A pool cleaner for cleaning a pool, the pool cleaner may include a filtering element for filtering fluid; at least one sensor for sensing an actual yaw of the pool cleaner and an actual orientation of the pool cleaner; at least one steering element that is configured to move the pool cleaner along a cleaning path, during a cleaning process of a certain region of a sidewall of the pool; wherein the cleaning path comprises a cleaning path segment that has a cleaning path segment yaw that is a non-vertical yaw; wherein the certain region is fully submerged; and a controller that is configured to control the at least one steering element, based on the actual yaw of the pool cleaner.

Cleaning robots are known in the art. They are expected to clean the pool by brushing the surfaces of the pool and filtering the fluid of the pool by removing foreign particles from that fluid.
Cleaning robots may also be required to climb on vertical wall surfaces, stairs, ledges, and the like to brush these surfaces and remove dirt or scum lines that accumulate at the waterlines.
It is of importance to brush and sweep walls because, similar to the deep ends of pools, they are even more important areas of weakness that allow algae growths to expand unchecked thereby infecting the entire pool surfaces.
In order to climb on vertical pool walls, pool cleaners are required to traverse various obstacles that may be mounted on said vertical walls for example: spot lamps, return jet outlets, ladders.
Usually, pool cleaners are programmed to climb walls until reaching the water line followed by a descent back to the floor. The wall cleaning comprises performing vertical travelling in imaginary vertical boxes or strips.
The continuous ascending and descending on pool walls is a time-consuming activity.
There is a growing need to provide a pool cleaner that is capable of travelling on the walls in an efficient and effective manner.
There is a growing need to provide a pool cleaner that is capable to traverse various obstacles that may be mounted on vertical walls (or nearly vertical walls) of a pool.

Pool cleaner with drive motor navigation capabilities


A fluid-filled elastic mount wherein an elastic body elastically connecting a first and a second support partially defines a fluid chamber filled with a non-compressible fluid. The elastic mount further includes an oscillating plate which partially defines the fluid chamber and which is supported by the second support such that the oscillating plate is displaceable relative to the second support, and an electrostrictive/magnetostrictive element for oscillating the oscillating plate to thereby change a pressure of the fluid in the fluid chamber. The second support has a small-diameter cylindrical portion to which the elastic body is secured, and a large-diameter cylindrical portion in which the oscillating plate having a large surface area is accommodated. The electrostrictive/magnetostrictive element is interposed between the oscillating plate and a support member fixed to the second support.

1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to a fluid-filled elastic mount used as a vibration damper such as an automobile engine mount, which has a fluid chamber filled with a non-compressible fluid, and more particularly to such a fluid-filled elastic mount wherein the pressure of the fluid in the fluid chamber is regulated by utilizing a force generated by an electrostrictive/magnetostrictive element, to enable the engine mount to exhibit different damping characteristics depending upon the type of the vibrations received.
2. DISCUSSION OF THE PRIOR ART
As a vibration damper for flexibly connecting two members in a vibration system or mounting one of the two members on the other member in a vibration damping fashion, there is known an elastic mount interposed between the two members of the vibration system. The elastic mount has an elastic body interposed between and elastically connecting a first and a second support which are respectively fixed to one and the other of the two members of the vibration system. This type of elastic mount may be used as an engine mount for a motor vehicle, for example.
Recently, there have been proposed various types of fluid-filled elastic mounts adapted to exhibit sophisticated damping characteristics, wherein the elastic body which elastically connects the first and second supports partially defines a fluid chamber filled with a non-compressible fluid. The fluid chamber is also partially defined by an oscillating plate, which is oscillated or displaced to change the fluid pressure in the fluid chamber depending upon the type of the input vibrations received, so that the specific vibrations can be suitably damped or isolated.
An example of such a fluid-filled elastic mount is disclosed in JP-A-60-8540, wherein the oscillating plate is actuated or oscillated by an electromagnetic force produced upon energization of a solenoid coil, for example. However, such an electromagnetic force is found unsatisfactory to provide a sufficiently large magnitude of a force to actuate the oscillating plate. Another type of fluid-filled elastic mount is disclosed in JP-A-2-42228, wherein the oscillating plate is actuated by using an electrostrictive element made of a piezoelectric ceramic material.
While the electrostrictive element can produce a large magnitude of a force to actuate the oscillating plate, the element undergoes a considerably small amount of displacement upon energization thereof, which results in an accordingly small amount of displacement of the oscillating plate. Therefore, the fluid pressure within the fluid chamber cannot be effectively changed by oscillation of the oscillating plate, whereby the elastic mount cannot provide different damping characteristics depending upon the type of the vibrations received. Thus, the known elastic mount is practically unsatisfactory in its damping characteristics.

Elastic mount having fluid chamber partially defined by oscillating plate actuated by electrostrictive/magnetostrictive element


This invention is directed to an organ equivalent of the cornea part of the eye made using tissue culturing systems. The method of constructing the cornea equivalent results in a structure analogous to the eye cornea in vivo. The cornea equivalent is an in vitro model of the eye, which can be used for transplantation or implantation in vivo or for screening compounds in vitro.

Tissue culture techniques are being successfully used in developing tissue and organ equivalents. The basis for these techniques involve collagen matrix structures, which are capable of being remodeled into functional tissue and organs by the right combination of living cells, nutrients, and culturing conditions. Tissue equivalents have been described extensively in many patents, including U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,485,096; 4,485,097; 4,539,716; 4,546,500; 4,604,346; and 4,837,379, all of which are incorporated herein by reference. One successful application of the tissue equivalent is the living skin equivalent, which has a morphology similar to actual human skin. The living skin equivalent is composed of two layers: the upper portion is made of differentiated and stratified human epidermal keratinocytes that cover a thicker, lower layer of human dermal fibroblasts in a collagen matrix. Bell, et al., "Recipes for Reconstituting Skin," J. of Biochemical Engineering, 113: 113-119 (1991).
Studies have been done on culturing corneal epithelial and endothelial cells. Xie, et al., "A simplified technique for the short-term tissue culture of rabbit corneal cells," In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology, 25: 20-22 (1989), and Simmons, et al., "Corneal Epithelial Wound Closure in Tissue Culture: An in vitro Model of Ocular Irritancy," Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, 88: 13-23 (1987). Developing an in vitro organ equivalent of the cornea of the eye is of particular interest for use in in vitro toxicity assays to serve as accurate and inexpensive non-animal predictive models of in vivo ocular and dermal irritation potential for many types of products and raw materials.

The President and Fellows of Harvard College


A shield tunneling method of excavating a tunnel with an optional cross section by rotating a center cutter about an axis extending in the direction of propulsion and revolving a planetary cutter around the axis so as to excavate the region between the profile of excavation by the center cutter and the desired profile of excavation. A machine for practicing the method includes a center cutter supported by the body of the machine so as to be rotatable about an axis extending in the direction of propulsion of the body, a rotary body rotatable about the same axis as the center cutter, a planetary cutter supported by the rotary body so as to be movable radially of the rotary body, and operating device for moving the planetary cutter in the radial direction to permit the planetary cutter to revolve along a locus during the rotation of the rotary body so that the planetary cutter excavates the above-mentioned region.

The present invention relates to shield tunneling machines for continuously excavating tunnels which are not limited to a circular shape in cross section but can be of an optional cross section
Various shield tunneling machines have been proposed and placed into use for excavating tunnels. Generally, such tunneling machines have a cutter disposed on the front side of the machine body. The cutter is rotated about the central axis of the machine to excavate the ground in front of the machine toward which the machine is propelled, and the machine is advanced by an amount corresponding to the amount of excavation. Segment rings are then additionally provided for a further tunneling operation.
Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication SHO 59-102090 discloses a method of shield tunneling with an enlarged cross section so as to form a diametrically enlarged portion locally inside the excavated tunnel to provide a shelter or station.
Such conventional shield tunneling methods and machines are adapted to excavate tunnels by the rotation of the front cutter, so that the profile of excavation is limited to a circular shape only, and difficulties are encountered in excavating tunnels which are shaped otherwise in cross section. On the other hand, the tunnels for sewers, power lines and subways are generally required to have a cross sectional form other than circular in actuality. It has therefore been necessary to excavate the ground with a large circular cross section which includes such a differently shaped cross section. This necessitates an excessive excavating operation and attendant treatment for the resulting muck. The excessive work exerts a greater influence on the tunnel construction cost as the diameter of the tunnel increases as is the case with subways, consequently imposing a limitation on the application of the shield tunneling method.
According to the invention disclosed in the above-mentioned publication, a tunnel of usual diameter is first excavated, and segment rings are assembled. At the location where an enlarged portion is to be provided, the ground is thereafter excavated radially of the tunnel by a special operation, with the segment rings concerned removed. Thus, the disclosed method is not adapted to continuously excavate a tunnel having an optional cross sectional form other than the circular form.

Shield tunneling with optional section and machine


An interconnection sheet, a solar cell with the interconnection sheet, a solar cell module, an interconnection sheet roll, a solar cell with an interconnection sheet and solar cell module satisfy a relationship of Y≦Z<X, where X represents a maximum linear distance in a first direction from a connection portion connecting a wire for n type and a first connecting wire to a connection portion connecting a wire for p type and a second connecting wire, Y represents a maximum length of an alternating array portion in the first direction, and Z represents a maximum length of the alternating array portion in a second direction.

