An electrical wiring device having a housing with a first set of openings through which the bare ends of conductors are pushed to effect so-called push-wire connection of the conductors to terminals within the housing in the usual manner. A second set of openings is provided adjacent the first set and a reciprocally slidable member is positioned within each of the second set of openings. Using a small tool, the slidable members may be pushed inwardly to contact and move the spring clip holding the conductor in firm engagement with the terminal, thereby releasing the conductor and permitting its withdrawal from the wiring device. The slidable members include a central stem portion with protrusions extending outwardly in opposite directions adjacent the two ends thereof. The slidable members are configured to cooperate with portions of the wiring device in such a way that movement is constrained to a predetermined path between inner and outer limits.

The present invention relates to means for connecting and disconnecting electrical conductors to and from wiring devices and, more particularly, to wiring devices having novel and improved means for push-wire type connection and release of conductors.
Wiring devices such as wall switches, receptacles, and the like, are adapted for connection in a wiring circuit by connection thereto of line, neutral, and sometimes grounding conductors. Typically, the wiring device includes means for connection thereto of the conductors in one or both of two ways, namely, by securing a bare end of the conductor to the appropriate terminal or bus by a screw, and/or by so-called push-wire connection means. A wiring device equipped for push-wire connection typically includes a housing for the electrical components with openings through which the bare ends of the conductors are pushed. A spring clip is positioned inside the housing, adjacent to the opening and urges the end of the conductor inserted through the opening into tight engagement with the terminal or bus.
Push-wire connection of conductors to wiring devices is normally faster and easier than screw-type connection. Once the insulation has been stripped from the end of the conductor, it may be electrically connected to the device simply by insertion through the proper opening. In order to ensure a secure connection, the spring clip which receives the end of the conductor is designed to permit movement of the conductor only in the inward direction. That is, the spring clip is deflected as the end of the conductor is pushed through the opening in the housing, between the clip and the terminal, and engages the conductor in a manner preventing movement in the opposite direction. In order to disconnect the conductor from the device the spring clip must be deflected outwardly to release it from engagement with the conductor.
It is a common practice in conventional wiring devices equipped for push-wire connection to provide an additional opening adjacent each of the openings through which the ends of the conductors may be inserted. A tool such as the tip of a screwdriver, or the like, may be inserted through the additional opening to engage and deflect the spring clip outwardly, causing it to release the end of the conductor and permit its withdrawal from the wiring device. Although providing an effective means for disengaging and removing the conductor, it is possible that the tool may be inserted with excessive force, or in an otherwise improper manner, resulting in damage to the spring clip or other components of the wiring device. Furthermore, the presence of the unobstructed openings for tool insertion raises the possibility that other objects may be inserted through such openings with potential damage to the wiring device and/or electrical shock to the person effecting such insertion.
The prior art includes wiring devices having permanently installed release means for push-wire connections. For example, in some of the disclosed embodiments, U.S. Pat. No. 4,768,976 includes outwardly projecting tabs on a lever which may be pressed to move the spring contact out of gripping engagement with the conductor in a terminal block. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,977,751, the arms of a U-shaped, plastic member engage the springs holding push-wire connections of a portable electric tool switch assembly. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,152,851 and 4,149,766 both disclose manually operable wire release means integral with a wiring device wherein the operating member is pivotally mounted on the housing or casing. U.S. Pat. No. 3,152,851 also mentions, without providing a specific disclosure, that sliding rather than pivoting movement may be used to transmit the release force.
It is a principal object of the present invention to provide novel and improved means for effecting safe and easy removal of a conductor from a push-wire connection with an electrical terminal.
A further object is to provide an electrical wiring device having means for effecting push-wire connection of conductors, wherein there are no unobstructed openings for insertion of objects to release the conductor connections.
Another object is to provide an electrical wiring device having integrally mounted, reciprocally slidable members which permanently block access to the interior of the device housing through openings in which the members are mounted for selective movement to release push-wire connections of conductors to the device.
Other objects will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

Wiring device with improved push-wire termination release


A first dependency graph representing one or more dependencies in a first computing domain in a computer system can be generated. The first dependency graph can include a reference to an object in a second computing domain that is different from the first computing domain. A second dependency graph can be generated using the reference to the object. The second dependency graph can represent one or more dependencies in the second computing domain in the computer system, and the one or more dependencies represented in the second dependency graph can include one or more dependencies of the object.

A dependency graph is a data structure that represents dependencies between objects in a computer system, such as in a single computing device or in a network of computing devices. Dependency graphs can be used to represent dependencies between objects that are managed by a particular type of software. For example, a database server may provide a dependency graph that represents dependencies between different database objects, such as different databases, database tables, columns in database tables, etc.


A disk player device including a disk slot for inserting a disk, a disk playing space provided in an inner side of disk slot, and a turntable and a clamper for disk which are movable between a retreated position retreated from a disk play position and a disk holding position. The disk slot is formed at a position which is deviated in the direction of a disk rotation shaft from the disk play position in the disk playing space. The disk inserted obliquely into the disk slot is carried obliquely toward the disk play position and, at disk play position, the disk is held by the turntable and the clamper in the disk playing space, thereby the inclination of the disk is cancelled to set the disk in a play attitude.

A disk player device, which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 11-213502, has been known as a conventional disk player device. In this disk player device, as shown in FIGS. 40(A), 40(B), and 40(C), a disk D inserted into an insert slot 101 is carried under the state that the disk D is sandwiched between a transporting roller 103 and a pressure member 102 and disk guides 104, 105 (FIG. 40(A)). When the center hole of the carried disk D reaches a position corresponding to the protruded part provided at the center of a turntable not shown in the drawing, the disk D is moved downward to the turntable side while the disk D is held with the transporting roller 103 and the pressure member 102 (FIG. 40(B)). The holding of the disk D with the transporting roller 103 and the pressure member 102 is released at the time or just before the center hole of the disk D is fitted to the protruded part of the turntable (FIG. 40(C)). In other words, the disk D is carried horizontally and then moved downward to perform play operation.
However, in the disk player device described above, after the disk D inserted into the insert slot 101 is carried horizontally, the disk D is moved downward and played. Therefore, a large carrying space is required only for carrying the disk D in addition to a space for playing the disk D. Accordingly the downsizing of the device is difficult.


The present invention has its object to provide a high performance studless tire, which has both good braking force and high handling stability on ice or snow, at higher productivity and at a lower price for customers. The studless tire comprises a tread made of a rubber composition that contains 0.5 to 5.0 parts by mass of a fatty acid and/or a derivative of the fatty acid per 100 parts by mass of a rubber component.

Use of spike tires has been banned by law in Japan so as to prevent powder dust pollution resulting from the spike tires, and thus studless tires are now used instead of the spike tires in cold regions. In order to improve grip performance of the studless tires on ice or snow, there is a method that decreases an elastic modulus at low temperatures and improves traction. Particularly, the braking force on ice is largely affected by an effective-contact area between rubber and ice. In order to enlarge the effective-contact area, a rubber has been desired which is flexible at low temperatures.
The market has recently required studless tires contributing to both handling stability, which is a disadvantage of the conventional studless tires, and performance on ice and snow. In the case where the hardness of rubber alone is increased so as to improve the handling stability, the hardness at low temperatures increases to cause deterioration of the performance on ice and snow.
Generally, a natural rubber or a butadiene rubber is often used as a main ingredient in a tread rubber of a studless tire not only for trucks, buses and light trucks but also for passenger vehicles (for example, see JP 2007-176417 A). This is because these rubbers have a low glass transition temperature and flexibility even though they have high strength. However, reversion occurs when the natural rubber or butadiene rubber is sulfur-vulcanized. In this phenomenon, rubber degrades or its cross-linked state deteriorates, so that the elastic modulus at low temperatures also decreases. However, the inventors of the present invention have found from their studies that the hardness also excessively decreases and thus the handling stability decreases. In addition, the reversion may decrease the abrasion resistance and increase tan δ at high temperatures excessively, thereby decreasing fuel economy.
For some tires including studless tires, vulcanization is performed at higher temperatures in order to increase the productivity of tires. In this case, the above phenomenon, particularly, is more pronounced. Accordingly, there is an additional problem of decrease in abrasion resistance and fuel economy caused by the reversion.

Rubber composition for studless tire and studless tire using the same


A method for forming an optical window. In one example, the method includes depositing a layer of eutectic bonding material onto a first surface of a first section of window material, positioning a second surface of a second section of window material onto the layer of eutectic bonding material such that the first surface is disposed opposite the second surface, and heating the eutectic bonding material to a temperature above a eutectic temperature of the eutectic bonding material and below a melting temperature of the window material for a predetermined length of time to form an optical window. The window material of the first section and the second section may be transparent to infrared radiation and comprise aluminum.

