A secondary cell comprises an electrode unit housed in a cell can comprising a cylinder having a bottom and a closed opening, and a current collector plate 50 is provided at one end of the electrode unit. The current collector plate 50 has a plurality of protrusions 52 extending radially thereof and joined to an edge of the electrode unit. The surface of the current collector plate 50 to be joined to the bottom wall of the cylinder has a flat region R extending on a predetermined closed-loop track on the surface, and the portions of the current collector plate 50 and the cylinder to be joined are subjected along the flat region R to laser welding from outside the cylinder.

Secondary cells comprise a rolled-up electrode unit 2 housed in a cell can 1, for example, as shown in FIG. 11. The cell can 1 comprises a cylinder 15 having a bottom, and a lid 11 fixed to an opening portion of the cylinder 15 with an insulating member 12 fitted therein around the lid. A positive electrode terminal 18 having a safety valve 14 inside thereof is attached to the lid 11 and provides a positive electrode terminal assembly 13. The bottom of the cylinder 15 provides a negative electrode terminal assembly 17.
The rolled-up electrode unit 2 comprises a positive electrode 21, separator 22 and negative electrode 23 which are each in the form of a strip. The positive and negative electrodes 21, 23 are lapped over respective separators 22, displaced from the separator widthwise thereof, and rolled up into a spiral form. At one of axial opposite ends of the rolled-up electrode unit 2, an edge of the positive electrode 21 projects outward beyond the corresponding edge of the separator 22, and at the other end of the unit, an edge of the negative electrode 23 projects outward beyond the corresponding edge of the separator 22. Current collector plates 9, 16 are arranged at the respective opposite ends of the electrode unit 2 and each welded to the projecting edge of the positive electrode 21 or negative electrode 23.
The current collector plate 9 joined to the edge of the positive electrode 21 comprises a flat disk 93 and a lead portion 91 in the form of a strip projecting therefrom. The lead portion 91 is welded at an outer end thereof to the lid 11. On the other hand, the current collector plate 16 joined to the edge of the negative electrode 23 is in the form of a disk, provided on the bottom wall of the cylinder 15 and welded to the bottom wall. The rolled-up electrode unit 2 generates electric power, which can be delivered to the outside through the positive electrode terminal assembly 13 and negative electrode terminal assembly 17.
For such secondary cells to deliver an improved output, the current path through which the electric power generated by the rolled-up electrode unit 2 is delivered to the outside must be minimized in electric resistance, i.e., in internal resistance. Especially the nonaqueous electrolyte secondary cells for use as power sources for electric vehicles need to be reduced in internal resistance to the greatest possible extent so as to be of high capacity and to deliver a great output.
However, the secondary cell having the current collector structure shown in FIG. 11 has the problem that since the edge of a current collector forming each of the positive electrode 21 and the negative electrode 23 of the electrode unit 2 is small in area, the area of contact of the current collector edge with the current collector plate is small, consequently giving increased internal resistance to the cell.
To realize reduced internal resistance, the present applicant has contrived the current collector structure shown in FIG. 6 (see JP-A No. 2001-256952). As shown in FIG. 6, the current collector plate 5 to be disposed on the positive electrode side of a rolled-up electrode unit 4 comprises a flat body 51 having a center hole 54. The body 51 is integrally provided with a plurality of circular-arc protrusions 52 extending radially from the center hole 54 and protruding toward the electrode unit 4. A plurality of raised pieces 53 are formed by slitting between each pair of adjacent circular-arc protrusions 52, 52 to project toward the electrode unit 4. The body 51 further has a lead portion 55 in the form of a strip formed integrally therewith at an end portion. The current collector plate 50 to be disposed on the negative electrode side of the electrode unit 4 also has the same construction as described above.
In the process for fabricating the secondary cell having the current collector structure described above, the current collector plate 5 for the positive electrode is pressed against current collector edge portions 48 formed at one end of the rolled-up electrode unit 4 as shown in FIGS. 7 and 9. This causes each circular-arc protrusion 52 of the current collector plate 5 to bite into the current collector edge portions 48 of the unit 4 as shown in FIG. 8, forming a joint face in the form of a cylindrical face between the protrusion 52 and the current collector edge portions 48. Each raised piece 53 of the current collector plate 5 bites deep into the current collector edge portions 48 of the electrode unit 4 as shown in FIG. 10 and is brought into pressing contact with the current collector edge portions 48.
In this state, a laser beam is projected onto the inner surface of the circular-arc protrusion 52 of the current collector plate 5 as indicated by arrows in FIG. 8 for laser welding. As a result, the protrusion 52 of the current collector plate 5 and the current collector edge 48 of the electrode unit 4 are welded to each other over a large area of contact, with the raised piece 53 shown in FIG. 10 held in pressing contact with the current collector edge 48. The current collector plate 50 for the negative electrode is also similarly welded to the electrode unit 4.
With the secondary cell described, each circular-arc protrusion 52 is welded to the current collector edge portions 48 over large contact areas of the current collector plate 5, 50, and each raised piece 53 is effectively in contact with the current collector edge portions 48 by biting into these current collector edge portions 48 in edge areas other than the weld joint areas. This results in reduced resistance of contact between the current collector plate 5 and the rolled-up electrode unit 4. Additionally, current is collected from the entire area of the current collector edge 48 by the raised pieces 53 formed on the current collector plate 5 to achieve high current collection efficiency.
The process for fabricating the secondary cell having the above current collector structure includes the step of joining the current collector plate 50 for the negative electrode to the bottom wall of the cylinder 15 from outside the cylinder 15 by laser welding, with the current collector plate 50 placed on the cylinder bottom portion.
However, the current collector plate 50 has circular-arc protrusions 52 protruding toward the electrode unit 4 as shown in FIG. 6 and slits (not shown) for forming the raised pieces 53, with noncontact regions provided locally between the surface of the current collector plate 50 and the bottom wall of the cylinder 15. If the noncontact regions are subjected to laser welding, the cylinder 15 is therefore likely to melt to produce holes at these regions.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a secondary cell wherein an electrode unit is satisfactorily in contact with current collector plates to ensure high current collection efficiency and which can be fabricated by welding the current collector plate to the bottom wall of a cell can without the likelihood that holes will be formed in the cell can.


A fluid delivery valve and system including a neck portion adapted to connect to a fluid delivery tube; a head portion comprising a dispensing face with a perimeter and a slit; and a compression member disposed in the head portion which is adapted to apply a force to the slit.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to elastomeric fluid delivery valves. More specifically, the present invention relates to an elastomeric fluid delivery valve which is capable of delivering fluid at increased pressure.
2. The Relevant Technology
Recently, various technologies have emerged which use various means to apply pressure to fluid within the fluid storage and delivery systems in order so as force the fluid from a storage reservoir of the fluid storage system towards the delivery mechanism. One problem with these configurations, however, is that elastomeric fluid delivery valves currently used in the art are typically not designed so as to withstand the pressure applied to the fluid. Thus, the fluid delivery valves may deform, resulting in leaks or other problems with the system. Thus, there is a need for a fluid delivery vale which is capable of withstanding the increased pressure.
The subject matter claimed herein is not limited to embodiments that solve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such as those described above. Rather, this background is only provided to illustrate one exemplary technology area where some embodiments described herein may be practiced.

Fluid delivery valve having a compression member


An apparatus for holding a plurality of ammunition magazines in a stacked arrangement. The apparatus is configured to allow a magazine not in use in the stack to be disconnected from the stack while allowing a magazine engaged in the weapon to remain in place. The device comprises a clip located on one magazine sleeve that reversibly connects to a latch located on a second magazine sleeve. A magazine can comprise a latch on one side and a clip on an opposite side to permit stacks of more than two ammunition sleeves with magazines to be constructed. The clip and latch can be designed to provide variable spacing or staggering of magazines in order to adapt to weapons where space limitations require alternative configurations.

