (STBA, SVB) each connected to a home gateway (GWA, GWB), these gateways being connected to each other by a telecommunications network (R). At least a first of these gateways (GWB), using the signaling protocol of a Voice over IP session (SVIP) set up between terminals (VIPA, VIPB) connected to these gateways (GWA, GWB), sends the second of these gateways the capabilities of at least one first terminal (SVB) connected to the first gateway (GWB). The second gateway (GWA) determines at least one multimedia service offered by the first terminal (SVB) as a function of said capabilities The second gateway (GWA) supplies to at least one second terminal (STBA) to which it is connected information necessary for setting up a multimedia session with the first terminal (SVB) to access the multimedia service if the capabilities of the second terminal (STBA) allow it.

The field of the invention is telecommunications networks that enable terminals to access multimedia services.
The invention relates more particularly to multimedia services offered to terminals connected to a network via an access point or gateway.
The invention thus finds one particularly beneficial but non-limiting application to offering a multimedia service to a terminal connected to a home gateway in a home network or to a roaming terminal connected to the Internet via a wireless access point (Hot Spot).
In the context of the present invention, the term multimedia is to be understood in a broad sense, a multimedia service being in particular a service providing access to multimedia documents (images, videos, digital audio files, messaging services and, more generally, any service requiring a transfer of digital data between terminals (web server access, file transfer, etc.).
In the current state of the art, communication of digital data between two terminals on different local area networks requires various parameters of the terminals to be set in order to be able to set up a call, which can be a complicated process, especially for non-expert users.
For example, to transfer files between two computers connected to different local area networks, it is necessary to configure each of the computers with the FTP (File Transport Protocol) address and the password of the remote computer.
If the users of the computers then wish to set up a connection between another two of their terminals, for example to download a video stream from a video server of the first user to the set-top box of the user of the other network, it is necessary to configure each of the terminals independently, the configuration of the first computers being such that it is not possible to avoid this task.

Multimedia content sharing via audio-video communication


A chatbot system, a method of operating a chatbot system, a mobile application and a method of operation of a mobile application for providing conversational communications between a user and a primary system via chatbot. The communications utilise a modified message comprising a main component and a supplementary component.

This invention relates to a chatbot system, a method of operating a chatbot system, a system comprising the chatbot system, a mobile application, and a method of method of operation of a mobile application.
Chatbots are becoming an increasingly popular online method for product and service providers to interact with their customers and users. Chatbots are a form of software agent and may be referred to as chatterbots, Artificial Conversational Entities, conversational agents, smart assistants, conversational User Interfaces (UI) or other such terms. A chatbot is a system that mimics conversation, either by voice or text, with a user so as to provide them with information and services and also receive information from the user. For example, users may ask a weather chatbot for a weather forecast, book tickets for travel or entertainment by accessing the chatbot for the relevant supplier or purchase products from retailers. Chatbots can also function as a user interface for primary software applications, for example, they can be used to record, update and query data in an accounting software application. Chatbots allow users to interact with product and service providers in a simple and intuitive manner.
Users typically access chatbots through a messaging service or chat service, for example, Slack®, Facebook® Messenger®, or Skype®. The operator of a primary service may provide a chatbot that operates through a messaging service, to provide a user interface to their systems. This can be convenient for a user as it allows them to access a wide array of information and services without leaving their messaging service, however, there are a number of drawbacks. For example, the functionality of the messaging service may be limited. The messaging channel may not be able to access user data that is stored on the phone. The messaging channel is limited in the way in can display information to the user, being limited to textual data (plain text, HTML or PDF). Finally, the data transmitted through the messaging app is not guaranteed to be secure, and in some cases, may be accessed or stored by the third-party channel provider.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present invention. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present invention.


A top-down method of fabricating vertically aligned Group III-V micro- and nanowires uses a two-step etch process that adds a selective anisotropic wet etch after an initial plasma etch to remove the dry etch damage while enabling micro/nanowires with straight and smooth faceted sidewalls and controllable diameters independent of pitch. The method enables the fabrication of nanowire lasers, LEDs, and solar cells.

Improving the performance of Group III-nitride (e.g., AlGaInN) based devices, including light-emitting diodes (LEDs), has been the intense focus of research and development efforts worldwide. While current LEDs are based on planar thin-film architectures, vertically aligned nanowires (also called nanorods or nanocolumns) are being explored as an alternative architecture. Several advantages of nanowire-based devices and LEDs have been recently reported. For example, nanowire-based LEDs can enhance light extraction due to light scattering, optical mode elimination, and efficient light out-coupling. See C. H. Kuo et al., IEEE Photonics Technology Letters 22, 257 (2010). Strain-relaxed, bottom-up nanowire growth also enables high crystalline quality with significantly reduced threading dislocation densities. See S. D. Hersee et al., Nano Lett. 6, 1808 (2006). Higher indium compositions, which are desired for longer green-red wavelength emission, can be achieved with nanowires because of their compliance properties and strain relief mechanisms. See Q. M. Li and G. T. Wang, Appl. Phys. Lett. 97, 181107 (2010); and T. Kuykendall et al., Nature Mater. 6, 951 (2007). Variability in the emission wavelengths across nanowires within an ensemble can lead to phosphor-free "white" LEDs. See H. W. Lin et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 97, 073101 (2010); and H. Sekiguchi, K. Kishino, and A. Kikuchi, Appl. Phys. Lett. 96, 231104 (2010). Additionally, suppressed quantum confined Stark effect (QCSE) and reduced droop in InGaN/GaN nanowires have also been reported. See C. Y. Wang et al., Opt. Express 16, 10549 (2008); and H. P. T. Nguyen et al., Nano Lett. 11, 1919 (2011). Finally, the geometry of nanowires allows them to act as lasing cavities, enabling nanosized lasers.
Growth of InGaN/GaN-based nanowire LEDs by bottom-up methods, including hydride vapor phase epitaxy and molecular beam epitaxy, have been demonstrated. See H.-M. Kim et al., Nano Lett. 4, 1059 (2004); H. W. Lin et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 97, 073101 (2010); H. P. T. Nguyen et al., Nano Lett. 11, 1919 (2011); and K. Kishino et al., "InGaN/GaN nanocolumn LEDs emitting from blue to red—art. no. 64730T," in Gallium Nitride Materials and Devices II, H. L. C. W. Morkoc, ed. (SPIE, Bellingham, Wash., 2007), pp. T4730-T4730. However, relatively low growth temperature and low V to III ratio are commonly used to promote anisotropic one-dimensional crystal growth. Metal catalyzed-grown nanowires also require narrow growth conditions which involves lower than optimal growth temperatures. See G. T. Wang et al., Nanotechnology 17, 5773 (2006). These growth conditions may introduce higher impurities and point defect densities than the conditions used for creating commercial-quality planar LEDs and provide less flexibility for adjusting growth parameters to optimize doping concentrations and other desired material properties. See A. A. Talin et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 92, 093105 (2008); and P. C. Upadhya et al., Semiconductor Science and Technology 25, 024017 (2010).
In contrast, nanowires fabricated by top-down methods are etched from planar thin film structures grown under optimized growth conditions, obviating these disadvantages. Tapered, non-faceted InGaN-based nanowire LEDs have been previously demonstrated by plasma etching planar LED structures. See C. Y. Wang et al., Opt. Express 16, 10549 (2008); and C. H. Chiu et al., Nanotechnoloqv, 445201 (2007). However, the top-down plasma etching leads to damaged, rough, and non-faceted sidewalls with defects, and leakage currents that limits performance. See C. Y. Wang et al., Opt. Express 16, 10549 (2008).
Therefore, the present invention is directed to a top-down method for fabricating vertically aligned Group III-V micro- or nanowires using a two-step etch process that adds a selective anisotropic wet etch after an initial plasma etch to remove the dry etch damage while enabling micro- and nanowires with straight and smooth faceted sidewalls and controllable diameters independent of pitch.

