A composition to improve hyperpigmentation is disclosed. The composition has one or more active ingredients such as tranexamic acid, niacinamide, arbutin, and Vitamin C. The composition has water, caprylic/capric triglyceride, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Isononyl Isononanoate, Silica, Glyceryl Stearate and PEG-100 Stearate, Cetearyl Alcohol and Ceteareth-20, Xylitylglucoside and Anhydroxylitol and Xylitol, Hydroxyethyl Acrylate/Sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer, Polysorbate 60, Phenoxyethanol and Ethylhexylglycerin, Citric Acid, Titanium Dioxide, Citrus oil, sh-Polypeptide-22, and sh-Oligopeptide-1. The composition is a non-HQ formulation that provides equal or greater efficacy with a reduced adverse reaction profile to improve skin hyperpigmentation, such as melasma, post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, and solar lentigines. The composition reduces skin damage and provides toning to the skin.

Hyperpigmentation is a common concern of patients in aesthetic practice. It could result from conditions such as melasma, post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH), and solar lentigines. Skin tone evenness and/or the appearance of hyperpigmentary spots, such as solar lentigines (age spots), are common concerns among beauty-conscious consumers. As such, cosmetic compositions and methods for addressing these consumer concerns are continuing areas of high interest.
There are various treatment options available for hyperpigmentation, but the first-line treatment includes topical depigmenting agents such as hydroquinone (HQ 2.0-4.0%). It may also include the use of tretinoin, azelaic acid, superficial peeling agents, and/or lasers. In melanocytes, the ubiquitin-proteasome system is known to regulate skin pigmentation by degrading tyrosinase or microphthalmia-associated transcription factor.
Despite many possible treatment options, the results with these treatments are often temporary, especially in melasma, as the discoloration generally returns with continued exposure to the sun. Hydroquinone (HQ) is the most widely used and studied among possible treatment options. HQ's ability to lighten hyperpigmentation stems from its competitive inhibition of the enzyme tyrosinase, which prevents the conversion of tyrosine to dopamine, ultimately halting melanin synthesis. Although effective and dosed at different strengths, HQ causes an irritant dermatitis in some individuals, and chronic use could lead to exogenous ochronosis. Its use has been historically controversial due to some animal studies that have shown toxicity to DNA, renal, and liver cells. Besides, prior animal studies state that its long-term use causes side effects and potential controversy. Due to such concerns, the use of HQ as a cosmetic additive has been banned in the European Union, and only available as a prescription.
In light of the above-mentioned problems, there is a consumer demand for non-HQ topical formulations that provide similar or better efficacy, but with a reduced adverse reaction profile to HQ. Also, there is a need for a medicinal and cosmetic composition having for skin brightening to improve hyperpigmentation.


A method and apparatus for retrofitting a backlit sign with an LED module. The housing includes sidewalls with translucent portions. The LED module includes linear arrays of LEDs supported by support arms having mounting mechanisms for engaging with the housing sidewalls. The mounting mechanisms include scissor arms rotatably attached together about mid-portions thereof, and a tightening screw that adjusts the distance between the scissor arm ends to press engagement surfaces of the scissor arms against the housing sidewalls. Adjustment screws at the lower ends of the support arm can be adjusted to further extend the engagement surfaces, so that a single LED module can be installed inside a wide range of backlit sign sizes. The retrofit method includes removing the conventional fluorescent lamp from the backlit sign, and installing the LED module using the scissor arm mounting mechanisms.

The present invention relates to light emitting diode (LED) modules, and more particularly to a method and LED module for retrofitting existing commercial and street name signs presently illuminated with fluorescent tube lighting.
Light emitting diodes (LEDs) have been widely used in many applications to replace conventional incandescent lamps, fluorescent lamps, neon tube lamps and fiber optic lights. LEDs consume much less electrical power, are far more reliable, and exhibit much longer lifetimes, than their conventional counterparts. As a result, LEDs have been configured to replace conventional light sources for many applications. For example, LED lamps have been developed to replace screw-in incandescent light bulbs for traffic signals (as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,036,336), and exit signs (as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,416,679, 5,459,955, 5,526,236, 5,688,042, 5,949,347). In each case, the LEDs arc mounted onto a lamp housing having a conventional threaded electrical connector that engages with the threaded socket connector in the traffic signal lamp or exit sign. Thus, retrofitting the traffic signal and exit signs simply involves unscrewing the conventional lamp and screwing in the LED lamp.
Retrofitting with LED lamps the vast numbers of backlit commercial and street name signs, which utilize fluorescent lighting, is more problematic. These signs typically include a housing containing one or more fluorescent tube lamps, and one or more translucent face plates (sidewalls) that are back-illuminated by the fluorescent lamp(s) (i.e. to form characters, designs, symbols, etc.). FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate a conventional backlit street name sign, which includes a housing 1, a pair of fluorescent tube lamps 2 and a pair of opposing translucent face plates 3 that indicate a street name. Each of the fluorescent tube lamps 2 are connected to and suspended by a pair of electrical connectors 4, which are well known in the art. The face plates 3 are angled slightly downwardly for better viewing from below. FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate a convention backlit commercial sign, where there is only a single translucent face plate 3 (which is not angled downwardly), and three fluorescent tube lamps 2 for illumination.
Replacing the short-lifespan fluorescent tube lamps in conventional backlit commercial and street name signs can be difficult, because such signs are typically elevated and inaccessible, disposed over roadways, and/or hard to open. What is worse is that there is no standard size for such signs, for the fluorescent tube lamps 2 used therein, and for the spacing between the electrical connectors 4. Thus, designing an LED lamp retrofit that fits a wide variety of such signs, that evenly and sufficiently illuminates such signs, and that is easy to install without the need for special tools, has been difficult. Adding to that difficulty is the fact that many such signs are suspended in a way that the sign rocks, vibrates and shakes in the wind.
There is a need for a versatile LED lamp design for retrofitting conventional backlit commercial and street name signs that is easy to install and fits in a variety of sign sizes and configurations.
The present invention solves the aforementioned problems by providing an LED lamp design and method for conveniently retrofitting conventional backlit signs.
The LED module of the present invention includes a first support member having a first mounting surface, a first plurality of LEDs mounted to the first mounting surface, first and second support arms attached to the first support member, a first mounting mechanism attached to the first support arm, and a second mounting mechanism attached to the second support arm. Each of the first and second mounting mechanisms include first and second scissor arms and a first screw. Each of the scissor arms have an upper portion, a lower portion and a mid portion therebetween, wherein the mid portions of the first and second scissor arms are rotatably connected together and each of the lower portions includes an engagement surface. The first screw is engaged with the first and second scissor arm upper portions for adjusting a distance therebetween and a separation distance between the engagement surfaces of the first and second scissor arm lower portions.
In another aspect of the present invention, a backlit sign includes a housing having first and second side walls with at least a portion of the first sidewall being translucent, a first support member disposed in the housing and having a first mounting surface facing the first sidewall, a first plurality of LEDs mounted to the first mounting surface for illuminating the first sidewall, first and second support arms attached to the first support member, a first mounting mechanism attached to the first support arm, and a second mounting mechanism attached to the second support arm. Each of the first and second mounting mechanisms include first and second scissor arms and a first screw. Each of the scissor arms have an upper portion, a lower portion and a mid portion therebetween, wherein the mid portions of the first and second scissor arms are rotatably connected together and each of the lower portions includes an engagement surface that is pressed against one of the first and second sidewalls to form a friction fit therewith. The first screw is engaged with the first and second scissor arm upper portions for adjusting a distance therebetween and a separation distance between the engagement surfaces of the first and second scissor arm lower portions to increase or decrease a force with which the engagement surfaces are pressed against the sidewalls.
Another aspect of the present invention is a method of retrofitting a backlit sign having a housing with first and second sidewalls, and a light source disposed inside a housing, wherein at least a portion of the first sidewall is translucent, the method including removing the light source from the housing, and inserting an LED module into the housing. The LED module includes a first support member disposed in the housing and having a first mounting surface, a first plurality of LEDs mounted to the first mounting surface for illuminating the first sidewall, first and second support arms attached to the first support member, a first mounting mechanism attached to the first support arm, and a second mounting mechanism attached to the second support arm. Each of the first and second mounting mechanisms include first and second scissor arms and a first screw. Each of the scissor arms have an upper portion, a lower portion and a mid portion therebetween, wherein the mid portions of the first and second scissor arms are rotatably connected together and each of the lower portions includes an engagement surface. The first screw is engaged with the first and second scissor arm upper portions for adjusting a distance therebetween and a separation distance between the engagement surfaces of the first and second scissor arm lower portions. The method also includes rotating the first screw to press the engagement surfaces against the first and second sidewalls to form a friction fit therewith for securing the LED module within the housing.
Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent by a review of the specification, claims and appended figures.