Sapphire windows generally exhibit extreme hardness, high thermal conductivity, and resistance to common chemical acids and alkalis. Chemically, sapphire is single crystal aluminum oxide (Al2O3). Synthetic sapphire can be produced industrially from agglomerated aluminum oxide, which is sintered and fused in an inert atmosphere. Sapphire is the second hardest crystal next to diamonds, and because of its structural strength, can be made much thinner than other common windows with the added benefit of improved transmittance.
Sapphire is often used for shatter resistant windows and various military body armor suits. Sapphire glass, which is highly transparent to wavelengths of light between 150 nm and 5500 nm, is crystalline sapphire used as an optical window or cover. Some windows are made from sapphire boules that have been grown in a specific crystal orientation, typically along the optical, or c-axis, for minimum birefringence. Sapphire boules are sliced into a desired window thickness and are polished to the desired surface finish. Sapphire windows are used in high pressure chambers for spectroscopy, crystals in various watches, and windows in grocery store barcode scanners. They are also used as end windows on high-powered laser tubes as their wide-band transparency and thermal conductivity allow them to handle very high power densities in the infrared and ultraviolet (UV) spectrum without degrading due to heating.
Sapphire glass is typically manufactured in panes up to 16 inches×18 inches×1 inch. Sapphire is limited in the dimensions that can be achieved in a single crystal. In general, there is an increasing need for larger format sapphire windows for applications such as naval technology. For instance, a destroyer is a fast maneuverable long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or battle group and defend them against smaller powerful short-range attackers. Destroyers comprise Component Electro-optic Window Enclosures (CEWEs) having dimensions of, for instance, about 57″×39″. Similarly, infrared search and track (IRST) pods and joint strike fighter (JSF) surveillance windows have a need for large area format shaped windows.
Currently, multiple panes of sapphire can be tiled together using mullions—vertical elements that form a division between units of a window—to hold the panes in place. However, the mullions are typically made of metal and will scatter and obscure views of the optics located behind the sapphire windows. Glass frit bonding has also been investigated for holding panes together. The glass frit bonding procedure forms a thin glass mixture at the interface, which bonds the panes together. The window is only as strong as the glass phase holding the panes together, which may compromise the mechanical integrity of the window. Further, optical bonding, where the bonds are optically polished to a tenth wave flatness and then contacted and heat treated to form monolithic windows, has been employed. However, optical bonds are limited in scale to what can feasibly be ground and polished to a tenth wave flatness. Currently, a 13 inch bond length is the maximum.

Large area format sapphire windows via transient liquid phase bonding


A boltless U-shaped holding clamp for wedgedly clamping cutting teeth to scarifier shanks of earth moving equipment. The clamp includes a first receiving channel having inclined bearing surfaces for engaging locking grooves of the snout of the scarifier shank, and a second receiving channel defined by a flat portion of the shank and the U-shaped member to receive an elongated cutting tooth of constant transverse cross section. The U-shaped clamp member is formed of a material having a certain modulus of elasticity to provide a resilient wedging force between the clamp and shank so as to absorb impact and vibrational forces applied to the tooth under load conditions, while the tooth material is a substantially hardened material for providing good wear resistance. The clamp is designed to translate substantially all of the clamp-to-shank wedging force to a frictional contact force between the tooth and the clamp, which in turn, develops a frictional contact force between the tooth and the shank. The clamp-to-tooth frictional contact force exceeds the tooth-to-shank frictional force whereby to facilitate greater wedging engagement of the clamp when axial loads are applied to the tooth. Greater clamp-to-tooth frictional contact can be attained by providing a tooth which is wider than the thickness of the shank. A worn tooth may be extended by being adjustably clamped against the shank thereby providing greater consumption of the tooth material, or alternatively, by placing abutments and/or spacers in the receiving channel of the clamp to extend the tooth.

An earth working machine typically utilizes a digging or cutting member which employs a plurality of shanks to which teeth are attached by a variety of means including welding, bolting, and wedge-fitting. It has been recognized that holding clamps for holding teeth to shanks provide certain advantages over current boltless connecting systems. This advantage stems from different conflicting physical requirements of the cutting teeth and the holding mechanism. The cutting point of the tooth must be formed of a hard wear-resistant material while the holding mechanism usually requires a material of at least some elasticity and/or ductility.
As widely practiced in the art, a tooth may connect to a shank by a wedging force between a groove in the shank and an aft coupling head of the tooth. Such an arrangement permits quick hammer-driven changing of worn teeth, as shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,222,071 issued to Gustafson. The availability of rapid changing reduces costly down time, thereby permitting more economical operation of the equipment. A wedge coupling mechanism, however, requires a material having defined stress-strain characteristics, e.g., a certain amount of ductility or elasticity in the tooth coupling head to permit adequate wedging engagement and resilient clamping force between the tooth and the shank to absorb impact forces under working load conditions, or to provide adequate clamping under conditions where centrifugal forces act to loosen the tooth. On the other hand, the cutting point of the tooth mandates use of an extremely hard wear-resistant material having de minimis flexural properties. Consequently, conventional cutting teeth must either be manufactured in two stages to achieve the opposing requirements of the cutting point and coupling head, which renders it expensive. Alternatively, if the tooth is made in one operational stage, the hardness-ductility parameters of the coupling head and cutting point must be compromised, in which case the tooth wears out prematurely, thus leading to more costly down time and tooth replacement cycles.
As also known, the cutting or digging member of an earth working machine is subjected to severe impact and abrasive forces. It very often happens that the tooth attachment system is also subjected to those same forces which impose mechanical deformations upon the attachment system. Such deformations, in turn, interpose difficulties in changing or adjusting worn cutting teeth thereby causing more costly down time. Moreover, impact forces induce vibrations which tend to loosen threaded fasteners.
It is also highly desirable to provide a holding clamp adapted for use with an "adjustable" cutting tooth so that a tooth having a worn tip or cutting point might be quickly extended and re-fastened to the shank of the digging member. By adjustable, it is meant that the tooth may be loosened in the holding assembly, axially extended forward of the digging member of the earth working machine, and then refastened to the shank by the holding clamp. Provision of rapid adjustment provides substantial economic benefits in reduced machine down time and reduced teeth replacement costs since a substantial portion of the expensive tooth material may be consumed, rather than discarded. A tooth holding clamp utilizing fasteners such as bolts, dowel pins, screws or the like, such as shown by U.S. Pat. No. 3,750,761 to Smith et al., although adaptable for use with adjustable cutting teeth, suffers not only from the laborious slow-pace tooth changing or adjustment process, but also from mechanical deformation and loosening of the fastener heads occurring during digging or cutting operations.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,940,192 to Lattner and 4,576,239 to Launder show non-adjustable teeth-holding clamps which suffer, inter alia, from the lack of adjustability of the clamped position of the cutting tooth relative to the shank, and thus will impose significant operating costs on the end user. Not only are their cutting teeth non-adjustable, which requires the discarding of a substantial amount of specially treated and formed hard wear-resistant material of the teeth, but their teeth have relatively complex physical dimensions which add to their cost of manufacture since they cannot be conveniently fabricated from readily available bar stock material. In addition, the holding force provided by Lattner's clamp may be inadequate under certain extreme load conditions since the wedging force is partly divided between the lateral and vertical directions viewing a cross-section of the tooth and clamp from an axial direction. Lateral clamping forces do little to aid frictional holding between the tooth and the shank under impact loads. Further, the respective surface areas of shank-tooth and tooth-clamp frictional contact in an x-z plane may be inadequate to offset certain levels of impact forces encountered in the z-direction in relation to the width of Lattner's tooth. In addition, Lattner's tooth may not adequately drive the clamp into greater clamping engagement during installation of the tooth.
Launder, on the other hand, may also suffer the same drawbacks, particularly since surface area frictional contact is limited to mated clamp-to-tooth curvilinear contact (which diminishes tooth-to-shank frictional holding for a given clamp-to-shank wedging force), and a relatively wide gap exists between the tooth and clamp side walls which seemingly permits lateral instability of the tooth in the x-direction during impact loads. Launder, in fact, teaches away from tooth-to-clamp side wall contact in order to attain ease in alignment, and apparently, to permit separation of the clamp-tooth assembly. Above all, Launder's tooth does not self-tighten in response to axial loads applied to the tooth and cannot be positionally adjusted since there is no clearance in the z-direction between the length of the clamp receiving channel, on one hand, and the distance between the lateral ear projections and the stopwall of the tooth, on the other hand. In addition, Launder has little or no means for providing resiliency in the clamping force.
In view of the foregoing, the present invention has as its objective a primary purpose to overcome the foregoing drawbacks of prior holding clamps. In brief summary, the objectives of the present invention include providing a holding clamp which permits the use of bar stock material of constant cross section to form a cutting tooth of a hard wear-resistant material, providing means for positionally adjusting the clamped position of the cutting tooth on a shank of an earth working digging or cutting member, providing a holding clamp of a material having a given stress-strain characteristic which provides a modulus of elasticity necessary to maintain clamp-to-shank wedging forces and for absorbing forces impacted upon the tooth during digging or cutting operations, providing a holding clamp which enables quick connecting and disconnecting of a tooth in order to reduce equipment down time, providing a holding clamp which acts to tighten the wedging force upon impact loads applied to the tooth during digging and/or cutting operations, providing a holding clamp which requires no bolts or threaded fasteners thereby obviating disconnecting or adjusting difficulties due to deformations of the tooth fastening system, providing a holding clamp which is readily adapted to couple shanks and locking grooves used in construction, agricultural and mining equipment, providing a holding clamp which provides maximum restraint against tooth movement in the x-, y- and z- directions during cutting and digging operations when engaged in clamping relation, providing a holding clamp to provide maximum force translation between clamp-to-shank wedging action and tooth-to-shank frictional holding force, and providing a holding clamp having sufficient clamp-to-tooth contact surface area to offset extreme loading along the z-axis.

