The invention is characterized as a data processing architecture and method for multi-stage processing of mail, using knowledge based techniques. The system includes OCR-scanning a multipart address field of a mail piece at a sending location, the address field including at least two portions, a first stage routing portion (destination city, state, country, zip code) and a second stage routing portion (destination street address, building floor, corporate addressee internal routing). At the sending location, the image of the entire address field is captured by an OCR head and stored in memory. A serial number is printed on the mail piece. The first routing portion is then converted into sorting signals to sort the mail piece to a truck at the sending location which is to be dispatched to the city, state and country indicated in the first stage routing portion. Then, while the mail piece is in transit by truck to the destination city, the image of the second stage routing portion is analyzed by a knowledge base processor to resolve street addresses, building floor, corporate addressee internal routing information and addressee name. The deferred execution of the analysis by the knowledge base processor is available because of the sporadic volume of mail pieces submitted to the sytem. While the mail piece is in transit on the truck, the knowledge processor completes its analysis and is able to transmit by electronic communications link to the destination location, the information that the mail piece is on its way and the second stage routing information needed to automatically sort and deliver the mail piece to its corporate addressee.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to the area of automated mail processing and more particularly to the use of optical character recognition and knowledge base systems methods in mail processing to effect correction of optical recognition errors, aid an operator in disambiguating address misreads, and validating the correctness of the address down to the delivery sequence.
2. Background Art
In the United States in 1988 approximately 160 billion pieces of mail were delivered by the United States Postal Service. The volume of mail is growing at a compound rate of approximately 5% a year. To handle such massive volume of mail, several methods utilizing automated means have been experimented with and installed on a limited operational basis. One means of automated mail processing utilized today revolves around optical character recognition (OCR). The OCR is capable of scanning the address area on an envelope and interpreting it into machine-readable alphabetic and numeric characters. State of the art optical character recognition is restricted to machine printed addresses and is unusable for handwritten or handprinted characters. Additionally, OCR is prone to misread characters and on occasion has difficulty in discerning lines in the address block and, when there is interference on the face of the envelope, is unable to find the address box. When a misread occurs, the mail piece cannot be properly sorted and either is rejected or an attempt is made to enter the correct address read by utilizing the directory of the street or city names. Since most mail reading OCRs process mail pieces at the rate of 600 to 800 per minute, the amount of time in which misread correction can be performed limits the correction to only the most superficial errors and does not allow for validation of the OCR read of the address using all constituent information in the address box. For example, no attempt is made to determine that a given street actually exists within a certain zip code and that the city/state match the zip code and above all that the addressee actually exists at this location. The inability to do complete validation and verification on the OCR scan has limited the utility of OCRs to mainly reading the outgoing city/state/country/destination which is normally found on the bottom most line of the address box. The other lines of the address, which can number an additional five lines and the information to sort a letter down to delivery sequence within a building, cannot at this time be scanned, OCRed, validated and used for sortation down to delivery sequences.
Without the ability to validate the correctness of the OCR interpretation of all lines in the address block, the reliability of sortation down to delivery sequence drops dramatically. This leads to the situation where a major part displaceable cost in the mail sortation process results in the handling of mail after it arrives at its destination post office, whereas the reliability of OCR at that point drops dramatically to approximately 25% reliability.
An alternative to the use of OCRs is the preprinting of envelopes with a bar code of phosphorescent ink encoding that allows machines to simply and accurately read address information off the envelope without having to do optical character recognition. The methods related to pre-printing envelopes however, fall short since they are only a relatively small fraction of the mail volume and hence from a logistics standpoint only provide useful sortation to the destination post office and cannot substantiate a large enough volume of mail to make it worthwhile to process the mail automatically down to the delivery sequence.
The invention disclosed herein addresses the problem of performing with reliability, mechanical separation of mail down to the "delivery sequence" utilizing optical character recognition and image scanning techniques coupled with knowledge based operator-assisted disambiguation and validation of the address data down to the delivery sequence. The invention also includes a method to do this off-line to re-associate the sortation information with the mail piece and optimize mail processing by utilizing apriori knowledge of the mail distribution.

System and method for deferred processing of OCR scanned mail

International Business Machines Corporation


An awl member having an elongate shank includes a shank first end spaced from a shank second end, the shank second end having a handle fixedly mounted thereto coaxially aligned with the shank, with the shank first end including an internally threaded bore threadedly receiving and engaging an insert, with the insert including a polymeric lock projection extending through an externally threaded portion of said insert.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of invention relates to tool structure, and more particularly pertains to a new and improved changeable tip awl wherein the same is arranged for the ease of replacement of awl tips relative to the awl structure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Awls of various types have been utilized in the prior art, with the prior art indicating the use of replaceable structure such as in a soldering gun, as indicated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,059,769, with tools such as screw drivers and the like such as indicated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,051,876 having a removable tip structure.
The instant invention attempts to overcome deficiencies of the prior art by providing for an awl having replaceable tips arranged for mounting in a secured relationship relative to an associated shank structure and in this respect, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.


The present disclosure is directed to an additive mixture and method for controlling nitrogen oxide(s) by adding the additive mixture to a feed material prior to combustion.

Coal is an abundant source of energy. While coal is abundant, the burning of coal results in significant pollutants being released into the air. In fact, the burning of coal is a leading cause of smog, acid rain, global warning, and toxins in the air (Union of Concerned Scientists). In an average year, a single, typical coal plant generates 3.7 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), 10,000 tons of sulfur dioxide (SO2), 10,200 tons of nitric oxide (NOx), 720 tons of carbon monoxide (CO), 220 tons of volatile organic compounds, 225 pounds of arsenic and many other toxic metals, including mercury.
Emissions of NOx include nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Free radicals of nitrogen (N2) and oxygen (O2) combine chemically primarily to form NO at high combustion temperatures. This thermal NOx tends to form even when nitrogen is removed from the fuel. When discharged to the air, emissions of NO oxidize to form NO2, which tends to accumulate excessively in many urban atmospheres. In sunlight, the NO2 reacts with volatile organic compounds to form ground level ozone, eye irritants and photochemical smog.
Exhaust-after-treatment techniques can reduce significantly NOx emissions levels using various chemical or catalytic methods. Such methods are known in the art and involve selective catalytic reduction (SCR) or selective noncatalytic reduction (SNCR). Such after-treatment methods typically require some type of molecular oxygen reductant, such as ammonia, urea (CH4N2O), or other nitrogenous agent, for removal of NOx emissions.
SCR uses a solid catalyst surface to convert NOx to N2. These solid catalysts are selective for NOx removal and do not reduce emissions of CO and unburned hydrocarbons. Large catalyst volumes are normally needed to maintain low levels of NOx and inhibit NH3 breakthrough. The catalyst activity depends on temperature and declines with use. Normal variations in catalyst activity are accommodated only by enlarging the volume of catalyst or limiting the range of combustion operation. Catalysts may require replacement prematurely due to sintering or poisoning when exposed to high levels of temperature or exhaust contaminants. Even under normal operating conditions, the SCR method requires a uniform distribution of NH3 relative to NOx in the exhaust gas. NOx emissions, however, are frequently distributed non-uniformly, so low levels of both NOx and NH3 breakthrough may be achieved only by controlling the distribution of injected NH3 or mixing the exhaust to a uniform NOx level.
SCR catalysts can have other catalytic effects that can undesirably alter flue gas chemistry for mercury capture. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) can be catalytically oxidized to sulfur trioxide, SO3, which is undesirable because it can cause problems with the operation of the boiler or the operation of air pollution control technologies, including the following: interferes with mercury capture on fly ash or with activated carbon sorbents downstream of the SCR; reacts with excess ammonia in the air preheater to form solid deposits that interfere with flue gas flow; and forms an ultrafine sulfuric acid aerosol, which is emitted out the stack.
SCR is performed typically between the boiler and air (pre) heater and, though effective in removing nitrogen oxides, represents a major retrofit for coal-fired power plants. SCR commonly requires a large catalytic surface and capital expenditure for ductwork, catalyst housing, and controls. Expensive catalysts must be periodically replaced, adding to ongoing operational costs.
Although SCR is capable of meeting regulatory NOx reduction limits, additional NOx removal prior to the SCR is desirable to reduce the amount of reagent ammonia introduced within the SCR, extend catalyst life and potentially reduce the catalyst surface area and activity required to achieve the final NOx control level. For systems without SCR installed, a NOx trim technology, such as SNCR, combined with retrofit combustion controls, such as low NOx burners and staged combustion, can be combined to achieve regulatory compliance.
SNCR is a retrofit NOx control technology in which ammonia or urea is injected post-combustion in a narrow temperature range of the flue path. SNCR can optimally remove up to 20 to 40% of NOx. It is normally applied as a NOx trim method, often in combination with other NOx control methods. It can be difficult to optimize for all combustion conditions and plant load. The success of SNCR for any plant is highly dependent on the degree of mixing and distribution that is possible in a limited temperature zone. Additionally, there can be maintenance problems with SNCR systems due to injection lance pluggage and failure.
Recent tax legislation provided incentives for reducing NOx emissions by treating the combustion fuel, rather than addressing the emissions through combustion modification or SNCR or SCR type technologies downstream. To qualify for the incentive, any additive must be added before the point of combustion. The goal does not provide a straight forward solution, as the traditional reagents used to treat NOx do not survive at combustion temperatures. Therefore, a compound is required that can be mixed with the combustion fuel, move through the combustion zone, and arrive in the post-combustion zone in sufficient quantity to measurably reduce NOx.

