A utility distribution apparatus comprises an inner wall removably mounted on an outer wall within a building structure. The inner and outer walls create a chase for air flow. A floor surface forms a generally closed corner with the outer wall. The inner wall is spaced apart from, and above the floor. One or more horizontally oriented utility conduits are supported from the floor surface or the outer wall and are positioned below the chase. A utility cover is fixed to the inner wall and extends to the floor surface for hiding the utility conduits. A lower and an upper apertures in the outer wall are positioned for receiving and expelling an air flow through the chase.

Applicant(s) hereby incorporate herein by reference, any and all U.S. patents, U.S. patent applications, and other documents and printed matter cited or referred to in this application.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to utility installations in existing buildings and more particularly to an easily installed wall mounted system enabled for providing utilities to buildings.
2. Description of Related Art
The following art defines the present state of this field:
Wing, U.S. Pat. No. 343,289 describes a ventilating apparatus for buildings, the combination, with an exhaust-flue, provided with a fan, or other exhaust apparatus, of a ventilating flue, arranged between the floor and ceiling to communicate directly with the exhaust-flue and communicate with, an apartment above and below it through openings which are distributed throughout the floor and ceiling, substantially as and for the purpose described.
Stockmann, U.S. Pat. No. 1,131,437 describes a building block comprising outer and inner slabs that extend longitudinally throughout the length of the block, each of said slabs being provided on its upper edge with a rabbet that extends the entire length of said slab, and having its lower edge reduced in thickness so as to fit in the rabbet of an adjacent block, a plurality of longitudinal partitions arranged intermediate said outer and inner slabs, the upper edge of each of said partitions being flush with the upper edge of said outer and inner slabs, and the lower edge lying in a higher horizontal plane than the lower edges of said slabs, and a plurality of transversely extending tie members that integrally connect said partitions, said tie members being inwardly removed from the end portions of the block and having their lower edges lying in a higher horizontal plane than the lower edges of said partition members.
Nordling, U.S. Pat. No. 1,633,032 describes a base board radiator, comprising a casing adapted to be secured to a wall containing a plurality of heat conveying pipes and having a back plate and a front plate removably secured thereto and a crown moulding secured to the upper end thereof that will give the front plate of said radiator the appearance of a base board; tubes between the back plate of said casing and its front base board late, said front plate being being provide with screw receiving apertures and screws extending loosely through said apertures and each of said tubes and also extending through the back plate of said casing and screwed into said wall whereby said front plate is clamped to said casing and said casing is clamped to said wall, said front plate being provided with grooves over the ends of said tubes, said screw receiving apertures in the grooves of said plate, provided with oblong holes on their opposite sides and a turnbutton having wings mounted on each of said screws; the % vings of said turn-button being narrower than the oblong holes through said plate whereby when said screws are turned to clamp the front plate to said tubes the wings of said turn-buttons are turned at right angles to the oblong slots in said plate, but when it is desired to remove said plate without removing said screws from said wall, said turn-button is turned until its wings register in the oblong holes of said plate in said groove.
Weber et al., U.S. Pat. No. 2,487,287 describes a baseboard structure for concealing a conduit for heat exchange fluid extending along the region of the baseboard of a room, comprising a series of elongated panels each shaped to simulate a section of the face portion of a baseboard, the upper edges of said panels being bent over rearwardiy to form a beaded edge along the top substantially at the plane of said face portion and including a downwardly directed hook-like channel, bracket means at spaced points concealed to the rear of said panels for supporting said panels in spaced relation to the wall and floor, to provide an open slot between the lower edge of the panels and the floor for admission of air to the rear of the panels and an open slot along the top at the rear of said beaded edge for the escape of air, said bracket means having upwardly directed portions adapted to be engaged by said hook-like channel, said panels also being formed with inturned lower edges and said brackets being formed with downwardly directed portions over which said inturned lower edges are adapted to removably snap into eXagement after hooking the top edges of the panels in place.
Anthony, U.S. Pat. No. 3,303,770 describes a floor system, a wall system, and a ceiling system, said systems being combined to form an enclosure having a floor unit, a ceiling unit, and at least two side wall units and two end wall units, said wall units comprising the wall system, said floor unit comprising the floor system, said ceiling unit comprising the ceiling system a plurality of elongated chambers extending completely through said floor and ceiling units from one side wall unit to the other side wall unit, each side wall unit having a plurality of elongated chambers extending therethrough and communicating at one end with the floor chambers and at the other end with the ceiling chambers, thereby forming a plurality of passages surrounding said enclosure, and means for inducing a forced flow of air through each passage, said means for inducing a forced flow of air through each passage inducing the flow in opposite directions in adjacent passages.
Keldmann, U.S. Pat. No. 4,216,823 describes a heat apparatus for heating rooms in buildings and acting as baseboard in the rooms, where the heat is transmitted from a gaseous or liquid heating medium, such as steam or hot water, which passes channels in the housing of the apparatus. The housing comprises a housing portion which is a profile rail of metal, preferably a metal alloy with great heat conductivity, such as an aluminium alloy, and the profile rail is formed with integral, longitudinally extending, inner beads having hollow spaces for the heating medium, whereby the housing portion containing the heating medium channels can be manufactured in one operation by extrusion.
Strupczewski, U.S. Pat. No. 4,373,576 describes an air supply and return system for heating and cooling a room, including an air flow loop having a first set of openings positioned high in a wall of the room (high vents) and a second set of openings positioned low in a wall of the room (low vents). The air flow loop includes a reversible air moving device, heating and cooling coils, and ducts connecting the reversible air moving device, filters, and the heating and cooling coils to the high vents and the low vents. During the cooling cycle, air is withdrawn from the room through the low vents, circulated with high air flow by the air mover through the ducts, filter, and the cooling coils, and discharged to the room from the high vents. During the heating cycle the air mover, and thereby the direction of air flow within the duct system, is reversed. Heating operation is in two stages: a passive heating stage with low air flow during which warm, stratified air from the upper portion of the room is withdrawn therefrom through the high vents and circulated unheated through the duct system and discharged to the lower part of the room through the low vents, thereby minimizing stratification within the room; and an active heating stage with higher air flow during which the air withdrawn from the room through the high vents is heated and returned to the room through the low vents.
Perng, U.S. Pat. No. 4,535,684 describes a ventilation system for an enclosed occupied space, such as house, school, large building, etc., comprising a fresh air inlet and a fresh air passage provided at the lower side of vertical hollow walls, the fresh air passage having a plurality of fresh air outlet for supplying fresh air into the space, a plurality of exhaust air inlets provided on the ceiling of the space, a first exhaust air discharge passage communicated with the exhaust air inlets and lies in the ceiling, a second exhaust air discharge passage communicated with the first discharge passage and lies in a vertical wall, and an exhaust air outlet at the top of the second exhaust air passage.
Sosnowski, U.S. Pat. No. 4,580,487 describes a low energy demand structure with side walls, roof, and foundation wherein the side walls have inner and outer structures, the outer structure of frame construction with very heavy insulation substantially filling the outer structure. The inner surface of the outer wall structure is provided with a panel cover to hold the insulation in place and over the panel a moisture impermeable seal is placed. The inner wall structure is of vertical frame construction and provides circulating air passages and a finish interior surface. The ceiling is of similar structure with the circulating air passages of the ceiling and walls in communication with each other. The upper portion of the structure rests on foundation walls which extend at least 3-4xe2x80x2 below the frost line and which are faced with rigid foam insulation also extending 3-4xe2x80x2 below the frost line. A lowermost floor slab of concrete, which is usually the basement floor, has circulating air passage formed therein which are in communication with the air passages of the side walls or inner basement walls which, if present, are of hollow construction with air passages therein and the inner and outer basement walls are separated by a moisture impermeable vinyl sheeting and similar sheeting is placed between the floor slab and the underlying earth mass.
Nonoshita, U.S. Pat. No. 5,761,864 describes a building comprising an exterior wall having an outer air convection layer provided therein with an lower opening communicating with an atmosphere and an upper opening communicating with an atmosphere and an inner air convection layer provided therein with a lower opening communicating with an atmosphere and an upper opening communicating with a garret space, which in turn communicates through a ridge venting hood with an atmosphere.
The prior art teaches thermally insulated building panels, ventilation systems, buildings with internal air passages, molded wall and column structures, radiator enclosures, baseboard radiators, baseboard heating conduits mounted on carriers, HVAC systems, and structures with low energy demands; but does not teach a wall system easily installed into an existing building for HVAC and related purposes. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages as described in the following summary.
The present invention teaches certain benefits in construction and use which give rise to the objectives described below.
A utility distribution apparatus comprises an inner wall removably mounted on an outer wall within a building structure. The inner and outer walls create a chase for air flow. A floor surface forms a generally closed corner with the outer wall. The inner wall is spaced apart from, and above the floor. One or more horizontally oriented utility conduits are supported from the floor surface or the outer wall and are positioned below the chase. A utility cover is fixed to the inner wall and extends to the floor surface for hiding the utility conduits. A lower and an upper apertures in the outer wall are positioned for receiving and expelling an air flow through the chase. In an alternate embodiment, the utility conduits run within the chase and the inner wall extends to the floor surface.
A primary objective of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method of use of such apparatus that provides advantages not taught by the prior art.
Another objective is to provide such an invention capable of cooling or heating a room.
A further objective is to provide such an invention capable of conducting utility flows in a room not originally having such capacity.
A still further objective is to provide such an invention capable of inexpensive installation and removal.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following more detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the invention.


