A Portable signaling device comprises a housing having a first face and a second face, the housing being provided with a first opening in the first face and a second opening in the second face. The first opening is smaller than the second opening. A lamp is mounted to the housing for motion between a first position in which the lamp is oriented towards the first opening and a second position in which the lamp is oriented towards an interior of the housing. A shifting component is movably mounted to the housing and engageable with a lamp mount for operating on the mount to move the lamp between the first position and the second position. An electric power supply is provided in the housing. Contacts are provided in the housing for operatively connecting the power supply to the lamp at the first position and the second position only. At other positions of the lamp, the lamp is disconnected from the power supply and is therefore de-energized.

This invention relates to a portable signaling device. More particularly, this invention relates to a portable signaling device which is alternatively utilizable as a flashlight.
Attracting a taxi cab is fraught with difficulties for both the taxi driver and the potential customer who is trying to attract the driver's attention. The taxi driver's concentration on the traffic is diverted in his or her attempts to locate a customer. The customer may be on the sidewalk with other pedestrians or in between parked cars or may otherwise be difficult to visually perceive.
In addition, there is a significant percentage of the population who are handicapped in their ability to attract the attention of a cab driver. Such people may be confined to wheelchairs or may use walkers and are accordingly unable to make quick and extended motions for signaling a cab driver. Many other people simply do not wish to be exposed to the undignified and often dangerous maneuvers required to attract a driver's attention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,001,455 to Starchevich discloses a portable signaling device which provides a solution to the above problems. The signaling device is lightweight and displays the word "TAXI" in bright lettering capable of being spotted by taxi drivers under crowded traffic and pedestrian conditions.


A method for measuring hydraulic conductivity of geological samples using a closed volume pumping system that ensures constant volume of test liquid within the sample and a shaped tube of mercury to provide a constant pressure difference across the sample to eliminate second order influences on the hydraulic conductivity measurement and to speed measurement.

The invention relates generally to geological test instruments, and, in particular, to instruments for detecting how well fluids are conducted through geological materials such as clays, rocks, and soil.
The hydraulic conductivity of geological materials is important for determining their drainage capacity and the mobility of liquids such as oil or water in subsurface strata. The hydraulic conductivity of less permeable geological media may be less than 10.sup.-4 cm/sec.
Measurement of such hydraulic conductivities presently entails placing the sample in a test cell so that liquid flow may occur only between an inlet and outlet opening in the cell. Tubing connects the openings to burettes containing the test fluid, typically water. The burettes have adjustable heights and graduation lines so that the column heights of the contained fluid may be easily measured.
In the "fallinghead risinghead" method of measuring hydraulic conductivity, the water level in one burette is placed above the water level in the other to establish a pressure differential across the sample and the rate of flow measured by comparing, at periodic intervals, the changing heights of the liquid columns in the burette.
In the "fallinghead" method, only one burette is used and the remaining opening in the test cell drains into a graduated cylinder or similar device.
In both methods, the burettes are typically open to the air. However, they may be closed and pressurized, for example with compressed air, to achieve a greater pressure difference. This pressurization addresses the problem that steady state hydraulic flow necessary to establish conductivity can take many hours or weeks to occur.
In a "constant volume" method originally described by Bjerrum, L. and Huder, J., in their publication Measurement of Permeability of Compact Clays, Proc. 4.sup.th Intl. Conf. on Soil Mech. and Foundation Eng., 1957, a closed loop is established between the inlet and outlet to and from the test sample so that the test sample always has a constant volume of test fluid. A falling column of mercury incorporated into this closed loop provides the pressure difference across the test sample. While this method has decreased measurement times (by decreasing the time to steady state hydraulic conductivity where inflow equals outflow), the test results can still take many hours or days to stabilize.
All of these methods have produced erratic results if insufficient time is allowed for stabilization to occur.

Apparatus and method for testing the hydraulic conductivity of geologic materials


A method for operating a dishwasher machine (1), in particular a domestic dishwasher machine, in which in order to eliminate odors, the air located in a washing container (2) is passed by a photocatalytic layer (5) exposed to a light source (6) in order to oxidise the odour-forming molecules contained in the air. According to the invention, this is carried out during a standstill phase of the dishwasher machine (1).

In practice, the duration of the standstill phase of a dishwasher machine, that is the time interval between two wash cycles, can be several days. During this standstill phase the dishwasher machine is usually opened and closed again many times to insert dirty items to be washed. Organic constituents on the items to be washed are rapidly decomposed by bacteria as a result of the advantageous conditions prevailing in the interior of a dishwasher machine such as, for example, the temperature, the high humidity, darkness and the enclosed space. This is associated with unpleasant odors which flow towards the user of the dishwasher machine every time the door is opened. The odors are only eliminated by putting the dishwasher machine into operation again.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a dishwasher machine where the user is not exposed to such unpleasant odors even after a fairly long standstill phase.
For sterilising rinsing water, e.g. after a fairly long stoppage time of the dishwasher machine, DE 22 20 189 C2 proposes a dishwasher machine which comprises a UV emitter in the water supply line after the water softener. Similarly, DE 200 14 633 U1 proposes to illuminate the inner area of the dishwasher machine with UV light for the purposes of sterilisation or disinfection. In both cases, however the problem of unpleasant odors during a fairly long standstill phase is not solved with dirty items to be washed stored in the dishwasher machine.
DE 100 36 850 A1 discloses a device and a method for delivering a liquid product with a fragrance-producing or odour-absorbing or antimicrobial-acting active substance in the interior of a dishwasher machine. The device is actuated every time the door of the dishwasher machine is closed. Since the device for delivering the liquid product needs to be exchanged at regular intervals, additional costs are incurred in this case for the user of the dishwasher machine. In addition, it is questionable whether the odour-absorbing substance delivered by the device can still provide its effect to a satisfactory extent after the door has not been actuated for a fairly long time.
For masking odors by incorporating odiferous substances, DE 83 15 008 U1 proposes a disk of plastic material impregnated with an odiferous substance. The device is provided for use in the crockery basket of the dishwasher machine and remains permanently therein. After each crockery wash cycle, the desired improvement in odour occurs as a result of the elevated temperature. No odour improvement can be provided with this arrangement during the standstill phase.
WO 98/12048 discloses the provision of a thin photocatalytic film for use in air flow channels, filter devices and in sections in electrical appliances exposed to a built-in illumination device. This film has an enhanced catalytic effect as a result of various additives. The film can decompose organic substances which are the cause of odors in the air even in weak light. Use within the scope of a wash cycle of a dishwasher machine is described.
EP 0 869 156 B 1 discloses a composite material having a surface which can be made hydrophilic. In this material, one layer contains a photocatalyst consisting of titanium dioxide, photoexcitation being carried out to allow water molecules to adsorb physically onto the surface.
US 2002/0153021 A1 describes an industrial dishwasher machine provided with a conveying device through a washing and a drying zone. The items to be treated by this device are subjected to air drying combined with UV irradiation.
The devices and methods disclosed in the prior art disclose various possibilities for keeping items to be washed in a dishwasher machine as well as the interior of the dishwasher machine sterilised as well as improving odors by means of odiferous substances which are mounted in a storage means and released in a manner coupled to a wash cycle or the actuation of the door. However, the procedures known from the prior art only provide odour improvement to a certain extent since the proposed measures are linked to the execution of a wash cycle or the presence of odiferous substances.

Method for eliminating odors in a dishwasher machine


An information transmitting method for an information processing device connected to other information processing devices, the information transmitting method including the steps of: a step of instructing font information for transmitting information; a step in which, if font information about the instructed font is not stored in the information processing device, a discrimination is made whether or not font information about the instructed font is stored in the other information processing devices connected; a step in which, if a discrimination is made as a result of the discrimination that there are information processing devices in which instructed font information is stored, one information processing device is selected from the information processing devices; a step of loading instructed font information from selected information processing device into the device; and a step of transmitting information in accordance with loaded font information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus having common character font data via a network.
2. Related Background Art
A variety of office tools, for example, personal computers, office computers, facscimile machines, word processors and the like have been widely used in offices. Accordingly, a LAN must be created which is capable of connecting above-described equipment and personal work stations to one another to combine information in vertical and horizontal structures for the purpose of realizing a total office system and the LAN is further required to serve on an open and transmissive communication equipment. In order to meet the above-described requirement, a network OS (office system) if available.
The above-described network OS is capable of realizing a dispersed information process structured on the basis of a PC (Personal Computer) network so that information can be supplied/received to and from a host system or a UNIX work station. A protocol, which can be commonly used regardless of the equipment type, is loaded into each work station and the servers so that sharing of data files, connections between different kind equipment and sharing of peripheral equipment can easily be realized.
However, the following problem to arise in the above-described conventional structure because the content of data cannot be administrated:
In a case where a required font data is not present on the operator's own work station, the operator must always issue a command to other work stations or servers (printers) so as to select optimum font data in order to load down the font data required for the own work station.