Method and apparatus for retrofitting backlit signs with light emitting diode modules


A sensor device for a mass flow controller suitable for stably sensing gas flowrate of the mass flow controller regardless of variation of peripheral temperature. This sensor device comprises a case being covered with a thermal insulation plate, a sensor tube being arranged in the in-suit case to pass therethrough, an up-stream coil and a down-stream coil coiling around the sensor tube and being adapted for sensing heat of a gas passing through the sensor tube, respectively, a thermoelectric converter for converting a heat difference of the gas in the sensor tube into a voltage, an amplifier for amplifying the voltage output from the thermoelectric converter, a linearizer for linearizing the amplified voltage of the amplifier, a refrigeratory plate being arranged in the case for maintaining the inside temperature of the sensor device at a predetermined temperature, a pair of Peltier thermoelectric wires comprising an antimon wire and a bismuth wire being connected to a drive power supply terminal and a ground terminal of an electric power connector, respectively, and a thermostat for selectively cutting off power supply to the refrigeratory plate when the inside temperature of the sensor device is lower or higher than a predetermined critical temperature.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a mass flow controller for controlling gas flowrate, and more particularly to a sensor device of such a mass flow controller suitable for stably sensing gas flowrate of the mass flow controller regardless of variation of peripheral temperature.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With reference to FIG. 1, a known mass flow controller (Hereinafter, referred to simply as "MFC"), a kind of device for controlling gas flowrate of a manufacturing system, such as a semiconductor manufacturing system, generally comprises a main body 1 which is provided with inlet fittings 2 and outlet fittings 3 at its opposite ends. To a position of the main body 1 near the inlet fittings 2, a sensor device 4 is mounted for sensing inlet gas flowrate, whilst to a position near the outlet fittings 3, a gas flowrate control valve 5 is mounted. The MFC further includes a circuit board 6 for supplying the sensor device 4 with electric power supplied through a connector 7, or an output terminal.
Turning to FIG. 2, there is shown a detailed construction of the known sensor device 4. As depicted in this drawing, the sensor device 4 has a case 12 covered with a heat insulation plate 11. A sensor tube 13 is provided inside the case 12 such that its inlet and outlet 13a and 13b are protruded from a side of the case 12, respectively. In order to fix the position of the sensor tube 13 in the case 12, the inlet 13a and the outlet 13b of the tube 13 are brought into engagement with individual O-rings 16 and 16' at the outer surface of the case 12. The sensor device 4 further includes an up-stream coil 14 and a down-stream coil 15 which coil around the sensor tube 13 and sense quantity of heat of the gas passing through the tube 13, respectively.
In the gas flowrate sensing operation of the aforementioned sensor device 4 of the MFC, about 5 cc ( this amount may be changed in accordance with styles of the MFC) of inlet gas, which is received by the inlet fitting 2 of the main body 1, is introduced to the inlet 13a of the tube 13 and flows through the tube 13 in a direction from the up-stream coil 14 to the down-stream coil 15.
At this time, the gas in the sensor tube 13 flows at a velocity which is generally proportional to the gas flowrate in the main body 1 of the MFC. Otherwise stated, the current velocity of the gas 4 in the sensor tube 13 is increased when the gas flowrate in the main body 1 is increased, on the contrary, the velocity is reduced when the gas flowrate in the main body 1 is decreased. In addition, it has been noted that all kinds of gases have individual specific heats which are different from each other in accordance with their flowrates and kinds. The heat of a gas is proportional to the current velocity of that gas.
In accordance with the aforementioned theory in the gas flowing, it is well known to those skilled in the art that the temperature difference (.delta.T=T.sub.1 -T.sub.2) between the heat T.sub.1 sensed by the up-stream coil 14 of the sensor tube 13 and the, temperature T.sub.2 sensed by the down-stream coil 15 is direct proportional to the current velocity difference of the gas between the up-stream coil 14 and the down-stream coil 15.
The minor temperature difference .delta.T between the up-stream coil 14 and the down-stream coil 15 is converted into a voltage value corresponding to that temperature difference .delta.T. This voltage value is employed in calculation of the current velocity difference of the gas which passes through the sensor tube 13 and, as a result, it is possible to calculate the total gas flowrate per unit time received by the main body 1 of the MFC.
Meanwhile, the sensor device 4 is easily affected by variation of peripheral conditions, such as peripheral temperature and pressure. Particularly, remarkable variation of the peripheral temperature causes the minor temperature difference .delta.T sensed by the sensor device 4 to result in incorrect determination of the total gas flowrate of the main body 1. Hence, such a remarkable variation of the peripheral temperature makes the temperature difference sensed by the sensor device 4 be of no use. If described in detail, since most of the commercialized MFCs, which are calibrated to be used at a temperature of 0.degree. C. and a pressure of 760 Torr., are generally used at different temperatures and different pressures, the practical accuracy of the sensor device 4 of the MFC occasionally reduced to about 5-25% of ideal accuracy and causes incorrect calculation of total gas flowrate of the MFC.
In an effort to overcome the above problem, there has been proposed several techniques, such as installation of overlapped thermal insulation plates about the case 12 and addition of an external case 12 to the sensor device 4. However, these known techniques have a problem in that they only provide limited efficiency, and furthermore, can not provide said limited efficiency when they are employed in a small sized sensor device.


The disclosure relates to a marine vessel having a control system for automatically steering the marine vessel for the purpose of aiding an angler who has hooked a fish. The control system includes a GPS unit for determining the orientation of the marine vessel, a sonar unit for determining the bearing of a fish, and an algorithm for minimizing the error between the two. The control system will execute steering commands in the propulsion system in order to minimize the error in order to aid the angler as he tries to land the hooked fish.

Sport fishing often involves a fisherman, or "angler", using a rod and reel to catch a fish. The angler often fishes from a marine vessel in order to reach a favorable fishing location. When the angler has hooked a substantial fish, it can take a significant amount of effort by the entire crew to catch and bring aboard the fish. The angler engages in a tug-of-war with the fish as it changes location relative to the marine vessel. The operator of the boat must then maneuver the stern of the vessel so that it is oriented toward the fish in order to aid the angler as the fish moves. Typically such a vessel is equipped with special levers, known as "Palm Beach levers", for steering the vessel during sport fishing maneuvers. These levers are located at the operator's station and are designed to be manipulated by the operator who faces the stern of the vessel while manipulating the levers behind him. This manner of maneuvering is hard to master and requires a skilled operator.

Automatic control of a marine vessel during sport fishing mode


A bottle body comprises: a main body extending from a base to a shoulder; a neck extending from the shoulder to a mouth a thread along the neck; and one or more recesses along an exterior of the neck and extending along a longitudinal span of at least 30 mm.

The disclosure relates to fuel additive bottles. More particularly, the disclosure relates to bottles compatible with capless fuel systems.
Fuel additive bottles for use with capless fuel systems are show in: United States Patent Application Publication 20160031697 A1, of Zweifel, published Feb. 4, 2016 and entitled "CATCH RELEASING CAPLESS FUEL-FILLER BOTTLE; United States Patent Application Publication 20150298384 A1, of McKenzie et al., published Oct. 22, 2015 and entitled "FUEL ADDITIVE BOTTLE FOR COMPATIBILITY WITH CAPLESS FUEL TANK; and United States Patent Application Publication 20150013822 A1, of Baker, published Jan. 15, 2015 and entitled "FUEL ADDITIVE BOTTLE FOR USE WITH CAPLESS FUEL SYSTEM". The disclosures of these publications ae incorporated by reference in their entireties herein as if set forth at length.
The three publications identified above all disclose different molded plastic bottles having threaded mouths. McKenzie et al. has an internally-threaded mouth. This avoids catching of threads on internal flaps or other elements of the capless filler.
The Baker publication and the Zweifel publication each disclose thread interruptions. The Baker publication involves an interruption as a local flat reducing the height of the thread. The Zweifel publication involves a recess fully penetrating the thread.

