There is provided a switching power supply device, including: an output stage circuit including an output transistor installed between an application end of an input voltage and an application end of an output voltage, and configured to generate the output voltage from the input voltage through a switching operation including an operation of switching the output transistor; and a main control circuit configured to execute PWM control for causing the output stage circuit to perform the switching operation at a predetermined PWM frequency based on a feedback voltage according to the output voltage.

In related art, switching power supply device that includes an output transistor provided between an input voltage application end and an output voltage application end, and that switches the output transistor based on a feedback voltage according to the output voltage is generally known. A current mode control method is often adopted in the switching control.
FIG. 19 shows a configuration of a switching power supply device 900 according to a reference configuration in which a current mode control method is adopted. The switching power supply device 900 is configured as a step-down switching power supply device that generates a desired output voltage Vo from an input voltage Vi. In the switching power supply device 900 of FIG. 19, a rectangular wave-shaped voltage is generated by switching the input voltage Vi through the use of an output stage circuit including an output transistor 911 and a synchronous rectification transistor 912. The output voltage Vo is generated by smoothing the rectangular wave-shaped voltage through the use of a coil 913 and an output capacitor 914. At this time, a comparison voltage Vc′ is generated based on the feedback voltage according to the output voltage Vo and the current flowing through the coil 913, and a pulse width modulation signal Spwm′ is generated by comparing the comparison voltage Vc′ with a ramp voltage Vramp′. By switching the transistors 911 and 912 by PWM control using the pulse width modulation signal Spwm′, the output voltage Vo can be stabilized at a desired target voltage. In the configuration of FIG. 19, the comparison voltage Vc′ increases as the output voltage Vo decreases. A phase compensation circuit 920 for compensating for the phase of the comparison voltage Vc′ is connected to a wiring 921 to which the comparison voltage Vc′ is applied. The phase compensation circuit 920 is formed of a series circuit of a phase compensation resistor 921a and a phase compensation capacitor 921b.
The input voltage Vi is basically higher than the target voltage as the output voltage Vo. However, depending on the application, the input voltage Vi may be temporarily lowered to a level lower than the target voltage. When the input voltage Vi drops to below the target voltage, the output voltage Vo also drops in conjunction therewith. The drop in the output voltage Vo brings about an increase in the comparison voltage Vc′. At this time, a clamp circuit 930 may be introduced so that the comparison voltage Vc′ does not rise excessively.
The clamp circuit 930 is connected to the wiring 921 to which the comparison voltage Vc′ is applied. The clamp circuit 930 clamps the comparison voltage Vc′ so that the comparison voltage Vc′ does not rise beyond a predetermined clamp voltage. In this regard, the clamp voltage needs to be set to a voltage higher than the maximum voltage of the ramp voltage Vramp′ so that the PWM control to be executed in the normal operation is not affected. Then, in the switching power supply device 900, when the input voltage Vi is restored after going through a drop in the input voltage Vi, a relatively large overshoot may occur in the output voltage Vo (the cause of the overshoot will be described in detail later).
Since the large overshoot may adversely affect the rear stage circuit of the switching power supply device 900, it is desired to suppress the overshoot as much as possible.


An inkjet printhead includes multiple inkjets arranged in a jetstack of the printhead. Each inkjet includes an inkjet nozzle and an actuator that controllably dispenses drops of a heat activated phase change ink according to a predetermined pattern. One or more heaters are arranged along the jetstack to heat the phase change ink to a temperature above the melting point of the ink. The printhead includes at least one pulsating heat pipe thermally coupled to the jetstack.

In general, inkjet printing machines or printers include at least one printhead that ejects drops or jets of liquid ink onto a recording or image forming media. A phase change ink jet printer employs phase change inks that are solid at ambient temperature, but transition to a liquid phase at an elevated temperature. The molten ink can then be ejected by a printhead directly onto an image receiving substrate, or indirectly onto an intermediate imaging member before the image is transferred to an image receiving substrate. Once the ejected ink is on the image receiving substrate, the ink droplets quickly solidify to form an image. It can be helpful to maintain a relatively constant temperature across the printhead during operation of the printer. Thermally conductive metallic plates have been used as heat spreaders for inkjet printheads.

Pulsating heat pipe spreader for ink jet printer


An improved cue tip dressing device and method. The device includes a base with a main surface and a plurality of projections from the main surface each of which has front and back surfaces converging to a convex knife edge forming the projection distal end portion. The method includes striking a hardened cue tip with the device to create a pattern of punctures on the tip.

One of the oldest and most widely understood games and forms of entertainment is billiards, which in its various forms and in different parts of the world includes pool, caroms, and snooker. Improvements have been made in billiards equipment for well over a century.
Billiards involves directional driving of hard balls on a tabletop by hitting them with another hard ball known as the cue ball. The cue ball is directed toward the target balls by striking it with what is known as a cue stick. A cue stick has a cue tip, that is, the portion which engages the cue ball.
Cue tips are made of firm leather or other similar material which is neither too soft nor too hard. When the cue tip is in good condition, it not only can impact a ball with accuracy but, depending on how it is impacted, can impart a spin to the cue ball which is helpful in achieving the intended cue ball motion both before and after the cue ball hits the target ball. When in good condition, cue tips will also receive and hold chalk to help in proper cue tip - cue ball engagement.
A long-standing and very well recognized problem with billiards cue tips is that they become very hard and even shiny after excessive use. As a result they fail to engage the cue ball properly. And, they cannot hold chalk properly very long.
More specifically, hardened and even shiny cue tips tend to slip on the cue ball surface unless the dead center of the cue ball is struck. But it is often highly desirable to strike the cue ball away from, rather than on, its dead center, since striking it in an off-center position will impart desired cue ball spin. This can be very difficult with a hardened and even shiny cue tip.
Furthermore, as noted, a cue tip which is hardened from excessive use does not hold chalk well. The result is that, after chalking, the benefit of the chalk is prematurely gone. Because of this, hardened and shiny cue tips seriously degrade the performance of those using them.
Many inventions and devices have been proposed and used over the last century for the purpose of repairing hardened cue tips and/or otherwise dressing them for continued use. The following United States patents dealing with the subject of dressing billiards cue tips have been issued:
4,785,586 (Kratfel) PA0 4,594,782 (Willard) PA0 3,989,079 (Treadway) PA0 3,963,237 (Bushberger) PA0 3,728,828 (Freedman) PA0 1,297,041 (Trieber) PA0 1,259,136 (Rogers) PA0 1,021,128 (Brecker) PA0 636,199 (Davies) PA0 587,016 (Paine) PA0 451,938 (Klapperich) PA0 362,526 (Mueller) PA0 284,548 (Gwyn) PA0 221,164 (Fautz) PA0 75,049 (Pernot).
Many of such prior patents disclose billiards cue tip dressing devices of the type with non-smooth surfaces for application against hardened cue tips. They disclose scruffing, sanding, or abrading the cue tip surfaces roughen them. To that end, such devices include abrasive compositions, abrasive wheels, file-like serrations, sandpaper, emery cloth, and the like. Such prior patents speak of rubbing the non-smooth surface on the hardened cue tip or spinning the hardened cue tip on such surface.
In many cases, such attempts at cue tip dressing have disadvantages. For example, such cue tip treatments will erode and eventually wear away the cue tip material, rendering the remaining cue tip material useless. And, in many cases such abrading does not improve the condition of the cue tip as much as might be desired, with the result that the cue tip will become hardened again too quickly such that it cannot function well or adequately receive and hold cue chalk.
In short, there is a continuing need for an improved billiards cue tip dressing device and method.