In recent years, development of clean energy is demanded for environmental issues such as depletion of energy resources, increase of CO2 in the atmosphere, and the like, and in particular, solar photovoltaic power generation employing solar cell modules are developed, put to practical use and advanced as a new energy resource.
As a solar cell, which configures a solar cell module, a bifacial electrode type solar cell, which has for example a monocrystalline or polycrystalline silicon substrate having a photoreceiving surface with an impurity of a conductivity type opposite to that of the silicon substrate to provide a pn junction, and a back surface opposite to the photoreceiving surface, with the surfaces provided with electrodes, respectively, has conventionally been the mainstream. Furthermore, in recent years, a solar cell having a silicon substrate having a back surface with both an electrode for p type and an electrode for n type, i.e., a so called back electrode type solar cell, is also being developed.
For example, Patent Literature 1 (U.S. Pat. No. 5,951,786) discloses a solar cell module including an insulating base material, an electrically conductive wiring patterned on a surface of the insulating base material, and a back electrode type solar cell overlying the wiring and electrically connected thereto.

Interconnection sheet, solar cell with interconnection sheet, solar cell module, and interconnection sheet roll


A 3-dimensional object-forming apparatus is provided which may avoid lowering of irradiation efficiency of laser light due to fumes and so forth while avoiding lowering of quality of the formed object. A shroud 20 includes an inside partition wall portion 21 that demarcates an inside space S1 which extends from one end opening 202 to another end opening 206, and an outside partition wall portion 22 that opens in the other end opening 206 of a shroud 20 on an outside of the inside space S1 and demarcates, together with the inside partition wall portion 21, an outside space S2 which closes in a position closer to the one end opening 202 than the other end opening 206 of the shroud. A ventilation area of the inside space S1 in the other end opening 206 of the shroud 20 is larger than the ventilation area of the inside space S1 in an upstream portion closer to the one end opening 202 than the other end opening 206.

In a 3-dimensional object-forming apparatus, for example, as illustrated in FIG. 4, a process is repeated in which a material powder layer P is formed by uniformly sprinkling material powder onto an object-forming table, a prescribed part of the material powder layer P is irradiated with laser light (see the broken lines) and is sintered, and a sintered layer S is thereby formed. Accordingly, an object in a desired shape which is formed of a laminated body of plural sintered layers S is fabricated (for example, see Patent Literature 1).
It is necessary to prevent lowering of irradiation efficiency of the laser light due to fumes produced in an object-forming area when forming the sintered layer S. Consequently, a cover unit C that opens toward the object-forming area has an inactive gas supply cover that discharges inactive gas (see the solid line arrows) through a discharge port to the object-forming area, and a fume drawing cover C2 that draws inactive gas including fumes (see the one-dot-chain lines) through a drawing port. Further, at least one of the position of a holder H that supports the cover unit C and the direction of the cover unit C is controlled, in accordance with the irradiation route of the laser light such that the laser light passes through an internal portion of an inactive gas supply cover C1 and the object-forming area is irradiated with the laser light.


A polarization splitting device includes a polarization beam splitter having a polarization splitting surface and allows P-polarized light to transmit therethrough and reflects S-polarized light. A subwavelength structure grating is formed on the polarization splitting surface with a grating pitch smaller than wavelength of incident light. The polarization splitting device also includes a polarizer that is arranged on an optical path of light reflected from the polarization beam splitter and has a transmission axis that is parallel to a polarization direction of the S-polarized light.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a polarization splitting device, a method of manufacturing a polarization beam splitter, an optical scanning device, and an image forming apparatus. More particularly, the invention relates to a polarization splitting device that splits lights that are polarized in different directions, a method of manufacturing a polarization beam splitter for use in the polarization splitting device, an optical scanning device including the polarization splitting device, and an image forming apparatus including the optical scanning device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image forming apparatuses that record electrophotographic images by using laser beams have been widely used. Such an image forming apparatus typically includes an optical scanning device that scans a surface of a photosensitive drum with laser light in an axial direction of the drum by using a deflector (e.g., a polygon mirror) while rotating the drum to thereby form a latent image on the surface of the drum.
In recent years, tandem-type image forming apparatuses that include a plurality of (typically four) photosensitive drums have come into widespread. The tandem-type image forming apparatuses permit high-speed color image formation.
A tandem-type image forming apparatus is likely to be upsized with the increase in the number of the drums. How to make the units of the image forming apparatus, such as an optical scanning device, compact has been an issue. One approach is to superimpose a plurality of optical paths of scanning light beams traveling from a deflector to a corresponding one of photosensitive drums.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2008-70599 discloses a conventional optical scanning device. This optical scanning device includes a light source device that emits a plurality of light beams of different polarization directions, a single optical deflecting unit that performs deflection scanning in a main-scanning direction with the light beams emitted from the light source device, a scanning-image forming unit that causes each of the light beams to be converged on a corresponding one of a plurality of surfaces to be scanned, and an optical element that is an optical-path branching unit that is positioned in an optical path from the optical deflecting unit to a corresponding one of the scanned surfaces and that branches an optical path of each of the light beams depending on the polarization direction of the light beam. A projections-and-pits structure whose pitch is equivalent to the wavelength of the light beam or smaller is formed on the optical element.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2008-116965 discloses another conventional optical scanning device. This optical scanning device includes a microstructure grating in which grating pitch decreases with increasing incident angle and grating arrangement direction is horizontally or perpendicularly oriented to polarization direction. The microstructure grating is arranged on the surface of an optical element so that Fresnel (surface) reflection from lens surface. This structure is advantageous in reducing a flare spot or ghost light.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. S60-32019 discloses a conventional recording apparatus. This recording apparatus includes two laser light sources that emit two laser beams linearly polarized to be perpendicular to each other and have luminous intensities modulated based on signals to be recorded, a polarized-light combining unit that combines the two laser light beams emitted from the laser light sources together, a deflecting unit that deflects the combined laser light in a main-scanning direction, and a polarized-light splitting unit that splits the combined laser light deflected by the deflecting unit to light beams into different spots on a scanning-recording surface.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H7-144434 discloses another conventional optical scanning device. This optical scanning device includes a single laser light source that emits laser light, an information control unit that imparts different information pieces to two polarized light beams emitted from the light source, a polarization control unit that controls a degree of polarization based on data from the information control unit, a scanning unit that scans a predetermined illumination surface with the light beam polarized by the polarization control unit, a splitting unit that splits the scanned light beam into two light beams depending on a state of polarization, and an angle-of-rotation control unit that controls an angle of rotation of the laser light from the scanning unit depending on an incident angle on the splitting unit.
However, the optical scanning device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2008-70599 is disadvantageous in that when the incident angle of light incident on the optical-path branching unit is large, performance of the optical-path branching unit in polarization splitting can degrade.
The optical scanning device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2008-116965 is disadvantageous in that it is difficult to achieve sufficient performance in splitting polarized light by using the optical element that includes the microstructure grating.
The recording apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. S60-32019 is disadvantageous in that an electric-field vector of P-polarized light that is expected to transmit through the polarization splitting unit is not parallel to a transmission axis of a beam-splitting surface in some cases, where a portion of incident light is undesirably reflected from the polarization splitting unit.
The optical scanning device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H7-144434 is disadvantageous in that employment of a magnetic optical element as the angle-of-rotation control unit leads to higher cost. Moreover, the act of performing the control of the angle of rotation entails increases power consumption and it leads to more heat generation. It is difficult to control the optical scanning device so as to provide its performance stably because the angle of rotation is likely to fluctuate with environmental conditions such as a temperature.

Polarization splitting device, method of manufacturing polarization beam splitter, optical scanning device, and image forming apparatus


The present invention keeps a dialogue continuing for a long time without causing uncomfortable feeling to a user. A dialogue system 10 includes at least an input part 1 that receives a user utterance, which is an utterance from a user and a presentation part 5 that presents the utterance. The input part 1 receives a user utterance performed by the user. A presentation part 5-1 presents a dialogue-establishing utterance which does not include any content words. A presentation part 5-2 presents a second utterance associated with a generation target utterance, which is one or more utterances performed before user utterance that includes at least the user utterance, after the dialogue-establishing utterance.