Method of commonly using font information for outputting information in a system having a plurality of information processing devices


A mounting apparatus for fixing an expansion card includes a motherboard, an expansion slot installed on the motherboard, an expansion card inserted into the expansion slot, and two latching members respectively fixed to two ends of the expansion card. Each latching member includes a base plate fixed to the end of the expansion card, and a resilient hook extending from the base plate to latch an end of the expansion slot.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to mounting apparatuses, and particularly, to an apparatus for mounting an expansion card.
2. Description of Related Art
Many expansion cards, such as a memory card, are usually fixed on a circuit board of an electronic device, such as a computer or a server, by a mounting apparatus. The mounting apparatus includes an expansion slot to electrically connect the expansion card, and two locking members disposed at two opposite ends of the expansion slot for clamping two opposite ends of the expansion card. However, the expansion slot can only mount one type of expansion card, such as memory cards. An expansion card of a different type, such as a solid state disk card, includes a connector mounted on an end of the card will interfere with the corresponding locking member. Thus, the solid state disk card cannot be fixed only through the locking members.

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.


A spiral antenna device includes one or more conductive spiral arms that are formed on a dielectric substrate attached to a wall of a cylindrical cavity. One or more coils are formed on the wall of the cylindrical cavity and are coupled to the one or more conductive spiral arms. Starting points of the one or more conductive spiral arms are in a center region of the dielectric substrate and ending points of the one or more conductive spiral arms are electrically coupled to first ends of the one or more coils.

Antennas operate to control energy wave propagation and are critical components for various wireless transmission and reception systems, such as telecommunication, aerospace, and/or data transmission systems in general. Edwin Turner is credited with first generally investigating the spiral antenna in 1954 when he wound a long wire dipole into a spiral form and connected its terminals to a two-wire feed line. Results from his experiments have spurred further investigation that continues even today. Spiral antennas have been designed in various planar or conical shapes, the most common being the equiangular and Archimedean.
Spiral antennas can simultaneously operate in three fashions: as fast-wave, leaky-wave, and traveling-wave antennas. Excited currents in the spiral antenna conductors form a traveling wave that allows for broadband performance. The traveling wave of a fast-wave antenna has a phase velocity in excess of the speed of light because of the mutual coupling between neighboring arms of the antenna. The traveling wave of the spiral antenna radiates continuously along its length, and hence the corresponding propagation wave number kz is complex and consists of both a phase and an attenuation constant, resulting in leaking energy while propagating.


An article dispensing assembly is provided for supporting a plurality of product containers on a stacked array of shelves mountable on uprights in a compartment such as a refrigerated space. A first series of product containers of a first quality or character are supported in side-by-side substantially parallel rows on each shelf and a second series of product dispensers are supported respectively between adjacent rows of the first series of product containers. The shelves, in turn, are adjustably supported for fore and aft positioning on the uprights. The first series of products are indexed to the front of each shelf whereas the second series of products automatically are urged forwardly in their respective trays by a corresponding pusher assembly.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to article dispensing devices, and more particularly, to a new and improved article dispensing device or apparatus for storing, displaying and dispensing a multiplicity of articles from and within a defined space.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, merchandizing devices in the form of shelving racks for storing, displaying, and dispensing various articles at the "point of sale" are well known in the art. For example, convenience stores or supermarkets conventionally use refrigerated cabinets including racks of shelving for storing, displaying and dispensing various beverage, food or other perishable product containers.
Typical examples of the foregoing prior art devices may be found in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,218,444; 2,289,751; 5,706,956; 5,718,341; and 6,189,734.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,218,444 shows a simple "merchandising" rack disposed in a refrigerated compartment. The rack is inclined from back to front for serially dispensing via gravity a row of milk bottles or the like, the first one of which is held in position at the front or bottom of the rack by an arcuate-shaped bar or guard. When a customer removes the first bottle, the row of remaining bottles slides down the rack until the next bottle abuts and is held in place by the arcuate guard.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,289,751 illustrates a display rack containing multiple shelves superimposed one over the other in a "hi-rise" configuration where each shelf comprises multiple, spaced, parallel inclined racks for serially gravity-feeding containers from back to front. Here again, each rack terminates at its lowest elevation at the front or bottom of the rack in an arcuate bar or guard to maintain the first container in the row in an accessible position.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,706,956 discloses a merchandizing rack especially suited for stabilizing "tall" product containers moving along a path defined by a corresponding inclined track on a shelf in the rack. The stabilizing members are in the form of spaced parallel guide members supported on the underside of the shelf positioned immediately above each inclined track. The guide members in turn define guide channels for receiving and guiding the upper portion of each product container, the bottom portion of which is supported for movement by the corresponding below positioned inclined rack.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,718,341 shows a merchandising rack for tall product containers having guide channels for the upper portions of the containers, and further including a bridging member between adjacent guide channels to provide a "billboard surface" between the rows of supported containers.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,189,734 discloses a merchandising rack for rows of tall product containers supported at their upper portions by guide channels where the lead container in each row is dispensed into a corresponding support basket suspended at the front end of the inclined track defined by each guide channel.
Thus, while the above-described body of prior art indicates it to be well known to use merchandising assemblies in the form of shelving defining stacked rows of inclined product container support channels, a need exists to render such merchandising devices, as well as other known merchandising supports (e.g. flat shelf or spring-indexed arrangements) more efficient by maximizing the amount and type of product that may be stored, displayed and dispensed thereby.
More specifically, it would be extremely desirable to utilize the heretofore wasted space between the narrowed upper portions of tall product containers in prior art merchandising racks to store, display and dispense "auxiliary" products of a different quality or character. As an example, and without limitation, where the tall product is a 20 ounce bottle of soda pop, such an auxiliary product may comprise rows of candy bars or packages of chewing gum.
As will be made apparent from the following description hereinbelow, the foregoing desiderata is met by the present invention which broadly stated provides a new and improved merchandising or article dispensing apparatus uniquely featuring multiple-shelf stacking of a first product in parallel, adjacent rows on each shelf, in combination with auxiliary product dispensing assemblies positioned respectively between pairs of adjacent rows of the first product on each shelf, where the auxiliary products are of different kind or quality with respect to the first product. Additional advantages of the present invention over the prior art also will be rendered evident.


An apparatus includes a chamber, an electro-mechanical driver, a window, and a mechanical cantilever. The chamber has an interior in which the mechanical cantilever is located. The mechanical cantilever has a first end that is attached to the electro-mechanical driver and has second end that is free. The driver is configured to drive the mechanical cantilever to perform an oscillatory motion. The window is located along a wall of the chamber to enable external light to enter the chamber and illuminate a portion of the mechanical cantilever. The mechanical cantilever is configured to mechanically respond to being illuminated by the external light entering the chamber via the window.

1. Technical Field
The inventions relate to light detectors and methods of detecting light.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
This section introduces aspects that may be helpful to facilitating a better understanding of the inventions. Accordingly, the statements of this section are to be read in this light. The statements of this section are not to be understood as admissions about what is in the prior art or what is not in the prior art.
Light detectors have used a variety of physical processes to measure light intensities. Examples of the physical processes include light-induced chemical reactions, light-induced heating, and light-induced charge carrier transfers. Each such physical process has limitations on its ability to measure incident light intensities. Some limitations on the measurement abilities result from the speed of the physical process and/or the wavelength-selectivity of the physical process.

Cantilever light detectors having a mechanical cantilever to mechanically respond to illuminated light


A controlled-torque fastener limits the torque which may be applied to it for the delivery (screwing-in) of the fastener into a threaded bore of a workpiece or the like. The fastener has a threaded shaft and a tool seat which is configured to be engaged by a driving tool such as a conventional wrench. The tool seat is movable between a driving position in which the tool seat is in driving engagement with the shaft and a non-driving position in which the tool seat effectively disengages the driving tool from driving engagement with the shaft. Resilient biasing means urge the tool seat into the driving position, and driving torque applied to the tool seat urges the tool seat against the biasing force towards the non-driving position. When the driving torque applied to the tool seat exceeds a pre-selected maximum torque, the biasing force is overcome, thereby disengaging the driving tool from effective driving engagement with the shaft, and discontinuing delivery of the fastener.

