A vehicle side impact airbag has an inflator, a main inflatable chamber disposed for contact with the side arm of the vehicle occupant when inflated, and a separate laterally extending thoracic chamber in metered fluid communication with the main inflatable chamber of the side airbag extending laterally into the passenger compartment. The laterally extending thoracic chamber of the airbag is disposed for contact with the lower thoracic region of the vehicle occupant below the occupant side arm when inflated, whereby the side airbag simultaneously engages the occupant lower thoracic region and side arm when inflated.

Side impact airbag systems for use in motor vehicles have been adopted to mitigate occupant injuries during motor vehicle side impact events, and are generally well-known in the art. Traditionally, such side impact airbag systems have been used in combination with exterior motor vehicle components to manage and control motor vehicle impact events with external objects during side impact events. Further, side impact airbag systems are used to address vehicle intrusion during a side impact event and provide occupant restraint against occupant collision with interior motor vehicle components, such as the so-called A-pillar, B-pillar, door trim, and interior upper rail assembly. Side airbag systems are designed to deploy substantially immediately (i.e., 5 to 10 milliseconds) upon detection of the high speed impact event and stay inflated for about 30 to 70 milliseconds.
In the United States, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 214 was promulgated to address side impact events. In sum, FMVSS 214 presently requires that a simulated vehicle occupant experience upper and lower thoracic loads and head de-accelerations within specified limits. However, the complexity of side impact mitigation has increased significantly with the introduction of new requirements for FMVSS 214 and the new Lateral Impact New Car Assessment Program (LINCAP). Also, motor vehicles are tested according to side impact procedures and criteria established by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Additionally, various side impact procedures and criteria are emerging worldwide, for example, with the introduction of the European New Car Assessment Program (EuroNCAP) and Chinese New Car Assessment Program (C-NCAP). While all of these evaluative techniques share the same goal of improving side impact crashworthiness, not all share the same procedures and criteria.
Yet motor vehicle design and engineering efforts in the face of a global market encourages the use of common solutions. One solution to side impacts is the use of a side impact airbag. Yet a common side impact airbag solution for a global market requires that the side airbag perform within the established criteria of every market, and obtain crashworthiness results that fall within the criteria of the United States (UNCAP), Europe (EuroNCAP) and China (C-NCAP), as well as IIHS testing. It is possible to use a different side impact airbag for each market, for example, one side impact airbag for use in the United States market and a different side impact airbag for the rest of the global market. However, this does not provide a common solution worldwide.
Further, side impact mitigation requires accommodation of a wide range of occupant sizes and masses. For example, it may be desirable to design the side impact airbag to be relatively "soft" in order to accommodate a more vulnerable prototypical occupant, such as the so-called 5th percentile occupant. However, such a side impact airbag may be too "soft" for other prototypical occupant profiles, such as for the 50th percentile occupant.
Finally, it has also been observed that a typical side impact airbag, when deployed, may not engage the entire occupant's body side because the occupant's upper arm prevents the side airbag from engaging the entire thoracic region of the body at early stages of impact. Hence, solutions for providing side impact occupant protection with a common global design would be advantageous.
The vehicle side airbag disclosed herein particularly accomplishes the foregoing optimization of vehicle performance and provides a cost-efficient solution with the potential to enable use of a common side airbag design for the global market. The disclosed side airbag has an inflator, a main inflatable chamber disposed for contact with the side arm of the vehicle occupant when inflated, and a separate laterally extending thoracic chamber in metered fluid communication with the main inflatable chamber of the side airbag extending laterally into the passenger compartment and disposed for contact with the lower thoracic region of the vehicle occupant below the occupant's side arm when inflated. Thus, the side airbag engages both the occupant's side arm and lower thoracic region when inflated. The laterally extending thoracic chamber, situated below the occupant's arm, allows essentially simultaneous side airbag engagement with the occupant's upper arm, particularly the shoulder, and the lower thorax. The laterally extending thoracic chamber thus achieves maximal occupant body side coverage during the entire impact event. By maximizing the area upon which the side airbag imparts its load on the occupant, the side airbag is able to absorb more impact energy. The laterally extending thoracic chamber may thereby be designed to simultaneously optimize compliance with FMVSS 214 and other side impact crashworthiness testing protocols by metering fluid communication with the main inflation chamber of the side airbag.
Moreover, the side airbag can be configured so that the inflator inflates the main inflatable chamber at a first predetermined rate of pressure increase and an internal vent between the main inflatable chamber and the laterally extending thoracic chamber inflates the laterally extending thoracic chamber at a second predetermined rate of pressure increase. Thus, the laterally extending thoracic chamber can be made "soft" to accommodate the more vulnerable load case and still stiff enough to absorb enough energy from more severe load cases. In addition, the stiffness of the laterally extending thoracic chamber can be readily engineered to be different from the main chamber, thereby providing opportunities to optimize the performance of the side airbag system from one market to another.

Vehicle side impact airbag with laterally extending thoracic chamber


Provision of fabrication, construction, and/or assembly of a memory device including a two-terminal memory portion is described herein. The two-terminal memory device fabrication can provide enhanced capabilities in connection with precisely tuning on-state current over a greater possible range.

The inventors of the present invention have recognized that resistive random access memory (RRAM) provides several advantages over competing memory technologies. Therefore, it can be particularly advantageous to form an RRAM-based memory device on top of a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS). However, in order to build an RRAM device on a CMOS framework, the RRAM device typically needs to be constructed in connection with a relatively low-temperature process, which introduces some issues with respect to constructing the RRAM.
A difficulty faced by the inventors, associated with building such an RRAM device is precisely controlling current through the RRAM device when the device is in the on-state. Some of the approaches considered by the inventors have tended to include in the RRAM a positive or p-type semiconductor material that acts as a resistive layer to control the on-state current. This resistive layer could be constructed of silicon or silicon germanium in an amorphous phase. The amorphous phase is sometimes preferred over a polycrystalline phase because electrical breakdown voltage of an amorphous material is higher than that of a polycrystalline material. As such, the inventors have recognized that an amorphous material can hold larger voltages and therefore can provide more reliable RRAM device operation.
Unfortunately, it is very difficult to tune the resistance of an amorphous material due to the relatively low electron mobility associated with such amorphous materials. As a result, it is also very difficult to control the current through the RRAM device.
In light of the above, what is desired are methods and apparatus to control on-state current of a resistive random access memory, without the drawbacks described above.

Controlling on-state current for two-terminal memory


A method of forming a semiconductor structure (see e.g., FIG. 3) includes forming a silicon (e.g., polysilicon) layer 14. The silicon layer 14 is patterned and etched so that at least one sidewall 20 is exposed. An oxygen bearing species (e.g., O2+) is then implanted into the sidewall 20 of the silicon layer 14. In the preferred embodiment, the oxygen bearing species is implanted at an acute angle relative to the plane of the silicon layer 14.

The present invention relates generally semiconductor devices and more particularly to a semiconductor device formed with an oxygen implant step.
Semiconductor devices are now found in almost all aspects of our lives. These products can be fabricated using any number of technologies including CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor), bipolar, BiCMOS, and others. CMOS, as well as other MOS technologies, utilize field effect transistors (FETs). A field effect transistor includes two doped semiconductor regions, the source and drain, that are separated by a channel region. The conductivity of the channel region is actuated by a gate that typically overlies the channel.
To form a field effect transistor, a gate dielectric is deposited over a semiconductor substrate. A gate layer, typically of doped polysilicon is then deposited over the gate dielectric. The gate layer, and possibly the gate dielectric layer, are then etched to form the gate. After gate formation, the source and drain regions are implanted, using the gate as a mask to prevent the dopants from entering the channel region.
Many variations of this process are known. For example, a lightly doped drain (and/or source) can be formed. One way to form this region is to lightly dope the substrate using the gate as a mask. A sidewall spacer can then be formed over a portion of the lightly doped region. The more heavily doped source and drain regions can then be formed by implanting impurities using both the gate and the sidewall spacers as a mask. In another known process, the lightly doped drain can be formed by using a tilt angle implant process. Using an angle less than 90xc2x0 relative to the plane of the substrate, impurities can be located closer to the channel than the source/drain implant that is performed at substantially 90xc2x0.
The present invention provides a useful improvement for the formation of semiconductor devices. In particular, but certainly not exclusively, transistor devices used at the input and/or output of a semiconductor chip can benefit.
In a first embodiment, a transistor device includes first and second source/drain regions disposed in a semiconductor body and separated by a channel region. A gate overlies at least a portion of the channel region and is separated from the channel by a gate oxide. The gate oxide includes a thick portion beneath the gate adjacent a sidewall and has a substantially uniform thickness in other regions beneath the gate. In the preferred embodiment, the thick portion is at least about 1.2 times thicker than the substantially uniform thickness.
In another aspect, the present invention teaches a method of forming a semiconductor structure, which may or may not be a transistor device. In this embodiment, a silicon layer is formed and then patterned and etched to expose at least one sidewall. An oxygen bearing species, e.g., O2 or others, is then implanted into the sidewall of the silicon layer. The oxygen bearing species is implanted at an acute angle relative to the plane of the silicon layer.
When this method is applied to a transistor device, a number of advantages can be achieved. For example, the thick portion of the gate oxide that results provides for greater reliability. The oxygen implant yields a higher controllability of oxide corner rounding. The implant also provides a greater thickness and an easier adjustment with a low thermal budget than is possible using other techniques such as thermal oxidation of the gate stack. With the present invention, the implant angle, dose and energy can be optimized.