Fuel additive bottles compatible with capless fuel systems


Systems and techniques relate to current slew control circuits. According to an aspect, a system implementing the quadratic slew control aspects comprises a disk; a read/write head; and a slew control circuit coupled to the read/write head, the slew control circuit configured to:

This disclosure relates to current slew control circuits.
Hard Disk Drives (HDD) are ubiquitous in the computing environment. Existing HDD systems employ magnetic-medium-based storage devices, and the data is typically stored on circular, concentric tracks on magnetic disk surfaces. A read-write head retrieves and records data on the magnetic layer of a rotating disk as it flies over the disk surface without contacting the disk surface. When retrieving data, magnetic field variations are converted into an analog electrical signal. The analog signal typically is amplified, converted to a digital signal, and interpreted. To guarantee the quality of the information saved on and read back from the disk, and to prevent damage of the head with disks spinning at high speeds, the read-write head should be accurately distanced from the disk. Some existing Fly Height Control (FHC) circuitry employ current slew control circuits to provide a linearly functioning current slew in driving the fly-height distance of the head from the disk during operation of the disk drives.

Abstract: receive an input current signal, apply a slew current to the input current signal in response to a change in a power setting for the read/write head, and provide an output current signal that is adjusted to a quadratic current slew based on the applied slew current, the output current signal generating an output voltage characterized by a linear slew and controlling a movement of the read/write head over the disk.


A seat structure has a main body and a seating surface element attached to the main body extending in a longitudinal direction. A back element is connected to a rear end of the seating surface element and is reclinable and extends in a vertical direction. The back element includes a back plate and a pair of back rods respectively positioned on both lateral sides of said back plate. An upper end flap is connected to an upper end of the back plate in a forward tiltable manner. A displacement member is supported on the back rods and is vertically displaceable. A first connection element connects the displacement member and upper end flap to tilt the upper end flap forward according to displacement of the displacement member.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present invention relates to seat structures, and more particularly, to seat structures that are switchable between a chair form and a bed form
2. Description of Related Art
FIGS. 10 and 11 illustratively show an example of seat structures switchable between a chair form (FIG. 10) and a bed form (FIG. 11). The seat structure includes: a seat main body 1; a seating surface element 2 attached to the seat main body 1, and extending in a longitudinal direction; a back element 3 connected to a rear end of the seating surface element 2 in a reclinable manner, and extending in a vertical direction; and an upper end flap (a head guard) 4 connected to an upper end of the back element 3 in a forward tiltable manner. In the chair form of FIG. 10, the upper end flap 4 is located in substantially the same plane as that of the back element 3. In the bed form of FIG. 11, the upper end flap 4 is tilted forward and lifted with respect to the back element 3.
Such a seat structure is disclosed in, e.g., Japanese Publication No. 2007-55462 of unexamined patent applications. Japanese Publication No. 2007-55462 of unexamined patent applications discloses a baby carriage that is switchable between a forward facing state where an infant sitting in the baby carriage faces forward, and a rearward facing state where the infant faces rearward so as to face a person pushing the baby carriage. This baby carriage is preferable in terms of safety, because the upper end flap 4 covers the top of the head of the infant sitting in the seat when the seat of the baby carriage is switched to the bed form.
The seat structure of the baby carriage disclosed in Japanese Publication No. 2007-55462 of unexamined patent applications has a lifting mechanism for lifting the upper end flap, in addition to a reclining adjustment mechanism for the back element. The lifting mechanism includes a rotation member, a rod bar, and inhibiting means. The rotation member is provided on the back surface of the back element, has its center movable about the rotation center of the back element, and is rotatable about the center of the rotation member itself. The rod bar connects the rotation member and the upper end flap. The inhibiting means inhibits rotation of the rotation member when the tilt angle of the back element reaches a predetermined value. While the back element is being tilted toward the predetermined tilt angle, the rod bar is pressed toward the rotation member by an urging force of urging means, and the rotation member is rotated about its center, whereby the upper end flap extends in the extending direction of the back element. When the tilt angle of the back element reaches the predetermined value, rotation of the rotation member is inhibited, and the rod bar lifts the upper end flap with respect to the back element against the urging force of the urging means.
Since the lifting mechanism for the upper end flap disclosed in Japanese Publication No. 2007-55462 of unexamined patent applications has a somewhat complex structure, a simpler structure is desired.


A static load tester is shown that provides tensile testing of plated test specimens to detect hydrogen embrittlement damage from plating processes. The functional components of the device are centrally aligned within a channel of an I-beam frame. A load cell and electronic readout provide the user with a measure of the tensile force applied to up to eight test specimens mounted end to end in a tester. Tension is applied to the specimens through use of a simple threaded rod and nut load application system at the base of the device. A static load tester may be incorporated into each channel of the I-beam frame, thereby providing a double testing unit. Additionally, a series of I-beam frame tester configurations may be incorporated into one multiple testing unit. Each multiple testing unit has a number of static load testers equal to double the number of I-beam frames mounted into the unit. The tension applied to any individual tester in a multiple testing unit may be displayed on a single electronic readout through use of a switch box coupled between the individual testers and the readout.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of devices used for materials testing, and specifically for testing plated test specimens by applying static tension loads to the specimens for extended periods of time. The purpose of such testing is to detect hydrogen embrittlement damage incurred during plating processes.
2. Prior Background Art
The prior art is comprised of devices generally designed for stress or creep rupture testing. See FIG. 1 which shows a typical prior art device, traditionally referred to as a lever arm tester. The device consists of a lever arm of from twelve to twenty inches in length, pivotally supported on a fixed vertical member at a point along the lever arm's length between its center and an end to which the top of a test specimen is attached. The bottom end of the test specimen is attached to a fixed base plate. When weights are applied to the opposite end of the lever arm, tensile force is exerted on the test specimen as dictated by the formula t=(wl)/d, where t is the tensile force exerted on the test specimen, w is the weight applied to the far end of the lever arm, 1 is the distance between the lever arm pivot point and the end carrying the applied weights, and d is the distance between the lever arm pivot point and the end connected to the test specimen. The applied force, t, causes testing of the specimen to take place.
Prior art devices are inferior in several respects to the present invention. The twelve to twenty inches long lever arm, size, and shape of these devices require considerable floor space be reserved in testing laboratories which often have limited available floor space. Prior art testers are completely manual in operation, and must be operated by a technician skilled in the testing procedure because of their many variables and potential inaccuracies. The devices are capable of testing only one specimen, or one group of specimens, at a time, and are typically very costly.
Thus, there exists a need for a static load testing device that overcomes the problems and limitations of the prior art. The present invention is compact, easy to use, and relatively inexpensive. It requires considerably less floor space than conventional devices, and has the capacity to test multiple specimens simultaneously. This device is substantially more accurate than prior art devices, and is equipped with electronic load readouts and timers for increased efficiency and decreased reliance on manual adjustments and readings; as such, it can be operated by semi-skilled personnel. Additionally, a simple screw mechanism is used to apply tensile force to test specimens, eliminating the need for cumbersome weights.