In recent years, research and development on robots communicating with humans has been progressing and put to practical use at various scenes. For example, at the site of communication therapy, there is a usage pattern in which a robot serves as a companion to talk with a person feeling loneliness. More specifically, a robot plays a role of a listener to a resident at elder care facilities, and can thereby heal the loneliness of the resident, and also can show the resident having dialogue with the robot to make chances to start dialogue between the resident and people around the resident such as his/her family and nurses. In addition, at the site of communication training, there is a usage pattern in which a robot becomes a training partner. More specifically, the robot becomes a training partner for foreign language learners at foreign language schools, thus helping the foreign language learners to efficiently proceed with foreign language learning. Furthermore, in an application as an information presentation system, robots perform a dialogue with each other and have their dialogue heard by people as a basis, sometimes talk to people, cause the people to join in dialogue without making the people bored, and can thereby present information in a form easily acceptable to the people. More specifically, when people feel bored at a meeting place, a bus stop, a platform at a station or the like in a town or when people can afford to participate in a dialogue at home, a classroom or the like, it is possible to expect efficient presentation of information such as news, merchandise introduction, introduction of a store of information or knowledge, education (for example, nursery and education of children, education in the liberal arts for adult people, moral enlightenment). Furthermore, in an application as an information collection system, there is a usage pattern in which a robot collects information while talking to people. Since it is possible to maintain a feeling of dialogue through communication with the robot, the system can gather information without giving people any feeling of oppression that they are being listened to by a third party. More specifically, the system is expected to be applicable to a personal information survey, a market survey, a merchandise evaluation, a taste investigation for recommended commodity or the like. Thus, a variety of applications are expected from communication between humans and robots, and an implementation of a robot that interacts with users more naturally is expected. With the wide spread of smartphones, chat services such as LINE (registered trademark) are also realized whereby a plurality of users chat with each other substantially in real time, enjoying dialogue among people. By applying a technique of dialogue with robots to this chat service, it is possible to implement a chat service whereby robots can perform dialogues with users more naturally even in the absence of any chat partner.
In the present specification, hardware which becomes a dialogue partner to a user such as robots used in these services or a chat partner, or computer software for causing a computer to function as hardware to become the user's dialogue partner are generically called an "agent." Since the agent is intended to become the user's dialogue partner, the agent may be personified such as a robot or a chat partner, personalized or may possess characters or individuality.
The key to the implementation of these services is a technique that enables the agent implemented by hardware or computer software to perform a dialogue with humans naturally.
An example of such an agent is a spoken dialogue system described in Non-patent literature 1 which performs voice recognition on a user's utterance, understands and infers an intention of the utterance and appropriately responds thereto. Researches on spoken dialogue systems have been actively conducted with the progress of voice recognition techniques, and spoken dialogue systems are being put to practical use in automatic voice response systems or the like.
One example of the above-described agent is a scenario dialogue system that performs a dialogue with a user about a specific topic along a predetermined scenario. The scenario dialogue system allows the dialogue to be continued as long as the dialogue develops along the scenario. For example, a dialogue system described in Non-patent literature 2 is a system that performs a dialogue between the user and a plurality of agents by including an interrupt by an agent or interaction between agents. For example, an agent utters a question provided in the scenario to the user and when the user's utterance of reply to the question corresponds to a choice provided in the scenario, the dialogue system functions so as to perform an utterance corresponding to the choice. That is, the scenario dialogue system is a dialogue system in which the agent performs an utterance based on a scenario stored in advance in the system. In this dialogue system, the agent asks a question to the user, and upon receiving an answer from the user, the agent chimes in with, for example, "I see" irrespective of the utterance contents of the user or changes the topic with an interrupt by the agent, and even when the user's utterance deviates from the original topic, it is possible to respond to the user's utterance without causing the user to feel a failure of the story.
One example of the above-described agent is a chat-oriented dialogue system in which the agent performs an utterance in accordance with the utterance contents of the user so that the user and the agent perform a natural dialogue. For example, a dialogue system described in Non-patent literature 3 is a system that realizes an chat-oriented dialogue between the user and the system by the system performing an utterance while attaching greater importance to words specific to the context in a plurality of turns of dialogue engaged between the user and the agent, using a word included in an utterance of the user or the agent as a trigger and according to a rule described in advance. The rule used in the chat-oriented dialogue system is not limited to one described in advance but may be one automatically generated based on the user's utterance contents or may be one automatically generated based on the immediately preceding utterance by the user or the agent or an utterance performed in the vicinity thereof or may be one automatically generated based on an utterance at least including the immediately preceding utterance by the user or the agent or an utterance performed in the vicinity thereof. Non-patent literature 3 describes a technique for automatically generating a rule based on words in a co-occurrence relation or a dependency relation with words included in the utterance of the user. A dialogue system described, for example, in Non-patent literature 4 is a system whereby a manually described rule and a rule described using a statistical utterance generation technique are merged so as to reduce the rule generation cost. Unlike the scenario dialogue system, the chat-oriented dialogue system is not such a system that an agent performs an utterance along a scenario provided in advance, and so it is possible for the agent to perform an utterance at least based on utterance contents of the user, an immediately preceding utterance by the user or the agent or an utterance performed in the vicinity thereof or an immediately preceding utterance by the user or the agent or an utterance performed in the vicinity thereof without causing a situation in which the utterance by the agent does not correspond to the user's utterance depending on the user's utterance. That is, the chat-oriented dialogue system is a dialogue system in which the agent performs an utterance at least based on utterance contents of the user, an immediately preceding utterance by the user or the agent or an utterance performed in the vicinity thereof or an immediately preceding utterance by the user or the agent or an utterance performed in the vicinity thereof. These chat-oriented dialogue systems can explicitly respond to the user's utterance.

Dialogue establishing utterances without content words

NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION


An optical filter is formed of a layer stack that includes metallic layers and dielectric layers, with at least one dielectric layer being defined by more than one zinc-based film. These zinc-based films have different percentages of zinc. The selections of the percentages are based upon the positions of the films within the dielectric layer. An unexpectedly low sheet resistance is available if the zinc-based film that immediately precedes forming a metallic layer has a percentage of zinc in the range of 80 percent to next to 100 percent. Process stabilization and manufacturing cost are provided by placing the percentage of the lower zinc-based film closer to 50 percent (25-75). Process stabilization is further enhanced by providing an indium-based film within the dielectric layer adjacent to the metallic layer.

The selection of target optical properties for a filter will vary significantly, depending upon the intended application. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,071,206 to Hood et al., which is assigned to the assignee of the present patent document, describes a filter arrangement which may be used for automotive, housing and office windows. The Hood et al. patent states that the arrangement of layers provides color correction, heat reflectivity and infrared reflectivity. In comparison, the desired properties of a coating for a plasma display panel (PDP) may be somewhat different. Published U.S. Patent Application No. 2006/0055308 to Lairson et al., which is also assigned to the assignee of the present patent document, describes factors which are considered in the design of an optical filter for a PDP. The identified factors are the degree of neutrality of transmitted color, the level of reflected light, the color shift with changes in the incidence angle of a viewer, and the transmission levels of infrared and electromechanical radiation. Unfortunately, whether designing an optical filter for coating windows or coating a PDP, there are tradeoffs among the different factors. Thus, modifying a filter to increase conditions with respect to one desired property may conflict with maintaining a target level for another property.
FIG. 1 is one possible arrangement of layers to provide a filter for a plasma display panel, which includes a module or separate glass sheet 10. The Etalon filter 12 is first formed on a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate 14 that is then affixed to the glass sheet by a layer of adhesive 16. Because a plasma display generates infrared radiation and electromagnetic interference (EMI) that must be controlled in accordance with legislated regulations, the filter layers 12 are designed to reduce infrared and EMI from the display. Etalon filters based on multiple silver layers are used to screen infrared wavelengths and electromagnetic waves. Interference between adjacent silver layers can be tuned to cause resonant transmission in the visible region, while providing desirable screening. The above-referenced patent to Hood et al. describes a suitable sequence of layers.
FIG. 1 also includes an antireflection (AR) layer stack 18 that was originally formed on a second PET substrate 20. Antireflection layer stacks are well known in the art. A second adhesive layer 22 secures the PET substrate 20 to the other elements of FIG. 1.
While the PDP filter 12 reduces infrared transmission and EMI from the display, the filter must also be cosmetically acceptable and must enable good fidelity in the viewing of displayed images. Thus, the transmissivity of the filter should be high in the visual region of the light spectrum and should be relatively colorless, so as not to change the color rendering of the plasma display. Further, a general expectation exists that displays should be low in reflectance and that the reflected color be bluish to slightly reddish.
Color can be expressed in a variety of fashions. In the above-cited Hood et al. patent, color is expressed in the CIE La*b*1976 color coordinate system and in particular the ASTM 308-85 method. Using this method, a property is shown by values for a* and b* near 0. Generally, consumers expect that computer displays will appear either neutral or slightly bluish in color. Referring briefly to the La*b* coordinate system shown in FIG. 2, this generally yields the expectation that reflected a* (i.e., Ra*) lies in the range of −2 to approximately 10, and reflected b* (i.e., Rb*) lies in the range −40 to approximately 2. This expectation is shown by dashed lines 23.
Users of large information displays generally expect minimal change in reflected color with changes in the viewing angle. Any color change is distracting when a display is viewed from a close distance, where the color of the display appears to change across the surface. Since plasma display panels are intrinsically large, due to the large number of pixels required for imaging and the large pixel size, the need for reduced color travel with viewing angle is heightened. In particular, it is objectionable if the "red-green" component of color, Ra*, changes substantially with angle. Changes along the other axis, Rb*, are generally less of an issue when the display has large reflected negative Rb* (i.e., strong blue reflected color) at normal incidence.
As previously noted, different factors regarding the design of PDP filters may conflict. The same is true in the design of a filter for a window. Generally, controlling reflected color competes with EM screening capability. Typical silver etalon filters work to screen infrared rays primarily by reflecting the rays. Infrared radiation is relatively close in wavelength to red and is therefore difficult to effectively control while simultaneously obtaining low reflection in the red region of the spectrum (i.e., 620-700 nm). The problem is particularly acute for plasma displays, where it is desirable to shield from Xe emissions at 820 nm and 880 nm while maintaining high transmissivity in the red region of the spectrum.
Controlling reflection within the red region of the light spectrum is rendered even more difficult by the need for a low sheet resistance in the PDP filter 12. Attempts have been made to balance the goals of maximizing red transmission and minimizing sheet resistance. U.S. Pat. No. 6,102,530 to Okamura et al. describes an optical filter for plasma displays, where the filter has a sheet resistance of less than 3 ohms/square. Generally, a sheet resistance of less than 1.5 ohms/square is required to meet Federal Communication Commission (FCC) Class B standard, even for PDP sets having the highest luminance efficiencies. A sheet resistance of less than 1.4 ohms/square is preferred. Copper wire mesh PDP EMI filters having a sheet resistance of 0.1 to 0.2 ohms/square are often used to provide Class B compatibility.
The requirement for lower sheet resistance increases the color problem for etalon EMI filters. The transmission bandwidth of the filter becomes narrower as the conductive layers become thicker, resulting in both an increase in the red reflection and a loss of color bandwidth in transmission.
There is a conflict between the tendency of Etalon filters to show red reflection at different viewing angles and the generally expected appearance of consumer products. This is known from the design of automotive windshields, where a disagreeable "purple" appearance is produced by reflections of clouds from certain windshields. This objectionable reflection limits the thickness of the conductive layers used in such filters.
FIG. 2 illustrates the difficulty with a four silver layer coating designed for a PDP. The plot 24 shows color as a function of viewing angle from normal incidence to 60 degrees. The four silver layer coating may have an acceptable sheet resistance and may have a total silver thickness of 45 nm to provide an acceptable color appearance at normal incidence. However, as the illustration shows, when the coating is viewed at 60 degrees, the reflected light is strongly red, with Ra* of approximately 30. In addition, there is a large color shift with incidence angle, which creates an apparent color difference across the screen for a large screen viewed at a close distance. Thus, despite the suitability of the coating for some Class B EMI applications, this coating may be considered cosmetically unacceptable.
The above-cited reference to Lairson et al. describes a filter arrangement having a number of advantages over prior techniques. The filter arrangement includes at least five metallic layers, such as silver or silver alloy layers, that are spaced apart by dielectric layers. There may be five metallic layers and six dielectric layers. The reference states that the dielectric layers may be indium oxide or a combination of indium oxide and titanium oxide.
While prior art approaches to providing optical filter arrangements show continuing advancements in achieving target levels with respect to desired properties, further advancements are sought. In the ideal, such advancements can be achieved while simultaneously reducing the cost.