Boltless holding clamp for earth working cutting teeth


A dc brushless vibrator motor employs a cylindrical coreless stator winding unit having at least three stator coils arranged at about an even pitch angle and a rotor that includes an axially extended eccentrically-weighted permanent field magnet that is magnetized so as to have alternate north and south poles about the rotational axis of the rotor. A cross-section of the field magnet in a plane perpendicular to the rotational axis has generally an arcuate or sectorial shape which is within an angular range of 180.degree. to 270.degree. about the rotational axis. The center of mass of the rotor, therefore, is off the rotational axis, thereby causing vibrations.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a self-vibrating brushless dc micro motor used for a portable wireless silent calling or paging device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,036,239 (issued Jul. 30, 1991, one of the present applicants invented a flat coreless dc vibrator motor having neither output shaft nor external weight. This motor has a rotor which incorporates generally sector shaped non-overlapping flat armature coils arranged angularly partially about the shaft of the rotor, so that the center of mass of the rotor is off the rotational axis of the rotor.
As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,107,155 (issued Apr. 21, 1992), the same applicant invented another dc vibrator motor having neither output shaft nor external weight. This motor has a fixed shaft on which a cylindrical magnet is fixedly mounted, and an eccentrically-weighted rotor having a cylindrical coreless windings, enclosing the fixed magnet, is mounted on the fixed shaft. The rotor has either eccentric bearings or a combination of eccentric bearings and eccentric weights, so that the center of mass of the rotor is off its rotational axis. Although the motor has been favorably accepted in the market, the rotor of this motor requires additional production steps.
The same applicant also proposed a vibrator motor having a shaft which is rigidly fixed to a housing, and an eccentrically-weighted rotor mounted on the fixed shaft, as disclosed in the Japanese laid-open patent application, application No. 2-294482 (application date Oct. 31, 1990). In this motor, one of ordinarily three armature poles is deleted and the rotor has actually two armature poles angularly spaced at 120.degree. each other.
FIG. 10 shows a typical prior known dc vibrator motor. In FIG. 10, a cylindrical coreless dc vibrator motor M4 has an output shaft S on which an eccentric weight W, made of a tungsten alloy etc., is mounted. The motor vibrates as the shaft rotates because of the unbalanced distribution of the mass about the rotational axis.
However, some danger of mechanical interference pertains to this type of vibrator motor since the rotating eccentric weight is located outside the motor case. In addition, the alerting device requires an extra space in which the eccentric weight turns, and the high density material, such as tungsten alloy, for the eccentric weight is costly.
Furthermore, the sliding contacts between the brushes and the commutator segments conventionally used in such a cylindrical coreless dc motor have given rise to a life problem.

Brushless vibrator motor for a wireless silent alerting device


A form tool for a rotating workpiece comprising a removable resharpenable tool insert, a tool holder with a recess receiving the insert, and an adjustable tool insert support which will raise and relocate the insert in the tool holder recess after each resharpening. Preferably the tool insert support comprises one or more wedge-shaped members drawn into the recess with bolts, serving to clamp the resharpenable insert against the rear wall and top shelf of the recess. The resharpenable tool insert has a top planar surface adapted to be removed during resharpening, a rear surface and a profiled front form surface parallel to the rear surface. The front form surface intersects the top surface at a first included angle which is the complement of the sum of a preselected top rake angle "R" and a preselected front clearance angle "C". The tool holder recess has an overhanging shelf for locating the top planar surface of the insert and a rear wall for locating the rear surface of the insert, the rear wall and shelf forming a second included angle which is the supplement of the first included angle. A pair of sidewalls locate the form tool longitudinally in the recess and permit a range of form tools of different profiles with the same tool holder.

This invention relates generally to tool holders with resharpenable cutting tool inserts. More particularly, it relates to an improved quick-change holder for a resharpenable form tool insert.
Machine tools such as screw machines, turret lathes, CNC lathes and the like use various types of tools held in tool holders to remove material from a rotating workpiece. One common tool type is a resharpenable form tool with a integral dovetail, which is periodically resharpened on its top planar surface and repositioned in the dovetail slot. This type of tool can cause substantial downtime due to the need to relocate the resharpened planar surface on the horizontal center line of the rotating workpiece, so that the tool cutting edge addresses the workpiece at the proper top rake angle and front clearance angle.
Another type of form tool in common use employs a thin throwaway carbide insert, which is discarded after it becomes dull. The carbide insert is clamped from the top upon a tool support. Due to the need to support the thin insert, the tool support must often be especially configured with a profile corresponding to the form profile of the carbide insert, thereby adding to the expense of the form tool.
It would be desirable to provide a tool holder for a form tool which provides the economies of a resharpenable form tool without the accompanying delay and expense due to downtime required to reposition the tool after sharpening. It would also be desirable to provide a tool holder for a removable insert which is universal for a variety of insert shapes and sizes without requiring especially profiled supports for the tool inserts.
In order to quickly change a resharpenable tool insert, the tool holder must be adapted to relocate the resharpened insert quickly and efficiently in a consistent manner. There must also be means to securely and safely hold the tool insert to prevent slippage, breakage or chatter while it is removing material from the workpiece. Several varieties of quick change tool holders directed toward this end have been disclosed in the prior art. Exemplary of these are U.S. Pat. No. 2,241,024 issued May 6, 1941 to G. Wahnish, which employs different thickness compensation members to compensate for variation in the thickness of cutoff tools.
A resharpenable cutoff tool and holder, in which the cutoff tool is repositioned and clamped by means of a sliding adjustable wedge member is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,390,653 issued Dec. 11, 1945 to Kilgore.
Another type tool holder utilizing a sliding wedge secured by a draw-bolt is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,275,326 issued Mar. 3, 1942 to Severson and U.S. Pat. No. 2,488,172 issued Nov. 15, 1949 to Catlin, et al. The latter two patents clamp a tool bit against an overhanging shelf in the tool holder and support the resharpenable tool bit on a slidable wedge-shaped member. The location of the cutting edge of the resharpened tool changes after resharpening, even though it is replaced in the identical position in the tool holder.
Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide an improved resharpenable form tool and tool holder adapted for resharpening and quick replacement of the form tool.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved universal quick change tool holder for a resharpenable insert which does not require resetting the tool holder with respect to the workpiece after resharpening.
Still another object of the invention is to provide an improved form tool holder for accurately locating a resharpenable insert at the same cutting position laterally, horizontally and vertically after resharpening.

Tool holder with resharpenable form tool insert


Methods for inhibiting the depositions of organic contaminants from pulp in pulp and papermaking systems are disclosed. Hydrophobically modified poly[ethylene glycol] are added to the pulp or applied to deposition-prone surfaces of a papermaking system.