In the field of firearms and related types of weapons two ever-present problems concerning a user are, the rate of firing of ammunition, and the supply of ammunition. In addressing the problem of the rate of firing of weapons, a variety of designs including semi-automatic and automatic weapons have been produced. Compared to single shot weapons, these weapons increase the number of rounds that can be fired in the course of a given time period by significantly reducing the time interval between the firing of successive rounds.
However, despite the success of these designs, they still suffer from the problem of maintaining a supply of ammunition to the user of the weapon. In some instances, conveyor like systems, such as those used in vintage WWI and WWII machine guns can supply ammunition at a rate sufficient to allow the user to "fire at will." While this solves the problem of ammunition supply in a generic sense, in general these conveyor-like systems are not portable and thus only practically useful where the weapon is positioned in a fixed location. It is frequently desirable that weapons be portable since mobility is an important aspect of modern weapon use.
Others have attempted a variety of solutions to the ammunition supply problem, including designing ammunition boxes that hold a large number of rounds. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,753,155 (Balister) describes an ammunition box capable of holding up to 300 rounds of ammunition and which delivers the ammunition directly to the feed tray of the weapon.
Still others have attempted to solve the supply problem by connecting ammunition magazines to each other. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,327,805 (Clifton, Jr.) describes a device that secures two ammunition magazines together. The magazines are engaged by mounting brackets that are then attached to each other by screws.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,668,479 and 7,073,285 (Obong) describe devices for holding a plurality of firearm magazines. The device comprises multiple compartments formed by two halves of a bracket structure, each of which is configured to accept a magazine. Like the '805 patent discussed above, the Obong device secures the magazines in the holder by means of a screw that clamps the bracket halves together.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,874,266 (Kong) describes a device to provide storage of a firearm cartridge within the cavity of a handgun grip.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,497,043 (Clifton Jr.) describes a device to hold two magazines together at different heights.
Despite these attempts, the prior art has yet to provide an ammunition magazine system in which magazines that are otherwise unstackable can be stacked together to provide a larger number of rounds of ammunition to a user. Further, the prior art solutions all suffer from the limitation that magazines are not readily swappable so that a user can exchange a spent magazine for a full one, without having to remove the magazine currently engage in the weapon.

Quick release ammunition connector assembly


An electric whistle has a power circuit, an inductor, an electric switch, a buzzer, a tone-set resistor and a sound IC. The sound IC generates an audio control signal to activate the electric switch. When the electric switch is activated, the inductor produces an induction voltage to activate the buzzer. The oscillation frequency of the audio control signal is determined by the single tone-set resistor without a capacitor. Therefore, few passive devices are used. The electric whistle of the present invention is compact and portable.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric whistle, and more particularly to an electric whistle with a small bulk which is compact and is convenient to be carried by a user.
2. Description of Related Art
A whistle is used for many purposes, such that:
A police officer can shrilly attract the attention of the public, especially over background noise such as traffic, and in a much louder manner than merely shouting.
At a ball game, an umpire can blow the whistle to inform the players about the judgments, such as rule breaking.
When a person is, suffering an attack on a street, the person can blow the whistle loudly to deter the attacker, and attract the attention of people nearby to ask for help.
With reference to Taiwan patent No. M245574, an electric whistle is disclosed. The electric whistle is more sanitary than a conventional whistle which is put into the mouth because the electric whistle can buzz loudly without being blown.
With reference to FIG. 3, the electric whistle comprises a control integrated circuit (IC) 40, multiple resistors R1-R3, a capacitor C1, an inductor L, a transistor Q1 and a buzzer 50.
The control IC 40 includes a first pin, a fourth pin, a fifth pin and a seventh pin. The seventh pin is adapted to electrically connect to a power source VCC to receive a working voltage.
The resistor R3 is electrically connected between the fourth pin and the seventh pin.
The capacitor C1 is electrically connected to the seventh pin.
The resistor R2 is electrically connected to the capacitor C1 in parallel.
The inductor L has a first coil La and a second coil Lb. The first coil La is electrically connected to the power source. The second coil Lb is coupled to the first coil La.
The transistor Q1 is a bipolar junction transistor (BJT), such as an NPN-typed BJT. The transistor Q1 has a base, a collector and an emitter. The base is electrically connected to the first pin of the control IC 40. The collector is electrically connected to the first coil La and the second coil Lb. The emitter is grounded.
The resistor R1 is electrically connected between the base and the emitter of the transistor Q1.
The buzzer 50 is electrically connected to the second coil Lb of the inductor L.
The control IC 40 generates an oscillation signal and sends the oscillation signal to the transistor Q1 via the first pin to activate the transistor Q1. The oscillation frequency of the oscillation signal is determined by the capacitor C1 and the resistors R2, R3.
When the transistor Q1 is turned ON, a current flows through the first coil La and the first coil La induces a magnetic field. Then the second coil Lb senses the magnetic field to produce an induction voltage to activate the buzzer 50.
However, passive devices, such as the capacitor C1 and the resistors R2 which are necessary for determining the oscillation frequency of the oscillation signal, certainly increase the bulk of the conventional electric whistle. The use of those passive devices means that the bulk of the conventional electric whistle cannot be reduced, thus rendering the electric whistle inconvenient being taken around by the user. Furthermore, the multiple passive devices will cause an excessively high manufacturing cost.


Provided is an EL display device which is provided with a power supply line driver circuit including a transistor having capability in supplying a large amount of current over an insulating substrate where a pixel portion is formed. An active matrix EL display device includes a plurality of pixels, a plurality of signal lines, a plurality of scan lines, and a plurality of power supply lines over an insulating substrate; a transistor formed using an oxide semiconductor with a field-effect mobility of at least higher than or equal to 80 cm2/Vs, preferably higher than or equal to 120 cm2/Vs over the insulating substrate; and a power supply line driver circuit including the transistor as a component.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an EL display device and an electronic device including the EL display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A transistor for driving a display element in a display device includes a silicon film or the like formed over a glass substrate or the like. Although a transistor including amorphous silicon has low field-effect mobility, it can be formed over a larger glass substrate. On the other hand, a transistor including polycrystalline silicon has high field-effect mobility, but it is not suitable for a larger glass substrate and used in a small or medium display device.
In a display device in which a light-emitting element such as an EL element is driven with the use of a transistor including polycrystalline silicon (EL display device), there is variation in threshold voltage and mobility among transistors including polycrystalline silicon in plural pixels. Patent Document 1 discloses a structure for reducing variation in threshold voltage and mobility among transistors.

SEMICONDUCTOR ENERGY LABORATORY CO., LTD.