Zinc-based film manipulation for an optical filter


A method for guiding a vehicle (30) to a target (28) includes furnishing a first vehicle (20) having a first global positioning system (GPS) receiver (24) fixed to receive global positioning signals from a selected constellation (46) of satellites in orbit above the earth and the second vehicle (30) having a second GPS receiver (32) fixed to receive global positioning signals from the same selected constellation (46) of GPS satellites. The first vehicle (20) locates the target (28) with an onboard sensor (26) and converts the location of the target (28) to the frame of reference of the selected constellation (46) of satellites of the GPS. The first vehicle (20) communicates this target position and the available set of GPS satellites to a navigation system of the second vehicle (30). The second vehicle (30) proceeds to the target location provided from the first vehicle (20 ) in the frame of reference of the GPS under control of its navigation system using the positioning signal derived from the second GPS receiver (32) fixed to receive positioning signals from the selected constellation (46) of satellites. In these operations, the second vehicle (30) remains within a sufficiently small operating distance of the position of the first vehicle (20) that variations in systematic bias errors between the first GPS receiver (24) and the second GPS receiver (32) are negligible.

This invention relates to the remote guidance of vehicles, and, more particularly, to a method for guiding a vehicle using two global positioning satellite system receivers to provide relative guidance and reduce positioning errors.
There are several basic techniques for guiding vehicles, typically flight vehicles, to their targets or destinations. In the most common, the vehicle itself has an onboard sensor that makes sensor contact with ("acquires") the target. A vehicle controller then steers the vehicle to the acquired target. This approach works well in many contexts, where the on-board sensor can actually make initial contact with the target and can provide sufficient information for guidance.
The on-board sensor approach becomes less satisfactory where attempts are made to avoid acquisition of the target, as by hiding it. In that case, more information may be needed than can be provided by the on-board sensor, leading to tile use in the guidance of information from other sources. The approach of relying on on-board sensors may also not work close to the ground when the sensor field is cluttered, or where tile data provided by the sensor is not sufficiently precise.
Technical attributes of the sensor must also be viewed in relation to its cost. In the case of precision guided munitions, guided by light, infrared, or radar sensors, the cost of the sensor and its electronics is a significant fraction of the cost of the vehicle. The more precise the sensor, the higher its cost.
With these technical considerations and the system costs in mind, techniques for guiding vehicles to their destinations or targets using information from remotely positioned controllers or sensors have been developed. In a civilian context, an all-weather aircraft landing system may use, in part, remotely generated navigational information to guide an aircraft to a safe landing even in a near total absence of visibility. In a military context, precision guided weapons can be guided to their targets by using a sensor on a targeting aircraft to locate a target, and providing the location of the target to a weapon launched by the aircraft. Increasingly sophisticated data links have made it possible to use a variety of remotely generated information in guiding precision munitions and missiles to their targets. These techniques reduce (or eliminate) the sensor costs of the weapons themselves, thereby significantly reducing the disposable cost of the weapon system.
One guidance approach that has been suggested for both civilian and military remotely guided vehicles utilizes the global positioning system (GPS). The GPS provides a number of satellites in orbit above the earth, each satellite emitting one or two navigational signals. The GPS satellites are arranged so that there will always be several satellites in the field of view of any pertinent place on the earth. The precise location of that point can be fixed by measuring the time required for the navigational signal of three, or preferably four, of the satellites to reach that point, in a variant of a triangulation approach. The GPS system is largely unaffected by weather, and, in the military context, is not affected by many camouflage techniques.
The GPS system is in operation, and low-precision GPS receivers are available for as little as about a thousand dollars for use by individuals. Higher precision GPS receivers are used in civilian and military applications. Depending upon the precision of the GPS receiver chosen, the GPS system allows the determination of absolute position to within a certainty of about 30 feet at most locations on the earth. This degree of certainty means that there is a specified high probability that the lndicated location is within 30 feet of the correct location, and is known as the circular error probability (CEP).
GPS-based guidance systems have been proposed for use in aircraft landing systems and guided munitions. Unfortunately, in both of these applications the lndicated 30 foot CEP is too great to be practical in most instances. A 30 foot error in the altitude of the runway in an aircraft landing system can lead to disaster. A miss of 30 feet by many precision guided munitions can result in failure of the mission to achieve its objectives.
This problem has been to some extent solved for landing systems and other civilian applications by analyzing the nature of the inherent GPS error. The greatest part of the error arises from bias-type, systematic errors. Examples of error sources are slight uncertainties in knowing the precise positioning of the satellites, slight errors in the satellite clock, and signal variations caused by atmospheric conditions. These errors identically affect all GPS receivers within an area. They can be accounted for by locating a fixed GPS receiver at a surveyed place whose true location is known precisely (e.g., the end of the runway), measuring the range of that fixed receiver to the satellites in view in GPS coordinates, and comparing the measured ranges with the true ranges determined from the known location to obtain correction values for each satellite. These correction values are broadcast to mobile GPS systems in the area, which then track the satellites that yield the best positional information. The ranges determined by the mobile systems in GPS coordinates are corrected by the correction values broadcast by the fixed receiver. With this "differential GPS" technique, the absolute position error using GPS can be reduced to less than 10 feet CEP.
The differential GPS approach would be operationally unsuited for many military targeting applications, many other military applications, and many civilian applications. In these cases, a GPS receiver cannot be placed at an accurately surveyed location whose true position is known, to provide a measurement of the bias-type error corrections.
There is therefore a need for an improved technique for providing remote navigational and guidance information for use in both civilian and military applications. The present invention fulfills this need, and further provides related advantages.

Relative guidance using the global positioning system


A method and apparatus for dynamic magnetic field control using multiple magnets. Control methods and system means are described that allow dynamically changing the magnetic field generated at a point in space by a multiplicity of magnets.