An accumulator for accumulating sheets of material such as sheets of paper, the sheets being of substantially any length and the accumulation being in substantially any order. The accumulator includes a mechanism for moving a sequence of sheets along a first path until the leading edges of the sheets meet a deflector which deflects the sheets onto a second path. The leading portions of the sheets pass through a retraining mechanism and are stopped by a selectively activatable mechanism such as a gate and successive sheets form an accumation at the stop mechanism. As the feed mechanism continues to feed a sheet after it is stopped, the sheet buckles in a direction determined by the angle between the first and second paths, and as the feed mechanism continues to feed the sheet the buckle grows into a loop which unrolls into a receiver, which may be no more than a space provided. As the loop continues to unroll into the receiver and the trailing edge of the sheet is released by the feed mechanism, the trailing edge of the sheet is displaced from the paths, and the next sheet may be fed. Because the trailing edge is displaced from any possible interference with the following sheet, sheets of substantially any length great enough to reach from the feed mechanism to the restraining mechanism can be fed in substantially any order without the possibility of interference between successive sheets.

The subject invention relates to sheet accumulators. Note particularly it relates to a method and apparatus for accumulating sheets of a material such as paper having various sizes in a stack.
It is known to be desirable in the paper handling art to provide paper handling apparatus with mechanisms, known as accumulators, which accumulate a sequence of sheets being processed by the apparatus to form a stack, or accumulation, for further processing. For example, a sequence of sheets might be fed to a printer for printing of predetermined information, and the output of the printer fed to an accumulator where a predetermined number of sheets in the sequence would be accumulated, and the resulting accumulation passed on for further processing, such as folding and insertion into an envelope.
FIG. 1 shows a schematic representation of a typical prior art accumulator 10. A pair of feed rollers 12 feeds a sheet onto a guide 14. The nip of rollers 12 is offset from guide 14 by an amount O so that the trailing edge of one sheet does not interfere with the next leading edge when the next sheet is fed. Urge rollers 16 maybe provided to assure that the sheet moves along guide 14 until it reaches rollers 18. (By urge rollers herein is meant rollers designed to apply a limited force to a sheet so that the rollers will slip before the sheet buckles.) Rollers 18 are stopped, or may be counter-rotating, to provide a stop to halt the movement of the sheet along guide 14. As successive sheets are fed by rollers 12 they are positioned, because of offset O, on top of the previous sheets and are driven by rollers 16 against the nip of rollers 18 to form the accumulation. (Alternatively offset O may be replaced with a step in guide 14 to provide relief so that the trailing and leading edges of successive sheets do not interfere, and alternative mechanisms may be used in place of rollers 18 to stop the sheets and form the accumulation; for example a movable gate which is activated to stop the sheets and displaced to allow the accumulation to move on for further processing.)
Such accumulators are well known and generally function satisfactorily for their intended purpose. One disadvantage of such accumulators is, however, that the length of the sheets to be accumulated must be approximately equal to L, the distance from rollers 12 to rollers 18. Consideration of FIG. 1 quickly shows that a sheet which is substantially shorter than L might interfere with the leading edge of the next sheet, despite offset O. Conversely, a sheet which is substantially longer than L might obstruct, or even fail to clear entirely, the nip of rollers 12. At most a single, last, shorter sheet might be included with the accumulation. If a number of shorter sheets were desired a second feed mechanism 20, including second feed rollers 22 second guide 26, and second urge rollers 28 would have to be provided. Of course, for the reasons just discussed, the length of these shorter sheets would necessarily be approximately l. And, as can be seen from consideration of FIG. 1 the shorter sheets would, necessarily, be placed on top of the longer sheets fed by rollers 12. Further, it can readily be imagined how rapidly the complexity of, and space required for, an accumulator such as accumulator 10 increases as the number of different sized sheets to be accumulated increases.
FIG. 1 is believed to fairly represent prior art accumulators and the difficulties associated therewith, however those skilled in the art will recognize that numerous other configurations for accumulators are known in the prior art, all of which, however, are believed to suffer from the disadvantages described. Those skilled in the art will also recognize that the details of the mechanical design of rollers, or feedbelts, guides and stop gates, etc. as are shown in schematic form in FIG. 1 and the following Figures, are very well known in the art and further discussion of such detailed mechanical design is not believed necessary for an understanding of the subject invention.
Accordingly it is an object of the object invention to provide an accumulator having an increased capacity and flexibility for accumulating sheets of various sizes.

Buckle accumulator and method for accumulating sheets


An acoustic pattern of continuous input speech is divided by an acoustic analyzer into frames of a predetermined time interval. A similarity calculator calculates similarities between frame data and the reference phonemic labels prestored in a dictionary memory, and supplies similarity data to a main processor, which has memories prestores speech duration data and connectability data. The main processor extracts, from among the references phonemic labels, those which satisfy phonetic/phonological conditions with respect to phonemes of the input speech. Similarity sum calculation is conducted only for the similarity data of the extracted labels.

The present invention relates to speech recognition and, more particularly, to a speech recognition apparatus and method for automatically recognizing continuous input speech in a naturally spoken language.
An apparatus for automatically recognizing continuous input speech is used as a man-machine interface for directly inputting speech data by an operator into a machine, and this apparatus is having increasingly greater importance. In order to analyze the sound pattern of a continuous utterance, and the extract characteristics thereof, as well as recognize them, various methods have been proposed. These methods have a common feature in that speech recognition is effected using a sequence of acoustically invariant units (i.e., phonemes) of input speech as minimum processing units.
A conventional method is known wherein input speech is divided into a sequence of segments (phonemes) (phonemic segmentation), and each segment is classified (labeled). In phonemic segmentation, segment boundaries between each two neighboring phonemes included in a continuous speech sound are detected by analyzing acoustic power and/or the spectral decomposition of an input sound pattern. More specifically, segmentation is performed such that a portion of speech in which a change in acoustic power or spectral decomposition over time is notable, is determined as a segment boundary. Labeling (i.e., comparing individual segments with reference phonemic labels to obtain a pattern matching result) is then performed. With this method, however, it is difficult to accurately detect segment boundaries and therefore difficult to effectively perform phonemic segmentation. This is because a change in acoustic power or spectral decomposition over time can easily be influenced by the speech speed and intonation of individual operators.
Another conventional method for automatic speech recognition has been proposed wherein the sound pattern of continuous input speech is divided into a plurality of frames at constant time intervals. Similarity of phonemes is calculated for each individual frame, and labeling is performed based on the similarity data. In this method, it is very complicated to edit phonemic labels, which are sequentially produced by calculating the similarity data between the divided pattern and a reference label pattern. In addition, it is difficult to develop an effective post-processing method for obtaining a recognition result based on the labeling of each frame under various conditions. Therefore, in an automatic speech recognition method according to the conventional method, various ad hoc processing rules are needed, depending on the situation, to overcome the above drawbacks. As a result, although a recognition processing procedure is complicated, improvement in recognition efficiency cannot be expected, and the reliability of the recognition result is thus degraded.