Static load tester with I-beam support column


An image capturing apparatus for capturing an image of an object. The image capturing apparatus includes a correspondence detector which detects a correspondence of characteristic points of an object based upon captured images of the object. A motion detector detects a motion of the image capturing device. The motion detector includes magnetic sensors. Further, a shape calculator calculates a shape of the object based upon the captured image data, captured attitude information, a translation component, and the correspondence of the characteristic points. The motion detector may further include acceleration sensors and angle speed sensors. A disturbance detector may further be provided to detect a disturbance in acceleration signals output by the acceleration sensors and a disturbance in magnetic signals output by the magnetic sensors. In this situation, if a disturbance arises in the acceleration signals output by the acceleration sensors, an attitude of the image capturing apparatus can be based on signals output by the magnetic sensors and signals output by the angle speed sensors. Similarly, if a disturbance arises in the magnetic signals output by the magnetic sensors, an attitude of the image capturing apparatus can be determined utilizing the acceleration signals output by the acceleration sensors and the angle speed signals output by the angle speed sensors.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a computer inputting technology, a human interface technology, and a sight processing technology, and, in particular, to a technology of measuring a three-dimensional shape of an object.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, to measure a three-dimensional shape of an object (subject) has been demanded in various fields such as survey of land/building, production of CAD model, display of products/goods in on-line shopping, and so forth. As one of such three-dimensional shape measuring methods, there is a method by which a pattern light is irradiated/projected onto an object, a picture of distortion occurring in the pattern on the object is taken, and, thus, shape measurement is performed.
Specifically, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 5-149727 discloses to take a picture of a subject by a camera which can move freely on a moving apparatus on which the camera is mounted, and thereby, to measure a shape of the subject even when the subject has a surface having high reflectance. Further, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 10-79029 discloses to divide each of a plurality of sets of image data taken by a plurality of cameras into small regions, to combine three-dimensional information obtained from the respective small regions, and, thus, to detect three-dimensional information of the subject.
However, the above-mentioned technique requires the moving apparatus or plurality of cameras. Thereby, the apparatus becomes larger, and cannot be carried easily. Thus, the apparatus is not convenient. Furthermore, high manufacturing costs are needed for such apparatuses. Furthermore, depending on the actual arrangement of the moving apparatus or plurality of cameras, characteristics of a subject for which the shape thereof can be properly measured may be limited.


An approach for recovering after premature termination of a plurality of transactions involves: A) selecting a previously unselected transaction from the plurality of transactions; B) processing the selected transaction by undoing the lesser of a predetermined number of changes made by the selected transaction and all changes made by the selected transaction; and C) repeating steps A) and B) until all of the plurality of transactions have been processed. Another aspect of the approach involves: A) selecting a previously unselected transaction from the plurality of transactions, wherein the selected transaction is the previously unselected transaction from the plurality of transactions that made the fewest number of changes in the database; B) processing the selected transaction by undoing one or more changes in the database made by the selected transaction; and C) repeating steps A) and B) until all transactions from the plurality of transactions have been processed.

In typical database systems, users store, update and retrieve information by submitting commands to a database application. To be correctly processed, the commands must comply with the database language that is supported by the database application. One popular database language is known as Structured Query Language (SQL).
A logical unit of work that is atomic and comprised of one or more database language statements is referred to as a transaction. In a database server, a memory area called the System Global Area (SGA) is allocated and one or more processes are started to execute one or more transactions. The combination of SGA background system processes and the processes executing transactions is called a database instance.
A buffer cache resides in a portion of the SGA and holds database information. Buffers in the buffer cache hold copies of data blocks that have been read from data files. The buffers are shared by all user processes concurrently connected to the instance. When a transaction desires to make a change to a data block, a copy of the data block is loaded into a buffer and the change is made to the copy of the data block stored in the database buffer cache in dynamic memory. Afterwards, a database writer writes the modified blocks of data from the database buffer cache to the data files on disk.
The SGA also contains a redo log buffer. A redo log buffer is a circular buffer that holds information about update operations recently performed by transactions. This information is stored in redo entries. Redo entries contain the information necessary to reconstruct, or redo, changes made by operations such as INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, CREATE, ALTER, or DROP operations for example. Redo entries are generated for each change made to a copy of a data block stored in the database buffer cache. The redo log buffer is written to an active online redo log file group on disk by a background process. The records in the online redo log file group on disk are referred to as redo logs.
An instance failure can occur when a problem arises that prevents an instance from continuing work. Instance failures may result from hardware problems such as a power outage, or software problems such as an operating system or database system crash. Instance failures can also occur expectedly, for example, when a SHUTDOWN ABORT or a STARTUP FORCE statement is issued.
Due to the way in which database updates are performed to data files in some database systems, at any given point in time, a data file may contain some data blocks that (1) have been tentatively modified by uncommitted transactions and/or (2) do not yet reflect updates performed by committed transactions. Thus, an instance recovery operation must be performed after an instance failure to restore a database to the transaction consistent state it possessed just prior to the instance failure. In a transaction consistent state, a database reflects all the changes made by transactions which are committed and none of the changes made by transactions which are not committed.
A typical DBMS performs several steps during an instance recovery. First, the DBMS rolls forward, or reapplies to the data files all of the changes recorded in the redo log. Rolling forward proceeds through as many redo log files as necessary to bring the database forward in time to reflect all of the changes made prior to the time of the crash. Rolling forward usually includes applying the changes in online redo log files, and may also include applying changes recorded in archived redo log files (online redo files which are archived before being reused). After rolling forward, the data blocks contain all committed changes as well as any uncommitted changes that were recorded in the redo log prior to the crash. Rollback segments include records for undoing uncommitted changes made during the roll-forward operation. In database recovery, the information contained in the rollback segments is used to undo the changes made by transactions that were uncommitted at the time of the crash. The process of undoing changes made by the uncommitted transactions is referred to as "rolling back" the transactions.
FIG. 1 illustrates rolling forward and rolling back. Database 110 is a database requiring recovery at time t.sub.1. Database 120 represents the database after a redo log is applied at time t.sub.2. The database 120 comprises both changes made by committed transactions 121 and changes made by uncommitted transactions 122. Database 130 represents the database at time t.sub.3 after a rollback segment is applied. The database 130 comprises only changes made by committed transactions 121.
When rolling back a transaction, the DBMS releases any resources (locks) held by the transaction at the time of failure. Lastly, the DBMS resolves any pending distributed transactions that were undergoing a two-phase commit coordinated by the DBMS at the time of the instance failure.
One disadvantage of the prior method of recovering after a crash of an instance of a database is that it required changes made by uncommitted transactions to be rolled back before the database could be made available to new transactions. This would take a long period of time when a large number of transactions were active during the instance, because it would require a large number of transactions to be rolled back, including changes to the parts of the database which are not of immediate interest to the users.

Method and apparatus for improved transaction recovery


When all of the fingers of a wireless rake receiver are xe2x80x9cout-of-lock,xe2x80x9d the transmit power is initially maintained at a constant level. When the xe2x80x9cout-of-lockxe2x80x9d condition persists for an extended period of time, transmit power is increased in an effort to reacquire a lock with a subscriber unit or base station, as the case may be. An increase in transmit power may be effective in reacquiring lock when the cause of the out-of-lock condition is slow fading, rather than fast fading. Slow fading may be evidenced by persistence of the out-of-lock condition for an extended period of time. The length of the out-of-lock condition is used to selectively control transmit power and thereby promote quality of service. Transmit power is only increased when the fingers remain out-of-lock for an extended period of time, thereby avoiding undue increases in transmit power that could produce interference among different subscriber units.