The present invention discloses a golf club head having a variable loft angle that is designed to rotate thereby to allow selective variation of the loft angle of the club. The golf club head is connected to a shaft of a golf club and includes a head portion having a head body for striking a golf ball and a head heel extending upwardly from one side of the head body and bent at a given angle, and a fastening portion extending to the shaft and having a rotary assembly rotating with respect to the head portion and a fixing assembly for fixing the head portion to a position at which a given loft angle is selected.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a golf club head having a variable loft angle, and more particularly, to a golf club head having a variable loft angle that is designed to rotate thereby to allow selective variation of the loft angle of the club.
2. Background of the Related Art
There are no technical ideas related in the present invention that are conventionally known and therefore, an explanation of problems appearing in conventional golf clubs is given hereinafter.
Golf clubs traditionally comprise a number of woods, drivers, a number of irons, wedges, and putters, and they have somewhat different loft angles, according to the designs of a variety of companies. Generally, drivers have loft angles ranged between 5° and 13°, and woods have them ranged between 13° and 15°. A No.2 iron has a loft angle of 19°, a No.3 iron has a loft angle of 22°, a No.4 iron has a loft angle of 25°, a No.5 iron has a loft angle of 28°, a No.6 iron has a loft angle of 32°, a No.7 iron has a loft angle of 36°, a No.8 iron has a loft angle of 40°, and a No.9 iron has a loft angle of 44°. On the other hand, a pitching wedge has a loft angle of 48°, an approach wedge has a loft angle of 52° or 53°, a sand wedge has a loft angle of 55° or 56°, and a lob wedge has a loft angle of 60°.
A loft angle of a golf club is determined between a vertical plane of 90° formed at the front of a club face with respect to the ground line extended from a sole located at the front of the club face when a sole of the golf club is placed on the ground and a slant plane formed along the middle portion of the club face at which hitting a golf ball is executed. The loft angle is one of important considerations required when the golf club hits the ball. Thus, when the loft angle is large, the golf ball travels high, having a relatively short distance, and contrarily, when it is small, the ball travels low, having a relatively long distance.
However, all of conventional golf clubs have only one loft angle that is not variable because the club heads are undetachably fixed to shafts of the golf clubs. Thus, golfers should carry a full set of golf clubs adequate for various usage purposes. It is however inconvenient to carry the full set of golf clubs that is not used well, and even though the golfer has the full set of golf clubs, it is also not easy to change the golf clubs with another whenever required.

Golf club head having a variable loft angle


A syringe resheathing and holding device (10) for lockably receiving the needle sheath (16) of a hypodermic syringe (20) to permit unsheathing and resheathing using only one hand. The resheathing device (10) comprises a base member (12) for being supported and at least one sheath holder (14). The sheath holder (14) includes sidewalls (22), and a first end portion (24) and a second end portion (26), the first end portion (24) being secured to the base member (12). Further, the sheath holder (14) is provided with a sheath receptor (28) for lockably receiving the needle sheath (16). A suitable locking means is also provided for releasably locking the sheath (16) in the sheath receptor (28) while the syringe is being unsheathed and resheathed.

In recent years, the rise in the incidence of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), hepatitis, and other blood contaminating infections, has underscored the need for protecting health care workers from contact with contaminated blood and other bodily fluids. In this regard, the risk of contact with contaminated blood or fluid can be substantial during the administering of injections with hypodermic syringes and if great care is not taken, the administering health care worker can be accidentally injected or can otherwise come in contact with a contaminated needle. Of course, by resheathing the hypodermic needle with the needle sheath provided with most conventional syringes, the risk of contact with contaminated fluids can be reduced, but the risk of inadvertent injection or contact with a contaminated needle can be greatest when the manual resheathing of the syringe is attempted. Various devices have been constructed to make the administration of injections safer, but none of them have provided a safe and efficient device for resheathing a contaminated hypodermic needle. For example, in the above referenced applications Ser. Nos. 07/023,638, 07/028,410 and 07/164,348, the Examiner cited the following patents:
______________________________________ PATENT NO. DATE INVENTOR COUNTRY ______________________________________ 881,017 03/03/08 W. E. H. Morse USA 572,400 06/1924 M. Rossi FRANCE 447,992 08/1927 O. Hirsch, et al. GERMANY 1,647,039 10/25/27 R. L. Fischer USA 741,025 02/1933 M. L. Laval FRANCE 756,530 02/1934 M. Ollivier FRANCE 2,393,576 01/22/46 G. J. Thomas USA 2,642,868 06/23/53 O. H. Pontius USA 2,854,976 10/07/58 S. E. Heydrich USA 3,215,289 03/11/83 W. Bausch, et al. GERMANY 3,433,359 04/03/86 S. Kreisz GERMANY Des. 192,453 08/27/86 R. Law EUROPE 3,596,659 08/03/71 H. Glasser USA 4,040,419 08/09/77 A. Goldman USA 4,062,353 12/13/77 E. Foster, et al. USA Des. 248,491 07/11/78 J. M. Reiss USA 4,185,619 01/29/80 J. M. Reiss USA 4,286,591 09/01/81 K. Raines USA 4,629,453 12/16/86 T. M. Cooper USA 4,673,148 06/16/87 J. A. Oliver USA 4,737,149 04/12/88 J. T. Vernon USA 4,742,910 01/10/88 C. R. Staebler USA 4,753,345 06/28/88 S. W. Goodsir USA ______________________________________
A further problem that is encountered, particular by those in the dental profession, for example, is the need to administer a plurality of materials via syringe needles. These are usually preloaded with the various materials and placed on a table for ready access. Some materials may be used more than once during a procedure and thus the needle of a syringe will be unsheathed and resheathed a number of times. Further, there is a need for this to be done quickly, efficiently and safely.
A shortcoming of all of the known devices useful for the unsheathing an resheathing of hypodermic syringes is that they require the use of two hands: one to hold the device; and the other to hold the syringe. For example, Kreisz has a body or grip (1) that is held in one hand while the second hand manipulates the syringe needle into and out of the needle sheath. This is true, also, for the device of Vernon (see in particular FIG. 4) where there is a body (29) to be held with one hand while the user inserts or removes the needle with the other hand.
Another shortcoming of numerous of the devices of the prior art is the manner in which the sheath is held in the sheath holder. These depend upon some form of frictional fit. While this can possibly prevent loss of the sheath from the holder, it would be insufficient to prevent loss of a whole syringe and its sheath. Typical of the devices that rely on this "dynamic" engagement are the units of Kriesz, Vernon, Law and Stabler (which issued after the filing of the parent application to this continuation-in-part application). Thus, during transport, as from a storage compartment to a using location, separation could occur inadvertently. Also, there is no assurance that just a friction fit will adequately hold the sheath as the needle is withdrawn therefrom. While Vernon and Kriesz provide a notch to hold a flange of the sheath, in addition to a friction member, a force must be applied that is transverse to the axis of the syringe. This force may cause leakage between the threads on the end of the syringe and the typical plastic hub of the needle. This further emphasizes the need for use of two hands by users of these devices.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a resheathing device for releasably locking the needle sheath of a hypodermic syringe to allow the safe resheathing of a contaminated needle.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a resheathing device which serves as a holder for a syringe when the syringe is not in use.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a resheathing device which is portable and which includes a means for lockably engaging a syringe during transport to avoid inadvertent unsheathing of the hypodermic needle.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a structure whereby a user can unsheath and resheath the needle of a syringe using only one hand so as to minimize inadvertent contact with the syringe needle.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a resheathing device which is inexpensive to manufacture and maintain.


Fabrication methods for junctionless transistor and complementary junctionless transistor. An isolation layer doped with a first-type ion is formed on a semiconductor substrate and an active layer doped with a second-type ion is formed on the isolation layer. The active layer includes a first portion between a second portion and a third portion of the active layer. Portions of the isolation layer under the second and third portions of the active layer are removed to suspend the second and third portions of the active layer. A gate structure is formed on the first portion of the active layer. A source and a drain are formed by doping the second portion and the third portion of the active layer with the second-type ion on both sides of the gate structure. The source and the drain have a same doping type as the first portion of the active layer.