Knowledge-guided automatic speech recognition apparatus and method


Process of mass manufacturing a plurality of security cards including the steps of embossing a surface of a layer of plastic film at first locations with visual image producing devices such as holograms or diffraction gratings, metalizing the surface including the visual image producing devices, applying a layer of background ink over the surface except for where the visual image producing devices are located, printing indicia on the background ink at second locations, laminating a layer of clear plastic film over the surface to form a laminate, cutting individual security cards out of the laminate and embossing indicia into third locations. An alternate process of mass manufacturing a plurality of security cards includes the step of embossing a surface of a layer of plastic film at first locations with visual image producing devices such as holograms and diffraction gratings, metalizing the surface including the devices, applying a clear protective coating only over the metalized visual image producing devices to prevent the removal of the metalization thereover, removing the metalization except for the metalization over the visual image producing devices, printing indicia of the type noted above on the surface at second locations but not on the devices, laminating a layer of plastic film over the surface to form a laminate, cutting the laminate into a plurality of individual security cards, and embossing indicia into the individual security cards at third locations. Security cards manufactured by the foregoing processes of manufacture are also part of the present invention.. Also processes of manufacturing a security card substrate from which a plurality of security cards may be further manufactured in accordance with the present processes.

This invention relates to new and useful processes of mass manufacturing a plurality of security cards, to new and useful processes for manufacturing security card substrates from which a plurality of security cards may be further manufactured, and to security cards and security card substrates from which a plurality of security cards may be further manufactured.
As used herein and in the appended claims, the term "security card" is used to mean credit cards and debit cards. Credit cards being those cards typically issued to a cardholder and used by the cardholder to purchase goods the cost of which is credited against the cardholder's account. Debit cards being those cards typically purchased by a cardholder and used by the cardholder to pay for goods the cost of which is debited against the cardholder's account or used by the cardholder to pay taxes, such as a sales tax, with the amount of the tax paid being debited against the cardholder's account.
The term "security card substrate from which a plurality of security cards may be further manufactured" as used herein and in the appended claims is used to mean a new and useful manufacture or article of manufacture as provided for in 35 U.S.C. 101 and is used to mean a substrate including a plurality of partially manufactured security cards which substrate may be sold to a plurality of third parties for further manufacture into a completed security cards. Different third parties may take the same substrate and further manufacture it into a completed security card bearing indicia peculiar to each third party, for example, third parties desiring to complete manufacture into VISA.RTM. cards or MASTERCARDS.RTM. may take the same security card substrate and imprint thereon information particular to the VISA.RTM.card or particular to the MASTERCARD.RTM. and may further provide thereon indicia such as logos and the like particular to each different individual credit card company.
As is known to those skilled in the security card art, particularly the credit card art, credit cards are provided with visual image producing devices which receive and reflect light to produce a visual image perceptible to the human eye in ordinary light such as sunlight, incandescent light and fluorescent light. Such visual image producing devices may be a hologram, two or three dimensional, or a diffraction grating such as a spiral diffraction grating or a composite diffraction grating made of a plurality of diffraction gratings of different designs or portions of diffraction gratings arranged in predetermined patterns. Such visual image devices, particularly holograms, are made of extremely thin material whereby the removal of the visual image device from the security card virtually assures destruction of the visual image device thereby substantially eliminating the unauthorized copying or counterfeiting of the visual image device; similarly for diffraction gratings. As is further known, the thin material visual image producing devices are adhered to the card with an adhesive producing a strong bond whereby breaking of the bond to remove the visual image producing device further assures its destruction.
It will be further understood that the security card substrates of the present invention, from which a plurality of security cards may be further manufactured, enhance the efficiency of manufacturing security cards, provide the flexibility of permitting different card companies to use the same security card substrate to complete the manufacture of cards specific or particular to each different card company, and reduce the manufacturing costs of security cards.

Processes of mass manufacturing a plurality of security cards and processes of manufacturing security card substrates from which a plurality of security cards may be further manufactured


A pain management system that enables a patient to control pain associated with the application of electrical therapies by an implanted device that includes using a non-implanted drug delivery device. In an example embodiment, a pain management system includes an implanted medical device that detects an arrhythmia of a heart and telemetrically communicates from the implanted medical device an arrhythmia condition. The system also includes an external drug delivery arrangement that receives telemetric communications on the arrhythmia condition from the implanted device and provides an alert of the arrhythmia condition to the patient. The external drug delivery arrangement communicates to the implanted device that a drug is being administered to the patient. The implanted medical device includes a capacitive circuit that delivers the electrical therapy to the heart in response to the drug being administered.