The invention relates generally to wireless communication and, more particularly, to the control of transmit power in a spread spectrum wireless communication system.
A widely used technique for wireless communication is code division multiple access (CDMA) signal modulation. A CDMA system may be designed to support one or more CDMA standards such as (1) the xe2x80x9cTIA/EIA-95-B Mobile Station-Base Station Compatibility Standard for Dual-Mode Wideband Spread Spectrum Cellular Systemxe2x80x9d (the IS-95 standard), (2) the xe2x80x9cTIA/EIA-98-C Recommended Minimum Standard for Dual-Mode Wideband Spread Spectrum Cellular Mobile Stationxe2x80x9d (the IS-98 standard), (3) the standard offered by a consortium named xe2x80x9c3rd Generation Partnership Projectxe2x80x9d (3GPP) and embodied in a set of documents including Document Nos. 3G TS 25.211, 3G TS 25.212, 3G TS 25.213, and 3G TS 25.214 (the WCDMA standard), (4) the standard offered by a consortium named xe2x80x9c3rd Generation Partnership Project 2xe2x80x9d (3GPP2) and embodied in a set of documents including xe2x80x9cTR-45.5 Physical Layer Standard for cdma2000 Spread Spectrum Systems,xe2x80x9d the xe2x80x9cC.S0005xe2x80x94A Upper Layer (Layer 3) Signaling Standard for cdma2000 Spread Spectrum Systems,xe2x80x9d and the xe2x80x9cC.S0024 CDMA2000 High Rate Packet Data Air Interface Specificationxe2x80x9d (the CDMA2000 standard), and (5) other standards.
In a CDMA system, multiple communications are simultaneously transmitted between base stations and mobile subscriber units over a spread spectrum radio-frequency (RF) signal. In CDMA and other spread spectrum systems, maximizing system capacity and maintaining quality of service are paramount concerns. System capacity in a spread spectrum system can be maximized by carefully controlling the transmit power of each subscriber unit and base station in the system.
If a signal transmitted by a subscriber unit arrives at the base station at a power level that is too low, the bit-error-rate may be too high to permit effective communication with that subscriber unit, undermining quality of service. On the other hand, signals with power levels that are too high can interfere with communication between the base station and other subscriber units in the system, reducing system capacity. For this reason, to maintain system capacity and quality of service, it is desirable to optimize the level of transmit power of signals transmitted by base stations and subscriber units.
The subscriber units and base stations typically communicate with one another to control and optimize the transmit powers of signals sent in the system. For example, to control the level of transmit power in a subscriber unit, the base station estimates the power of a signal received from the subscriber unit and transmits instructions, such as power control bits, to the subscriber unit via a control channel in the downlink. The downlink is sometimes called the xe2x80x9cforward link.xe2x80x9d Similarly, to control the level of transmit power in a base station, a subscriber unit estimates the power of a signal received from the base station and transmits power control bits to the base station via a control channel in the uplink. The uplink is sometimes called the xe2x80x9creverse link.xe2x80x9d In each case, the control channel may coincide with a pilot channel. The base station adjusts transmit power based on the power control bits transmitted from the subscriber unit. Likewise, the subscriber unit adjusts transmit power based on the power control bits transmitted from the base station.
The invention is directed to the control of transmit power in a spread spectrum wireless communication device when all of the demodulation elements, or xe2x80x9cfingers,xe2x80x9d of a rake receiver associated with the device are xe2x80x9cout-of-lock.xe2x80x9d For example, the invention may be used to control the power of a signal transmitted by a base station when all of the fingers assigned to track a particular subscriber unit signal are out-of-lock. Likewise, the invention may be used to control the power of a signal transmitted by a subscriber unit when all of the fingers assigned to track a particular base station signal are out-of-lock. The invention is particularly useful in WCDMA communication systems, but may have wide application to a variety of systems.
The fingers of a rake receiver are used to track multiple received paths of a spread spectrum signal in a multi-path environment. An xe2x80x9cout-of-lockxe2x80x9d condition occurs when the output of a finger in the rake receiver drops below a predetermined signal strength. When all fingers are out-of-lock, the base station or subscriber unit is unable to receive the signal from the other device. Thus, power control techniques can be ineffective because the power control bits are not available for adjustment of transmit power in the receiving device. The invention applies a modified power control routine to the transmitter of a device when all of the fingers assigned to track a particular signal from another device are out-of-lock. In this manner, more effective power control in the systems can be achieved.
The out-of-lock condition may be caused by fast fading or slow fading. Fast fading may result from momentary cancellation of multipath signals, and often affects only the uplink or downlink, but not both. Slow fading may result from a large obstruction or dense array of obstructions that affect both the uplink and downlink. The uplink and downlink typically occupy different frequencies. Consequently, when there is fast fading in the uplink, the downlink is usually operable, permitting transmission of the power control bits to the xe2x80x9cfadingxe2x80x9d device. Lock is often regained as the fading device adjusts its transmit power in response to the power control bits in the downlink. Therefore, in the case of fast fading, it is assumed that the fading device continues to receive the control channel, and is capable of responding to the power control bits to overcome the fading condition.
When the out-of-lock condition is due to slow fading, however, both the uplink and downlink may be inoperable. In other words, the fading device may be incapable of receiving the control channel from the other device, and cannot rely on power control bits for adjustment of transmit power to overcome the fading condition. In that case, if the out-of-lock condition was detected by the base station, it can be advantageous to increase the transmit power of the base station in an effort to transmit the control channel over the downlink to effect power control in the subscriber unit and thereby regain lock. The same may be true when the out-of-lock condition is detected in a subscriber unit.
The invention involves classifying an out-of-lock condition as either a fast fading condition or a slow fading condition. When the out-of-lock condition is classified as a fast fading condition, the invention maintains transmit power in the device that experienced the out-of-lock condition. When the out-of-lock condition is classified as a slow fading condition, however, the invention increases transmit power in the device that experienced the out-of-lock condition.
The invention classifies an out-of-lock condition as either a fast fading condition or a slow fading condition based on the duration of the out-of-lock condition. When all fingers are out-of-lock in the base station, for example, the base station initially assumes a fast fading condition and maintains its transmit power at a substantially constant level. When all of the fingers remain out-of-lock for an extended period of time, however, the base station assumes a slow fading condition and increases its transmit power in an effort to reacquire a lock with the signal transmitted by the subscriber unit. The invention may implement a timer, for example, to facilitate classification of out-of-lock conditions.
As transmit power is increased in the device that detects the out-of-lock condition, there is a better chance that the fading device will receive the power control bits in the control channel and increase its own transmit power. In this manner, the invention can help avoid prolonged out-of-lock conditions, and thereby promote quality of service. Transmit power is only increased when the fingers remain out-of-lock for an extended period of time, however, avoiding undue increases in transmit power that could produce interference among subscriber units.
In one embodiment, the invention provides a method comprising detecting when all demodulation fingers in a wireless rake receiver are out-of-lock, and increasing a level of transmit power of a wireless transmitter when the demodulation fingers remain out-of-lock for more than a predetermined period of time.
In another embodiment, the invention provides an apparatus having a rake receiver with demodulation fingers that receives wireless signals, a transmitter that transmits wireless signals and a detector that detects when all of the demodulation fingers in the rake receiver are out-of-lock. The invention may also include a controller that increases a level of transmit power of the transmitter when the demodulation fingers remain out-of-lock for more than a predetermined period of time.
In an added embodiment, the invention provides a method comprising detecting when all demodulation fingers in a wireless rake receiver are out-of-lock and classifying the out-of-lock detection as due to a fast fading condition or a slow fading condition in the received signal. The method may also include increasing a level of transmit power of a transmitter in the event the out-of-lock detection is classified as a slow fading condition.
In a further embodiment, the invention provides an apparatus comprising a rake receiver with demodulation fingers that receive wireless signals, a transmitter that transmits wireless signals, and a detector that detects when all demodulation fingers in the rake receiver are out-of-lock. A controller classifies the out-of-lock detection as due to a fast fading condition or a slow fading condition in the received signal. In the event the out-of-lock detection is classified as a slow fading condition, the controller increases a level of transmit power of a transmitter.
The invention can provide a number of advantages. For example, the invention can be used to increase transmit power to assist in more quickly reacquiring lock with another communication device in the case of a slow fading condition, thereby promoting quality of service for mobile subscribers. At the same time, the invention can increase transmit power on a selective basis to avoid indiscriminate increases that could create excessive interference and adversely impact system capacity. In particular, by increasing transmit power only when the out-of-lock condition appears to be the result of slow fading, the invention more effectively balances interests in both quality of service and system capacity. Accordingly, with improved management of transmit power, the invention may be effective in reducing the number of dropped users and increasing overall system capacity.

Control of transit power during out-of-lock condition


A new and distinct variety of Picea pungens tree having a large, narrow conical shaped tree, all propagations develop orthotropic leader growth, and intense silver-blue colored foliage, as disclosed.

'INHoopMo' is a new and distinct variety of Picea pungens. 'INHoopMo' originated from a controlled cross conducted in May 2001 in a greenhouse in Boring, Oreg. of the female Picea pungens parent 'Hoopsii' (unpatented) and the male Picea pungens parent 'Montgomery' (unpatented). The seeds from this cross germinated in May 2002.
'INHoopMo' was selected and first asexually propagated in January 2009 in Boring, Oreg. via grafting onto an unnamed Picea abies rootstock (unpatented).
'INHoopMo' reproduces true to type in successive generations since 2009 of asexual reproduction via grafting onto an unnamed Picea abies rootstock (unpatented).


The present method relates to a method of determining a route for automatically controlling a mobile mining machine. The route is determined computer-aidedly by executing, by a data processing machine configured for generating routes, the following steps of: retrieving an environment model comprising wall location data, receiving from a user at least an input for determining a starting point of the route and an input for determining an end point of the route, determining the route between the starting point and the end point on the basis of the environment model and data concerning properties of the mining machine, wherein the route is determined as route points at least for which position data are calculated, and storing the data determining the route to be used for automatically guiding the mining machine.