Method and additive for controlling nitrogen oxide emissions


Digital images are monitored by enabling access to a digital image, receiving a notification associated with the digital image from a first user, and regulating access of the first user to the digital image based on the notification received from the first user.

In the client-server network architecture of the Internet and/or Web, electronic documents are stored in computer systems running server programs and are accessed by computer systems running client programs. For example, information on the Web is made available by Web servers for access by client programs such as Web browsers (e.g., Netscape's Navigator, Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Java's micro-browser).
Information on the Internet and/or Web may be represented by specially formatted text files (e.g., Web pages) written in Hypertext Markup Language ("HTML") or some other markup language, such as XML, DHTML, and/or VRML. Each text file may be identified by a network address such as a Universal Resource Locator ("URL"). A typical Web page may include one or more hyperlinks that refer to the network addresses of other Web pages. Hyperlinks may be displayed as underlined text or graphical images that, when clicked, send a request for the associated page. For example, when a hyperlink in a home page is selected, a request is sent out by the client to the address specified in the hyperlink, and the associated Web page is downloaded and displayed, replacing the home page on the user's screen with the associated Web page.
Browsers and other client programs typically use a communications protocol such as Hypertext Transfer Protocol ("HTTP") to request pages from Web servers. HTTP is a request/response protocol. Through a connection established between a client and a server, the client sends a request to the server, and the server provides a response to the client.
An online service provider (e.g., an Internet service provider ("ISP")) may be used to provide users with access to the Internet and/or World Wide Web ("Web"). In general, a user relies on an ISP to enable communication over the Internet and/or Web. An ISP may offer services in addition to basic Internet access such as, for example, providing e-mail and instant messaging services enabling electronic communication, Web-hosting services allowing users to publish homepages, newsgroup services allowing users to read and post to newsgroups, and image services allowing users to view and order digital images of pictures from a developed film roll.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A unit cell can be used for a metasurface, metamaterial, or beamforming antenna. The unit cell includes a metal layer attached to a substrate. The metal layer defines an iris opening for the unit cell. One or more tunable capacitance devices are positioned within or across the iris opening. Each tunable capacitance device is to tune resonance frequency of the unit cell. Mass transfer technologies or self-assembly processes may be used to position the tunable capacitance devices.

Metasurface antennas have recently emerged as a new technology for generating steered, directive beams from a lightweight, low-cost, and planar physical platform. Such metasurface antennas have been recently used in a number of applications, such as, for example, satellite communication.
Metasurface antennas may comprise metamaterial antenna elements that can selectively couple energy from a feed wave to produce beams that may be controlled for use in communication. These antennas are capable of achieving comparable performance to phased array antennas from an inexpensive and easy-to-manufacture hardware platform.
By using simpler elements as compared to phased arrays, the operation of a metasurface is easier and faster. These elements, however, do not exhibit the same level of control as is achievable with phase shifters and amplifiers, common to phased array architectures. Some implementations of metasurface-based antennas do not provide independent control of both the magnitude and phase of each individual element in the array. Such control is desired at times.

Metasurface antennas manufactured with mass transfer technologies


A kit for repairing a damaged hinge portion of a door. A U-shaped bracket is mounted to the door. A mounting plate is attached to the bracket. A hinge is mounted to the mounting plate and is flush with the bracket.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of hinges for mounting to and between a door and door jamb.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Repeated opening and closing of a door particularly in a public building, may result in eventual loosening of the hinge screws that extend into the door. In many cases, the doors cost upwards to $5000. Repeated tightening of the hinge mounting screws may result in an enlargement of the screw holes thereby eventually making it impossible to attach the hinge in the same location on the door which corresponds with the hinge location on the door jamb. Disclosed is a kit to avoid this problem by providing alternate means for mounting the hinge to the door in the same location as previously utilized. The kit employs a bracket that extends over the damaged portion of the door edge. The bracket is attached to the door and has a mounting plate attached directly to the hinge.
A variety of brackets have been used with doors particularly to strengthen the doors against forced entry. For example, metal walls may be attached to the door jamb and the door edge thereby reinforcing and controlling any gaps that exist between the door jamb and door to limit the forced entry of a tool there between. Likewise, a number of different types of protection plates provided across the width of the door as well as around the dead bolt, dead bolt receiving plate, and around any lock provided on the door handle to provide strengthening of the door. Another approach is to provide a metal hinge shield that extends over each hinge plate of a hinge limiting access to the hinge.
The device disclosed herein may quickly be mounted to the damaged hinge area of a door thereby salvaging the door and limiting the instances where the door must be discarded. The device has a U-shaped bracket that is mounted directly to the door. A hinge mounting plate is positioned within a recess of the door and is fixedly mounted to the U-shaped bracket. The hinge is then mounted directly to the mounting plate with spacers provided to ensure the outwardly facing surface of the hinge plate is flush with the outwardly facing surface of the U-shaped bracket.

Device for repairing hinge area of a door


An efficient process is provided in which sulfur is reacted with carbon monoxide in a liquid phase to produce carbonyl sulfide. In the presence of a base catalyst, carbon monoxide is continuously introduced into a reactor in which a liquid reaction mixture obtained by dissolving or suspending sulfur in an organic solvent is held, and the sulfur is reacted with the carbon monoxide at a pressure of 0.2-3.0 MPa and a temperature of 40-120° C. to yield carbonyl sulfide. The gaseous-phase part is withdrawn from the reactor, and the withdrawn gaseous-phase part is cooled with a cooler to condense the carbonyl sulfide contained in the gaseous-phase part. The condensed carbonyl sulfide is continuously withdrawn, and the gas that has not been condensed with the cooler is returned to the reactor. Thus, carbonyl sulfide is continuously produced.

Carbonyl sulfide is an important compound which is attracting attention as an etching gas for highly anisotropical and highly selective etching of an organic antireflective coating by plasma. Conventionally, a process of reacting carbon dioxide with carbon disulfide and a process of reacting sulfur with carbon monoxide have been known as a process for producing carbonyl sulfide.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,120,944 (Patent Document 1), U.S. Pat. No. 3,409,399 (Patent Document 2), and Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. S47-40632 (Patent Document 3) describe a process of reacting carbon dioxide with carbon disulfide in a gas phase in the presence of a catalyst. Such process, however, suffers from reduced activity of the catalyst. Known examples of the process of reacting sulfur with carbon monoxide to produce carbonyl sulfide include a process of conducting the reaction in a gas phase and a process of conducting the reaction in a liquid phase. As examples of the process of conducting the reaction in a gas phase, Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. S56-45847 (Patent Document 4) and Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. S61-5409 (Patent Document 5), for example, describe a process of reacting sulfur with carbon monoxide in the presence or absence of a catalyst. In such process, the sulfur used in excess is required to be separated, and there is fear of the formed carbonyl sulfide decomposing because of high temperature. The process which uses no catalyst requires a very high reaction temperature and thus requires use of an expensive corrosion-resistant material.
Known examples of the process of reacting sulfur with carbon monoxide in a liquid phase to produce carbonyl sulfide are described in the following patent documents.
(1) U.S. Pat. No. 2,992,896 (Patent Document 6) describes a process for producing carbonyl sulfide, the process including suspending an aliphatic tertiary amine and hydrogen sulfide in an aliphatic alcohol solvent and reacting sulfur with carbon monoxide in the suspension.
(2) U.S. Pat. No. 2,992,897 (Patent Document 7) describes a process for producing carbonyl sulfide, the process including reacting sulfur with carbon monoxide in an aliphatic alcohol solvent having dispersed therein a sulfide or a bisulfide of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal as a catalyst.
(3) U.S. Pat. No. 2,992,898 (Patent Document 8) describes a process for producing carbonyl sulfide, the process including reacting sulfur with carbon monoxide in a medium of a hydroxy substituted tertiary aliphatic amine.
(4) U.S. Pat. No. 3,235,333 (Patent Document 9) describes a process for producing carbonyl sulfide, the process including reacting sulfur with carbon monoxide in the presence of an alkali metal carboxylate, an alkali metal formate, an alkali metal acetate, an alkoxide of a metal of Group I, II, and III, tetramethylguanidine, or potassium formate as a catalyst at a temperature of from 50° C. to 150° C. and a carbon monoxide pressure of from 200 psig (1.38 MPa) to 5000 psig (34.4 MPa).
(5) Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 561-197414 (Patent Document 10) describes a process for continuously producing carbonyl sulfide, the process including reacting a secondary aliphatic amine with carbon monoxide and sulfur using selenium (Se) as a catalyst to form a thiocarbamic acid amine salt, thermally decomposing the formed thiocarbamic acid amine salt into carbonyl sulfide and a secondary amine, and reacting the secondary amine with carbon monoxide and sulfur.
(6) International Patent Application Publication No. WO2004/089824 (Patent Document 11) describes a process for producing carbonyl sulfide, the process including dissolving sulfur in carbon disulfide and reacting it with carbon monoxide.