1. Field Of The invention
The present invention is concerned with controlled-torque fastening devices, more particularly with threaded fasteners of the type which can be tightened only to a pre-determined torque level.
2. Description Of The Related Art
Controlled-torque fastening devices are well known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,667,339 discloses a controlled-torque fastening device comprising a threaded shaft fitted with a core member (9 in FIG. 1) about which a shell member (10) is shrink-fitted for frictional engagement therewith. The shell member is designed to be engaged by a driving tool which drives it and the core member in order to drive the fastener. When the driving torque applied to the shell member reaches a certain level, it overcomes frictional engagement between the core and shell members so that the shell member rotates freely about the core member, thereby effectively disengaging the driving tool from driving engagement with the fastener to prevent further tightening of the fastener.
Also well known in the art are controlled-torque threaded fasteners in which a component member of the device is ruptured or permanently deformed at a pre-determined torque level, in order to effectively disengage further application of torque to the fastener. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,929,054 discloses, in FIGS. 7-11 thereof, an embodiment of a threaded fastener in which the shaft has a boss 23' which is flared outwardly to retain a nut-like driving plate 19' in camming engagement with a base member 17' affixed to the shaft. The driving plate 19' and the base member 17' have matching serrated surfaces so that driving torque imposed upon the driving plate 19' drives the shaft until the torque reaches a pre-determined level, at which point the base member 17' cams the plate 19' upwardly to permanently deform, i.e., damage or destroy, the boss 23', thereby enabling the plate 19' to rotate freely about the threaded shaft. In FIGS. 1-6 of the patent, there is shown a threaded fastener in which the nut-like plate member 19 is splined to an extension portion of the shaft, the splines 25 fracturing (see FIG. 6) at a pre-determined torque level to effectively disengage the plate member from driving engagement with the shaft and prevent the imposition of further torque on the shaft.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,444,775 discloses a controlled-torque threaded fastener including a tightening nut formed with multiple torque-off collars which are broken off at pre-determined torque levels, thereby permitting staged tightening of bolts to pre-selected torque levels. U.S. Pat. No. 3,267,792 discloses a torque-limited hex nut utilizing a shear pin 34 which fractures when the pre-determined level of shear is reached, thereby allowing the outer portion of the nut to rotate about the inner portion and prevent further tightening. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,812,757 and 4,029,379 also disclose bolts having a head or neck portion which is fractured at a pre-selected torque level to prevent further tightening.


A graphene wiring structure of an embodiment has a substrate, a metal part on the substrate, multilayered graphene connected to the metal part, a first insulative film on the substrate, and a second insulative film on the substrate. The metal part is present between the first insulative film and the second insulative film. Edges of the multilayered graphene are connected to the metal part. A side face of the first insulative film vertical to the substrate opposes a side face of the second insulative film vertical to the substrate. A first outer face of the multilayered graphene is in physical contact with a first side face of the first insulative film vertical to the substrate. A second outer face of the multilayered graphene is in physical contact with a second side face of the second insulative film vertical to the substrate.

A multilayered wiring in a chip is required to be finer along with higher integration and miniaturization in a memory and the like, and it is expected that the most recent flash memory reaches a half pitch of 10 nm or less around 2020. On the other hand, resistivity is rapidly increasing along with the miniaturization due to an increase in inelastic scattering of a generally-used metal wiring of Cu or the like, and is reaching the limit of the material. To the contrary, it is reported that a nano-carbon material such as graphene or carbon nanotube (CNT) has a remarkably longer mean free path or higher mobility also in a finer area than the metals, which is expected as a next-generation fine wiring material. In particular, graphene may form a fine-width wiring in a lithography process well compatible with the existing LSI process, and fine-width integrated wiring based on multilayered graphene by CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) is increasingly developed.
A method for manufacturing the fine-width wiring structure using multilayered graphene is basically to pattern entirely-grown catalyst, but there is a problem that a metal material such as Fe, Co or Ni having a capability to dissolve and precipitate carbon at a low temperature is difficult to etch. As a solution thereto, there is proposed a method for performing damascene wiring on a catalyst metal and patterning it thereby to selectively grow carbon on the wiring. A carbon layer is precipitated with excellent selectivity on the catalyst metal layer of Ni or the like in a trench patterned by CMP. However, according to the present method, a metal barrier layer for holding Ni is required inside a wiring trench, and a thickness thereof is required on both sides of the trench, which is a remaining problem against finer width.

Graphene wiring structure and method for manufacturing graphene wiring structure


A cleaning device for disinfecting a Luer access device includes a housing and a cleaning material. The housing has an opening and elastomeric sidewalls defining an inner cavity. The elastomeric sidewalls are configured to deform and conform to respective surface features of the Luer access device. The cleaning material is positioned within the inner cavity and carries a disinfectant. The cleaning device is configured to removably engage the Luer access device, and the cleaning material is configured to contact at least a portion of the Luer access device when the cleaning device is engaged with the Luer access device.

The present disclosure relates to disinfectant caps for Luer access devices and connectors, such as Luer activated valves ("LADs") and fittings and connectors.
Within the medical field, there is a need to prevent the infection of a patient from a potentially contaminated surface of a medical apparatus. One particular area of need is to ensure that surfaces for Luer connectors that may come into contact with fluid being delivered parentally into a patient or other environmental contamination exposure are placed into and/or maintained in a sterile condition. For example, traditionally clinicians are required to scrub the Luer accessed surface of a LAD with a disinfectant, such as isopropyl alcohol ("IPA") before and between accesses. This procedure typically involves alcohol swabbing prior to use with a pad of cotton gauze soaked in IPA. However, the disinfection of LADs is at times disregarded or executed with haste. Failure to properly disinfect the LAD accessing surface may lead to contamination on the surface coming into contact with a male Luer tip connecting to the LAD. Should the contamination be pushed into the fluid being injected through the LAD it may lead to an occurrence of a blood stream infection.
Male Luer caps may environmentally protect the male Luer connector of a set when the connectors are not already protected with a tip protector or when they are not attached to a female Luer connector or a LAD. Male Luer caps may also include the ability to disinfect designated surfaces of the male Luer tip. Although a variety of male Luer caps having disinfecting qualities are known, there remains a need for a low-cost alternative that is simple and inexpensive from a manufacturing standpoint, yet is capable of disinfecting an exterior surface of the tip and maintaining the surface in a sterile condition between uses.

Disinfectant caps for Luer access devices


In a vehicle seat, an ottoman portion that includes a shaft member that attaches to the sitting portion, a first frame member that rotates about the shaft member, and a second frame member that is fixed to a cushion. One side of the first frame member is attached to one side of the second frame member, and the other side of the first frame member is attached to the shaft member. From a position in which the other side of the second frame member that faces the cushion is close to the other side of the first frame member to a second position in which the ottoman portion is extended in front of the seat from the sitting portion so as to support a calf of the occupant, the other side of the second frame member and the other side of the first frame member spread apart.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a vehicle seat that has a seat cushion, the length dimension of which can be changed, and an ottoman (a mechanism that is able to support the calves of an occupant).
2. Description of Related Art
Japanese Patent No. 4324444 describes one such vehicle seat according to related art. With this vehicle seat, a seat cushion has a sitting portion on which an occupant can sit, and an ottoman portion that is connected to a front end of the sitting portion. The ottoman portion can be displaced between a first position and a second position. In the first position, the ottoman portion points downward with respect to the seat and is compactly arranged in a lower portion of the seat so as not to get in the way of the occupant (i.e., the bent legs of the occupant). Also, in the second position, the ottoman portion is extended out in front of the seat from the sitting portion and supports the calves of the occupant.
Here, the related seat cushion has a cushion that forms the contour of the seat, and a plurality of mechanisms (i.e., a link mechanism and a pivoting mechanism) below the cushion. The cushion is a member that can elastically expand and contract, and the ottoman portion and the sitting portion are formed so as to be continuous. The ottoman portion swings (i.e., slides) in the longitudinal direction of the seat with respect to the sitting portion. Also, the pivoting mechanism enables the ottoman portion to rotate about a front end of the sitting portion. With this related art, the ottoman portion in the first position is slid by the link mechanism until it contacts the calves of the occupant. Sliding the ottoman portion (i.e., performing a seat length changing operation) in this way enables the length dimension of the seat cushion to be extended. Then, the ottoman can be extended in front of the seat (i.e., displaced to the second position) by rotating ottoman portion about the front end of the sitting portion by the pivoting mechanism.


A method and apparatus for measuring a leakage current of a semiconductor device having a first end and a second end are disclosed. The apparatus for measuring a leakage current includes a capacitor having one end coupled with the first end of the semiconductor device; and a MOSFET transistor having a drain node, a gate node formed to be coupled with one end of the semiconductor and source and bulk nodes formed to be coupled with the second end of the semiconductor device and to receive power.

In the prior art method for measuring a P-N junction leakage current, the size of a test structure is determined based on the electrical current sensitivity level of the measurement equipment. In general, in order to precisely measure a leakage current with existing measurement equipment, a P-N junction should be made to have a leakage current of above 10−12 A.
Thus, considering that a general P-N junction leakage current is 10−18 A/μm2˜10−15 A/μm2, a large test structure is required.
This means that in order to measure a leakage current with respect to a small particular device, thousands to tens of thousands of such devices should be formed in the form of an array.
As a result, the prior art leakage current measurement method has a problem that a large test structure is required to accurately measure a leakage current. Further, the leakage current of an actual device in use is measured in the form of an array, rather than being directly measured, and the measurement is estimated by an average value of the array.