Semiconductor device formed with an oxygen implant step


The present invention is directed to devices, systems, and methods for monitoring inhaled drug usage to predict when an acute attack or exacerbation of a disease, such as a respiratory disease, is imminent. Instrumented inhalers that use modular designs with standard components are disclosed, as are systems for monitoring the instrumented inhalers. Also disclosed are methods for determining whether or not a patient's inhaled drug usage pattern indicates that an acute attack or disease exacerbation is imminent, and notifying appropriate medical personnel of any usage patterns indicative of an attack or disease exacerbation. If such an attack or exacerbation is imminent, additional therapeutic agents may be dispensed to the patient or other interventions made.

Over twenty million Americans suffer from asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). These diseases are characterized by periods of relative normalcy punctuated by acute attacks (exacerbations) that may be severe enough to require hospitalization. Typically, an attack is preceded by a progressive increase in a patient's use of "rescue" medication to alleviate respiratory difficulties and a decrease in lung function, as measured by peak expiratory flow rate. These changes usually occur several days or weeks before an attack and can serve as a signal for initiating preemptive treatment. Unfortunately, patients often lack the time or resolve to keep accurate records of drug usage. As a result, they may not become aware that their condition is deteriorating until it is too late to prevent an attack requiring urgent medical attention. Also, pediatric, elderly, or impaired patients may lack the capacity for carefully monitoring changes in drug use patterns.
Many different types of inhalation devices have been developed and used by respiratory patients for delivering a carefully controlled dosage of medication (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,223,746; and 6,532,955). Some of these devices have microprocessors and sensors for counting the number of doses administered (U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,138,669; and 5,593,390) or have other adaptations to improve delivery characteristics (U.S. Pat. No. 5,477,849). However, most continue to rely upon patients to monitor their own drug use patterns.
To the extent that devices that can be used to detect and monitor patient self-administration of inhaled drugs have been described in the prior art (e.g., WO01/024690; U.S. Pat. No. 5,363,842), they are typically used to monitor patient compliance with physician instructions, or to ensure that a patient receives no more than a certain dose of a medication. Generally, there has not been a focus on monitoring inhaled drug usage to recognize when a patient's condition is likely to be deteriorating.
Moreover, in the existing devices, the mechanism for detecting that a dose has been dispensed is usually within the device, often in a position in which it can be easily fouled by dirt or accumulated medication. The positioning of the detection mechanism often makes the design of the devices relatively complex, and increases the possibility of failure. Monitoring devices that are more robust and more compatible with conventional types of inhalers would be beneficial.

Instrumented metered-dose inhaler and methods for predicting disease exacerbations


A network bridge configured to convey customer traffic between a customer equipment and any of an MPLS network and an Ethernet network is disclosed. The network bridge comprises a C-VLAN component, an S-VLAN component and an MPLS component. The C-VLAN component can receive an Ethernet frame that carries the customer traffic, and forward the Ethernet frame to the S-VLAN component or to the MPLS component in dependence of a C-VID value of the Ethernet frame. The MPLS component can, when the Ethernet frame is received from the C-VLAN component, add MPLS information to the Ethernet frame, and forward the Ethernet frame to the S-VLAN component. The S-VLAN component then forwards the Ethernet frame to any of the MPLS network and the Ethernet network. A related network core bridge, methods and computer-readable medium are also described.

The following abbreviations are used throughout this document:
CEP Customer Edge Port
CNP Customer Network Port
C-VLAN Customer VLAN
C-VID Customer VLAN identifier
IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
LER Label Edge Router
LSP Label Switched Path
LSR Label Switching Router
MAC address Media Access Control address
MCP MPLS Customer Port
MNP MPLS Network Port
MPLS Multiple Protocol Label Switching
MPLS-TP MPLS Transport Profile
PB Provider Bridge
PB-network Provider Bridged network
PEB Provider Edge Bridge
PEP Provider Edge Port
PNP Provider Network Port
S-VLAN Service VLAN
S-VID Service VLAN identifier
VLAN Virtual Local Area Network
Ethernet has over the years become a common Local Area Network (LAN) technology. This achievement stems from the some characteristics of the technology, such as simple handling, the relatively low costs involved, convenient manageability and backward compatibility.
Also, the MEF (Metro Ethernet Forum) Ethernet services has contributed to the development of Ethernet technologies beyond the LAN environment resulting in functionalities for the support of advanced OAM (Operations, Administration and Maintenance), scalability and manageability. The main bulk of this effort is associated with various projects related to the interworking subgroup in IEEE 802.1. For example, the IEEE 802.1ad (provider bridges, or PB), the IEEE 802.1ah (provider backbone bridges, or PBB), the IEEE 802.1Qay (provider backbone bridges—traffic engineering, or PBB-TE), and the IEEE 802.1ag (connectivity fault management, or CFM) standards have addressed the issues of creating provider services using Ethernet infrastructure, scaling Ethernet networks, of supporting traffic engineered services and managing faults of Ethernet services.
Provider bridges, in particular, which is the first bridging technology standardized by IEEE for provider applications, enabled Ethernet and Ethernet bridging to rapidly become the technologies of choice for provider access and aggregation networks. It solves two problems presented by the application of enterprise IEEE 802.1Q bridges to provider networks. The first problem is separating the customer virtual LAN (VLAN) space from the provider VLAN space, and the second problem is allowing the provider the ability to multiplex many customer VLANs on a single provider VLAN. To address these problems a provider bridge supports the creation of service VLANs (S-VLANs) within an independent VLAN space that is controlled by the provider and used to carry customer VLANs (C-VLANs).
Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), an architecture for fast packet switching and routing and provides the designation, routing, forwarding and switching of traffic flows through a network. More specifically, MPLS has mechanisms to manage traffic flows of various granularities and provides a way to map IP addresses to simple, fixed-length labels used by different packet-forwarding and packet-switching technologies. In MPLS, data transmission occurs on Label-Switched Paths (LSPs). The entry and exit points of an MPLS network are called Label Edge Routers (LERs). The entry LER pushes an MPLS label onto an incoming packet based on its destination and forwards the packet to the next Label Switch Router (LSR) on the LSP to the destination. The LSR will strip the label from the packet, look up the label to determine the next label to be applied to the packet and the next hop for the path, and forward the packet onward to the next hop. In this way, the packet is forwarded hop-by-hop across the LSP through the MPLS network.
MPLS Transport Profile (MPLS-TP) is proposed to enhance MPLS's capabilities and mechanisms to meet the requirements of transport network operations.
Today it is expected that some network operators want to migrate from an Ethernet network (or more specifically a PB-network) to an MPLS/MPLS-TP network when it becomes available. Migration from PB based services to MPLS/MPLS-TP based services may take a long time since Ethernet based networks and MPLS based networks use different technologies for routing and forwarding data in the respective network, and since the operators must negotiate with each single customer to keep any service disruption to a minimal level. Ideally, the Ethernet based services should be kept as before while at the same time MPLS based services can be offered to the customer.


An antenna connection detection method and apparatus are provided, to detect whether a connection sequence between communications interfaces of a network side device and antenna elements is incorrect. The method includes that a network side device receives, by using antenna elements connected to a plurality of communications interfaces, reference signals sent by N terminal devices, where N is an integer greater than 0. Then, the network side device determines N channel correlation matrices based on the reference signals sent by the N terminal devices, and then determines, based on the N channel correlation matrices and a preset channel correlation matrix, whether a connection sequence between the plurality of communications interfaces and the antenna elements is incorrect, where one channel correlation matrix is used to represent correlation between transmission channels between the network side device and one terminal device.

In a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system, a base station includes a plurality of communications interfaces, and each communications interface is connected to one antenna element in an active antenna system (AAS). An 8T8R base station is used as an example. As shown in FIG. 1, the base station includes eight communications interfaces, namely, Trx1 to Trx8, and Trx1 to Trx8 are respectively connected to antenna elements A1 to A8 in the AAS. A signal is transmitted between the base station and a terminal device through a transmission channel including a communications interface of the base station, an antenna element, and a communications interface of the terminal device. In a downlink signal transmission process, the base station outputs a signal through the communications interface of the base station, and then sends the signal to the terminal device by using the antenna element. In an uplink data transmission process, the base station receives, by using the antenna element, a signal sent by the terminal device, and then inputs the signal into the base station through the communications interface of the base station.
When the base station includes a relatively large quantity of communications interfaces, a problem may occur when the communications interfaces are connected to the antenna elements in the AAS. For example, in the base station shown in FIG. 1, Trx5 needs to be connected to an A5 antenna element, and Trx2 needs to be connected to an A2 antenna element. However, when the communications interfaces and the antenna elements are connected, Trx5 may be incorrectly connected to the A2 antenna element, and the Trx2 may be incorrectly connected to the A5 antenna element, as shown in FIG. 2. When the problem occurs when the communications interfaces are connected to the antenna elements in the AAS, beamforming of the AAS is abnormal. Consequently, directivity of a transmit beam formed in the AAS deteriorates, and network performance deteriorates.