Processes for configuring a plurality of independent die packages for socketing. The packages are attached to a carrier wafer with a release film. The attached plurality of independent die packages are overmolded to provide a molded multi-die package. The molded multi-die package is planarized to expose the dies, singulated, and released from the carrier wafer. The singulated, molded multi-die packaging may be picked for further processing and placed into a socket. A plurality of molded, multi-die packages may be placed in a socket and operate as a computer system. The independent die packages may each perform and same computer application function or different computer application functions, and may have the same or different dimensions. The socket may have any of a number of configurations as may be needed.

In semiconductor component, sockets are often used to connect and secure electronic packages that include processors onto a system board (e.g., a mother board, interposer or a printed circuit board (PCB)). Most sockets are typically constructed for easy installation and replacement of the electronic packages. Many sockets include contacts that are assembled within the socket to provide an electrical connection between the system board and the electronic package that includes the processor, in some embodiments. For certain applications there has been considerable demand for customized semiconductor die packages that are compatible with existing socketing hardware. One such application uses two independent semiconductor die packages connected within a single socket. Some applications use more than two independent semiconductor die packages connected within a single socket. Current solutions have been to build larger packages with multiple dies. However, larger packages result in more warpage, lower yield, higher cost, and thermal and other reliability issues. Consequently there is a need for an improved process for implementing multiple independent semiconductor die packages for connection within a single socket.


An oven door hinge having stable positions in closed, broil and open positions of the door includes an elongated support member which extends along the side of the door, and a hanger with an elongated arm portion which removably seats in a recess adjacent the lower side of the oven cavity. The hanger also has a depending hinge portion which is pivotably supported on the support member adjacent its lower end. A translation member has its lower portion pivoted to the hanger arm portion, and an upper portion which is disposed within the support member. A spring is connected between the upper portion of the translation member and the upper end portion of the support member so that opening of the door displaces the translation member relative to the support member and hanger and tensions the spring. The support member and translation member have cooperating positioning elements to bias the door into its closed position and to hold the door in its broil position.

The present invention relates to appliance hinges, and, more particularly, to an improved hinge for mounting an oven door on a stove and holding the door in closed, broil and open positions.
Various types of hinges have been developed and utilized for mounting an oven door upon the body of the stove and for providing a mechanism which will allow stable positioning of the door in the closed, partially open or broil, and fully open conditions. Moreover, it is been found desirable to provide door hinge assemblies which would enable the entire door to be removed from the body of the stove to facilitate cleaning of the oven cavity.
As is well known, springs are widely employed in such hinges in order to provide a biasing action tending to close the door when that is desired and some tend to hold the door in the broil position or in the fully open position. Such hinges and the mountings to effect the pivoting of the members which provide the translation of the spring force into the action upon the door frequently require substantial space, and this can be a problem from the standpoint of providing a relatively thin oven door or locating the operating mechanism of the hinge within the door. Generally, it is advantageous to provide the bulk of the hinge mechanism within the door so that the door may be readily disassembled from the stove body and also to minimize the effect of the very high temperatures during a self-cleaning oven cycle upon such operating components.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel hinge for oven doors and the like which is relatively slim, employs relatively few parts, and which provides stable positioning of the door in the open, broil and closed conditions.
It is also an object to provide a hinge which may be fabricated relatively economically and which exhibits relatively long life.
Another object is to provide a stove assembly employing such hinges for mounting the oven door and enabling facile mounting and removal of the door from the stove body.

Door mounted hinge for oven doors and the like


The present invention relates to feeder assemblies, and more specifically, relates to feeder assemblies for a tube-filling machine. The present invention includes at least one robotic arm capable of moving tubes and tube holders between two locations. The robotic arm may also move the tubes and tube holders relative to one another in order that the distance between adjacent tubes is substantially equal to the holders which carry and house the tubes.

The invention relates to machines/lines which, starting with empty packaging tubes, process these in the machine, including filling and sealing them, and output the tubes from the machine with high productivity/capacity.
More precisely, the invention relates to a feeder intended to constitute a principal component in such a high-production machine.
A number of different concepts have been proposed to increase the number of tubes produced per unit of time in a tube-filling line.
In practice, intermittently operating lines have for many years formed the basis for tube handling. Such lines are operationally reliable and can, within certain limits, be converted relatively easily to the actual requirements regarding production volumes, type of sealing, tube dimension, etc.
An advantageous type of intermittently operating machine is based on the principle of the continuous conveyor with two straight sections. Stations for processing the tubes are arranged along one straight section, and the other straight section is used for introducing empty tubes and in certain cases also for discharging filled tubes. The method of working, and the control, of the working tools in the processing stations can be arranged comparatively simply along a straight path. It is possible, for example, to freely adapt the length of the straight path so that a number of identical stations can simultaneously execute the same type of operation on a number of tubes, for example for sealing them. Such extension of the straight section and the provision of multiple stations increase the production volume.
Of course, the production volume per unit of time is also raised by increasing the speed of advance of the conveyor. However, this cannot be increased without restriction since the necessary time for processing in different stations imposes a limit. In addition, there are limits to what the arrangement will tolerate in terms of acceleration and deceleration.
A number of different concepts have been proposed in which, while retaining a partly intermittent operation of a tube-handling line, it has been attempted to increase the number of tubes produced per unit of time.
In such a concept, a continuously operating filling station has been chosen and this has been separated from the stations which are needed for subsequent processing of filled tubes. A traditional, intermittently operating conveyor has been used to convey the tubes to the subsequent processing stations once the tubes have been filled in the filler which is independent of the conveyor.
In this combination of continuous and intermittent operation, it has been proposed to use programmable robots on the one hand between the magazine for empty tubes and the filler, and on the other hand between the filler and the conveyor to the processing stations.
A problem in this context is that it has not been possible to find a simple, adaptable solution to the problem of transferring the tubes between magazine, filler and conveyor.
Also used as transfer arrangements/feeders in connection with tube fillers, especially for transferring empty tubes from a magazine to a conveyor, are feeders which operate on the principle of collecting a number of tubes from a magazine, placing these tubes on an arrangement, usually a conveyor, in order to separate the tubes, after which further arrangements are needed for turning the tubes through 90xc2x0 so that these, with the correct mutual spacing, can finally be pressed down into holders on the conveyor in the actual tube-filling machine. In terms of their construction, the known feeders thus remain to a large extent tied to the machine, and there is very limited possibility of introducing such a feeder into an environment other than the one for which it was constructed.
The object of the invention is to develop the robot concept in tube-handling lines and to provide an arrangement for a robot which makes available a tube feeder of high capacity and easy adaptability to the requirements set in terms of production volume and production line design.
The object of the present invention is achieved by providing a feeder for a tube-filling machine including a sequence of stations located along a continuous conveyor having a plurality of tube holders. The sequence of stations may be adapted for filling and sealing empty packing tubes. Additionally, at least one robot device having an arm may be provided with the assembly in order to transfer the tubes between various locations.
Advantageous developments of the invention are set out in the dependent claims.


A locking mechanism releasably holds an elongated first member sheathed within an elongated second member at selected positions of telescopic extension and retraction between first and second end limits of travel. The locking mechanism preferably includes an elongated lock member disposed within the second member. The locking mechanism has at least one radially inwardly extending obstruction or projection movable between a first position preventing relative movement between the first and second members, and a second position allowing relative movement between the first and second members. A first embodiment of the locking mechanism provides for longitudinally reciprocal actuation of the elongated lock member between locking and releasing positions. A second embodiment provides for angular actuation of the elongated lock member between locking and releasing positions.