The deposition of organic contaminants (i.e., pitch and stickies) on surfaces in the papermaking process is well known to be detrimental to both product quality and the efficiency of the papermaking process. Some contaminating components occur naturally in wood and are released during various pulping and papermaking processes. Two specific manifestations of this problem are referred to as pitch (primarily natural resins) and stickies (adhesives or coatings from recycled paper). Pitch and stickies have the potential to cause problems with deposition, quality, and efficiency in the process as mentioned above.
The term "pitch" can be used to refer to deposits composed of organic constituents which may originate from these natural resins, their salts, as well as coating binders, sizing agents, and defoaming chemicals which may be found in the pulp. In addition, pitch frequently contains inorganic components such as calcium carbonate, talc, clays, titanium and related materials.
Stickies is a term that has been increasingly used to describe deposits that occur in the systems using recycled fiber. These deposits often contain the same materials found in "pitch" deposits as well as adhesives, hot melts, waxes, and inks.
The deposition of organic contaminants, such as pitch and stickies, can be detrimental to the efficiency of a pulp or paper mill causing both reduced quality and reduced operating efficiency. Organic contaminants can deposit on process equipment in papermaking systems resulting in operational difficulties in the systems. The deposition of organic contaminants on consistency regulators and other instrument probes can render these components useless. Deposits on screens can reduce throughput and upset operation of the system. This deposition can occur not only on metal surfaces in the system, but also on plastic and synthetic surfaces such as machine wires, felts, foils, Uhle boxes and head box components.
Historically, the subsets of the organic deposit problems, "pitch" and "stickies", have manifested themselves separately, differently and have been treated distinctly and separately. From a physical standpoint, "pitch" deposits have usually formed from microscopic particles of adhesive material (natural or man-made) in the stock which accumulate on papermaking or pulping equipment. These deposits can readily be found on stock chest walls, paper machine foils, Uhle boxes, paper machine wires, wet press felts, dryer felts, dryer cans, and calendar stacks. The difficulties related to these deposits included direct interference with the efficiency of the contaminated surface, therefore, reduced production, as well as holes, dirt, and other sheet defects that reduce the quality and usefulness of the paper for operations that follow like coating, converting or printing.
From a physical standpoint, "stickies" have usually been particles of visible or nearly visible size in the stock which originate from the recycled fiber. These deposits tend to accumulate on many of the same surfaces that "pitch" can be found on and causes many of the same difficulties that "pitch" can cause. The most severe "stickies" related deposits however tend to be found on paper machine wires, wet felts, dryer felts and dryer cans.
Methods of preventing the build-up of deposits on the pulp and paper mill equipment and surfaces are of great importance to the industry. The paper machines could be shut down for cleaning, but ceasing operation for cleaning is undesirable because of the consequential loss of productivity, poor quality while partially contaminated and "dirt" which occurs when deposits break off and become incorporated in the sheet. Preventing deposition is thus greatly preferred where it can be effectively practiced.
Poly[vinyl alcohol-co-vinyl acetate] is shown to be effective in controlling the deposition of pitch and stickies contaminants from pulp and papermaking systems in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,871,424 and 4,886,575, respectively.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,184,912 and 4,861,429 teach methods of inhibiting organic contaminant deposition in pulp and papermaking systems by the addition of multi-component compositions comprising in part a non-ionic surfactant.
European Patent Application 0 568 229 A1 claims a method for inhibiting the deposition of organic contaminants from pulp and paper making system comprising treatment with a hydrophobically modified polymer including polyethylene oxide polymers functionalized with hydrophobic groups connected via an ester linkage.
Chemical Abstract Number 82:18,896 refers to a method for removing pitch from pulp comprising treatment with polyethylene glycol alkyl ether surfactant derived by reacting a secondary alcohol with alkyl glycidyl ether.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,482,994 B2 teaches that ethoxylated alcohols surfactants which are ether-capped by reaction with glycidyl ether provide superior grease cleaning abilities and improved spotting/filming benefits in dishwashing applications.
U.S. Pat. Application 2005/0150418 A1 claims a polymer composition comprising water-soluble or water-swellable synthetic polymer backbone that has covalently connected ends and/or intermediate blocks of oligomeric hydrophobes wherein the blocks are composed of two or more units of hydrophobes. These hydrophobically associative polymers are taught to enhance the thickening, leveling, and sag properties of waterborne coatings. The examples of the polymer composition included the reaction products of polyethylene glycols and aryl glycidyl ethers and alkyl epoxides. The 5 weight % aqueous solution viscosities of these materials in the examples ranged from 19,000 cps to >400,000 cps. Included in the list of typical applications where these polymer compositions may find utility included pitch control in pulping.
A drawback to the prior art is that the poly[vinyl alcohol-co-vinyl acetate] is susceptible to further hydrolysis under pulp and papermaking environments which reduces its efficacy. The polyethylene glycol based non-ionic surfactants cited are also typically utilized in multi-component formulations and also contain functionalities susceptible to hydrolysis. In addition, the solution viscosities of the hydrophobically modified polyethylene glycol associative polymers are too high to make their use practical from a commercial perspective.

Hydrophobically modifed poly[ethylene glycol] for use in pitch and stickies control in pulp and papermaking processes


Object To provide a highly accurate and stable pulse width modulation (PWM) pulse signal generation device compatible with high resolution images without increasing a basic frequency of an external oscillation circuit.

Accuracy of amount of laser radiation can be improved by closely controlling on/off periods of light emitting devices, such as laser diodes, for use in laser printers or the like. It is possible to improve accuracy of radiation time and amount of radiation as periods, during which the light emitting devices are turned on and off, can be controlled more closely during a predetermined period. More specifically, when the control is performed using pulse width modulation (PWM), the accuracy of radiation time and amount of radiation can be improved as combination of various widths increases.
Generally, a pulse width modulation (PWM) pulse signal is generated in the following manner. As is the case of a PWM pulse signal generation device 100 employing a counter shown in FIG. 1, a base clock supplied from a base clock oscillator 10 is counted by a counter circuit 20. In a selector circuit 30 to which a preset counted value is input, if the counted value reaches a specified value set by PWM level setting, the selector circuit inverts ON/OFF (1/0) of output of the selector circuit. A PWM pulse waveform shaping circuit 40 generates pulse waveforms by combinations of ON/OFF. Although this method is a simple method, the number of combinations of various pulse widths is limited during one cycle specified by the base clock frequency, which makes it difficult to increase resolution. For example, in a case where a 10-bit pulse width modulation pulse waveform is generated, the base clock frequency is limited to approximately 200 MHz and the basic period is about 0.2 MHz from 200 MHz/1024. This is insufficient for a frequency required in practical application of laser printers or the like.
Due to a configuration that a base clock is counted by a counter, a constraint that the operation upper limit frequency of a counter composed of a plurality of logic circuits cannot be increased further is imposed on a PWM pulse signal generation device employing a counter circuit. Since a counter having more number of digits has to be produced to increase the resolution further, the logic circuits become more complex and the size of the logic circuits on a semiconductor circuit board becomes larger, which prevents the further increase in the frequency.
As means for increasing the frequency, there are PWM pulse signal generation devices employing a ring oscillator in which a plurality of inverters are connected in serial to create a ring and that oscillates. This is a method utilizing delay of logic circuits. The oscillation frequency is determined by a signal delay speed of delay elements, which are inverters. Since the frequency depends on the temperature, the voltage, etc., and accuracy of pulse width modulation is not obtained without any measures, ring oscillators are generally controlled by a PLL (phase lock loop) so that variation in the frequency is not caused.
FIG. 2(a) shows an example of a configuration of a PWM pulse signal generation device 200 employing a ring oscillator. A plurality of delay elements 211 to 214 are connected in serial. An output terminal of a last delay element is connected to an input terminal of a first delay element through an inverter (an inverting element) 216. A ring oscillator 220 is formed so that a desired base frequency can be divided equally utilizing signal propagation delay caused by the delay elements (D) 211 to 214. A width of an output pulse of each of the delay elements 211 to 214 is controlled by a control voltage V1 applied to each delay element. An oscillation frequency of the ring oscillator 220 is determined by a delay time of a delay element (D). Since the delay time is affected by disturbance, the ring oscillator 220 operates as a VCO (voltage controlled oscillator). A PLL (phase lock loop) is formed by a PLL control circuit 230 constituted by a phase comparator 232, a low-pass filter (e.g., integrator) 234, and a voltage control circuit 236 and stabilizes the oscillation frequency by locking the signal output from the ring oscillator to an external clock pulse input from an external oscillation circuit 240. The pulse signal output from each of the delay elements of the ring oscillator 220 is input to a selector circuit 250. After the selector circuit 250 selects either a non-inverted pulse or an inverted pulse, a pulse waveform shaping circuit 260 generates PWM pulse waveform with various pulse widths. FIG. 2(b) shows an example of a waveform of the output pulse from each delay element and PWM output pulses having performed pulse width modulation (PWM) in a case where the number of the delay elements is four. Pulses output from the delay elements (D) 211 to 214 at the first cycle are denoted as DO (t0), D1 (t1), D2 (t2), D3 (t3), and D4 (t4). Pulses output at the second cycle are denoted as D0*, D1* and so on. As shown in the figure, at the second cycle, the pulse waveform is inverted. As examples of PWM output pulses, a PWM output 1 is obtained by operation of D1-D3 (subtraction) and a PWM output 2 is obtained by operation of D2-D1* (subtraction).
In this method, even when a ring oscillator with 512 stages is used, a basic period (a value obtained by dividing the base frequency by resolution) is limited to approximately 15 MHz. This method is generally used as a high-speed PWM pulse signal generation system currently. The basic period is shortened by lowering the resolution. That is, it is difficult to generate a pulse with a pulse width corresponding to a basic period not greater than a delay time that a delay element has, thus limiting the resolution.
A pulse width modulation (PWM) circuit capable of generating output signals having a uniform pulse width with respect to a given pixel clock and of being formed on one chip is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 4-151968. In this patent document, a pulse width modulation circuit including (1) a voltage controlled oscillator VCO composed of a plurality of ring oscillators, (2) a tap selection circuit for selecting one signal having a waveform closest to that of a detect signal from output signals of each delay element of the VCO and for outputting an image clock, (3) a delay circuit including delay elements that are the same as those of the VCO, to which the control signal of the VCO being supplied similarly, and for outputting delay signals delayed by a predetermined time with respect to the pixel clock, (4) a waveform shaping circuit for forming pulse signals having pulse widths according to the outputs from this delay circuit, and (5) a waveform selection circuit for selecting an output signal corresponding to input image data from the output signals from the waveform shaping circuit, is disclosed. For example, when a clock having a phase shifted by T/8 is input to the waveform shape circuit, clock signals PWM1 to PWM7 having pulse widths of ⅛T, ¼T, . . . , and ⅞T are generated, respectively. That is, waveforms whose pulse widths are shifted by a constant time with respect to a given frequency T can be obtained. It is mentioned that multilevel image data is input to the waveform selecting circuit, whereby the corresponding PWM signal is selected. However, in this PWM circuit, an amount of delay cannot be set to a value not greater than an amount of delay (a delay time) that a delay element has, which does not lead to increase of the resolution.