Antenna connection detection method and apparatus


A laser source for use in a structured light projector includes a substrate, one or more first VCSELs on the substrate, and one or more second VCSELs on the substrate. The one or more first VCSELs each have a first aperture width and each separately extend above a surface of the substrate. The one or more second VCSELs each have a second aperture width different from the first aperture width, and each separately extend above a surface of the substrate. Using an array of VCSELs with different aperture widths provides emitted radiation having different wavelengths, thus providing different speckle patterns. When the different speckle patterns are averaged upon being received at the detector, speckle noise is reduced. The VCSEL can also include a plurality of subwavelength structures to steer the light output. Such subwavelength structures can also be used on the surface of other VCSELs, including standard VCSELs.

One approach to creating a 3D image is called a structured light illumination (SLI) technique. In an SLI technique, a light pattern is projected onto a 3D object surface. The SLI system includes a camera and projector (illuminator). The 3D object is placed at a reference plane that is a predetermined distance from the projector and camera. In use, the projector projects a structured light pattern onto the 3D object surface. The structured light pattern can be a series of striped lines or a grid or any other pattern. When the structured light pattern is projected onto the 3D object surface, it is distorted by the 3D object surface. The camera captures an image of the 3D object surface with the distortions in the structured light pattern. The image is then stored in an image file for processing by an image processing device. In some cases, multiple structured light patterns are projected onto the 3D object surface by the projector (illuminator), and multiple images of the 3D object with the structured light patterns are captured by the camera. During processing of the image files, the distortions in the structured light pattern are analyzed and calculations performed to determine a spatial measurement of various points on the 3D object surface with respect to the reference plane. This processing of the images uses standard range-finding or triangulation methods. The triangulation angle between the camera and projected pattern causes a distortion directly related to the depth of the surface. Once these range finding techniques are used to determine the position of a plurality of points on the 3D object surface, then a 3D data representation of the 3D object can be created. Digital recreation of 3D objects has uses in numerous fields, including image recognition (such as facial recognition, feature extraction from an image, etc.), and robotics to improve the interaction between a robot and its environment. There remain, however, a number of unresolved issues associated with SLI.
Although the following Detailed Description will proceed with reference being made to illustrative embodiments, many alternatives, modifications, and variations thereof will be apparent in light of this disclosure.

Computationally efficient structured light imaging system


Accordingly, the reader will see that this invention is a fuel injection pump which uses an opposed pair of springs acting in parallel to affect the movement of a piston used to pump fuel. Engine pressure pulses, preferably from an engine cylinder, apply a force on the piston and the springs affect the piston""s movement to affect the quantity of fuel injected. The spring rates of the springs and their pre-load, or compression, can be adjusted to affect the fuel injection quantity. Proper selection of these spring rates and compressions allows the user to change the pump""s specific output and shape this output as a function of engine torque.

1. Field of Invention
This invention is a pump for delivering fuel to an internal combustion engine in which engine pressure, preferably cylinder pressure, acts on and moves a piston whose displacement is affected by two opposed regulating springs. These regulating springs affect the pump""s specific fuel output, its fuel output divided by the engine cylinder""s peak pressure, for various engine torque levels. The spring rate and pre-load of these springs provide tuning adjustments to the pump. The use of these springs allows construction of a totally mechanical fuel injection pump requiring no electrical components in its operation.
2. Description of Prior Art
Various mechanical or partially mechanical fuel injection systems have been developed, and engine cylinder or crankcase pressure has been used to control various functions of these systems. Totally mechanical systems, though desirable from the standpoint of simplicity, have not gained wide usage due to a difficulty in precisely shaping fuel flow as a function of engine load. Electrical systems or hybrid electrical/mechanical systems have been developed to overcome this problem.
U.S. patents to O""Neill, U.S. Pat. No. 4,098,560 (1978) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,141,675 (1979), describe a fuel pump driven by cylinder pressure. The fuel metering is performed by an electronic xe2x80x9cinterface control unitxe2x80x9d, and the pump, driven by cylinder pressure, is designed to provide a constant fuel pressure at the injection nozzles. The pump has two pistons acted on by a xe2x80x9csingle springxe2x80x9d, and a xe2x80x9climit is placed on the piston""s upward strokexe2x80x9d (U.S. Pat. No. 4,141,675). This causes the fuel pressure from the pump to equal the pressure exerted on the fuel by the spring when the piston has reached its stop. This constant pressure is the main concern of the pump of these patents, as stated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,141,675; xe2x80x9cAlso, since engine combustion pressures vary with operating conditions and deterioration is practically unavoidable it is important that the gas-driven pump be designed so that the fuel pressure does not changexe2x80x9d. This pump is therefore not used to regulate the flow of fuel to the engine, the regulation again being performed electronically.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,494,015 to Rynhart (1996) discloses a fuel injector assembly which uses cylinder pressure to operate a xe2x80x9csnap actionxe2x80x9d piston which times the fuel (and air) injection event. Cylinder pressure is applied to a small diameter of the piston which becomes initially slightly unseated exposing a larger area of the piston to cylinder pressure. This causes the piston to xe2x80x9csnapxe2x80x9d open, allowing the fuel injection event to occur. There is a limiting shoulder, however, on the piston body which limits the piston movement and seals the fuel injector from combustion gases. The piston always has a fixed displacement, moving between two limit positions. The amount of fuel injected is not determined by the piston""s movement but is determined by changing the relative orientation of two spill ports, thus changing the effective stroke of the fuel injector plunger. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,048,970 to Fitzgerald (1977), a shuttle valve is operated by cylinder pressure between two limit positions, thus timing the injection event. Oil under pressure is used to provide the force for the fuel injection process, the pressure of this oil being regulated by a spool valve. This spool valve is positioned by a mechanical actuating rod, and the position of this actuating rod therefore determines the amount of fuel injected. In both of these patents, cylinder pressure is used to time the fuel injection event but does not regulate the quantity of fuel injected. U.S. patents to May, U.S. Pat. No. 3,425,403 (1969) and U.S. Pat. No. 3,805,758 (1974), describe a totally mechanical fuel injection pump which is designed to be a pumping and fuel regulating means. This pump is driven by crankcase or cylinder pressure applied to a resilient membrane, and the pumping action is obtained by the action of suitable inlet and outlet valves, known in the art. The membrane is in effect a single spring, and this single spring affects fuel delivery at all engine loads.
Applicant""s co-pending application Ser. No. 09/550,774 describes a fuel injection pumps which have a moveable partition between an engine pressure chamber and a fuel chamber. This moveable partition is shown as a combination of a diaphragm and a piston and its movement is affected by the xe2x80x9cspringxe2x80x9d of an o-ring and the xe2x80x9cspringxe2x80x9d contained in the flexibility of the diaphragm. Both of these xe2x80x9cspringsxe2x80x9d affect the movement of the diaphragm and piston at all engine torque levels.
It is an object of this invention to provide a fuel injection pump driven by engine pressure, preferably from the engine cylinder, acting on a piston the movement of which is affected by two opposed springs. These opposed springs are pre-loaded, or compressed, such that both springs affect piston movement at small piston displacements, but only one spring affects piston movement at greater piston displacements. The spring rates of these two springs can be selected and their pre-load adjusted to affect the specific fuel output of the pumps at different engine torque levels. This allows the construction of a totally mechanical fuel injection system, requiring no electrical components.
Still further objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing description and drawings.

Fuel injection pump with opposed regulating springs


The present invention discloses a method and apparatus for clock frequency division, the method comprises: determining a current frequency division coefficient in real time according to input clock signals and output clock information; then, performing counting on the input clock signals according to an integer portion and a decimal portion of the frequency division coefficient and a decimal scale threshold of the decimal portion; and performing accumulation on the decimal portion according to the counting result; finally, controlling the output clock according to the counting result and the accumulation result. With the method and the apparatus, output signals can be adjusted dynamically according to input signals, and the bit width of the integer portion and the decimal portion of the frequency division coefficient and the decimal scale threshold of the decimal portion can be increased on demand, so that the precision of the frequency division coefficient can be adjusted.

In the communication field, a frequency divider is required for the realization of clock frequency division, wherein the principle of the frequency divider is that: each time when int(Σb) is accumulated to be an integer, the frequency divider will add an input clock cycle Ti to frequency division time of an output clock cycle To according to Formula (1), which will shorten the output clock cycle To.ΣTo=(Σa+int(Σb))*Ti+mod(Σb)*Ti  (1)
Wherein, mod indicates a modulus function, int indicates an integral function, Ti represents the input clock cycle, to represents the output clock cycle, a is an integer portion after frequency division processing, and b is a decimal portion after frequency division processing.
In practical application, the decimal portion b after the frequency division processing performed by the frequency divider is generally separated to be processed as an integer portion, which can be applied in network communications, such as the circuit emulation service of the packet switch network, so as to recover the clock of the source end at the receiver terminals.
At present, the specific method for decimal frequency division is as follows.
First of all, the integer portion ai and the decimal portion bi of the current frequency division are determined according to a current frequency division coefficient Ki in Formula (2), and a decimal scale threshold ci is determined according to the determined decimal portion bi. As required by the precision, the decimal portion bi can be represented by an 8-bit, 12-bit, 16-bit or 32-bit value, etc., for example, if the decimal portion bi is a hexadecimal value, the corresponding decimal scale threshold ci is 3B9ACA00.
                              K                                                              i                =                                            F                                                                                i                                      F                                                                                o                                =                                                    T                                                                                o                                            T                                                                                i                                      =                                          a                                                                                i                            +                              b                                                                                i                                                                        (        2        )
Then the output clock frequency Fo is obtained based on the input clock frequency Fi according to the Formula (2) with the determined integer portion ai of the current frequency division, decimal portion bi of the current frequency division and current value of the decimal scale threshold ci of the current frequency division, so as to recover the clock frequency of the source end at the receiver terminals.
The clock frequency division method above is completed on the basis of the hypothesis that the frequency division coefficient Ki is fixed. It can be used only in the situation where the frequency division coefficient is fixed; moreover, the decimal portion bi generally supports the value precision of 1 bit or 2 bits only. The frequency division precision is low, which makes it hard to meet the requirements of high frequency division precision, multi bit decimal portion and the dynamic adjustment of the frequency division coefficient in the clock recovery application in the communication field such as the packet switch network.