With development of semiconductor technologies, process nodes (critical dimensions) become smaller and demands for materials become higher. For a conventional field effect transistor (FET), source and drain regions can have different doping types and concentrations from channel region, and PN junctions can be formed between the source and the channel or the drain and the channel. As the size of devices shrinks, effects such as shifts of threshold voltage and elevations of leakage current may affect device performance. In some cases, device structures such as silicon-on-insulator, dual-gate, triple-gate, and ring-gate have been used to suppress short-channel and other adverse effects.
Since the device has continually been scaled down in size, areas of source, drain, and channel regions become smaller, control of doping process becomes more challenging, and formation of PN junctions between source and channel or drain and channel becomes more difficult. To overcome problems including sudden change of doping type and concentration, junctionless transistor having source, drain and channel regions of the same doping type has been developed. Meanwhile, junctionless transistor can suppress short-channel effect, and can operate even when the critical dimension (CD) has been scaled down to a few nanometers.
A junctionless transistor having a homogeneous material as substrate may have high source-drain parasitic capacitance in regions surrounding source and drain, which can seriously affect performance of the junctionless transistor. A junctionless transistor having a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate can have reduced parasitic capacitance between the source and the substrate or between the drain and the substrate. However, manufacturing cost of SOI substrate with small CDs can be very high. In addition, buried layers in the SOI substrate may have low thermal conductivity, thus heat generated in channel region may not be released as desired. This may cause overheating to affect the performance of the junctionless transistor.

Transistor device and fabrication method

SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING INTERNATIONAL (SHANGHAI) CORPORATION


A configuration for testing fluid with a single packer includes at least one sample inlet and at least one guard inlet surrounding a periphery of the at least one sample inlet, wherein the at least one sample inlet has at least one side that is parallel to another side of the at least one sample inlet and the at least one sample inlet has at least two rounded ends connecting each of the parallel sides, and the at least one guard inlet has at least one side that is parallel to another side of the at least one guard inlet and the at least one guard inlet has at least two rounded ends connecting each of the parallel side of the guard inlet.

Testing formation fluids in downhole conditions can be a challenging endeavor that presents many problems for engineers and scientists. To aid in the testing of such formation fluids, different apparatus may be used to accomplish the testing, including probes and single packer apparatus. Single packer apparatus have many advantages compared to standard testing devices. Single packer apparatus may be used to separate different segments of the wellbore so testing may be performed at a variety of pressures, for example.
In order to separate the different segments of a wellbore, the single packer device is positioned downhole to a desired elevation. The single packer, during placement, is generally in a minimum diameter configuration. Once the single packer is at the desired elevation, the single packer is expanded such that outer diameter of the single packer contacts the inner diameter of the wellbore. The expansion may occur, for example, through actuation of an internal mandrel.
Expansion of the single packer can lead to significant problems, due to many issues. Environmental issues can cause stresses on different sections of the single packer system and thus, it would be desirable to eliminate such stresses. Additionally, inlet designs for the single packer can provide different results, therefore specifying the types of inlet designs is an important aspect for a single packer.


A composite material is produced by a method where an adhesive composition which comprises a particulate material that reduces thermal stress and a brazing material containing a noble metal element as a base, wherein the adhesive composition can bond two or more kinds of different members to form a composite member with sufficient bond strength to avoid causing damages, such as cracks that occur on the side of the member that is weak against thermal stress, and also by a method to produce a composite member comprised of two or more kinds of different members, in which either the adhesive composition is used or the bonding portion of the different members is filled with the particulate material that reduces thermal stress, and then a molten brazing material is poured there into, and cooled to bond the members.

The present invention relates to an adhesive composition considerably reduced in residual stress, and to the utilization of this composition. More particularly, it relates to; an adhesive composition that can be used to bond two or more kinds of members which maintain high airtightness and are very different from each other in terms of their thermal coefficient of expansion, a composite member comprising members bonded using the adhesive composition, and a method for producing the composite member using the adhesive composition.
In the case of bonding of different kinds of members, especially when one of the members is easily damaged by thermal stress, cracks occur at and around the bonded interface during the bonding operation, particularly during the cooling operation after bonding at high temperatures, and the desired bond strength cannot be maintained. Therefore, the resulting composite member, which is a bonded body of the different members, is frequently broken during use causing accidents and other related problems. Furthermore, since cracks occur in the member which is weak against thermal stress, high airtightness as composite members cannot be maintained, and hence, the composite members must be disposed of as defective products, which results in an overall increase in costs.
For example, as an example of bonding of different members, a brazing material is used for the bonding of a ceramics member and a metallic member. In this case, in order to assure wetting of the ceramics member with the brazing material, generally after the surface of the ceramics member to be bonded is plated with a metal such as Ni, both the members are positioned facing each other with a suitable space in between and then a brazing material is poured into the space to bond the members. However, this method is not sufficient for diminishing thermal stress, and cracks often occur on the side of the ceramics member which is easily damaged by thermal stress, to affect not only the bond strength, but also various performances required for composite members, such as airtightness.
Furthermore, in order to ease the thermal stress, there is employed a method of using as an intermediate material a metal of low thermal coefficient of expansion or a soft metal capable of easing thermal stress upon plastic deformation at the time of bonding and a method of optimizing the interfacial reaction layer.
However, these techniques also have faults and are not necessarily highly flexible. There is a high-pressure solid phase bonding method which is now under development, but this method has not yet attained sufficient bonding strength and still has some unresolved issues which must be cleared up before practical use is possible.
On the other hand, as a composite solder, JP-A-6-126479 discloses a solder containing a powder comprising a material with a higher melting point than a solder. By filling the powder, comprising a material with a higher melting point than the solder, only into the central portion of the body of solder, this composite solder aims at overcoming the insufficient wetting with solder due to the powder present on the surface of conventional solders. In other words, this composite soldier aims at increasing the bond strength at the bonded interface. However, this composite solder does not effectively diminish thermal stress, and thus cannot be used for the bonding of different kinds of members which contain large differences in the amount of strength that they possess against thermal stress.
The present invention provides, an adhesive composition for bonding two or more kinds of different members, which can bond the kinds of different members and maintain a proper bonding strength without causing a phenomenon, due to thermal stress during the cooling operation after bonding at high temperatures, of reduction in bond strength at or around the bonded interface, or the occurrence of cracks at the members which are easily damaged by thermal stress during cooling operation; a composite member comprised of members bonded using the adhesive composition; and a method for producing the composite member using the adhesive composition.
As a result of intensive research conducted by the inventors, it has been found that the above objects can be attained by using a brazing material as a base, which is less restricted by kind or shape of the members to be bonded, and has a wide range of selections for bonding form, and by adding a particulate material capable of reducing thermal stress to said brazing material. Thus, the present invention has been accomplished.

Adhesive composition for bonding different kinds of members


Ester mixture comprising at least one ester of an aliphatic or aromatic di- or tricarboxylic acid having a C10 alcohol component composed of 2-propylheptanol or composed of a C10 alcohol mixture composed of 2-propylheptanol and of at least one of the C10 alcohols 2-propyl-4-methylhexanol, 2-propyl-5-methylhexanol, 2-isopropylheptanol, 2-isopropyl-4-methylhexanol, 2-isopropyl-5-methylhexanol, and/or 2-propyl-4,4-dimethylpentanol, and comprising at least one ester of an aliphatic or aromatic di- or tricarboxylic acid having a C7 alcohol component composed of n-heptanol or composed of an alcohol mixture composed of n-heptanol with at least one of the C7 alcohols 2-methylhexanol and/or 2-ethylpentanol, where the aliphatic or aromatic di- or tricarboxylic acid has been selected from the group consisting of citric acid, phthalic acid, isophthalic acid, terephthalic acid, and trimellitic acid, and polyvinyl chloride composition comprising this ester mixture.

