In a motion estimation device and a video encoding device including the same, a motion estimation device provides a motion vector by performing a motion estimation algorithm, and includes a motion estimation unit including a processing elements that perform a calculating operation on pixel data of a block of a current frame and reference data in a search area of a reference frame and that output operation results on candidate blocks in the search area, in parallel; and a comparison and selection unit that compares the operation results provided from the motion estimation unit to each other, and that generates and outputs a motion vector corresponding to the block of the current frame.

The inventive concept relates to a motion estimation device and a video encoding device including the same.
Currently, the demand for a high-quality video service is increasing due to the development of the information communications technology including the Internet and the development of various multimedia devices such as high-definition televisions (HDTVs), personal digital assistants (PDAs), and mobile phones. Thus, in order to process high-quality video data, technology for efficiently compressing large quantities of image data is required.
Motion estimation technology is widely used in video compression standards such as MPEG and H. 26x standards. Such motion estimation technology involves calculating a motion vector representing a displacement between a current image and a previous image, a displacement which is caused, for example, by a movement of an object in a video image, camera movement, image magnification, or image reduction, and is widely used in video processes such as video compression for size reduction, pixel demosaicing, and frame interpolation.
In order to calculate a motion vector, an initial determination needs to be made as to whether to perform motion estimation in pixel units or block units. In general, motion estimation is performed in block units using a video compression operation. A block matching algorithm is an algorithm in which a motion vector between a current frame and a previous frame is estimated in block units. In the block matching algorithm, a macroblock of the current frame is compared to a macroblock of the previous frame, in a determined search area of the previous frame, and then a location of the most similar macroblock is detected. That is, it is detected which location of the current frame the macroblock of the previous frame moves to. In this case, a location and size of the movement correspond to the motion vector.
A large number of motion estimation algorithms exist for calculating the motion vector. An example of the motion estimation algorithms is a full search block matching (FSBM) algorithm that is a kind of block matching algorithm. In the FSBM algorithm, all pixels in the macroblock of the current frame are compared to all macroblocks in a search area of the previous frame, which is set to have a predetermined size, and a macroblock having the minimum difference value is detected from a plurality of candidate macroblocks included in the search area. Thus, the FSBM algorithm generates a quite accurate block-based motion vector, as a result.
Meanwhile, another example of the motion estimation algorithms is a coarse-to-fine search algorithm. The coarse-to-fine search algorithm has a relatively low accuracy but has a reduced amount of operations, in comparison to the FSBM algorithm. Examples of the coarse-to-fine search algorithm are a 3-step search algorithm, a 4-step search algorithm, and a 2-dimensional (2-D) logarithmic search algorithm. This coarse-to-fine search algorithm provides a fast speed but has a problem of low image quality. Thus, in spite of a large amount of operations, the FSBM algorithm is widely used due to its simple architecture and high image quality.
A large number of motion estimation hardware technologies for implementing the FSBM algorithm exist, and these motion estimation hardware technologies may be classified into a plurality of categories including a systolic array architecture and a tree architecture.
The systolic array architecture, as motion estimation hardware, is appropriate for implementing a very large scale integration (VLSI) of a block matching algorithm and has an advantage in that reference data (for example, pixel data of the previous frame) is provided to a plurality of on-chip processing elements by performing a shift operation and thus the reuse of data is maximized. Thus, a data input bandwidth may decrease. However, a data path length through which the reference data is transmitted due to the shift operation is long and thus a delay may be increased or a problem of internal data skew may occur.
In order to avoid the above-described long delay or data skew, a tree architecture can be adopted. The tree architecture has an advantage of optimizing execution latency and is more appropriate for implementing the 3-step search algorithm. However, since the data skew does not occur in the tree architecture, data related to the candidate blocks (found macroblocks) in the search area of the previous frame have to be accessed at the same time so as to be provided to the tree architecture. Thus, the tree architecture requires a larger data input bandwidth in comparison to the systolic array architecture.
In order to provide a tradeoff between the characteristics of the systolic array architecture and the tree architecture, a hybrid tree and linear array architecture is suggested. The hybrid tree and linear array architecture is a combination of the systolic array architecture and the tree architecture. Latency and an input data bandwidth characteristic may be controlled by selecting an appropriate size of a systolic array or a sub-tree included in the hybrid tree and linear array architecture.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a general systolic array architecture for implementing an FSBM motion estimation algorithm. The systolic array architecture includes a one-dimensional (1-D) systolic array architecture and a 2-D systolic array architecture. The systolic array architecture illustrated in FIG. 1 is the 2-D systolic array architecture.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, if a macroblock, which is a basic processing unit of a block matching algorithm, includes Nh (the number of horizontal pixels)×Nv (the number of vertical pixels) pixels, the 2-D systolic array architecture may include Nh×Nv processing elements PE which are arranged in horizontal and vertical directions of a 2-D architecture. Each of the Nh×Nv processing elements may include a latch (not shown). Data of each pixel of the macroblock of a current frame may be pre-loaded to a corresponding processing element so as to be stored in a latch.
Also, pixel data (reference data) of a candidate macroblock in a search area of a previous frame are provided to the processing elements. Nv pieces of the pixel data of the candidate macroblock are accessed in parallel and may be provided to the processing elements based on a shift operation in a horizontal direction. Each processing element calculates an absolute difference between pixel data of the current frame and pixel data of the previous frame.
In order to detect a location of the most similar macroblock to the macroblock of the current frame from among candidate macroblocks in the determined search area of the previous frame, a cross-correlation function (CCF) method, a mean square error (MSE) method, a mean absolute error (MAE) method, and a sum of absolute differences (SAD) method may be used. Among the above-mentioned methods, the SAD method is the most widely used in actual implementation due to its low complexity and its excellent performance.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, an SAD is calculated by each predetermined unit A included in the 2-D systolic array architecture. According to the 2-D systolic array architecture, reference data is prevented from being repeatedly provided to a systolic array and previously input reference data can be reused. Thus, a data input bandwidth may decrease.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a general tree architecture for implementing an FSBM motion estimation algorithm. Each unit D illustrated in FIG. 2 compares current frame macroblock pixel data CURRENT DATA X and previous frame candidate macroblock pixel data REFERENCE DATA Y so as to calculate an absolute difference therebetween. Each unit A illustrated in FIG. 2 sums two absolute differences and outputs a summed absolute difference. Unlike a 2-D systolic array architecture, Nh×Nv pieces of reference data corresponding to all the number of pixels of a macroblock are accessed in parallel so as to be provided to the tree architecture. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the reference data provided to the tree architecture are not able to be reused and are repeatedly accessed several times. Thus, a data input bandwidth is increased.
Currently, as new display technologies for liquid crystal display devices (LCDs), plasma display panels (PDPs), and digital projection systems provide high-quality and large-scaled display services, there is an increased demand for image processing technology for processing high-resolution images. In particular, the amount of data to be processed per minute increases in accordance with high resolution configurations and with increased display size, and thus, the operation frequency increases.
However, the above-described various category methods based on an FSBM algorithm are not necessarily suitable for high-performance processing of a high-resolution image. In particular, a hybrid tree and linear array architecture that is used in order to provide a tradeoff between characteristics of a systolic array architecture and a tree architecture, requires a large amount of operations and thus is not appropriate for processing the high-resolution image.

Motion estimation device having motion estimation processing elements with adder tree arrays


An information processing apparatus and a pull print printing system are provided, which, according to a print instruction (print request, from a user, hold print data to be an object of printing, generate reference information for performing pull print corresponding to the held print data and utilize the generated reference information as reference information for requesting printing in order to causing an IPP printing apparatus to perform printing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and a pull print printing system that are capable of executing a print instruction at least with respect to an IPP print apparatus via a predetermined communication medium, an information processing method, a storage medium and a program.
2. Related Background Art
Currently, a network printing system in which a plurality of client machines exist is realized.
In addition, in recent years, a printer has begun to be introduced into a market that is equipped with the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) provided for by RFC as a protocol for Internet printing of a printer.
With this IPP, a function of "Print-URI request" is provided for. In addition, also provided for is a function with which a client issues a "Print-URI request" designating a URL to a printer, whereby the printer itself obtains and prints data on a Web server in a URL-designated destination (which is referred to as Pull Print). An IPP printer has realized to print Web pages in all over the world by this function. Further, a Printo-URI request that is designated by a URL through an access to a Web or the like may be referred to as a Printo-URL request.
However, under a conventional network print environment, even if an IPP printer exists under a network environment, its function cannot be utilized under a local network environment such as an office, which makes it inconvenient to use the printer.
In addition, if reference information or the like for specifying a storage place of print data such as a URL is not obtained or if reference information corresponding to desired print data is unknown, the IPP printer cannot be utilized.
The present invention aims to improve convenience of use of the IPP printer.

Information processing apparatus and print control apparatus, data processing method, storage medium and program


The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for cleaning a nuclear fuel element in a liquid filled space. The fuel element comprises an inner space with an opening. The apparatus comprises a connecting element, which is adapted to be connected to a portion of the fuel element, which comprises said opening and flow means, which is adapted to create, at least during a part of a cleaning process of the fuel element, a liquid flow through inner space of the fuel element via said opening.