Delay ratio adjusting circuit, delayed pulse generation circuit, and pulse width modulation pulse signal generation device

Abstract: Solving Means A PWM pulse signal generation device includes a first PLL control circuit 410, a ring oscillator 420 in which a plurality of basic delay elements are serially connected, and a delayed pulse generation circuit constituted by a delay ratio adjusting circuit 330 and a delay circuit 350. The delay circuit 350 is formed by setting one adjustment delay element having a delay ratio R that is adjusted by the delay ratio adjusting circuit 330 at a first stage and a plurality of serially connecting basic delay elements. An output pulse signal from each delay element of the ring oscillator 420 and an output pulse signal from each delay element of the delay circuit 350 having a delay amount corresponding to the delay ratio are superimposed to perform pulse width modulation, whereby output pulses having various pulse widths can be generated.

International Business Machines Corporation


Methods are provided for inserting advertisements or the like and/or to perform grooming functions for a video, audio and/or data stream. Video programming is received in a network stream. Alternate content, such as advertisements, is received in content stream. The content stream is preconditioned to provide an entrance point therein for splicing the network stream to the content stream. Preconditioning of the content stream can also be performed to provide an exit point for splicing back to the network stream when the alternate content (e.g., advertisements) has concluded.

The present invention relates to digital video communication, and more particularly to the insertion of advertisements and the like into a digital video stream. The invention is also applicable to the grooming of digital video streams, such as for recombining selected programs from one or more sources.
The process of inserting advertisements into video programming became much more complex after the transition from analog video to compressed digital formats such as MPEG-1 and MPEG-2. Instead of substituting analog waveforms (or digitized pixels) from one signal to another, it became necessary to first identify a suitable exit point in a first compressed digital stream, and then to align this exit point with a suitable entrance point into a second compressed digital stream. In addition, many parameters needed to be added, modified, or replaced, in order to maintain seamless continuity during the splicing transition. In fact, most digital splicing products in existence today will not only modify these parameters, but will also regenerate the entire stream. This is done to insure that the data rate of the resulting stream remains within the limits of the communication channel used to convey the signal from the splicer to one or more receiving devices. This data rate modification process is often referred to as transrating. The combination of splicing and transrating capabilities is particularly advantageous in products designed not only for ad insertion, but for grooming as well.
Grooming refers to the recombination of selected programs from one or more sources. It is an application which typically depends on transrating to match the combined rate of the selected programs with the data rate of the communications channel. In this case, if changes are made to the selection of programs, or if advertisements are inserted into one or more of these selected programs, then the transrating process will automatically insure that the capacity of the communication channel is never exceeded.
In some applications, the use of transrating may not be justified or even possible. For instance, transrating cannot be applied to encrypted digital programs. In other cases, the programs may be in the clear (not encrypted) and the data rate may be constant and known in advance. Furthermore, it may be known that the capacity of the communications channel is sufficient to accommodate a fixed number of these constant bit rate programs. Normally, in such circumstances it would be safe to assume that there is no need for transrating. The problem, however, is that data rate spikes can be introduced when substituting alternative content into one or more programs, even though the data rate of the new content may be constant and of the same rate as the content it replaces. To understand these transient rate variations, it is useful to model the fullness of the buffer which exists in the receiving devices used to decode and reproduce the video and audio signals.
FIG. 1A shows the fullness of the receiver buffer while receiving a first stream 10 and FIG. 1B shows the fullness of the buffer while receiving a second stream 12. FIG. 1C shows the resulting buffer fullness after a splicer implements a transition from the first stream 10 to the second stream 12. As can be seen, the transition is initiated at the end of the first stream ("Stream 1") and continues with the beginning of the second stream ("Stream 2"). Note that the buffer becomes empty shortly after the splice occurs, causing the decoder to be starved of data as indicated by the cross-hatched area of the combined stream 14. The result is a disruption in the presentation of video (or audio). In this case, it is due to the nearly empty state of the buffer at the end of Stream 1, followed immediately by a high drain rate at the output of the buffer starting at the beginning of Stream 2.
Transrating could have prevented this disruption by reducing the data rate of Stream 1 just prior to the splice point and by continuing to reduce the data rate of Stream 2 immediately after the splice was executed. However, the cost of transrating implementations applicable to advanced compression formats can be quite high, and it would be advantageous to avoid this cost even in cases where the streams are in the clear and the transrating option still exists. An example of such an advanced compression format is the H.264 video compression standard, which is equivalent to MPEG-4 Part 10, or MPEG-4 AVC (for Advanced Video Coding). MPEG stands for the Moving Picture Experts Group, which has promulgated a set of standards for the compression of digital video and audio data as well known in the art.
It would be advantageous to provide an alternative to transrating that is well suited to applications involving the insertion of advertisements into encrypted programs. It would be further advantageous to provide such a system and methods that involve preconditioning of alternate content, such as an ad, and can be applied either at the time of content origination at the encoder, or at a later time using an independent off-line process. It would be still further advantageous if once processed, the alternate content (e.g., ads) could be encrypted if necessary. It would also be advantageous if the network streams (e.g., video programming) into which the alternate content is to be inserted do not need to be modified and can be assumed to be encrypted. The present invention provides systems and methods having these and other advantages.

Preconditioning ad content for digital program insertion


Checks used to effectuate commercial and private transactions may be cleared through the banking system by transporting images of those checks between sending institutions and receiving institutions in forward and reverse flow paths between banks of first deposit and payor banks. The check images are transported through a public switched telephone network which contains a special check imaging node which provides a network based check clearing service for customers of telephone network. The check imaging node receives images of checks from institutions which subscribe to this service and routes those images through the telephone network to intended subscriber and non-subscriber recipients. Transmission of check images through a public switched telephone network may completely replace existing check clearance procedures or may be used in conjunction with existing procedures.

Many commercial transactions involve payment for goods or services by way of a check. A check directs a bank (the payor bank), with which one party (the payor) has a checking account, to pay another party (the payee) a specified sum of money from that checking account. The payee then deposits the check in his or her bank, which is usually referred to as the bank of first deposit (BOFD). The BOFD, which is usually not the payor bank, then endorses the check, provisionally credits the depositor's account with the amount of the check, and either deposits the check directly with the payor bank or deposits the check indirectly with the payor bank through one or more intermediaries, such as one or more Federal Reserve Banks or other banks or check clearinghouses. When the check arrives at the payor bank, it may be honored by the payor bank which then debits the account of the payor in accordance with the amount of the check. It may also be dishonored by the payor bank in which case the check is returned to the BOFD either directly or indirectly through the same or different intermediaries which were involved in the transfer of the check from the BOFD to the payor bank.
This process involves actual physical transfer of the check from institution to institution in the path between the BOFD and the payor bank. This is a costly labor intensive process subject to a great deal of human error. In addition to high cost and opportunities for error, there also is a significant time delay between the presentation of a check at a BOFD and the arrival of that check at a payor bank. There also is an additional time delay involved before a BOFD can get notification that a payor bank has dishonored a check and is returning it to the BOFD. These time delays significantly enhance the financial risk to banking institutions involved in check clearance procedures. This is due to Federal banking regulations which require that funds be made available to the check depositor for withdrawal within a short time after check deposit.

Transmission of check images by way of a public switched telephone network


Disclosed is a vehicle running control device that controls the speed of a vehicle on the basis of the information of a set inter-vehicle distance or a set vehicle speed according to the detection state of a vehicle in front. When an accelerator pedal or a brake pedal of the vehicle is operated and the vehicle in front of the vehicle is present, the set inter-vehicle distance is updated. When the pedal of the vehicle is operated and the vehicle in front of the vehicle is absent, the set vehicle speed is updated.

In recent years, a vehicle running control device disclosed in Patent Literature 1 has been known as a technique of this field. In the device disclosed in the following Patent Literature 1, a vehicle speed, which is a standard for vehicle running control, is set and the set vehicle speed is changed depending on the amount of operation of an accelerator pedal of the vehicle.
[Patent Literature 1] PCT Japanese Translation Patent Publication No. 2002-500980


A multi-driver in-ear monitor for use with either a recorded or a live audio source is provided. If a pair of drivers is used, each driver has an individual sound delivery tube. If three drivers are used, the outputs from two of the drivers are merged into a single sound delivery tube while the output from the third driver is maintained in a separate, discrete sound tube. The sound delivery tubes remain separate throughout the end portion of the earpiece. The earpiece tip is configured to be fitted with any of a variety of sleeves (e.g., foam sleeves, flanged sleeves, etc.), thus allowing the in-ear monitor to be easily tailored to comfortably fit within any of a variety of ear canals. Due to the size constraints of such an earpiece, the sound delivery tubes include a transition region. Acoustic filters (i.e., dampers) can be interposed between one or both driver outputs and the earpiece output.