The robotic control and articulation of objects has been the subject of many investigations. The control of the direction and magnitude of a magnetic field created by a multiplicity of articulated source magnets is a more complex topic that has been studied only more recently. In such a situation, the relatively simple geometric relationships defining transformations between fixed and moving coordinate systems used in ordinary robotics must be supplemented with knowledge of the magnetic fields generated by the source magnets. These fields are typically represented by non-linear functions that most often are not trigonometric in nature. While this problem has been investigated in a few specific cases, no general method has been described that allows automatic control of the magnets to generate a specific magnetic field at a given point in space. Embodiments of the present invention describe a general solution to this problem.
One of the embodiments of the methods disclosed applies to operator-directed control of the magnetic field direction and magnitude generated by two articulated magnets in an operating region. In a specific application, the magnets considered are permanent magnets generally facing one another and the operating region is centered in between the two magnets. The operator-directed control is executed by means of electromechanical positioners that move the two magnets appropriately. The six degrees of freedom (three for each magnet) allow each magnet to translate along the line between the two magnet centers, and each magnet to rotate in two angles θ and φ along respective axes. Other similar embodiments that could be used to control a multiplicity of magnets to generate a specific magnetic field (direction and magnitude) at a specific point in space are also included in the present invention.
In magnetic navigation applications, it is desirable to change the orientation (and possibly magnitude) of the magnetic field at the operating point to orient the tip of a catheter or guide wire with respect to the field. The catheter or guide wire is then guided through the subject's vasculature while being simultaneously pushed at the proximal insertion point. It is further desirable to provide a "proper turn" from the initial to the final field vector at the given operating point. A proper turn is a rotation of the magnetic field direction in the plane formed by these two vectors. The concept of a proper turn and its execution is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,702,804, issued Mar. 9, 2004, from application Ser. No. 09/678,640 filed Oct. 3, 2000, for Method for Safely and Efficiently Navigating Magnetic Devices in the Body, incorporated herein by reference.

Method and apparatus for dynamic magnetic field control using multiple magnets


In one implementation, a non-volatile resistance variable device includes a body formed of a voltage or current controlled resistance setable material, and at least two spaced electrodes on the body. The body includes a surface extending from one of the electrodes to the other of the electrodes. The surface has at least one surface striation extending from proximate the one electrode to proximate the other electrode at least when the body of said material is in a highest of selected resistance setable states. In one implementation, a method includes structurally changing a non-volatile device having a body formed of a voltage or current controlled resistance setable material and at least two spaced electrodes on the body. The body has a surface extending from one of the electrodes to the other of the electrodes, and the surface is formed to comprise at least one surface striation extending from proximate the one electrode to proximate the other electrode. The method includes applying a first voltage between the one and the other electrodes to establish a negative and a positive electrode effective to form a conductive path formed of at least some material derived from the voltage or current controlled resistance setable material and on the surface along at least a portion of the at least one striation.

This invention relates to non-volatile resistance variable devices, to analog memory devices, to programmable memory cells, and to methods of forming such devices, to programming such devices and structurally changing such devices.
Semiconductor fabrication continues to strive to make individual electronic components smaller and smaller, resulting in ever denser integrated circuitry. One type of integrated circuitry comprises memory circuitry where information is stored in the form of binary data. The circuitry can be fabricated such that the data is volatile or non-volatile. Volatile storing memory devices result in loss of data when power is interrupted. Non-volatile memory circuitry retains the stored data even when power is interrupted.
This invention was principally motivated in making improvements to the design and operation of memory circuitry disclosed in the Kozicki et al. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,761,115; 5,896,312; 5,914,893; and 6,084,796, which ultimately resulted from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/652,706, filed on May 30, 1996, disclosing what is referred to as a programmable metallization cell. Such a cell includes opposing electrodes having an insulating dielectric material received therebetween. Received within the dielectric material is a fast ion conductor material. The resistance of such material can be changed between highly insulative and highly conductive states. In its normal high resistive state, to perform a write operation, a voltage potential is applied to a certain one of the electrodes, with the other of the electrode being held at zero voltage or ground. The electrode having the voltage applied thereto functions as an anode, while the electrode held at zero or ground functions as a cathode. The nature of the fast ion conductor material is such that it undergoes a chemical and structural change at a certain applied voltage. Specifically, at some suitable threshold voltage, plating of metal from metal ions within the material begins to occur on the cathode and grows or progresses through the fast ion conductor toward the other anode electrode. With such voltage continued to be applied, the process continues until a single conductive dendrite or filament extends between the electrodes, effectively interconnecting the top and bottom electrodes to electrically short them together.
Once this occurs, dendrite growth stops, and is retained when the voltage potentials are removed. Such can effectively result in the resistance of the mass of fast ion conductor material between electrodes dropping by a factor of 1,000. Such material can be returned to its highly resistive state by reversing the voltage potential between the anode and cathode, whereby the filament disappears. Again, the highly resistive state is maintained once the reverse voltage potentials are removed. Accordingly, such a device can, for example, function as a programmable memory cell of memory circuitry.
The highly conductive filament which forms between the illustrated electrodes in the fast ion conductor material tends to form at a surface thereof, as opposed to centrally within the mass of material. It has been discovered that defects on such surface somehow create an electrochemical path of least resistance along which the conductive filament during programming will form. Accordingly, the forming filament may serpentine along a path of least resistance at the peripheral edge surface of the material between the two electrodes, thereby resulting in variability in the amount of time it takes to program two devices of otherwise common dimensions. It would be desirable to develop structures and methods which overcome this write time variability.
While principally motivated utilizing the above-described circuitry and addressing the stated specific objective, the invention is in no way so limited. Rather, the invention is more broadly directed to any non-volatile resistance variable devices, including methods of fabricating, programming and structurally changing the same, with the invention only being limited by the accompanying claims appropriately interpreted in accordance with the doctrine of equivalents.
The invention comprises non-volatile resistance variable devices, analog memory devices, programmable memory cells, and methods of forming such devices, programming such devices and structurally changing such devices. In one implementation, a non-volatile resistance variable device includes a body formed of a voltage or current controlled resistance setable material, and at least two spaced electrodes on the body. The body includes a surface extending from one of the electrodes to the other of the electrodes. The surface has at least one surface striation extending from proximate the one electrode to proximate the other electrode at least when the body of said material is in a highest of selected resistance setable states.
In one implementation, a method includes structurally changing a non-volatile device having a body formed of a voltage or current controlled resistance setable material and at least two spaced electrodes on the body. The body has a surface extending from one of the electrodes to the other of the electrodes, and the surface is formed to comprise at least one surface striation extending from proximate the one electrode to proximate the other electrode. The method includes applying a first voltage between the one and the other electrodes to establish a negative and a positive electrode effective to form a conductive path formed of at least some material derived from the voltage or current controlled resistance setable material and on the surface along at least a portion of the at least one striation.

Resistance variable device, analog memory device, and programmable memory cell


A concealing system for hiding shower curtain rods in bathtubs and shower compartments featuring a pair of extension rods oriented parallel to each other and spaced a distance apart and a sheet spanning between the pair of extension rods. The extension rods are sandwiched between the shower compartment walls and positioned to cover and conceal the shower curtain rod.

In most bathrooms, the hooks and rods of shower curtains are visible. Many of these hooks and rods are unsightly. The present invention features a concealing system for shower curtain rods to help hide the unsightly hooks and rods in the bathroom. The system of the present invention can also help improves the aesthetic appearance of bathrooms.
Any feature or combination of features described herein are included within the scope of the present invention provided that the features included in any such combination are not mutually inconsistent as will be apparent from the context, this specification, and the knowledge of one of ordinary skill in the art. Additional advantages and aspects of the present invention are apparent in the following detailed description and claims.

Concealing system for hiding unsightly hooks and rods in bathrooms


A control system for controlling operation of a fluid delivery system that includes a first and second pumps for delivering first and second fluids for mixing. A controller includes a first pump map having a first pump flow rate mapped against a control output signal, and a second pump map having a second pump flow rate mapped against a control output signal. The controller determines the control output signal for the first pump to obtain a desired flow rate from the first pump, and the control output signal for the second pump to obtain a target flow rate and a target percentage of the second fluid relative to the first fluid or a target percentage of the second fluid relative to an overall fluid flow. The output signals for the first and second pumps are determined using the first and second pump maps.