Nuclear fuel elements for a BWR (Boiling Water Reactor) have a tubular shape and have an inner space that comprises spacers, fuel rods, etc. In connection with maintenance and repair work in systems that are connected to the reactor tank, there is a risk that metal particles, flakes, fibers, etc. may be formed, which during subsequent operation can be transported by the reactor water to the reactor tank. Also during times when the reactor tank is opened, there is a risk that particles may fall down into the reactor tank. During a subsequent operation, such particles could then be circulated in the reactor tank with the reactor water. In order to capture such particles, filters are generally positioned at appropriate places where the reactor water passes. Small particles however, can become trapped inside the fuel elements and cause abrasion damage to sensitive parts such as the fuel rods. Particles that fasten to the insides of the fuel elements do not circulate with the reactor water and, therefore, they can not be captured by conventional filters.
The reactor water contains impurities derived mainly from corroded materials. When the reactor water during operation comes in contact with and is heated by the fuel rods, such impurities in the reactor water form deposits on the outer surfaces of the fuel rods. The deposits result in the reactor water experiencing an increased pressure drop in the fuel elements and a reduced heat exchange with the fuel rods.

Apparatus and a method for cleaning of a nuclear fuel element


A simple, low cost, high performance joint Fourier transform correlator, which requires only a single spatial light modulator, is disclosed. Input and reference images are recorded upon a single phase modulating SLM, and a lens produces a first joint Fourier transform of the images upon an electro-optic sensor. The first Fourier transform is binarized and recorded upon the single SLM electronically, and the same lens produces a second Fourier transform to form an image correlation signal at a correlation plane. Also, recordation of the input and reference images and recordation of the joint Fourier transform upon the single SLM may be performed optically rather than electronically.

The present invention relates to the field of optical joint transform correlators. Joint transform correlators (JTC) can be used to match an input image being viewed in real time with a plurality of reference images. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,357,676 issued to Hugh Brown, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,695,973 issued to F. T. S. Yu.
It has been shown previously that binary joint transform correlators can produce very good correlation performance. See B. Javidi and C. J. Kuo, "Joint Transform Image Correlation using a Binary Spatial Light Modulator at the Fourier Plane," Applied Optics, Vol. 27, No. 4, 66-665 (1988); and see B. Javidi and S. F. Odeh, "Multiple Object Identification by Bipolar Joint Transform Correlation," Optical Engineering, Vol 27, No. 4, 295-300 (1988). The binary JTC uses nonlinearity at the Fourier plane to binarize the Fourier transform interference intensity to only two values, +1 and -1. The performance of the binary JTC has been favorably compared to that of the classical JTC, (C. S. Weaver and J. W. Goodman, "A Technique for Optically Convolving Two Functions," Applied Optics, Vol. 5, No. 7, 1248-1249 (1966)) in the areas of light efficiency, correlation peak to sidelobe ratio correlation width, and cross-correlation sensitivity. The motivation for binarizing the interference intensity has been the good correlation performance obtained by binary phase-only filter-based optical correlators. See J. L. Horner and P. D. Gianino, "Phase-only matched filtering," Applied Optics, Vol. 23, No. 6,812-816 (1984); J. L. Horner and J. R. Leger, "Pattern recognition with binary phase-only filters," Applied Optics, Vol. 24, No. 5, 609-611 (1985); and J. L. Horner and H. 0. Bartelt, "Two-bit correlation," Applied Optics, Vol. 24, No. 18, 2889-2893 (1985).

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


The present invention provides a method and apparatus for managing information in an information resource system containing a server, a client, and a database, by generating metadata using an import agent, determining at least one match using a match agent, and dispatching the at least one match or a result associated with the match using a delivery agent. In an aspect of the invention, the metadata may be RDF metadata. In another aspect of the invention, the match agent may determine the match using an RQL query.

A portion of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
The present invention relates generally to computers, telecommunications, and computer network systems, and more particularly to an improved method and system for efficiently managing and retrieving information over a network.
The World-Wide Web (xe2x80x9cthe Webxe2x80x9d) is an Internet distributed information retrieval system holding a tremendous amount of information in various locations around the world. Users of the Web perform searches on search engines that have been developed in order to find and retrieve information on topics and areas in which the users are interested. Presently, most of these search engines, such as Yahoo! and Infoseek, perform indexing of every document found on the Web. These search engines then permit a user to type in plain text keywords, which are used by the search engines to scan and match every single document against the keywords entered.
Various search engine technologies of differing levels of sophistication, some having artificial intelligence, have developed to meet the quest for relevant information on the Web. Nevertheless, this technology is still hampered by limitations. For example, a user of a search engine inevitably encounters false hits, in which irrelevant information is retrieved by the search engine. In fact, thousands of results, many irrelevant, can be returned by a search engine if the user types in a very common search phrase. In addition, any present search engine may miss web pages that are actually relevant to what a user of the search engine is seeking, such as when the user fails to enter the proper combination of search keywords.
An alternative approach to finding information on the Web employs structured descriptions of web resources using metadata by organizing this information in a manner that a computer can understand and process. RDF is a specification that is presently being developed by the W3C (the World-Wide Web Consortium) as a format for processing metadata for resources on the Internet, including the World-Wide Web.
What is needed is a method and apparatus for searching for and discovering information, such as web resources, in a more flexible and sophisticated manner. What is further needed is a method and apparatus for finding information associated with RDF on the World-Wide Web.
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for managing information in an information resource system containing a server, a client, and a database, by generating metadata using an import agent, determining at least one match using a match agent, and dispatching the at least one match or a result associated with the match using a delivery agent. In an aspect of the invention, the metadata may be RDF metadata. In another aspect of the invention, the match agent may determine the match using an RQL query.
In another aspect of the invention, a method and system is provided for managing information using a match template in an information resource system having a first set of metadata and a second set of metadata, by comparing the first set of metadata with the second set of metadata, dynamically generating a query based on the first set of metadata, and executing the query against the second set of metadata.
In a further aspect of the invention, a method and system is provided for managing information in an information resource system having an import agent, a match agent, and a metadata repository by importing information to the metadata repository using the import agent and dynamically generating a metadata query based on the metadata repository using the match agent.
Still other embodiments of the present invention are and will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, wherein is shown and described only the embodiments of the invention by way of illustration of the best modes contemplated for carrying out the invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of modification in various obvious aspects, all without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the drawings and detailed description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not restrictive.

Method and apparatus for an information server


An automatic transmission includes a first power path producing a first ratio of a speed of the input and a speed of a first power path output; a second power path producing a second ratio of a speed of the input and a speed of the second power path output, the second ratio being is less than the first ratio; a double planetary gear unit including first, second, third and fourth members, the second member being secured to the output; a first clutch being operable to connect the first member to the input through the first power path; a second clutch being operable to connect the fourth member to the input through the first power path; a third clutch being operable to connect the third member carrier to the input through the second power path; a fourth clutch being operable to connect the fourth member to the input through the second power path; a first brake being operable to hold the fourth member against rotation; and a second brake being operable to hold the third member against rotation.

This invention relates to the field of automatic transmissions for motor vehicles. More particularly, the invention pertains to a kinematic arrangement of gearing, clutches, brakes, and the interconnections among them in such transmissions.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,106,352 describes a multi-speed automatic transmission for motor vehicles that includes two parallel gearsets providing two fixed speed ratios. The second speed ratio is higher than the first speed ratio. A first power path using the first fixed speed ratio includes a first control clutch and a second control clutch, and a second power path using the second fixed speed ratio includes a third control clutch. Several embodiments of the transmission include a double planetary gearset; other embodiments disclose a Ravigneaux gearset, a first control brake and a second control brake. Alternatively, the input shaft and output shaft are in alignment and one of the two speed ratios is a direct drive.
Optional axle ratios are used to improve towing. performance of heavy duty trucks. Although steeper axle ratios improve vehicle launch capability when the vehicle is loaded, these axle ratios produce lower fuel economy even when the vehicle is unloaded, and multiple axle ratios add complexity to the vehicle assembly process. In North America, operators of 4×4 trucks rarely use the Low Range in today's 4×4 applications that provide two- speed transfer cases. The transfer case clutch mechanism for selecting low-range and high-range operation on many transfer cases cannot be shifted unless the vehicle is stopped.


The present disclosure discloses a film-forming device belongs to the field of film forming technology comprising: a film-forming chamber configured to form a film on a substrate disposed inside the film-forming chamber; a transfer assembly configured to transport a shielding plate into the film-forming chamber along a conveying path, move the shielding plate to a first position, and remove the shielding plate from the film-forming chamber along the conveying path; and a cleaning assembly disposed at the conveying path outside the film-forming chamber for cleaning the shielding plate removed from the film-forming chamber.