In-ear monitors, also referred to as canal phones and stereo headphones, are commonly used to listen to both recorded and live music. A typical recorded music application would involve plugging the monitor into a music player such as a CD player, flash or hard drive based MP3 player, home stereo, or similar device using the monitor's headphone socket. Alternately, the monitor can be wirelessly coupled to the music player. In a typical live music application, an on-stage musician wears the monitor in order to hear his or her own music during a performance. In this case, the monitor is either plugged into a wireless belt pack receiver or directly connected to an audio distribution device such as a mixer or a headphone amplifier. This type of monitor offers numerous advantages over the use of stage loudspeakers, including improved gain-before-feedback, minimization/elimination of room/stage acoustic effects, cleaner mix through the minimization of stage noise, increased mobility for the musician and the reduction of ambient sounds.
In-ear monitors are quite small and are normally worn just outside the ear canal. As a result, the acoustic design of the monitor must lend itself to a very compact design utilizing small components. Some monitors are custom fit (i.e., custom molded) while others use a generic "one-size-fits-all" earpiece.
Prior art in-ear monitors use either diaphragm-based or armature-based receivers. Broadly characterized, a diaphragm is a moving-coil speaker with a paper or mylar diaphragm. Since the cost to manufacture diaphragms is relatively low, they are widely used in many common audio products (e.g., ear buds). In contrast to the diaphragm approach, an armature receiver utilizes a piston design. Due to the inherent cost of armature receivers, however, they are typically only found in hearing aids and high-end in-ear monitors.
Diaphragm receivers, due to the use of moving-coil speakers, suffer from several limitations. First, because of the size of the diaphragm assembly, a typical earpiece is limited to a single diaphragm. This limitation precludes achieving optimal frequency response (i.e., a flat or neutral response) through the inclusion of multiple diaphragms. Second, diaphragm-based monitors have significant frequency roll off above 4 kHz. As the desired upper limit for the frequency response of a high-fidelity monitor is at least 15 kHz, diaphragm-based monitors cannot achieve the desired upper frequency response while still providing accurate low frequency response.
Armatures, also referred to as balanced armatures, were originally developed by the hearing aid industry. This type of driver uses a magnetically balanced shaft or armature within a small, typically rectangular, enclosure. As a result of this design, armature drivers are not reliant on the size and shape of the enclosure, i.e., the ear canal, for tuning as is the case with diaphragm-based monitors. Typically, lengths of tubing are attached to the armature which, in combination with acoustic filters, provide a means of tuning the armature. A single armature is capable of accurately reproducing low-frequency audio or high-frequency audio, but incapable of providing high-fidelity performance across all frequencies.
To overcome the limitations associated with both diaphragm and armature drivers, some in-ear monitors use multiple armatures. In such multiple driver arrangements, a crossover network is used to divide the frequency spectrum into multiple regions, i.e., low and high or low, medium, and high. Separate, optimized drivers are then used for each acoustic region. If the monitor's earpiece is custom fit, generally a pair of delivery tubes delivers the sound produced by the drivers to the output face of the earpiece. Alternately, or if the earpiece is not custom fit, the outputs from the drivers are merged into a single delivery tube, the single tube delivering the sound from all drivers to the earpiece's output face.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is an in-ear monitor that combines the performance associated with multiple drivers and multiple delivery tubes with the convenience and cost benefits associated with in-ear monitors utilizing non-custom eartips and replaceable sleeves. The present invention provides such a monitor.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A method for detecting faulty operation of a gas blower driven by an electronically commutated DC motor. The DC motor of the gas blower is controlled by an integrated electronic motor control circuit. The electrical current draw, required in operation to reach a predetermined blower speed of the gas blower, is measured. It is measured as a measured variable via the electronic motor control circuit. The electronic motor control circuit performs a plausibility check of the measured electrical current draw. The measured value of the electrical current draw, at a predetermined blower speed, is compared to a current draw reference value characteristic stored in the electronic motor control circuit. Thus, a warning and/or an error code is issued by the electronic motor control circuit. The warning is based on deviation of the measured value of the electrical current draw beyond a tolerance range around the reference characteristic.

Gas blowers are used in heating systems to feed the load-dependent gas-air mixture to the heating system burner. There are a number of influencing factors that can cause the gas mixture blower to operate outside the target range.
Such influencing factors are based, in a first group, upon faults in the DC motor. For example, the faults may be incorrect commutation, reduced magnetic strength of the rotor over its lifetime, a temperature increase in the windings or the magnet, which causes a reduction in the magnetic field, or undervoltage. Contained in a second group are faults based upon increased bearing friction of the rotor, or energy dissipaters that adversely affect the impeller of the blower. A third group of influencing factors includes faults based upon changed aerodynamics, for example, due to a change in air density or a blocked suction zone or exhaust pipe.

Method for detecting the faulty operation of a gas blower driven by a DC motor


In a method of designing cells applicable to different first and second design automation systems, first and second cells circuit-designed by the first and second design automation systems, respectively, are demarcated into a logic function portion and an input/output portion. A plurality of sets of common lithography patterns for the logic function portions of the first and second cells are determined such that each common lithography pattern set is shared by those of the first and second cells which have same logic function in the first and second design automation systems. A first set of lithography patterns for the input/output portions of the first cells in the first design automation system and a second set of lithography patterns for the input/output portions of the second cells in the second design automation system are determined, respectively. The first and second sets of lithography patterns are, at their external ends, in an arrangement satisfying requirements of the first and second design automation systems, respectively. The logic function portion of one or more of the first cells in the first design automation system having the determined set of common lithography pattern is combined with the input/output portion of the second cells having the second set of lithography pattern in the second design automation system.

The present invention relates to a method of designing cells applicable to different design automation (DA) systems, a method of fabricating a semiconductor integrated circuit using a cell library developed by the particular cell-designing method, and a technique effectively applicable to the designing of a basic cell utilized for, for example, the standard cell system.
In an automatic placing and routing system for fabricating a semiconductor integrated circuit device (hereinafter sometimes referred to simply as "LSI device"), cells are placed and routed between terminals on a semiconductor substrate. The cells include basic cells of a standard cell system or a cell-based system, and are registered in a library as a functional block of, for example, a flip-flop or a two-input NAND gate. The layout of these cells is prepared through an automatic cell layout preparation program on the basis of a circuit diagram designed in advance. This automatic cell layout preparation program is for generating an actual cell pattern on the basis of circuit diagram information, a layout rule on the fabrication process of the LSI device and performance designating information such as the width and length (W/L) of the transistor.
Design automation (DA) systems for automatic placing and routing of basic cells include those marketed by various computer-aided design (CAD) system makers and those internally fabricated by semiconductor integrated circuit device makers. Individual DA systems, however, are required to meet the input/output terminal requirements specific thereto. The input/output requirements constitute conditions to be met for connecting cells to each other and relate to the layout pitch, layout level and the material of the conductors for external connection of cells. In the case where different DA systems are used for the same functional block, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, the input/output conditions are that the minimum layout pitch of the conductor is 2.8 .mu.m with the material and the layout level of the conductor met by a second-layer aluminum conductor AL2 for one DA system, and that the minimum conductor layout pitch is 3.4 .mu.m with the material and layout level of the conductor met by a polysilicon conductor POLS and a second-layer aluminum conductor AL2 for another DA system. Therefore, the input/output terminals requirements of these two materials have nothing in common and are incompatible with each other.
As shown in FIG. 2, the steps for producing a library of basic cells include logic designing 10, circuit designing 11, pattern designing 12, production of a delay library 13, and registration 14 of the data obtained in the foregoing steps. In the logic designing step 10, the kind of gate function to be developed for a cell is studied, and the logics designed to realize the particular function. Generally, substantially the same function of a standard cell is required for different DA systems, and the currently-available logics may be used for the same purpose, thus requiring substantially no designing. The circuit designing step 11 is for designing a circuit to realize a required logics with an MOS transistor, for example. This step may also utilize a currently-available circuit as in the logics designing and requires not so many designing processes. The pattern designing step 12 is for designing a layout for realizing a MOS transistor circuit as a pattern on the wafer. As to the number of designing processes for this step, the redesigning is necessary for each generation of the process used, and the designing of a cell library accounts for a major proportion. Also, different DA systems are required to meet different conditions for connection (input/output terminal requirements) of the cell input/output portions, thus making necessary a pattern designing for each DA system. In the delay library preparation 13, a delay constant is determined by circuit simulation. This step requires designing processes more than the logics designing or circuit designing but less than the pattern designing. In this way, the greatest portion of the designing processes relating to cell library development consists of cell pattern designing required to be developed for each automatic placing and routing system (hereinafter referred to simply as "DA system").
Some DA systems are good at cell placing and routing for fabrication of a large-scale logic circuit device, and other DA systems are suitable for cell placing and routing only for fabricating a small-scale logic circuit device. Still other DA systems are capable of designing an IC (ASIC) for special applications within a short period of time. In many cases, therefore, the same semiconductor maker uses a plurality of DA systems for designing integrated circuits. In such a case, independent development of a standard cell library for each DA system is a double investment of designing resources. The turn-around time for development of the cell library would be lengthened in such a field as ASIC where the important key for creating customers is to develop and supply a cell library to the market as fast as possible.

Method of designing cells applicable to different design automation systems


A composite sheet material for use as a portion of a tear away fastening system. The sheet material includes a substrate layer and yarns extending through the substrate layer such that the define an arrangement of looped elements projecting away from one side of the substrate layer. The looped elements are interconnected by portions of the yarns disposed across the other side of the substrate layer. A backing layer is disposed in overlying relation to the substrate layer to hold the yarns in place.