As is well-known, a wrench is a hand tool used for holding and turning elements such as nuts, pipes, spark plugs and the like. There are many kinds of wrenches, including monkey wrenches, single-ended wrenches, double-ended wrenches, box wrenches and the like. Two common wrenches are the socket wrench, which combines an offset handle with a male drive piece having a spring-loaded bearing lock on various sized sockets, and a ratchet wrench, which is a socket wrench having a ratchet mechanism which controls the direction of applied torque.
Wrenches are used by mechanics in all sorts of applications, and under all sorts of conditions. For example, an automobile mechanic may be required to apply a ratchet wrench to various elements in an automobile engine. However, if such elements are in difficult-to-reach locations, proper application of torque can be difficult. This problem is especially apparent if the ratchet wrench is not long enough to properly reach the desired element.
It is known to provide an extendible handle for ratchet wrenches and similar tools having an elongated shank, in order to permit the operator to increase the amount of torque exerted during the use of the tool. Various devices and configurations have been disclosed providing for extensible handles. Each of these extensible handles have various locking mechanisms. Most of the locking mechanisms are complex in the number of parts required to achieve the locking and unlocking capability. In addition, most of the locking mechanisms are inherently expensive to manufacture and/or assemble. Because of the complex mechanisms previously used for performing the locking and unlocking function, the devices have been subject to increased rates of failure. Therefore, the prior known telescopic wrench devices have been undesirable, and commercially unsuccessful, because of the high cost of manufacturing and assembly, and the high rate of failure of these locking mechanisms.
Therefore, it is desirable in the present invention to provide a simple locking mechanism for providing a telescopic element of a wrench or other hand tool. It is also desirable in the present invention to provide a locking mechanism which is simple to manufacture and assemble. Furthermore, it is desirable in the present invention to provide a locking mechanism which is reliable in operation.

Telescopic hand tool apparatus with locking mechanism


An apparatus for deployment and retrieval of section dividers includes a frame, a deployment rail, a first section divider carrier rail, and a second section divider carrier rail. The structure includes a first end of the first section divider carrier rail coupled to a first end of the deployment rail and a first end of the second section divider carrier rail coupled to a second of the deployment rail. A first actuator coupled to the first end of the first section divider carrier rail. A second actuator coupled to the second end of the first section divider carrier rail. The structure further includes a first deployment and retrieval system coupled to the first section divider carrier rail, wherein the first deployment and retrieval system guides a first retrieval body at a first end of a first section divider from the deployment rail to the first section divider carrier rail.

Freestanding section dividers are utilized in various functions including sporting events, traffic events, or any situation requiring a separation of two or more areas (e.g., security at an airport terminal). Typically, freestanding section dividers are manually deployed, where an individual has to physically transfer each section divider from a transport vehicle onto a surface at a location where the freestanding section divider is required. Further complicating this manual deployment of freestanding section dividers is the task of coupling one freestanding section divider to another, where each freestanding section divider is manually aligned and coupled by the individual. Retrieval of the freestanding section dividers also requires manual involvement from the individual to decouple each freestanding section divider and load each freestanding section divider onto the transport vehicle.

Deployable and retrievable section dividers

International Business Machines Corporation


A mixer comprises a first subassembly including a first holder fixed to a first mixing element. The first holder includes a base interconnecting a first sidewall with a spaced apart second sidewall. The first mixing element includes a base interconnecting first and second spaced apart mounting flanges that are fixed to the first and second sidewalls. A second subassembly includes a second holder fixed to a second mixing element. The second holder includes a base interconnecting a third sidewall with a spaced apart fourth sidewall. The second mixing element including a base interconnecting third and fourth spaced apart mounting flanges that are fixed to the third and fourth sidewalls. Distal ends of the first sidewall and the third sidewall are fixed to one another. Distal ends of the second sidewall and the fourth sidewall are fixed to one another.

Internal combustion engines emit exhaust gases including constituents that may be undesirable for emission to the atmosphere. Several known exhaust gas treatment systems include an injection device for injecting a reductant into an exhaust conduit. The reductant is mixed with the exhaust gas for subsequent treatment using a process such as selective catalytic reduction.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,440,204 describes several different mixer embodiments configured to be positioned within an exhaust conduit of an exhaust gas treatment system. While the previously described mixers have functioned well, an opportunity exists to reduce the manufacturing costs associated with constructing the mixers.

Tenneco Automotive Operating Company Inc.


An adhesive film in roll for wafer processing is constituted by laminated multiple layers including a base film, a radiation curing type adhesive layer, and a releasing film in this sequence, in which the arithmetic average roughness (Ra) of the side of the base film and/or releasing film opposite to the radiation curing type adhesive layer is 1 μm or more, and the weight of the radical polymerization initiator contained in the radiation curing type adhesive layer is less than 1000 ppm.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an adhesive sheet roll for wafer processing, an adhesive sheet for wafer processing, and an adhesive sheet with semiconductor wafer. The present invention also relates to a manufacturing method of a semiconductor device using an adhesive sheet for wafer processing or an adhesive sheet with semiconductor wafer, and a semiconductor device obtained by this manufacturing method. The adhesive sheet roll for wafer processing of the invention is useful as adhesive sheet used for protecting the wafer surface in the grinding process for grinding the rear side of the semiconductor wafer in the manufacturing process of various semiconductors, or adhesive sheet for fixing and supporting for adhering to the reverse side of the wafer in the dicing process for automatically collecting small pieces by pickup method by cutting and dividing the semiconductor wafer into small pieces.
2.Description of the Related Art
In the wafer manufacturing process, generally, the wafer forming a pattern is ground to a specified thickness by back grinding process. At this time, for the purpose of protecting the wafer, generally, the wafer surface is ground by adhering an adhesive sheet as wafer adhesive sheet. When cutting the wafer into individual chips, generally, the wafer surface is diced by adhering an adhesive sheet as wafer protective sheet.
Recently, the wafer is becoming larger in size such as 8 inches or 12 inches, and the wafer is becoming thinner for use in IC card or the like. The adhesive sheet used in such processing is required to be peeled easily after processing the semiconductor wafer, it is proposed to use an adhesive sheet having a radiation curing type adhesive layer capable of lowering the adhesion of the adhesive layer by irradiation with ultraviolet ray or the like. When this radiation curing type adhesive sheet is irradiated with radiation such as ultraviolet ray, the adhesive layer is cured and shrinks, and the adhesion with the semiconductor wafer at the adherent side is lowered.
A radiation curing type adhesive is composed of essential materials including base polymer, radiation polymerizable compound (monomer, oligomer) having carbon-carbon double bond in the molecule with the weight-average molecular weight of 20000 or less, and radiation polymerization initiator, and is prepared by adding proper additives such as crosslinking agent and others. Such adhesive is extremely lowered in the adhesion after exposure to radiation, and a multifunctional compound having two or more carbon-carbon double bonds in molecule is used as radiation polymerizable compound (Japanese unexamined patent publication 60-223139 and Japanese unexamined patent publication 62-059684).
By preparing a radiation reactive polymer by introducing carbon-carbon double bond in the main chain or side chain of base polymer, a technology not using radiation polymerizable compound having two or more carbon-carbon double bonds has been also disclosed (Japanese unexamined patent publication 2000-355678).
It has been a problem, however, for such adhesives of wafer processing adhesive sheets that the reaction progresses gradually during storage from manufacture until use because of the reactive property until the adhesive sheets are cured completely at the time of use. Such phenomenon is caused by gradual progress of radical polymerization chain reaction due to photopolymerization initiator contained in the adhesive composition or residual thermopolymerization initiator used when synthesizing the base polymer.
To suppress such polymerization reaction during storage, it has been proposed to add an additive for inactivating the radical chain reaction such as polymerization inhibitor or antioxidant in the adhesive composition.
However, the polymerization inhibitor or antioxidant is not effective unless contained by a certain amount in the adhesive composition, but if contained too much, the adhesive may not react to cure when using the adhesive sheet, or the paste may be left over on the wafer due to insufficient reaction. Further, if such additives bleed out, the semiconductor wafer itself may be contaminated.