Sputtering film forming is a commonly used film-forming technique in the fields of display panels, touch screens, semiconductors, etc., in which a target material of a film-forming material is bombarded with argon ions in a vacuum sputtering chamber, thereby target particles are sputtered and deposited on a substrate (such as a glass substrate, a semiconductor substrate, etc.) to form a film layer.
In order to prevent contamination due to deposition of target particles which are sputtered outside the substrate on the chamber wall (wall of chamber) or the like, it is necessary to provide a shielding plate outside edges of the substrate so that the target particles sputtered outside the substrate are deposited on the shielding plate. As the sputtering film forming progresses, the target particles and dust deposited on a surface of the shielding plate are gradually increased, the adhesion ability of the shielding plate is deteriorated, and the target particles are easily dropped to deteriorate the quality of the film layer. Therefore, the shielding plate should be cleaned regularly.

HEFEI XINSHENG OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A liquid crystal display device with a liquid crystal display panel and a backlight, the backlight is formed by stacking a lower electrode, a light emitting layer and an upper layer on one surface of a substrate, one of the lower electrode and the upper electrode have planer pattern, another of the lower electrode and the upper electrode have plurality of large regions and plurality of small regions which connect neighboring two of the plurality of large regions, and width of the small regions is narrower than that of the large regions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device and an illumination device, and more particularly to a liquid crystal display device which uses a backlight as an illumination device.
2. Description of the Related Art
The liquid crystal display device is configured such that respective pixels of a liquid crystal display panel change light transmitting quantities in response to the behavior of liquid crystal.
In this manner, in the liquid crystal display panel, the pixel per se does not emit light and hence, the liquid crystal display panel is usually provided with a backlight which functions as a surface light source on a back surface thereof, for example.
Further, there has been known a liquid crystal display panel in which a backlight uses, for example, light emitting layers such as organic EL layers as light emitting sources.
That is, on a portion which is allowed to function as a light source surface on a substrate, a lower electrode, the light emitting layer and an upper electrode are stacked, and a potential difference is generated between the lower electrode and the upper electrode so as to generate an electric current in the inside of a light emitting layer, whereby the light emitting layer emits light.
Further, the light emitting layers are arranged in plane such that the respective layers which emit lights of red (R), green (G) and blue (B) are arranged close to each other, and the lights of respective colors which are emitted from the light emitting layers are mixed to form a white light.
Such a technique is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open 2001-210467 and Japanese Laid-open 2003-121839.

Liquid crystal display device, illumination device backlight unit


A method of providing an oxygen barrier for a product includes placing a product in an injection molded article which includes 10 to 60% by mass of a polyamide resin (A) and 40 to 90% by mass of a mixed polyolefin (E), wherein the polyamide resin (A) includes a diamine unit 70 mol % or more of which is one or more m-xylylenediamine units and a dicarboxylic acid unit 70 mol % or more of which is one or more dicarboxylic acid units including a C4 to C20 α,ω-linear aliphatic dicarboxylic acid and isophthalic acid at a molar ratio of from 30:70 to 100:0, the mixed polyolefin (E) includes 40 to 100% by mass of a polyolefin (C) and 0 to 60% by mass of a modified polyolefin (B), and at least a portion of the polyamide resin (A) is dispersed in a layered state.

Injection molding has been widely spread and used in various applications such as mechanical parts, automobile parts, electric and electronic parts and containers for food and drugs because it is capable of producing molded articles having a complicated shape with a high productivity. In particular, containers for beverages, etc., have been frequently constructed from an injection molded article because a mouth portion of these containers is formed into an excellent threaded shape in order to ensure sufficient tightening of a cap thereon.
As the material for injection molding articles, there have been used various general resins including polyolefins such as polyethylene and polypropylene, polyesters and polystyrenes. Of these resins, polyolefins such as polypropylene have been extensively used in various applications such as containers because they are excellent in flowability and heat resistance upon molding as well as exhibit a light weight and a low moisture absorption and are available at low costs.
However, the polyolefins tend to be deteriorated in barrier property against gases such as oxygen and are, therefore, unsuitable as containers for preserving contents that are apt to be adversely affected by oxygen, etc., or as containers for food or drugs which are required to exhibit a good keeping property under severe environmental conditions such as high-temperature conditions. In consequence, there are disclosed methods in which a barrier material such as polyamides is blended in the polyolefins to improve a barrier property of the polyolefins (refer to Patent Documents 1 and 2).
These methods might improve a barrier property of the polyolefins to some extent. However, the barrier material to be blended must be dispersed in the polyolefins in a specific condition, so that the polyolefins tend to be improved in barrier property only to an insufficient extent. In addition, these methods also have such a problem that molded articles obtained from the resin mixture tend to have a poor appearance owing to the polyamides that are locally present near a surface thereof. More specifically, the method of the Patent Document 1 requires a biaxial stretch blow molding procedure, and the molded articles obtained without conducting the biaxial stretch blow molding procedure tend to be deteriorated in barrier property. Whereas, the Patent Document 2 discloses the composite molded article made of a polyolefin matrix and an amorphous polyamide in the form of a plurality of masses dispersed in the polyolefin, but is silent about crystalline polyamides and polyamides having a m-xylylene skeleton.
Upon producing a molded article having a multilayer structure including polyolefin layers and a barrier layer by injection molding method, since a material for the barrier layer exhibit no adhesion to the polyolefin layers, the molded article is required to have, for example, a structure having at least five layers, i.e., a layer structure of polyolefin layer/adhesive layer/barrier layer/adhesive layer/polyolefin layer. The production of the molded article having such a multilayer structure tends to be accompanied with difficulties in view of its structure and moldability and, therefore, has been rarely practiced from industrial viewpoints. In consequence, there is disclosed a method in which a polyolefin is compounded with a modified polyolefin to enhance adhesion of a polyolefin layer to a barrier layer and necessitate no adhesive layer therebetween (refer to Patent Document 3). The method of the Patent Document 3 improves adhesion between the polyolefin layer and barrier layer, but requires a large amount of the expensive modified polyolefin to ensure sufficient adhesion between these layers. In addition, this method has such a problem that the resulting molded article tends to be deteriorated in heat resistance owing to addition of the modified polyolefin thereto.
The present inventors have previously proposed the polyamide resin obtained by polycondensation of a diamine component containing 70 mol % or more of m-xylylenediamine and a mixed dicarboxylic acid component containing an α,ω-linear aliphatic dicarboxylic acid and isophthalic acid (refer to Patent Document 4). The polyamide resin exhibits an excellent barrier property. However, it has been still required that a multilayer injection molded article produced using the polyamide resin is further improved in delamination resistance.
Patent Document 1: JP 2004-292037A
Patent Document 2: JP 2005-8664A
Patent Document 3: JP 2006-131275A
Patent Document 4: JP 2004-352985A

Injection molded body having excellent barrier property


A hydraulic cartridge valve including a housing with an interior, first and second ports that pass through the housing, a poppet in the housing interior, and an activation sensor. The poppet moves between a closed position that blocks flow through the housing interior between the first and second ports, and an open position that allows flow through the housing interior between the first and second ports. The activation sensor senses poppet position, and generate a valve open signal when the poppet is in the open position. The activation sensor can be a contact or contactless sensor, and can be located in an opening through the housing blocked by a diaphragm. A pushrod pushed by the poppet can activate the sensor, such that when the poppet blocks flow the pushrod is separated from the diaphragm, and when the poppet allows flow the pushrod is pushed towards the diaphragm.

The position of a typical hydraulic cartridge valve, open or closed, is often not timely available and not directly available from the primary source. For example, in a typical hydraulic system using a check valve coupled to an actuator or other hydraulic device, the operator or controller will have to wait for movement of the actuator coupled to the check valve to determine whether the check valve is open, and there may not be any indication to reliably determine whether the check valve is closed. It would be desirable to get timely and direct hydraulic cartridge valve position information which can be used by an operator, controller or other system.

Hydraulic cartridge valve with activation sensor


An exemplary dual power supply system includes a first sensor connected to a first power supply, a second sensor connected to a second power supply, a selection switch, a control circuit, and a relay switch. Each of the output terminals of the first sensor, the second sensor, and the selection switch are connected to a corresponding input terminal of the control circuit. The first and the second power supplies are connected to an electronic device via the relay switch. A control terminal of the relay switch is coupled to an output terminal of the control circuit for selectively coupling the first or the second power supply to the electronic device according to a control signal generated by the control circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to redundant power supplies, and particularly to a dual power supply system.
2. Description of Related Art
Modern companies are relying more and more on their computer networks for their day to day operations. It is therefore, essential for the computer networks to be operational all of the time. A power failure can quickly bring down a computer network since all the network hubs and gateway require power to function. To ensure reliable network operation, most companies use uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) to protect their computer network equipment from failing during a power failure.
UPS is a device that provides battery backup when the electrical power fails or drops to an unacceptable voltage level.


A multifunction cryogenic vacuum valve adapted to evacuate, seal off, and monitor vacuum levels and relieve cryogenic vacuum insulated systems is provided, wherein no thread sealant is necessary for the thermocouple threads.