An interface system for a tub system comprises a screen plate adapted to be mounted to a tub wall. The screen plate has keys representing functions of the tub system, and being made of a material allowing light to pass therethrough. Lights are positioned in register with the keys of the screen plate and concealed from a visible surface of the tub. A controller is adapted to receive commands from a user of the tub to actuate any selected function of the tub system. A light actuator actuates the lights to light up the keys associated with the selected function to visually indicate actuation of the selected function of the tub system through the keys.

Tubs are well known for their primary use, namely a washroom installation in which a user person washes and bathes. Tubs have, however, evolved to add relaxation and comfort to practicality, and are found in many forms, such as bathtubs, spas, whirlpools.
For instance, tubs are now provided with air-jet systems and whirlpool systems, by which air or water is injected into the water of the tub to create some turbulence in the water. The turbulence creates a massaging effect on the bather in the tub. Other types of electrically actuated systems, such as oxygenation systems, foot-massage systems and aromatherapy systems are provided in conjunction with tubs, whereby a plurality of treatments are available with tubs. Such systems are often actuated by mechanical switches, which are triggered by closed contacts on circuitry.
One of the issues associated with such switches is the potential of electrical hazards associated with the liquid in the tubs. Also, mechanical switches are not particularly esthetic.
The bather having recourse to such treatments seeks amongst other things a moment of relaxation. It is therefore desired to simplify the use of all such systems to ensure that the bather benefits from relaxing in the tub.


A camera body, to which a lens barrel having an optical system can be attached, includes a controller that controls the camera body, an image sensor that captures an object image, and an image sensor actuator that drives the image sensor along an optical axis. The controller determines a change in an optical state of the object image captured by the image sensor and, in response to the determination, drives the image sensor actuator to move the image sensor to a predetermined reference position located within a movable range of the image sensor.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a camera body of a digital camera or the like capable of driving an image sensor and performing AF (auto-focus) control.
2. Description of the Related Art
A digital camera is conventionally known that includes a camera body having an image sensor and a lens barrel attachable to the camera body (for example, see PTL 1). Such a digital camera includes a focus lens for focus adjustment, lens drive means for moving the focus lens along an optical axis, image sensor drive means for moving an image sensor for capturing an object image along an optical axis, focus evaluating means for outputting the degree of focusing of the object image captured by the image sensor as a focus evaluation value, and focus control means for moving the focus lens and the image sensor based on the focus evaluation value. The image sensor drive means determines an initial position of the image sensor based on an output of the focus evaluating means. This prevents the image sensor from exceeding the control range when the image sensor is controlled to be micro-driven in autofocusing.

Camera body capable of driving an image sensor along an optical axis in response to a change in an optical state of an object image

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


The filter cartridge for the water tank of a coffee machine comprises a housing having on both sides a plurality of slot-shaped openings constituting two inlets. For softening the water, the housing of the filter cartridge contains a ion exchange resin. The bottom of the housing comprises a central outlet. The interior of the housing is provided with a plurality of baffle members increasing the length of the flow path of the water between inlets and outlet. The housing comprises an upper portion and a lower portion, sealingly fixed to each other. The baffle members extend essentially in vertical direction and are alternately fixed to the upper and to the lower housing portion. Water passages are provided between the upper housing portion and the baffle members fixed to the lower housing portion, as well as between the lower housing portion and the baffle members fixed to the upper housing portion. The filter cartridge of the invention requires not much space, but offers high efficiency resulting from the long flowing path of the water through the ion exchange resin between inlets and outlet.

The present invention refers to a filter cartridge for a water tank of a coffee machine, comprising a housing adapted to receive a filter medium and having at least one inlet located at the bottom of the filter cartridge and an outlet located at the bottom of the filter cartridge. A plurality of spaced apart baffle members are located in the interior of the housing and adapted to increase the length of the flow path of the water between the inlet and the outlet.
Such a filter cartridge serves for softening the water contained in the water tank of a coffee machine and used to brew a coffee beverage. As a medium for softening the water, for example a ion exchange resin can be used. As soon as the softening medium is exhausted, i.e. shows less and less softening effect, the filter cartridge should be replaced.

Filter cartridge for a water tank of a coffee machine


A sheet conveying device that makes it possible to perform printing at high speed with high accuracy by easily correcting skew of a sheet, such as an index tab sheet, without requiring troublesome operations. Sheet detection sensors for detecting a sheet and skew correction rollers for conveying the sheet are disposed in a direction crosswise to a conveying direction of the sheet. A skew correction drive controller measures a leading edge detection time between respective detections of a leading edge of the sheet by the sensors, and controls the conveying speeds of the skew correction rollers independently of each other such that a skew represented by the leading edge detection time is corrected. If the leading edge detection time is not smaller than a predetermined threshold value, the skew correction drive controller reduces a skew correction amount for correcting the skew by a predetermined amount.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to detection of skew of a sheet in a sheet conveying device equipped in an image forming apparatus, such as a copying machine or a printer, or in an image reading apparatus, such as a scanner.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, in an image forming apparatus, such as a copying machine or a printer, during printing, a sheet is conveyed to an image forming section, and printing is performed on the conveyed sheet. In this sheet conveyance, a sheet is sometimes conveyed obliquely with respect to a conveying direction, i.e. so-called skew sometimes occurs. If skew of a sheet occurs, when the image forming section transfers a toner image onto the sheet, the position of the image is displaced with respect to the sheet. As a result, occurrence of skew of a sheet sometimes prevents the printing operation from being performed with high accuracy. To overcome this problem, conventional sheet conveying devices are each equipped with a skew correction mechanism for correcting skew of a sheet.
On the other hand, to perform printing at high speed, it is necessary to promptly perform correction of skew of a sheet. To this end, there has been proposed a skew correction mechanism using a so-called active registration method, as a skew correction mechanism. In this active registration method, skew caused when a sheet is fed is corrected while conveying the sheet (see e.g. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H04-277151). This mechanism increases the speed of printing by promptly performing correction of skew of a sheet.
By the way, in an image forming apparatus, image formation on various types of sheets is desired. For example, it is desired that image formation (printing) can be also performed on a sheet which is not always a rectangle, such as an index tab sheet (also referred to as the tab sheet). Note that the index tab sheet is intended to mean a sheet on which an index tab is formed on a sheet edge, for entry of headings or the like for the purpose of classification. Further, there has been proposed a skew correction method for sheets not having a rectangular shape, such as index tab sheets.
FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a conventional skew correction mechanism. In the illustrated skew correction mechanism, two skew-detection sensors 82 and 83 are disposed along a direction orthogonal to a direction of conveying a sheet 81. The skew correction mechanism further includes a pair of conveying rollers 84 and 85 the respective conveying speeds of which are variable.
In the illustrated example, the sheet 81 is an index tab sheet, and sheet shape information indicative of a dimension X (dimension in the conveying direction) of an index tab 81a is registered in a memory or the like in advance. Further, a position of the index tab 81a on the index tab sheet is registered in the memory or the like in advance as position information.
In this mechanism, the skew detection sensors 82 and 83 each detect an edge of the index tab sheet 81 to obtain an amount of skew of the index tab sheet 81 according to the detection result X′, the above-mentioned dimension X (sheet shape information), and the position information. Then, the conveying speeds of the conveying rollers 84 and 85 are controlled, respectively, according to the amount of skew, to thereby correct the skew of the index tab sheet.
On the other hand, there has been proposed a technique in which to detect skew of a sheet, line sensors are provided in a sheet width direction and a shape of an edge of the sheet is detected by the line sensors (see e.g. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-146485). In Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-146485, the shape of the edge of the sheet detected by the line sensors is subjected to image processing to thereby calculate an amount of skew of the sheet, whereby correction of skew of the sheet is performed.
Incidentally, when a plurality of index tab sheets are compared with each other, index tabs are not formed on the same position on the respective index tab sheets. More specifically, the index tabs are formed in a manner displaced on an index tab sheet-by-index tab sheet basis such that headings or the like written in the respective index tabs are easily confirmed when the plurality of index tab sheets are arranged one upon another.
When correcting skew of each index tab sheet formed as above, it is necessary to know whether or not an index tab passes a skew detection sensor in advance. For this reason, the user is required to designate whether or not a sheet is an index tab sheet, and further set the position of each index tab, the dimension of the same, and so forth, in a detailed manner, in the image forming apparatus.
Therefore, there is a problem that the user is required to perform troublesome operations when he/she intends to perform the skew correction for index tab sheets in order to perform printing with high accuracy at high speed.
The above-mentioned problem is also caused when original documents, which are index tab sheets, are consecutively read. More specifically, when the original documents are set on a document tray of an image reading apparatus so as to be read by the apparatus, the documents are conveyed from the document tray to a document reading position, but if it is intended to perform the skew correction at this time, the user is required to perform the troublesome operations described above.