Adhesive sheet roll for wafer processing


A process cartridge, wherein both in the case where the developing unit is at the contact position and in the case where the developing unit is at the separation position, a first regulating portion that the drum unit has and a first regulated portion that the developing unit has, are engaged with each other, whereby movement of the developing unit with respect to the drum unit in the axial direction of the developing roller is regulated, wherein in the case where the developing unit is at the separation position, a second regulating portion and a second regulated portion overlap each other in a direction perpendicular to the axial direction, and wherein in the case where the developing unit is at the contact position, the second regulating portion and the second regulated portion do not overlap each other in the direction perpendicular to the axial direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and a process cartridge detachably attachable to the apparatus main body of an image forming apparatus.
An image forming apparatus is an apparatus configured to form an image on a recording medium by employing the electrophotographic image forming process. Examples of the image forming apparatus include an electrophotographic copying machine, an electrophotographic printer (e.g., a laser beam printer or a light-emitting diode (LED) printer), a facsimile apparatus, and a word processor.
A process cartridge is configured to integrate into a cartridge an image bearing member on which a developer image is formed and at least a developer carrying member as a process unit acting on this image bearing member. The process cartridge is detachably attachable to the main body of an image forming apparatus.
The term "image forming apparatus main body (hereinafter referred to as the apparatus main body) refers to the portion of an image forming apparatus excluding the process cartridge.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in the image forming apparatus, a process cartridge system is employed which is configured to integrate into a cartridge a photosensitive drum and a process unit acting on the photosensitive drum. The cartridge is detachably attachable to the apparatus main body.
According to this process cartridge system, the image forming apparatus can be maintained by the user himself without depending on a serviceman, which has achieved a substantial improvement in terms of operability. Thus, this process cartridge system is widely employed in image forming apparatuses.
The process cartridge is divided into a photosensitive drum unit having a photosensitive drum, and a developing unit having a developing roller. Further, the developing unit is capable of movement relative to the photosensitive drum unit.
As an electrophotographic developing system, there is available a contact developing system in which an image is formed with an elastic layer of the developing roller being held in contact with the surface of the photosensitive drum. In this contact developing system, at the time of image formation, the developing roller is in contact with the surface of the photosensitive drum at a predetermined pressure. In this system, when the elastic layer of the developing roller and the photosensitive drum are held in contact for a long period of time from the factory shipment of the process cartridge until its deliverance to the user, there is a fear that the elastic layer of the developing roller may undergo deformation.
As a result of this deformation, unevenness in development may be generated, and there is a fear that a defective image is generated. Further, regardless of the presence of the elastic layer of the developing roller, when the developing roller is kept in contact with the photosensitive drum during transportation, there is a fear that the developing roller surface and the photosensitive drum surface may slide-rub on each other as a result of vibration or shock during transportation, resulting in generation of rubbing marks on the developing roller surface and the photosensitive drum surface. Due to the rubbing marks, there is a fear that a defective image may be generated.
As a construction for solving the above problem, there is a mechanism for retaining, during transportation, the developing unit which holds the developing roller, at a position where the photosensitive drum and the developing roller are separated from each other. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-261910 discusses a construction in which, at the time of factory shipment of the image forming apparatus with the process cartridge being attached thereto, a separation member for separating the developing roller and the photosensitive drum from each other is placed in the process cartridge (refer to FIG. 10, etc.)
According to Japanese Patent No. 4280770, an image forming apparatus has a mechanism which, when an image is being formed, holds a developing roller and a photosensitive drum in contact with each other, and which, when no image is being formed, separates the developing roller and the photosensitive drum from each other. In this construction, by separating the developing roller from the photosensitive drum, it is possible to suppress deformation of an elastic layer of the developing roller. Further, it is possible to suppress movement of developer from the developing roller to the photosensitive drum when no image is being formed.
In a conventional apparatus, the photosensitive drum unit retaining the photosensitive drum is provided with a regulating portion configured to regulate the position in the axial direction (hereinafter referred to as the longitudinal direction) of the photosensitive drum relative to the developing unit retaining the developing roller. Further, the developing unit is provided with a portion to be regulated. The regulating portion of the photosensitive drum unit and the regulated portion of the developing unit are fitted into each other, whereby the position of the developing unit relative to the photosensitive drum unit is maintained with high accuracy in a longitudinal direction of the developing unit.
However, if a large load is applied to the process cartridge due to vibration or shock during transportation while the developing roller and the photosensitive drum are separated from each other, a load is applied to the regulating portion of the photosensitive drum unit or to the regulated portion of the developing unit. Thus, there is a possibility that the regulating portion or the regulated portion undergoes damage. Or, if, in forming an image, the operation of bringing the developing roller and the photosensitive drum into and out of contact with each other is repeated, the regulating portion and the regulated portion may slidably rub on each other, so that there is a possibility that the regulating portion and the regulated portion may be worn away. When the regulating portion or the regulated portion is damaged or worn away, there is a possibility that the position of the developing unit relative to the photosensitive drum unit cannot be maintained in the longitudinal direction of the developing unit.
Thus, conventionally, to prevent such damage of the regulating portion and the regulated portion, there have been provided a regulating portion and a regulated portion of high strength capable of withstanding shock or wearing during transportation. For this purpose, the regulating portion, etc. has been enlarged or formed of a material of high strength. Thus, in some cases, a size of the process cartridge may be increased in order to secure the requisite space for providing a large regulating or regulated portion. In some cases, there have been limitations regarding the material and configuration of the regulating or regulated portion.

Process cartridge and image forming apparatus with means to regulate movement of developing unit with respect to drum unit in axial direction of developing roller


A location sentry system is provided for use within a mobile device. The sentry system can be configured to detect unauthorized attempts to locate mobile devices by monitoring messages passed between the mobile device and the wireless network and/or messages passed between components of the mobile device, and determining that one or more of the messages is/are indicative of an attempt to locate the mobile device. In response to a determination that an unauthorized attempt has been detected, the location sentry can be configured to take one or more actions. For example, the location sentry system could prevent location information from being sent back to the wireless network and/or the location sentry system could cause incorrect information to be sent to the wireless network.

The location of a mobile wireless device utilizes one or more positioning techniques in order to estimate the location and in some cases, the speed, direction-of-travel, and altitude of the mobile device (also known as the mobile, mobile station (MS), handset, or user equipment (UE).
Determining the position of a mobile device involves two main steps: collection of radio signal measurements, and a local or remote position estimate computation based on those measurements. Signal collection can be performed by a receiver within or co-located with the mobile device.
Hybrid positioning, using multiple methods positioning methods, is used to increase the accuracy or yield of a location estimate.
Location Technique Standardization
The location techniques used in different wireless communications networks (WCN) using different radio transmission technologies are subject to standardization. Notable standards development organizations include the 3rd Generation Partnership Program (3GPP), the 3rd Generation Partnership Program 2(3GPP2), and the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA.)
Location techniques standardized for the Global System for Mobility (GSM) are detailed in 3GPP Technical Specification TS 43.059, "Functional stage 2 description of Location Services (LCS) in GERAN". The GSM location techniques include: cell coverage based positioning, Enhanced Observed Time Difference (E-OTD) positioning, Assisted Global Navigation Satellite System (A-GNSS) based positioning; and Uplink Time Difference of Arrival (U-TDOA) positioning.
Location techniques standardized for the Wide-band CDMA system (better known as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)) are detailed in 3GPP Technical Specification 25.305, "Stage 2 functional specification of User Equipment (UE) positioning in UTRAN." The UMTS location techniques include: cell coverage based positioning, Observed Time Difference Of Arrival (OTDOA) positioning, A-GNSS based positioning, and U-TDOA.
Location techniques standardized for the Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (more commonly known as the Long-Term Evolution or LTE system) are described in 3GPP Technical Specification 36.305, "Stage 2 functional specification of User Equipment (UE) positioning in E-UTRAN." The current (release 9) LTE location techniques include: uplink and downlink cell coverage based positioning, Observed Time Difference Of Arrival (OTDOA) positioning, and A-GNSS based positioning. While not yet standardized, the U-TDOA positioning technique is applicable to LTE.
Location techniques standardized for the IS-95 (CDMAOne) and IS-2000 (CDMA-2000) radio access networks are described in 3GPP2 Specifications C.S0022-0, "Position Determination Service Standards for Dual Mode Spread Spectrum Systems," and C.S0022-A "Position Determination Service for CDMA2000 Spread Spectrum Systems." The 3GPP2 standardized techniques include cell-based positioning, Advanced Forward Link Trilateration (AFLT) and Assisted Global Positioning Satellite positioning.
Mobile-Based and Mobile-Assisted Location Techniques
Mobile location techniques use radio signals collected at the mobile device to generate a location estimate. Mobile Location techniques for wireless communication devices can be broadly categorized as mobile-based or mobile-assisted dependent on the use of precursor information and where the final location estimate is calculated. Mobile location techniques can be combined with each other and with network-based location techniques (Uplink time-difference-of-arrival (U-TDOA) and/or angle of arrival (AoA)) to achieve the highest yields and accuracies.
The least accurate, but highest availability mobile location method is called cell-ID Positioning. The cell-ID, cell coverage based positioning or cell-ID positioning technique uses radio broadcast information from the cellular network already in use to allow mobility. Translation of the cell-ID (or cell/sector ID) into a latitude and longitude may be performed at the mobile or at a networked, landside server. The basic cell-ID location can be improved with the addition of time or power-based ranging.
Enhanced Cell-ID (ECID) positioning uses cell-ID positioning with the addition of timing and power measurements made by the mobile of the downlink broadcast beacon from the serving and neighboring cell sites. ECID is considered a mobile-based location technique as the signal collection and measurement is performed at the mobile but location calculation is generally preformed at a network server. Although not explicitly standardized this technique has been commercially deployed.
Enhanced Observed Time Difference (E-OTD) positioning is a mobile-based technique for unsynchronized wireless networks. The EOTD system uses the time-of-arrival of a cell broadcast radio signals at the mobile device receiver. Collected signal timing and cell-ID information is then transmitted to a networked, landside server. The EOTD system must supply the geographic location and the collected timing offsets for each cell transmitter in order to determine a location estimate.
A variation of ECID is Radio Fingerprinting. Radio Fingerprinting may be implemented as a mobile-based technique uses downlink (network-to-mobile) radio signal collected by the mobile. Radio Fingerprinting is also called Wireless Signatures, Multipath Fingerprinting, Database Correlation Method (DCM), or Pilot Correlation. The radio fingerprinting technique uses the propagation characteristics of a reflected and refracted radio signal as received by the mobile device to determine a location by matching with a signal from a database of recorded or modeled signal propagation characteristics (also called radio fingerprints). Although not explicitly standardized this technique has been commercially deployed.
Observed Time Difference Of Arrival (OTDOA) is a mobile-based technique that uses the relative timing offset of the broadcast beacons from different cells. A time difference of arrival technique, OTDOA requires a minimum of three cell beacons to determine a location. The purely downlink-TDOA based location estimation will typically be combined with a cell-ID-with-ranging location estimate and databased information on the geographic location of the reported cell beacon transmitter antenna to create a final hybrid location estimate.
Advanced (or Enhanced) Forward Link Trilateration (AFLT or EFLT) is a mobile-based technology used only in WCN with precise timing and base station synchronization. Mobile-based AFLT requires reception of beacons from four or more cells and knowledge (normally via cell broadcast) of the geographic locations of those cells. Network-assisted AFLT requires reception of three or more cell beacons by the mobile device and a communications channel to a landside server which uses the mobile device-collected signal measurements and geographic locations of the cells to calculate a location estimate.
Assisted Global Navigation Satellite System (A-GNSS) and Assisted Global Positioning Satellite positioning is technically a mobile-based technique since the satellite broadcast signals used for location are collected at the mobile device via a specialized receiver and antenna. Network-generated assistance information is transmitted to the receiver to increase receiver sensitivity and decrease the time-to-first-fix. A-GNSS may be deployed as network-assisted, mobile-based where the signals are collected and final location is produced local to the mobile device, or as network-assisted, network-computed, where the collected signal information is transmitted to a landside server for final location estimation.
The inventive techniques and concepts described herein apply to time and frequency division multiplexed (TDMA/FDMA) radio communications systems including the widely used IS-136 (TDMA), GSM, and OFDM-based wireless systems, such as the IEEE 802.16e "WIMAN" and 802.20 "WIMAX" system and the 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE and LTE Advanced) system, as well as code-division radio communications systems such as CDMA (IS-95, IS-2000) and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UTMS), the latter of which is also known as W-CDMA. The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) model used herein as examples is an exemplary but not exclusive environment in which the present invention may be used.