The present invention relates to cryogenic systems and, more particularly, to a multifunction cryogenic valve adapted to evacuate, seal off, and monitor vacuum levels and relieve over-pressure for cryogenic vacuum insulated systems.
Current evacuation valves for cryogenic vacuum insulated systems require additional components to make their valves function. The added components require additional space and clearance to operate; require more maintenance, spare parts, cleaning; and pose additional potential leak points and risk of breakage. The added components are needed to provide vacuum pump down, and monitoring of the vacuum, as well as an external operator and thermocouple isolation valve to evacuate and monitor the customers systems. Moreover, isolation valves require thread sealant on the thermocouple to keep the threads from leaking. Thread sealant is a concern in liquid oxygen systems because of the potential for ignition and fire. Thread sealant deteriorates after a period of time and requires replacement which makes it a maintenance requirement.
As can be seen, there is a need for a multifunction valve adapted to evacuate, seal off, monitor vacuum levels and relieve over-pressure for cryogenic vacuum insulated systems, wherein no thread sealant is necessary.


A method for rapid and efficient detection of a target DNA or RNA sequence is provided. A primer having a 3xe2x80x2-hydroxyl group at one end and having a sequence of nucleotides sufficiently homologous with an identifying sequence of nucleotides in the target DNA is selected. The primer is hybridized to the identifying sequence of nucleotides on the DNA or RNA sequence and a reporter molecule is synthesized on the target sequence by progressively binding complementary nucleotides to the primer, where the complementary nucleotides include nucleotides labeled with a fluorophore. Fluorescence emitted by fluorophores on single reporter molecules is detected to identify the target DNA or RNA sequence.

The present invention relates generally to detection of nucleic acid sequences, and, more particularly, to the selective incorporation of fluorescent markers to detect nucleic acid sequences.
The rapid and efficient detection of specific nucleic acid sequences in biological samples plays a central role in a variety of fields, including molecular biology, biotechnology, immunology, medical diagnosis, forensic analysis, and quality control of food products. One of the most commonly used techniques for the detection of specific nucleic acid sequences is the Southern blot. This is a hybridization technique in which the fragments to be interrogated have been size-separated by gel electrophoresis and transferred from the gel to a nylon nitrocellulose filter. A radioactive probe is then added to the filter so that hybridization takes place. After washing away the excess probe, the band containing the target nucleic acid is detected by exposing an x-ray film to the filter.
Despite its popularity, Southern blotting suffers from some limitations: it involves a series of manually intensive procedures that cannot be run unattended and cannot be readily automated. The process for separating the fragments by gel electrophoresis and subsequently detecting the bands by autoradiography are time-consuming tasks that are susceptible to poor quantitative accuracy and poor reproducibility.
The use of radioactive probes brings up a set of safety and environmental concerns. The lack of adequate sensitivity is another limitation, which has been partially addressed by the development of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and related target amplification methods. The PCR consists of selectively amplifying a target DNA sequence in a sample. Amplification products are usually detected by dyes that stain nucleic acids or by hybridization with sequence-specific probes. Amplification methods, however, may introduce ambiguities resulting from contamination or from variability in amplification efficiency. Therefore, there is a need for robust analytical methods that provide accurate quantitation and molecular weight estimates for target DNA or RNA segments.
Various objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
To achieve the foregoing and other objects, and in accordance with the purposes of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, the present invention includes a method for identifying a target DNA or RNA sequence. A primer having a 3xe2x80x2-hydroxyl group at one end and having a sequence of nucleotides sufficiently homologous to hybridize with an identifying sequence of nucleotides in the target DNA or RNA is selected. The primer is hybridized to the identifying sequence of nucleotides and a reporter molecule is synthesized on the target sequence by extending the primer by progressively binding nucleotides to the primer that are complementary to the corresponding nucleotides of the DNA or RNA sequence, where the complementary nucleotides include nucleotides labeled with a fluorophore. Fluorescence emitted by fluorophores on individual reporter molecules is detected to identify the target DNA or RNA sequence.

Method for the detection of specific nucleic acid sequences by polymerase nucleotide incorporation

The Regents of the University of California


A power monitoring system to monitor electrical power supply to electrical equipments. The monitor includes an energy saving device to reduce unnecessary power consumption. A control means for enabling control of power consumption of electrical devices in response to the data output of the monitored power consumption.

The following references to and descriptions of prior proposals or products are not intended to be and are not to be construed as statements or admissions of common general knowledge in the art. In particular, the following prior art discussion does not relate to what is commonly or well known by the person skilled in the art, but may assist in the understanding of the inventive step of the present invention, of which the identification of pertinent prior proposals is but one part.
In many parts of the world, there is a high level of concern over excess energy usage. There have been many proposals aimed at saving energy, at both international and national levels.
In the area of inventions which may effect energy savings, reference is made to International Patent Application No WO 2005/111766 and International Patent Application No WO 2008/064410. Each of these patent specifications is incorporated herein by reference and both are referred to below as the International Applications.
The International Applications disclose inventions where electrical devices are connected to a single mains supply electrical outlet, and the current flow through and voltage across at least one of the electrical devices is monitored in order to determine a functional state of that device. Depending on the nature of the functional state of the device and the nature of the other electrical devices, the supply of power to any or all of the other electrical devices can be shut off, so that not all electrical devices are powered in situations where power to them is unnecessary.
The present invention is predicated upon the concept that energy saving capability of such energy saving devices as those in the International Applications may be enhanced by monitoring and, in some embodiments, by networking a plurality of such energy saving devices.
Although energy saving devices such as those in the International Applications may autonomously maximise energy savings at their individual level, it is believed that the addition of networking capability can provide advantages not available before now.


A system and apparatus for treating a tissue site with reduced pressure and collecting fluids from the tissue site is disclosed. The system may include a reduced-pressure source, a pouch in fluid communication with the reduced pressure source, and a dressing in fluid communication with the pouch. The pouch may include a first wall, a second wall having a periphery coupled to the first wall to form an interior, and a third wall extending through the interior to form a first chamber in fluid communication with the dressing and a second chamber in fluid communication with the reduced pressure source. A plurality of filters are positioned in the third wall. The filters permit fluid communication between the first chamber and the second chamber.

Caring for wounds is important in the healing process. Wounds often produce considerable exudate. Medical dressings are often used in wound care to address the production of liquids from the wound. If not properly addressed, liquids at the wound can lead to infection or maceration at or near the wound. Wound dressings may be used alone or as an aspect of applying reduced pressure to a tissue site.
Clinical studies and practice have shown that reducing pressure in proximity to a tissue site can augment and accelerate growth of new tissue at the tissue site. The applications of this phenomenon are numerous, but it has proven particularly advantageous for treating wounds. Regardless of the etiology of a wound, whether trauma, surgery, or another cause, proper care of the wound is important to the outcome. Treatment of wounds or other tissue with reduced pressure may be commonly referred to as "negative-pressure therapy," but is also known by other names, including "negative-pressure wound therapy," "reduced-pressure therapy," "vacuum therapy," and "vacuum-assisted closure," for example. Negative-pressure therapy may provide a number of benefits, including migration of epithelial and subcutaneous tissues, improved blood flow, and micro-deformation of tissue at a wound site. Together, these benefits can increase development of granulation tissue and reduce healing times.
While the clinical benefits of negative-pressure therapy are widely known, the cost and complexity of negative-pressure therapy can be a limiting factor in its application, and the development and operation of negative-pressure systems, components, and processes continues to present significant challenges to manufacturers, healthcare providers, and patients.

System and method for multiple direction flexible inline canister


Disclosed are a display panel and a display device. The display panel includes: a substrate and a pixel array, where the pixel array is located on a side of the substrate, and the pixel array includes at least one inorganic insulating layer, and an edge of the inorganic insulating layer are located in the non-display area; a first repair layer, where the first repair layer is located in the non-display area, the first repair layer is located on a side of the inorganic insulating layer facing away from the substrate, the first repair layer covers the edge of the inorganic insulating layer, the first repair layer is in contact with the substrate, and the first repair layer has a repair function; and a light source, where the light source is located in the non-display area and configured to provide light to the first repair layer to trigger the repair function.

An organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display, also known as an organic electroluminescence display, is a new type of flat-panel display device. The OLED display has a broad application prospect for its advantages such as simple preparation process, low cost, low power consumption, high light-emitting brightness, wide range of working temperature adaptability, light weight, fast response speed, easy to achieve color display and large screen display, easy to match with integrated circuit driver, and easy to achieve flexible display.
According to driving manners, OLEDs may be divided into two major types of passive matrix OLED (PMOLED) and active matrix OLED (AMOLED), i.e., two types of direct addressing and thin film transistor (TFT) matrix addressing. AMOLED has pixels arranged in an array and belongs to the active display type. It has high light-emitting efficacy and is usually used as a large high-resolution display device.
Common mobile terminal display devices include mobile phones, tablet computers, etc. When used by a user, a mobile terminal is often dropped or impacted accidentally, which causes micro-cracks on the display panel. At the same time, since flexible displays have characteristics of being bendable and having good flexibility, they have developed rapidly in the display field. Flexible display devices are often stretched and bent during use, which also causes micro-cracks on flexible display panels. Both the flexible display panel and the non-flexible display are prone to micro-cracks. Slight micro-cracks will affect the display effect, such as the appearance of stains, dark spots and color shifts; while severe micro-cracks will cause the display panel to work abnormally, therefore the user experience is affected.
As such, the repair cost of the display panel of the mobile terminal display device is high, the possibility of having cracks again is high, and the stability of the display panel is relatively low. In this case, it is necessary for the display panel itself to have a complete system for repairing cracks.