Method of fabricating vertically aligned group III-V nanowires


The optical device provides dispersion adjustment or compensation using resonant coupling between a first waveguide and a second waveguide which has a variable thickness and a significantly different index of refraction. The two waveguides are optically coupled about a lateral coupling surface, and as light propagates down the waveguide, it passes from one waveguide to the other at a predetermined position along the propagation axis depending on the thickness of the second waveguide. Mode converters are used at the input and output of the device to provide for more efficient operation. The first waveguide can be made of silica and the second waveguide of silicon, thus providing a differential in the index of refraction of about 2. For dispersion compensation, in which shorter wavelengths need to be retarded with respect to longer wavelengths, the profile of the thickness of the second waveguide is such that shorter wavelengths spend more time in the silicon than do longer wavelengths. The shorter wavelength components are thus slowed down more than the longer wavelength components in the optical communications signal.

One of the fundamental problems which exist in long haul high rate optical communications is chromatic dispersion of light pulses passing through fiber optic lines. This dispersion causes different wavelengths to travel through the optical waveguide at different speeds. An optical communications light pulse which is part of a bit stream is created by a transmission laser operating at a predetermined carrier optical frequency or wavelength (the words frequency, represented by f, and wavelength in vacuum, represented by l, will be used interchangeably, as is currently done in the art, with l related to f by the equation l=c/f, where c is the speed of light, viz. 299 792 458 m/s).
The pulse has a given intensity and duration which can be detected at a receiver located at an opposite end of the communications waveguide (typically the optic fiber) some distance away from the transmitter, perhaps a few to tens of kilometers away. The light pulse comprises spectral components covering a certain bandwidth Df, which is generally in the range 10-60 GHz in modern optical communications systems operating in the bit rate range of 2.5-10 Gb/s. In optical fibers used for communications, the group velocity associated with each spectral component varies with its optical frequency (or wavelength). This means that the lowfrequency spectral components of a light pulse do not travel at the same velocity as its high frequency components. This causes a light pulse initially injected into a fiber with duration Dt to broaden out (in others words to become "dispersed") to a duration Dt' after propagating through a certain length of optical fiber. As an example, in conventional fibers deployed over land, the dispersion is typically 17 ps/nm/km. This means that two spectral components separated by say 10 GHz at a carrier frequency of 193 000 GHz (l=1553.329 nm), corresponding therefore to a wavelength separation of 0.0804 nm, would undergo a differential delay (or dispersion) of 17 ps/nm/km times 0.0804 nm, i.e. 1.37 ps/km, or 137 ps after 100 km of fiber (the sign of the dispersion in conventional fibers is such that low frequency light travels at a lower group velocity than highfrequency light). Light pulses that may be initially 25 ps in duration in a 10 Gb/s optical communication system have spectral components that cover several tens of GHz. The time dispersion between the low- and the high-frequency spectral components of such a light pulse are therefore more than 137 ps after a 100-km stretch of fiber. Such a large amount amount of dispersion is intolerable since, the pulses being 100 ps apart, dispersion will make subsequent pulses start overlapping to a considerable degree and increase the bit error rate.
Therefore, dispersion causes a spreading of laser pulses over great distances (even in the most non-dispersive optic fibers) such that the pulse energy is spread out and lower-frequency spectral components trail behind higher-frequency components of the laser pulse.
When the bit time slot in an optical communication system is large enough, dispersion causes a small portion of the pulse energy to spill over into adjacent bit time slots. The pulse height at the receiver will be marginally lower, but still detectable as a bit, and empty bit slots (e.g. representing zeros) will contain small amounts of spill over light, which will be below the predetermined detection threshold. However, as the bit time slots are made smaller so as to increase the bit rate and increase transmission capacity, dispersion of a very short light pulse may significantly reduce the light intensity in the bit time slot and even cause enough spill over into adjacent empty bit time slots so as to cause difficulty in the detection of zeroes.
Dispersion thus produces the spreading of short optical pulses, and thus affects negatively the quality of a communication link. If the dispersion of a light pulse is great enough, the communication link utilizing the light pulses becomes unstable, and eventually, unusable.
In addition to problems in optical communications, dispersion is also a major problem in the generation of very short, high power optical laser pulses. The spreading of the pulses reduces the achieved peak power, and thus reduces the efficiency of the laser pulses.
Various attempts have been made to address the problem of dispersion in optical signals. Three basic approaches have been developed. The first approach is to pass the optical signal transmitted, which has suffered dispersion due to the optical transmission waveguide, through a length of waveguide having an opposite sign of dispersion at the communications wavelength before feeding the signal to the receiver. U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,710 to Tick et al. is an example of such a method. The second approach has been to use optical devices to separate the light pulse into its wavelength components, then to suject the separated components to different delays before recombining the components into a single dispersion compensated optic signal. U.S. Pat. No. 5,473,719 to Stone is an example of this approach. The third approach has been to use chirped in-fiber Bragg gratings to reflect each wavelength component at different points such that the reflected optical signal has been dispersion compensated. This approach is disclosed in a paper by Franqois Ouellette, titled "Dispersion cancellation using linearly chirped Bragg grating filters in optical waveguides", Optics Letters, vol. 12, pp. 847-849, October 1987. Experimental results have been reported in the paper by W. H. Loh, R. I. Laming, N. Robinson, A. Cavaciuti, F. Vaninetti, C. J. Anderson, M. N. Zervas, and M. J. Cole, titled "Dispersion compensation over distances in excess of 500 km for 10-Gb/s systems using chirped fiber gratings", IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol. 8, pp.944-946, July 1996.
Other known prior art attempts to resolve these problems arm disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,570,439 to Ido et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,568,583 to Akasaka et al; U.S. Pat. No. 5,559,920 to Chraplyvy et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,530,778 to Rast; U.S. Pat. No. 5,504,829 to Evans et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,448,674 to Vengsarkar et al.
Known dispersion compensators are bulky, generally limited to a single channel wavelength and/or have significant losses. The advantage of the dispersion management device proposed here is that it could me manufactured using integrated optic techniques so that it could be very compact and low-cost. In addition the taper lends itself very naturally to tayloring the dispersion as a function of wavelength in a way to match (and compensate) that of an optical fiber. In 10 Gb/s and higher bit rate system the variation of the dispersion with wavelength (from 16 ps/nm/km at 1530 nm to 17 ps/nm/km at 1580 nm, for example, in certain optical fibers) is a factor that is now considered. Our device can offer this wavelength taylored dispersion profile and can do so over very broad wavelength bands.