Sheet conveying device having function of correcting skew of sheet


A method of forming a moisture-tolerant coating on a silicon carbide fiber includes exposing a silicon carbide fiber to a gaseous N precursor comprising nitrogen at an elevated temperature, thereby introducing nitrogen into a surface region of the silicon carbide fiber, and exposing the silicon carbide fiber to a gaseous B precursor comprising boron at an elevated temperature, thereby introducing boron into the surface region of the silicon carbide fiber. Silicon-doped boron nitride is formed at the surface region of the silicon carbide fiber without exposing the silicon carbide fiber to a gaseous Si precursor comprising Si. Thus, a moisture-tolerant coating comprising the silicon-doped boron nitride is grown in-situ on the silicon carbide fiber.

Ceramic matrix composites (CMCs), which include ceramic fibers embedded in a ceramic matrix, exhibit a combination of properties that make them promising candidates for industrial applications that demand excellent thermal and mechanical properties along with low weight, such as gas turbine engine components.
An interphase coating comprising carbon or boron nitride is typically applied to the ceramic fibers (e.g., silicon carbide fibers) as part of the CMC fabrication process. In use, the interphase material may act as a compliant layer to enhance toughness and crack deflection in the final densified CMC.

Method of forming a moisture-tolerant coating on a silicon carbide fiber

ROLLS-ROYCE HIGH TEMPERATURE COMPOSITES INC.


The present invention generally relates to the field of uninterruptable power supplies (UPSs) and more specifically, to UPSs using supercapacitors (also may be referred to as ultracapacitors) and/or other capacitor and/or battery elements. In an embodiment, a UPS of the present invention can individually regulate the charging of its capacitive elements to avoid overcharging and/or achieve a more efficient charge state.

Uninterruptable power supplies (UPSs) have served the data center and the industrial industry for many years. These UPSs are often implemented upstream of the network equipment, towards a facility's power entrance, and may be positioned in a centralized fashion to service an entire data center facility. Typically, 480 V (volt) AC (alternating current) is converted to DC (direct current) where batteries are used to store the energy. At a later time, the stored DC voltage is re-converted back to AC voltage for distribution throughout a facility. There is a trend in the industry to distribute this UPS functionality down to the individual racks of a data center in an attempt to obtain improved energy efficiency. Other benefits of this distribution can include capital savings, improved scalability, and improved system reliability. However, at least one of the disadvantages of this technique is that battery packs that are associated with individual racks often require maintenance as well as replacement after a relatively short lifetime.
Another trend in the industry is the replacement of traditional batteries with supercapacitors. These supercapacitors can have improved lifetime as compared to common batteries (e.g., 5 times the lifetime of a typical battery) and can result in improved performance versus batteries in a distributed UPS architecture.
The combination of these two trends leads to the opportunity for the development of a supercapacitor-based UPS for use in facilities such as data centers and industrial facilities.


Provided is a charging protection circuit. The charging protection circuit includes a wireless charging base and a charging receiving circuit. The charging receiving circuit includes first receiving coils configured to receive electromagnetic waves from the wireless charging base; a high-permeability magnetic core coupled to the first receiving coils and configured to block electromagnetic waves opposite to the electromagnetic waves from the wireless charging base; a detection circuit coupled to the high-permeability magnetic core and configured to detect whether the high-permeability magnetic core has failed; and a power supply circuit coupled to the high-permeability magnetic core and configured to convert electromagnetic energy generated by electromagnetic waves into electric energy to supply power to a power receiving device. With the technical solution, the serious result caused by continuous charging of a wireless charger after a high-permeability magnetic core has failed is avoided, thus guaranteeing the security of a power receiving device.

With the development of mobile communication technologies, mobile phones have become necessary communication tools in our daily life. When using a mobile phone, the user often feels inconvenient when using the wired charging of the mobile phone. Currently, in the relevant art, many wireless mobile phone charging solutions have been proposed. Among these wireless mobile phone charging solutions, 13.56 MHz induction charging solution has been mature relatively. This solution merely requires to place a mobile phone on an induction base of a charger and can charge the mobile phone by means of induction without plugging. This convenient and rapid charging method has been appreciated by many mobile phone manufacturers. However, the design defect of the above wireless charging solution lies in that during mass manufacture, the key part in this solution, i.e., high permeability material, is easy to fail after long-term use, which brings risks into the charging process of the mobile phone. Therefore, although the wireless charging solution is much appreciated, it also makes many manufacturers have to take into account the quality problem of the product when employing the wireless charging solution.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a wireless charging protection circuit in the relevant art. As shown in FIG. 1, the wireless charging protection circuit includes: a wireless charging base 1 and a charging receiving circuit 2. The charging receiving circuit 2 may include: a high-permeability magnetic core 20. For the consideration of receiving antenna area, a receiving antenna is usually placed directly under the battery, and the antenna plane covers the battery. In order to prevent the influence on the battery from the alternating magnetic field generated during wireless charging and at the same time increase the magnetic flux of the receiving antenna coils, a layer of high-permeability ferrite is usually added between the battery and the receiving antenna coils. This layer of ferrite material is very important for the entire wireless charger. In fact, wireless charging technology generates an alternating magnetic field using a charging base, which magnetic field is coupled to the receiving coils at the back surface of the mobile phone by means of the coil antenna on the base, like an active power transmission transformer, and the high-permeability material is equivalent to a ferrite magnetic core of the transformer. With this high-permeability material, the magnetic flux of the receiving coils can be increased, thus improving the charging efficiency. In addition, if there is no high-permeability material layer, the alternating magnetic field will directly act on the surface of the battery of the mobile phone by transmitting through the receiving antenna. The surface layer of the battery is a metal layer, the metal layer will generate eddy current effects in the alternating magnetic field, that is, an eddy current is generated on the metal surface layer to generate an opposite magnetic field, which thus reduces the magnetic flux of the coils and severely affects the charging efficiency. Moreover, when the eddy current generated on the metal surface layer of the battery by the alternating magnetic field is big enough, it will bring hazards to the safety of the battery. In addition, the wiring on the main board of the mobile phone on the back of the battery will also be affected by the alternating magnetic field, for example, electromagnetic compatibility (EMC in short) problem will be very significant. Therefore, using a high-permeability magnetic core in the wireless charging solution of the mobile phone is a necessary option.
However, the problems existing in the relevant art lie in that when this layer of ferrite material has failed or itself has some quality problem during production, it will significantly reduce the charging efficiency of the charging protection circuit, and even may cause the battery of the mobile phone to explode. Although there is very small possibility for such an incident to occur, once it happens, it will damage the brand appearance of the product, and cause the mobile phone user to contradict when purchasing and using this product. Therefore, when using a wireless charger, how to avoid the severe consequence resulted from the continuous charging of the wireless charger when the high-permeability magnetic core has failed is an urgent problem to be solved.


A method for controlling a color adjustable light source (101) configured to illuminate an object (110) is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of setting (301) a color temperature of a reference white point (cpref) at the black body curve (202), acquiring (302) information as to a color of the object (cpobj), receiving (303) a desired saturation level, and controlling (304) the light source (101) to illuminate the object (110) with light corresponding to the color temperature of the reference white point and comprising a saturated component corresponding to the color of the object. A corresponding system (100) for performing the method is also disclosed.

Recently, color adjustable light sources such as light emitting diodes combining red, green and blue light to achieve for example white light are increasingly used in for example households and in commercial settings. The control of such light sources has conventionally been performed by technicians having certain skills and experience, since control of brightness, color and saturation parameters is relatively complicated and conventionally requires certain knowledge and skills.
As the use of color adjustable light sources has increased, the demand of intuitive control of such light sources has also increased among other users than experts. For facilitating color control of light sources such as LEDs with a combined color output of red, green, and blue, US20080259590 disclose a user interface with control of for example hue, color and saturation of light. The user interface comprises a central button for changing the color, a saturation button, a hue button, and may be a remote control.
Concerning illuminating light sources, such as LED-based RGB spotlights that may be used to illuminate objects in a store, a museum or the like, it is important that the illuminating light is controlled in a way that enhances the appearance of the object for the viewer. For example in stores, it may be desired to emphasize a certain color of a product or a product display to make the product more visible and more attractive to a viewer. Although providing an improved more intuitive user interface for controlling the color output of a light source in US20080259590, obtaining an illumination that highlights a color of an object would still be relatively complicated. In an attempt to highlight a color of an object using the solution described in US20080259590, several parameters that affect each other would have to be adjusted, most likely requiring several attempts of adjusting each parameter, why optimal illumination of an object may become very troublesome or even impossible to achieve by a non-experienced user.
Hence, there is a need for an improved method of controlling a color adjustable light source for highlighting a color of an illuminated object.

Method and system for emphasizing object color


A system and method for detection of drive-arounds in a retail setting. An embodiment includes acquiring images of a retail establishment, analyzing the images to detect entry of a customer onto the premises of the retail establishment, tracking a detected customer's location as the customer traverses the premises of the retail establishment, analyzing the images to detect exit of the detected customer from the premises of the retail establishment, and generating a drive-around notification if the customer does not enter a prescribed area or remain on the premises of the retail location for at least a prescribed minimum period of time.