Various mobile mining machines, such as rock drilling rigs, loading and transport equipment, are used in a mine. The mining machines may be manned or unmanned. The unmanned mining machines may be remote-controlled from a control room, for instance, and they may be provided with measuring devices suitable for location determination. The unmanned mining machines may be controlled to follow a desired route in a mine, provided that the location of the machine can be determined. The location of a machine may be determined by using laser scanners, for instance.
WO 2007/012198 discloses a method of guiding a mining vehicle automatically. By driving the mining vehicle manually or through teleoperation, an operator teaches the mining vehicle a route to follow with no operator intervention involved. U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,116 also discloses a method of automatically navigating vehicles, wherein a route used by a navigation system may have been taught through driving the vehicle or the route may have been determined manually.
After a route has been taught, the route may be edited and tested. Typically, it is this phase of teaching, editing and testing the route that is the slowest and most laborious one while introducing a new production area. A further problem almost invariably is that the teaching and testing of routes coincide with various mounting and foundation work to be carried out in the production area simultaneously, leaving very little time for testing.

Determination of route for arranging automatic control of mobile mining machine


The present invention is to provide a method for producing duplex stainless steel seamless pipe in which a duplex stainless steel billet can be inhibited from generating an oxide scale on the surface thereof during heating and the generation of outer surface flaw can also be prevented. The billet is heated in the a heating furnace for 1.5 hours or more and 4.0 hours or less at a heating temperature of 1250° C. or more and 1320° C. or less while regulating the average concentration of sulfur dioxide (SO2) gas in the atmosphere within the furnace to 0.01 volume % or less.

These days, economic scale of economic developing countries including the so-called "BRICS countries" is rapidly expanding. With this circumstance, global energy demand is also rapidly increasing. So, price of crude oil, natural gas, and so on is rising. Rise of the price of crude oil, natural gas, and so on promotes development and mining of deep oil/gas well, and resources having inferior quality such as sour crude, which did not make no business sense in the past. Therefore, demand of oil well tubular and line-pipe (hereinafter, referred to as "seamless pipe" as a generic name.), which is applicable for deep oil well and sour crude and which comprises a material having high-strength and chemical stability like corrosion resistance, is increasing.
In order to produce a seamless pipe comprising a material having high-strength and chemical stability such as corrosion resistance, high-alloy steel such as 18Cr-8Ni stainless steel (Japanese Industrial Standards: SUS 304) and 13Cr, further, duplex stainless steel (DP steel), and the like has become used instead of using conventional materials like carbon steel and chromium-molybdenum steel.
In DP steel at room temperature, a ferrite phase and an austenitic phase are mixed. When temperature varies from high temperature to low temperature, volume of austenitic phase portion increases to the volume of ferrite phase portion within this crystal structure. Since austenitic phase hardly fuses alloy component in a state of solid-solution, austenitic phase tends to deposit in the boundary with ferrite phase, i.e. crystal grain boundary. It is well known that many cracks and flaws are generated at a time of blooming-rolling and piercing-rolling from the deposition in the grain boundary as a point of origin. The flaw caused by deterioration of the high-temperature ductility is generated by micro destruction in the grain boundary between austenitic phase and ferrite phase. This is because, high-temperature strength of austenitic phase is different from that of ferrite phase and also compounds like sulfide which deteriorates hot workability deposits in the grain boundary.
As a method to reduce flaws on the inner and outer surface of a duplex stainless steel seamless pipe, Patent documents 1 and 2 disclose a method to at least regulate heating temperature to be within a certain temperature range where ferrite ratio becomes appropriate (at a ratio of 30 to 70% without W; 40 to 80% with W). According to these documents, by hot metal working within the temperature range, appropriate hot workability of the material is secured and generation of flaws on the material surface is inhibited.
Moreover, as a countermeasure of generation of flaws attributed to the micro destruction in the grain boundary, other than optimizing heating temperature range, these documents propose methods for inhibiting deposition in the grain boundary by reducing P and S, controlling sulfide form of Ca, Mg, and REM, and adding B.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Examined No. 6-89398    Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 9-271811

Method for producing duplex stainless steel seamless pipe

Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation


A motion vector detector includes a motion vector computing circuit for achieving a computation of a motion vector associated with an input image signal, an integrator circuit for integrating the motion vector, a coring value decision circuit for deciding a coring value based on an output from the integrator circuit, and a coring circuit of which a coring value is controlled by an output from the coring decision circuit and which accomplishes a coring operation on an output from the motion vector computing circuit.

The present invention relates to a motion vector detector for detecting an amount of motion or movement of an image.
As a conventional example, an image motion vector detector utilizing a correlation computing apparatus has been described, for example, in the JP-A-61-269475.
FIG. 12 shows a schematic diagram of the vector detector including a correlation computing unit which adopts a computation of an absolute value of a difference. This system includes a latch-A or D flip-flop 1, a representative point memory 2, a latch-B or D flip-flop 3, a subtractor 4 (which may be replaced with an adder), an address controller 5, an absolute value converting circuit 6, a cumulative adder 7, and a minimum value address decision circuit 8. LP.sub.1 and LP.sub.2 designate latch pulses or clock pulses inputted to latch-A1 and latch-B3, respectively.
A description will now be given of an image motion vector detector adopting the conventional correlation computing unit thus configured.
First, the motion vector of an image will be described. In FIG. 11, a portion (a) shows an image at a point of time, whereas a portion (b) is an image obtained after a field or a frame. As can be seen from these figures, when an image undergoes a parallel motion, for example, by a movement of an image pickup device or an imaging device, a vector is employed to represent an amount of the motion of the image as indicated by a arrow. This vector is called a motion or movement vector.
FIG. 13 shows representative points and pixels in the vicinity thereof in a representative point matching method. This method is not commonly used when detecting a motion vector of the image above. In the detection, image data at positions of representative points in a field are checked to determine destination positions associated with pixels around representative points in the next field, thereby detecting a motion vector.
Referring next to FIGS. 12 and 13, a description will be given of an image motion vector detector using the conventional correlation computing apparatus. Image data at respective points on the screen are acquired at a timing pulse LP1 into the latch-A1 so as to be storing at an appropriate timing in the representative point memory 2 at addresses associated with the respective representative points. Thereafter, in the subsequent field or frame, a difference is computed between image data in a motion vector detection area around the position of each representative point and the image data of the preceding field previously stored in the representative point memory 2. The difference is fed to the absolute value converting circuit 6 so as to produce an absolute value thereof. The resultant absolute value is delivered to the cumulative adder 7. The adder 7 cumulatively add data (output from the absolute value converting circuit) obtained as an absolute difference value for each location having the same coordinate position with reference to the pertinent representative point. When the cumulative addition is finished for the locations of all representative points, the minimum value address decision unit 8 decides a location for which the cumulative adder 7 develops a minimum value of the cumulatively added values. In the correlation judgement depending on the absolute value of the difference, since the smaller value is obtained for locations having the greater correlation, a position (an address) associated with the minimum value with reference to the position (address) of the representative point is obtained as the motion vector.
Since the operation above is carried out for each field or frame, the latch-A 1 is disposed to retain image data at representative points in the next field or frame while achieving the correlation computation. In addition, the latch-B 3 is employed to keep image data of representative points when correlation is determined between image data of a representative point and image data of the periphery of the point. Moreover, a portion enclosed by the broken lines in FIG. 12, namely, an apparatus to attain the motion vector is called a motion vector detector A9.
However, in the configuration above, due to a noise component of an input image signal, a noise is slightly included in the motion vector thus detected by the detector. This leads to a problem that a small motion vector occur also in a still image input.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


In the ultrasound transducer of the present embodiment, front surface electrodes and rear surface electrodes are provided for a plurality of ultrasound vibrators. A circuit board is disposed on the rear surface side of the ultrasound vibrators, and connected to the rear surface electrodes. An electronic circuit is connected to the surface opposite to that of the rear surface electrodes side on the circuit board, and has signal paths to each ultrasound vibrator through the circuit board. A backing material is disposed on the rear surface side of the ultrasound vibrators, and is provided so as to sandwich between it and the ultrasound vibrators the circuit board and the electronic circuit.