U.S. Pat. No. 2,921,089 describes the use of dipropylheptyl phthalate and dipropylheptyl adipate as plasticizers for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and cellulose acetate. The mixtures of these esters with PVC are said to feature good low-temperature flexibility properties.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,426,542 teaches the preparation of alcohol mixtures which comprise 2-propylheptanol and 2-propyl-4-methylhexanol, the use of these alcohol mixtures for the preparation of phthalic esters, and the use of these phthalic esters as plasticizers for PVC. The mixtures of these esters with PVC are said to have good low-temperature flexibility properties and low plasticizer volatility.
EP 366 089 discloses the preparation of alcohol mixtures which comprise 2-propylheptanol and other isomeric C10 alcohols, the use of these alcohol mixtures for the preparation of phthalic esters, and the use of these phthalic esters as plasticizers for PVC. The mixtures of these esters with PVC are said to have high electrical resistivity. They are moreover said to feature low plasticizer volatility and high resistance to kerosine-extraction of the plasticizer.
JP 4 104 740, JP 4 106 132. and JP 4 106 145 describe PVC foils with dipropylheptyl phthalate as plasticizer. These foils are said in particular to have good mechanical properties and to be capable of use in the agricultural sector and also in the construction sector.
JP 4 106 146 discloses plasticized PVC compositions with dipropylheptyl phthalate as plasticizer, where the plasticizer has low volatility and high resistance to oil-extraction, and the compositions can be used as cable sheathing.
The subject matter of JP 4 299 924 is PVC coatings for acrylic polymers with dipropylheptyl phthalate as plasticizer, these being resistant to soiling and capable of use in the agricultural sector.
According to JP 4 258 641, PVC coatings with dipropylheptyl phthalate and epoxidized 1,2-polybutadiene as plasticizer feature very good weathering resistance.
JP 5 194 761 and JP 5 194 810 relate to the production of coatings from PVC and phthalic esters which can be prepared from alcohol mixtures comprising 2-propylheptanol and 2-propyl-4-methylhexanol. The coatings are said to resist soiling and to be water-resistant.
JP 5 214 159 and JP 5 214 192 concern compositions composed of PVC and of plasticizer esters which can be prepared from alcohol mixtures comprising 2-propylheptanol, 2-propyl-4-methylhexanol, and 2-methyl-2-ethylheptanol. The compositions are said to be relatively resistant to oil and to water and to have only a slight tendency toward plasticizer exudation.
JP 5 339 388 and JP 6 002 281 describe PVC foils and PVC synthetic leather which comprise phthalates whose preparation was based on alcohol mixtures composed of 2-propylheptanol and 2-propyl-4-methylhexanol. The good low-temperature flexibility properties of these PVC foils are emphasized in that specification.
JP 6 001 858, JP 6 001 862, JP 6 001 900, and JP 6 001 901 describe plasticized PVC compositions with phthalates whose preparation was based on alcohol mixtures composed of 2-propylheptanol and 2-propyl-4-methylhexanol. These compositions can be used for the coating of umbrellas, tents, or rainproof jackets, for cable sheathing, and also for the production of interior trim for buildings and automobiles.
JP 7 157 615 discloses plasticized PVC compositions with plasticizer mixtures which comprise esters based on the alcohols 2-propylheptanol and 2-propyl-4-methylhexanol. Alongside the good low-temperature flexibility properties of these compositions, mention is made of the low volatility of the plasticizer in these compositions.
JP 7 173 356 describes plasticized PVC compositions with phthalates based on the alcohols 2-propylheptanol and 2-propyl-4-methylhexanol, with high electrical resistance, which can be used as cable sheathing.
JP 7 179 699, JP 8 034 891, JP 8 059 937, and JP 8 283 510 relate to plasticized PVC coatings with phthalates based on the alcohols 2-propylheptanol and 2-propyl-4-methylhexanol, which can be used for the production of floorcoverings, interior decoration, baby pants, shower curtains, and also printed packaging foils.
JP 8 157 422 describes phthalic esters with mixtures composed of aliphatic C9, C10, and C11 alcohols in which the alcohols present comprise 2-propylheptanol and 2-propyl-4-methylhexanol, and their use as plasticizers for the production of compounded plasticized PVC materials with good stability at high and low temperatures.
JP 8 301 295 describes plasticized PVC foils with esters based on the alcohols 2-propylheptanol and 2-propyl-4-methylhexanol, and their use for the production of flexible containers for the transport of synthetic resins.
JP 7 304 920, JP 7 304 921, JP 7 304 922, and JP 8 003 401 disclose plasticized PVC pastes with dipropylheptyl phthalate which feature good storage stability and can be used as plastisols, for example in the production of sealing compositions for the automotive industry.
Since August 2004, the applicant has been offering for sale the product Palatinol® 7PHP in the USA, this being a plasticizer mixture composed mainly of linear diheptyl phthalate and dipropylheptyl phthalate, and in this connection the applicant published the technical datasheet "Palatinol® 7PHP—General Purpose Phthalate" in August 2004.
Plasticizers based on 2-propylheptanol, in particular bis-2-propylheptyl phthalate, have a number of advantageous properties. When compared with other plasticizers using C10 alcohols, e.g. diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP)—prepared via trimerization of propene to give nonene mixtures and their subsequent hydroformylation, hydrogenation, and esterification—they also feature lower volatility at relatively high temperatures and better weathering resistance, properties which result in particular interest in plasticizers based on 2-propylheptanol for applications in the cable sector and for interior automobile trim, and also for outdoor use, e.g. for roof coverings and coated tarpaulins. However, other than in niche applications, plasticizers based on 2-propylheptanol have not been able to achieve any great penetration of the market. The main reason for this is the low level of gelling action of plasticizers based on 2-propylheptanol, which makes it more difficult for the user to produce plastified PVC mixtures with these plasticizers.
The gelling action of esters for PVC is mainly characterized via the solution temperature of the ester for PVC, and this can be determined to DIN 53408. The plasticizing action of esters is primarily based on their physical capability to dissolve PVC, in particular at elevated temperatures. The temperature at which the polymer is a clear solution in a particular ester is therefore an important criterion for its usefulness. The lower the solution temperature of the ester for PVC, the better the gelling action. Low solution temperatures permit use of low temperatures during the production and processing of mixtures composed of PVC and ester.
To circumvent these processing problems caused by unfavorable gelling performance of the plasticizer, other esters known as "fast fusers" which have very good gelling performance are added to these plasticizers, particular esters being those of lower alcohols, e.g. dibutyl phthalate or diisobutyl phthalate. Although addition of these fast fusers improves gelling performance, it impairs the properties of the plastic plasticized with this mixture, for example its cold-crack temperature and torsional stiffness, and the evaporation rate of the plasticizer out of the plasticized plastic is increased, leading to undesired phenomena, such as greater fogging and premature embrittlement, during the use of the plastics thus plasticized. Another disadvantage of the fast fusers mentioned is that, because their volatility is relatively high, complicated precautions have to be taken during their processing, to keep their workplace concentration low.
Because the application-related effects described above of plasticizers and of fast fusers are negatively correlated, so that when a mixture composed of plasticizer and fast fuser is used, although the gelling performance of the mixture is improved over that of the pure plasticizer, the advantageous application-related properties of the pure plasticizer are adversely affected to the extent that it is supplemented with a fast fuser, it was an object of the present invention to provide ester mixtures based on the plasticizer alcohol 2-propylheptanol where the gelling performance of the mixtures is improved more than proportionally via addition of esters of another alcohol, in relation to the amount added of the esters of the other alcohol, without more-than-proportional impairment of the other application-related properties of the ester mixtures based on 2-propylheptanol, e.g. cold-crack temperature, torsional stiffness, or volatility from foils. Ideally, the advantageous application-related properties of the ester mixtures based on 2-propylheptanol should be very substantially retained.