Control systems are widely used to control fluid flow rates and pressures through pipes and hoses in fluid delivery systems. For example, many large scale chemical plants have piping systems that supply different fluids to reaction vessels. The fluids must be supplied to the reaction vessels at desired flowrates and in desired proportions to ensure that the required reactions take place in the reaction vessels to obtain a desired product flow rate from the reaction vessel that includes minimal unreacted reactants or unwanted by-products.
Conventional control systems used in chemical plants typically include pressure transducers and flowrate measurement devices that provide information back to controllers. The controllers will typically compare the measured parameters of pressure and flowrate against desired target pressures on flowrates. The controllers will then send control output signals to pumps and/or control valves to thereby control the flow rate and the pressure. Conventional feedback control schemes are typically used in such chemical plants. It will be understood that chemical plants are designed to be operated at effectively steady-state conditions to optimise output and conventional feedback controllers are very good at controlling operation around steady-state conditions.
However, some fluid delivery systems undergo repeated start-up processes. Control of such systems has been found to be problematic. For example, in explosives blasting in mines that utilise explosive compositions prepared on-site, a fluid delivery system can be used to mix components of an explosive mixture together and to deliver those components via a pipe or a hose to a drill hole in the mine. In such fluid delivery systems, a main pump supplies a main product flow. Additional pumps are also provided. The additional pumps are typically trace chemical dosing pumps that inject trace chemicals at desired locations of the process to form the quantities and final mixture dictated by the recipe for a particular explosive mixture. The flow of the trace pumps is usually determined as a mass percentage of the flow of the main pump. There may also be a water pump that is used for lubrication or flushing and the water is generally controlled at a predefined flowrate.
A shear valve or back pressure valve may also be incorporated into the flow delivery system to close against the product flowing in the piping. This flow restriction causes the components to shear within the piping, agitating the components and forcing them to mix. The shear valve is often referred to as a back pressure valve and is typically controlled with air pressure or hydraulic pressure. The shear valve or back pressure valve in known systems of this type is typically a "set and forget" valve, such that the position of the shear valve was set prior to fluid delivery commencing and not adjusted during fluid delivery.
The final dosed and sheared/mixed product would usually be injected through a delivery hose to fill a long and slender cavity, such as a drill hole in a rock face or ore body. A hose handling device would normally withdraw the hose from the hole at a desired rate such that, as the explosive mixture fills the hole, the hose is withdrawn within a required time. The explosive mixture may comprise a mixture that expands once it has been discharged from the hose. In this case the withdrawal of the hose needs to be adjusted to compensate for the final product expansion. The speed at which the hose is withdrawn from the drill hole has conventionally been determined by trial and error methods.
The pumping of a single hole is called a "shot". Each shot can be as long as a number of minutes in some modes, but can also be as short as 3 seconds in other modes. The short time requirement often leaves no time for traditional control methods to be effective. Each pump in the fluid delivery system in short shots is started simultaneously and stopped simultaneously, at the start and the end of the shot, respectively. The trace chemicals need to be pumped at a set ratio to the main product flow, as dictated by the desired explosive recipe mixture, to achieve a final mixed product density after a desired time. Although the main product flowrate is controlled to achieve a desired flowrate, the trace chemicals also need to match the desired flowrate by a specified percentage of flow, whilst also taking into account any fluctuations or speed alterations to the main pump. Any change in the setup of the main product pump will affect all of the chemicals as there is a need to adjust the flowrate of the trace chemical pumps to match the percentage of flow of the changing flow of the main pump.
Unfortunately, when short shot times are required, conventional control methodologies are not able to achieve the requisite level of control over the flowrate, composition and backpressure in the fluid delivery system.
It will be clearly understood that, if a prior art publication is referred to herein, this reference does not constitute an admission that the publication forms part of the common general knowledge in the art in Australia or in any other country.


An acceleration detector comprising an acceleration transducer assembly disposed in a housing and including a piezoelectric element and an inertial weight. A relatively soft resilient filler material is applied around the acceleration transducer assembly for resiliently supporting the acceleration transducer assembly relative to the housing so that the inertial weight can move relative to the piezoelectric element when an acceleration is applied to the inertial weight. A relatively hard sealing material is applied on the resilient filler material for sealing and covering the relatively soft resilient filler material against the environment. The resilient filler material and the sealing material may be thermosetting resin.

This invention relates to an acceleration detector and more particularly to an acceleration detector for detecting knocking in an internal combustion engine.
FIG. 1 illustrates one example of an acceleration detector to which the present invention can be applied. This acceleration detector is attached to an internal combustion engine for detecting vibration or knocking of the engine. The acceleration detector comprises a housing 1 defining an annular cavity 2 therein and an acceleration transducer assembly 3 disposed within the cavity 2.
The housing 1 comprises a tubular bushing 4 having a through hole 5 and a flange 6. The housing 1 also comprises a ring-shaped outer case 7 connected to the flange 6 of the bushing 4 so that the cavity 2 is defined therein. The outer case 7 also has a connector 8 radially outwardly extending from the outer case 7 so that an output terminal 9 can extend through the connector 8 for taking out an output signal from the acceleration transducer assembly 3 disposed within the cavity 2. The acceleration transducer assembly 3 includes a washer-shaped plate 10 placed on the flange 6 of the bushing 4, an annular piezoelectric element 11 placed on the washer plate 10, a washer-shaped terminal 12 including a lead 13 connected to the output terminal 9, an annular inertial weight 14 placed on the washer terminal 12 and a threaded ring-shaped stop nut 15 thread engaged with the thread on the tubular bushing 4. An electrically insulating tube 16 is placed on the tubular bushing 4 so that the acceleration transducer assembly 3 is insulated from the bushing 4.
In order to resiliently support and protect the acceleration transducer assembly 3 within the cavity 2 from undesirable environmental conditions, the remaining space of the cavity 2 of the housing 1 which is not occupied by the acceleration transducer assembly 3 is substantially filled with a resilient filler material 17 of a thermo-setting resin. The filler material 17 must be sufficiently resilient after it is cured to allow the movement of the inertial weight 14 relative to the housing 1 when an acceleration is applied to the inertial weight 14 so that the piezoelectric element 11 generates a voltage signal proportional to the pressure exterted on it by the relative movement of the inertial weight 14 against the piezoelectric element 11.
When in use, the acceleration detector is securely mounted on an internal combustion engine (not shown) by a bolt (not shown) inserted into the central through hole 5. the acceleration or the vibration of the internal combustion engine produces the movement of the inertial weight 14 relative to the housing 1, which causes the piezoelectric element 11 to be stressed by the inertial weight 14, whereby an electrical signal indicative of the movement of the inertial weight 14 relative to the engine is generated from the piezoelectric element 11. The electrical signal is provided through the washer terminal 12, the lead 13 and the output terminal 9 to be analyzed to determine as to whether or not a knocking signal which generates upon knocking of the internal combustion engine is involved. When it is determined that a knocking signal is contained in the electrical signal, the operating parameters for operating the engine can be adjusted to increase the output power or decrease the fuel consumption rate.
In the acceleration detector of the above construction, the acceleration transducer assembly 3 is resiliently supported within the cavity 2 by the resilient filler material 17, which is a thermo-cured mixture of a main agent and a curing agent. When the filler material 17 thus cured is soft or sufficiently resilient for allowing the movement of the inertial weight 14 relative to the housing 1 when an acceleration is applied to the inertial weight 14, the acceleration detector exhibits good acceleration detecting characteristics. However, when this detector is exposed to an elevated temperature, the filler material 17 is further hardened to deteriorate the acceleration detecting characteristics. Also, the resilient filler material 17 easily becomes brittle when contacted by gasoline and its resistance to liquid degradation is poor.
When the filler material 17 is made less resilient or sufficiently hard so that a good resistance to environment and a good liquid resistivity are obtained, the acceleration detecting characteristics often become undesirable because of impeded relative movement of the inertial weight. FIG. 2 shows graphs of the detecting characteristics of the related acceleration detector of a general structure as shown in FIG. 1 with and without the cavity 2 filled with the filler material 17. The detection characteristic of the detector when the cavity 2 is not filled with the filler material 17 is shown by a curve A of FIG. 2 from which it is seen that its frequency characteristic is generally smooth and flat. When the cavity 2 is filled with the resilient filler material 17 as shown in FIG. 1, the detection characteristic of the detector has frequency characteristic as shown by an irregular curve B of FIG. 2, from which it is seen that the detection characteristic is disturbed at a lower a frequency band b.sub.1 and is significantly disturbed at a higher frequency region b.sub.2.
Thus, it is highly desirable to obtain an acceleration detector which has flat frequency characteristics and which is yet resistive against the environment.


The invention relates to an adhesive composition having a main fraction of synthetic tackifying resin, and a fraction of at least one macromolecular component, characterised in that said at least one macromolecular component comprises a copolymer of at least two different monomers taken from the alpha olefins and ethylene, to give the composition for strip-free hair removal mechanical or adhesive properties.