Advances and increased availability of surveillance technology over the past few decades have made it increasingly common to capture and store video footage of retail settings for the protection of companies, as well as for the security and protection of employees and customers. This data has also been of interest to retail markets for its potential for data-mining and estimating consumer behavior and experience to aid both real-time decision making and historical analysis. For some large companies, slight improvements in efficiency or customer experience can have a large financial impact.
Several efforts have been made at developing retail-setting applications for surveillance video beyond well-known security and safety applications. For example, one such application counts detected people and records the count according to the direction of movement of the people. In other applications, vision equipment is used to monitor queues, and/or groups of people within queues. Still other applications attempt to monitor various behaviors within a reception setting.
One industry that is particularly heavily data-driven is fast food restaurants. Accordingly, fast food companies and/or other restaurant businesses tend to have a strong interest in numerous customer and/or store qualities and metrics that affect customer experience, such as dining area cleanliness, table usage, queue lengths, experience time in-store and drive-thru, specific order timing, order accuracy, and customer response.
Modern retail processes are becoming heavily data-driven, and retailers therefore have a strong interest in numerous customer and store metrics such as queue lengths, experience time in-store and/or drive-thru, specific order timing, order accuracy, and customer response. Of particular interest is the detection and diagnosing of abnormal events, particularly those related to customer volumes exceeding the capacity of a store. Such events include queue lengths and waiting times exceeding certain desired thresholds, which may in turn lead to customer dissatisfaction, customer drive-offs (in vehicular queues) and walk-offs (in pedestrian queues), and customer drive-arounds.
Drive-arounds occur when a customer drives into a retail setting with the intention of making a purchase and, upon examination of the existing customer volume (e.g., from parking occupancy or drive-thru queue length), decides to leave the premises. Drive-arounds result in lost sales and in unnecessary added traffic in the premises, as well as potential losses in repeat business. There is currently no automated solution to the detection of these events, since current solutions for operations analytics involve manual annotation often carried out by contractors. Furthermore, other events of interest may not currently be detected at all.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for video-based detection of drive-arounds in a retail setting


An object of the invention is to provide a plating pretreatment solution that can convert the surface of an aluminum substrate for hard disk devices into a surface suitable for electroless nickel plating, and a method for producing an aluminum substrate for hard disk devices using the same. The plating pretreatment solution of the present invention used for a plating pretreatment in production of an aluminum substrate for hard disk devices has an iron ion concentration of 0.1 g/l to 1.0 g/l and a nitric acid concentration of 2.0 wt % to 12.0 wt %. This plating pretreatment solution is used for a pretreatment of a plating step in which electroless nickel plating is applied to an aluminum substrate for hard disk devices. Accordingly, the surface of the aluminum substrate for hard disk devices is converted into a surface suitable for electroless Ni plating, and a smooth surface of a plated film is obtained by suppressing generation of waviness, nodules, and pits on the plated surface when electroless nickel plating is performed in the plating step.

As a method for producing a magnetic disk substrate for hard disk devices (HDD), a method for producing a magnetic disk substrate, which includes performing a plating pretreatment prior to applying electroless nickel plating to an aluminum substrate, and applying electroless nickel plating to the aluminum substrate that has been subjected to the plating pretreatment, is typically known.
In the plating pretreatment, a cleaning treatment, an etching treatment, a desmutting treatment, and a zincate treatment are performed. As the zincate treatment, a double zincate treatment is known that includes performing a de-zincate treatment following a first zincate treatment, and then performing a second zincate treatment.
When the surface of an electroless nickel plating film has a large number of waviness, protrusion defects called nodules, or recess defects called pits, there is a possibility that such defects may not be able to be completely removed in a polishing step, and thus may remain as defects. Thus, it is necessary to develop an electroless plating method that can obtain a smoother surface of a plating film.
For example, Patent Literature 1 describes a method of smoothing the surface of a plating film by including metal ions of Group IV of the periodic table in a nitric acid bath used in a desmutting treatment in order to obtain a surface of a plating film without protrusion defects.

Plating pretreatment solution and method for producing aluminum substrate for hard disk devices using same


A sorting machine for separating substandard items from a continuous flow of fungible items is disclosed wherein the ejector means for removing the detected substandard items includes an air blast nozzle having a built-in end means for creating a pressure differential in the blast to keep particle dust from rising and quickly causing the optical window in front of the detector sensor or sensors to coat and become opaque. The pressure means is preferably a tab or other surface at a right angle to the nozzle or parallel to the product flow, its direction being on the opposite side of the nozzle from the window. By minimizing dust build-up on the window, down time of the sorting machine for window cleaning is minimized.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to sorting machines that separate substandard fungible items from standard items, the items flowing through the machine in large volumes at high rates of speed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A typical sorting machine of the type envisioned for application of the present invention is a high speed sorting machine typically used for sorting fungible products in the food industry or otherwise. For example, individual rice grains are caused to flow by gravity feed down a steep channel to be sorted in such a machine to separate "substandard" grains from standard grains. The term "substandard" can apply to a dark grain that has no useful purpose, but the term can also apply to a grain of different length or other quality that is perfectly acceptable in the abstract, but is not within the standard limits of quality established for acceptable standard products for a particular sorting.
Although products of the type just described can theoretically be sorted by weight, mechanical measurement size or the like, perhaps the most commonly employed sorting mechanism used in today's machines employ optical sensors. Such sensors include one or more photodetectors, such as photodiodes, that are sensitive not only to black, white and shades of gray differences, but also to subtle variations in color hues. Also, such sensors, including the entire sensor combination of parts, are also capable of discriminating against different sizes of products. All of the machines of the general class fitting the above description have in common a protective, light admitting window for the sensor or sensors to protect these sensors from contamination. In some cases, the "window" may only be the sensor element covering, but in many cases it is the common housing enclosing a plurality of sensors that are spaced about an opening through which is directed the flow of product to be sorted.
Such machines also include an ejector mechanism located downstream from the sensor or sensors and actuated by an electrical signal originating from sensor detection. When a substandard product is detected, an electrical actuating signal is produced and the ejector is actuated just as the substandard product and the mechanism are in alignment. Therefore, there is a delay between detection and ejection, but it is ever so slight because the further the ejector is from the detector, the more the substandard product can "escape" by being diverted or hit by other products in the product flow or even by velocity variations caused by friction in the channel depending on the duration of contact with the flow channel or slide as the products tumble along. Therefore, the ejector is normally located as close as possible to the sensor or sensors, ideally being just downstream therefrom and closely adjacent thereto.
The ejector mechanism can be mechanical, but for small fungible products it is almost universally a compressed air ejector. That is, when the substandard product arrives opposite the ejector, the ejector emits a sharp expulsion or jet blast of air that kicks the substandard product from the stream. Typically, the ejector includes an elongated nozzle that has a very narrow opening, at least in the dimension parallel to product flow. The opening is typically slotted or elongated, however, transverse to the flow direction.
Each time the ejector expels a jet or blast of air, not only is the substandard product ejected from the main product stream, the surface of that product and other products that are also contacted by the blast are "dusted". That is, minute loose surface flakes are blown off or apart from the products themselves, these loose surface flakes settling wherever they are blown. These flakes are sometimes referred to collectively as "dust". Most of these dust flakes or particles are harmlessly blown out of the main product flow with the ejected product, but many of these flakes are scattered in various other directions. The ones that cause the most mischief are the ones that settle on the window or windows of the optical sensors, previously described. This is because over a period of time there is a build up of these dust flakes that cause the window or windows to become more and more opaque to the passage of light, which interferes with the sensitivity of discrimination detection necessary for proper sorting operation. When there is excessive build-up, the machine has to be cut off and the window or windows cleaned before the machine is ready to properly operate again. Obviously, it is desirable to minimize the amount of this down time.
Therefore, it is a feature of the present invention to provide an improved sorting machine including air ejection separation of substandard products from a flow of fungible products wherein the ejection mechanism does not rapidly coat the window of a nearby optical sensor with product dust.
It is another feature of the present invention to provide an improved air ejector for separating substandard products from a flow of fungible products passing through a sorting machine, the improved air ejector developing a pressure differential in the air blast therefrom to minimize the number of dust particles that disperse to accumulate on a nearby sensor window.

Ejector nozzle with pressure differential


The invention relates to a finishing method for a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate that includes an oxide layer buried between an active silicon layer and a support layer of silicon. The method includes applying the following steps in succession: a first rapid thermal annealing (RTA) of the SOI substrate; a sacrificial oxidation of the active silicon layer of the substrate conducted to remove a first oxide thickness; a second RTA of the substrate; and a second sacrificial oxidation of the active silicon layer conducted to remove a second oxide thickness that is thinner than the first oxide thickness.