Display panel and display device having repair layers


A multivalve internal combustion engine which has a cluster valve system, said system comprises a cam on a camshaft, a valve stem with a valve spring, a cluster valve lever mounted on a lower end of said valve stem, said cluster valve lever has a plurality of holes and a plurality of valves. Said valves are inserted into said holes of said cluster valve lever respectively, and secured by mated nuts that are tightened by application of torque to make the cluster valve system to operate as one single valve.

The present invention relates to a multivalve system for an internal combustion engine and more particularly to a practical and simple cluster valve system.
The cluster valve system comprises a plurality of valves operated by a single valve stem, a single valve spring and a single cam on a camshaft. As the camshaft rotates, the cam compresses the valve spring and forces the valve stem and the cluster valve lever to move downward to operate all cluster valves at the same time.
Said cluster valve system further comprises a cluster valve lever mounted on a lower end of said valve stem, said cluster valve lever has holes, each valve is inserted into a hole respectively and secured on said cluster valve lever by a mated nut that is tightened by application of torque.
Conventional internal combustion engines use two valves per cylinder, as opposed to the present invention, such conventional valve systems restrict the amount of air-fuel that enters the cylinder during the intake stroke and does not allow the exhaust to leave as rapidly during the exhaust stroke, thereby decreasing efficiency and power of the engine at high speed.
Conventional internal combustion engines also possess many other drawbacks and disadvantages.
The cluster valve system of the present invention is cheap to manufacture and to maintain. The cluster valve system will eliminate many moving parts of the valve system of a conventional engine, which can make an internal combustion engine smaller, lighter and more powerful and efficient.
The cluster valve system will operate more than eight valves per cylinder, more than four intake valves operated by one intake valve stem and more than four exhaust valves operated by one exhaust valve stem.


An elevator tension member is presented that has one or more steel cords as strength members that are encased in a jacket of thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer. The thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer is selected on the basis of its thermal properties in that the glass transition temperature of the hard phase (Tg HS) is above 90° C. In preferential embodiments that thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer has a crystallisation temperature (Tg) that is at least 20° C. higher than Tg HS. In other preferential embodiments the sum of Tg HS and Tc is higher than 200° C. Such thermoplastic polyurethane elastomers exhibit an unexpected increase in useful lifetime when compared to conventionally used polyurethanes. Moreover the invention provides a simple method to select an appropriate thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer.

High tensile, fine steel filaments (for example: filaments with a diameter of less than 0.30 mm and a tensile strength in excess of 2000 N/mm2) that are assembled into steel cords are increasingly being used in elevator tension members for a variety of reasons:                As the filaments are fine, the bending stresses induced on the filaments by a pulley or sheave are smaller than in prior art steel ropes with thick wires;        Moreover—as the filaments have a high tensile strength—the maximum induced bending stresses may be larger without affecting the fatigue life of the steel cords.        As the filaments are thin and have a high tensile strength, the breaking load requirement of an elevator tension member can be met in a smaller steel cord diameter. While in prior art elevator ropes a diameter of 8 mm was needed in order to reach the required breaking load, the same breaking load can now be reached with a tension member of only 5 mm or thinner.
Hence, fine, high tensile filaments allow the use of smaller diverting pulleys and drive sheaves in the elevator. Additionally the 'golden rule' in that the diameter of a sheave or pulley had to be larger than 40 times the diameter of the steel rope has been abandoned and currently safe and certified installations are in operation wherein the diameter of the drive sheave is 30 times the tension member thickness while even 25 times the rope diameter is being contemplated.
The use of smaller drive pulleys allows for the use of compact, low torque motors without gearbox that can be mounted in the top of the shaft of an elevator. A machine room on top of the elevator shaft can thereby be eliminated.
The use of high tensile, thin filaments brings also some problems:                As the total diameter of the steel cord diminishes as well as the diameter of the drive sheave the pressure between the steel cord and the sheave will increase inversely proportional to the product of sheave diameter and steel cord (keeping the conditions of loading identical);        Fine, high tensile filaments are more sensitive to transversal stresses in the filament than thick, low tensile wires. In addition at contact points between filaments in the rope contact stresses increase compared to the thick prior art wires due to the low diameter of the filament;        Prior-art elevator ropes have direct steel to steel contact between the sheave and the steel wires. As the fine, high tensile steel filaments also have a higher hardness the wear between sheave and steel rope completely changes;        Friction behaviour between fine, high tensile steel wire ropes and sheaves is different (lower) as the hardness of sheave and steel wires are different and the contact surface area between rope and sheave is much less compared to prior art steel ropes with thick, low tensile wires;
The above problems can be solved to a large extent by encasing the steel cord or cords in a polymer jacket. The presence of a polymer jacket results in different friction behaviour between the elevator tension member and sheave. Furthermore, the polymer jacket cushions and distributes the pressure on the steel cords at the drive sheave. Additionally, provided the polymer enters the steel cords sufficiently, inter-filament transversal stresses can be alleviated. As a shear stress is induced in the polymer squeezed between the steel cords or cord and the drive sheave during acceleration and deceleration of the elevator, a good adhesion between the polymer and the steel cords is crucial. The polymer jacket therefore becomes a part of the tension member that has an influence on many use parameters of the tension member.
It follows that the material properties of the polymer determine many of the properties of the tension member. While in prior art ropes polymer materials like polyamide, polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, and many others have been tried, it appears that thermoplastic polyurethane elastomers are best suited for this application, particularly for their resistance to wear, moisture and heat.
EP 2508459 B1 illustrates the point that the polymer of the jacket has a serious influence on the friction behaviour of the tension member. The preferred polymer is characterised in that it comprises a first and second resin compound at a mass ratio of between 90:10 to 70:30 wherein the difference in glass transition temperature between first and second resin is 20° C. of more. The disclosure mentions that the hardness of the polymer should not be too high as otherwise the tension member—in this case a rope—cannot longer be bent repeatedly (paragraph [0066]). Shore A values of 95 to 100 are too high according to this disclosure.
In U.S. Pat. No. 8,402,731 B2 the polymer should have a Shore A hardness of less than 98, preferably between 85 and 98. In this disclosure, the polymer is a mixture of a polyurethane elastomer and an isocyanate compound having two or more isocyanate groups per molecule. The inventors revealed that when the hardness of the polymer jacket becomes too high—larger than Shore A 98—the flexibility of the rope is impaired resulting in an increase in power consumption of the elevator.
The sizes of the steel cords considered in all these applications are larger than 8 mm.
The inventors found that the jacket polymer of the elevator tension member also has a profound, hitherto unsuspected influence on the fatigue life of the elevator tension members as will be disclosed in the subsequent sections.

Elevator tension member with a hard thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer jacket


A tool for the advancement of a router cutter along a door or window jamb, with its cutting axis at a compound angle, so as to eliptically undercut a channel complementary to a dart-shaped seal anchor having a rib projecting through a slot formed by a reduced stem of the cutter, the seal characterized by a depressible bulb shaped body lying contiguous to both the jamb and a slamming stop.