The invention related to the field of hair removal compositions especially for human use and, in particular but not limited to, professional use.
There are known compositions based essentially on rosin, which is a solid residue coming from the distillation of products from coniferous trees, in particular pine. Rosin is a resin with a tackifying property (i.e. having adhesion properties). Rosin is the largest fraction of these compositions and is mixed with only small fractions of fatty products such as oils or lanolin and waxes. Before their application, these compositions have to be heated for a long time before becoming sufficiently soft to be applied to the skin. In certain situations, the temperature obtained is too high, which is dangerous or unpleasant for the person to be depilated. Furthermore, the thickness of the composition to be applied is necessarily significant (5 mm for example), because of the low mechanical strength of the composition once it is spread. However, these compositions are reusable after filtration.
Also known are compositions that still contain rosin, but also comprise oils in higher proportions than in the previous example, and optionally comprise sugars or waxes with a suitable softening point (softening at a lower temperature than the previous compositions), and which require less heating. These compositions, however, require the use of a support film (paper or cotton/cellulosic or plastic strip, such as cellophane film) in order to remove them once they are applied to the skin as they also suffer from the low mechanical strength of the composition. These compositions are not reusable, and are discarded after use. Compositions of this type are known, for example, from document FR2577134. Other compositions of this type using a synthetic resin in the place of rosin are also known from WO2008/103817. Synthetic resins are described later in this text.
In this context, the invention relates more specifically to a hair removal composition for removing hairs that do not require a strip of paper or plastic to be applied. This composition has mechanical properties which are such that the use of such a strip becomes unnecessary. Nevertheless, it may be deposited in a thin layer.
Compositions of this type are known, for example, from the documents FR2617708, FR2637498, FR2751872 and FR2751873.
In general, such compositions contain, first of all, a resin with a tackifying property and a macromolecular compound providing mechanical properties. Other constituents are present in the composition, such as, in particular, softeners or emollients, such as waxes or oils.
The resin with a tackifying property is often a rosin, i.e. as mentioned above, a resin of natural origin. The molecules of rosin have oxygen atoms and have a certain polarity. It may be unmodified rosin (acid) or modified through hydrogenation, esterification, or dimerization. Alternatively, a synthetic resin, derived from petroleum products, may be used. This is a set of carbon molecules generally less polar than rosin. Synthetic resins known as C5 (copolymers based on diene monomers—aliphatics—such as pentadiene, methylbutene, dicyclopentadiene, cyclopentadiene and cyclopentene) are known, most often cyclopentadiene, and synthetic resins called C9 (copolymers based on aromatic monomers such as vinyltoluene, dicyclopentadiene, indene, methylstyrene, styrene and methylindene), most often a styrene/methylstyrene/indene copolymer. These resins exist in various grades and may also be modified, in particular, by hydrogenation.
The resin, natural or synthetic, is generally the compound that is present in the largest proportions, by weight, in the composition.
The macromolecular component providing mechanical properties may be a wax, i.e. a fatty acid ester. It is generally present in proportions by weight that are lower than those of the resin. There are animal, vegetable or mineral waxes that may be used, one example being beeswax. In particular, they have a certain plastic behavior. The macromolecular component may also be an elastomer, often cheaper, and which may have better mechanical properties, particularly in terms of tensile strength and flexibility or suppleness due to the absence of vitreous behavior in the temperature range used. The introduction of these elastomers by mixing in the resin which has an initially vitreous behavior, makes it possible to provide an amorphous tendency. It may, in particular, be a natural rubber or a synthetic polymer or copolymer such as an ethylene/vinyl acetate (EVA) copolymer.
Compositions of this class also include softeners and emollients, such as fats, oils or waxes, which also participate in the rheological regulation and modulation of the solidification time. These compositions are used following heating to its softening temperature for example around 55° C., and then by applying the composition on the parts of the body to be depilated at a temperature that is adapted to the comfort of the person to be depilated, who, obviously, should not feel too high a temperature.
The compositions mentioned above may be deposited in the form of fairly thin layers, and then removed by peeling, after a short time of solidification and cooling, to allow the removal of the hair.
The compositions are appreciated by people undergoing hair removal (for example, beauty salon clients) as well as by people practicing hair removal (e.g. beauticians of beauty salons). The criteria that cause a composition to be appreciated include its ability to remove hair (also called "pulling ability"), its absence of breakage (also called "mechanical properties") when manipulated as a layer, or the temperature felt upon the skin. Some users may give more value to certain criteria, so it is useful to have a variety of different compositions.
Despite the presence on the market of various products, there is room for improvement in offering users solutions that satisfy all of their requirements and according to their preferences, or that simply allow them to change products while retaining satisfactory properties. Moreover, until now elastomers were compounds that were only used for their mechanical properties (flexibility and tensile strength) but little for their adhesion potential. This resulted in a possibility of seeking an increase in the adhesion capacities by development of the compositions.
It was therefore been decided to launch new research in the field.


Biomass is pretreated using an organic solvent solution under alkaline conditions in the presence of one or more alkylamine and optionally one or more additional nucleophile to fragment and extract lignin. Pretreated biomass is further hydrolyzed with a saccharification enzyme consortium. Fermentable sugars released by saccharification may be utilized for the production of target chemicals by fermentation.

Cellulosic and lignocellulosic feedstocks and wastes, such as agricultural residues, wood, forestry wastes, sludge from paper manufacture, and municipal and industrial solid wastes, provide a potentially large renewable feedstock for the production of chemicals, plastics, fuels and feeds. Cellulosic and lignocellulosic feedstocks and wastes, composed of cellulose, hemicellulose, pectins and of lignin are generally treated by a variety of chemical, mechanical and enzymatic means to release primarily hexose and pentose sugars, which can then be fermented to useful products.
Pretreatment methods are often used to make the polysaccharides of lignocellulosic biomass more readily accessible to cellulolytic enzymes. One of the major impediments to cellulolytic enzyme digest is the presence of lignin, a barrier that limits the access of the enzymes to their substrates, and a surface to which the enzymes bind non-productively. Because of the significant costs associated with enzymatic saccharification, it is desirable to minimize the enzyme loading by either inactivation of the lignin to enzyme adsorption or its outright extraction. Another challenge is the inaccessibility of the cellulose to enzymatic hydrolysis either because of its protection by hemicellulose and lignin or by its crystallinity. Pretreatment methods that attempt to overcome these challenges include: steam explosion, hot water, dilute acid, ammonia fiber explosion, alkaline hydrolysis (including ammonia recycled percolation), oxidative delignification and organosolv.
Organosolv methods, as previously practiced for the treatment of lignocellulose biomass, for either the production of pulp or for biofuels applications, while generally successful in lignin removal, have suffered from poor sugar recoveries, particularly of xylose. For example, the use of slightly acidic ethanol-water mixtures (e.g., EtOH 42 weight %) at elevated temperature to remove lignin from lignocellulosic biomass (Kleinert, T. N., Tappi, 57: 99-102, 1974) resulted in substantial loss of carbohydrate. Dilute acid hydrolysis at 95° C. followed by organic solvent extraction and enzymatic saccharification (Lee, Y-H. et al., Biotech. Bioeng., 29: 572-581, 1987) resulted in substantial loss of hemicellulose during hydrolysis, additional carbohydrate loss upon organic solvent extraction and poor yield (˜50% of total carbohydrate) upon enzymatic saccharification of residue. Use of aqueous organic solvent containing ammonia at elevated temperatures to treat lignocellulosic biomass (Park J.-K. and Phillips, J. A., Chem. Eng. Comm. 65: 187-205, 1988) required the use of a high liquid to solids ratio in pretreatment and resulted in substantial loss of hemicellulose and poor enzymatic saccharification of cellulose. Treatment of biomass with gaseous water and methylamine followed by extraction with organic solvent and then extraction with water, required three steps and resulted in a substantial loss of carbohydrate (Siegfried, P. and Götz, R., Chem. Eng. Technol., 15: 213-217, 1992). Treatment with polyamines or ethylamine in water-aliphatic alcohol mixtures plus catalyst at elevated temperature required high liquid/solids ratio and low concentrations of alcohol led to poor sugar recovery, particularly of xylan (U.S. Pat. No. 4,597,830A). Thioglycolate in aqueous alkaline solution used to treat lignocellulosic biomass at elevated temperature, followed by a hot water wash required use of alkali-metal or alkaline-earth hydroxides. This method requires the costly disposal of inorganic ions, high weight % thioglycolate, and use of large volumes of water (U.S. Pat. No. 3,490,993). Treatment with organic solvent-water mixtures in the presence of sulfide/bisulfide at elevated temperatures required a high solvent/solids ratio and elevated sulfur content and resulted in a substantial loss of carbohydrate, (U.S. Pat. No. 4,329,200).
Additional shortcomings of previously applied methods include, separate hexose and pentose streams (e.g. dilute acid), inadequate lignin extraction or lack of separation of extracted lignin from polysaccharide, particularly in those feedstocks with high lignin content (e.g., sugar cane bagasse, softwoods), disposal of waste products (e.g., salts formed upon neutralization of acid or base), and poor recoveries of carbohydrate due to breakdown or loss in wash steps. Other problems include the high cost of energy, capital equipment, and pretreatment catalyst recovery, and incompatibility with saccharification enzymes.
One of the major challenges of biomass pretreatment is to maximize the extraction or chemical neutralization (with respect to non-productive binding of cellulolytic enzymes) of the lignin while minimizing the loss of carbohydrate (cellulose plus hemicellulose) via low-cost, efficient processes. The higher the selectivity, the higher the overall yield of monomeric sugars following combined pretreatment and enzymatic saccharification.
In this disclosure, organosolv-mediated fragmentation and selective extraction of lignin at elevated temperatures under alkaline conditions in combination with one or more alkylamine and optionally various nucleophiles is used, in a cost-effective process, to produce carbohydrate-enriched biomass that is highly susceptible to enzymatic saccharification, producing very high yields of fermentable sugars (glucose, as well as xylose) for bioconversion to target products (e.g., value-added chemicals and fuels). Surprisingly, use of alkylamines in the present disclosure resulted in significantly improved lignin fragmentation and extraction and high carbohydrate retention.

Organic solvent pretreatment of biomass to enhance enzymatic saccharification


A desk or worksurface arrangement is provided which has a cable management slot along a back edge of the worksurface wherein removable end caps enclose the opposite ends of the slot. The caps retain cabling within the cable management slot but are removable without tools to permit the cabling to be slid out of the slot or past horizontally to an adjacent desk. The end caps may also be fixedly attached to a vertical storage unit to connect the vertical storage unit to the top of the desk arrangement while permitting the vertical storage unit to be removed from the desk without requiring tools.