The present invention generally relates to the management of pain associated with applying electrical cardioversion therapies. In particular, the invention relates to patient-controlled pain suppression via patient administered sedation.
Implanted medical devices are capable of detecting and treating an arrhythmia (i.e., irregular heartbeats) in a patient. In one example, the implanted medical device includes a defibrillator that applies an electrical pulse therapy to a patient""s heart upon detecting fibrillation (i.e., high, irregular heartbeat), a form of arrhythmia. Cardioverters or defibrillators discharge relatively high energy electrical shocks or pulses into or across cardiac tissue to arrest a life-threatening atrial or ventricular fibrillation upon detection by the implanted medical device. Defibrillation shocks, while highly effective at arresting the fibrillation, may occur suddenly and can cause considerable patient discomfort.
Currently, defibrillation shock induced discomfort is managed with concomitant intravenous sedation. Intravenous sedation therapies require close medical supervision because the sedative agents cause a loss of consciousness and a lower respiration rate. Hence, sedative agents are not used by ambulatory patients to provide relief from defibrillation induced discomfort without medical supervision.
Ambulatory patients can administer oral sedatives (e.g., narcotics) at home to reduce patient discomfort. However, oral sedatives can incapacitate the patient for long periods of time and reaction time to the sedative is uncertain because the absorption rate varies between patients. With an oral sedative it is also difficult for the patient to synchronize the time of the shock delivery with the maximum sedative effect. In some cases, the patient may fall asleep even before activating the defibrillator. Traditional oral medications can also be misused/abused irrespective of detecting the arrhythmia. Intranasal narcotics are available but they only slightly reduce patient discomfort associated with the defibrillation shock.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system for enabling a patient to effectively control the pain associated with an electrical therapy via patient administered sedation. An approach that addresses the aforementioned problems, as well as other related problems, is therefore desirable.
Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to addressing various needs in connection with patient-controlled pain suppression of an electrical therapy using a non-implanted drug delivery device.
One embodiment of the invention is directed to a system for patient management of pain associated with an electrical therapy. The pain management system includes an implanted medical device that detects an arrhythmia of a heart and telemetrically communicates from the implanted medical device an arrhythmia condition. The system also includes an external drug delivery arrangement that receives telemetric communications on the arrhythmia condition from the implanted device and provides an alert of the arrhythmia condition to the patient. The external drug delivery arrangement communicates to the implanted device information that a drug has been administered to the patient. The implanted medical device includes a capacitive circuit that delivers the electrical therapy to the heart in response to the drug being administered.
In a related embodiment, the implanted device includes a stimulator circuit that delivers an electrical therapy to a selected portion of the patient""s body. Upon detecting an irregularity (an irregularly operating body function) at the selected portion, an external drug delivery arrangement receives telemetric communications from the implanted device of the irregularity and provides an alert of the irregularity to the patient. The external drug delivery arrangement communicates to the implanted device that a drug is being administered to the patient. The stimulator circuit delivers the electrical therapy to the selected body portion in response to the drug being reacted to by the patient.
Another embodiment of the invention is directed to a system and a method for patient management of pain associated with an electrical defibrillation therapy. The pain management system includes an implanted cardiac defibrillator (ICD) device having a circuit that detects fibrillation of a heart and a circuit that telemetrically communicates from the ICD device a fibrillation condition of the heart. The system includes an external drug delivery arrangement that receives telemetric communications on the fibrillation condition of the heart and provides an alert of the fibrillation condition to the patient. The external drug delivery arrangement communicates to the ICD that the drug is being administered and that the drug is being reacted to by the patient. The system also includes a drug interaction verification circuit that provides an alert to the external drug delivery arrangement in response to the reaction to the drug. The implanted device includes a capacitive circuit that delivers the electrical therapy in response to the reaction to the drug.
The above summary of the present invention is not intended to describe each illustrated embodiment or every implementation of the present invention. The figures in the detailed description that follow more particularly exemplify these embodiments.

System and method for patient-controlled relief of pain associated with electrical therapies


An abdominal aortic stent includes a first sub-stent and a second sub-stent each having a front end. The circumference of the front end of each sub-stent is half of the circumference of the abdominal aorta. When the circumference is gradually reduced to a rear end of each sub-stent, it has entered one side of the bilateral femoral arteries. The rear ends of the sub-stents with full circumference of the cross-sectional area of the femoral artery are included therein. The first and second sub-stents are coated with external removable membrane to compress the sub-stents to generate smaller circumferences. When the removable membrane has been removed, the sub-stents are fully extended to reconstruct the vascular flow path.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an abdominal aortic stent. More specifically, this invention relates to an abdominal aortic stent structure which can be easily implanted to reconstruct a vascular flow path.
2. Description of Related Art
The development of stents began since the late '90s to reconstruct normal vascular flow path by inserting stents to separate the aneurysm. It is called endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR).
Conventionally, in clinical endovascular aneurysm repair practice, a metal wire is inserted from both sides of the femoral artery, and an appropriate stent size would be determined by surgery angiography according to the location, length and influential area of the aneurysm. The stent is then guided to an expected destination through the metal wire. After the membrane wrapped outside the stent is removed, the stent can fully extend to reconstruct a vascular flow path. According to clinical study, the endovascular aneurysm, comparing with conventional surgery, has the advantages of: (1) shorter operative time, (2) smaller amount of blood loss, and (3) shorter recovery time.
Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, endovascular surgery could be performed via a small wound, which leads to less tissue damage. Also, endovascular surgery causes limited blood loss. Thus, the endovascular surgery has become a trend of modem vascular surgery. On the contrary, conventional abdominal aortic aneurysm surgery is a major vascular surgery, which would generate a 30 to 40 cm abdominal incision from the xiphoid (below the chest) to the top part of the pubic bone. The endovascular surgery can be performed by using a metal wire (1), a membrane (3) and a main stent (2). With the assistance of intra-operative fluoroscopy, the stent can be sent from both sides of the femoral artery into the dilatation position of the abdominal aorta. After the main stent (2) is well positioned, the membrane (3) will be pulled down to have the main stent (2) deploy within the abdominal aortic aneurysm, such that the blood can flow into the main stent (2). If the membrane (3) is continuously pulled down, the main stent (2) will be completely open. Likewise, to connect the main stent (2) to a sub-stent (5), the first step is to put another metal wire (4) through a branch opening (2a) of the main stent (2), and the sub-stent (5) can be guided along the metal wire (4) to an appropriate location. However, sometimes if the blood vessel of a patient has a larger angle, or the branch opening (2a) is hard to be located, it may be difficult to cannulate the metal wire (4) to the branch opening (2a) of the main stent (2), which may increase operation time and even lead to operation related complications.
Therefore, there remains a need for a new and improved stent structure to overcome the abovementioned issues to effectively implant the stent into the abdominal aorta to reconstruct a vascular flow path.


In a sheet warp prevention mechanism adapted to be positioned in an imaging device for forming a visible image, the imaging device includes a pair of rollers adapted to be brought into and out of contact with each other in accordance with a rocking operation of one of the pair of rollers about a predetermined shaft member. The one of the pair of rollers which is arranged to be rotated in a predetermined direction for feeding the continuous sheet has a gear member coaxially provided therewith which is brought into engagement with another gear member coaxially provided with the shaft member about which the roller rotates. A driving source for driving both the one of the pair of rollers and a feeding member for feeding the continuous sheet toward the pair of rollers, and a transmitting mechanism for transmitting the driving force toward the pair of rollers is also included. The sheet warp prevention mechanism include an inhibiting member, provided between the transmitting mechanism and the another gear member, for inhibiting transmission of the rotating force of the one of the pair of rollers to the transmitting mechanism. Thus it becomes possible to prevent the warp of the sheet caused by an undesirable feeding operation.