Method and apparatus for clock frequency division


Silicon carbide matrix composite material (1) comprises silicon carbide matrix (2) as a host The silicon carbide matrix (2) comprises first silicon carbide phase (3) of 0.1 to 10 μm average crystal grain diameter and second silicon carbide phase (4) of 0.01 to 2 μm average crystal grain diameter. In interstices of silicon carbide crystal grains constituting the silicon carbide matrix (2), liberated silicon phase (5) amounting to, for example, 5 to 50 mass % based on the composite material (1) is present continuously in network form. This fine structure enables realizing high strength and high toughness of the silicon carbide composite material (1).

Silicon carbide (SiC) ceramics has excellent properties such as environment resistance, heat resistance, abrasion resistance, high rigidity, high heat conductance, low thermal expansion, and the like and, therefore, is used as a high-temperature structural member, an abrasion resistant member and the like. Especially, the properties of the SiC ceramics are utilized to practically use the SiC ceramics for jigs for semiconductor manufacturing devices and other semiconductor-associated parts in these years Besides, it is also studied for application to industrial equipment such as nuclear, gas turbine and other energy equipment, pump parts, mechanical seal parts, sliding parts and the like.
As a process for producing the SiC ceramics, a reaction-sintering method is known other than a powder sintering method using the same sintering aids as used for an ordinary ceramics material For example, the reaction-sintering method for SiC forms a mixture of SiC powder as an aggregate with carbon powder, a resin and the like into a desired shape, keeps heating the compact to the melting temperature or more of silicon and impregnates the molten silicon. The reaction sintering of SiC is a sintering method involving a reaction between carbon and silicon.
The reaction-sintering method for SiC has a lower sintering temperature than that of the powder sintering method and can provide a dense body without using sintering aids The reaction-sintering method does not have a large shrinkage in size at sintering in comparison with the powder sintering method and can produce a large-size part and a complex shape part having a near net shape, providing an advantage capable of largely reducing the cost required for fabrication into the final shape. Thus, the reaction-sintering method is expected as a method which can produce SiC ceramics with a high purity at a low cost.
But, the SiC ceramics (reaction-sintered SiC) produced by the reaction-sintering method is generally known that it is poor in mechanical properties such as strength, fracture toughness values and the like in comparison with the SiC sintered body produced by the powder sintering method. Therefore, the reaction-sintered SiC is not applied to parts and devices which are required to have high strength at present.
Specifically, the reaction-sintered SiC contains a liberated silicon (Si) phase derived from its production method. Though the liberated Si phase contributes to make the reaction-sintered SiC dense, it is a cause of lowering the strength of the reaction-sintered SiC because it tends to become the starting point of fracture. A conventional reaction-sintered SiC has its strength or the like heavily degraded in comparison with the SiC sintered body produced by the powder sintering method because it is determined to have a large content of the liberated Si phase in order to enhance denseness, productivity and the like.
It is general for the conventional reaction sintering to use SiC powder having a relatively large grain diameter as an aggregate in order to improve the denseness, productivity and the like. However, the SiC ceramics produced by the conventional reaction-sintering method has a problem that the microstructure based on the aggregate SiC and reaction product SiC tends to become nonuniform because of the aggregate SiC having a relatively large grain diameter. The nonuniform microstructure becomes a cause of degrading the strength of the reaction-sintered SiC.
It is tried to reduce the amount of the liberated Si phase present in the reaction-sintered SiC against the above-described lowering of strength because of the liberated Si phase. But, simple reduction of the content of the liberated Si phase in the reaction-sintered SiC cuts the network structure of the liberated Si phase into pieces, resulting in producing a large volume of pores. Besides, microcracks are easily produced as the volume of the SiC produced by the reaction sintering expands. The pores and microcracks present in the reaction-sintered SiC cause lowering of the strength in the same manner as in the ordinary ceramics material.
Besides, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 2001-19551 describes a production method by which silicon is prevented from remaining by immersing a compact in a liquid silicon source (alkoxysilane or the like) and sintering at a temperature in a range of 1500 to 2000° C. But, the complete removal of the liberated Si phase tends to degrade the density because the liberated silicon phase contributes to making the reaction-sintered SiC dense. The strength of the reaction-sintered SiC has not been enhanced satisfactorily because the denseness is degraded. Sintering at a relatively high temperature impairs the advantage of the reaction-sintering method capable of sintering at a low temperature.
As described above, the conventional reaction-sintering method has not reached a level that a high-strength SiC ceramics is produced with a good reproducibility. A method of producing SiC parts by the reaction-sintering method has a small shrinkage in dimensions at the time of sintering and can reduce a cost required for fabricating to provide a final shape but its application to parts having a complex shape is not satisfactory. Specifically, the compact shape is limited, and the machining cost increases because the conventional reaction-sintering method causes a volume expansion when the liberated Si phase solidifies. Besides, there is a problem that cracks and the like are easily caused at the time of solidification.
In this connection, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. HEI 8-183661 describes a production method by which a temperature range of ±10° C. of at least the melting point of silicon is cooled at a cooling rate of 12° C./hr in a cooling process after the impregnation of silicon. According to this reaction-sintered SiC production method, the occurrence of cracks is suppressed to some extent, but an essential subject of providing a high strength has not been improved.
The present invention provides a silicon carbide matrix composite material which can be applied to a variety of members and parts required to have a high strength by improving the mechanical properties such as strength, toughness and the like of the reaction-sintered SiC and enhancing reliability and durability, and a process for producing it. The present invention also provides a process for producing parts of a silicon carbide matrix composite material by which parts having a complex shape and a large size of the silicon carbide matrix composite material can be produced inexpensively with their strength and toughness improved.

Silicon carbide matrix composite material, process for producing the same and process for producing part of silicon carbide matrix composite material


The present disclosure relates to a lens module, the module including a first lens having a positive (+) refractive power and capable of moving for zooming operation; a second lens having a negative (−) refractive power; a third lens having a positive (+) refractive power and having an inflection point at an image surface; and a fourth lens having a negative (−) refractive power.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a lens module and a camera device having the same
2. Description of Related Art
Concomitant with the development of image pick-up systems, researches on terminal camera devices, DSCs (digital still cameras), camcorders and PC cameras (photographing devices attached to a personal computer) have been briskly waged of late. One of the most important constituent parts for a camera related to the image pick-up system to capture an image is a lens module formed with a plurality of lenses.
Particularly, a conventional actuator of a VCM (Voice Coil Motor) driving means used in a small-sized camera unit mounted on a hand-held portable phone for auto-focusing is being changed to MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical System) actuator.
The VCM actuator-used auto-focusing method is such that a lens barrel reciprocates to perform the auto-focusing while a plurality of lenses is fixed via a lens barrel, that is, the auto-focusing is performed while the lens barrel of the plurality of lenses moves.
However, the MEMS actuator-used auto-focusing method has disadvantages that only one lens nearest to an object is shifted by the MEMS actuator while the other lenses are fixed, such that the lens optical system designed by the VCM actuator cannot be used to a camera device of MEMS actuator method, which necessitates a new power structure using an optical system of high-resolution lens module.

Lens module and camera device having the same


A double-cavity half-toroidal type continuously variable transmission comprises an input shaft rotatable by means of a drive source, first and second input disks rotatable integrally with the input shaft, first and second output disks opposed to corresponding input disks, and a hydraulic loading mechanism. The hydraulic loading mechanism includes first and second hydraulic chambers arranged in the axial direction of the input shaft. The first hydraulic chamber is defined by the back surface of the first input disk, an end face of the first disk member, etc. The second hydraulic chamber is defined by the inner end face of the first cylinder, an end face of the second disk member, etc. The first and second hydraulic chambers are simultaneously supplied with pressurized oil by means of a pressure source. Under the pressure of the oil, the first input disk is pressed toward the first output disk, and the second input disk is pressed toward the second output disk through the medium of an interlocking portion.