Tapered waveguide for optical dispersion compensation


A device for longitudinal adjustment of a binding for an alpine ski, in particular a front binding. The device comprises a base plate (9) on which the base (5) of the binding and a slide-rail fastened to the ski, along which the base plate (9) can slide longitudinally, are removably assembled so as to form a solid attachment. The base plate (9) incorporates a longitudinal positioning-locking mechanism and a control button (10) for the locking mechanism, accessible on a lateral edge of the base plate. The device comprises an arrangement for automatic blocking of the locking mechanism in its operative locked position, for as long as a voluntary maneuver is not performed in order to disengage the blocking arrangement. In particular, the housing (41) of the locking mechanism is flared, and the blocking arrangement comprises a finger (58) which cooperates with a groove (59).

In general, a boot is held in place on a ski by means of a front and a rear binding. One of these bindings, most frequently the rear one, is equipped with means allowing adjustment of its longitudinal position, in order to permit use of the ski with boots of different lengths.
In some cases, the two bindings incorporate means designed to adjust their longitudinal position. This is the case for some rental bindings, which are intended for use with a broad range of boots having very different lengths. The longitudinal adjustment of the two bindings thus makes it possible to adapt the ski to a determinate boot length, and to bring the middle of the boot into substantial coincidence, with the middle of the ski.
Different devices are known which allow this adjustment of the longitudinal position of the front binding. For example, Patent No. FR 2 578 534 describes a front binding whose base moves along a slide-rail. The means allowing adjustment of the longitudinal position of the base incorporate, in the base, lateral teeth which cooperate with slots in the slide-rail and a kind of cam which forces the teeth to engage in the slots. A device of this same type is described in Patent Application No. FR 2 632 200.
These devices require a tool for achieving longitudinal adjustment. Moreover, the base of the binding is specifically intended for this application, i.e., it is specially configured for the purpose of longitudinal adjustment.
In addition, Patent Application No. EP 169 315 discloses an adjustment device designed to equip a front binding. This device comprises a control lever whose actuation controls the insertion of a rod in one of the slots in a slide-rail. As in the preceding case, the device requires a specific configuration of the binding, i.e., the entire binding must be designed and produced based on the existence of this equipment.
French Patent No. 2 284 347 discloses an adjustment device comprising three main parts which move longitudinally in relation to each other. This device comprises, first, a base plate attached to the ski. A support plate is guided on the central part of the base plate, whose position is determined by a mobile slider carried by the base plate. Finally, a guide plate is guided on the lateral wings of the base plate and moves in relation to the support and against the force exerted by return springs.
The disadvantage of this device lies in its complexity. Indeed, it comprises three parts which slide in relation to each other.
Furthermore, this device is not practical, since the slider is carried by the element attached to the ski. It is not possible to manipulate the slider and shift the binding simultaneously with one hand.
Finally, this device cannot be used for all bindings, in particular for front bindings. In effect, the return springs belonging to the guide plate do not prove useful for these bindings. The device is actually designed for rear bindings and is intended to receive only the body of the rear binding, not the binding in its entirety.

Device for adjustment of the longitudinal position of an alpine binding


A nano-particulate reticulated foam-like structure, which includes particles having a size of 10-200 nanometers. The particles are joined together to form a reticulated foam-like structure. The reticulated foam-like structure is similar to the structure of carbon nano-foam. The nano-particulate reticulated foam-like structure may comprise a metal, such as a hydrogen storage ahoy, either a gas-phase thermal or an electrochemical hydrogen storage alloy. The nano-particulate reticulated foam-like structure may alternatively comprise a hydroxide such as nickel hydroxide or manganese hydroxide or an oxide, such as a silver oxide or a copper oxide. When the nano-particulate reticulated foam-like structure is a hydrogen storage alloy, the material exhibits substantial immunity to hydrogen cycling decrepitation and an increase in the reversible hydrogen storage capacity by reduction of trapped hydrogen by at least 10% as compared to the same alloy in bulk form.