The present invention relates to a sheet warp prevention mechanism, employable to an image forming apparatus such as a printer and the like utilizing a so-called continuous-form sheet as a recording medium and including a pair of fixing rollers adapted to be brought into and out of contact with each other, for preventing the continuous-form sheet from being warped when the rollers are brought into contact with each other.
Conventionally known is an electrophotographic method in which a photoconductive material on a rotating drum, i.e., a photoconductive drum, which has been evenly charged, is exposed to light in accordance with an image to be developed for forming a latent image. Toner particles are adhered onto a surface of the drum for forming a visible toner image, and the-toner image is transferred onto a continuous-form sheet having been fed along a predetermined feeding path and fixed thereon at a fixing unit.
Also known is an electrophotographic printer, as an image forming apparatus employing the above electrophotographic method, utilizing a fan-folded continuous-form sheet used in a conventional line printer and the like. The fan-folded continuous-form sheet, simply referred to as "continuous sheet" hereinafter, is arranged to provide, at both side edges, a pair of sprocket holes in predetermined intervals along a longitudinal direction thereof. Further, on the continuous sheet, a plurality of perforated lines are provided along a width direction in another predetermined interval so that the continuous sheet is easily cut into pages.
In the conventional image forming apparatus such as the above arranged electrophotographic printer, the method for fixing a toner image having been transferred onto the continuous sheet is a so-called heat roll fixing method in which the continuous sheet is pressurized by means of a heat roller which is arranged to be heated up to a predetermined high temperature, and the toner image is fixed by heat from the heat roller.
A heat roll fixing unit for the above fixing method comprises a pair of rollers arranged to be positioned in parallel and to be brought into and out of contact with each other, and the continuous sheet is fed through the rollers. One of the rollers is arranged to be heated up, referred as "heat roller" hereinafter, by a predetermined heating member such as a halogen lamp, not shown accommodated within the heat roller. In other words, the continuous sheet is pressurized with heat when passed between the heat roller and the other roller, referred to as the "press roller" hereinafter, and therefore, toner image is fixed on the continuous sheet. The press roller is made of an elastic material and is arranged to be compressed in a radial direction thereof when pressurized by the heat roller. By employing the above Fixing method, it becomes possible to fix the toner image at high speed with high thermal efficiency. Usually, the heat roller is driven to be rotated so that the continuous sheet is fed along the predetermined feeding path at the fixing unit.
When the heat roll fixing method is employed in the electrophotographic printer using the above continuous-sheet as the recording medium, a problem arises in that when the continuous-sheet is held between the rollers without feeding, the same portion on the continuous sheet is burned or blistered by the heat applied from the heat roller. In order to overcome the problem, a fixing unit has been proposed, wherein one of the rollers can be retracted from the contacted state for preventing the continuous sheet from being contacted with the heat roller when the printing operation is not to be executed, see, for example, Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. HEI 1-163790.
As shown in FIG. 1, this type of fixing unit 10 comprises a heat roller 11 and a press roller 12 between which a continuous sheet 20 is fed along a direction as indicated by an arrow "A". The heat roller 11 is supported by an arm member 13 which is arranged to be rocked as indicated by an arrow "B" by means of a well-known rocking mechanism. For example, as shown in FIG. 2A, it may be constructed that a rotating shaft 11-1 of the heat roller 11 is connected to a cam follower 101 arranged to be movable with a cam 102 having a long radius portion 110 as well as a short radius portion 120. The cam 102 is arranged to be driven to rotate by means of a driving source 103, such as a motor. The rotating shaft 11-1 of the heat roller 11 is inserted into an oval hole 11-2 provided on a chassis 11-3 of the printer, so that the cam follower 101 is vertically moved in accordance with rotation of the cam 102. Therefore, the heat roller 11 is rocked along the "B" direction. When the cam follower 101 is contacted with the long radius portion 110 of the cam 11C, the rollers 11, 12 are brought out of contact from each other. On the other hand, when the cam follower 11B is contacted with the short radius portion 120, the rollers 11, 12 are brought into contact with each other. When the arm member 13 is upwardly rocked, the heat roller 11 is upwardly rocked too, and the heat roller 11 and the press roller 12 are brought out of contact from each other.
The press roller 12 is upwardly biased toward the heat roller 11 by means of a predetermined biasing member such as a spring 14, so that the heat roller 11 downwardly pushes the press roller 12 against the biasing force of the spring 14 when the heat roller 11 and the press roller 12 are brought into contact with each other, i.e., the heat roller 11 is located at an operating position, and therefore, a predetermined pressure force is generated between the rollers 11, 12.
In this type of printer, an interval between an operating position of the fixing unit 10, at which the rollers 11, 12 are brought into contact with each other, and a transfer position of the photoconductive drum (not shown), at which the toner image is transferred to the continuous sheet, is arranged to be substantially similar to an interval between two adjacently located perforated lines of the continuous sheet 20, i.e., length of one page so that a fixing operation for one page is simultaneously finished with a transfer operation for the succeeding page. In order to stably feed the continuous sheet 20, there is provided a tractor 2 between the fixing unit 10 and the photoconductive drum.
The tractor 2 and the fixing unit 10 are driven to feed the continuous sheet 20 by the same driving source 3, such as a step motor, since the continuous sheet is to be synchronously fed by the fixing unit 10 and the tractor 2.
A gear 3B is driven to be rotated along a direction indicated by an arrow "C" by an output gear 3A provided within the driving source 3, and a tractor driving system 4 including a pair of gears 41, 42, which are respectively arranged to be rotated along directions indicated by arrows "C1" and "C2", is driven through the gear 3B so that a tractor belt 21 on which the continuous sheet 20 is located is moved along a direction indicated by an arrow "D" by means of a pulley 42A which is coaxially arranged in an extremely close positional relationship with the gear 42A. On the other hand, a heat roller driving system 5 is simultaneously driven through the gear 3B. The gear 3B and 41 are, in fact, coaxially provided with each other in an extremely close positional relationship though the gears 3B, 41 are illustrated in a separated state in FIG. 1. In FIG. 1, positional relationships among each of elements are schematically illustrated for better understanding. The heat roller driving system comprises a timing pulley 51 which is coaxially provided with the gear 41 in an extremely close positional relationship, a timing belt 52 arranged to be driven to move by the timing pulley 51, another timing pulley 53 to be rotated through the timing belt 52, a gear 54 to be rotated by the timing pulley 53, an idle gear 55 to be brought into engagement with the gear 54 and arranged to be coaxially provided with the rocking center of the arm member 13, and a heat roller gear 56 which is coaxially provided with the heat roller 11 and arranged to be brought into engagement with the idle gear 55.
In other words, the heat roller 11 is arranged to be rocked in accordance with the rocking operation of the arm member 13, and the heat roller driving system 5 for driving the heat roller 11 are arranged to transmit drive force from the driving source 3 toward the heat roller through the idle gear 55 which is coaxially provided with the rocking center of the arm 13.
In this above-described arrangement in which the heat roller 11 is rocked by means of the arm member 13 and driven to be rotated through the idle gear 55 which is coaxially provided with the rocking center of the arm member 13, however, a problem arises in that the continuous sheet 20 between the photoconductive drum and the fixing unit 10 is slightly warped upwardly when the heat roller 11 having been separated from the operating position is rocked and brought into contact with the press roller 12.
The reasons for the above-described sheet warp are as follows: first, the idle gear 55 is connected to the driving source 3 as well as the tractor driving system 4 when the heat roller 11 is rocked and located at the operating position. Rotary resistance as a load, in this state, becomes large when the arm 13 is rocked. Therefore, the heat roller gear 56 which is constantly brought into engagement with the idle gear 55 is rotated in the opposite direction of the sheet feeding direction. That is, the heat roller 11 which is coaxially provided with the heat roller gear 56 is slightly rotated in the opposite direction, so that the continuous sheet is reversely fed in accordance with the reverse rotation of the heat roller gear 56, and accordingly, the continuous sheet 20 is slightly warped upwardly between the photoconductive drum and the fixing unit 10.
Further, as the heat roller 11 is rocked and located at the operating position, i.e., brought into contact with the press roller 12, the pressure force generated between the rollers 11, 12 becomes larger than a predetermined value since the press roller 12 is slightly compressed by the heat roller 11 and the spring 14 is slightly pushed downwardly against elastic force therof. Therefore, if the pressure force becomes larger than the predetermined value, rotary resistance of the heat roller gear 56 extremely increases and the heat roller 11 can not be rotated even when the arm member 13 is rocked. As a result, both the arm 13 and the heat roller gear 56 are slightly moved in a downward direction, and the idle gear 55 is relatively moved in an upward direction. In other words, the idle gear 55 is operated as if it were a planetary gear arranged to be rotated around the heat roller gear 56. Since the idle gear 55 is undesirably rotated in a direction indicated by an arrow "E", i.e., a direction corresponding to the sheet feeding direction, in accordance with the rocking operation of the arm member 13, and the tractor 2 is slightly driven to feed the continuous sheet 20 toward the fixing unit 10. In other words, the tractor 2 is undesirably driven by the rotation of the idle gear 55 to feed the continuous sheet 20 in the sheet feeding direction, rather than solely by the driving source 3. Accordingly, the continuous sheet 20 is fed by the tractor 2 without a feeding operation of the fixing unit 10, so that the continuous sheet 20 is further upwardly warped.
Further, when the tractor 2 is driven to feed the sheet in the sheet feeding direction by the rotation of the idle gear 55 as described above, so-called play among the elements in the heat roller driving system 5, such as backlash between each of elements provided from the gear 3B to the heat roller gear 56 through the idle gear 55, are shortened by movement of each of driven side elements 1000 as shown in FIG. 2B. On the other hand, play among the elements in the tractor driving system 4, i.e., elements provided from the gear 3B to the tractor 2, are shortened by movement of each of the driving side elements 2000 as shown in FIG. 2C. Character "a" in FIGS. 2B and 2C indicates a direction corresponding to the sheet feeding direction. As a result, when the driving force form the driving source 3 is applied, the tractor 2 is immediately started to feed the continuous sheet 20, however, the heat roller 11 is not driven to rotate so immediately since it is necessary to elapse a predetermined period of time for shortening the play in the heat roller driving system 5 in the sheet feeding direction. Therefore, the continuous sheet 20 is further upwardly warped.
Consequently, when the continuous sheet 20 is upwardly warped by the above-described reasons, the warped continuous sheet 20 is contacted with an element 6 such as a chassis and the like provided above the feeding path of the continuous sheet 20, and the toner image on the continuous sheet 20, which has not been fixed yet, is disturbed by the element 6. Further, since the continuous sheet 20 is fed into the fixing unit 10 in a warped state, wrinkles occur thereon.