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 11-183247, filed Jun. 29, 1999 the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to a toroidal type continuously variable transmission mounted in a vehicle such as an automobile.
A toroidal type continuously variable transmission described PCT National Publication No. 6-502476 is a known example of a transmission that is mounted in a vehicle such as an automobile. The transmission of this type comprises an input shaft rotatable by means of a drive source that includes an engine, an input disk rotatable integrally with the input shaft, an output disk opposed to the input disk, power rollers arranged between the input and output disks, and a push mechanism for pressing at least one of the disks toward the other. As the input and output disks are pressed against the respective traction surfaces of the power rollers by the push mechanism, the rotation of the input disk is transmitted to the output disk through the power rollers. As the angle of inclination of the power rollers, which are rockably arranged between the input and output disks, changes, the reduction ratio of the toroidal type continuously variable transmission changes.
In some cases, a loading cam mechanism may be used as the push mechanism. The loading cam mechanism comprises a loading cam mounted on the input shaft and a cam roller in contact with the cam. The loading cam, which is located behind the input disk, is rotated by means of the drive source that includes the engine. The cam roller is located between the loading cam and the input disk and is rotatable around an axis that extends at right angles to the axis of the input shaft. When the drive source rotates the loading cam, the cam roller presses the input disk toward the output disk.
The loading cam mechanism presses the input disk toward the output disk with a push force proportional to a torque from the drive source that is applied to the input shaft. Since the loading cam mechanism mechanically presses the input disk in response to only the input torque from the drive source, there is no necessity for computer control. Thus, the toroidal type continuously variable transmission using the loading cam mechanism has an advantage over the one that uses a hydraulic loading mechanism (mentioned later) in being simpler in construction.
The efficiency of power transmission between the input and output disks and the power rollers varies depending on various conditions, such as the input torque from the drive source, gear ratio of the toroidal type continuously variable transmission, rotational frequency of the input disk, temperature of the a lubricant, etc. In the case where the loading cam mechanism is used as the push mechanism, however, the push force is settled without regard to the aforesaid conditions including the gear ratio, rotational frequency, lubricant temperature, etc. Depending on these conditions, therefore, the loading cam mechanism sometimes may fail to press the input and output disks with an optimum push force.
FIG. 4 shows the relation between a push force Fac generated by the loading cam mechanism of the half-toroidal type continuously variable transmission and an appropriate push force Fan1. If the input torque from the drive source is fixed, the push force Fac generated by the loading cam mechanism is substantially fixed despite the change of the gear ratio, as shown in FIG. 4. On the other hand, the appropriate push force Fan1 is represented by an upwardly convex curve. FIG. 5 shows the relation between the push force Fac generated by the loading cam mechanism of the full-toroidal type continuously variable transmission and an appropriate push force Fan2. The lower the gear ratio, the smaller the appropriate push force Fan2 is, as shown in FIG. 5.
Thus, in the case of the half-toroidal type continuously variable transmission that uses the loading cam mechanism, the generated push force Fac is greater than the appropriate push force Fan1, as shown in FIG. 4. In the case of the full-toroidal type continuously variable transmission also, the generated push force Fac is greater than the appropriate push force Fan2, as shown in FIG. 5. In either case, the push force Fac lowers the power transmission efficiency of the continuously variable transmission. In the case of the full-toroidal type, in particular, the transmission efficiency lowers substantially.
In the toroidal type continuously variable transmission described in PCT National Publication No. 6-502476, the hydraulic loading mechanism is used as the push mechanism. The hydraulic loading mechanism comprises a pressure source such as a hydraulic pump, a cylinder rotatable integrally with the input shaft, and the back surface portion of the input disk that serves as a piston portion in the cylinder. The input disk is pressed toward the output disk by means of the pressure of oil that is fed from the pressure source into the cylinder. The transmission described in PCT National Publication No. 6-502476 is provided with only one cylinder and one piston portion.
A push force that is generated by the hydraulic loading mechanism is controlled to be at an appropriate value by means of a well-known control device such as an ECU (engine control unit). This control device obtains the appropriate push force in accordance with the conditions including the input torque, gear ratio, rotational frequency, lubricant temperature, etc. Thus, the power transmission efficiency of the toroidal type continuously variable transmission can be improved by using the hydraulic loading mechanism.
In the push mechanism of the toroidal type continuously variable transmission, however, the push force should be enhanced in proportion to the input torque from the drive source. In the toroidal type continuously variable transmission that uses the hydraulic loading mechanism, therefore, the pressure of the oil to be fed into the cylinder must be increased when the input torque is high. Sealing the high-pressure oil requires the sliding resistance of seal members between the piston portion and the cylinder to be increased, thus entailing a higher power loss. Since the high-pressure oil must be fed into the cylinder, moreover, the pressure source and therefore the toroidal type continuously variable transmission itself are expected to be large-sized.
The pressure of the oil to be fed into the cylinder may possibly be adjusted to a lower level by increasing the pressure receiving area of the piston portion (input disk) on which the oil pressure acts. In this case, however, the size of the toroidal type continuously variable transmission itself increases, and the manufacturing costs of the input disk and the like pile up inevitably.
Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to provide a toroidal type continuously variable transmission, of which the power transmission efficiency can be restrained from lowering and which can be restrained from being large-sized.
In order to achieve the above object, a toroidal type continuously variable transmission according to the present invention comprises an input shaft rotatable by means of a drive source, a first cavity including a first input disk rotatable together with the input shaft and a first output disk opposed to the first input disk in the axial direction of the input shaft, a second cavity including a second input disk rotatable together with the input shaft and a second output disk opposed to the second input disk in the axial direction of the input shaft, a hydraulic loading mechanism including first and second hydraulic chambers arranged in the axial direction of the input shaft and adapted to press one of the disks in the first cavity toward the other so that the input and output disks approach each other when pressurized oil is fed into the hydraulic chambers, and an interlocking portion adapted to shift one of the disks of the second cavity toward the other as the one disk of the first cavity is shifted toward the other by means of the hydraulic loading mechanism.
The hydraulic loading mechanism of the invention includes the first and second hydraulic chambers that press the input and output disks in the first cavity and the input and output disks in the second cavity toward one another. With use of these hydraulic chambers, the pressure receiving area of a piston portion that is subjected to oil pressure can be widened. Accordingly, the pressure of the oil supplied to the hydraulic chambers can be suppressed, and a pressure source can be restrained from becoming large-sized. Since the sliding resistance of a seal member for sealing the hydraulically-operated piston portion can be lowered, so that the power transmission efficiency can be restrained from lowering. The interlocking portion shifts the input and output disks of the second cavity toward each other as the hydraulic loading mechanism presses the input and output disks of the first cavity so that they approach each other. Thus, push force can be generated in the input and output disks of both the first and second cavities by means of the one hydraulic loading mechanism. In consequence, the toroidal type continuously variable transmission itself can be restrained from becoming large-sized.
Preferably, in the toroidal type continuously variable transmission of the invention, the hydraulic loading mechanism includes a cylinder defining the first hydraulic chamber, a first disk member located inside the cylinder, a second disk member opposed to the first disk member in the axial direction of the input shaft and defining the second hydraulic chamber, an air chamber defined between the first and second disk members, and a communication hole connecting the inside of the air chamber and the outside of the hydraulic loading mechanism. According to this invention, air can be introduced into or discharged from the air chamber when the pressurized oil is supplied to the first and second hydraulic chambers to move the piston portion, so that the piston portion can be moved smoothly. Thus, the responsivity and efficiency of the toroidal type continuously variable transmission are improved.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.