One of the major problems with conventional hydrogen storage alloys is that upon cycling, the particles of the powdered hydrogen storage alloy tend to break apart upon absorption/desorption cycling. This breaking up or decrepitation can cause problems in the use of hydrogen storage alloys. Previous patents and applications have addressed this problem by container design, compartmentalization of the interior of the containers and internal thermal management systems. Another problem involves the irreversibility of some hydrogen storage in alloys. The present invention minimizes decrepitation by using the nano foam-like structure, which allows for a great reduction in pressure containment requirements and weight of the storage vessel holding the hydrogen storage material. Importantly the present invention does this using materials having proven hydrogen storage capabilities in a nano foam-like structure which gives extra degrees of freedom to gain more hydrogen storage sites, reversibly or otherwise. The present invention also increases the reversibility of hydrogen storage in some alloys. It does so via a unique reticulated foam-like structure formed of nano-scale particulate which solves kinetic issues, storage capacity issues, and cycle-life issues of gas phase hydrogen storage materials. The nano-scale foam has a structural integrity of their own and do not need a substrate to support them. This means that there can be two or three dimensionality of materials that are put into play which increases the number of available hydrogen sites (although substrates can be utilized which have their own wave functions and interact with the wave functions of the elements of the nano-foam). It should be noted that the increased catalytic activity of the present material, due not only to increased surface sites but also to their associated chemistry, leads to improved capacity and kinetics. The present reticulated foam-like structure is also useful beyond just hydrogen storage materials and can improve battery and fuel cell materials (both positive and negative electrodes), as well as making outstanding multi-functional catalytic materials.
The reticulated foam-like structure is fractal in nature and when purposefully broken up into smaller chunks, the nano-scale structure will not fracture. Thus the fractal structure is preserved. The surface area of the reticulated foam-like structure is as great as that of carbon nano-foam. Having fractal configurations the reticulated foam-like structure does not pack together the same as simple particles would.
Hydrogen for use in fuel cells and as a fuel in internal combustion engines is rapidly taking its place as the next major evolution in energy usage. Unfortunately, conventional means of safely and usefully storing hydrogen reversibly are currently very difficult and expensive. Such fuels are now stored in pressurized tanks or liquid form. We have chosen the solid state storage of hydrogen in hydride storage systems. Hydride storage is far safer than compressed hydrogen gas or liquid storage, and safer even than gasoline on an equivalent-energy basis.
In usage, hydrides have weight penalties versus compressed hydrogen. Additionally, the space limitations on motor vehicles require storage to be close to passengers, compounding such safety concerns. These storage limitations penalize not just on-board vehicle storage and vehicle range, but also the capacity for overall transportation and distribution of hydrogen versus gasoline or other existing fuels, and its storage prior to use. These limitations in turn limit where, how efficiently, and how cleanly hydrogen can be produced. For example, hydrogen generation onboard vehicles from methanol or gasoline reformers cuts total emissions only 7-35%, while steam reforming at service stations would reduce emissions by 40%, and remote generation would reduce emissions by 60-70%, given a practical and economical storage method. A better method of both on-board storing, and transporting and distributing, of hydrogen, including pure hydrogen fuel cell vehicles would have a significant and broad positive impact on this emerging new industry. Thus our material inventions in this area have been able to solve capacity, kinetics and lifetime issues of storage of hydrogen in solid state, but also they have enabled the solutions that are capable of solving the infrastructure problem since they can be transported by ordinary means and the hydrogen can be generated by renewable energy resources such as solar energy captured by triple junction photovoltaic devices, or even using conventional non-renewable sources of hydrogen of any kind.
The main problems of hydrogen fueled vehicles which use conventional high pressure storage hydrogen are vehicle range, safety, and hydrogen fuel availability. These problems are all in turn aspects of the problem of hydrogen storage. A hydrogen fueled vehicle system may achieve the same range as a gasoline ICE (a usual target being 380 miles), but 3-5 times the space and possibly far greater weight are required compared to gasoline. The extra space required also adds to real or perceived safety concerns. These space and weight penalties also affect the ease of transportation and distribution of, hydrogen, which in turn makes vehicle range concerns still more sensitive. The space and range limits, and associated safety concerns of high pressure hydrogen, represent the largest negatives for conventional hydrogen fueled vehicles. An all hydrogen vehicle based on the approach of Stanford R. Ovshinsky which uses either a fuel cell or a hydrogen burning internal combustion engine (both of which only require low pressure hydrogen fuel), in conjunction with Ovonic Nickel-Metal Hydride batteries has been proven to provide the range and capabilities needed for such a vehicle. The vehicle uses Ovonic solid state metal hydride storage for the hydrogen fuel supply.
Metal hydrides, in the form of metallic particles, which can also be multi-elemental, are used to store hydrogen in many different sizes and shaped containers. In order to facilitate the charging and discharging of the hydrogen, the metal hydride and, consequently, the container, needs to be cooled or heated. To facilitate good performance of the container (desorption rate, filling time, etc.), the inside of the container requires efficient heat exchange means to improve the charging/discharging kinetics.
Repeated absorption and desorption cycles typically result in the decrepitation of the metal hydride particles. Decrepitation occurs when the expansion of chunks or particles of the hydrogen storage alloy expand due to absorption of hydrogen causes greater stress/strain on the chunks beyond the elastic modulus of the alloy and the chunks fracture into smaller pieces. By virtue of the decrepitation, smaller particles of the alloy will settle due to gravity and a localized increase in packing fraction of the metallic particles is observed. Such increase in packing fraction, coupled with high static friction between particles and with particle expansion during absorption, can, in some cases, potentially create localized stresses on the containment vessel in which the alloy is stored. This localized densification has been successfully addressed by ECD Hydrogen Systems Company. The localized densification has been minimized so that it does not limit lifetime or any other vehicle consideration. The present invention provides another means for solving the localized densification problem which also allows for decreasing the weight of the containment system.
Further, some bulk hydrogen storage alloy materials initially absorb much more hydrogen than can be reversibly released (at useful temperatures). A portion of the initially absorbed hydrogen is "trapped" in storage sites which require a large amount of energy to release the stored hydrogen. The added degrees of freedom designed by the approach of the instant invention can release hydrogen sites that are not fully utilized and which do not normally store or release hydrogen at normal temperatures and pressures. Many of these prior art alloys are so called "room temperature" alloys which store and release hydrogen at temperatures between 20° C. and 30° C. Beneficially these alloys can store 2.5 to over 4 wt. % hydrogen. The approach of the present invention permits utilization of those portions of hydrogen storage that have not heretofore been accessible. A multi-functional foam combined with atomic engineering as achieved in our Ovonic Battery patents, which have enabled the present HEV industry can be extended to and utilized in solid state hydrogen storage materials and systems.
The advancement and enhancement of solid state hydrogen storage is the instant invention. Since hydrogen storage materials are adequate with regard to volumetric storage capacity, the object is to reduce weight and also make packaging of the hydrogen fuel more adaptable for the automobile inductry.

Reticulated foam-like structure formed of nano-scale particulate


A vision recognizing method includes a logarithmic polar coordinate transforming method including the steps of storing an input image f1(x, y); optically generating complex amplitude information f1(x, y)A(x, y)T(x, y) by multiplying the information of the input image by the product of phase information A(x, y) for performing a logarithmic polar coordinate transformation and amplitude information T(x, y), an amplitude of which changes according to distance between each point composing the amplitude information and origin of logarithmic polar coordinate; and Fourier-transforming the complex amplitude information f1(x, y)A(x, y)T(x, y). An optical information processing apparatus is used to carry out the method and includes a combination of lenses and liquid crystal displays.