C10/C7 ester mixtures based on 2-propylheptanol


An editing server is a multimedia content editing server that generates multimedia content including: media data including an image; and a media control script for controlling a reproduction scenario that includes at least one of a layout, a reproduction order, and a reproduction effect of the media data. The editing server includes: a script generation unit that generates the media control script, according to processing capability information that indicates a processing capability of a terminal for the media control script; and a multimedia content generation unit that generates the multimedia content including the media control script.

With the widespread use of digital still cameras, digital video cameras, and camera phones, the usage pattern in which captured digital photographs or digital video (hereafter referred to as "photographs" and "video", respectively) are viewed on a terminal apparatus (hereafter also referred to as "terminal") such as an imaging apparatus, a television, or a personal computer (PC) has increased in recent years. Moreover, the proliferation of the Internet and mobile phones has allowed users to exchange content such as photographs and video stored in their terminals with friends via a network.
Captured photographs and video may be viewed individually, or viewed in the form of a photo movie. The photo movie is one form of multimedia content: captured photographs or video are given background music (BGM) and one or more decoration images and reproduced in chronological order like a movie. The photo movie is described in, for example, Non Patent Literature (NPL) 1.
A processing apparatus capable of easily generating multimedia content is described in Patent Literature (PTL) 1. The processing apparatus described in PTL 1 is a terminal that aids in reproduction of multimedia content and generation of multimedia content by a user through the use of a template and a script included in the template.

Multimedia content editing server, multimedia content editing method, program, and integrated circuit

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


A method for the generation of a signal including a minimum of disturbances and noise is provided. A method for the detection of a signal including a minimum of disturbances and noise is also provided. An element of the signal is functionally dependent on at least one further element of the signal.

In broadband systems for transmitting or for retrieving information a synchronization with a useful signal is mostly required.
In such cases a receiver (e.g. a measurement device) often does not have any information a priori about whether and to what extent a useful signal is contained in a received signal or in an input signal. The situation is also rendered more difficult in that the received signal can be distorted or generally changed by a disturbance.
Disturbances often occur as white noise (or Gaussian noise), in which a spectral noise power density is practically constant in a specific more or less large frequency band. Particularly problematic are disturbances which differ from this type of white noise and exhibit pronounced time-selective or frequency selective properties.
Thus is a number of frequency channels can be disturbed over a short period in a receiver or in a measurement device such that a recognition of a useful signal is no longer possible per se in a frequency channel.

Method for the detection and generation of a useful signal and associated devices and communications system


A system for generating motion vectors in a motion estimator is configured for co-operating with an engine for calculating estimation error for generating motion vectors, according to estimation errors and/or motion vectors previously generated. The system comprises a program memory that contains program data for a motion-estimation algorithm, and a motion-vector memory that contains data identifying said motion vectors previously calculated. The system further comprises an arithmetic and logic unit co-operating with the program memory and motion-vector memory to generate motion vectors in a programmable way to get them to correspond, for example, to predictors deriving from motion-estimation operations already performed on the macroblocks of the reference frame or on the previous macroblocks of the current frame, as updates calculated using the co-ordinates of the motion vectors already issued for the current macroblock, or as absolute motion vectors, generated as such, taking the components directly from the program code.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems for generating motion vectors and has been developed with particular attention paid to its possible application in the framework of techniques for encoding digital video signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
Techniques for coding digital video signals aim at minimizing the memory occupied and/or the bandwidth required for storage/transmission of video sequences. The techniques reduce the temporal and spatial redundancy of the images (frames) that make up the sequence. Temporal redundancy is due to the correlation existing between successive frames of the sequence, whilst spatial redundancy is due to the correlation existing between samples (pixels or pels) of each image of the sequence.
Temporal redundancy is minimized by resorting to techniques of motion estimation based upon the hypothesis that each frame may be expressed locally as a translation of a preceding and or subsequent frame in the sequence.
Spatial redundancy is, instead, minimized by low-pass filtering and entropic encoding.
The diagram of FIG. 1 illustrates, in the form of a block diagram, the generic structure of a video encoder, designated, as a whole, by 10 and designed to produce, starting from the frames F at input, an encoded sequence ES at output.
The first block on the top left is the motion estimator, designated by 12, which has the task of minimizing the temporal redundancy between the current frame and the previous or subsequent frames stored in a frame-buffer memory designated by 14. The motion-estimation block 12 is followed by a block 16, which performs a transformation or transform designed to transfer the values of the pixels into the frequency domain. The values thus obtained are then quantized in a quantizer block designated by 18 to obtain a low-pass filtering effect, and the result is finally encoded on the basis of a variable-length code (VLC) into an encoding block, designated by 20.
The quantization step is calculated by the rate-controller block 22 according to the degree of occupation that it is desired to achieve in an output buffer memory designated by 24 and designed to supply the encoded sequence at output.
The quantized values are then subjected to an inverse quantization, carried out in a block designated by 26, followed by an inverse transform performed in a block designated by 28, the aim being to enable storage in the buffer memory 14, not of the original frames, but of the ones on which the video encoder is to operate during the decoding step.
As has already been said, motion estimation is the tool that enables elimination of the temporal redundancy between successive frames in a video sequence during the process of encoding of the digital video signal. This is done by dividing each frame into regions of luminance pixels (referred to as macroblocks), then expressing each macroblock as a difference with respect to a similar region in the preceding and/or subsequent frames by means of a displacement vector (or motion vector) associated with a prediction error given by the difference between the current macroblock of the frame and the region to which the motion vector points (the motion vector being known as "predictor"). In order to minimize the bit rate of the encoded video sequence ES, the prediction error (also referred to as "estimation error" or "matching error") must be as small as possible. This can be evaluated using, for example, mean square error (MSE), or else by the sum of the absolute differences (SAD).
For example, if the macroblock is a square region consisting of 16×16 pixels, the SAD is defined as described as follows.
Suppose that SAD (x, y) is the sum of the absolute differences between a macroblock in the position (x, y) in the n-th reference frame, with pixels of intensity Vn(x+i, y+j), and a corresponding macroblock in the position (x+dx, y+dy) in the m-th frame, which has pixels of intensity Vm(x+dx+i, y+dy+j); thenSAD(x,y)=Σi=015Σj=015|Vn(x+i,y+j)?Vm(x+dx+i,y+dy+j)|
A motion estimator of a generic type operates in the following way.
In the first place, it receives the data of the current macroblock CMB, generating the motion vectors to be examined for the current macroblock.
It fetches the data for the previous frame and/or the subsequent frames to which the motion vectors point, then aligns them and performs, if necessary, an interpolation of a sub-pixel type, thus constructing the predictor for each motion vector.
The estimator then calculates the prediction error for each motion vector, calculating the estimation error between the data of the current macroblock CMB and the predictor. After checking all the motion vectors, it chooses the one or the ones with the lowest estimation error, issuing it or them at output together with the associated predictor.
The motion-estimation function is a highly repetitive task and one with a high computational intensity. This explains why, in a digital video encoder, this function is performed usually by a dedicated co-processor, referred to as motion estimator.
A co-processor of this sort in general has a structure of the type of the one represented in FIG. 2 and comprising two main blocks.
The first block, which constitutes the motion-vector generator designated by 30, generates the motion vectors MV that are to undergo testing on the basis of the chosen motion-estimation algorithm.
The second block, designated by 32, is basically an engine for calculating the estimation error, which is to calculate the estimation error between the information regarding the current macroblock CMB and the predictor P to which the motion vector being tested points.
Once again in the diagram of FIG. 2, there is visible, at output from the engine for calculating estimation error 32, the line on which there is or are available the motion vector or vectors considered as winners, following upon the test; the said winning motion vectors, designated as WMV, are to function as new predictors P. The feedback information on the estimation errors ME and the motion vectors MV is sent back by the engine 32 to the generator 30 by means of the line designated by ME, MV.
In current hardware implementations, the first block 30 is usually built resorting to a solution of the hard-wired type.
Instead, as regards the motion-vector generator 32, it is possible to choose between a hardware implementation and a software implementation.
In the first case, the motion-vector generator 30 also has a hard-wired configuration which ensures high efficiency, a reduced area of occupation of silicon, and the possibility of functioning with a low power absorption. The main drawback is represented by the fact that this solution does not provide any margin of flexibility.
In the case of an implementation purely at a software level, the motion-estimation algorithm is executed on a dedicated CPU core which can be formed, for example, by a digital processor of the DSP type. This choice ensures the maximum level of flexibility, given that the CPU is completely programmable. The drawback of this solution is that it may prove rather slow and affected by a high power absorption if compared to a hardware solution.