Toroidal type continuously variable transmission


The present disclosure relates to polymer particles comprising a polymer matrix having a coating of an inorganic semimetal oxide or metal oxide, wherein the polymer matrix has at least one first functional group A and at least one second functional group B, both functional groups A and B being able to enter into at least one covalent bond with one another, functional group A being selected from the group consisting of an azide group, C —C double bond, C —C triple bond, aldehyde group, ketone group, imine group, thioketone group and thiol group, and functional group B being selected from the group consisting of a C —C double bond, C —C triple bond, C —N triple bond, diene group, thiol group and amine group.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to polymer particles which are especially suitable as toner particles for electrophotographic processes, to electrophotographic processes for production of three-dimensional structures on a support structure, and to the three-dimensional structures produced by means of these processes.
2. Related Art
The manufacture of three-dimensional objects with the aid of computer-generated models is constantly gaining significance. This involves regular buildup layer by layer, which enables individual matching of the desired structure. The demand for components formed from several component parts and the increasingly complex geometry thereof increases the requirements with regard to the spatial resolution of the manufacturing process. Particularly in medical technology, the specific manufacture of transplants is associated with great complexity, since the objects have to be matched individually to each patient.
There are various known processes which enable the buildup of three-dimensional objects from plastic. They are encompassed by the name "Rapid Prototyping" (or "solid freeform fabrication") (Wang, Trends in Biotechnology, 25 (11), pages 505 to 513). However, these processes are either restricted to the application of a single polymer component or have resolutions above >250 μm.
The fusion of toner or polymer particles by means of electromagnetic radiation is known by the name "non-contact fusing". In this process, the electromagnetic radiation is used as a heat source for the fusion of the polymer. Chemical fixing of the toner particles to one another is not achieved (JP 002000035689, JP 002004177660, US 000004435069 A, DE 000010064563 A1).
Electrophotography ("laser printing") has proved in the last few decades to be a reliable method for two-dimensional text printing with comparatively high resolution (1200 dpi, resolution <50 μm). Accordingly, electrophotography constitutes a widespread printing technique with which technical surfaces, usually in the form of paper or film surfaces, can be printed with substances in powder form. In principle, electrophotography involves electrostatic charging, for example with the aid of a preliminary charging roller or a corona, of a rotating photographic roller coated with a photosemiconductor material, followed by exposure at local sites by means of a laser arrangement or an LED array, as a result of which it is at least partly electrically discharged at these exposed regions. All other unexposed regions of the photographic roller remain electrically charged and correspond to the negative image of the two-dimensional structures to be printed, for example in the form of text, images etc. In a subsequent step, pulverulent toner is applied to the exposed photographic roller, the toner being electrostatically charged by friction in the printer and therefore being able to adhere only to the discharged regions of the photographic roller. To influence the electrostatic charging of the toner, modern commercially available toners contain about 2 to 4% by volume of charge control additives. The predominant constituent of the toner, i.e. about 80 to 90% by volume, consists typically of a dry solvent, called the matrix, which typically consists of a mixture of synthetic resin and wax. In a proportion of about 5 to 18% by volume, the toner contains a dye component, for example in the form of carbon black.
There are also known electrophotographic processes with which multilayer objects made from metal powder can be printed (van der Eijk et al., Metal Printing Process: A Rapid Manufacturing Process Based on Xerography using Metal Powders Materials, Science & Technology, 2005). In addition, electrophotographic obtained surfaces have been three-dimensionally structured with the aid of foaming agents (JP 002005004142 AA). However, the resolution cannot be controlled adequately and is restricted to the toner layer present on the support structure. This method therefore does not offer the possibility of generating a three-dimensional object layer by layer.
There are likewise known electrophotographic processes in which the adhesion of the toner on the support structure is increased with the aid of curing reactive groups (U.S. Pat. No. 5,888,689) and/or by post-crosslinking the particles through the addition of photoinitiators (WO 2006/027264 A1, EP 0 667 381 B1, EP 0 952 498 A1). There is also a known process for production of toner materials comprising UV-polymerizable additives (US 000005212526 A). However, these processes achieve solely improved adhesion on the support structure surface and do not ensure the controlled three-dimensional buildup of polymer layers.
However, the use of such processes for biologically and medically usable three-dimensional plastic parts is a problem which has not been solved to date, particularly owing to the need for three-dimensional fixing of the individual particles (U.S. Pat. No. 6,066,285 A).
The technical problem underlying the present invention is to provide processes and means which overcome the aforementioned disadvantages, more particularly processes and means which allow production of high-resolution three-dimensional structures, especially in the μm and/or mm range, especially in a rapidly performable and inexpensive process, and wherein the products produced may also be biocompatible and biofunctional. More particularly, the present invention is based on the technical problem of providing high-resolution three-dimensional structures of the aforementioned type, which can be used, for example, as transplants, in tissue engineering processes or products, as tube structures or the like.

Process of making a three-dimensional structure on a support structure

FRAUNHOFER-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V.


A liquid crystal display apparatus including first and second substrates which are disposed facing each other, with liquid crystal sealed between said first and second substrates, a first electrode formed on the first substrate and a second electrode formed on the second substrate. There are alignment control layers covering the first and second electrodes, wherein the alignment control layers control the alignment direction of liquid crystal molecules, when no voltage is applied, to be roughly vertical to faces of the first and second substrates. Bumps are formed on at least one surface of the first and second substrates, wherein the bumps determine tilting directions of the liquid crystal molecules when voltage is applied. Both of the alignment control layers and the bumps are made of a polymerizable compound included in and mixed with said liquid crystal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display apparatus which can implement high transmittance, high-speed response and a wide viewing angle. More specifically, the present invention relates to a liquid crystal display apparatus where a liquid crystal is sealed in between two substrates, and the manufacturing method therefor, and particularly to a liquid crystal display apparatus where a liquid crystal, to which a polymerizable compound (polymer component) is added, is sealed between two substrates, then an alignment control layer or polymer network is formed by polymerizing the polymerizable compound, and the manufacturing method therefor. Also the present invention relates to a high image quality liquid crystal display apparatus which has characteristics in the movement mode of the liquid crystal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently liquid crystal display apparatus are being used in a variety of applications because of such features as thinness, light weight, low voltage driving and low power consumption. The display characteristics are now equivalent to those of a CRT, and are therefore used for such applications as monitors or TVs, where conventionally CRTs have been primarily used.
A general liquid crystal display apparatus has a structure where a liquid crystal is sealed between two substrates. On one of the substrates, thin film transistors (hereafter called TFT) and pixel electrodes are formed, and on the other substrate, a common electrode, color filters, etc. are formed. Hereafter a substrate where TFTs and pixel electrodes are formed is called a TFT substrate, and the substrate which faces the TFT substrate is called a counter substrate.
As a liquid crystal display apparatus which has superb viewing angle characteristics and contrast characteristics, an MVA (Mult-domain Vertical Alignment) liquid crystal display apparatus has been known (e.g. Japanese Patent No. 2947350). In an MVA liquid crystal display apparatus, a liquid crystal aligns in the vertical direction with respect to the substrate surface when no voltage is applied, and the orientation to which a liquid crystal is tilted is regulated by bumps or dents formed on the substrate face or by slits formed on electrodes, when voltage is applied.
FIG. 1 shows an example of a patterned pixel electrodes structure in an MVA liquid crystal display apparatus. This pixel electrode is comprised of a cross-shaped main region 1 and four branch regions which linearly extend in 45°, 135°, 225° and 315° orientations. In a branch section, the width of the electrode sections and the slit sections are about 3 μm, respectively. The electrode on the substrate facing this (not illustrated) is a one-plane electrode which is uniform on the entire surface.
If voltage is applied to electrodes where fine slits are formed, as shown in FIG. 1, a liquid crystal tends to tilt in the directions along the slits. In the case of FIG. 1, if voltage is applied, liquid crystal molecules 4 in the neighboring area 3 of the main region start to tilt along the slit directions as illustrated, the behavior of the liquid crystal molecules propagate to the liquid crystal molecules in the branch regions, which sequentially tilt along the slit directions. As a result, the liquid crystal layer forms a pattern according to the pattern provided by the electrodes which exist outside, and a four-domain alignment, where liquid crystal molecules tilt in four orientations (directions) respectively in the four branch regions, is implemented.
However, it takes time for all the liquid crystal molecules to finally tilt, since the behavior of the liquid crystal molecules near the main region propagate into the peripheral area when voltage is applied. Also if the branch region is long, liquid crystal molecules may tilt in the orientation B, that is the opposite of the proper orientation A to which the liquid crystal molecules are supposed to tilt, in a branch region away from the neighboring area of the main region. This is probably because the liquid crystal molecules tilt before the behavior of the liquid crystal molecules of the neighboring area of the main region propagate into the peripheral area. In this case, a boundary region is formed between A and B, and causes a drop in light transmittance since this boundary region does not transmit light when voltage is applied.
As a means of solving the above problem, a method of applying voltage on the liquid crystal layer, which has been formed by sealing a liquid crystal composition comprising a liquid crystal and a polymerizable compound so as to control the alignment, and irradiating active energy rays onto the substrate surface so as to polymerize the compound, has been proposed for MVA liquid crystal display apparatuses (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H7-43689 (Claims), Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H9-146068 (Claims), and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H10-147783 (Claims)).
In the case of sealing a liquid crystal composition, which comprises a liquid crystal and a polymerizable compound, in an MVA type liquid crystal display apparatus which has an electrode pattern shown in FIG. 1, for example, the generation of liquid crystal molecules which tilt in the opposite orientation, as shown in B in FIG. 1, can be prevented by gradually increasing the applied voltage over time when the voltage is applied to implement the four-domain alignment, as described above. So the compound is polymerized by irradiating active energy rays onto the panel face in this status. Then the compound is polymerized and the tilting orientation or tilting direction of the liquid crystal in the voltage applied status is fixed.
In the liquid crystal display apparatus manufactured in this way, the liquid crystal is somewhat inclined (tilted) in the tilting direction with respect to the vertical direction, even when no voltage is applied. Therefore the response speed is improved when voltage is applied, and a uniform and consistent alignment status is implemented. For this type of liquid crystal display apparatus, a liquid crystal display apparatus with high transmittance is implemented because bumps, etc., which cause the drop in transmittance, need not be formed. In other words, in the case of such an MVA liquid crystal apparatus, high transmittance, high-speed response and uniform and consistent alignment status can be implemented compared with conventional MVA type liquid crystal apparatuses.
However in this system, it is necessary to pattern the electrodes to regulate the tilting direction of the liquid crystal, which can be the cause of fluctuation in quality, complicated processing, dropping the yield and increasing cost. Particularly in the case of forming fine slits as shown in FIG. 1, transmittance is changed by a slight fluctuation of patterning, so a very high precision manufacturing process is demanded.
Now the MVA liquid crystal display apparatus will be more fully described. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional model view depicting an example of a conventional MVA type liquid crystal display apparatus. This MVA liquid crystal display apparatus has a structure where a liquid crystal 70, of which the dielectric constant anisotropy is negative, is sealed between a TFT substrate 50 and a counter substrate 60. Polarizing plates (not illustrated) are disposed respectively under the TFT substrate 50 and on the counter substrate 60 such that the polarization axes are perpendicular to each other.
The TFT substrate 50 is comprised of a glass substrate 51, pixel electrodes 52, which are formed on the liquid crystal 70 side surface (top surface in FIG. 2) of the glass substrate 51, and a vertical alignment control film 53 which covers the surface of the pixel electrodes 52. The pixel electrodes 52 are made of a transparent conductor, such as ITO (Indium-Tin Oxide), and the vertical alignment control film 53 is made of a polyimide, a polyamic acid or the like.
The counter substrate 60, on the other hand, is comprised of a glass substrate 61, a common electrode 62, which is formed on the liquid crystal 70 side surface (bottom surface in FIG. 2) of the glass substrate 61, bumps for domain regulation 63 which are formed on the common electrode 62, and a vertical alignment control film 64 which covers the surface of the common electrode 62 and the bumps 63. The common electrode 62 is made of a transparent conductor such as ITO, and the vertical alignment control film 64 is made of a polyimide, a polyamic acid or the like. The bumps for domain regulation 63 are formed by a photoresist, for example.
FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B are model diagrams depicting the operation of the MVA liquid crystal display apparatus. As FIG. 3A shows, when no voltage is applied between the pixel electrodes 52 and the common electrode 62, liquid crystal molecules 70a align roughly vertically from the surface of the alignment control films 53 and 64. In this status, light, which transmitted through the polarizing plate under the TFT substrate 50 and entered the liquid crystal layer, transmits through the liquid crystal layer as it is, and is shielded by the polarizing plate on the counter substrate 60. In other words, this is the case of a dark display.
On the other hand, if sufficient voltage is applied between the pixel electrodes 52 and the common electrode 62, as shown in FIG. 3B, liquid crystal molecules 70a align in roughly a vertical direction with respect to the electric field. In this status, the light, which transmitted through the polarizing plate under the TFT substrate 50 and entered the liquid crystal layer, is double-refracted because of the dielectric constant anisotropy of the liquid crystal molecules, and transmits through the polarizing plate on the counter substrate 60. In other words, this is the case of a bright display. In this way, by controlling the voltage between the pixel electrodes 52 and the common electrode 62 for each pixel, desired images can be displayed on the liquid crystal display apparatus.
In the case of an MVA liquid crystal display apparatus, if voltage is applied between the pixel electrodes 52 and the common electrode 62, the tilting directions of the liquid crystal molecules differ between each side of a bump 63 as shown in FIG. 3B, and a so called "alignment division (multi-domain)" is formed. By this, the leaking of light in diagonal directions from the substrate face is decreased remarkably, and good viewing angle characteristics and contrast characteristics can be implemented.
The above described example is the case when the bumps 63 are formed as domain regulation means, but the domain regulation means may be implemented by forming slits on one or on both of the pixel electrodes and the common electrode. In a normal MVA liquid crystal display apparatus, slits are formed on the electrodes of one of the TFT substrate and the counter substrate, and bumps are formed on the other substrate. Also dents may be formed instead of bumps or slits as the domain regulation means.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H7-84244 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H11-343486 disclose a manufacturing method of a liquid crystal display apparatus where a member for regulating the liquid crystal domains is formed by polymerizing a photoreactive monomer, which is added to the liquid crystal. With the method disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H11-343486, however, a step of forming a vertical alignment control film is required, just as with conventional methods. And with the method disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H7-84244, the portions to be the boundary of domains cannot be set at arbitrary positions.
Now a comparison between the MVA liquid crystal display apparatus and the horizontal electric field switching type liquid crystal display apparatus, called "In-Plane" switching (hereafter called IPS), will be described. FIG. 4 is a view depicting an MVA type vertically aligned liquid crystal display apparatus based on the prior art, and FIG. 5 is a view depicting a horizontal electric field switching type liquid crystal display apparatus based on the prior art. The MVA liquid crystal apparatus and IPS liquid crystal apparatus are well known for superb characteristics thereof.