The present invention relates to a method for performing a logarithmic polar coordinate transformation with a high accuracy by using an optical information processing apparatus and a vision recognizing method to be carried out by using the above method.
As a conventional art, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2-57118 has been proposed by the present inventor(s) to perform a logarithmic polar coordinate transformation by using an optical information processing apparatus.
FIG. 9 shows the fundamental construction of the conventional optical information processing apparatus. Reference numeral 1 denotes a television camera (hereinafter referred to as TV camera) capable of varying zoom ratio; 2 denotes a first liquid crystal display for displaying an image picked up by the TV camera 1; 3 denotes a laser diode; 4 denotes a collimator lens which makes beams emitted by the laser diode 3 parallel with each other; 6 denotes a second liquid crystal display adjacent to the first liquid crystal display 2; and 7 denotes a lens. The second liquid crystal display 6 is disposed on the first focal plane of the lens 7. Reference numeral 8 denotes a photoelectric converting device which is disposed on the second focal plane of the lens 7. Reference numeral 309 denotes a read only memory (ROM) onto which data of a computer-generated hologram calculated beforehand with each pixel of the second liquid crystal display 6 being a sampling point is written, i.e., an applied voltage corresponding to the transmission coefficient of each pixel is written to perform a logarithmic polar coordinate transformation of an input image.
The operation of the conventional art optical information processing apparatus constructed as above is described. First, when an object is picked up by the TV camera 1, the image thereof is displayed on the first liquid crystal display 2. The first liquid crystal display 2 is irradiated by coherent beams emitted by the laser diode 3 and made to be parallel with each other by the collimator lens 4. At this time, the phase information of a phase filter for optically transforming the input image in logarithmic polar coordinate is displayed on the second liquid crystal display 6 in the form of a computer-generated hologram by spatially modulating the transmission coefficient of each pixel of the second crystal display 6 with data written onto the ROM 309 being an input signal to the second liquid crystal display 6. For example, the method for generating the phase information of a phase filter is described in "Real-time deformation invariant optical pattern recognition using coordinate transformations" written by David Casasent et al., APPLIED OPTICS, vol. 26, No. 5, March, 1, 1987.
Accordingly, the input image displayed on the first liquid crystal display 2 and the phase information for optically transforming the input image in logarithmic polar coordinate are superimposed on each other on the second liquid crystal display 6. Since the second liquid crystal display 6 is disposed on the first focal plane of the lens 7, the optical product of the input image of the object and the phase information for optically transforming the input image in the logarithmic polar coordinate is optically Fourier-transformed by the lens 7, and an image obtained by transforming the input image of the object in the logarithmic polar coordinate is detected by the photoelectric converting device 8.
FIG. 10(b) shows the result of a computer simulation of a doughnut-shaped input image shown in FIG. 10(a) performed by the optical information processing apparatus having the above-described construction. The size of each dot of FIG. 10(b) shows the intensity of an image obtained by transforming the input image in the logarithmic polar coordinate. The region enclosed by a rectangle indicates a strict solution.
In recognizing an object which flows on a production line of, for example, a factory, the object can be accurately recognized by performing a pattern matching of the object image and a reference pattern by additionally using an optical correlator in carrying out a logarithmic polar coordinate transformation method which uses the above-described conventional optical information processing apparatus. This is because the value of the object image relative to that of the reference pattern does not change even though the object makes a scale change or rotates.
As described above, a logarithmic polar coordinate transformation has invariability for the scale change or the rotational movement of the object, but does not have invariability for the parallel movement thereof. Therefore, the object cannot be accurately recognized when the object makes a parallel movement. Regarding this disadvantage, it is known that the value of the object image relative to that of the reference pattern is not changed by performing a pattern matching by Fourier-transforming an input image and then transforming the Fourier-transformed input image in logarithmic polar coordinate even though the object makes a scale change, a rotational movement or a parallel movement. Thus, the object can be accurately recognized.
However, according to the construction as described above, the intensity of the coordinate-transformed image becomes lower as approaching the origin of logarithmic polar coordinate and higher in being far from the origin thereof as shown in FIG. 10(b). That is, an intensity gradient is generated in the coordinate-transformed image in the radial direction thereof and therefore, the coordinate transformation cannot be made accurately.
In addition, when the above construction is used as the pre-processing of the pattern matching of the object image, a vision cannot be recognized accurately because the coordinate transformation cannot be made accurately.

Logarithmic polar coordinate transforming method, vision recognizing method, and optical information processing apparatus

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A bulk acoustic wave (BAW) resonator, comprises: a first electrode formed on a substrate; a piezoelectric layer formed on the first electrode; a second electrode formed on the first piezoelectric layer; a non-piezoelectric layer formed on the first electrode and adjacent to the piezoelectric layer; and a bridge formed between the non-piezoelectric layer and the first or second electrode.

Transducers generally convert electrical signals to mechanical signals or vibrations, and/or mechanical signals or vibrations to electrical signals. Acoustic transducers, in particular, convert electrical signals to acoustic waves and acoustic waves to electrical signals using inverse and direct piezoelectric effects. Acoustic transducers generally include acoustic resonators, such as thin film bulk acoustic resonators (FBARs), surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonators or bulk acoustic wave (BAW) resonators, and may be used in a wide variety of electronic applications, such as cellular telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), electronic gaming devices, laptop computers and other portable communications devices. For example, FBARs may be used for electrical filters and voltage transformers.
An acoustic resonator can be formed by a layer of piezoelectric material between two conductive plates (electrodes), which can be formed on a thin membrane. Such a resonator can generate acoustic waves that propagate in lateral directions when stimulated by an applied time-varying electric field, as well as higher order harmonic mixing products. The laterally propagating modes and the higher order harmonic mixing products may have a deleterious impact on functionality.
What is needed, therefore, is a structure useful in mitigating acoustic losses at the boundaries of the BAW resonator to improve mode confinement in the region of overlap of the top electrode, the piezoelectric layer, and the bottom electrode of a BAW resonator (commonly referred to as the active region).

Bulk acoustic resonator comprising non-piezoelectric layer and bridge

Avago Technologies Wireless IP (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.


Disclosed are a hybrid heat sink and a hybrid heat sink assembly for a power module. The hybrid heat sink comprises a base provided with at least one power module on one side thereof, a first heat dissipation unit being a first heat dissipation fin group which is composed of a plurality of heat dissipation fins intervally arranged and is located on the other side of the base, and a second heat dissipation unit comprising a plurality of heat pipes and a second heat dissipation fin group. Each of the heat pipes comprises an evaporating section provided in the base and close to the power module, a condensing section, and an adiabatic section located between the evaporating section and the condensing section and comprises an extension portion and a folding portion, the second heat dissipation fin group is provided on the condensing sections.