Programmable system for motion vector generation


A cable connector assembly (1) includes a cover, an insulative housing (20), a number of contacts (22) retained in the insulative housing, a cable (7) electrically connected with the contacts, and a first and a second pull tabs (8). The cover includes a first and a second covers (3, 4) joined together to define a front end and a rear end opposite to the front end. The rear end defines a receiving space (46) therein. The insulative housing is situated at the front end of the cover. The first pull tab (81) includes a first engaging section (812), and the second pull tab (82) includes a second engaging section (822). The first engaging section engages with the second engaging section of the second pull tab and the engaged first and the second engaging sections are together received in the receiving space of the cover.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a cable connector assembly, and more particularly to a cable connector assembly having an additional pull tab for separating the cable connector assembly from a complementary connector more conveniently.
2. Description of Related Art
It is well known that a cable connector assembly comprises a cable end connector and a cable terminating to the cable end connector. The cable connector assembly electrically connects with a complementary connector to transmit signals from the cable to the complementary connector. The cable connector assembly and the complementary connector are often equipped with interlocking mechanisms to secure two mated connectors together.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,788,534 and 5,820,412 both issued to Koegel et al., each disclose a cable connector assembly having a pair of jackscrews assembled thereto. The jackscrew has an operating portion for being operated by a screw driver or by some other tools or by an operator""s fingers, a threaded portion for engaging with a mating connector and a medial portion interconnecting the operating portion with the threaded portion. The cable connector assembly comprises a contact module terminating an electrical cable and an upper and a lower covers enclosing the contact module. The lower cover defines a pair of first channels at two opposite lateral sides thereof. The upper cover defines a pair of second channels aligned with first channels. The pair of jackscrews is received in the first and the second channels in a manner that allows the rotation and movement of the jackscrews. When the cable connector assembly mates with the mating connector, the operating portion is operated to rotatably and movably actuate the threaded section to engage with a locking nut of the mating connector.
When the cable connector assembly is to be separated from the mating connector, the operator needs to loosen the screw-nut connection between the connectors by using the screw driver or the fingers of the operator. However, a panel of a chassis to which the mating connector is mounted may have so many components mounted thereon that the operator can only loosen the screw connection by using the screw driver. Then the operator has no choice but pull the electrical cable exposed out of the cable connector assembly for separating the cable connector assembly completely from the mating connector. The electrical cable usually comprises a plurality of wires each comprising at least one conductor. The conductors are respectively soldered with the contact module for establishing an electrical connection with the contact module to transmit signals. Under such condition, to completely separate the mated connectors, the pulling force must be bigger than a mating force therebetween. When such pulling force is exerted on the cable, the conductors stand a good chance of being divorced from the contact module. Thus, the signal transmission is adversely influenced.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,939, issued to Maitani et al., on Oct. 15, 1996, discloses a kind of latch spring used for a conventional cable connector assembly. The cable connector assembly comprises a pair of latch springs respectively attached on opposite sides of a housing of the assembly. An operating member has a pair of latch releasing cams located below angled portions of the latch springs. When an operator pulls a pull tab of the operating member backwardly, the latch releasing cams exert outward forces on the angled portions and U-shaped claws slip out to release a mated complementary connector. However, the structure of the latch springs is relatively complex, thus, the manufacturing cost thereof is relatively high. In addition, because the latch springs are positioned outside of the housing, they are easy to be damaged by a force exerted thereon.
Hence, a cable connector assembly with an improved pull tab for achieving a reliable transmission is needed to address the problems encountered in the related art.
An object of the present invention is to provide a cable connector assembly conveniently separating from a complementary connector.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a cable connector assembly having a simply structured pull tab.
In order to achieve the objects set forth, a cable connector assembly in accordance with the present invention comprises a cover, an insulative housing, a plurality of contacts retained in the insulative housing, a cable electrically connected with the contacts, and a pull tab. The cover comprises a first and a second covers joined together to define a front end and a rear end opposite to the front end. The rear end defines a receiving space therein. The insulative housing is situated at the front end of the cover. The pull tab is assembled to the rear end of the cover and comprises an engaging section received in the receiving space of the cover.

Cable connector assembly having pull tab


Provided is an indirect heated separation assembly that includes a vessel assembly having a heating section and a separation section, a wall separating the heating section from the separation section, the wall configured to be heated by a heating fluid in the heating section to provide indirect heat to the separation section, and a coil assembly at least partially disposed in the heating section, the coil assembly including an inlet configured to receive a process fluid and an outlet in communication with an inlet of the separation section to direct the process fluid after heating to the separation section.

The oil and gas industry requires multiphase mixtures to be separated in preparation for downstream processing. Gas produced from an oil or gas well will contain oil and water. Before the gas and crude oil can be refined, the liquids are separated from the gas, and the gas and water are separated from the oil. The separators function to separate a stream into oil, gas, and water components, and then function to separate the gas from the liquids, and the water from the oil. Some separation techniques utilize separation apparatuses positioned within the separator.


A multi-layered article includes a first nonconductive layer containing a base polymer and, optionally, a nonconductive filler, and a second conductive layer, set forth so as to be a surface of the article and containing a base polymer and a conductive material and, optionally, a nonconductive filler, wherein the base polymers have essentially the same molecular structure of repeating units and wherein the mechanical properties of the first and second layers are essentially the same. Method for the production of such a multi-layered article including the steps of forming the layers using injection molding, extrusion, or blow molding techniques are also provided.