Tear away or contact fastening systems are well known. Such systems incorporate two opposing segments of material which are engageable in substantially juxtaposed relation to one another. A male portion of such a contact fastening system typically incorporates a plurality of outwardly projecting hooking structures while the female portion incorporates a plurality of outwardly projecting loop structures. Upon engagement between the two cooperating portions the hooking structures engage the opposing loop structures thereby establishing a bond between the two opposing portions. This bond may be broken by the application of a peel away action between the two opposing portions of material thereby permitting the male and female portions to be progressively disengaged from one another. The engagement may be reactivated by simply bringing the male and female portions back into contacting laminar relation with one another.
In the past, the hook and loop structures defining the male and female portions of contact fastening systems have been formed by a variety of practices. According to one practice, a plurality of yarns forming the hooking and/or loop segments have been stitched through a polymeric film in a fully threaded tricot stitch to form loops projecting from a first surface of the film and to form locking portions of the stitches across a second opposite surface of the film. Such a construction is illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,931,343 the teachings of which are incorporated by reference as is fully set forth herein. The hook portions which may be either of a classic hook configuration or which have an enlarged head which nonetheless engages the loop portion may be formed by first producing a loop portion of the material and thereafter either cutting the loops along one side to form the hooks or melting the upper portions of the loops to form projections with enlarged heads at their ends.


In embodiments of live television playback optimizations, streaming video content is received for distribution to a client device that is implemented to playback a video content stream for display. The video content stream is associated with a content manifest file that identifies video segments of the video content stream. An input can be received from the client device to switch from the video content stream to a new video content stream, and video segments of the new video content stream are buffered. A new content manifest file that correlates to the buffered video segments of the new video content stream is generated. The new content manifest file can then be published to the client device to indicate that a minimum of buffered video segments have been buffered for distribution to the client device before the minimum of buffered video segments have been buffered.

The traditional notion of watching television at home has evolved into many different forms of viewing television content on many different devices. For example, users can watch television content, such as live television, recorded television, and time-shifted programs and movies, on various devices, such as televisions, display devices, entertainment devices, computers, and even mobile devices, such as tablets and mobile phones. However, television content that is viewed on a mobile device, such as a tablet or mobile phone, is primarily content that is either stored on the device or already recorded content that can be streamed to the device without interruption. There are challenges to streaming live television for viewing on a client device, such as the inherent latencies when a user changes channels and has to wait until video data for a new channel are acquired, processed, and buffered to begin playback on the client device. Most television viewers have an expectation of instant channel changes and are not accustomed to the delays that are inherent with live television viewing on client devices.


A functionalized polyamide is prepared by reacting a thio acid with an amide monomer or a mixture of a diamine and a dicarboxylic acid. In the reaction, the amide monomer is preferably a lactam compound, the thio acid has a formula of HOOC-A-SH wherein A represents an alkylene group containing from 1 to 10 carbon atoms, the diamine is an aliphatic diamine and the dicarboxylic acid is a aliphatic dicarboxylic acid. The functionalized polyamide can be vulcanized directly with rubber, which results in the use of less dip for adhering the tire cord to the rubber.

Polyamide fiber cords are widely used as a reinforcing material for industrial rubber articles such as tires, conveyor belts, hoses, air springs and the like because they have excellent strength, durability, and heat resistance among various reinforcing cord materials.
Polyamide fiber cords are subjected to a so-called "dip treating step" in which the cords are immersed in an adhesive solution required for the adhesion between fiber and rubber, dried, and heated under tension at a high temperature near the melting point of the fiber. In addition to requiring this further dip treating step, the materials used to prepare the adhesive solution, such as resorcinol and formaldehyde, add cost and increase manufacturing time.
There is a need to decrease the amount of the adhesive material used in the dip treating step or eliminate the dip treating step from the viewpoint of weight reduction of the tire, reduced costs, and improved productivity.
It is an objective of the present disclosure to alleviate or overcome one or more difficulties related to the prior art. It has been found that functionalized polyamides can be used in tire cords that include terminal free thiols to crosslink directly with rubber, which leads to the reduction or elimination of the dip treating step.

Functionalized polyamides and methods of preparing the same

Firestone Fibers & Textiles Company, LLC


The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for near-simultaneous and integrated delivery of bone graft material during the placement of surgical cages or other medical implants in a patient's spine. The integrated fusion cage and graft delivery device according to various embodiments delivers and disperses biologic material through a fusion cage to a disc space and, without withdrawal from the surgical site, may selectively detach the fusion cage for deposit to the same disc space. The integrated fusion cage and graft delivery device is formed such that a hollow tube and plunger selectively and controllably place bone graft material and a fusion cage in or adjacent to the bone graft receiving area. In one embodiment, the integrated fusion cage is an expandable integrated fusion cage. In another embodiment, the bone graft material is loaded into a breech area in the hollow tube.