With rapid development of electronic technology, a power density of a power device becomes higher and higher. When the power device is rapidly and frequently switched between turn-on and turn-off, yielded heat is also more and more. In order to assure the power device to work normally, it must dissipate heat in time and efficiently. Since if the heat yielded by the power device can not be dissipated in time and efficiently, a temperature of the power device will be raised, the effectiveness will be lowered and the service life will be reduced in an unserious case, it would result in failure of the power device or device explosion in a serious case. Therefore, the power device package factory and the user of the power device are always puzzled in the heat dissipation problem. High efficient heat dissipation technology is one of important respects always kept on research and development in the electronic industry.
At present, a power module with a large power (the power module is a module which is formed by combining power electronic devices in a certain function and then encapsulating them), such as a SVG (Static Var Generator), a MVD (Medium Voltage Drive), an UPS (Uninterruptible Power System), and a wind power converter, and so on, is mainly composed of an IGBT (insulated gate bipolar transistor) device. A conventional heat dissipation manner is to use an all-metal type heat sink. As shown in FIG. 1, a power device 10 is secured on one side of a heat sink base 20, and a heat dissipation fin group 30 composed of a plurality of heat dissipation fins is on the other side of the heat sink base 20, engagement of the heat sink base 20 and the heat dissipation fin group 30 employs an extrusion formed integral structure or an insert fin type structure or a welding fin structure. In order to make heat yielded by the power device 10 to be efficiently transferred to the heat dissipation fin group 30 and then dissipated to air, it is required that each of the power devices is reasonably arranged on the heat sink base 10 so as to make a temperature of the heat sink base 20 relatively uniform and promote the efficiency of the heat sink. However, as a result, a distance between the power devices is relatively large, electrical connection distance therebetween is increased, the leakage inductance is increased, and efficiency is relatively low, it has unfavourable effect on the performance and service life of the power devices, and more unfavourable especially for parallel topology of a plurality of the IGBTs. And for a power module with large power, since thermal flux of a single power device is large, the heat dissipation can not be solved in the conventional all-metal heat dissipation manner.

Hybrid heat sink and hybrid heat sink assembly for power module


A semiconductor device including a selectively nitrided gate insulating layer may be fabricated by a method that includes forming a first gate insulating layer on a substrate having a first region and a second region, performing a nitridation process on the first gate insulating layer, removing the first gate insulating layer from at least a portion of the first region to expose at least a portion of the substrate, forming a second gate insulating layer on at least the exposed portion of the first region of the substrate, thermally treating the first and second gate insulating layers in an oxygen atmosphere, forming a high-k dielectric on the first and second gate insulating layers, and forming a metal gate electrode on the high-k dielectric.

Embodiments of the inventive concept relate to a semiconductor device having a selectively nitrided gate insulating layer and to a method of fabricating the selectively nitrided gate insulating layer.
A semiconductor device may include a gate insulating layer and a gate electrode, which may be formed on a substrate with n-channel metal oxide semiconductor (NMOS) and p-channel metal oxide semiconductor (PMOS) regions. Transistors provided on the NMOS region may be configured to have different properties from those on the PMOS region.

Semiconductor device having selectively nitrided gate insulating layer and method of fabricating the same


A temperature-based, rate-modulated cardiac pacemaker having means for variably controlling the stimulation rate of the heart according to multiple temperature characteristics of the blood referenced to multiple moving baseline temperatures. A target rate is periodically calculated by obtaining a weighted sum of the following rate components: (1) the magnitude of a decrease in temperature below resting temperature, a first moving baseline, (2) the magnitude of an increase in temperature above a local minimum temperature, a second moving baseline, (3) the magnitude of an increase in the resting baseline above a daily minimum temperature, a third moving baseline, and (4) the absolute value of the rate of change of temperature. The resting temperature is preferably calculated over a longer interval than the local minimum temperature but a much shorter interval than the daily minimum temperature. A positive rate of change of temperature is distinguished from a negative rate of change of temperature and is used differently in the calculation of target rate. The target rate is not directly applied as the new pacing rate but is instead averaged with the previous rate in order to provide smoother transitions between pacing rates. An intermediate rate limit is included in addition to lower and upper rate limits, and rank filtering is employed in the determination of rate components.