The invention lies in the area of the fabrication of silicon-on-insulator substrates known to the man skilled in the art under the abbreviation SOI.
A SOI substrate comprises an oxide layer buried between a support substrate in silicon and a thin layer of silicon called the <<active layer>> since it is on or in this layer that components are to be fabricated notably for electronics, optics and/or opto-electronics.
A SOI substrate is generally obtained by a layer transfer process using the following main steps:
forming an oxide layer on a donor substrate and/or receiver substrate, these two substrates being in silicon;
forming an area of embrittlement in the donor substrate, the area of embrittlement delimiting said above-mentioned active layer to be transferred;
bonding together the donor and receiver substrates, so that the oxide layer lies at their bonding interface;
splitting the donor substrate along the area of embrittlement and transferring the active silicon layer onto the receiver substrate.
One example of said transfer process is the SMARTCUT® process of which a description can be found in: "Silicon-On-Insulator Technology: Materials to VLSI, 2nd Edition", by Jean-Pierre Colinge, "Kluwer Academic Publishers", pages 50-51. In this case, the forming of the area of embrittlement is made by implanting atom and/or ion species.
This weakened region may also consist of a porous region.
It is also possible to use a method consisting of bonding a donor substrate onto the receiver substrate, either one of these substrates being coated with an oxide layer, then of reducing the thickness of the donor substrate via its back face so as only to maintain on the receiver substrate a thin semiconductor layer corresponding to said above-mentioned active layer.
Irrespective of the method in which the SOI substrate is obtained, the structure that is obtained after these transfer and bonding steps is subjected to finishing treatments which may for example comprise: polishing, planarization, cleaning, smoothing and thinning steps.
The purpose of these different finishing steps is notably to improve the roughness of the active silicon layer, to bring it to its desired final thickness and to stabilize the bonding interface.
Amongst these finishing steps for a substrate of SOI type, frequent use is made of a smoothing step conducted by rapid thermal annealing (RTA).
RTA is conducted at high temperature for a short time, in a neutral or reducing atmosphere, for example hydrogen and/or argon. As an example, for a SOI substrate it may be conducted at a temperature in the order of 1200° C., for a time of less than three minutes.
This annealing of RTA type carried out to improve the high frequency roughness of the active silicon layer, is also known to have an encapsulating effect of the edge of the substrate, thereby protecting the buried oxide. In this respect, reference may be made to applicant's patent FR 2 852 143.
RTA is often coupled with one or more sacrificial oxidation steps.
A sacrificial oxidation step consists of an oxidation step followed by a de-oxidation step of the previously formed oxide.
The oxidation step is generally performed using thermal treatment, by wet or dry process. The result is the formation of an oxide layer on the free surface of the active silicon layer of the SOI substrate.
The de-oxidation step is generally performed by immersing the oxidized SOI substrate into an acid bath, to remove the previously formed surface oxide and thereby to bring the active silicon layer to the desired final thickness, by reducing its thickness.
From document WO 2006/070220 a treatment method is known for a substrate e.g. of SOI type whose finishing steps comprise at least one cycle of a rapid thermal annealing RTA/sacrificial oxidation sequence.
However, the chief objective of the method used in this document is to reduce the density of the holes opening into the surface of the active layer of said substrate, since these holes amount to major defects. The solution put forward in this document consists solely of increasing the thickness of the transferred layer before subjecting it to finishing steps. This document does not approach the problem of particle contamination of the substrate surface.
Yet, it would also be desirable to limit defectiveness related to particle contamination which deteriorates the quality of the final SOI substrate obtained.
This particle contamination is related to a phenomenon known to those skilled in the art as "flaking".
This defect typically results from delamination of the edge of the surface of the SOI substrate during cleaning and/or chemical etching processes. It generates flakes with a size in the order of a few tenths of a micrometer which, once re-deposited on the surface of the SOI substrate, can practically no longer be eliminated.
This flake contamination is even more sensitive when RTA is conducted in a cold wall oven, and in some cases it may reach a rejection level with respect to surpassing low-defect requirements for a substrate of SOI type intended to be subsequently used for the fabrication of components, notably in the electronics sector. With a cold wall oven, contaminant flakes of less than 0.1 μm are observed. Thus, there is a need for processes that reduce flake contamination, and these are now provided by the present invention.

Finishing method for a silicon on insulator substrate


A device for diverting energy away from an arc flash occurring within an electrical power system is provided. The device comprising an arc source configured to create a second arc flash, a plasma gun configured and disposed to inject plasma in proximity of said arc source in response to the arc flash, an arc containment device configured and disposed to house said arc source and said plasma gun, said arc containment device comprising a cover configured and disposed to cover said arc source and said plasma gun, said cover comprising an inner surface and an outer surface, said inner surface being proximal to said arc source and said plasma gun, said inner surface including an insulative ceramic plasma spray coating.

The embodiments described herein relate generally to power equipment protection devices and, more particularly, to apparatus for use in channeling exhaust gases and pressure away from a location of arc generation.
Known electric power circuits and switchgear generally have conductors that are separated by insulation, such as air, or gas or solid dielectrics. However, if the conductors are positioned too closely together, or if a voltage between the conductors exceeds the insulative properties of the insulation between the conductors, an arc can occur. The insulation between the conductors can become ionized, which makes the insulation conductive and enables formation of an arc flash.
An arc flash includes a rapid release of energy due to a fault between two phase conductors, between a phase conductor and a neutral conductor, or between a phase conductor and a ground point. Arc flash temperatures can reach or exceed 20,000° C., which can vaporize the conductors and adjacent equipment. Moreover, an arc flash can release significant energy in the form of heat, intense light, pressure waves, and/or sound waves, sufficient to damage the conductors and adjacent equipment. However, the current level of a fault that generates an arc flash is generally less than the current level of a short circuit, such that a circuit breaker may not trip or exhibits a delayed trip unless the circuit breaker is specifically designed to handle an arc fault condition.
Standard circuit protection devices, such as fuses and circuit breakers, generally do not react quickly enough to mitigate an arc flash. One known circuit protection device that exhibits a sufficiently rapid response is an electrical "crowbar," which utilizes a mechanical and/or electro-mechanical process by intentionally creating an electrical "short circuit" to divert the electrical energy away from the arc flash point. Such an intentional short circuit fault is then cleared by tripping a fuse or a circuit breaker. However, the intentional short circuit fault created using a crowbar may allow significant levels of current to flow through adjacent electrical equipment, thereby still enabling damage to the equipment.
Another known circuit protection device that exhibits a sufficiently rapid response is an arc containment device, which creates a contained secondary arc to divert the electrical energy away from the arc flash point. For example, some known devices generate an arc, such as a secondary arc flash within an arc containment device or vessel, for use in dissipating energy associated with a primary arc flash detected on a circuit. At least some known arc containment devices include a metallic top or cover to withstand the high pressure, and extremely high temperature gases generated at the location where the arc is created. However, such containment devices can be damaged, or exhibit arc tracking to ground, due to the high temperature conductive gases and conductive residue generated within the device. During the secondary arc flash, hot ionized exhaust gases at high pressure are created. The exhaust gases exert significant thermal and mechanical stress on the cover. The high pressures generated within the arc containment device necessitate a strong robust material be used to form cover. However, while rigid covers, such as those formed from metal such as steel or aluminum, provide the necessary structural strength to withstand the high pressure in the arc containment device, the high temperature exhaust gases can cause damage to the metal, such as melting or burn-through. Other metals with higher melting temperatures, such for example as stainless steels, add increased costs and weight, and are therefore not desirable as cover materials. It is desirable to provide a coating that thermally insulates the cover from the high temperatures. Additionally, the ionized exhaust gases deposit soot or other conductive residue on cover that reduce resistance to arc tracking that may lead to a failure due to short circuit to ground, such as to a grounded frame. It is desirable to provide an arc containment device that is robust enough to withstand high pressure, resistant to high temperature, and of sufficiently high resistance to electrical tracking to isolate the top cover from ionized gases to protect against arc tracking failure, for example, to ground.
One known way to provide thermal protection to a metallic substrate is to apply a plasma spray thermal barrier coating to the metal. However, the compositions of conventional thermal barrier coatings as disclosed in the prior art have not additionally addressed the need for the desired increased arc tracking resistance to avoid ground strikes and low cost needed for the arc containment device
For at least the reasons stated above, a need exists for an arc containment device having an improved resistance to melting. Additionally, for at least the reasons stated above, a need exists for an arc containment device having an improved resistance to arc tracking. It would further be desirable for an improved device that is simple, robust, inexpensive, and without moving parts.