The presence of electrically conductive surfaces on polymeric articles are required in many applications. For example, electrically conductive surfaces are oftentimes required for spray painting articles such as, but not limited to, vehicular body parts such as automobile body fenders, mirror housings, grills, and bumper fascias, as well as aircraft components and household products, such as refrigerators and other like appliances.
Electrically conductive surfaces may also be important in the production of tires. It is known that electrostatic charges are produced by the mechanical and electrical components operating within a motor vehicle. For example, a rotating shaft within a bearing can result in an electrostatic charge being generated within the vehicle. To dissipated this and other charges, electrically conductive rubber tires are employed on these vehicles. Were such dissipation not to occur, interference with electronic components within the motor vehicle would likely occur. Furthermore, static shock might be experienced by the vehicle's passengers as they board the vehicle. High electric charges have also led to safety hazards upon refueling of the vehicle. Accordingly, rubber tires have typically acted as an adequate conduit for the dissipation of such static charges produced from the mechanical or electrical components of a motor vehicle.
Presently, in order to provide electrically conductive surfaces to articles for various applications such as spray painting, the articles are manufactured entirely from conductive compounds of homopolymers or copolymers or blends thereof. The conductivity is achieved by the incorporation of conductive fillers, such as carbon fibers, carbon black particles, metal particles, etc., into the polymer from which the entire article will be formed using preferably conventional molding techniques. Unfortunately, many of these conductive compounds or polymers are very expensive. Therefore, the manufacturing of the article is very expensive.
Articles and products requiring electrically conductive surfaces are usually made by extrusion, compression or injection molding processes. However, some of these processes deleteriously affect the surface conductivity of the article or product.
For example, in the manufacture of articles via the injection molding process, a commonly utilized process for manufacturing these articles, high shear conditions oftentimes occur. These conditions, where the shear rate is typically between about 1000 and 10,000 l/sec., often lead to the migration and separation of the conductive particles, e.g., carbon black or metal particles, from the product surface. That is, when injection molding, the conductive particles within the polymer matrix used to form the article will often tend to be pushed or migrate away from the surface of the article. Thus, the surface of the article will tend to be rich in the polymer matrix and lean with respect to the conductive particles, while the core of the article will tend to be rich in the conductive particles and lean with respect to the polymer matrix.
Another problem with using conductive polymers throughout the entire molded product, besides the expensive cost of the polymers and problem of migration and segregation caused by high shear rate conditions, is that the conductive particles may reduce certain mechanical properties, such as tensile strength, in the article being manufactured. In some cases, it is desirable to maintain the high mechanical properties associated with certain homopolymers or blends thereof.
In tires, the problems with electrical conductivity has arisen due to the fact that tire manufacturers have begun to use less conductive materials, e.g., silica, within the tires which has, in turn, resulted in a decrease in the dissipation of static charge through such tires. Accordingly it is desirable to maintain the excellent advantages provided by the use of silica-filled tires, but yet adequately dissipate the static electricity which builds up in the motor vehicle.
Several patents have taught tires or tire treads having a thin conductive layer on the outermost portion of the tread. However, these tires processes add the conductive layer by spray coating or by production of an additional layer which does not include the advantageous filler. Thus, the filler is never a part of the conductive layer.
Thus, the need exists for a multi-layered article having at least one electrically conductive layer comprising a surface of the article and at least one non-conductive layer adjacent to the electrically conductive surface layer and forming the core, or at least another portion, of the article, both the conductive and non-conductive layers being made from the same or similar base polymer(s) and/or filler(s). In addition to the conductive material in the layer, the conductive layer can be filled with one or more non-conductive fillers, while the non-conductive layer can be filled with non-conductive filler(s). It is also desired to continue using well known processing techniques in the manufacture of these articles.
It will also be appreciated that production of articles having only the surface as a conductive layer may further be useful in solving problems associated with EMI shielding with conductive cores.

Multi-layered article having a conductive surface and a non-conductive core and process for making the same


According to one embodiment, a wireless communication device includes: a receiver that configured to receives a first frame; and a transmitter that configured to transmits a second frame including a first identifier and acknowledgement information on the first frame, the first identifier being extracted from a predetermined field of the first frame and being different from a source address of the first frame.

A MU (Multi-User) communication is currently proposed as one of technical items under next-generation wireless LAN (Local Area Network) standard. The technical items include UL-OFDMA (Uplink Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) communication. In UL-OFDMA, a plurality of wireless communication terminals (STA: Station) are allocated to, for example, different frequency subchannels in a frequency channel so as to simultaneously transmit frames.
A frame sequence example of an UL-MU transmission will be discussed below. First, an access point (AP) transmits a trigger frame to specify STAs for permitting the transmission of the frames through a UL. The specified STAs (in this case, STA1 to STA4) transmit the frames (in this case, data frames) to the AP according to a predetermined transmission method such as a frequency subchannel used for transmission and a PHY transmission rate.
The AP having received the frames from the STAs generates a response frame, which includes acknowledgement information on the frames, for the frames received from STA1 to STA4, and then the AP transmits the response frame to STA1 to STA4 after SIFS (Short Interframe Space: =16 μs) from the end of the frame. The response frame may be, for example, a Multi-STA BA (Multi-Station BlockAck) frame.
The Multi-STA BA frame carries the acknowledgement information on the frames received by the AP from the STAs accompanied with STAs' IDs (identifiers) which are locally allocated by the AP to the STAs in order for the STAs to distinguish the corresponding acknowledgement. For the generation of the Multi-STA BA frame, it is required at the AP to have a mechanism to convert the STAs' MAC addresses set in the frames transmitted from the STAs to the STAs' IDs. This is because in the frames received by the AP from the STAs, the MAC addresses are the only fields where the STAs are identifiable at MAC (Medium Access Control) level.
An example of such a mechanism is a method of storing an ID table by the AP, the ID table containing sets of MAC addresses and IDs corresponding to the MAC addresses. In this method, however, the number of STAs which can be connected to the AP is restricted depending on the upper limit amount of information stored in the table. In order to avoid the restriction, the AP needs to provide a memory having a sufficient capacity. Also, the larger the number of STAs connected to the AP, the longer the ID retrieval from the table. As described above, a time period from the reception of the frames from the STAs sent under MU transmission to responding with the Multi-STA BA frame is SIFS. Thus, in order to make a rapid response with a large number of STAs, a hardware resource is more consumed accordingly.

TOSHIBA ELECTRONIC DEVICES & STORAGE CORPORATION


A method for discovering emulated clients. A verifier sends a cryptographic challenge C to a client and preferably starts a timer. The client uses a deterministic key search algorithm to find the correct key and returns the result as a number of tries needed. The verifier then stops the timer if this was started and verifies that the result is correct and preferably that the response was timely. Also provided is a verifier.

It is very common in networks to have a server providing services to a client. The client, commonly with a user, demands a service from the server, which, usually after verification that the client has the right to access the service, provides the service to the client. Examples of such services are video-on-demand, printing of documents, and unlocking of locked doors.
Unfortunately, there are people, so called "hackers" or "pirates" who try to obtain access to such services without having the right to do so. To this end, they use various techniques to overcome the security solutions in the networks.
One of the solutions that attempt to thwart the efforts of the hackers is authentication, i.e. the server authenticates the client to ensure that it is an authentic client. The authentication may be performed using the presentation of a valid or signed identity, the presentation of a username and associated password, or protocols involving symmetric or asymmetric cryptography.
Another solution is to make sure that the receiving device is located in a particular network. For example, EP 1650671 describes a system in which a transmitter sends a random challenge to a receiver that calculates the proper response. Then, the transmitter commands the receiver to return the response and calculates the time to the reception of the response. However, the solution only allows the transmitter to calculate the distance to the receiver, while it gives no certainty whatsoever as to the nature of the receiver that may very well be emulated without the transmitter being the wiser.
Yet another solution is to use closed platforms that are difficult to reverse engineer to recover their secrets or to modify their behavior. This solution, usually used together with other solutions such as authentication, is for example used in game stations (e.g. PlayStation and Xbox), set-top boxes in pay-TV systems, triple-play modems (e.g. Freebox and Livebox) or mobile phones. This is, naturally, quite different from personal computers (PCs) for which it may be argued that their strength comes from the diversity of architectures.
While it is difficult to emulate a closed platform sufficiently to impersonate it towards the server, it has been shown that this is not impossible. The standard solution to this problem is revocation. When the system authority becomes aware that a client has been cracked, the client is put on a revocation list. During authentication, the server first verifies if the client is on the revocation list and, if so, denies service.
For the revocation to be efficient, the system authority needs to be aware that a device has been cracked. This may take a long time during which the hacker may continue to enjoy the services or, even worse, let others know how to emulate the device so that the services may be used by many people.
A solution to this problem is fingerprinting a client, for example by measuring execution time. This kind of fingerprinting assumes that an emulated client is slower than a client on a bona fide platform, but as processors still become faster and faster, this is not an assumption to be relied upon, especially for platforms of a certain age.
It can thus be appreciated that there is a need for a solution that improves upon the current security solutions, making it easier to detect emulated devices.
The present invention provides such a solution.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Device and method using non-cycle accurate measurements for discovering emulated clients