Method and apparatus for measuring leakage current


A U-shaped groove and a V-shaped groove are formed onto a cladding disposed on a substrate, a core and a metal structure are formed inside the grooves, respectively, and then the substrate surface is planarized. Further, after a cladding is formed again, the substrate is cut and the cut surface is polished such that the metal structure inside the V-shaped groove has a predetermined thickness, thereby forming a scattering body.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a near-field light generating element that is mounted on a recording head that records a variety of information on a recording medium, using light, particularly, near-field light, and a near-field light generating element.
2. Background Art
Recently, the information recording/reproducing device in information processing equipment is exposed to demands for size reductions in of the device itself and recording and reproducing larger amounts of information. Therefore, the media where information is recorded, such as the magnetic medium of a hard disk drive, improve in record density every year. In order to cope with the increase in record density, it is necessary to reduce the size of a magnetic domain that is one recording unit (small magnet mounted on a recording medium) and make the domains closer together, but as the size is reduced, a phenomenon where the recorded magnetic domain is unintentionally reversed due to the influence of adjacent magnetic domains, heat energy around the magnetic domains, or the like occurs. Materials with strong retention ability are employed for the recording medium to suppress this phenomenon. Although a recording medium with strong retention ability suppresses the unintentional reversal phenomenon, a magnetic domain cannot be reversed and recording becomes difficult unless a larger magnetic field is applied during recording.
A method of performing rewriting by radiating light to heat only the magnetic domain to be recorded such that temperature is increased and the coercive force is reduced, in order to remove the defect has been proposed. Since the size of the magnetic domain itself for recording is greatly reduced due to a yearly increase in record density, it is necessary to concentrate light, for heating, in a size equal to or less than the wavelength of light, which has been considered as a limit in the optical systems in the related art. In order to realize this, it is possible to concentrate light onto a smaller area to heat the area by using near-field light, such that it is possible to achieve a high record density which exceeds the information recording/reproducing devices of the related art.
A head that records information, using the light assist magnetic recording method, requires an element generating high-intensity near-field light and a magnetic head disposed very close to the element and rewriting the information on a medium. The element generating high-intensity near-field light is particularly important. Various configurations have been proposed for the near-field light generating element. Those in JP-A-2007-280572 and JP-A-2007-128573 may be exemplified. A second light waveguide medium (cladding) is disposed in contact with a first light waveguide medium (core) and provided with a refraction index smaller than the first light waveguide medium. A fine flat and triangular scattering body (near-field light generating element) is disposed such that light is radiated through the first light waveguide medium. Since the near-field light generating element having this structure can directly radiate light to the scattering body from the core without using a lens or the like, high polarization is not generated in the core. Since large polarization is not generated, it is possible to generate high-intensity near-field light without losing the effect of the electric charges collected on the surface of the scattering body.
The near-field light generating element is implemented in a submicroscopic structure with a core having a cross-section with one side of hundreds of nanometers and a scattering body having one side of a hundred and several tens of nanometers and a thickness of tens of nanometers. Therefore, the scattering body that generates near-field light requires high dimensional accuracy, at least about several to 10 nanometers. Further, it is described in JP-A-2007-280572 and JP-A-2007-128573 that the intensity of the generated near-field light is greatly changed by the relative positions of the core, cladding, and scattering body. However, JP-A-2007-280572 and JP-A-2007-128573 do not disclose a manufacturing method that implements the positional and dimensional accuracy of about several to tens of nanometers.

Method of manufacturing near-field light generating element and near-field light generating element


Temporal sequences of predicted measurement data (Y), among which there are predicted movement data (W) relating to temporal sequences of digital images (I), are compared with temporal sequences of measured measurement data (S), among which there are measured movement data (V) relating to the same temporal sequences of digital images (I), by forming differences (D) from measured measurement data (S) and predicted measurement data (Y). These differences (D) are fed to a time-recursive filter (TRF) for estimating temporal sequences of state variables (X). The predicted measurement data (Y), including the predicted movement data (W) are determined from these state variables (X) with the aid of a measurement map (H). These predicted movement data (W) are used to determine (ME) measured movement data (V) relating to the temporal sequences of digital images (I). The method facilitates the determination of spatial structures and the analysis of spatial object movements, including intrinsic movement. Moving objects can be detected and segmented reliably.

With the aid of methods for analyzing temporal sequences of digital images, the aim is to use one or more temporal sequences of digital images, possibly with the aid of measurement data of further sensors, such as tachometers or range finders, for example, to determine and analyze the movements of moving objects in space, the intrinsic movement of the imaging sensors (cameras) recording the images, and the spatial structure of the scenes visible in the image sequences.
Such methods are required in various technical fields, for example, in information technology, communication technology and automation technology, in order reliably to detect moving objects, determine their form, classify them with the aid of their movement, and mutually to coordinate the movement of a plurality of automatic systems. In this case, there is a requirement for as wide ranging an immunity as possible against external disturbances, and for a reliable distinction between changes in illumination and movements.
Examples of applications of such methods are found in video-based systems for monitoring and control functions, for example in production engineering or in road traffic control and instrumentation (intelligent traffic light control). The determination of spatial structures and the analysis of spatial movements is of the highest significance for applications in robotics, as well as for aims in autonomous navigation. For the purpose of supporting vehicle drivers, there is a need for systems which are capable, with the aid of one or more video cameras and of the vehicle speed determined by the tachometer, and with the aid of other data such as measured distance data, for example, of detecting moving objects in the environment of the vehicle, the spatial structure of the vehicle environment and the intrinsic movement of the vehicle in the environment, and of tracking the movement of detected objects. Finally, in communication technology the reduction of image data for purposes of transmission and storage of image data is steadily gaining in significance. Precisely in the case of coding temporal image sequences, analysis of movements delivers the key to a decisive reduction in datasets or data rates (movement compensation, model-based image coding).
Descriptions of different methods for analyzing temporal sequences of digital images are found in the specialist literature. The simplest type of method is represented by the so-called change detection (J. Wiklund, G. Granlund, "Image Sequence Analysis for Object Tracking", Proceedings of the 5th Scand. Conference on Image Analysis, Stockholm 1987), in which temporally successive images are compared. An improved change detection is described, for example, in A. Mecocci, Moving Object Recognition and Classification in Natural "Environments", Signal Processing 18 (1989), pages 183-194. It is based on the comparison of a temporal image sequence with a sequence of reference images which are calculated in a temporally recursive fashion and from which the moving objects are eliminated. The essential disadvantage of change detection is to be seen in that a stationary camera is presupposed.
Methods which are based on estimating displacement vectors or displacement vector fields in the image plane are of general applicability for analyzing movements. Such methods are, for example, described in H. H. Nagel, "Analyse und Interpretation von Bildfolgen", ("Analysis and Interpretation of Image Sequences") Informatikspektrum (1985) 8: pages 178 to 200 and pages 312 to 327, or in J. K. Aggarwal, N. Nandhakumar, "On the computation of Motion from Sequences of Images--A Review", Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol. 76, No. 8, 1988. In these types of method, displacement vectors of moving objects or of features such as edges or corners, for example, on moving objects are determined in the image plane.
Methods on the basis of two-dimensional displacement vectors or displacement vector fields are basically suitable for analyzing movements in digital image sequences. Their applicability is not subject to any sort of limiting assumptions concerning the movement of the camera or the movement and number of the moving objects visible in the image. However, with regard to analyzing the movements in three-dimensional space, these methods are to be regarded only as preprocessing or measurement methods, since the three-dimensional structure of the environment and the three-dimensional movement of objects cannot be directly gathered from two-dimensional displacement vectors.

Method for analyzing movements in temporal sequences of digital images


A system for monitoring and controlling the power of a Radio Frequency (RF) signal in a short-range RF transmitter. An RF signal-generation unit generates the RF signal. A power amplifier amplifies the RF signal. An impedance-matching network matches the output impedance of the power amplifier to input impedance of an antenna. One or more RF power monitors monitor the voltage amplitude of the RF signal at the output of at least one of the RF signal-generation unit, the power amplifier and the impedance-matching network. The one or more RF power monitors further generate at least one alarm signal, based on the voltage amplitude of the RF signal. A control unit modifies at least one operating parameter of at least one of the RF signal-generation unit and the power amplifier, based on the at least one alarm signal generated by the one or more RF power monitors.

A short-range Radio Frequency (RF) transmitter comprises an RF signal-generation unit, a power amplifier, an impedance-matching network, a control unit and an antenna. The RF signal-generation unit generates an RF signal. The power amplifier amplifies the RF signal. The antenna radiates the amplified RF signal. The impedance-matching network matches the output impedance of the power amplifier to the input impedance of the antenna. The control unit controls the operations of the RF signal-generation unit and the power amplifier.
If one or more of the RF signal-generation unit, the power amplifier and the impedance-matching network has failed or malfunctioned, the power delivered to the antenna becomes very low. Consequently, the required RF power to ensure the radio link may not be radiated.
There already exists a system that solves this problem to some extent. The system detects faulty conditions, such as low transmitted power and high reflected power to rapidly switch off the power amplifier or turn on a backup transmitter. However, the system does not alert the control unit when the power amplifier or the RF signal-generation unit fails.