Device and method for circuit protection


A method of driving a plasma display panel is disclosed. According to this method, a global writing pulse is applied between the sustaining electrode X and the scan electrode Yi at a first time point of the reset period, so that wall charges of every cells in the plasma display panel are produced by the discharge between the sustaining electrode X and the scan electrode Yi. The global writing pulse includes a waveform having a large slope, which rises from the first voltage to the second voltage, and a waveform having a relatively small slope, which rises from the second voltage to the third voltage. Raising the voltage in a large slope can make the cells accumulate a large amount of wall charges, and raising the voltage in a small slope can avoid affecting the image quality by producing a high brightness.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of driving a plasma display panel (hereinafter referred to as PDP) and its apparatus. The method and apparatus of the present invention can reduce the backglow phenomena caused by the discharge operation during the reset period for PDP.
2. Description of Prior Art
The PDP displays images by means of charges accumulated through electrode discharge. It is one of the most interesting plate display devices because, among other advantages, it can provide a large screen aspect ratio and can display full-color images. The basic theory and operation of a PDP is described below.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional PDP cell constructed by two glass substrates 1 and 7 and the components formed thereon. Inactive gas, such as Ne, Xe, is filled in the cavity between the glass substrates 1 and 7. The components formed on the glass substrate 1 include sustaining electrodes X, scan electrodes Yi which are parallel to each other, a dielectric layer 3 and a protective film 5. The components formed on the glass substrate 7 include address electrodes Ai and the fluorescent material 9 formed thereon. The partition wall 8 is formed on the peripheral of each PDP cell to isolate the PDP cell. Therefore, each PDP cell 10 includes three kinds of electrodes, i.e., the sustaining electrodes and the scan electrodes which are parallel to each other, and the address electrodes Ai crossing the sustaining electrodes and the scan electrodes.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a plasma display formed by the PDP cells shown in FIG. 1. As shown in the drawing, the PDP 100 is driven by the scan electrodes Y1xcx9cYn, the sustaining electrodes X and the address electrodes A1xcx9cAm. The position of the cell 10 is as shown in the drawing. Each, cell is isolated by the partition wall 8 as shown in FIG. 1. Furthermore, the plasma display includes the control circuit 110, the Y scan driver 112, the X sustaining driver 114 and the address driver 116. The control circuit 110 generates timing signals for the drivers according to the external clock signal CLOCK, the data signal DATA, the vertical synchronous signal VSYNC and the horizontal synchronous signal HSYNC, wherein the clock signal CLOCK represents the data transmittal clock, the data signal DATA represents the display data, and the vertical synchronous signal VSYNC and the horizontal synchronous signal HSYNC are respectively used to define the timing sequences of a frame and a scanning line. The control circuit 110 sends the display data and the clock signal to the address driver 116 and sends the corresponding frame control clock to the Y scan driver 112 and the sustaining driver 114. The display data is transmitted to the address driver 116 by the control circuit 110 and is written to each cell through the address electrodes A1xcx9cAm while the Y scan driver 112 sequentially scans the scan electrodes Y1xcx9cYn. The detailed operation and the control signals for the electrodes are described below.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the manner to drive a conventional PDP to display a frame. As shown in the drawing, each frame is divided into eight sub-fields SF1xcx9cSF8. However, the sub-field is different to the field of a conventional cathode ray tube (CRT), which displays an image by respectively scanning the odd scanning lines and the even scanning lines. The PDP field displays various gray scales for all of the scanning lines. Each sub-field includes three operating period, that is, the reset period R1xcx9cR8, the address period A1xcx9cA8 and the sustain period S1xcx9cS8. The reset period is used to clear the residual charges of the last field display and a certain amount of the wall charges left in each cell. The address period is used to accumulate wall charges into the cell, which is to be displayed (i.e., turned ON), through address discharge. The sustain period is to sustain discharge for displaying in the cell which has accumulated charges through the address discharge. All of the PDP cells are processed at the same time during the reset period R1xcx9cR8 and the sustain period S1xcx9cS8. The address operation is sequentially performed for each cell on the scan electrodes Y1xcx9cYn during the address period A1xcx9cA8. Moreover, the display brightness is proportional to the length of the sustain period S1xcx9cS8. In the example of FIG. 3, the length of the sustain periods S1xcx9cS8 of the sub-fields SF1xcx9cSF8 can be set in a ratio of 1:2:4:8:16:32:64:128 to display images in 256 gray scales.
FIG. 4 is a timing diagram of the control signals on the electrodes in a single sub-field of the prior art. The signals on the address electrodes Ai are generated by the address driver 116, the signals on the sustaining electrodes X are generated by the X sustaining driver 114, and the signals on the scan electrodes Y1xcx9cYn are generated by the scan driver 112. As shown in the drawing, each sub-field includes the reset period, the address period and the sustain period. The waveform of the signals in each period and the resulted manners are described in detail below.
At the time point a (in FIG. 4) of the reset period, the voltage of the scan electrodes Y1xcx9cYn is set to 0 V, and a write pulse having a voltage of VS+VW is applied to the sustaining electrode X, in which the voltage VS+VW is larger than the discharge start voltage between the sustaining electrode X and the scan electrode Yi. Therefore, the global writing discharge W occurs between the sustaining electrode X and the scan electrodes Yi. This discharge process accumulates negative charges on the sustaining electrode X and positive charges on the scan electrodes Yi. The electric field produced by the accumulated negative charges and the positive charges will cancel out the voltage drop between the sustaining electrodes, thus the time of global writing discharge W is very short.
At the time point b, the sustaining electrode X is set to 0 V, and a sustaining pulse 202 having a voltage of Vs is applied to all of the scan electrodes Y1xcx9cYn, wherein the value of the voltage Vs plus the voltage caused by the charges accumulated between the sustaining electrodes must be larger than the discharge start voltage between the scan electrodes Yi and the sustaining electrode X. Thus, the total sustaining discharge S occurs between the sustaining electrode X and the scan electrodes Yi. Different from the previous discharge process, this discharge process accumulates positive charges on the sustaining electrode X and negative charges on the scan electrodes Yi.
At the time point c, the scan electrode Yi is set to 0 V, an erase pulse 203 having a voltage lower than Vs is applied to the sustaining electrode X, and an address pulse having a voltage of xe2x88x92Vs can be applied to the address electrode Ai. The erase pulse is used to neutralize a part of the charges. On the scan electrodes Y1xcx9cYn, required wall charges are left so that the write operation can proceed with a lower voltage in the sequential address period.
In the address period, the voltage of the sustaining electrode X and the scan electrodes Yi are pulled up to Vs at the time point d. Then a scan pulse 204 is sequentially applied to the scan electrodes Y1xcx9cYn from the time point e, and an address pulse having a voltage of VA is applied to the address electrode Ai at the same time. When a cell of a scanning line turns ON, the write discharge occurs, that is, the corresponding display data is written into the cell.
After scanning all of the scan electrodes Y1xcx9cYn, the sustain period begins. The sustaining electrode X and the scan electrode Yi are first set to 0 V. Then the sustaining pulses 205 having the same voltage are applied to the sustaining electrode X and the scan electrodes Yi in an alternate way, i.e., at the time point f and at the time point g. Thus, the cell with the data ON during the address period will irradiate. It should be noted that the waveform of driving signals described above is only an example. The waveform varies in practice, but the same theory is applied.
As described above, the length of the sustain period is proportional to the displayed brightness. Assume that a frame includes 510 sustain periods, in which each sustaining discharge period has two periods of discharge. The number of sustain periods for the sub-fields SF1xcx9cSF8 can be 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, and 256, respectively. Therefore, there are 1020 periods of discharge of the sustain period during the display period of a frame. This discharge operation enables a PDP device to display images.
On the other hand, 2 to 3 discharges, such as global writing discharge, total sustaining discharge and erase discharge, are performed during the reset period to uniformly distribute the wall charges. The discharges during the reset period can also make the PDP device irradiate with a brightness brighter than that produced by the discharge during the sustain period. Roughly speaking, the brightness produced by three periods of discharge during the reset period is about the brightness by five periods of discharge during the sustain period. The ratio of the highest brightness and the lowest brightness for the PDP device is about 1020:(5xc3x978) =26:1, in which 1 corresponds to the brightness of black. Therefore, the brightness produced by the discharge during the reset period should be as low as possible in order to improve the image quality of black, which is an important factor for displaying images. It is thus a significant issue to reduce the brightness produced by the discharge during the reset period.
Accordingly, the object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for driving a PDP, which includes: a control circuit for receiving the external displaying data and the relevant timing data; an address driver, connected to the control circuit, for driving the address electrodes; an X driver, connected to the control circuit, for driving the sustaining electrodes, wherein a global writing pulse is applied to the sustaining electrodes during the reset period to produce the wall charges for the cells of the PDP through the discharge between the sustaining electrodes and scan electrodes; and a Y scan driver, connected to the control circuit, for driving the scan electrodes. The global writing pulse has a waveform rising up from a first voltage to a second voltage with a large slope, then rising up from the second voltage to a third voltage with a relatively small slope or a waveform rising up from a first voltage to a second voltage with a small slope, then rising up from the second voltage to a third voltage with a relatively large slope.
Moreover, this invention provides an apparatus for driving a PDP. The X driver applies the first component of the global writing pulse to the sustaining electrodes during the reset period. The first component of the global writing pulse has a waveform rising up from the first voltage to the second voltage with a large slope. The Y scan driver applies the second component of the global writing pulse to the scan electrodes during the reset period. The second component of the global writing pulse has a waveform falling down to the second voltage with a small slope. The wall charge on the cells of the PDP is produced through the discharge caused by the global writing pulse between the sustaining electrodes and the scan electrodes.

Method of driving plasma display panel and apparatus thereof


A rotary heat regenerator comprises a regenerator matrix mounted for rotation in a central aperture of a housing wall, and an improved seal disposed in the annular gap between the matrix and the housing wall. The seal includes (a) a first portion of pile-like material which is secured to the peripheral surface of the matrix, and (b) a second portion of pile-like material which is secured to the housing wall such that the two interact to provide a seal while allowing the matrix to rotate in the aperture.