Liquid crystal display apparatus wherein alignment control layers and bumps are made of a polymerizable compound included in and mixed with a liquid crystal layer


Preparation of a semi-crystalline catalyst for curing coating compositions wherein an isocyanate-sulfonate or -phosphonate is made by a Michael addition followed by chain extension with an isocyanate.

This invention concerns acid catalysts for coating compositions which are stable for long shelf life and can be cured at relatively low temperatures.
In recent years there has been substantial work in the field of acid catalysts for low temperature cure (80.degree.-110.degree. C.) finishes based on hydroxyfunctional resins and "melamine" crosslinkers. Several patents have appeared such as Canadian No. 1,201,239, U.S. Pat. No. 4,477,618 Singer et al. (1984), and British No. 1,413,054 (1975) and 1,361,929 (1974), focusing on making blocked acids with low "unblocking" temperatures.
A study of L. Hill (J. Coatings Tech Vol 53, No. 675, 1981) did show that a blocked acid catalyst with both large enthalpy and entropy of activation on deblocking would be most suitable for maximizing stability and minimizing cure temperatures. His theoretical calculations showed that it would be unlikely to combine adequate shelf stability with low temperature reactivity, taking into consideration only the above mentioned kinetic effects with the unimolecular deblocking reaction as rate controlling step.
Those calculations apply for homogeneous systems in which there is no phase separation on cure and which do not take into consideration diffusion effects due to viscosity changes during crosslinking and film formation. The use of strong acids (blocked or unblocked), such as phosphoric acid and sulfonic acid derivatives, for polyol-melamine based coatings is well known and described in literature. The problems, however, remain the poor balance of shelf stability--cure temperature and curing time--overall film properties, including humidity and corrosion resistance)--compatibility with polyol and melamine crosslinker. The use of polymeric type strong acid catalysts in which 2-acrylamine-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid (AMPS) is copolymerized with other monomers to improve those properties, has been described in many patent applications.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,711,449 --Brendley (1973) teaches interpolymers of 0.2-1.0% 2-acrylamide-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid (AMPS) with other acrylates or methacrylates.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,898,037--Lange et al. (1975) teaches acrylamido-sulfonic acid polymers such as AMPS which may be copolymerized with other acrylics, and their use in corrosion inhibition.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,177,178--Das et al. (1979) teaches the use of AMPS copolymerized with other acrylics including long chain acrylics such as stearyl methacrylate, with a molecular weight of 15,000 to 100,000. These are said to be used to make thermosetting automotive topcoat paints.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,001,150--June et al. (1977) teaches the use of phosphoric or sulfonic esters, including AMPS, copolymerized with acrylics such as methacrylic acid, for use as an electroconductive resin.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,914,499--Sheetz (1959) teaches the use of various acrylic esters of sulfonic acid in emulsion polymerization.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,008,293--Maska et al. (1977) teaches the preparation of crosslinkable coating compositions containing, for instance, AMPS, as an internal crosslinking catalyst.
The problem, however, with many polymeric types of strong acid catalysts can be insufficient mobility and compatibility with the polyol-melamine binder due to viscosity change on crosslinking and film formation. Polymeric types of strong acid catalysts can also impart a strong viscosity rise due to hydrogen bonding with the other paint constituents which has a negative effect on the solids content of the final formulation. Another problem one can have with both monomeric and polymeric types of strong acid catalysts in pigmented applications is absorption on pigments and extenders which reduces the activity of the acid catalyst initially and on storage. To improve above properties it would therefore be an advantage to have the strong acid catalyst in a different phase on storage temperature, becoming available at the specific curing temperature.
Non-aqueous dispersions (NAD) are a class of polymer dispersions in which a high molecular weight (or crosslinked) core polymer is sterically stabilized by another polymer grafted or absorbed onto it. The solubility difference between grafted and/or absorbed and core polymer should be sufficient to keep the dispersion stable. Numerous patent applications describe the technology of making NAD. One could imagine the strong acid copolymerized with the core polymer composition to have it in a separate phase on storage and to become available on crosslinking due to temperature-solubility change. The problem, however, remains the polymeric nature which can give compatibility problems with the other binder constituents on crosslinking and film formation. Another problem remains the strong viscosity change and instability, since hydrogen bonding between strong-acid-in-core polymer of the NAD and hydroxy of the polyol drives the strong acid groups to the particle surface It would therefore be ideal to have a semi-crystalline dispersed monomeric or oligomeric type strong acid catalyst which becomes soluble at the specific curing temperature due to a narrow softening or melting range in which the catalyst becomes solubilized in the other paint components.