System for monitoring and controlling the power of a radio frequency (RF) signal in a short-range RF transmitter


A dispenser (1) for a liquid product (P) containing a film-forming polymer in the form of fine droplets, includes a container (2) containing the product (P) and at least one propellant gas (G). A valve (15) for dispensing the product, mounted on the container (2), includes a body (24) provided with a first chamber (28a) and a second chamber (28b), intercommunicating via a passage (p), movable element (16) for actuating the valve (15) being provided for the dispensing of the product, the first chamber (28a) being provided with a first additional gas intake opening (d.sub.1), and a second opening (d.sub.2) for the intake of the product in permanent communication with this product, the second chamber (28b) at least partially formed of the actuating element (16). In this valve, the delivery rate during the dispensing of the product (P) is determined by the cross-section of the passage (p).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dispenser of a liquid product containing a film-forming polymer. More particularly, this dispenser is an aerosol dispenser comprising a container with a pressurized propellant gas, a dispensing nozzle, and a dispensing valve for actuating the dispensing of the product at will and for allowing this product to be delivered in the form of fine droplets or a mist.
In accordance with the invention, the product to be sprayed is an aqueous or hydroalcoholic composition containing at least one film-forming polymer. More particularly, this composition is a hair composition such as a lacquer for holding the hair, a brushing out lotion, a setting lotion, or a hair-styling solution.
2. Description of the Background
Conventionally, the hair compositions to be sprayed onto the hair are in essence constituted by an alcoholic or hydroalcoholic solution and a solubilized polymer, optionally in a mixture with various cosmetic adjuvants. Usually this solution is packaged either in a pump bottle or in an appropriate pressurized container.
For some years, particular interest has been shown in obtaining essentially aqueous cosmetic hair compositions. Indeed, the use of an alcohol such as ethanol or isopropanol on its own or in a mixture with a small proportion of water may have certain drawbacks, in particular inflammability.
Moreover, for economic and ecological reasons, attempts are increasingly being made to reduce the content of volatile organic compounds present in cosmetic compositions, mainly solvents such as ethanol, that are sprayed into the atmosphere.
To reduce the quantity of volatile compounds, an attempt has been made to replace by water the solvents such as ethanol. However, although most of the hydrosoluble film-forming polymers in an aqueous solution may lead to obtaining a composition for fixing the hair, they have major drawbacks. Thus the essentially aqueous solutions of these hydrosoluble polymers do not allow high degrees of fixation to be obtained. It has been proposed to use these hydrosoluble polymers in high concentrations, but an increase in their concentration produces such an increase in the viscosity of the compositions that satisfactory spraying can be obtained only with great difficulty. Even if correct spraying is obtained, these aqueous compositions have a particularly long drying-out time as compared with alcohol-based compositions, which gives them but little practical value.
It has also been proposed to use aqueous dispersions of insoluble particles of polymers, instead of solubilized polymers. However, to date, the results obtained have not yet been satisfactory. In particular, the Applicant has found that when one tries to use, in a conventional aerosol dispenser, high concentrations of polymers that are insoluble in the medium, in particular an aqueous medium, the quality of the spray is not satisfactory. The atomized liquid particles are not fine; frequently the spray is not diffuse and the dispensing is irregular. To avoid an excessive drying-out time of an aqueous dispersion, the Applicant has tried to reduce the delivery rate of the valve during the dispensing of the product. In these conditions, it has been found that the spraying nozzle and/or the dispensing valve frequently have a tendency to clog up. Moreover, the Applicant has noted the formation of foam round the spray opening which is prejudicial to the spraying quality. Moreover, this foam flows onto the container and dirties the user's fingers.
From EP-A-0 008 109, there is known a pressurized dispenser for the dispensing of a liquid product or of a dispersion of particles. This dispenser is provided with a valve comprising a main body and a prenuxing chamber provided with an additional gas intake. The product is passed into this chamber via a capillary dip tube. The chamber communicates with the valve body. The valve body can be caused to communicate with a spraying nozzle by operating an actuating stem that has for this purpose a passage opening obturated in the rest position. The delivery rate of the valve is determined by the cross-section of the capillary tube. According to this document, the inflammability of the product to be sprayed is reduced by using a valve with a premixing chamber.
Moreover, U.S. Pat. No. 3,653,553 discloses a dispenser with a sequential valve comprising an additional gas intake and provided with a premixing chamber. This valve is configured in such a way as to allow the dispensing ducts down the line from the valve to be purged by a jet of pure propellant gas. The valve is provided with an antechamber into which there leads an additional gas intake. A kneed duct obtained in the bottom portion of the actuating stem connects this antechamber to the internal space of the valve body. During a partial depression of the actuating stem, propellant gas penetrates into the antechamber, resulting in a drop in the internal pressure in the antechamber, so that any drawing-in of the product via a drawing-in duct is prevented. During the complete depression of the valve stem the duct is obturated by a projection of the stem so that a gas/product mixture can be dispensed. During this complete depression, the internal space of the antechamber is occupied substantially completely by the lower portion of the stem, so that in the dispensing position, this antechamber is substantially non-existent. In other words, in the dispensing position, this valve has almost no antechamber. With such a device, the problem of the presence of foam in the upper portion of the device (in particular round the spray opening) occurs to a substantial extent.
Furthermore, BE-A-664 905 describes a valve of the same kind. At the bottom of the valve body, there is provided an opening for the intake of the product, leading into a premixing chamber provided with an additional gas intake. The premixing chamber is separated from the main valve chamber by an elastomeric partition which is traversed by a passage opening. During the actuation of this valve, the elastomeric partition is pushed towards the bottom of the valve body, so that the premixing chamber becomes virtually non-existent. The problems posed by such a device are identical with those described with reference to U.S. Pat. No. 3,653,553.
Since the correct atomization is an essential element for the final quality of the application of a hair composition to be sprayed onto the hair, it is of the utmost importance to remedy these drawbacks to obtain a good quality spray with fine particles and a good spread of the spray over the head of hair as a whole.

Dispenser for dispensing in the form of fine droplets a liquid product with a film-forming polymer


A strip coupled type convolver includes an aluminum nitride (AlN) layer and a semiconductor layer both provided on a single sapphire substrate, and includes many metal strips extending across a surface wave propagating path on a surface of the AlN piezoelectric layer to transmit a potential on the piezoelectric surface to a Schottky diode array provided on the semiconductor surface to cause a nonlinear interaction.

A monolithic convolver formed by providing a ZnO layer directly on a semiconductor Si surface is characterized by a relatively great in the TB product (T:signal processing time, B: bandwidth), has a high efficiency and is obtained at a low cost. These features lead to the possibility of using such convolver as a key device in a correlation signal processing apparatus of a spread-spectrum communication system.
However, such a monolithic convolver still involves the following drawbacks:
(i) A bias voltage must be applied to a metal gate on the ZnO layer in order to hold the Si surface in a depletion condition.
(ii) It takes a very long time constant to establish a constant condition of the Si surface after the bias voltage is applied, to the metal gate on the ZnO layer. A major reason for this is incompleteness of the ZnO layer.
(iii) The manufacturing yield is decreased by the process of providing the ZnO layer generally by sputtering, because the underlying Si substrate is known to be damaged by the plasma in the sputtering process.
(iv) The propagation loss of surface waves is large when they propagate along the ZnO layer surface on the Si substrate, and this invites a relatively large decrease in the efficiency.
(v) The Sezawa mode, although most often used because of its significantly large coupling coefficient, exhibits a relatively large speed dispersion of surface acoustic,, waves, and this nature necessarily limits the band width of the element.


A lamp assembly (500) may include a linear light-emitting array (100) and a reflecting surface (101) arranged to limit the angular distribution of direct light while supplementing with reflected light the intensity of the direct light on a flat surface (102) of an object being illuminated. The reflecting surface (101) may be shaped to cause the distribution of the total illumination over the illuminated portion of the flat surface (102) to be uniform or to be linearly tapered or to have another desired profile. The reflecting surface (101) may be part of a heat-sinking reflector (300) that may include a mounting surface (302), a blind (303), oblong mounting holes (304) allowing rotational adjustment, heat sink mounting holes (305), and/or one or more exit holes (307), and that may have end pieces (400) attached to it.