Unauthorized location detection and countermeasures


A system and method for monitoring the control of an engine having at least two control units, which is constructed of at least two cylinder rows or of two partial engines is provided. A control unit is assigned to each cylinder row or each partial engine, which control unit, on the basis of detected operating parameters, controls the function of the respective cylinder bank assigned to it or of the partial engine assigned to it. The control units mutually exchanging their control variables, and the detected operating parameters and the control variables emitted by the control units being monitored jointly to determine their credibility.

The invention is based on a method for controlling the driving power of an engine having at least two control units.
German Patent Document DE 42 31 449 C1 discloses a system for controlling the driving power of an engine, which is constructed of at least two cylinder rows, and has at least two control units for influencing the performance of the individual cylinders rows. At least one measuring device is assigned to each control unit so that each control unit, separately of the other and without using the measuring values assigned to the other control unit, can compute control variables and monitor faults by itself. In this case, the first control unit is assigned to a first cylinder row and the second control unit is assigned to a second cylinder row. The operating parameters detected from each cylinder row are fed to the control units as a basis for computing the control variables.
The control of an engine by means of at least two control units can be arranged as in German Patent Document DE 42 31 449 C1 in such a manner that each control unit is assigned to a cylinder row. Also, only one cylinder row may be provided which, similar to aircraft engines, consists of partial engines which are controlled by two redundantly operating control units.
In contrast to the known arrangement, the method according to the invention has the advantage that the operating variables of the at least two control units are detected, compared with one another and are evaluated depending on the applicable deviation tolerances. In addition, the fault monitoring of each individual control unit is compared with the values of the other control units. In the case of engines with two cylinder rows, it therefore becomes possible to take measurements by means of monitoring the data in the control unit when a cylinder row is not operating correctly in order to avoid damage to the still properly operating cylinder row caused by the cylinder row which is not operating correctly.

Method for the detection of faults in the engine control in internal combustion engines having at least two control units

Dr. Ing. h.c.F. Porsche Aktiengessellschaft


A sheet conveyance apparatus comprising: a sheet conveyance path; a loop forming unit that is disposed on the sheet conveyance path and bends, in a loop, the sheet to be conveyed; and a guide unit that is stepwise high at both sides whereas low at the center, as viewed in a sheet conveyance direction, and extends in the sheet conveyance direction, wherein the sheet sagging in the loop by the loop forming unit enters a guide region being defined between opposite guide faces of paired steps in the stepwise guide unit and having a width according to the width of the sheet, so that the side edges of the sheet abut against the guide faces, thus correcting the skewing of the sheet in the sheet conveyance direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet conveyance apparatus and a printing apparatus that prints an image on a sheet.
2. Description of the Related Art
There have been conventionally known a sheet conveyance apparatus provided with a fixed flat guide plate capable of changing the width of a conveyance path to correct a meander occurring during conveyance of an elongated sheet, and a printing apparatus, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2009-73614. The guide plate extends in the conveyance direction of an elongated sheet, and functions as a width guide for the elongated sheet, thus correcting a meander.
However, with the configuration in which the fixed guide plate corrects the meander of an elongated sheet, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2009-73614, the fixed guide plate need be detached and attached (i.e., moved) every time a sheet to be conveyed is changed to another one having a different width. Therefore, when various sheets having different widths are conveyed in a short cycle, the guide plate need be detached and attached (i.e., a moving operation is required) accordingly, thereby raising the problem of poor workability, and further, the problem of erroneous attachment of the guide plate at another width position after the guide plate is detached. Moreover, the addition of an electric mechanism for automatically actuating the guide plate raises the problem of an increase in cost

Sheet conveyance apparatus and printing apparatus


An exercise treadmill (10) includes a self contained lift mechanism (24) extending upwardly from a forward central portion of a frame structure (12) adjacent the forward end of an endless belt (14) supported by an underlying deck (20) and defining a running surface. This mechanism is operated by a hand crank that is rotatable by a user while standing on the treadmill running surface. The frame structure (12) includes a pair of side rails (30,31) each having inside, top and outside wall portions (48,46,52). Each of the wall portions includes an interior groove extending substantially along their entire lengths wherein the interior of the groove is configured to receive hardware members at any location along the groove or directly receive the threaded ends of threaded hardware members used to mount the deck (20) and other components to the frame structure (12).

Exercise treadmills are now widely used in gymnasiums, spas, clinics and in private homes for aerobic exercise, physical examinations and physical therapy, for instance, during recovery from a cardiac illness. An exercise treadmill in its simplest form includes an endless belt that is moved over an underlying support bed, either by the walker's or runner's feet, or by an electrical motor. Not uncommonly, exercise treadmills now employ microcomputers that control the speed of the drive motor, monitor an individual's workout, and provide output displays indicating various conditions, such as time, speed, distance, and calories expended.
To render the exercise treadmill more versatile, it may be positioned at various inclinations to simulate running or walking up a grade. Various mechanisms have been employed to raise the front end of an exercise treadmill relative to the floor or other support surface on which the unit is positioned. For instance, in one type of exercise treadmill, the forward end of the endless belt, associated bed and belt support frame must be manually lifted and engaged with or clamped to upstanding posts. It may not be possible for elderly or physically infirm persons to lift the treadmill belt, deck and frame in this manner. Examples of such exercise treadmills are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 931,394 and 2,117,957.
In another type of treadmill lift mechanism, the elevation of the forward end of the treadmill is adjusted by manually rotating threaded leg members located at the front corners of the treadmill frame using a wrench or similar hand tool. This method is too slow and cumbersome for most treadmill users. An example of this type of exercise treadmill is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,151,988.
In a related type of exercise treadmill tilting mechanism, the threaded leg members are trained together by a chain or belt assembly, and a hand crank is mounted on one or both of the legs to rotate the legs in unison. A drawback of this type of elevation-adjusting device is that the runner/walker must leave the endless belt to adjust the height of the screw feet. Also, the drive train components used to interconnect the two screw legs together result in a complicated, heavy mechanism. An example of this type of exercise treadmill is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,602,779.
In a further type of exercise treadmill, spring mechanisms are employed to carry substantially all of the weight of the forward end of the treadmill frame to provide a substantially "zero-bias" so that the treadmill may be readily raised and lowered to a desired operating position. However, a manually operable clamping mechanism typically must be employed to lock the tilting/supporting means in a desired position. Thus, to change the angle of inclination of a treadmill, the user must dismount the treadmill, move to the front of the treadmill, and reach down to manually operate the locking device. This is not only a cumbersome procedure, but also it may not be possible for elderly or infirm persons to loosen the locking device, lift or lower the treadmill frame, and then sufficiently retighten the locking device to prevent it from shifting during use of the exercise treadmill. Examples of the foregoing type of treadmill elevating device are disclosed by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,591,147 (assigned to the assignee of the present application) and 4,664,371.
Another common disadvantage of known exercise treadmills, including many of those noted above, is that a substantial number of assembly steps are required, both during the initial preassembly of the machine at the manufacturing location, and also during the final assembly by the ultimate user of the equipment. This is not only time-consuming and expensive, but also oftentimes requires special skills and tools, which many persons do not possess.