This invention relates to weather seals or stripping for door and window openings as they are constructed in buildings and the like. Conventional door and window jambs vary in type, there being casement doors and windows, double hung windows, and sliding doors and windows etc. . . It is wooden door and window jambs with which this invention is particularly concerned, those that can be routed for the reception of a continuous seal installed to be effective between the jamb and the moveable door or window, it being a general object of this invention to provide a method and tooling for the installation of weather strip seals in existing as well as new construction. This invention is characterized by a routing tool and cutter and by a seal configuration adapted to wooden jambs, headers or sills, whether new or old. However, it is an object of this invention to provide a seal equally useful for metal construction.
Door and window openings are constructed of a frame comprised of spaced jambs extending upward from a sill and joined at the top by a lintel or header. In casement doors and windows there is door stop or slamming stop, which is a strip or projecting surface against which the door or window closes. And, it is this stop with which this invention is particulary concerned, since the stops of the header and sill join at right angular corners with the stops on the jambs, and heretofore it has been difficult if not impossible to rout into such corners for the installation of a contiuous weather strip seal. The face of the stop is right angularly related to the face of the jamb, and it is an object of this invention to rout a seal groove disposed in a plane to bisect the right angularly related planes of said two faces. Accordingly, a routing tool is provided with a guide that simultaneously follows the faces of the stop and jamb or header, and also provided with means to advance and to retract a specially shaped cutter into and out of working position that routs an undercut groove at a compound angle into and bisecting the corner established by said two faces.
Heretofore, seal strips with dart-shaped anchors have been installed under the aforementioned stop and jamb condition, by routing dovetail grooves receiving a seal anchor of complementary shape; however, these seals are not entirely secure. When dart-shaped anchors are employed, a routing cutter of that configuration has been used at a right angle to the woodwork. However, a dart-shaped cutter has been considered inoperative for reaching at a compound angle into the corners of right angularly related jambs and headers and sills with said stops. An objection is that angular disposition of a cutter axis creats an oval undercut heretofore considered to be inferior and requiring an over-lengthy cutter barrel that would render the cutter to be overly fragile. However, with the present invention a descrete compound angle of the cutter is advantageously utilized and coordinated with the barrel length of the cutter to create an adequate shoulder at each side of the undercut groove of dart-shape configuration. The opposite anchor shoulders are a developement of the inclined cutter's flutes that converge to a point so as to cut a dart-shaped groove.
Heretofore, the operational proceedure of removing material with a router involves the adjustment of the cutter relative to a guide, following which the cutter is revolved at high speed and the entire tool lowered into the work until the cutter reaches full depth as controlled by the previously set guide. However, with the involvement of right angularly related jamb and stop faces, and the like, entry of the cutter into the work to a precise stopped position becomes difficult; when reaching into the corners presented by right angularly related jambs, headers and sills. Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a precision stop for the entry of the cutter into these corners. A feature is the "pistol-grip" configuration of the cutter positioning means, by which the tool is comfortably manipulated with agility, whereby the front end of the guide advances the router cutter to a predetermined stopped position for termination of the cut made thereby.
It is an object of this invention to provide a routing tool, as hereinabove described, which is versatile and adapted to different door and window situations. That is, the moveable doors and windows may or may not be installed or removed, some are of the casement type while others are of the sliding type, and the construction to be improved with seals might be old or new. Accordingly, guide shoes are provided and which are formed to be complementary to the jamb and step configuration to be routed, an example of which is shown and described.
It is also an object of this invention to provide for angular advancement of the cutter and of the router axis, at a descrete compound angle selected for entry of the cutter into the corner established by the right angularly related jambs, headers and sills. The coumpound axis angle selected is substantially 60.degree., and is prefereably a 60.degree. angle which is complementary to the cutter configuration shown and herein described.

Router combination for installing weather-strip seals


A method of sealing coil leads during encapsulation by placing a lead of a coil in a tube, such that there remains a gap between the lead and the tube; placing the coil in a mold such that the gap remains open to an environment surrounding the mold; and injecting encapsulation material into the closed mold in a liquid state under pressure, thereby causing the material to flow through the gap toward the environment. Injecting encapsulation material into the mold may be done at a rate, temperature, and/or environmental temperature to cause the material to solidify before passing through the gap into the environment. In any case, there is no need to seal the mold to the leads. Each lead of the coil may be placed into an individual tube and/or the tubes may be is formed within a single sleeve.

1. Field of the Invention
The inventions disclosed and taught herein relate generally to solenoids; and more specifically relate to methods of encapsulating solenoid coils.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,284,312 discloses a "sealing type electrical connector with mating housing portions configured to inhibit undesirable seepage of water or other contaminates into its interior which would be detrimental. A first housing is formed of flexible, molded elastomeric material which is relatively soft. A second housing is molded of rigid thermoplastic material. Each housing includes a tubular outer wall with closed and open ends defining a hollow interior therebetween. The housing members each also include an inner plug portion integrally formed therewith and spaced inward from the tubular outer wall portion, each having electrical contact makers molded therein. The tubular wall of one housing member has an inner diameter slightly larger than the outer diameter of the tubular wall of the other housing member so that the members are assembled with the one member overlying the outer wall of the other member. Circumferentially extended sealing ribs on the member of elastomeric material are engaged by the other member and compressed in the space therebetween to prevent passage of water between the housing members and into the interior."
U.S. Pat. No. 4,679,767 discloses a "solenoid arrangement including a coil of electrically conductive wire and a yoke of magnetic material surrounding the coil. The coil is completely encapsulated by a thermosetting resin, the resin being located between the coil and the yoke, and the yoke being encapsulated by a thermoplastic resin. Preferably, the thermosetting resin is an epoxy resin, and the thermoplastic resin is nylon. The yoke includes a side wall extending around the entire periphery of the coil, a top wall, and a bottom wall, the side, top, and bottom walls forming a box-like housing which substantially completely encloses the coil. A stationary armature extends from the top wall of the yoke into the center of the spool upon which the coil is wound, and a sleeve for accommodating a core tube extends from the bottom wall into the center of the spool."
U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,454 discloses a "solenoid actuator including a coil of electrically conductive wire, a yoke of magnetic material surrounding the coil, and a non-electrically and non-magnetically conductive material encapsulating the coil and yoke. A pair of terminals connected to the ends of the coil project outwardly beyond an exterior surface of the encapsulation. Any of a variety of electrical connection modules is adapted to receive the coil terminals and electrically connect them to standard electrical connectors projecting from the module. Different modules have different forms of standard electrical connectors, so that regardless of the type of connector available at the source of electric power, a suitable module can be connected to the encapsulated coil for cooperation with the power source connector. The body of each module is formed of resilient material so that when the module is tightly attached to the coil encapsulation, a seal is formed completely surrounding the coil terminals. Particular modules may incorporate rectifiers, time delay circuits, power-enhancing circuits, and radio controlled switches."
U.S. Pat. No. 6,175,083 discloses a "sealing mechanism is provided to seal a lead from a closed cavity of an apparatus. The sealing mechanism includes a mounting portion sealingly connected to the apparatus, a cap member having a recess defined therein with an elastomeric grommet compressively disposed in the recess. The elastomeric grommet has a passageway defined therethrough for the lead from the closed cavity to past through. The compressive forces induced into the elastomeric grommet applies a compressive force on the lead to provide a seal. The cap member is sealingly connected to the mounting portion. Consequently, the closed cavity in the apparatus is effectively sealed from the atmosphere and contaminants cannot enter the closed cavity and create premature failure of the component therein, such as, for example, an electrical coil."
U.S. Pat. No. 6,545,583 discloses a "sealing mechanism [that] comprises a cap and a grommet for sealing an electrical lead extended from a coil overmold or a closed cavity. The grommet provides a first seal against the electrical lead and a second seal against a mounting section around the electrical lead. The cap is snap-fit onto the mounting portion for the lead through engagement between corresponding snap structures on the cap and mounting portion. The grommet comprises a skirt section and a cover section. The skirt section forms a radial seal against the mounting portion while the cover section seals against the leads."
U.S. Pat. No. 6,737,947 discloses an "electrical assembly that prevents contaminants from migrating to the coil windings within an encapsulant forming the main housing through the use of a sealing assembly located within an over-molded, thermoplastic encapsulant. Before over-molding, an elastomeric seal is installed on each lead wire to be sealed, and this wire/seal subassembly is then inserted into a seal housing made from the same basic thermoplastic as the encapsulant forming the housing. The seal housing has one or more continuous ribs, with sharp edges, that circumvent the outer surface of the seal housing. During over-molding to form the main housing, the molten encapsulant surrounds the seal housing and melts the tips of the ribs. Upon cooling, the (no thermoplastic solidifies and the encapsulant bonds to the seal housing along each of its ribs."
U.S. Pat. No. 7,151,427 discloses a "switchgear, especially for actuating valves, includes a housing (18) and a coil body (10) disposed in the housing. A switch element is guided in the coil body. The coil body is provided with a winding (14) of a conductor (16) that is connected to a plug connector (22) via contact elements (20). At least some sections of the housing (18) and of the plug connector (22) are enclosed by a plastic compound (24). Sealing devices (40) seal off the interior (42) of the switchgear from the surroundings (44). At least one of the sealing devices (40) is configured as a sealing web (48) of a meltable material. The sealing web (48) is disposed on the bottom face (50) of a plug plate (26) of the plug connector (22) which faces the housing (18). The sealing web (48), in the molten connection state, seals off at least the engaging parts of the plug connector (22) that are connected to the housing (18) from the surroundings (44) in a fluid-tight manner by the plastic compound (24), thereby eliminating the need for conventional rubber packing rings (O rings) in the area of the plug connector that are prone to failures."
U.S. Patent No. Application Publication No. 20020175791 discloses a solenoid "that has a fully enclosing yoke with integral end cap and sleeve. A second, separate, or alternatively integral end cap with sleeve is provided to complete the magnetic yoke. The yoke/coil assembly is encapsulated with a liquid crystal polymer that has a melting temperature higher than the melting temperature of the coil bobbin to provide a good bond therebetween."
The inventions disclosed and taught herein are directed to an improved system and method for sealing coil leads during encapsulation.

System and method of sealing coil leads during encapsulation


A novel process for the preparation of a long acting injectable composition based on biodegradable poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) microspheres comprising peptide active pharmaceutical ingredients.