There exist multiple types of light sources currently in use for providing illumination. Such light sources are commonly referred to as lamps. Most of the lamps in use are electrically powered. One of the most common types in use is an incandescent lamp in which a filament of tungsten or other refractory material is heated by the power dissipated in the electrical resistance of the filament when an electrical current is forced through it. Much of the dissipated power is radiated as heat in the form of infrared radiation, some of the power converts to heat that leaves the lamp through thermal conduction and convection, and a relatively small portion of the power is radiated as visible light. For an incandescent lamp the power efficiency of the lamp, which is calculated as the ratio of the power radiated as visible light to the total electrical power dissipated in the lamp, is typically about 5 percent or lower.
The envelope of an incandescent lamp is capable of operating at high temperatures, and the portion of the dissipated power that is not radiated as heat or light is usually carried away almost entirely by convection. There usually is no need for an additional heat sink.
The light radiated from the filament of an incandescent lamp emerges in all directions, and any attempt to distribute the light efficiently and uniformly over a limited illuminated area in practice requires compound optics, such as a reflector in back of the envelope and either a reflector or a lens in front of it.
Another common type of lamp is a discharge lamp, in which electrical current flows through a gas. Excited by the current, the gas emits infrared, visible, and ultraviolet radiation. A fluorescent lamp is a type of discharge lamp in which much of the ultraviolet radiation is converted to visible radiation by a fluorescent coating. Other types of discharge lamps include sodium lamps, carbon arc lamps, mercury arc lamps, neon lamps, xenon lamps, plasma lamps, and metal halide lamps. Visible light is radiated with power efficiencies ranging up to the low twenty percent range. Much of the remaining power is dissipated as infrared or ultraviolet radiation, and some may be converted to heat that is carried away through thermal conduction and convection.
Discharge lamps share with incandescent lamps the ability to shed heat without the addition of a heat sink. Discharge lamps also share with incandescent lamps the need for compound optics to direct the light efficiently and uniformly over a limited illuminated area.
A newer category of light sources distinct from incandescent lamps and discharge lamps is that of solid-state light-emitting devices. Included in this category are, for example, electroluminescent devices, semiconductor lasers, and light-emitting diodes. Unlike incandescent lamps and discharge lamps, solid-state light-emitting devices suitable for illumination emit substantially all of their radiation in the form of visible light, and the amount of power emitted in the form of infrared or ultraviolet radiation is relatively insignificant. Currently, the most efficient of these solid-state light-emitting devices, the light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and the semiconductor lasers, may operate at power efficiencies as high as twenty to forty percent. The electrical power that is not converted to light is converted to heat. To be efficient and long-lasting the solid-state devices cannot operate at high temperatures. Due to the small sizes of practical high-power devices and the low temperatures at which they must operate, usually only a small fraction of the heat is removed from the devices directly through convection, and the remainder of the heat must be removed by thermal conduction through a heat sink that in turn spreads the heat and transfers the heat to the surrounding air by way of convection over a large surface area.
Also, unlike incandescent and discharge lamps, solid-state light-emitting devices emit light over a limited range of directions. Most, in fact, emit only into a half-space, since the devices are attached to heat sinks that would block any light emitted in other directions. This fact, coupled with the fact that solid-state light-emitting devices can be very small compared to incandescent and discharge sources, may present some unique opportunities.
There are many lighting applications in which a large, flat surface, often rectangular in shape, must be illuminated with some degree of uniformity. Examples include the illumination of billboard signs; illumination of displays, paintings, food service, etc.; illumination of walls for color or dramatic effect; and indirect lighting, in which walls or ceilings are illuminated so that they will act as non-glare sources of diffuse light. The usual practice is to use spotlights or floodlights for illumination or, in the case of indirect lighting, to hide the light source within a cove that keeps direct light from striking the eyes of viewers but allows direct and diffuse reflected light to strike a wall or ceiling. The illumination resulting from these methods is often lacking in either uniformity or efficiency. Meanwhile, methods for achieving more uniform illumination, such as the use of projection optics as in a movie projector or slide projector, are usually too expensive due to the cost of the optics. In addition, the use of projection optics often requires that the light source be inconveniently distant from the object being illuminated.


A data current generation circuit includes a data voltage generation circuit, a data voltage transmission control circuit, a compensation control circuit, a first capacitor, a first transistor and a reference voltage writing circuit. The data voltage transmission control circuit transmits a data voltage from the data voltage generation circuit to a first electrode of the first transistor; the compensation control circuit is electrically connected to a gate and a second electrode of the first transistor separately and associates a threshold voltage of the first transistor with the gate of the first transistor; the first capacitor stores a voltage of the gate of the first transistor; the reference voltage writing circuit is electrically connected to the first electrode of the first transistor and a first reference voltage output terminal separately; and the second electrode of the first transistor serves as an output of the data current generation circuit.

A current-type pixel driving circuit includes a pixel driving current generation circuit that provides a data current for a pixel circuit. The pixel driving current generation circuit can convert a data voltage to a data current and then provides the data current for the pixel circuit.
In the process of the pixel driving current generation circuit converting the data voltage to the data current, since a transistor that generates the data current has a threshold voltage, the real data current converted from the data voltage may deviate from the theoretical data current, resulting in poor uniformity of a display panel.

Data current generation circuit including a compensation control circuit, driving method, driver chip and display panel


An air-jet driven dynamic balance test apparatus for testing the dynamic balance of minrotors with minimum interference from external vibration noise. The dynamic balance test apparatus comprise a resilient supporting steel sheet having a horizontal bottom portion fastened to a base and an elongated upright body portion extended upwardly from the horizontal bottom portion to carry the sample to be tested. An air-jet generating device is provided to produce a continuous stream of compressed air for rotating the sample about its central axis. The resilient supporting steel sheet contains a resilient section for increasing sensitivity of said test apparatus. The resilient supporting steel sheet contains a resilient section, which can be the resilient steel sheet itself or in the form of a row of through holes or a corrugated section. A detector is mounted on the resilient supporting steel sheet to detect the vibration as the sample is being rotated during testing. An electromagnetic valve and a pressure regulating valve connected to an I/O interface of a master computer can be provided to automatically regulate the pressure of the continuous stream of the compressed air so as to control the revolving speed of the sample being tested at a predetermined constant rotation speed.

The present invention relates to dynamic balance machines, and relates more specifically to an air-jet driven dynamic balance test apparatus for testing the dynamic balance of mini rotors which eliminates the interference of external vibration noise.
A variety of mini motors or rotors are known, and widely used in digitized recorders, video tape players and recorders, laser disc drivers, computer diskdrives, laser printers, etc. In order to obtain a satisfactory quality, a mini motor or motor should be tested for its dynamic balance before use. FIG. 1 illustrates a dynamic balance test apparatus according to the prior art, which comprises two rigid upright supports, on which the axle 11 of the rotor 10 to be tested is supported, a motor drive 16, a coupler 15 which couples the axle 11 of the rotor 10 to be tested to the output shaft of the motor drive, 16, and a vibration detector 14 mounted on each rigid upright support. As the motor drive 16 is started, the vibration detector 14 detects the vibration of the upright support and sends a signal to a micro processor unit for analysis and display. During the operation of the dynamic test apparatus, the motor drive 16 may produce a vibration noise to interfere with the detection of the vibration detector 14. Further, because the vibration detector is mounted on a rigid upright support, it cannot detect a weak vibration signal produced by a very small being tested, i.e., this structure of dynamic balance test apparatus provides low sensitivity.

Air-jet driven dynamic balance test apparatus

Industrial Technology Research Institute


A graphical user interface for creating a data summary table includes a data summary table including a plurality of fields, and a filtering pane programmed to apply filters to items in the fields of the data summary table, the filtering pane including a field selector control, wherein the field selector control is programmed to allow for selection of a field of the fields in the data summary table to define filtering for the field.

Data summary tables can be used to analyze large amounts of data. One example of a data summary table is PIVOTTABLE dynamic views that can be generated using Microsoft Corporation's EXCEL spreadsheet software. A data summary table provides an efficient way to display and summarize data that is supplied by a database program or that is in a data listing of a spreadsheet. A user can select fields of the data to include within page, row, column, or data regions of the data summary table and can choose parameters such as the sum, variance, count, and standard deviation to be displayed for selected data fields. Data in a database that can be queried from within a spreadsheet program, or spreadsheet data including lists, can be analyzed in a data summary table.
Although a data summary table is designed so that data can be efficiently and intuitively analyzed, creation of the data summary table itself can be challenging for novice users. For example, some programs provide wizards that assist the user in creating a data summary table. While these wizards may be helpful in creating an initial data summary table, the wizards cannot easily be used to modify the display once it is created. Other programs allow users to drag and drop desired fields directly onto the data summary table. While these programs provide the user with greater flexibility when creating the display, such programs can be less intuitive for a novice to use.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Filtering user interface for a data summary table


A method for upgrading a Rights Object (RO) includes: acquiring, by a Digital Rights Management (DRM) Agent, RO related information of the RO that requires updating from a Secure Removable Media (SRM) Agent; providing, by the DRM Agent, the RO related information to a Rights Issuer (RI), and obtaining a new RO from the RI; and interacting, by the DRM Agent, with the SRM Agent to upgrade the RO that requires updating on the SRM by means of the new RO. According to the embodiments of the present invention, the DRM Agent acquires RO related information which is stored on the SRM and does not have Move rights, and interacts with the RI to move the RO out from the SRM, so as to move the RO without the Move rights out from the SRM.