A damper includes a piston rod, a damping piston, at least one cylinder containing a damping liquid, a fixed partition member for partitioning the interior of the damper into two liquid chambers, a pressure source, and a valve in communication with the pressure source which reacts as a function of the pressure. The valve can also be in communication with additional forces, such as mechanical spring forces, which can be adjustable. The valve can include a pressure intensifier. The valve generates fluid flow resistance during flow of liquid in a first direction through the partition member. The fluid flow resistance in the first direction varies according to the amount of force communicated to the valve by the pressure source and any additional forces. The partition member can include means for providing low-resistance return flow of liquid in a second direction.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a damper and, more particularly, to a damper suitably used as a shock absorber or front fork on the suspension of a bicycle, motorcycle, automobile or other vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Dampers (shock absorbers, MacPherson struts, front forks, etc.) for controlling vehicle body motion and handling characteristics during vehicle travel over uneven surface are well-known in the art. Dampers typically comprise a closed hydraulic cylinder with an internal piston connected to a central piston rod, which reciprocates within the cylinder to produce damping forces.
As is well known in the art, the damping forces created by a damper have a major influence on the overall dynamic performance of a vehicle. A wide range of dynamic conditions are encountered during typical vehicle motion over various surfaces and terrain features. For example, these features and conditions include large and small bumps, sharp-edged bumps and round-edged bumps, close-spaced bumps and widespaced bumps, stutter bumps and gradual undulating bumps, and so forth. In addition, conditions include vehicle acceleration and deceleration modes, uphill and downhill travel modes, as well as turning modes.
Besides the factors noted above, different operators of a specific vehicle traversing identical terrain features often prefer significantly different damping characteristics. This is especially true for light-weight vehicles, such as bicycles or motorcycles, where rider weight can be a major portion of total weight, and where rider "style" or "technique" can have a significant influence on overall suspension performance.

Damper with pressure-sensitive compression damping


There is provided a mobile communication terminal having a connecting apparatus for allowing unrestricted rotation of a rotary camera disposed on the terminal while maintaining an electrical circuit between the camera and a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) installed in the terminal. The connecting apparatus uses a plurality of bearings disposed on an outer circumferential surface of a connecting member to maintain the circuit. A portion of the member adjacent to the camera rotates with the camera while the remaining portion is fixed. The bearings also provide sufficient resistance to prevent unintended rotation of the camera.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile communication terminal, and more particularly, to a mobile communication terminal with a rotary camera.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, mobile communication terminals include cellular phones or Personal Communication Systems (PCS) having wireless communication capabilities. As the need for video/image communication emerges along with voice communication, several types of mobile communication terminals with an integrated photographic apparatus have been suggested to satisfy this demand.
Efforts have been made to provide mobile communications devices with cameras which are capable of rotating about an axis in order to better provide the capability of capturing a photographic image while the user is still able to view the display screen of the communications device. The ability to position a rotary camera to capture an image while still being able to view the display screen allows the user to continue communicating, via voice or data transmission, while the photographic image is captured.
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, a conventional mobile communication device equipped with a rotary camera 1 includes a main body 10 with a main printed circuit board 11 installed therein. A folder 20 is rotatably installed at one end of the main body 10 by a hinge 30. A camera 40 is rotatably installed at a certain angel adjacent to the hinge 30.
The camera 40 includes a collar 42 formed on the outer side of a camera housing 41 and a cap 43 inserted at the inner of the camera housing 41. A camera module 45 having a lens 44 is installed inside the camera housing 41, wherein the lens 44 is exposed at a front surface of the camera housing 41. A connecting bar 45 extends from the cap 43 to allow rotation of the camera 40. An engaging device 46, which is formed at the end of the connecting bar 45, is inserted into a coupling groove 31a of an engaging jaw 31 formed at the hinge 30. Accordingly, the camera module 45 is constructed to be rotated in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 2 (or counterclockwise around the connection bar 45).
A slot (not shown) is formed at a middle portion of the cap 43, through which a flexible printed circuit board (FPCB) 12 is inserted into the housing 41. One end of the FPCB 12 is connected to the camera module 45, and the other end thereof is fixed at the main PCB 11 installed at the main body 10. The FPCB 12 has a structure that may not be expanded and contracted in terms of its characteristics, so if a user rotates the camera 40 excessively or forcibly in controlling a photographing angle of the camera 40, the FPCB may be pulled, stretched or torn, thereby breaking the FPCB 12.
To remedy this, the FPCB 12 is wound on the connecting bar 45 several times. Accordingly, when the camera 40 is rotated clockwise or counterclockwise to control the photographing angle of the camera 40, the FPCB 12 wound on the connecting bar 45 of the cap 43 can be wound or unwound, so that the FPCB 12 would not be broken. However, in the conventional mobile communication device 1, an interior of the hinge 30 is so narrow that the FPCB 12 is wound on the connecting bar 45 only a finite number of times. Therefore, rotation of the camera is limited to the number of times the FPCB is wound around the connecting bar 45.
Since the rotational angle and rotational direction of the camera 40 are limited as the FPCB 12 wound on the connecting bar 45 of the cap 43 is unwound or wound, the user cannot rotate the camera 40 in one direction, for example, clockwise, continuously, causing inconvenience in using the camera 40.

Mobile communication terminal with rotary camera


A process for producing a high impact polystyrene having a high swell index including feeding at least one vinyl aromatic monomer and at least one elastomer to at least one polymerization reactor to form a reaction mixture, polymerizing the reaction mixture, combining a chain transfer agent to the reaction mixture leaving the at least one polymerization reactor to form a combined mixture, sending the combined mixture to a devolatilization zone and obtaining a HIPS product having a high swell index.

Polystyrene is a widely used commercially available plastic. Pure polystyrene is a hard plastic having limited flexibility and is thus well suited to applications where its level of stiffness is acceptable. In other situations, the limited flexibility or rigidity of pure polystyrene may be unacceptable. In these situations, styrene-based copolymers, and particularly polystyrene resins that are modified with organic rubber particles or other elastomers, have been found useful. These rubber modified styrene compositions are typically referred to as high impact polystyrene, or HIPS.
In the final HIPS product, the rubber particles are incorporated into the HIPS product, wherein the incorporated rubber particles are crosslinked and the level of crosslinking is determined by the manufacturing process and can vary considerably. In certain applications it may be desirable to achieve a HIPS product having a low level of crosslinking.
Swell index values are a direct measure of the state of cross-linking in the rubber. As the level of cross-linking increases, swell index values decrease. It has been observed that a higher swell index may confer some desirable properties to HIPS. It would therefore be desirable to produce a HIPS product having an increased swell index in order to reduce crosslinking and thus have a final HIPS product having desirable properties.


A band retaining unit includes a female retaining body adapted to be mounted securely on a canvas, a male retaining body connected pivotally to the female retaining body, a gripping element disposed slidably on the male retaining body, and a spring element biasing the engagement arms of the gripping element to engage within the gripping notches of the female retaining body, so as to clamp tightly a retaining band between the male retaining body and the female retaining body. The gripping element is provided with a projection which is positioned so that when a rope is passed through the rope holes of the female retaining body and into the depressions of the male retaining body, the projection is obstructed by the rope from moving in the band retaining unit, thereby locking the gripping element on the female retaining body.