Sheet warp prevention mechanism employed in a fixing unit of an electrophotographic printer


Provided are methods and devices for data duplicate transmission in a next-generation/5G radio access network. The method of a UE for transmitting data may include configuring a plurality of radio link control (RLC) objects which are linked to a single packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) object and used to process duplicate transmission for a wireless bearer, on the basis of configuration information for configuring duplicate transmission of data received from a base station; receiving a MAC control element comprising indication information indicating an activation state change for the plurality of RLC objects; changing, to an active state, an RLC object indicated by the indication information to be in the active state; and performing duplicate transmission of the data using the activated RLC object.

As communication systems have been developed, various types of wireless terminals have been introduced to consumers such as companies and individuals.
Mobile communication systems employing technologies related to 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP), such as long term evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced, fifth generation (5G), or the like, have been designed for transmitting and receiving a large amount of various data, such as video data, radio data, etc. at a high speed, beyond voice-oriented communication.
After LTE-Advanced, technologies for next generation radio access networks have been developed for enabling a terminal such as a user equipment as in the 3GPP to transmit and receive a larger amount of data and provide a higher quality of service (QoS). For example, many studies and researches have been in progress to develop 5G network in 3GPP.
Meanwhile, a base station may configure a plurality of cells and increase data transmission and reception rates of a user equipment and capabilities of the user equipment to transmit/receive data, using the plurality of cells. For example, the base station and the user equipment may meet user's requirements through carrier aggregation (CA) configured based on a plurality of carriers.
In particular, in order to provide reliably a service with low latency, such as ultra-reliable and low-latency communications (URLLC), it is necessary to transmit/receive data without loss at an even higher speed. To this end, there is need to develop technology for transmitting data duplicately using a plurality of cells, and at the same time, securing reliability to the related service.
However, until now, no specific method or related technology has been introduced or developed for allowing a user equipment to perform the duplicate transmission of data through one radio bearer and for dynamically performing the duplicate transmission according to various requirements.


A method and computer program product for automatically classifying relationships in a social networking or email application is described. A method may comprise associating, via at least one of a client electronic device and a server computer, a first incoming communication type and a first outgoing communication type with a first contact group, and a second incoming communication type and a second outgoing communication type with a second contact group. The method may further comprise monitoring, via at least one of the client electronic device and the server computer, an incoming communication from a contact and an outgoing communication to the contact.

This disclosure relates to social networking and email applications and, more particularly, to methodologies for automated relationship classification in social networking and email applications.
Social networking and email applications may allow users to manage relationships with contacts. Users may have professional relationships, friendships, and other relationships with contacts, and may classify these relationships manually. Users may wish to allow contacts to view personal information based upon the type of relationship they have with each contact.
Manually classifying relationships with new contacts and changing relationships with existing contacts may be time-consuming for users. Also, users may want to change the type of personal information an existing contact can view as their relationship with that contact changes. Accordingly, users may need an automated relationship classification system which may classify their relationships with contacts in social networks and email applications.

International Business Machines Corporation


Disclosed is a fuel injection nozzle assembly comprising a poppet type valve assembly capable of producing a circumferential spray pattern. The fuel injection nozzle assembly includes a nozzle body defining a valve outlet into which is fitted a needle valve having a flanged portion extending from the nozzle body. The flanged portion opens and closes the valve outlet as the needle valve travels up and down the nozzle body as dictated by the fuel pressure within the nozzle body. The flanged portion may further direct the fuel spray into a combustion chamber.