In the manufacture of rotary heat regenerators for residential use, it has been found possible to form the regenerator wheel from a spiral wound strip of plastic for reasons of economy, and it has been found unexpectedly that such a wheel will have a heat exchange efficiency greater than that of a wheel made of an expensive metal such as stainless steel.
However in the manufacture of such a matrix utilizing a plastic strip, the strip cannot be wound too tightly since excessive tension during winding will reduce the size of the air passages and reduce the efficiency of the matrix. For this reason such a matrix has little strength, particularly in a direction transverse to the plane of the matrix.
In residential use, the gas passages of the matrix may tend to clog with dust, grease, lint, animal hair, or the like, and therefore it is desirable that the wheel should be easily removed for either cleaning or replacement, and that the portion of the structure that must be removed or replaced comprise as little of the wheel structure as possible, for reasons of economy.
Since two separate blowers are required to form the two separate air streams, and means must be provided for rotation of the matrix wheel, the manufacture of such regenerators has been unduly expensive, limiting their use in residential applications.


Digital production assets and their attributes are stored directly in a scene description database, without any association with a specific enclosing asset data file. Software applications perform database queries to retrieve assets and attributes from the database. Changes to assets or new assets are stored in the database. Query results may be cached to improve performance. Heterogeneous opinion sets including sparse opinions of attribute values may be used to specify scene description data. The database stores heterogeneous opinion set data in association with attribute values. Database-aware applications may change the scene description data in the database without loading, parsing, and instantiating scene description data. An application generates database queries and instantiates scene description data from query results for access and manipulation by other applications.

The present invention relates to the field of computer graphics, and in particular to methods and apparatus for creating, modifying, and using components to create computer graphics productions. Many computer graphic images are created by mathematically modeling the interaction of light with a three dimensional scene from a given viewpoint. This process, called rendering, generates a two-dimensional image of the scene from the given viewpoint, and is analogous to taking a photograph of a real-world scene. Animated sequences can be created by rendering a sequence of images of a scene as the scene is gradually changed over time. A great deal of effort has been devoted to making realistic looking and artistically compelling rendered images and animations.
Computer graphics images, animations, and other productions involving computer graphics, such as interactive entertainment software, are created from a number of different components. Generally, components include any data and instructions used to create products and applications that include computer graphics. Components can include three-dimensional models of geometry; texture maps, other arrays of data, lighting, and shading programs used to determine the visual appearance of models; and animation data and deformer functions used to specify changes and motion over time. One or more components are typically stored as a digital asset.
Components typically include one or more attributes containing data associated with the component. Attributes can specify any static or varying property of a component. For example, a component may be a model of a sphere. Attributes of this example component could describe properties such as the radius of the sphere and the location of the center of the sphere. Different types of components may include different numbers and types of attributes. Components are often related to each other with complex cross-reference, inheritance, and dependency relationships.
Digital production pipelines previously stored its digital assets in data files. Some systems arrange data files in a complex hierarchical file system. Other systems use databases to store the location of data files and metadata summarizing the contents of data files.
Managing the large number of inter-related data files is a complex task. In a computer graphics system using a file system hierarchy, any errors in the placement of a data file or the specification of a file path may result in erroneous output. Because of the complex relationships between components, the source of the erroneous output and the appropriate correction may not obvious to users. Additionally, if a small change is made to a digital asset, prior data file-based systems often must rewrite the entire digital asset data file.
Furthermore, it is difficult to search for and/or selectively modify digital assets matching specific criteria. Even systems that store digital asset metadata in databases are limited in their search capabilities, because the metadata only summarizes the contents of digital assets. Users and applications normally cannot use any arbitrary attribute or characteristic of a digital asset as a search criteria unless metadata has already been generated for this attribute or characteristic. If metadata for an attribute or characteristic does not exist, the only alternative is to load each data file into the appropriate application, parse all of the data in the data file to instantiate all of the components in the data file in memory, and then search the instantiated components for the desired attribute. For digital productions with large numbers of enormous data files, this process can take hours or days, which makes it impractical for most uses.
Therefore, there is an unmet need for a system and method to improve the ease, efficiency, and reliability of the creation, modification, and management of components and digital assets in digital production pipelines. There is also an unmet need for a system and method to search and/or modify components based on arbitrarily complex and specific criteria. There is also an unmet need for database systems, database methods, and database structures to enable unrestricted and progressive modifications, refinements, and variations of any type of data by one or more users or applications, such as in a collaborative environment.

Representing scene description in databases


A method is provided for achieving predetermined thickness requirements throughout a superplastically formed structure having extreme contours. A laminate assembly of sheets of a metal capable of exhibiting superplasticity, such as titanium alloy, is formed by a combination of superplastic forming and diffusion bonding. The shapes and positioning of the sheets is selected to provide extra metal where the greatest degree of stretching is necessary, such as around the lobes of an exhaust mixer for a turbofan aircraft engine. The gauge can thus be controlled throughout the structure while avoiding weak points and undue weight.

The present invention relates to a method of fabricating structures from several laminations of metal sheets, and more particularly, to a method of fabricating such structures which combines both superplastic forming and diffusion bonding.
For many years it has been known that certain metals, such as titanium, as well as certain metal alloys, exhibit superplasticity within limited temperature ranges and strain rates. Superplasticity is the capability of a material to develop unusually high tensile elongations with a reduced tendency towards necking. Thus when in a superplastic condition, the metal or metal alloy exhibits low resistance to deformation and may be elongated with controlled thinning. This permits a sheet of such metal to be readily formed against dies to achieve desired shapes. Superplastic forming (SPF) may be performed in conjunction with diffusion bonding (DB). Diffusion bonding refers to metallurgical joining of surfaces of similar or dissimilar metals by holding them in physical contact and applying heat and pressure sufficient to cause commingling of the atoms at the junction. Further details of both SPF and diffusion bonding may be had by way of reference to U.S. Pat. No. 3,934,441 of Hamilton et al. entitled "Controlled Environment Superplastic Forming of Metals" and U.S. Pat. No. 3,927,817 of Hamilton et al. entitled "Method of Making Metallic Sandwich Structures".
Thinning or necking of parts frequently occurs during SPF, particularly where the formed sheets must undergo substantial deformations in draping around dies which have sharp radii and/or extend substantial distances generally normal to the sheets. This can lead to undesirable weak points. If the sheets are made thick enough to provide for a minimum thickness at such points, there may be excess metal in other areas, resulting in a structure which is unnecessarily heavy. Such extra weight is particularly undesirable in aircraft. Furthermore, where the parts are formed of expensive metals such as titanium alloys, extra material leads to high additional costs. Accordingly, it is desirable that a structure formed by SPF have a controlled thickness or gauge throughout its various regions and contours.
An example of a structure that is difficult to form by SPF is an exhaust mixer of a turbofan aircraft engine. Typically it comprises a plurality of axially extending, circumferentially spaced lobes which surround the core engine. The lobes mix the fan air and the hot exhaust gases from the turbine to obtain improved noise suppression and/or engine performance. Representative configurations of such exhaust mixers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,077,206 of Ayyagari and U.S. Pat. No. 4,149,375 of Wynosky et al.
The size and configuration of exhaust mixers is approaching the limits of superplasticity of titanium sheet materials necessary to permit such structures to be formed. For example, to obtain the minimum thickness requirements via SPF in an exhaust mixer for a very large turbofan engine, it would be necessary to start with a sheet thickness of approximately 0.375 inches. Because of the substantial radial extension of the lobes, a sheet must be stretched about 300% in fabricating one type of exhaust mixer by SPF. Even if SPF could be utilized to form an exhaust mixer from sheet material of the foregoing thickness, an extreme amount of selective chemical milling would be required after the SPF in order to obtain uniform thickness throughout the formed structure.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an improved SPF method that could be used to fabricate large, extremely contoured structures while controlling the thickness or gauge throughout the structures.

Method of superplastically forming and diffusion bonding a laminate assembly


An automotive vehicle is disclosed having a vehicle body with a passenger compartment and a door opening to the passenger compartment. A door is pivotally mounted to the door opening with an inclined axis which may extend laterally outboard and downward relative to the vehicle body in a rearward direction of the vehicle. The door opening may be provided through a sidewall and a roof of the vehicle; and the door may be provided with a side panel and a roof panel to match the door opening. Also disclosed is a hinge arrangement for attaching the door to the vehicle body at an upper region and a rearward region of the door.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to automotive vehicle doors, more particularly to hinge arrangements and door openings for automotive doors.
2. Background Art
The prior art has provided vehicles with doors pivotally mounted about vertical hinges. Various vehicles require large door openings, such as two-door vehicles or vehicles with a compact height including sports cars and roadsters. In these types of vehicles, a large door with a vertical hinge requires a substantially large lateral space for opening the door.
The prior has also provided doors that are pivotally connected to the vehicle about a horizontal hinge. Such doors often require the occupant to duck beneath the door in order to enter the vehicle.
The prior has also provided doors that are pivotally connected to the vehicle at a forward end of the door such that a rear end of the door is pivoted up and away from the vehicle, while the forward end is displaced along a forward region of the door opening. Such doors often limit clearance at the forward region of the door opening.