An ultrasound imaging apparatus, in order to obtain, by means of an ultrasound probe, information on a body part for which a subject requires a diagnosis, transmits ultrasound to this body part.
Additionally, through the ultrasound probe, reflected waves are received from tissue boundaries within the subject, which have different acoustic characteristic impedance values. In this way, the ultrasound imaging apparatus scans ultrasound by means of the ultrasound probe, obtains information on tissues within the subject's body, and converts it into images. Diagnosticians, etc., are able to use these images to perform diagnoses. The ultrasound probe has an ultrasound transducer for the purpose of sending ultrasound waves to the subject, etc., and receiving reflected waves.
In recent years, there have been ultrasound probes that use a rotating or oscillating 1D array ultrasound transducer in the ultrasound probe. Moreover, there have been ultrasound probes based on an electronic scanning method, using a 2D array ultrasound transducer in which ultrasound vibrators (piezoelectric transducers) are disposed in the form of a matrix. Using these ultrasound probes, the study of systems for three-dimensionally acquiring ultrasound images and for displaying them has been progressing. Ultrasound images in 3D are useful in the diagnosis of body parts that are easily overlooked with 2D images. Moreover, with 3D images, it is possible to obtain tomographic images that are suitable for diagnosis or measurement, and an improvement in diagnostic accuracy can be expected.
One example of such an ultrasound probe is one in which an electronic circuit that sends and receives electric signals is embedded within the interior of its handle. The electronic circuit disposed within this ultrasound probe is connected to each of the ultrasound vibrators in the ultrasound transducer. This electronic circuit, based on control signals from the ultrasound imaging apparatus main unit, generates transmission pulses and transmits them to each ultrasound vibrator.
Moreover, this electronic circuit provides batch processing, etc., for electric signals that have been converted by the ultrasound transducer. The electronic circuit transmits the signals that have undergone batch processing to the ultrasound imaging apparatus main unit. In another example of an ultrasound probe, through a switch configured to allow modification of the connection pattern, it is also possible to have a shared connection to a plurality of ultrasound vibrators, as a group. With this configuration, the plurality of ultrasound vibrators is connected as a batch to the transmitting/receiving circuit of the ultrasound imaging apparatus main unit.
One example of the abovementioned conventional ultrasound probe and ultrasound transducer is now explained, using FIG. 1 to FIG. 6. FIG. 1 to FIG. 6 are overview diagrams showing the conventional ultrasound transducer, electronic circuit and the wiring board connecting them, which are provided in an ultrasound probe.
In the ultrasound transducer 300, as shown in FIG. 1, ultrasound vibrators 314 are disposed in a 2D pattern. Moreover, a first acoustic matching layer 310 is disposed adjacently, corresponding to each of the ultrasound vibrators 314. In addition, a second acoustic matching layer 311 is disposed on the surface on the opposite side to the side of the ultrasound vibrators 314 of the first acoustic matching layer 310. In other words, in the ultrasound transducer 300, as shown in FIG. 1, the ultrasound vibrators 314, the first acoustic matching layer 310 and the second acoustic matching layer 311, in that order, are disposed such that they are layered. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 1, for the ultrasound vibrators 314 disposed in a 2D array, on the surfaces on the opposite side to the opposite side to the side of the first acoustic matching layer 310 (hereinafter, "rear surface"), a sound absorbent backing material 318 is provided to the plurality of ultrasound vibrators 314 as a whole.
In this way, in the ultrasound transducer 300, the backing material 318, the ultrasound vibrators 314, the first acoustic matching layer 310 and the second acoustic matching layer 311 are layered in that order, and ultrasound is irradiated in the direction of this layering.
In the ultrasound transducer 300, as shown in FIG. 1, a ground electrode 312 is formed on the surface of the boundary between the ultrasound vibrator 314 and the first acoustic matching layer 310. This boundary surface is hereinafter referred to as the "front surface".
Moreover, a signal electrode 316 is provided on the surface of the boundary between the ultrasound vibrator 314 and the backing material 318. This boundary surface is hereinafter referred to as the "rear surface". By making the ground electrode 312 and the signal electrode 316 hetero-polar electrodes, one ultrasound vibrator 314 is sandwiched by electrodes with different polarities, and by electric signals from the electronic circuit, it becomes possible to drive this ultrasonic vibrator 314.
In such a conventional ultrasound transducer 300, as shown in FIG. 2, the ground electrode 312 and the transmitting/receiving circuit are connected via a wiring pattern (not shown in the diagrams) formed on a Flexible Printed Circuit (FPC) 322. Specifically, the first acoustic matching layer 310, which is adjacent to ground electrode 312 of the ultrasound vibrator 314, and the second acoustic matching layer 311 have conductivity. The ground electrode 312 and the wiring pattern of the flexible printed circuit 322 are connected through these, and these wiring patterns are connected in a shared manner, and guided to an electronic circuit.
Meanwhile, in the ultrasound transducer 300, the signal electrode 316 and the transmitting/receiving circuit are, as shown in FIG. 3, connected via the wiring pattern 321 formed on the flexible printed circuit 320. However, with an ultrasound transducer that has a 2D array, the ultrasound vibrators are disposed in a 2D array, so compared with an ultrasound transducer that has a 1D array, the number of ultrasound vibrators increases (for example, by 10 times to 100 times). As a result of this, the number of wiring patterns greatly increases as well.
For example, in the ultrasound transducer 300, as shown in FIG. 3, in order to connect each of the signal electrodes 316 of the ultrasound vibrators 314 with a wiring pattern 321, a connection pad 321a is formed on the flexible printed circuit 320. Hence, on the connection surface with each ultrasound vibrator 314 on the flexible printed circuit 320, for only the number of multiple ultrasound vibrators 314 disposed in a 2D array, connection pads 321a are formed.
However, between the multiple connection pads 321a, additionally, for only the number of ultrasound vibrators 314, wiring patterns 321 must be formed (refer to FIG. 3). With such a configuration, the pitch of the wiring patterns 321 and connection pads 321a is extremely dense, and is extremely difficult to implement.
With the conventional ultrasound transducer 300 shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, the flexible printed circuit 320 is disposed between the backing material 318 and the ultrasound vibrators 314, and a configuration is implemented that makes a connection, by means of the wiring patterns 321, to the transmitting/receiving circuit of the subsequent stage. For this purpose, the entire 2D array of ultrasound vibrators 314 is divided into a plurality of modules, and a flexible printed circuit 320 is provided for each module.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, a plurality of ultrasound vibrators 314 is gathered as one module, in units of a prescribed number, and those modules are disposed in a 2D array, forming the ultrasound transducer 300. By assigning a flexible printed circuit 320 to each module formed from such a group of ultrasound vibrators 314, the number of wiring patterns 321 assigned to each module is reduced.
In this way, it becomes possible to connect the transmitting/receiving circuits 332 and 334 on the relay boards 330 that are disposed corresponding to each module, and the signal electrodes 316.
In this ultrasound transducer 300, as shown in FIG. 4, flexible printed circuits 320 and 322 are interleaved between the modules. For example, between the modules of the ultrasound vibrators 314 shown in FIG. 4, a total of four flexible printed circuits 320 and 322 are provided. Hence, compared to the pitch L1 (FIG. 4) of the ultrasound vibrators 314 within the modules, the pitch L2 of the ultrasound vibrators 314 that are between the adjacent modules becomes longer.
Specifically, the space between the vibrators disposed on the edge of a certain module and the vibrators disposed on the edge of a different, adjacent module will be larger to the extent that the flexible printed circuits 320 and 322 are interleaved between the modules.
However, when the pitch between ultrasound vibrators 314 is large, as in this case, the effect of artifacts due to side lobes increases, and there is a concern that problems will arise with respect to the reliability of the ultrasound images. Additionally, when a plurality of flexible printed circuits 320 and 322 are interleaved between the ultrasound vibrators 314, there is a concern that the precision of the mutual placement of modules will worsen. As a result, there may be a negative effect on the pulse delay control, and the precision of convergence and deflection of the ultrasound beam. Moreover, in the processes for manufacturing the ultrasound transducer, the processes for forming the ultrasound vibrator module will increase, so along with the fact that the manufacturing processes will become more complicated, the cost will increase. Moreover, as a result of the increase in the number of flexible printed circuits 320 and 322, there is a concern that the ultrasound probe may become large in size.
As shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 3 and in FIG. 4, for this ultrasound transducer 300, an ultrasound transducer that is configured so that electrode leads are embedded in the backing material, and in the backing material, the electrode leads are exposed to the surface on the opposite side to the side in the direction of ultrasound irradiation has been proposed. Regarding such an ultrasound transducer, the configuration of the connections between the electrodes of the ultrasound vibrators and the ultrasound imaging apparatus will now be explained, referring to FIG. 5. FIG. 5 is an overview cross-section diagram showing the configuration of a conventional ultrasound transducer.
With the ultrasound transducer 300 shown in FIG. 5, the needle-shaped electrode leads 325 that are connected to the signal electrodes 316 of the ultrasound vibrators 314 are embedded into the backing material 318. The electrode leads 325 are passed through the inside of the backing material 318 from the boundary surface with the ultrasound vibrators 314 in the backing material 318, and are exposed from the edge surface of the opposite side. Moreover, in this configuration, the electronic circuits 336 are disposed so as to be adjacent to this edge surface of the backing material 318. In addition, the electronic circuits 336 and the tips of the electrode leads 325 that are exposed to the edge surface of the backing material 318 are conductively bonded, and by connecting the electronic circuits 336 with the electrode leads 325, it becomes possible to give conductivity between the signal electrode 316 and the electronic circuits 336.
In the ultrasound transducer 300 shown in FIG. 5, after the signals from the multiple ultrasound vibrators disposed in a 2D array are batch processed by the electronic circuits 336, they are transmitted to the ultrasound imaging apparatus main unit. Hence, with the ultrasound transducer FIG. 5, modules of the ultrasound vibrators 314 are not formed as with the ultrasound transducer in FIG. 4, and it is possible to prevent a situation in which the pitch of the wiring patterns formed on the flexible printed circuits 320 are extremely dense.
However, in the ultrasound transducer 300 shown in FIG. 5, by embedding the electrode leads 325 in the backing material 318, the following problems may arise. Specifically, the backing material 318 is provided for the purpose of acoustic damping of the ultrasound vibrators 314, but embedding electrode leads 325 so as not to cause any effect on the original acoustic characteristics of the backing material 318 is difficult. Moreover, even if this task can be appropriately implemented, the manufacturing processes will be complicated.
Furthermore, there is a need to avoid cross talk between the electrode leads 325. However, the electrode leads 325 are formed at a spacing that is almost the same as that of the array pitch of the ultrasound vibrators 314, so it is difficult to secure spacing between the electrode leads 325 for the purpose of avoiding cross talk.
Additionally, the backing material 318 is configured so as to have a certain length for the purpose of acoustic damping of the ultrasound vibrators 314, but if the length of the electrode leads 325 embedded in the backing material 318 is long, then there is a concern that cross talk may more easily arise. Moreover, the process for processing so as to expose both ends of the electrode lead 325 from each edge surface of the backing material 318 is extremely complicated.
Other than the abovementioned ultrasound transducers shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, conventionally, ultrasound transducers configured so that the electronic circuits 327 are disposed so as to directly connect with the rear surface of the ultrasound vibrators 314 have been proposed (for example, refer to FIG. 6). As shown in FIG. 6, in this ultrasound transducer 300, the electronic circuits 327 are disposed so as to be adjacent to the rear surface of the signal electrode 316 of the ultrasound vibrators 314. Additionally, the flexible printed circuit 320 is disposed between the electronic circuit 327 and the backing material 318. With this electronic transducer 300, the signal electrode 316 of each ultrasound vibrator 314 is connected to the electronic circuit 327. Hence, the electronic circuit 327 performs processing by batching together many signals. The processed signals are transferred via the flexible printed circuit 320 that is further disposed on the rear surface of the electronic circuit 327. Hence, as shown in FIG. 6, with the ultrasound transducer 300, there is no need to embed the electrode leads in the backing material 318, and immediately beneath the ultrasound vibrators 314, processing is performed to reduce the number of signal paths, so the difficulties associated with circuits with respect to electric signal transmission are eliminated.
The electronic circuit 327 of a conventional ultrasound transducer 300 as shown in FIG. 6 receives signal input from the signal electrode 316 that is connected to the front surface, and outputs signals to the wiring pattern of the flexible printed circuit 320 that is connected to the rear surface. For this purpose, in electronic circuit 327, electrodes become necessary in the front surface and the rear surface. Regarding the ultrasound transducer 300, as a semiconductor process for the purpose of implementing such an electronic circuit 327, there are, for example, TSV (Through Silicon Via) electrodes.
In the ultrasound transducer 300, as shown in FIG. 6, the electronic circuit 327 is disposed between the ultrasound vibrator 314 and the backing material 318. The electronic circuit 327 is configured using a semiconductor material (silicon, etc.). There is a concern that, from the standpoint of acoustic characteristics such as the acoustic characteristic impedance, etc., this semiconductor material may not be compatible with the ultrasound vibrators 314 or the backing material 318, etc. For example, the acoustic characteristic impedance Z of silicon is on the order of 19.5 MRayl. In contrast with this, the acoustic characteristic impedance of ultrasound vibrators 314 made from general PZT-type piezoelectric materials is on the order of 35 MRayl, and there is a large gap between that and silicon. In such cases, the reflectivity at the boundary surface is high, and negative effects from reflected waves may arise. As a result, there is a concern that this may prove disadvantageous for sending and receiving ultrasound with the ultrasound transducer.
Hence, in the ultrasound transducer 300, as shown in FIG. 6, it is necessary, by shortening as much as possible the length in the direction from the front surface of the electronic circuit 327 to its rear surface, and specifically, by minimizing the thickness of the electronic circuit 327 as much as possible, to reduce as much as possible the effects on the acoustic characteristics of the electronic circuit 327 on the sending and receiving of ultrasound, and to avoid a situation that proves disadvantageous for ultrasound imaging.
However, along with reducing the acoustic effects from the electronic circuit 327, the implementation of TSV electrodes connecting the signal electrode 316 with the wiring patterns of the flexible printed circuit 320 is difficult owing to thickness of the electronic circuit 320. Specifically, when the electronic circuit 327 is formed with a thin profile, thus reducing the acoustic effects, it becomes difficult to utilize TSV electrodes, and it is difficult to obtain a connection at both ends of the electronic circuit 327. Conversely, when it is assumed that TSV electrodes will be used in the electronic circuit 327, the thickness of the electronic circuit 327 is increased and there is a concern that due to the acoustic effects, this will prove disadvantageous in the sending and receiving of ultrasound.