Peptide drugs are usually administered systemically, e.g. parenterally due to their poor oral absorption and high instability in gastric fluids. However, parenteral administration may be painful and cause discomfort, especially for repeated daily administrations. In order to minimize the number of injections to a patient, the drug substance is advantageously administered as a depot formulation. The parenteral administration of peptide drugs as a depot formulation in a biodegradable polymer, e.g. as microspheres or implants, has been proposed enabling their sustained release after a residence time in the polymer which protects the peptide against enzymatic and hydrolytic influences of the biological media. A common drawback with injectable depot formulations is the fluctuation in plasma levels such as high peak levels which cause undesired pharmacological side reactions together with plasma levels close to zero during the entire release period. A therapeutically relevant blood level over an extended period of time is difficult to achieve and satisfactory peptide release profiles are in practice only obtained in very few cases.
Identified factors that control the peptide release characteristics of a parenteral depot in the form of PLGA microspheres include peptide form (i.e., free peptide, salt form), polymer type (i.e., molecular weight, lactide to glycolide ratio, linear or branched structure, end-terminal groups), drug loading, particle size and particle porosity and the distribution of the drug into the polymer matrix (U.S. Pat. No. 5,538,739).
Few commercial long-acting release drug formulations of microspheres are available on the market. SANDOSTATIN LAR® is a commercial available parenteral depot formulation comprising octreotide acetate active peptide. It is indicated for, inter alia, long-term maintenance therapy in acromegalic patients, and treatment of severe diarrhea and flushing associated with malignant carcinoid tumors and vasoactive intestinal peptide tumors (vipoma tumors). Approved at doses of 10, 20 and 30 mg (and up to 40 mg for patients with acromegaly in certain countries such as the US and Japan), Sandostatin LAR® allows for once-monthly intragluteal injection. The pharmacokinetic profile of octreotide after injection of Sandostatin LAR® reflects the release profile from the polymer matrix and its biodegradation. After a single i.m. injection in humans, the octreotide concentration reaches a transient initial peak within 1 hour after administration, followed by a progressive decrease to a low undetectable level within 24 hours. After this initial release on day 1, octreotide remains at sub-therapeutic levels in the majority of the patients for the following 7 days. Thereafter, octreotide concentration increases again and around day 14 (about 2-3 weeks post-injection) reaches plateau levels which are maintained during the following 3 to 4 weeks, then a decline period of 6 weeks follows (Summary of product characteristics for Sandostatin LAR® 10 mg, 20 mg or 30 mg powder and solvent for suspension for intramuscular injection, 2013). In agreement with the above and according to the available literature data the expected release profile for Sandostatin LAR in rats follows the same pattern (AAPS PharmSciTech, Vol. 12, No 4 (2011)).
There are a number of techniques for the microencapsulation of peptides in PLGA microspheres. The most widely used techniques both in lab scale and for commercial productions include phase separation/coacervation technique, spray drying and single or double emulsion/solvent evaporation technique (PDA J Pharm Sci and Tech 2008, 62 125-154; Microencapsulation Methods and Industrial Applications Second Edition).                1. In phase-separation or coacervation technique, an aqueous solution of peptide/protein is emulsified or alternatively the peptide/protein is dispersed in solid form into solution containing dichloromethane and PLGA. Silicone oil is added to this dispersion at a defined rate, reducing solubility of polymer in its solvent. The polymer-rich liquid phase (coacervate) encapsulates the dispersed peptide/protein molecules, and embryonic microspheres are subjected to hardening and washing using heptane. The process is quite sensitive to polymer properties, and residual solvent is also an important issue.        2. In spray-drying technique a polymer is dissolved in a volatile organic solvent such as dichloromethane or acetone. The protein is suspended as solid or emulsified as aqueous solution in this organic solution by homogenisation. After that, the resulting dispersion is atomised through a (heated) nozzle into a heated air flow. The organic solvent evaporates, thereby forming microspheres with dimensions of typically 1-100 m. The microspheres are collected in a cyclone separator. For the complete removal of the organic solvent, a vacuum-drying or lyophilization step can follow downstream. The internal structure of the resulting polymeric microspheres depends on the solubility of the peptide/protein in the polymer before being spray-dried leading to the formation of reservoir or matrix type products. When the initial dispersion is solution, the final product obtained following spray drying is matrix or monolithic type, that is, polymer particles with dissolved or dispersed nature of the active ingredient (defined as microspheres). Conversely, when the initial dispersion is in suspension, the product obtained is reservoir type, that is, a distinct polymeric envelope/shell encapsulating a liquid core of dissolved active ingredient (defined as microcapsules).        3. Oil-in-water (o/w) and water-in-oil-water (w/o/w) are the two hydrous techniques representing, respectively the single and double emulsion formation during microspheres preparation. In these processes, peptides/proteins are dissolved in an organic solvent (e.g., alcohol) or in an aqueous solution and then mixed or emulsified with an organic solution (non-miscible with water) of the polymer to form a solution or water-in-oil (w/o) emulsion, respectively. Dichloromethane serves as organic solvent for the PLGA and the o/w primary emulsion is formed using either high-shear homogenization or ultrasonication. This primary emulsion is then rapidly transferred to an excess of aqueous medium containing a stabilizer, usually polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). Again homogenization or intensive stirring is necessary to initially form a double emulsion of w/o/w. Subsequent removal (by evaporation) of organic solvent by heat, vacuum, or both results in phase separation of polymer and core to produce microspheres. Instead of solvent evaporation, solvent extraction with large quantity of water with or without a stabilizer can also be undertaken to yield microspheres containing peptide/protein. Although the w/o/w microencapsulation technique seems to be conceptually simple to carry out, the particle formation process is quite complicated, and a host of process parameters are having an influence on or affect the properties of peptide/protein-loaded PLGA microspheres.
Until now the temperature profile as applied during the evaporation step in emulsion/solvent evaporation techniques has not been identified as a critical process parameter to affect the release characteristics of the peptide from the polymer matrix. On the contrary, processing under constant temperature slightly above the boiling point of the organic solvent is generally applied (or slightly above the vapour pressure of the solvent when a reduced pressure/vacuum is applied to accelerate the evaporation of the solvent).
A typical release mechanism for these types of formulations includes three phases that can be generally represented as the initial release phase (phase 1), the hydration phase (phase 2), and primary release phase (phase 3) that is diffusion controlled but facilitated by erosion of the polymer matrix. The drug release begins after a lag time when the polymer molecular weight falls below a critical value and thus mass loss can take place (Faisant N, Siepmann J, Benoit J P. PLGA-based microspheres: elucidation of mechanisms and a new, simple mathematical model quantifying drug release. Eur J Pharm Sci. 2002 May; 15(4):355-66; Körber M. PLGA erosion: solubility- or diffusion-controlled? Pharm Res. 2010 November; 27(11):2414-20). There is a need in the art for an improved manufacturing method to control the release profile of the peptide drug substance from the polymer matrix of the microspheres.

Preparation of peptide loaded PLGA microspheres with controlled release characteristics


This invention relates to a polycarbonate resin composition comprising: (A) 100 mass parts of a polycarbonate, comprising (a-1) 10-100% by mass of a polycarbonate-polyorganosiloxane copolymer and (a-2) 90-0% by mass of an aromatic polycarbonate (a-2); and (B) 5-100 mass parts of a fatty acid polyester, and improves the flame retardancy of the polycarbonate resin composition without using halogen flame retardants and, further, achieves high fluidity of the resin composition.

A polycarbonate/polyester alloy has good heat and chemical resistance characteristics and has been often used especially for automotive parts.
In recent years more thin-walled parts have been required from the viewpoint of weight saving, which in turn has led to the request for the improvement of fluidity of materials.
In addition to the characteristics above, the polycarbonate/polylactic acid alloy which is a polycarbonate/polyester alloy is effective for the high fluidization of polycarbonate due to the high fluidity of polylactic acid.
Since it is thought that polylactic acid produces less toxic gases when it is burned with polycarbonate in alloy due to chemical construction thereof, it is also expected that the polycarbonate alloy is excellent for environment.
Although the conventional polycarbonate/polyester alloys have good heat and chemical resistance characteristics, they have poor fluidities. In order to obtain a high fluidity of the polycarbonate, an alloy with styrene resin or a plasticizer is generally added (Patent Document 1).
Although polycarbonate/polylactic acid alloys with a luster of pearl, excellent fluidity, and good thermal and mechanical characteristics are known, further improvement of fluidity is necessary for molded articles with complicated shapes such as those of office automation equipment (Patent Document 2).
Polycarbonate resins have a self-extinguishing characteristic, however, there are fields which require a more severe flame retardancy in the field of electric and electronic equipment including office automation equipment, information and communication equipment and electric home appliances and such a characteristic has been improved by adding various flame retardants.
As a technique of improving the flame retardancy of polycarbonate resins, a halogen flame retardant such as halogenated bisphenol-A and halogenated polycarbonate oligomer has been used in combination with a flame retardant assistant such as antimony oxide from the viewpoint of flame retardant efficiency.
In recent years, however, the market demands flame retarding methods using flame retardants which do not contain halogens from the viewpoint of safety and effects on the environment after disposal and incineration.
Organic phosphorus flame retardants, especially polycarbonate resin compositions containing organophosphate ester compounds, have the action of plasticizer as well as excellent flame retardancy as such non-halogen flame retardants and many methods for them were proposed.
Additionally, a flame retardant resin composition in which a polycarbonate-polyorganosiloxane copolymer is used as a polycarbonate resin and which is made of a polycarbonate resin composition containing polytetrafluoroethylene with a fibril-forming ability is also know (Patent Document 3).
This composition shows excellent flame retardancy when the content of polyorganosiloxane is limited to a specific low range.
Although methods that use organic alkali metal salt, organic alkaline earth metal salt, or polyorganosiloxane to improve flame retardancy without compromising transparency are also known (Patent Document 4), all the methods require further improvement of fluidity.
The use of styrene resins or aromatic polyester resins to improve the fluidity of polycarbonate resin is known (Patent Document 5), but there is no description of a high-flow flame retardant polycarbonate resin using a fatty acid polyester or even polycarbonate-polyorganosiloxane copolymer.
Patent Document 1: JP-B-H07(1995)-68445
Patent Document 2: JP-A-H07(1995)-109413
Patent Document 3: JP-A-H08(1996)-81620
Patent Document 4: JP-A-H08(1996)-176425
Patent Document 5: J-A-2003-147188