Handle configurations are disclosed for powered implements having a shaft, allowing the implements to be holdable by both hands of a user. An exemplary implement has an elongated shaft having first and second end portions. A first handhold is adjustably mounted to the shaft and extends outwardly therefrom. A second handhold is adjustably mounted either to the shaft or to an elongated member coupled to the shaft. The elongated member can include a mounting portion and a handle portion providing the second handhold. The mounting portion mounts to the first end portion at a mounting location. The first and second handholds allow operation of the implement by a user with arms in respective neutral arm positions and hands in respective neutral gripping positions. The elongated member allows transmission of a force applied to the second handhold by the user through the elongated member and to the elongated shaft at the mounting location.

Powered, handheld implements such as weed trimmers, lawn edgers, brush cutters, etc., are examples of tools normally held by both hands during use. These implements and others like them generally include a longitudinal shaft with a motor or other power source mounted on the rear portion of the shaft and a cutting head or other energetic device, driven or energized by the power source, mounted on the front portion of the shaft. A conventional powered implement generally includes two handholds, as shown in FIG. 1. A first handhold (e.g., a "rear" handhold) is located forwardly of the power source (not shown) and is often a round-the-shaft swell or grip portion coaxial with the shaft (FIG. 1). The first handhold in many instances includes a control device such as a trigger and/or throttle for controlling operation of the power source or delivery of energy from the power source to the energetic device. A second handhold (e.g., a "front" handhold) is located generally midway along the shaft and is often a D-grip rigidly affixed to the shaft and extending outwardly from the shaft.
Many such implements, particularly self-powered implements, require that the user hold the implement with both hands to support its weight and to guide the energetic device on the end of the shaft controllably during use. However, the position of the first and second handholds on conventional implements presents a variety of problems, especially when using the implement for prolonged periods. More specifically, the shape and location of the first handhold forces the wrist to assume a stressful position of ulnar deviation relative to the forearm, illustrated by arrow 55 of FIG. 4 (see also FIG. 1), which can cause maladies in the user such as carpal tunnel syndrome. Secondly, the shape and location of the second handhold generally midway along the shaft require that the holding arm be outstretched, which forces the wrist of the outstretched arm to assume a relatively weak pronated gripping position (see FIGS. 1 and 3). The conventional position of the second handhold can also cause the user to assume poor posture by leaning or hunching forward when using the implement, and generally does not permit the user to perform certain motions comfortably such as thrusting the energetic device forward or sweeping the energetic device from side-to-side, resulting in inefficient use of the implement. Thirdly, the position and shape of the conventional handholds makes it difficult to support the rear portion of the implement (particularly an implement comprising a motor) in any manner other than by the user's wrist and arm. Furthermore, obtaining small, accurate movements of the energetic device in tight spaces and/or for tilted cutting on uneven or sloped terrain are prohibitively difficult using a conventional implement. Accordingly, improvements to the handle configuration of these and other implements held in a similar manner are desirable.

Handle configuration for power implements


One or more strap-down star tracker modules and a strap-down gyro module cooperate to provide a high-performance and low-cost inertial guidance system especially well suited for ballistic missiles. The one or more star tracker modules include an alignment laser that cooperates with one or more gyro module autocollimation mirrors to measure three-axis bending and twist between the one or more strap-down star tracker modules and the strap-down gyro module. The one or more strap-down star tracker modules and the strap-down gyro module respectively determine inertial angle independently of one another. The strap-down gyro module is compensated for gyro drift whenever any difference remains between the inertial angle measured thereby and the same inertial angle measured by the one or more star tracker modules after isolating the contribution thereto of the measured three-axis bending and twist. Ring lasers are exemplary of the gyros of the strap-down gyro module, and an optical tracker that includes a beam expander/compressor telescope assembly and a high-bandwidth mosaic array sensor having a multi-spot tracking capability is exemplary of the one or more strap-down star tracker modules.

The use of gyros and accelerometers to provide inertial guidance of over-the-horizon and other deliverables, such as ballistic missiles, is a technique well-known to those skilled in the art. Typically, the gyros provide attitude information and the accelerometers provide, via multiple integration, position information. The attitude and position information enables on-board autopilots to calculate the position and velocity of the deliverables with respect to inertial space.
In order to secure the degree of precision-performance often required in ballistic missile and other applications, it has been necessary heretofore to gimbal and to float the gyro elements in such a way that they are neutrally buoyant with respect to the body of the deliverable and at rest with respect to inertial space. The complexity of the mechanisms deployed both to gimbal and to float the gyro elements not only have rendered them expensive to manufacture, but also has rendered them difficult to maintain and to fix. While ways have been sought to replace the expensive floating and gimballed gyro-based inertial guidance systems with strap-down gyros, because such strap-down gyro elements would themselves be subjected to large forces due to the accelerations of the deliverable to which they are strapped, which forces would produce position and other errors in gyro output, it has heretofore not been thought possible to provide high-permanence inertial guidance with comparatively low-cost and easy to maintain strap-down gyro elements.

High-performance, low-cost inertial guidance system

The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc.


There is provided by the present invention a speed changing apparatus having a housing mounting a plurality of inwardly directed, circumferentially disposed teeth, preferably in the form of a ring gear. The housing has a hub that rotatably receives at least a first shaft that in turn eccentrically mounts a plurality of elongate follower arms. Each follower ann is mounted at one end to the shaft with the other end having at least one tooth configured to engage the circumferentially disposed teeth. The housing further includes a base plate that is rigidly attached to the second shaft. Rotary motion is transferred between the first shaft and a second rotatable member by apparatus that includes a base pin that is rigidly attached to the base plate, an arm pin rigidly attached to a follower ann and a linking ann pivotally attached at opposite ends to the base pin and the arm pin. The second rotatable member may be a second shaft, the housing, or the base plate.

The prior art contains numerous examples of rotary type speed changing devices. Among these prior art examples are U.S. Pat. No. 2,884,815 to Pittman, Jr., which teaches a speech changer of the gear assembly type characterized in that the ratio of the input rotational speed to the output rotational speed is high and in which the number of stages of speed reduction can be changed by changing the axial length of the assembly; U.S. Pat. No. 3,529,480 to Kaspareck, which teaches an incremental or stepping drive that has a high torque capacity; U.S. Pat. No. 4,155,276 to Fengler, which teaches a two stage speed reducing transmission for use primarily in the gas turbine engine field to reduce the high rotational speed of the turbine rotor for other uses; U.S. Pat. No. 4,798,104 to Chen et al., which teaches a speed changer of the oscillatory tooth and needle gear transmitting type; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,841,81 1 to Bajulaz, which teaches a mechanical speed reducer that has a small angular definition between the input and output shafts and includes two reduction members that are coaxial with the driven and driving members and that are angularly displaceable with respect to each other.
Many of the prior art devices, such as Pittman and Kaspareck rely upon a pivotal movement of a pin within a slot in order to achieve the relative rotational movement between driven and driving members. Consequently, these devices are subject to a great deal of wear in these particular areas as well as known wear areas such as the intermeshing teeth. Consequently, it would be desirable to have a speed changer of the gear type that did not rely upon the prior art pin/slot type of apparatus for the relative rotational difference between the driven and driving members.


A light emitting device comprises at least one light emitter, typically an LED, operable to generate blue light and a wavelength conversion component. The wavelength conversion component can be light transmissive or light reflective and comprises at least two phosphor materials that are operable to absorb at least a portion of said blue light and emit light of different colors and wherein the emission product of the device comprises the combined light generated by the LED(s) and the phosphor materials. The phosphor materials are configured as a pattern of non-overlapping areas on a surface of the component.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to solid-state light emitting devices with photoluminescence wavelength conversion and in particular, although not exclusively, white light emitting devices based on LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) that are used to excite two or more phosphor materials that are located remote to the LED(s). The invention further concerns wavelength conversion components for converting the color (wavelength) of light generated by the solid-state light emitter.
2. Description of the Related Art
White light emitting LEDs ("white LEDs") are known in the art and are a relatively recent innovation. It was not until LEDs emitting in the blue/ultraviolet part of the electromagnetic spectrum were developed that it became practical to develop white light sources based on LEDs. As taught, for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,998,925, white LEDs include one or more phosphor materials, that is photo-luminescent materials, which absorb a portion of the radiation emitted by the LED and re-emit radiation of a different color (wavelength). Typically, the LED chip or die generates blue light and the phosphor(s) absorbs a percentage of the blue light and re-emits yellow light or a combination of green and red light, green and yellow light, green and orange or yellow and red light. The portion of the blue light generated by the LED that is not absorbed by the phosphor combined with the light emitted by the phosphor provides light which appears to the human eye as being nearly white in color.
Due to their long operating life expectancy (>50,000 hours) and high luminous efficacy (70 lumens per watt and higher) high brightness white LEDs are increasingly being used to replace conventional fluorescent, compact fluorescent and incandescent light sources.
Typically a mixture of phosphor materials is provided as a single layer on the light emitting surface of the LED die. Alternatively the different phosphor materials can be provided as respective layers overlying the LED die.
As disclosed in United States patent application US 2008/02118992 A1 to Li, it is also known to provide the phosphor material as a layer on, or incorporate the phosphor material within an, optical component that is located remotely to the LED die.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a light emitting device that in part at least overcomes the limitations of the known devices.

Solid-state light emitting devices with photoluminescence wavelength conversion