Individuals who suffer degenerative disc disease, natural spine deformations, a herniated disc, spine injuries or other spine disorders may require surgery on the affected region to relieve the individual from pain and prevent further injury to the spine and nerves. Spinal surgery may involve removal of damaged joint tissue, insertion of a tissue implant and/or fixation of two or more adjacent vertebral bodies. In some instances, a medical implant is also inserted, such as a fusion cage. The surgical procedure will vary depending on the nature and extent of the injury. Generally, there are five main types of lumbar fusion, including: posterior lumbar fusion ("PLF"), posterior lumbar interbody fusion ("PLIF"), anterior lumbar interbody fusion ("ALIF"), circumferential 360 fusion, and transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion ("TLIF"). More recently, direct lateral interbody fusion ("D-LIF") has become available. A posterior approach is one that accesses the surgical site from the patient's back, an anterior approach is one that accesses the surgical site from the patient's front or chest, and a direct lateral approach is one that accesses the surgical site from the patient's side. There are similar approaches for fusion in the interbody or cervical spine regions. For a general background on some of these procedures and the tools and apparatus used in certain procedures, see U.S. Prov. Pat. Appl. No. 61/120,260 filed on Dec. 5, 2008, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety. In addition, further background on procedures and tools and apparatus used in spinal procedures is found in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/632,720 filed on Dec. 7, 2009, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,366,748, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Vertebrectomy, or the removal or excision of a vertebra, is another type of spinal surgery that may be necessary to alleviate pain and/or correct spinal defects, such as when disk material above and below a particular vertebra protrudes from the spine and contacts the spinal cord. Once the problematic vertebra is removed, a specialized fusion cage (also called a vertebrectomy cage) may be inserted into its place to restore structural continuity to the spine.
Some disadvantages of traditional methods of spinal surgery include, for example, the pain associated with the procedure, the length of the procedure, the complexity of implements used to carry out the procedure, the prolonged hospitalization required to manage pain, the risk of infection due to the invasive nature of the procedure, and the possible requirement of a second procedure to harvest autograft bone from the iliac crest or other suitable site on the patient for generating the required quantity of cancellous and/or cortical bone.
A variety of semisolid bone graft materials are available on the market which ostensibly increase spinal fusion rates without the morbidity of autograft bone harvest. Each of the manufacturers espouses their product as the most advantageous for healing. These products all have similar handling characteristics and the literature reveals that they have similar healing prospects. They come in a syringe and it is up to the surgeon to apply the selected material to the target site. The most common site for application is to the disk space after it has been prepared to a bleeding bed and ready to accept a cage and/or the grafting material. This represents a long and narrow channel even in open procedures. The surgeon is left to his own devices as to how to get the graft from its container to the active site. The devices which have been used have included a "caulking gun" construct and a variety of barrel shaft with a plunger design.
Bone graft typically includes crushed bone (cancellous and cortical), or a combination of these (and/or other natural materials), and may further comprise synthetic biocompatible materials. Bone graft of this type is intended to stimulate growth of healthy bone. As used herein, "bone graft" shall mean materials made up entirely of natural materials, entirely of synthetic biocompatible materials, or any combination of these materials. Bone graft often is provided by the supplier in a gel or slurry form, as opposed to a dry or granule form. Many companies provide various forms of bone graft in varying degrees of liquidity and viscosity, which may cause problems in certain prior art delivery devices in both prepackaged or packaged by the surgeon embodiments. In addition, the method of delivery of bone graft to a particular location varies depending on the form of the bone graft utilized.
Autogenous bone (bone from the patient) or allograft bone (bone from another individual) are the most commonly used materials to induce bone formation. Generally, small pieces of bone are placed into the space between the vertebrae to be fused. Sometimes larger solid pieces of bone are used to provide immediate structural support. Autogenous bone is generally considered superior at promoting fusion. However, this procedure requires extra surgery to remove bone from another area of the patient's body such as the pelvis or fibula. Thus, it has been reported that about 30 percent of patients have significant pain and tenderness at the graft harvest site, which may be prolonged, and in some cases outlast the back pain the procedure intended to correct. Similarly, allograft bone and other bone graft substitutes, although eliminating the need for a second surgery, have drawbacks in that they have yet to be proven as cost effective and efficacious substitutes for autogenous bone fusion.
An alternative to autogenous or allograft bone is the use of growth factors that promote bone formation. For example, studies have shown that the use of bone morphogenic proteins ("BMPs") results in better overall fusion, less time in the operating room and, more importantly, fewer complications for patients because it eliminates the need for the second surgery. However, use of BMPs, although efficacious in promoting bone growth, can be prohibitively expensive.
Another alternative is the use of a genetically engineered version of a naturally occurring bone growth factor. This approach also has limitations. Specifically, surgeons have expressed concerns that genetically engineered BMPs can dramatically speed the growth of cancerous cells or cause non-cancerous cells to become more sinister. Another concern is unwanted bone creation. There is a chance that bone generated by genetically engineered BMPs could form over the delicate nerve endings in the spine or, worse, somewhere else in the body.
Many different methods and approaches have been attempted to induce bone formation or to promote spinal fusion. The traditional devices for inserting bone graft impair the surgeon's visualization of the operative site, which can lead to imprecise insertion of bone graft and possible harm to the patient. The caulking gun and the collection of large barrel/plunger designs typically present components at the top of their structure which block the view of the surgical site. The surgeon must then resort to applying pressure to the surgical site to approximate the location of the device's delivery area. Such rough maneuvering can result in imprecise placement of bone graft, and in some cases, rupture of the surgical area by penetrating the annulus and entering the abdominal cavity. Also, in some surgical procedures, the devices for inserting bone graft material are applied within a cannula inserted or placed in the surgical area, further limiting the size and/or profile of the bone graft insertion device. When a cannula is involved, some traditional devices such as the large barrel/plunger designs and/or the caulking gun designs simply cannot be used as they cannot be inserted within the cannula.
Traditional devices for inserting bone graft deliver the bone graft material at the bottom of the delivery device along the device's longitudinal axis. Such a delivery method causes the bone grafting material to become impacted at the bottom of the delivery device which jams the device and promotes risk of rupture of the surgical area by penetrating the annulus and entering the abdominal cavity. Further, traditional devices that deliver bone graft material along their longitudinal axis may cause rupture of the surgical area or harm to the patient because of the ensuing pressure imparted by the ejected bone graft material from the longitudinal axis of the device. Furthermore, the graft material is distributed only in the longitudinal axis and does not fill in the peripheral areas of the disk.
Traditional devices for inserting a fusion cage or other medical implants into a patient's spine or other surgical area are distinct and separate from traditional devices that deliver bone graft material to the surgical site. For example, once an implant has been positioned, then bone growth material is packed into the internal cavity of the fusion cage. Also, sometimes the process is reversed, i.e., the bone growth is inserted first, and then the implant. These bone growth inducing substances come into immediate contact with the bone from the vertebral bone structures which project into the internal cavity through the apertures. Two devices are thus traditionally used to insert bone graft material into a patient's spine and to position and insert a fusion cage. These devices thus necessitate a disc space preparation followed by introduction of the biologic materials necessary to induce fusion and, in a separate step, application of a structural interbody fusion cage.
The problems associated with separate administration of the biologic material bone graft material and the insertion of a fusion cage include applying the graft material in the path of the cage, restricting and limiting the biologic material dispersed within the disk space, and requiring that the fusion cage be pushed back into the same place that the fusion material delivery device was, which can lead to additional trauma to the delicate nerve structures.
Fusion cages provide a space for inserting a bone graft between adjacent portions of bone. Such cages are often made of titanium and are hollow, threaded, and porous in order to allow a bone graft contained within the interior of the cage of grow through the cage into adjacent vertebral bodies. Such cages are used to treat a variety of spinal disorders, including degenerative disc diseases such as Grade I or II spondylolistheses of the lumbar spine.
Surgically implantable intervertebral fusion cages are well known in the art and have been actively used to perform spinal fusion procedures for many years. Their use became popularized during the mid-1990's with the introduction of the BAK Device from the Zimmer Inc., a specific intervertebral fusion cage that has been implanted worldwide more than any other intervertebral fusion cage system. The BAK system is a fenestrated, threaded, cylindrical, titanium alloy device that is capable of being implanted into a patient as described above through an anterior or posterior approach, and is indicated for cervical and lumbar spinal surgery. The BAK system typifies a spinal fusion cage in that it is a highly fenestrated, hollow structure that will fit between two vertebrae at the location of the intervertebral disc.
Spinal fusion cages may be placed in front of the spine, a procedure known as anterior lumbar interbody fusion, or ALIF, or placed in back of the spine. The cages are generally inserted through a traditional open operation, though laparoscopic or percutaneous insertion techniques may also be used. Cages may also be placed through a posterior lumbar interbody fusion, or PLIF, technique, involving placement of the cage through a midline incision in the back, or through a direct lateral interbody fusion, or D-LIF, technique, involving placement of the cage through an incision in the side.
A typical procedure for inserting a common threaded and impacted fusion cage is as follows. First, the disc space between two vertebrae of the lumbar spine is opened using a wedge or other device on a first side of the vertebrae. The disk space is then prepared to receive a fusion cage. Conventionally, a threaded cage is inserted into the bore and the wedge is removed. A disk space at the first side of the vertebrae is then prepared, and a second threaded fusion cage inserted into the bore. Alternatively, the disk space between adjacent vertebrae may simply be cleared and a cage inserted therein. Often, only one cage is inserted obliquely into the disk space. Use of a threaded cage may be foregone in favor of a rectangular or pellet-shaped cage that is simply inserted into the disk space. Lastly, bone graft material may be inserted into the surgical area using separate tools and devices.
Traditional fusion cages are available in a variety of designs and composed of a variety of materials. The cages or plugs are commonly made of an inert metal substrate such as stainless steel, cobalt-chromium-molybdenum alloys, titanium or the like having a porous coating of metal particles of similar substrate metal, preferably titanium or the like as disclosed, for example, in the Robert M. Pilliar U.S. Pat. No. 3,855,638 issued Dec. 24, 1974 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,206,516 issued Jun. 10, 1980. These plugs may take the form of flat sided cubical or rectangular slabs, cylindrical rods, cruciform blocks, and the like.
Prior art bone graft delivery devices typically must come pre-loaded with bone graft, or alternatively require constant loading (where permissible) in order to constantly have the desired supply of bone graft available. Moreover, these bone graft delivery devices generally cannot handle particulate bone graft of varying or irregular particulate size. Furthermore, the prior art devices for inserting a fusion cage or other medical implant into a patient's spine or other surgical area are commonly distinct and separate from traditional devices that deliver bone graft material to the surgical site. As such, two devices are traditionally used to insert bone graft material into a patient's spine and to position and insert a fusion cage. The problems associated with separate administration of the biologic material bone graft material and the insertion of a fusion cage include applying the graft material in the path of the cage, restricting and limiting the biologic material dispersed within the disk space, and requiring that the fusion cage be pushed back into the same place that the fusion material delivery device was, which can lead to additional trauma to the delicate nerve structures. These problems can be a great inconvenience, cause avoidable trauma to a patient and make these prior art devices unsuitable in many procedures.
Therefore, there is a long-felt need for an apparatus and method for near-simultaneous and integrated precision delivery of bone graft material during the placement of surgical cages or other medical implants in a patient's spine. The present invention solves these needs. The present invention allows biologic material to flow directly to the fusion cage and be dispersed within the disc space in a single step, and can precisely and simply deliver particulate bone graft of varying or irregular particulate size. Thus, the present invention allows application of bone graft material through a detachable fusion cage, eliminates otherwise restriction of the volume of biologic material that may be dispersed within the disk space, and eliminates the requirement that the fusion cage be pushed back into the same place that the fusion material delivery device was, which can lead to additional trauma to the delicate nerve structures.

Bone graft delivery system and method for using same


A video slot machine allows a player to make a plurality of wagers at the beginning of the game. The machine has a plurality (R) of reels which may be either mechanical or video. Each reel may have S symbols. The first wager made by the player is on the outcome of the spin of the first set of reels, a second wager is on the combined outcome of the first and second sets of the reels, etc. until the last wager is on the combined outcome of all of the reels. If a predetermined condition is met on the outcome of each spin, the subsequent spin is enabled. If at any spin the predetermined condition for that spin is not met, then the subsequent wagers are canceled and credited back to the player. The payout ratio increases for each subsequent spin in the series.

This invention relates to video slot machines with a new concept of machine design, activation, wagers placed and progressive payouts.
Video slot machines are the most popular games at casinos. In general, a gaming machine allows a player to play a game in exchange of a single wager. Players bet a single wager and either pull a lever or push a button to activate the machine. The slot video machine either mechanically spins a plurality of reels or electronically displays rotating reels. The machines usually have between three and five reels, each having a variety of symbols along their outer circumference. Players win or lose depending on the symbols type and position of all the reels on the screen. In most cases, players win or lose depending on how many of the reels resulted in matching symbols and the winning amount depends on which symbols are matched. In the last few decades, machines have been developed with many different features to captivate and increase a player's interest. Among these features, machines are provided with flashing displays, lighted displays, sound effect, awards, prizes, progressive jackpots, reward of feature games of different types, multi-line gaming and simultaneous multi-play presentation.
However, constant play on a particular type of machine tends to dull the player's interest in the game and accordingly the industry is compelled to continually introduce new variations of the machines to maintain the player's interest.