Digital Rights Management (DRM) controls use of digital content, and protects lawful rights and interests of a content owner mainly through a solution of rights limitation and content protection. After a Content Issuer (CI) encrypts the digital content, a user downloads a data packet of the encrypted digital content to a terminal device. A Rights Issuer (RI) is responsible for distributing a Rights Object (RO) corresponding to the digital content, and the RO includes a content decryption key and corresponding rights. Only owning the data packet of the digital content (which includes information necessary for decrypting the digital content) and the RO at the same time, a device is able to normally use the purchased digital content. A DRM Agent gets an RO key by means of decryption with a private key of the device, then gets the digital content decrypted with a content key in the RO, and controls detailed use for the digital content by the user according to rights information in the RO. The RO includes such information as the rights, the limitation, the key, and the digital signature. For the same content, multiple different ROs including different rights can be produced. For example, for a certain document file, browsing rights, printing rights and Move rights of the RO are set in some RO, and only the browsing rights are set in some other RO.
A device owning an RO can independently consume the RO and use the corresponding digital content, and a device without an RO can also consume an RO in a Secure Removable Media (SRM) by interacting with the SRM. The SRM can be a security storage card or a smart card. An RO can be stored on the SRM, so that the RO can be consumed conveniently on multiple devices through the SRM. As with the RO stored on the device, the RO stored on the SRM still needs to be moved out. For example, the user can assign the RO of some old content on the SRM to his/her friends, and purchase an RO of new content for the empty space.
The device moves its own stored RO to the SRM, and also, the device moves the RO from the SRM. In the moving process, the device must check whether "the RO is movable" is noted for the RO itself, that is, checking whether the RO has move rights, and whether the RI allows to move the RO in advance. If the RO stored in the SRM does not have the move rights, or the move rights have been used up, a terminal is incapable of moving the RO out from the SRM. If the user does not fully consider the problems about whether it is needed to move the RO in future, and the times by which it is needed to move the RO during purchasing the RO, it is possible that the RO cannot be moved, which limits the application of the RO.

Method and apparatus for processing rights object


A method, algorithm, software, architecture, circuit, and/or system for assisting pull-in of a phase-locked loop (PLL) are disclosed. In one embodiment, a PLL can include: (i) a phase detector that may receive a serial data stream and output a pump control signal; (ii) a charge pump that can receive the pump control signal and substantially determine a frequency control when a precharge signal is de-asserted; (iii) a precharge/filter circuit that may connect to the charge pump and may substantially determine the frequency control when the precharge signal is asserted; and (iv) an oscillator that may connect to the precharge/filter circuit and may provide a recovered clock in response to the frequency control, where the recovered clock may be correlated to a frequency of the serial data stream. The frequency control may be current and/or voltage based, for example. Embodiments of the present invention can advantageously provide a reliable and simplified design approach for pulling-in a PLL lock.

In many digital communication systems, phase-locked loop (PLL) circuits are employed in various applications, such as clock synthesis and/or clock or data signal recovery (e.g., from a nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ)-encoded high speed serial data stream). Referring now to FIG. 1, a block schematic diagram shows a conventional PLL circuit 100 using phase detector 104 to compare recovered clock 114 to reference input 102. Phase detector 104 can receive reference input 102 and recovered clock 114 while providing up/down controls 106 to charge pump and filter 108. Variable frequency oscillator (VFO) 112 can receive frequency control 110 from charge pump and filter 108 and may provide recovered clock 114. One drawback of this approach is that the "pull-in range" or the frequency range over which an unlocked PLL may lock to a reference frequency (e.g., reference input 102) is relatively small.
Referring now to FIG. 2, a block schematic diagram shows a conventional PLL circuit 200 having acquisition assist portion 206. Phase detector 204 and acquisition assist 206 can each receive reference input 202 and recovered clock 218. Combining/selecting circuitry 208 can receive signals from phase detector 204 and acquisition assist 206 and may provide up/down controls 210 to charge pump and filter 212. VFO 216 can receive frequency control 214 from charge pump and filter 212 and may provide recovered clock 218. Acquisition assist 206 may operate to effectively widen the pull-in range of PLL 200, as compared to PLL 100 of FIG. 1, for example. However, a combined phase/frequency detector is more desirable for circuit area and overall circuit simplicity than using additional auxiliary circuitry (e.g., acquisition assist 206). But, for PLL applications, such as embedded clock recovery from a serial bit stream (as opposed to the clock synthesizer application shown in FIG. 2), a dedicated or separate phase detector circuit is typically used because there may be essentially no energy at the fundamental data frequency in a high-speed serial data stream (e.g., an NRZ-encoded data stream). A combined phase/frequency detector consistent with such conventional approaches may undesirably lock to an incorrect frequency value.
FIG. 3 shows a block schematic diagram of conventional PLL circuit 300 receiving serial data stream input 302. Phase detector 304 and data sampling and decision circuitry 320 can each receive serial data stream input 302 and recovered clock 318. Data sampling and decision circuitry 320 can provide retimed recovered serial data 322. Frequency detector 306 can receive reference clock input 324 and recovered clock 318. Combining/selecting circuitry 308 can receive signals from phase detector 304 and frequency detector 306 and may provide up/down controls 310 to charge pump and filter 312. VFO 316 can receive frequency control 314 from charge pump and filter 312 and may provide recovered clock 318. In this approach, reference clock input 324 may be generated locally to the PLL and may be used with frequency detector 306 to initially pull-in the PLL. Once PLL lock to reference clock input 324 is achieved, control of the loop frequency may be passed to phase detector 304 (e.g., an Alexander or Hogge style phase detector) which can track transitions in serial data stream input 302. However, a drawback of this approach is increased system cost and complexity due to maintaining a reference clock approximately at the fundamental data frequency of serial data stream input 302.
What is needed is a reliable and simplified pull-in assist mechanism, which does not require a reference clock or an auxiliary frequency detector.

Method and apparatus for assisting pull-in of a phase-locked loop


A method of controlling an optical transmitter having a Dual Parallel Mach-Zehnder (DPMZ) modulator. An I-Q power balance between respective branches of the DPMZ modulator is detected, and at least one parameter of the DPMZ modulator is adjusted to drive the I-Q power balance to a predetermined target value. An optical transmitter may have Quad Parallel Mach-Zehnder (QPMZ) modulator having a pair of parallel DPMZ modulators for modulating respective X- and Y-polarization lights. In such cases, an X-Y power imbalance between the two polarization lights is detected, and at least one parameter of the QPMZ modulator is adjusted to drive the X-Y power imbalance to a predetermined value.

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an optical transmitter 2 in which a Dual Parallel Mach-Zehnder (DPMZ) modulator 4 is used to generate a modulated optical signal for transmission through an optical communications system. In the transmitter of FIG. 1, a narrow band light source 6 (such as a laser diode, for example) generates a narrow band continuous wave (CW) light which is supplied to an input of the DPMZ modulator 4. Within the modulator 4, the CW light is divided into two light paths, which are identified as the In-phase (I) and Quadrature (Q) branches. Each branch includes a respective internal Mach-Zehnder modulator 8 designed to modulate the light using a respective drive signal to yield a corresponding modulated branch signal. At the output 10 of the dual branch Mach-Zehnder modulator 8, the two modulated branch signals are combined to generate the modulated optical signal for transmission through the optical communications system.
In the transmitter of FIG. 1, the internal MZ modulators 8 are driven by respective In-phase and quadrature drive signals VI and VQ, which are generated by a digital synthesizer 12 in a manner known in the art. For example, the digital synthesizer 12 (which may be configured as an Application Specific Integrated Circuit) may operate to generate a set of digital in-phase and quadrature signals. In FIG. 1, these digital signals are indicated as SI and SQ. A respective Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) 14 may be used to convert the digital signals to analogue, which may be conditioned using analog variable gain amplifiers (VGAs) 16 and filters (not shown) in a conventional manner to produce the analogue drive signals VI and VQ needed to drive the DPMZ modulator 4.
In order to optimize performance of the DPMZ modulator 4, a controller 18 is typically used to generate a set of bias signals for controlling a bias point of each internal MZ modulator 8 and a phase relationship between the two branches. An optical tap 20 may supply a portion of the output light to a photodetector 22 which outputs a tap signal I that is proportional to the power level P of the modulated optical signal appearing at the output 10 of the DPMZ modulator 4. Typically, the controller 18 implements a set of feed-back control loops based on a tap signal I for calculating a respective bias signal VbI and VbQ for each internal modulator 8, and a phase bias signal VbP is used to control the phase relationship between the two modulated branch signals. The bias signals VbI, VbQ and VbP are normally calculated based on the response characteristics of the DPMZ modulator 4 and the desired modulation format of the output optical signal. For example, in order to generate Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) and Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) symbol constellations, the bias signals VbI, VbQ and VbP are calculated to obtain a "Min/Min/Quad" bias condition of the DPMZ modulator 4, in which each internal MZ modulator 8 is biased at a minimum of its respective response function, and the phase bias signal VbP is set to maintain quadrature (i.e. a 90° phase difference) between the two modulated branch signals.
In addition to controlling the bias point of each internal MZ modulator 8 and the phase relationship between the two branches, it would be desirable to also determine and control the power balance between the two branches. This may be referred to as the I/Q power balance of the DPMZ modulator 4, and may be denoted as PI/PQ, where PI is the optical power level of the modulated In-phase optical signal, and PQ is the optical power level of the modulated quadrature optical signal. Controlling the I/Q power balance is important for maximizing the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) since with an ideal transmitter and channel, for circular-Gaussian noise the SNR is maximized when PI=PQ. It is not possible to control the I/Q balance using the configuration in FIG. 1 and by just measuring average optical power as there is only one optical tap, so other techniques are required.
FIG. 2 schematically illustrates an optical transmitter 2 in which a pair of DPMZ modulators 4 are connected in parallel to produce a Quad Parallel Mach-Zehnder (QPMZ) modulator 24 which generates a polarization multiplexed optical signal for transmission through an optical communications system. In the transmitter of FIG. 2, a narrow band light source 6 (such as a laser diode, for example) generates a narrow band continuous wave (CW) light which is supplied to an input of the QPMZ modulator 24. Within the modulator, the CW light is divided into two light paths, which are arbitrarily designated as X-Pol. and Y-Pol. Each path includes a respective DPMZ modulator 4 which operates substantially as described above with reference to FIG. 1. Thus, in the example of FIG. 2, the light in the X-Pol path is divided into I and Q branches, and modulated using respective drive signals VXI and VXQ. The two modulated branch lights (having average power levels of PXI and PXQ, respectively) are then combined to yield a corresponding X-Pol output light having a power level of PX. Similarly, the light in the Y-Pol path is divided into YI and YQ branches, and modulated using respective drive signals VYI and VYQ, The two modulated branch lights (having average power levels of PYI and PYQ, respectively) are then combined to yield a corresponding Y-Pol output light having a power level of PY. The X- and Y-polarization lights output from each DPMZ modulator 4 are then combined using a polarization beam combiner 26 to yield a polarization multiplexed optical signal at the output of the QPMZ modulator 24. A polarization rotator 28 may be used to ensure that the X- and Y-polarization lights are linearly polarized and are orthogonal to each other at the respective inputs of the polarization beam combiner 26. As in the example of FIG. 1, a controller 18 may use tap signals IX and IY from each polarization in order to optimize performance of the respective DPMZ modulator 4. In addition, an external tap 30 and photodetector 32 is used to obtain a corresponding external tap signal Iz that is proportional to the power level Pz of the polarization multiplexed optical signal output from the QPMZ modulator 24. FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate an X-polarization response of the QPMZ modulator 24, in which X-polarization tap signal IX is shown on the vertical axis and the external tap signal IZ is shown on the horizontal axis. FIG. 3A shows an idealized response for non-inverting taps 20, infinite extinction ratio and zero leakage. FIG. 3B shows a response of a real transmitter (ie. non-zero leakage, finite extinction ratio etc.) with non-ideal taps, such as inverting taps.
In general, it would be desirable to be able to determine and control the power balance between each of the internal modulators 8 of the QPMZ modulator 24. Using the notation of FIGS. 2 and 3, it would be desirable to determine and control the relationship between each of the branch optical power levels PXI, PXQ, PYI and PYI. However, the same difficulties discussed above with reference to FIG. 1 also arises in the QPMZ modulator 24. In the presence of non-ideal performance, the power balance cannot be accurately determined by applying a dither to a drive signal and then measuring the corresponding response in one of the tap signals IX, IY or IZ. This problem is compounded in cases in which the taps 20 are inverting.
Techniques that overcome at least some of the aforementioned limitations of the prior art remain highly desirable.