Acid catalysts for low temperature cure of coating compositions


A polygonal mirror for use as a light beam deflector or scanner in an image exposure device includes a support on which a polygonal mirror body is mounted such that it is positionally limited thereby at positions near angular corners between mirror facets of the polygonal mirror. The polygonal mirror body may have a plurality of through holes defined therein on radial lines interconnecting said axis and said angular corners so that said polygonal prism body is subject to a substantially uniform moment of inertia about said axis upon rotation thereof. The holes may be filled with cores which are made of a material having a density smaller than the density of the material of which said polygonal prism body is made. Alternatively, a sheet of resin may be disposed on at least one of axially opposite surface of said polygonal prism body.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a polygonal mirror for deflecting and scanning a light beam in an image exposure device, the polygonal mirror having a plurality of reflecting flat mirror facets disposed on the outer surface of a polygonal body which is rotatable about its central axis.
2. Prior Art
Image exposure devices used in digital image forming apparatus such as digital copying machines, facsimile machines, and laser printers, for example, convert an information signal to be recorded into a modulated light beam, which is deflected by a deflector to scan the surface of a photosensitive medium.
One example of such a deflector or scanner is a polygonal mirror which is rotatable about its own axis. The polygonal mirror has a plurality of reflecting flat mirror facets disposed on the outer circumferential surface of a polygonal body which is rotatable about the axis. When the polygonal body is rotated about the axis at a constant speed, the mirror facets are moved along a constant circumferential path to deflect the modulated light beam for thereby scanning the photosensitive medium.
Modern image forming apparatuses operate to produce images at higher densities and at higher speeds. Therefore, the polygonal mirrors used therein as deflectors or scanners are larger in size and higher in speed. One problem with the larger and higher polygonal mirrors is that they are apt to be distorted when rotating at high speeds.
FIG. 11 of the accompanying drawings shows the relationship between the printout copy count (indicated on the horizontal axis) of an image forming apparatus and the rotational speed (indicated on the vertical axis) of a polygonal mirror used in the image forming apparatus, the polygonal mirror having an inscribed circle whose diameter is 22 mm and six mirror facets. When a larger polygonal mirror is rotated at a higher speed, it is distorted into an irregular shape making the mirror facets uneven. This causes the problems that no optimum beam spot diameter can be maintained by the deflected light beam and no optimum beam intensity distribution can be achieved by the deflected light beam. More specifically, the polygonal body of the polygonal mirror has ununiform moments of inertia about the axis of rotation, and tend to be deformed irregularly about the axis upon rotation thereof. As shown in FIG. 12, the polygonal mirror which is being rotated is distorted such that the angular corners thereof are forcibly projected further radially outwardly as indicated by the broken line.

Polygonal mirror for scanning light beam


A tape unit holds a tape roll that has a wound tape that is a print medium, and is adapted to be mounted in and removed from a cassette case. The tape unit is provided with a holder shaft portion and an indicator portion. The holder shaft portion is inserted into a shaft hole formed in a winding center of the tape roll and rotatably supports the tape roll. The indicator portion is disposed radially outside the tape roll which is supported by the holder shaft portion, and includes at least one hole portion and indicates a type of the tape.

The present disclosure relates to a tape cassette that can be freely mounted in and removed from a tape printer and to a tape unit that is housed in the tape cassette.
In known art, a refill type tape cassette is known in which a tape unit, which has a tape wound around a tape holder, can be mounted in and removed from a box-shaped cassette case. In the refill type tape cassette, only the tape unit housed inside the cassette case is replaced when, for example, a remaining amount of the tape is low, or when a tape type is changed etc. By only replacing the tape unit, the cassette case can be re-used.
In the refill type tape cassette, a plurality of hole portions, which penetrate in the up-down direction, are provided on a rear right portion of the cassette case. A plurality of bar-shaped blocking portions, which protrude in the up-down direction, are provided on a rear right portion of the tape unit in accordance with a type of the tape. When the tape unit is housed in the cassette case, the plurality of blocking portions selectively fit into the plurality of hole portions. In a cassette mounting portion of a tape printer, a plurality of micro-switches are provided that are constantly urged in the upward direction. When the tape cassette is inserted into the cassette mounting portion, the downwardly protruding plurality of blocking portions selectively depress the plurality of micro-switches. The tape printer identifies the type of the tape by detecting which of the plurality of micro-switches are depressed and which of the micro-switches are not depressed.


An excavation apparatus includes a suction system with a suction tank pneumatically connected to a blower through a filter subassembly. A suction hose is pneumatically connected to the suction tank. A liquid jet system includes a liquid reservoir fluidically connected to a liquid pump, which in turn is fluidically connected to a spray wand. The suction and liquid jet systems are mounted on a vehicle. An excavation method includes the steps of dislodging earthen material with a liquid jet from the spray wand and sucking it into the suction tank with the suction system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to excavation, in particular to hydraulic excavation and more particularly to hydraulic excavation combined with suction for removing liquid and dislodged matter.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various excavation methods and equipment have heretofore been employed. Mechanical excavation devices range from simple hand tools such as picks and shovels to sophisticated earth moving equipment for scraping, trenching, drilling and otherwise excavating in various soil conditions.
Fluids have also been employed for excavation. For example, "Air-Knife" and "Water Cannon" excavation equipment is available from Briggs Technology, Inc. of Pittsburg, Pa. Hydraulic mining, trenching, dredging and digging devices for underwater applications are shown in the Jacobson U.S. Pat. No. 2,605,090; the Norman U.S. Pat. No. 4,087,981; the Kocher U.S. Pat. No. 4,412,394; and the Berti et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,479,741. The dredging head disclosed in the Kocher '394 patent has suction capabilities so that material dislodged by its water jets can be withdrawn from the dredged area.
Large scale suction equipment is also used for removing concrete rubble dislodged by concrete water-blasters, for cleaning sewers and for other waste removal applications. Truck-mounted vacuum equipment for such applications is available from General Liquid Engineering, Inc. of Ontario, Canada.
However, the aforementioned excavation equipment and methods have disadvantages when used for certain excavation projects, such as locating buried utility cables and lines. Hand tools tend to be relatively slow and are often associated with relatively high labor costs, particularly if a relatively large volume of material must be excavated or relatively deep excavation is required. Furthermore, a hand tool may damage the utility cable or line.
Excavating with power equipment, such as backhoes and drilling machines, tends to be faster and less labor-intensive than excavating by hand, but is often attended by a greater risk of cable or line damage. Buried cables and lines are particularly susceptible to damage by backhoe operators. For this reason, excavation with a backhoe in a utility right-of-way may be impractical unless the operator has relatively accurate information on the depth and location of the subsurface line or cable. Otherwise the operator may be completely unaware that a utility line or cable has been exposed until it is severed. Severing a pipeline filled with a flammable material such as natural gas can be quite hazardous, as is severing an electrical line. Even if no personal injury results from severing a utility line or cable, property damage repair costs will often be incurred. Such repair costs may intitially be incurred by either the utility or the excavator, but either way they may be passed on to the consuming public in the form of higher utility, excavation or insurance costs.
Fiber optics telecommunications cables in particular are associated with heavy financial losses in the event they are severed. The revenue loss to a telecommunications company while its fiber optics cable is being repaired, and the cost of the repair itself, combine to impose an enormous liability on any party responsible for severing or otherwise damaging such a cable.
Fiber optics cables are normally buried in trenches along rights-of-way at depths sufficient to minimize the risk of accidental damage. However, fiber optics cables may share rights-of-way with other utility cables and lines. Servicing these utilities and lines often involve excavation in proximity to the buried fiber optic cables. The trenches may be formed with conventional trenching equipment and may be approximately three feet wide. Cable depths of approximately four to five feet are often specified, but the actual depths of the buried cables vary widely. Manholes are typically provided along the cable routes, and may occur at intervals of approximately four miles each.
When excavation work must be done in a right-of-way containing a fiber optic cable, it is often desirable to accurately determine the location of the fiber optic cable so that the excavator can avoid damaging it. However, the exact location of a cable buried between the manholes can be difficult to determine. Earth movement and settling may have shifted the cable from its original location and render it difficult to locate. Furthermore, the absence of ferrous metals and current-carrying conductive wires from a fiber optic cable can preclude or at least minimize the suitability of magnetic and current-detecting locating devices. Thus, locating buried fiber optic cables often requires physically exposing them. In this manner their locations can be determined with relative precision. Between the manholes the cable right-of-way is typically "potholed" by excavating at predetermined intervals to expose the buried cable. If only the cable location is desired, a large opening is generally unnecessary. Potholing may be accomplished with hand tools, machines or both. However, since hand tools are relatively slow and equipment use is attended by a risk of cable damage, both methods have their drawbacks. The excavation apparatus and method of the present invention address these problems.


A non-transitory computer tangible medium containing instructions for securing a large data set within a Merkle Tree structure is disclosed in the present specification. The instructions include storing each data object of a large data set within a separate node of a Merkle Tree including within a root node, leaf nodes, and nodes interconnecting the root node to the leaf nodes. The nodes of the Merkle Tree may be blockchained together with multiple blockchains that all have an initial blockchain block based on the root node of the Merkle Tree and a final blockchain block based on one of the different leaf nodes. The Merkle Tree may have an order “O” that remains constant for each level of the Merkle B-Tree, or have an order “O” that varies for at least one level of the Merkle B-Tree from the remaining levels.

Blockchain technology is finding increasing use for ensuring the error-free transfer of information. A hash algorithm takes input and converts it to, at a very high probability, a unique series of digits called a blockchain hash digest. The more digits in this blockchain hash digest, the less likely that there would be a collision, where different inputs had the same blockchain hash digest. The blockchain hash function demonstrates the avalanche effect, where a tiny change in the input, no matter how small, creates a significant change to the output digest. Since this specification improves upon the Merkle tree, we incorporate U.S. Pat. No. 4,309,569 by reference in its entirety.
This blockchain technology may be employed to big data, where there may be thousands, millions, and even billions of data objects to blockchain. Millions and billions of data objects may occur in digital movies, where each data object comprises I, P, and B frames organized in what is called a group of pictures (GOP). Each snippet is a collection of related GOPs, and several snippets are combined into a scene, and several scenes comprise a digital movie. It is by the creation of the Merkle B-Tree that such large numbers of data objects may be blockchained together. This blockchain technology may also apply to cryptocurrency transactions, images such as *.jpg and *.png, to messages sent across networks, and to the tracking of manipulations of large, multi-dimensional spreadsheets.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.