The conventional combustion process in a diesel engine is initiated by the direct injection of fuel into a combustion chamber containing compressed air. The fuel is essentially ignited instantaneously upon injection into a highly compressed combustion chamber, and thus produces a diffusion flame or flame front extending along the plumes of the injected fuel. The fuel is directly injected into the combustion chamber by a fuel injector having a perforated nozzle tip extending into the combustion chamber. The nozzle tip may extend slightly into the combustion chamber from a wall of the chamber located opposite a reciprocating piston of the combustion chamber. The nozzle tip comprises a series of holes from which fuel is extruded into the combustion chamber.
Nozzle tips are commonly designed with the largest number of spray holes having the smallest diameter possible to inject the required fuel quantity at each locomotive engine's speed and load setting in order to preserve the nozzle's wall thickness and strength.
Diesel fuel is injected at 10,000-18,000 psi out through 5 to 7 individual, separate and distinct round orifice holes located at the very bottom of the spray tip. The resultant spray pattern consists of separate and distinct solid plumes of atomized fuel droplets that evaporate and mix with the combustion air at the proper temperature, pressure and air/fuel ratio auto-ignite.
The spray holes are the first components of the injector assembly to ultimately affect the service life and durability of the nozzle assembly. Typically, a spray tip's fuel flow characteristics deteriorate approximately 0.5% per year for the first three years, increasing rapidly to 1% to 1.5% per year by a service life of 5 and 6 years. The service life and long term durability of the whole geometry is strictly a function of the total fuel consumed or injected through each of the spray holes.
The fuel plumes after an extended service life become less of an atomized and turbulent gaseous spray pattern and become more like a solid laminar fuel stream taking more time to break up into small droplets, evaporate and burn. The ignition of a gaseous spray is much more efficient than that of a solid stream of fuel.
In an effort to overcome such short comings, spay tip orifices require very precise machining at great expense. The manufacture of such spray tips requires the creation of spray holes, which must be perfectly round having a precise diameter in order to provide the correct geometry for the proper fuel flow and atomization. Such spray holes require a certain case hardness depth to help prevent premature wear and erosion. This hardening process is very critical. If the case depth is too shallow, the hole will wear prematurely and if too hard will become brittle, the hole will be prone to stress fractures and premature failures.
Thus, what is needed is a method and apparatus capable of providing a durable spray assembly that can deliver a consistent atomized spray plume over the service life of a fuel injector.

Advanced Global Equities and Intellectual Properties


The present invention relates to a microactuator that can be produced by utilizing the IC fabrication processes such as etching, lithography or the like and that can be used as a micropositioner in a multi probe head for scanning probe microscopy and a pickup head for recording and reproducing equipment.