Office areas frequently include desks or other worksurface arrangements which have cable management capabilities. For example, such desks often are provided with horizontal cable troughs and channels disposed below a worksurface to accommodate cabling therein such as for office equipment located on the worksurface. Such cable troughs and channels permit communication and power cabling to be routed horizontally through each desk and if desired, to adjacent desks or other furniture components.
Desks also may include slots and cable ports which allow cabling to be routed vertically from the troughs and channels to the worksurface so as to be connected to conventional office equipment such as modems, computers, telephones or the like. It also is known to provide support structures along the back edge of a worksurface to support office equipment, storage racks, storage rails and the like to for supporting additional office components such as document trays.
In a number of known desks, however, it may be difficult to reroute cabling between two adjoining desks and also route cabling vertically to the worksurface since the arrangement of the worksurface and desk components can interfere with the laying of the cabling. Desk arrangements also may have vertical storage units over the worksurface, which further complicates the routing of cabling since such units may be difficult to move.
It is an object of the invention therefore to eliminate a number of the disadvantages associated with such known systems.
The invention relates to a desk or worksurface arrangement which readily facilitates the laying of cabling both horizontally and vertically within a particular desk and further facilitates routing of such cabling between adjoining desks. The desk arrangement of the invention includes a worksurface having a cable management slot along a back edge thereof wherein the cable management slot allows cabling to be routed over the back edge of the worksurface to the cable channels disposed below the worksurface. The opposite ends of the cable management slot are enclosed by removable end caps, which confine vertical cabling sidewardly within the slot between the end caps, or vertically within open ends of the cable channels.
By removing the end caps, however, a horizontally elongate opening is defined which extends the entire length of the desk, which thereby permits horizontal lengths of cabling to be dropped or laid directly into one of the cable troughs. If two of the desks are adjoining each other, respective end caps are typically disposed next to each other wherein removal of the adjacent end caps permits cabling to be laid along a run of cable channels without requiring movement of the desks. The end caps are joined to the worksurface by a tongue and groove connection which does not require separate fasteners, much less tools for the connection of the end cap to the worksurface.
Further, the end cap also serves as a connector for a vertical storage unit wherein fasteners are inserted through the end cap vertically into a stile of the vertical storage unit. As a result, the end cap is fixedly attached to the stile and is movable therewith. When the end cap is engaged with the worksurface, the vertical storage unit is fixedly secured to the desk without any additional fasteners being required for the connection between the end cap and the worksurface.
The desk/worksurface arrangement of the invention thereby provides improved cable management capabilities, and also provides a connection between a vertical storage unit and a desk, which does not require tools for removal of the vertical storage unit therefrom.
Other objects and purposes of the invention, and variation and s thereof, will be apparent upon reading the following specification and inspecting the accompanying drawings.


An automatic exposure (“AE”), control apparatus to prevent exposure errors resulting from “smear.” Image-capturing is performed at a single exposure time TI (I=1, 2, . . . n); a CCD output is applied with a CCD drive signal to perform an integrating operation for a signal in an AE area using an integration circuit, and then outputs integration value EI+SI at each exposure time. A shutter trigger operation presents readout of an exposure value. An integrator value En+Sn obtained just before the shutter trigger operation, and a smear value Sn′ obtained just after the shutter trigger operation are provided to an exposure operation/control circuit. The exposure operation/control circuit then performs an AE operation to receive En+Sn−Sn≈En and compares the value to a target value for determining exposure conditions, and provides an AE operation value containing almost no smear component to determine an appropriate exposure condition.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic exposure control apparatus that automatically controls exposure by utilizing an output signal of a solid-state imaging device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, there has been increasing use of electronic image-capture apparatuses that use an imager, which employs a solid-state imaging device to capture subject images, and that record the captured images in a storage medium of semiconductor memory or magnetic tape.
To automatically set an image-capture optical system in an image-capture apparatus such as that described above under appropriate exposure conditions, an automatic exposure control apparatus is employed.
As a type of automatic exposure control apparatus, there is an apparatus that makes use of an output from a charge-coupled device (hereinafter referred to as a "CCD") to perform automatic exposure control (a so-called "imager AE"); more particularly, there is an apparatus that integrates an automatic exposure sensing area of an image output from a CCD and refers to the integration result to determine exposure conditions (such as shutter speed and diaphragm aperture adjustment).
FIG. 5 is a timing chart illustrating an example of an automatic exposure control operation of a conventional automatic exposure control apparatus. In this figure, each of the horizontal axes represents time and is separated into two sections because of limited space, the right end of the axis in the upper section continuing to the left end of the axis that has the same alphabetical letter (i) (i=a, b, . . . , f) in the respective lower section. Other figures such as FIG. 2 are displayed in the same way.
In FIG. 5, (a)-(f) respectively represent a mecha-shutter, CCD readout pulse ON/OFF (ON permits a readout-pulse output; OFF inhibits a readout-pulse output), exposure time, CCD output, AE area integration, and AE operation.
The mecha-shutter is kept in an OPEN state until it receives a shutter trigger, but it changes to a CLOSE state upon receipt of a shutter trigger.
Regarding the CCD readout pulse, it is transferred from a photosensitive area (photoelectric conversion area) of the CCD, and it is always kept in an ON state.
After an exposure time TI, a signal charge of the CCD photoelectric conversion area is then transferred to a transfer area as a CCD readout pulse, the transferred signal charge has vertical and horizontal transfer pulses applied to it, and then it is output from the CCD.
The CCD output signal which corresponds to an AE sensing area is subjected to an integrating operation. This is indicated as the integration value EI+SI as an AE area integral. Here, EI represents an integration value of net signal charge accumulated in the CCD photoelectric conversion area (the AE sensing area of) at the exposure period TI; SI represents an integration value of a so-called smear occurring in a vertical transfer area because of oblique incidence transmission of a bright subject image and the like.
An operation area for performing an automatic exposure operation performs an AE operation to compare the integration value EI+SI to a target value. If EI+SI>target value, the operation area then determines the next exposure time TI+1 so as to be TI>TI+1; while, if EI+SI<target value, it then determines the next exposure time TI +1 so as to be TI<TI+1.
In this way, the next exposure time is consecutively determined, and if a release operation is performed after an exposure time Tn and a shutter trigger are received, the exposure time required for actual image-recording is then determined from the integration value En+Sn; and after the exposure time is determined, it is further transferred as a CCD readout pulse to a transfer area, the mecha-shutter is shut off, and then a CCD output is produced through application of the vertical and horizontal transfer signals.
In this state, the mecha-shutter is kept shut; therefore, the smear integration value is zero (0). This is different from the condition in which the AE operation is performed by determining exposure time by keeping the mecha-shutter open.
Particularly, before performing exposure, the next exposure time has previously been determined when there has always been a smear component present existed; however, at the time of actual exposure, the exposure amount is reduced by the amount corresponding to the smear component when it is not present. This indicates that the exposure amount at an actual exposure time is set as En/(En+Sn), which is reduced to correspond to the smear component ratio.
For this reason, defects have occurred in that the larger smear effect, the darker captured image has been.
With the conventional example, in a bright scene in which the smear occurs and at the imager AE, the required exposure time has been determined on the basis of CCD output in consideration of smear inclusion, so that when images are captured by use of a camera allowing use of a mecha-shutter or diaphragm thereof to reduce the aperture, defective captured images being dark in proportion to the smear amount are produced.

Automatic exposure control apparatus and method


The present disclosure provides an access log processing method and an access log processing device. In some embodiments, a cache server divides virtual nodes to which each access server is mapped into groups according to domain name weight information of a first domain name, determines a first virtual node corresponding to the first domain name in each group, determines a first access server corresponding to each first virtual node according to node configuration information, and sends access logs of the first domain name to the first access server. This technical solution ensures effective processing of access logs in case of high traffic.

The continuous development of internet technology and media files has brought great convenience to people's lives and work. In order to improve the speed of accessing the Internet by users, a commonly used caching technology is CDN (Content Delivery Network) at present. As a new type of network content service system, a CDN network is built based on the IP (Internet Protocol) network and provides content distribution and services based on the efficiency requirements, quality requirements and content order of content access and application. For example, a customer's domain name is "www.xxxxxx.net", and a CDN server provides the customer with access to the domain name so that users can normally acquire access response when accessing "www.xxxxxx.net". The CDN network represents a network application service model that is built based on the network and is featured with high-quality, high-efficiency and distinct network order.
With the development of CDN network, it becomes increasingly important to ensure the service quality of the CDN network. For this purpose, data analysis may be performed on the access logs of each domain name (channel) to ensure effective services for customers. However, at present, the number of the CDN server has reached the order of magnitude of 100,000, and the traffic per second is as high as 20-50 million. It is often difficult for a data processing center to handle direct processing of such a large number of access logs, and processing would be delayed a lot to affect the speed.
Therefore, there is an urgent need for a access log processing method, so as to ensure effective processing of access logs in the case of high traffic.