This invention relates to a band retaining unit which releasably locks a retaining band thereon, so that the user can manually adjust the retaining band and tauten the portion of the retaining band between two articles, which are respectively fastened to the band retaining unit and the retaining band, more particularly to a band retaining unit having a multi-lock effect.
Usually a canvas is used to cover a freight container and fastened to the same by a plurality of bands and band retaining units. Referring to FIGS. 1, 2, a conventional band retaining unit of this kind includes a female retaining body 11, a male retaining body 12 connected rotatably to the female retaining body 11 by a pivot 121, a gripping element 13, and a spring element 14. The female retaining body 11 is riveted to a canvas 71 (see FIG. 3). The female retaining body 11 includes a base wall with two holes 111, 112, and two side walls, each of which has a gripping notch 113 and a rope hole 114. The male retaining body 12 includes two side walls, each of which has a slide slot 122 aligned with the gripping notches 113, and a depression 123 aligned with the rope holes 114. The gripping element 13 includes two engagement arms 130 inserted slidably into the slide slots 122 of the male retaining body 12. A generally triangular gap 131 is defined between the engagement arms 130 of the gripping element 13. A connector 132 interconnects the engagement arms 130 of the gripping element 13 so as to prevent deformation of the engagement arms 130. The spring element 14 biases the engagement arms 130 of the gripping element 13 to engage within the gripping notches 113 of the female retaining body 11, so as to prevent separation of the male retaining body 12 from the female retaining body 11, thereby clamping tightly a retaining band 15 between the female retaining body 11 and the male retaining body 12. The retaining body 15 is fastened to a retaining hook 151 at an end thereof, which is held on the rail 72 (see FIG. 3) of a freight container 7 (see FIG. 3). A rope 8 (see FIG. 3) is passed through the rope holes 114 of the female retaining body 11 and into the depressions 123 of the male retaining body 12, so as to confine the male retaining body 12 between the female retaining body 11 and the rope 8, thereby ensuring the engagement of the free end of the male retaining body 12 within the free end of the female retaining body 11. When the rope 8 is removed from the rope hole 114 and the engagement arms 130 of the gripping element 13 are removed from the gripping notches 113, the male retaining body 12 can be rotated to disengage the free end of the male retaining body 12 from the free end of the female retaining body 11, so that the retaining body 15 can be adjusted, thereby enabling the portion of the retaining band 15 between the band retaining unit and the retaining hook 151 to be tautened. The engagement of the arms 130 within the notches 113 and the extension of the rope 8 through the rope holes 114 form a double lock of the male retaining body 12 on the female retaining body 11. In practice, however, this double lock is dissatisfactory.

Band retaining unit having a multi-lock effect


This disclosure describes computer-based techniques for administering a spoken patterned passphrase. A passphrase processing unit running on an administrator computer generates passphrase data for a secure system using acoustic data and video data representing a spoken phrase by a speaker. This passphrase includes a pattern of words or speech segments that are audible and words or speech segments that are inaudible. During authentication, a passphrase administration unit on the administrator computer receives acoustic and visual data of a spoken phrase by a person attempting to access the secure system and evaluates whether the spoken phrase includes the pattern of audible and inaudible words or speech segments associated with the account. In this way, the techniques discussed herein may enable the administrator computer to administer spoken passphrases with an additional degree of protection than a system that is limited to using linguistic or biometric content in passwords or passphrases.

An account holder may use a spoken password to quickly and easily unlock an account. However, the spoken password may be overheard by a person or device nearby the account holder, which may compromise the security of the account. Alternatively, a biometric method of verification may be used in the presence of other people or devices, such as a scan of an account holder's face. However, such biometric methods may be data intensive and subject to high error rates due to variation in an ambient environment in which the biometric data is captured or changes to an account holder's voice or appearance. Further, biometric data may not be readily changed by the account holder, offering the account holder less control over verification than a user-selected password.

Computer-based systems for administering patterned passphrases


An apparatus for measuring a moisture content value within a volume. A frequency generator generates at least one source signal at frequencies of no more than about one kilohertz. Probes are disposed with surfaces in physical contact with the volume, where no direct current flows between the probes through the volume. One of the probes is electrically connected to the frequency generator as a source probe, and adapted to receive the source signal and emit the source signal into the volume, thereby creating an electrical field having characteristics that are dependent at least in part on a moisture content of the volume. Another of the probes operates as a receiver probe for sensing the electrical field and producing an output signal having an output property that is dependent at least in part on the source signal and the moisture content within the volume. Means are provided for producing a moisture content value for the volume, where the moisture content value is based at least in part on the output property of the output signal.

The moisture content of cotton fibers as they are processed through either a cotton gin or a cotton mill is preferably monitored and controlled. The amount of moisture within the cotton tends to have a great influence on various qualities of the cotton as it is processed. For example, the cotton fibers tend to break more readily if the moisture content drops too far during processing. As the cotton fibers during such processing are often carried along in air streams and subjected to heat, the moisture content can easily drop and the quality of the cotton fibers can easily be degraded if sufficient care is not taken to avoid such occurrences.
There are many places during such processing where it is desirable to take moisture readings on the cotton fibers. For example, moisture sensors have been developed to capture and sense the moisture in airborne fibers as they flow through the cotton gin. Another place where moisture readings are often taken is near the end of the ginning process, in order to determine the final moisture content of the bale. One place for measuring the cotton moisture content for the bale is where the cotton fibers are formed into bales in a tramper, prior to being strapped in a bale press and optionally wrapped. Moisture sensors have been developed to measure moisture by pressing into the cotton fibers while the cotton is being tramped to prepare it for being pressed into a bale.
The moisture sensors as described above are generally devices that function by measuring the electrical resistance between two or more electrodes. For the tramper moisture sensor, the electrodes are typically driven into a mass of the cotton fibers, and a current is run between the electrodes through the cotton mass. The moisture content of the fiber mass is determined by a correlation with one or more properties of the electrical resistance that is measured between the electrodes that penetrate the fiber mass.
However, there tend to be problems associated with such tramper moisture sensors for determining final bale moisture. One problem, for example, is that if the cotton fibers are sprayed with water for moisture restoration prior to exiting the tramper, the cotton fibers tend to become entangled and retained to some degree in the electrodes. Thus, the moisture readings are influenced, at least in part, by the same mass of fibers from reading to reading, until the retained fiber mass is removed from the electrodes.
What is needed, therefore, is a system by which moisture content readings can be taken on a large volume, such as a cotton bale, where the moisture sensor is not clogged by material from the volume, and where the readings tend to be more representative of the overall moisture content of the volume.


Methods are described for monitoring the amounts of PTH variants in a biological sample by digesting the sample to produce surrogate peptides specific to the targeted PTH variants, and detecting and quantifying the surrogate peptides by selective reaction monitoring (SRM) mass spectrometry, using a set of precursor-to-product ion transitions optimized for sensitivity and selectivity. The PTH variants, or a portion thereof, may be concentrated in the sample by means of immunoaffinity capture or other suitable technique. The mass spectrometric method described herein enables the concurrent measurement of peptides representative of a plurality of targeted PTH variants in a single assay.

Parathyroid hormone (PTH) is produced in the parathyroid glands through the two-step conversion of pre-pro-PTH (115-amino acids) to pro-PTH (90-amino acids) to the 84-amino acid peptide PTH(1-84). The hormone is secreted into the circulatory system to produce basal (healthy) concentrations of ˜15-65 pg/mL, and is assayed to assist in the diagnosis of hypo/hyperparathyroidism, hypercalcemia and in monitoring for renal osteodystrophy in patients with end-stage renal failure. Conventional PTH assays typically rely on two-antibody recognition systems coupled to a variety of detection modalities (e.g., enzymatic amplification, electrochemiluminescence, and fluorescence). Notably, assays of greatest specificity are able to differentiate between different truncated forms of PTH, and are referred to as "second" or "third" generation PTH assays.
Of particular importance to these later-generation assays is their ability to selectively monitor different PTH forms of known biological consequence. Notably, two variants, full-length PTH(1-84) and PTH missing the six N-terminal amino acids (PTH(7-84)), are the subject of increased clinical investigation and potential diagnostic capability. Due to confounding microheterogeneity, these variants were historically considered as a single PTH value (i.e., by the "first" generation assays). Classification of each as its own molecular entity, and the ability to analyze and study each independently, suggests an antagonistic relationship between the two different forms in relationship to calcium homeostasis. As such, there is mounting clinical evidence that the ratio between PTH(1-84) and PTH(7-84) may differentiate between hyperparathyroid bone turnover and adynamic bone disease.
This PTH(1-84)-to-PTH(7-84) paradigm is a most recent example of describing the biological and clinical utility of microheterogeneity within the PTH protein. Indeed, other PTH variants have been defined as far back as ˜40 years ago. Perhaps the most mature of these, PTH(1-34), has been identified as an endogenous variant that exhibits biochemical activity comparable to the full-length protein. Consequently, it represents a classic example of a peptide-based bioactive variant that has transitioned through drug development to the point of FDA-approval for the treatment of osteoporosis (rPTH(1-34) (teriparatide)). Collectively the routine monitoring of these clinically-relevant PTH variants—PTH(1-84), PTH(7-84) and PTH(1-34)—is achieved through three separate, high-specificity immunometric assays. However, there are indications that even greater microheterogeneity exists within PTH, which has yet to be fully characterized to determine clinical utility and/or confounding effects on present-day assays. The accurate examination of known PTH variants, while simultaneously evaluating other possible variants, requires a degree of analytical freedom of which conventional assays are generally incapable.

Assay for monitoring parathyroid hormone (PTH) variants by tandem mass spectrometry