The present invention relates to rate-modulated cardiac therapy devices, and, more particularly, to temperature-based, rate-modulated cardiac therapy devices.
Rate-modulated pacemakers, also known as rate-responsive or rate-adaptive pacemakers, stimulate cardiac activity, generally on demand, at a rate determined at least in part by a sensed physiological parameter indicative of required cardiac output. A healthy heart responds to exercise and stress by increasing cardiac output through increased heart rate and stroke volume, and rate-modulated pacemakers more closely approximate this natural response by automatically varying heart rate to meet metabolic demand. Such pacemakers represent a significant advance over early pacemakers, which paced the heart at a single, constant rate, typically near 70 beats per minute. Some patients dependent on fixed-rate pacemakers exhibit limited exercise tolerance because the natural increase in heart rate associated with exercise is not present. While the myocardium is sometimes healthy enough to increase cardiac output by increasing stroke volume, not all patients have adequate response with stroke volume increases alone. Increasing the pacing rate during exercise significantly increases cardiac output and, consequently, exercise tolerance.
Because of its potential in cardiac care, rate modulation is the subject of extensive, ongoing research. A number of biologic parameters have been proposed as indicators of the onset and degree of exercise, including venous pH, Q-T interval, respiratory rate, body motion, stroke volume, venous oxygen saturation, evoked electrogram analysis, pre-ejection period, pressure, and temperature. A review of the clinical experience and basic research in this area is found in Fearnot et al., "A Review of Pacemakers that Physiologically Increase Rate: The DDD and Rate-Responsive Pacemakers," Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases 29(2):145-164, 1986. Each proposed parameter has both advantages and disadvantages for control of pacing rate. Problems with sensitivity, accuracy, and transducer reliability and power consumption impede the practical implementation of some of these techniques. Moreover, optimal pacemaker response is difficult to attain because physiological parameters which vary in response to exercise and stress often exhibit similar variations in response to other conditions not affecting cardiac output requirements. Blood temperature, for example, is affected by factors other than metabolic activity, such as environmental ambient temperatures encountered during swimming, bathing and other activities, the temperature of ingested food and drink, changes in posture, and fever. Algorithms capable of differentiating between certain true and false indications of exercise are difficult to design because responses to many conditions vary widely from patient to patient. Furthermore, algorithm efficacy is difficult to verify, particularly in human tests, and an algorithm designed to solve one problem may actually introduce others.
It has long been known on a qualitative level that a relationship exists between some body temperatures and heart rate, but it was not until the mid-1970s that attempts were made to modify pacemaker pulse generator circuitry to respond in even a primitive fashion to temperature. Only in this decade has quantitative analysis of the temperature-rate relationship been performed in an effort to derive and implement accurate rate-control algorithms for a temperature-based, rate-modulated pacemaker.
An early attempt to respond to temperature, described in Fischell U.S. Pat. No. 3,867,950, involved measurement of body temperature. The pulse generating circuitry in the pacemaker was designed such that the output pulse rate would vary as a function of battery voltage and also as a function of body temperature as measured at the pacemaker case. A capacitor having a high temperature coefficient was used for temperature sensing, and the pacemaker's response to temperature was a fixed response corresponding to the temperature characteristics of the capacitor.
In German patent application No. 2609365, Csapo suggested the alternative use of either central body temperature or central blood temperature as a suitable parameter for the control of heart rate. The application discloses a temperature sensor lodged in the heart and connected as a base resistor in a blocking oscillator of the pulse generator to control the oscillator frequency and thereby the heart rate as a fixed function of instantaneous temperature. As with the Fischell pacemaker, variations in pacing rate with the proposed Csapo pacemaker would be solely dependent on the temperature characteristic of a selected hardware component, in this case a selected thermistor or other temperature sensor serving as the base resistor. Changes in central blood temperature during exercise were also the subject of a study reported by Csapo et al. in an article entitled "Auto-Regulation of Pacemaker Rate by Blood Temperature," presented at the VIII World Congress of Cardiology in Tokyo Japan, Sept. 17-23, 1978. Csapo et al. suggested in this article that the central blood temperature should regulate the heart rate along an S-curve, and the article includes a graph of an S-curve relationship between heart rate and temperature and also an equation, HR=81+21 tang (2X-71.2).
In Cook et al. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,436,092 and 4,543,954, defined specific algorithms for a temperature-based exercise-responsive cardiac pacemaker. An important teaching of these patents is that the rate of change of temperature, as opposed to the instantaneous temperature, can be used as an indicator of exercise. Another important teaching is that cardiac rate may be calculated as a combination of rate components which individually vary in response to temperature conditions. In the preferred embodiments of the inventions described in these patents, venous blood temperature in the right ventricle of the heart is measured and processed according to an algorithm which represents the mathematical function between right ventricular blood temperature and heart rate in a normally functioning heart.
It is now known that two major mechanisms related to metabolic activity produce significant changes in blood temperature. The first is an increase in blood temperature due to increased metabolism and therefore heat generation during physical activity or emotional stress. The rate of rise is partly dependent upon workload. When the increased metabolism ceases, temperature returns to resting levels. The second mechanism producing a significant change in blood temperature is the response to the onset of activity or anticipation thereof resulting in an abrupt decrease in temperature. This is due to vasoactivity and blood flow redistribution to the cooler peripheral skeletal muscles and skin. An algorithm responsive to the initial drop in temperature was reported by Sellers et al. in the March-April, 1985 edition of Pace magazine, in a poster abstract entitled "Central Venous Temperature Profiles for a Pacemaker Algorithm." Subsequently, another algorithm responsive to the initial drop in temperature was disclosed in Alt et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,719,920. The algorithm in the Alt et al. pacemaker appears to recognize an exercise-induced temperature dip on the basis of the current operating state of the pacemaker and three threshold-based criteria.
The blood temperature response caused by the above-mentioned major mechanisms may be separated into several components to produce a normal heart rate response. One component is the baseline resting temperature (T.sub.0) which is the temperature of the patient at rest. Resting temperature varies with time of day, baseline metabolic state, and thermoregulatory balance. Another component is the temperature change with respect to the baseline temperature (.DELTA.T), which increases as activity continues and current temperature rises. A third component is the rate of temperature change (dT/dt or (.DELTA.T/.DELTA.t), i.e., the temperature change in a given interval, whether a fixed time interval or some other interval such as a cardiac cycle. Positive values of this component have been shown to be related to work load and oxygen uptake under certain conditions. Certain combinations of particular temperature-based rate components are disclosed in the aforementioned Cook et al. patents and combinations of similar components are incorporated into commercially available pacemakers such as the Kelvin.RTM. 500 pacemaker available from Cook Pacemaker Corporation of Leechburg, Penn.
The Kelvin.RTM. 500 uses the rate of change of temperature, either alone or in conjunction with relative temperature rise above a moving baseline, to identify exercise. The baseline represents resting temperature and is calculated as the second minimum sample of eight temperature samples equally spaced in time, preferably over approximately a two-hour period. When the algorithm determines a significant change from baseline, representing exercise onset, pacing rate is adjusted starting from a programmable base rate. Temperature decrease at the onset of exercise causes pacing rate to increase gradually to a programmed intermediate rate which is maintained for a programmed period of from 2 to 10 minutes. When temperature starts to increase, confirming exercise, the pacemaker algorithm overrides the intermediate rate and gradually increases rate to a programmed upper rate. The algorithm can independently increase heart rate based solely on the rise in temperature if no drop occurs, or based solely on the drop in temperature if no rise occurs, or combinations thereof. The sensitivity of the algorithm to temperature changes and to the rate of rise or fall of temperature is programmable. The algorithm detects the decrease in temperature after peak exercise and decreases heart rate gradually to a programmed lower rate. Pacing rate is changed by incrementing or decrementing the R-to-R interval in steps of 20, 40 or 60 milliseconds, with the ability to further adjust the rate of pacing rate changes by programming either 5 or 10 seconds as the time interval between the step changes in pacing rate. Positive and negative rates of change of temperature are separately compared against a threshold value to determine the presence or absence of an exercise state. In the case of a positive rate of change of temperature, a value proportional thereto is added to a value proportional to the temperature rise above baseline, and pacing rate is incremented if the sum exceeds the threshold. In the case of a negative rate of change of temperature, a value proportional thereto (by a different scale factor than for the positive rate of change) is compared directly to the threshold.
Threshold detection is also the manner in which the initial dip in temperature at the onset of exercise is processed in the above-referenced Alt et al. pacemaker. More specifically, as described in the Alt et al. patent, the pacemaker employs several threshold-based criteria for interpreting a drop in a patient's central venous blood temperature as indicative of the commencement of exercise by a patient: (1) the absolute drop must exceed a certain minimum amount in the range of 0.12.degree. to 0.25.degree. C., (2) the time rate of change of the drop (.DELTA.T/.DELTA.t) must exceed a predetermined threshold slope, preferably in the range of from 0.12.degree. to 0.20.degree. C. per minute, and (3) the patient's heart rate must not exceed a predetermined threshold, preferably 85 beats per minute. At least the first two thresholds may be selected for a particular patient. The pacemaker's response to commencement of exercise is to abruptly increase stimulation rate by a step increase of selected magnitude, and to maintain that higher rate for a predetermined period of time followed by gradual reversion back toward the original rate. The magnitude of the drop and the magnitude of the rate of change of temperature are of no further significance. It is apparently only the relative magnitude of each, i.e., the magnitude relative to a threshold, as opposed to the absolute magnitude, which is considered useful by Alt et al. as a factor in setting pacing rate.
Significant progress has been made in temperature-based, rate modulation, but the known algorithms are still subject to improvement in the form of a more rapid and accurate algorithm more closely resembling the normal heart response to a variety of desirable and undesirable conditions experienced by pacemaker patients.