Ultrasound transducer, ultrasound probe, and a method for manufacturing ultrasound transducers


A rotor manufacturing method that includes stacking a plurality of electromagnetic steel sheets; and welding the plurality of electromagnetic steel sheets by moving a welding head relative to the plurality of electromagnetic steel sheets that are stacked in a state in which the welding head is inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to a stacking surface of the electromagnetic steel sheets so that a molten portion passes through at least one of the electromagnetic steel sheets.

The present disclosure relates to a rotor manufacturing method, and more particularly, to a rotor manufacturing method including a step of welding a plurality of stacked electromagnetic steel sheets.
Hitherto, there is known a rotor manufacturing method including a step of welding a plurality of stacked electromagnetic steel sheets. Such a rotor (core) manufacturing method is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-55573 (JP 2004-55573 A).
JP 2004-55573 A discloses a stacked core manufacturing method for welding stacked thin sheet cores (stacked cores) by radiating a laser beam from a laser welding apparatus onto the stacked thin sheet cores. In the stacked core manufacturing method, the laser beam is radiated from the laser welding apparatus orthogonally to a stacking direction of the thin sheet cores (along the stacking surface of the thin sheet cores). In the stacked core manufacturing method, the laser radiation of the laser welding apparatus is turned ON when the welding is started for a thin sheet core at the top (start side) out of the stacked thin sheet cores, and is turned OFF when the welding position of the laser welding apparatus reaches the welding end position of a thin sheet core arranged at the tail.
The laser welding apparatus described in JP 2004-55573 A controls the laser radiation for the stacked thin sheet cores only by switching ON/OFF of the laser radiation of the laser welding apparatus. Therefore, laser power of the laser welding apparatus is considered to be constant from the start to the end of welding. The thin sheet core includes a body portion of the thin sheet core (mainly an iron component) and an insulating film that covers the body portion.