Quadrature power balance control in optical transmitters


A door closer assembly for a household refrigerator of the type having a door frame with a front faced surface and a door having a confronting surface, the assembly including a hinge plate mounted on the door frame and having a pivot pin mounted on the hinge plate in a spaced relation to the front faced surface, a door plate mounted on the door and having an aperture spaced from the confronting surface of the door and a pivot post spaced from the aperature, the door plate being mounted on the hinge plate with the pivot pin aligned with the aperature, and an offset arm connected to the pivot post and biased by a spring in a door closing direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a door closer for a refrigerator, and more particularly to a spring loaded door closer which provides a continuous bias force on the door during opening and closing of the door.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Refrigerators which are used in the home have over the years become larger in order to accommodate a greater variety of products and services. In order to provide increased space within the refrigerator, the doors are now provided with storage shelves, water and ice dispensing systems and in some instances even the electronic control systems are housed in the doors. The doors have therefore not only become heavier but wider in order to accommodate these various devices.
In the door closers presently available, the common type of system utilizes a detent type arrangement wherein the door when fully opened is locked in the open position and when released from the detent must be pushed toward the closed position before the spring system comes into play. Often times the door will be moved over the detent but not closed far enough for the spring loaded closer to fully close the door.


A method of extracting and reconstructing court lines includes the steps of binarizing a court image of a court including court lines to form a binary image; performing horizontal projection for the binary image; searching for plural corners in the binary image and defining a court line range by the corners; forming plural linear segments from images within the court line range by linear transformation; defining at least one first cluster and at least one second cluster according to the characteristics of the linear segments and categorizing the linear segments into plural groups; taking an average of each group as a standard court line and creating a linear equation of the standard court line to locate the point of intersection of the standard court lines; and reconstructing the court lines according to the point of intersection. This method is capable of extracting the image of a portion of the court line from a dynamic or static image having a court line quickly to eliminate interference caused by noises coming from a portion other than the court line such as the background color, ambient brightness, people or advertisement, and reconstructing the court lines quickly and accurately to facilitate the determination of the boundary of a court line or the computation of data.

Court lines are used for defining the boundary of a court, and the rules of many playing activities are defined by court lines. Court lines are defined in many sports such as tennis or badminton to specify a service or return placement and the moving range of a player. The court line is not only just applied for determining whether a foul of a game occurs, but also can be utilized for conducting various analyses of sport games and make tactical plans; for instance, automatic score counting, and automatic mining of player's movement habits and styles. Obviously, the extraction, reconstruction, and analysis of the court lines have become essential techniques for sport event study.
The reconstruction and analysis of the court line are generally conducted through photo images taken by a camera. However, even in the same sport, the color of the photo images, the installation position of the camera, and the advertising vary with different courts. For example, the courts of tennis sport include red clay courts or blue hard courts. This increases the level of difficulty and complexity of reconstructing the court line from images significantly, and thus the court reconstruction has become a challengeable research subject.
In the conventional way of reconstructing the court line, the difference between the color of the court and the color of its advertising signs is used to binarize an image, and the position of a court line is found by horizontal projection. In another prior art, the court line is extracted by using the white dot recognition and main color recognition methods. However, if the color of the court and the color of the advertising background are the same but the different colors of materials, different brightness of the environment, and different installation positions of the camera will cause a failure of reconstructing the court line, and thus the conventional reconstruction of the court line is still not applicable for different environmental factors.
In view of the aforementioned problems of the prior art, the inventor of the present invention based on years of experience in the related industry to conduct extensive researches and experiments, and finally provided a feasible solution to overcome the problems of the prior art.

Method of capturing and reconstructing court lines


A high intensity discharge lamp having a fill including at least one rare earth metal iodide has an additional metal component for avoiding a substantial loss of the metal component of the fill and the attendant substantial buildup of free iodine, thereby increasing the useful life of the lamp. During lamp operation, the additional metal component combines with iodine in the vapor phase, forming a relatively stable iodide and thus reducing the total level of free iodine in the lamp. As a result, arc instability is avoided. The additional metal component also emits visible light and hence improves efficacy. Moreover, the additional metal component does not attack the arc tube wall by reducing silica. Suitable additional metal components include indium and thallium.

In operation of a high intensity metal halide discharge lamp, visible radiation is emitted by the metal portion of the metal halide fill at relatively high pressure upon excitation typically caused by passage of current therethrough. One class of high intensity, metal halide lamps comprises electrodeless lamps which generate an arc discharge by establishing a solenoidal electric field in the high-pressure gaseous lamp fill comprising the combination of one or more metal halides and an inert buffer gas. In particular, the lamp fill, or discharge plasma, is excited by radio frequency (RF) current in an excitation coil surrounding an arc tube which contains the fill. The arc tube and excitation coil assembly acts essentially as a transformer which couples RF energy to the plasma. That is, the excitation coil acts as a primary coil, and the plasma functions as a single-turn secondary. RF current in the excitation coil produces a time-varying magnetic field, in turn creating an electric field in the plasma which closes completely upon itself, i.e., a solenoidal electric field. Current flows as a result of this electric field, thus producing a toroidal arc discharge in the arc tube.
High intensity, metal halide discharge lamps, such as the aforementioned electrodeless lamps, generally provide good color rendition and high efficacy in accordance with the principles of general purpose illumination. However, the lifetime of such lamps can be limited by degradation of the arc tube by chemical attack due to ambipolar diffusion. In particular, during lamp operation, the metal halide component of the fill is dissociated and ionized in the arc. By the process of ambipolar diffusion, the positive metal ions are driven towards the arc tube wall by the electric field of the arc column, while the negative halogen ions are retarded from diffusing to the wall. As a result, during initial lamp operation, more metal ions than halogen ions reach the quartz wall of the arc tube. This causes an excess flow of metal atoms (both neutral and ionized) to the quartz wall, resulting in a chemical reaction between the metal and the quartz, which leads to the loss of metal atoms. Disadvantageously, the loss of metal atoms leads to the release of free halogen into the arc tube, which may build up to a level that is high enough to cause arc instability and eventual arc extinction, especially in electrodeless high intensity, metal halide discharge lamps. In addition, the loss of metal atoms shortens the useful life of the lamp by reducing the visible light output.
Accordingly, it is desirable to prevent a substantial loss of the metal component of the metal halide fill and the attendant substantial buildup of free halogen in a high intensity, metal halide discharge lamp.

Iodine getter for a high intensity metal halide discharge lamp