Temperature-based, rate-modulated cardiac therapy apparatus and method

Medical Engineering and Development Institute, Inc.


An encoder includes a separation unit separating image data into a plurality of data blocks, a variable length encoding unit variable-length-encoding the data blocks separated by the separation unit so as to generate variable length code sequences, a code block generating unit generating code blocks variable-length-decoded in parallel from a start end and a termination end by combining two variable length code sequences generated by the variable length encoding unit, and a bit stream generating unit generating a bit stream such that a boundary between the code blocks is recognized.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an encoder for variable-length-encoding image data, an encoding method and a recording medium having an encoding program recorded thereon, a decoder for variable-length-decoding variable-length-encoded data, and a decoding method and a recording medium having a decoding program recorded thereon, which are suitably applied to a decoder and an encoder used for various encoding systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the related art, generally, image data is encoded by an encoder so as to be recorded or distributed and is decoded by a decoder when an image is displayed. Recently, information amount of image data is increased with high accuracy of an image and thus encoded image data (hereinafter, referred to as a bit stream) is decoded at a high speed.
Therefore, technology of separating a bit stream into slices and simultaneously decoding a plurality of slices by the plurality of decoders arranged in parallel is suggested (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-319943).

Encoder, decoder, encoding method and decoding method, and recording medium


A method for controlling in-plane uniformity of a substrate processed by plasma-assisted process in a reactor, includes: supplying a principal gas to a reaction space, and discharging radially the principal gas from the reaction space through an annular duct; and supplying an secondary gas to the reaction space from an area in close proximity to an outer periphery of a susceptor, outside an outer circumference of the substrate as viewed from above, so as to flow at least partially in an inward direction passing the outer circumference of the substrate, reversing the direction of the secondary gas to flow toward the annular duct in a vicinity of the outer circumference of the substrate, and discharging radially the secondary gas together with the principal gas from the reaction space through the annular duct.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method for processing a substrate by plasma-assisted process, such as plasma-assisted deposition and plasma-assisted etching, particularly to a method for controlling in-plane uniformity of a substrate subjected to such processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD), RF power is an important parameter for controlling the quality of a film depositing by PEALD. In general, high RF power and prolonged duration of plasma exposure contribute to good quality of a film. However, according to the present inventors' experience, when RF power is high, an area of the film near the outer periphery has a thickness greater than that of other areas of the film, i.e., in-plane uniformity of thickness of a film is degraded. Although the reasons for such in-plane unevenness of thickness of a film are unknown, the present inventors expect that unevenness of thickness may be caused by uneven adsorption of a material over a substrate surface due to uneven distributions of plasma and/or uneven activation on the substrate surface, or insufficient purge around the outer periphery of the substrate. Further, in trimming photoresist and carbon film, the etch rate of a film on a substrate is higher near the outer periphery of the substrate than inner areas of the substrate.
The above and any discussion of problems and solutions involved in the related art has been included in this disclosure solely for the purposes of providing a context for the present invention, and should not be taken as an admission that any or all of the discussion were known at the time the invention was made.

Method for controlling in-plane uniformity of substrate processed by plasma-assisted process


Disclosed is a method for producing di(2-ethylhexyl)terephthalate (DOTP), which comprises subjecting terephthalic acid and 2-ethylhexanol to esterification in the presence of a chelate catalyst. The method of the present invention increases the reaction rate, improves the filtration efficiency of the ester product and yields DOTP with low APHA.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method for producing di(2-ethylhexyl) terephthalate, and more particularly, to a method for producing di(2-ethylhexyl) terephthalate using a chelated catalyst of titanium or zirconium.
2. Background Technology
Di(2-ethylhexyl) terephthalate (also called diisooctyl terephthalate, DOTP for short) is a nontoxic plasticizer applicable to food containers and features good compatibility with polymeric materials such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), low volatility, and excellent electric properties. DOTP may be prepared from 2-ethylhexanol and terephthalic acid (TPA) under pressurized conditions in the presence of a catalyst.
In the prior art, in order to increase the efficiency of esterification of terephthalic acid, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. JP2004300078A, a technology is disclosed, where during the esterification for preparing terephthalic acid di-esters, a high boiling point solvent is used to increase the esterification temperature, which accelerates the esterification.
Furthermore, the aforesaid esterification of terephthalic acid is an equilibrium reaction; if the byproduct water produced in the production can be removed from the reaction, the equilibrium will remove towards the product side (i.e. ester side); and if water is not removed from the reaction system during the reaction, not only the catalyst is deactivated, but also the reaction becomes very slow after the equilibrium movement reaches a certain conversion rate. To solve this problem, for example, Chinese Patent CN1225455C disclosed a method for producing polybasic acid esters, where in the reaction zone in the presence of an esterification catalyst, an acid or its anhydride and an alcohol component are heated, and during the reaction, the vapor containing the alcohol and water is separated into an alcohol rich distillate and a water rich distillate by vapor distillation. The alcohol rich distillate is returned back to the reaction zone and the water rich distillate exits the reaction process. As such, the essentially quantitative conversion rate can be rapidly adjusted.
Currently, good methods for preparing DOTP are still badly needed and have yet to be further developed.

Method for producing di(2-ethylyhexyl) terephthalate