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Polycarbonate resin composition and molded article


An Electronic Bass Drum includes one or more loudspeakers, an internal amplifier system, an optional electronic drum module and control panel, an impact sensitive electronic kick pad, an attachment for a bass drum pedal, mounting hardware for tom toms or other acoustic or electronic instruments, legs for stabilization, one or more headset jacks for silent play, input jacks for other instruments and/or microphones, and an ipod™ cradle for playing along with music. All of which are enclosed in a cylindrical shell which cosmetically matches the dimensions and design characteristics of a conventional acoustic bass drum.

This invention relates generally to the field of musical instruments and more specifically to a complete system for an electronic bass drum.
Virtually every drum kit has a bass drum, whether it is an acoustic set or an electronic set. This invention is designed to replace current bass drums in every type of drum set.
In FIG. 1, a current technology acoustic drum set is presented, including a conventional acoustic bass drum. Note that there is the bass drum itself 21, a special bass drum microphone 22 and individual drum microphones 22a for picking up sounds when more volume is required, an amplifier/mixer or P.A. device 23 and speakers 24 to play the sounds to the audience. Also note that the pitch and voice quality of the bass drum always remains the same, and that the whole setup includes several components that are usually spread out and inaccessible to the drummer, most notably the volume control. And that each component usually has its own heavy wooden case that adds to the weight and setup complexity of the system.
FIG. 1a shows the same drum kit, except for the acoustic bass drum which has been replaced by my invention 25. Note that all of the peripheral amplification and sound equipment has also been replaced, by my single instrument. And because the invention includes an electronic drum module, the performer is able to control the voice quality of the bass drum at will, and all volume adjustment controls are readily available.
Current technology electronic drum sets FIG. 2, usually include a pedal 26, an impact sensitive electronic kick pad 27, a drum module 28 and an amplification system or P.A. 29 for performing. There are advantages to using an electronic drum set. The tonal quality of the drums is instantly variable; most modern drum modules offer over 500 different sounds, and these sounds are readily changeable depending upon the style of music played. Also, there is usually a volume control that is easily within reach of the drummer. But there are still drawbacks to existing technology. An external amplification or P.A. system 29 still needs to be set up.
In FIG. 2a, the electronic bass drum 25 replaces the current kick pad, module, and amplification systems with a single, easily transportable instrument.
Cosmetically, the classic bass drum shape is very much desired by all drummers, and current electronic bass drum technology is shunned by most conventional acoustic drummers for this reason. And there is no system for mounting tom-toms or other percussion instruments on the typical electronic bass drum. My invention overcomes all of these limitations.


Some embodiments of the invention include thin film capacitors formed on a package substrate of an integrated circuit package. At least one of the film capacitors includes a first electrode layer, a second electrode layer, and a dielectric layer between the first and second electrode layers. Each of the first and second electrode layers and the dielectric layer is formed individually and directly on the package substrate. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Computers and electronic devices usually include an integrated circuit package. The package may often have a die mounted on a base or substrate of the package. The die may include an integrated circuit for performing an electrical function. The package may also have one or more capacitors formed on the substrate. The capacitors may be used in various ways based on the function of the integrated circuit. The capacitor may be formed from multiple layers of thin films of conductive material and dielectric material.
In some conventional techniques, the capacitor is pre-formed in a separate process then the entire pre-formed capacitor is mounted or laminated onto the substrate of the package in another separate process. The process of mounting the pre-formed capacitor onto a substrate in the conventional techniques is often called capacitor-to-substrate lamination process.
Forming the capacitor in a package using the conventional techniques with the lamination process may require both a careful handling of the thin films of the pre-formed capacitor before the lamination and a high degree of alignment accuracy during the lamination. Some of these conventional techniques may also be expensive and time consuming.

Low temperature deposition and ultra fast annealing of integrated circuit thin film capacitor


In the invention, a system and method providing maintenance functions for an electronic device is provided. The system and method utilize configurable software tools to provide executable routines for a maintenance function related to the electronic device. The system and method employ a scripting module for building a script from a selection of tools utilizing a graphical user interface and for initiating activation of tools in the selection from selectable triggering events via the graphical user interface. The system and method utilize a script display module for generating a graphical representation of a script illustrating the selection of tools, relationships relating to triggering events of tools within the selection and a flow of execution of the scripts in the selection.

In a communication network, a communication switch receives, processes and forwards data traffic to and from other switches and communication devices. A communication switch is a complex system, comprising many modules embodied in separate hardware, software and firmware elements which act in concert to provide the functionality of the switch. The hardware elements comprise CPUs, volatile and non-volatile memory devices, specialized data processing and other devices. Volatile memory devices include RAM. Non-volatile memory devices include EEPROMs, EPROMs, FPGAs, PLDs and PGAs. Software elements typically provide a functional program executed by a CPU. They are frequently stored in stored non-volatile memory, but execute from volatile memory. Firmware elements are programs that are encoded into programmable non-volatile memory devices. In a large-scale switch, such as an ATM switch, there may be dozens of software and firmware elements that are installed on various hardware elements on the switch.
During the operational life of a switch, it will likely undergo one or more upgrades. For a given upgrade, software and firmware elements are almost invariably upgraded. To successfully complete an installation of a given upgrade, the revised software and firmware elements must be installed into their associated volatile and non-volatile memory devices via downloading the elements from a library source to the devices. As the number of software and firmware elements can be large for a switch, the task of upgrading these elements is non-trivial.
The process of installing updates of software and firmware elements for a switch is typically controlled at a terminal connected to the switch via commands manually entered by an operator through a Command Line Interface (CLI) on the terminal. Before upgrading a software element, it is good practice to evaluate the compatibility of the software element with any existing associated hardware element. Prior art systems have CLI comments to report on release levels of hardware elements. If the hardware element is not compatible, the software element may not function. If the hardware element is compatible, the upgraded software element may be downloaded to its appropriate storage location in the switch by again, by entering an appropriate command via the CLI.
This process must be repeated for each upgraded software and firmware element. While CLI commands may be grouped together in a batch command, prior art batch commands lack programmability and execution flow control. Also, prior art batch files cannot be used at different terminals for different hardware configurations of the switch.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system and method for upgrading firmware and software downloads for a switch that provides more flexibility and functionality than the prior art.

System and method for implementing maintenance functions for a switch


A method and device for spectrometry analysis and for extracting a primary diffuse spectrum from a diffusion spectrum of diffuse radiation, according to a diffusion angle, coming from a material exposed to incident radiation through a surface, that includes the application of a spectral response function organized in the form of a matrix (M), known as a correlation matrix, of which each value aij corresponds with a number of detected photons, with energy Ei, constituting the multiple diffuse radiation, when a photon is detected, with energy Ej, of the primary diffuse radiation.

The application domain of the invention extends in the first place to the spectrometry of diffuse X rays or gamma rays, in particular the analysis of materials, but it comprises also other diffusion spectrometries. This type of spectrometry can be used in the study of materials, for instance the detection of explosives.
The diffusion spectrometry of X rays is based on exposing a material to incident X rays with energy equal to a few tens to a few hundreds keV. When they encounter the material on which they are projected, the X photons induce different types of interaction with the material: fluorescence or internal conversion (photoelectric effect during which the photon transfers all its energy to the material which returns it afterwards), inelastic diffusion, (or Compton effect which includes a change in the direction of the photon and a reduction of its energy), creation of positon-electron pairs (uniquely for X rays with very high energy not considered in the present invention), or Rayleigh diffusion (or elastic diffusion, a minority of the considered energies).

Method for extracting a primary diffusion spectrum

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