The present invention relates to a microactuator that can be fabricated according to the IC fabrication processes characterized by etching and lithography, for example, and can be used as a micropositioner for the multiple probe head of a scanning probe microscope and the pickup head for a signal recording and reproduction equipment.
As a first prior art example of a microactuator, there is an electrostatic micro wobble motor introduced in a paper authored by Mehregany et al. (xe2x80x9cOperation of microfabricated harmonic and ordinary side-drive motorsxe2x80x9d, proceedings of the third IEEE Workshop on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, Napa Valley, Calif. USA, Feb. 11-14, 1990, pp. 1-8)
FIG. 50 is a schematic plan view to show how this prior art electrostatic micro wobble motor is structured and FIG. 51 is a cross-sectional view of the foregoing motor.
In FIG. 50 and FIG. 51, item 1 is a bearing, item 2 is a rotor of about 100 xcexcm in diameter and items 3a through 3h are eight electrodes arranged around the periphery of the rotor 2. (On a photograph of the motor in the above referenced paper, there are 12 static poles observed.) Although not shown in the drawings, these electrodes are connected by wires with a voltage supply source and can be applied with voltages arbitrarily selected.
As indicated in FIG. 50, the rotor 2 is shaped like a ring and between the inner circumference thereof and the bearing xe2x88x921 there exists a clearance C. Therefore, in contrast to an ordinary motor, the rotor 2 does not rotate around the bearing 1 with the bearing serving as the axis of rotation. As voltages are applied to electrodes 3a through 3h in succession, the rotor 2 revolves since it is attracted sequentially towards the excited electrodes 3a through 3h.
At the same time, however, since the rotor 2 moves while it is in rolling contact with the bearing 1 at the contact point of 2a, the rotor 2 rotates by the difference between the outer circumference of the bearing 1 and the inner circumference of the rotor 2. A detailed description on this performance will be made later.
The rotor 2 is held by a flange 1a so that it does not slip off from the bearing 1. The electrodes 3a through 3h (only 3a and 3e are shown in FIG. 51) are almost of the same height as the rotor 2. On the bottom surface of the rotor 2, there are a plurality dot-like sounds 2b, not a ring-like mound, which slide on and contact electrically with a shield layer 4.
FIG. 52 through FIG. 56 are the cross-sectional illustrations to show the fabrication processes (a) through (e), respectively, for the electrostatic micro wobble motor, which will be described hereunder. The fabrication processes employ the ordinary IC fabrication methods such as etching, lithography or the like.
(a) As illustrated in FIG. 52, an insulating layer 6 is first formed on a silicon substrate 5 by depositing in succession an oxide layer of 1 xcexcm in thickness grown thermally and a silicon nitride layer of 1 xcexcm in thickness formed by means of a low pressure chemical vapor deposition method (LPCVD).
Then, a polysilicon thin film of 3500 xc3x85 thick with phosphorus diffused sufficiently therein is formed by LPCVD and patterning is applied thereto to complete an electric shield layer 4.
Further, a low temperature oxide layer (LTO) 7 of 2.2 xcexcm thick is deposited to make a first sacrificial layer and then patterning is applied by 2 steps, the one for forming a base 7a of the electrodes 3a through 3h and the other for forming a hollow 7b in preparation of creating a mound 2b on the bottom of the rotor 2.
(b) As illustrated in FIG. 53, a polysilicon layer of 2.5 xcexcm thick diffused with phosphorus sufficiently is deposited by LPCVD and then the rotor 2 and the electrodes 3a through 3h (only 3a and 3e are shown here) as indicated in FIG. 50 and FIG. 51 were formed by means of a reactive ion etching method (RIE). As shown in FIG. 53, the electrodes 3a through 3h are fixed on the silicon substrate 6 and a plurality of the mound 2b are formed on the bottom of the rotor 2. On account of a thermal oxidation layer after patterning used as the mask for the reactive ion etching of the foregoing polysilicon layer, the thickness of the rotor 2 as well as the electrodes 3a through 3h is approximately 2.2 xcexcm at this stage.
(c) As illustrated in FIG. 54, an LTO layer 8 to make a second sacrificial layer of about 0.3 xcexcm thick is deposited for retaining the clearance C between the bearing 1 and the rotor 2. At the same time, an anchor 8a for the bearing 1 is formed by patterning.
Although the diameter of the bearing 1 is about 36 xcexcm, the smallest possible diameter is 26 xcexcm due to the restrictions imposed by the process employed here.
(d) As illustrated in FIG. 55, a polysilicon layer of 1 xcexcm thick with phosphorus diffused sufficiently is deposited by LPCVD and the bearing 1 provided with the flange 1a is formed.
(e) As illustrated in FIG. 56, the LTO layers 7 and 8 serving as the first and second sacrificial layers respectively are dissolved by buffered hydrogen fluoride (HF) and the rotor is released completely to realize the structure as shown in FIG. 51.
The operational principle of the prior art electrostatic micro wobble motor having a structure as described above will be explained in the following with the help of FIG. 50. As stated before, the rotor 2 does not rotate around the bearing 1 with the bearing serving as the axis of rotation. Instead, the rotor revolves as it is attracted by the excited electrodes 3a through 3h sequentially and at the same time it rotates by the difference between the outer circumference of the bearing 1 and the inner circumference of the rotor 2 while it is in rolling contact with the bearing 1 at the contact point 2a.
In other words, suppose the electrodes are excited in the direction X as indicated in FIG. 50 in an order of the electrodes 3a, 3b, 3c and so forth, then the rotor 2 is first attracted by the excited electrode 3a. Next, it will be attracted by the electrode 3b and then by the electrode 3c and so forth, resulting in revolving of the rotor 2 also in the direction X.
Since the clearance C between the rotor 2 and the bearing 1 is set up to be smaller than the gap between the rotor 2 and the electrodes 3a through 3h, there will be the contact point 2a where the rotor 2 will come into contact with the bearing 1. Besides, the correct gap between the rotor 2 and the electrodes 3a through 3h corresponds to G+E as indicated in FIG. 50, where the E means an effective gap length that produces the motor""s torque, and the following relationship is established inherently from the structure of the motor:
E=Gxe2x88x92C greater than 0
(This is obvious when the state of the electrode 3e being excited has been observed.) As the gap between the rotor 2 and the electrodes 3a through 3h, G will be dealt with for convenience because of the possibilities in reducing the effective gap length E to the minimum.
Now, as the rotor 2 revolves in the direction X, the contact point 2a also is to move likewise in the direction X. Since the bearing 1 is fixed in position, slipping at the contact point 2a by the amount of the difference between the outer circumference of the bearing 1 and the inner circumference of the rotor 2 is taking place unless the rotor 2 revolves. However, attracting force is applied to the rotor 2 in the direction of pressing the bearing 1 and practically any slipping hardly occurs at the contact point 2a.
Therefore, as the rotor 2 revolves in the same direction as the shifting direction (the direction of X) of the voltages applied to the electrodes 3a through 3h, the rotor 2 is consequently to rotate in the same direction (the X direction of FIG. 50) by the amount corresponding to the difference between the outer circumference of the bearing 1 and the inner circumference of the rotor 2. It is needless to say that the contact point 2a is to move in the direction X while it is in the state of rolling contact.
The feature of this electrostatic micro wobble motor is in that the revolution frequency of the revolving rotor 2 is determined by the outer diameter B of the bearing 1 and the inner diameter R of the rotor 2, and the revolution frequency S of the revolving rotor 2 is to become extremely small against the shifting frequency F of the input voltages (the physically shifting frequency of the voltages applied to the electrodes 3a through 3h for the present prior art example) when compared with the case of an ordinary motor.
In case wherein the revolution frequency of the revolving motor 2 is equal to the shifting frequency F of the input voltages, the revolution frequency S of the revolving rotor 2 is expressed by the following equation:
S=Fxc3x97(Rxe2x88x92B)/R=Fxc3x97C/R
Since the revolution speed is reduced to S/F, e.g. C/R, the torque will be increased, instead, to R/C times in contrast to the case of an ordinary motor. In addition, by reducing the clearance C, the slippage at the contact point 2a can be eliminated, resulting in advantageously suppressing the wobbling of the rotor 2 caused by its revolution.
An a result, a motor of low speed and high torque has been realized without using any speed reduction means in particular and greatly expected to be used as the motive force or the like for micromachines.
On the other hand, the scanning probe microscopes, typically represented by STM (Scanning Tunneling Microscope), have been prevailing widely and rapidly in recent years as a means to observe minute objects on the surface of specimens for the high resolution and the feature that the microscopes can be used under any measurement environments in principle. Especially, the progress in development of the STM has been remarkable and many research studies have been made on the methods to produce probing needles and cantilevers by fine fabrication processing of silicon. These efforts have been aiming at down-sizing of the equipment by micro-miniaturizing the mechanical parts involved and also improvement of the vibration resistant characteristics by increasing the resonant frequencies of the mechanical parts.
These probing needles and cantilevers are generally referred to as probes and usually driven finely by piezo elements separately prepared. Therefore, the dimensions of the whole mechanical parts are mostly accounted for by the dimensions of piezo elements even when the probes are reduced in size.
Studies have been recently started to create a thin film piezo element on a cantilever for micro-deforming the cantilever itself and some study results have already been made public.
As a second prior art example of a microactuator, there is a thin film probe which has been used as a probe head for scanning probe microscopes and was introduced by a paper authored by Akamine et al. (xe2x80x9cA planar process for Micro-fabrication of a Scanning Tunneling Microscopexe2x80x9d, Sensors and Actuators, A21-23, pp. 964-970, 1990)
FIG. 57 shows how the aforementioned prior art thin film probe is structured.
In FIG. 57, item 101 is a silicon substrate and item 102 is a cantilever, on the end point of which a probing needle 103 is being attached. The cantilever 102 measures 8 in thickness by 200 in width by 1000 xcexcm in length.
The cantilever 102 is fundamentally of a bimorph structure consisting of thin film piezo elements 104 and 105. On the upper surface of the thin film piezo element 104 are formed electrodes 106a through 106c and on the bottom surface of the thin film piezo element 105 are formed electrodes 107a and 107b, which are almost identical in configuration with the electrodes 106a and 106b, respectively. Besides, an electrode 108 is formed between the thin film piezo elements 104 and 105 and also the probing needle 103 is fixed on the electrode 106c.
As illustrated in FIG. 57, electrical wirings are provided to connect each of the electrodes 106a through 106c, 107a, 107b and 108 respectively with pads, through which arbitrary voltages can be applied to the electrodes.
FIG. 58 through FIG. 62 are cross-sectional illustrations of the fabrication processes (a) through (b) for the above thin film probe, wherein the generally known semiconductor processes such as etching, lithography or the like are utilized. With the help of the foregoing illustrations, the fabrication processes will be explained briefly hereunder.
(a) As shown in FIG. 58, a membrane 109 of 50 to 70 xcexcm thick is formed through an application of anisotropic etching to the bottom surface of the silicon substrate 101.
(b) As shown in FIG. 59, electrodes 107a and 107b (not shown in FIG. 59) are formed by deposition of a first Al thin layer to a thickness of 0.5 xcexcm by means of electron beam evaporation and then by patterning thereof.
(c) As shown in FIG. 60, a thin film piezo element 105 is formed by successive deposition of a first nitride layer of 0.2 um thick by means of plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), a first zinc oxide layer of 3 xcexcm thick by reactive sputtering and then a second nitride layer of 0.2 xcexcm thick on the electrodes 107a and 107b.
Patterning is performed with the nitride layer by means of plasma etching and with the zinc oxide layer by wet etching, respectively.
(d) As shown in FIG. 61, a thin film piezo element 104 is formed by successive deposition of a second Al thin layer serving as electrode 108 according to the same steps as (b), and a third nitride layer, a second zinc oxide layer and a fourth nitride layer by means of PECVD and reactive sputtering according to the same steps as (c) on the foregoing thin film piezo element 105. Further, electrodes 106a through 106c (only 106a is shown in FIG. 61) are formed by deposition of a third Al layer according to the same steps as (b) on the thin film piezo element 105.
(e) As shown in FIG. 62, the membrane 109 is lastly removed from the bottom surface of the substrate by plasma etching to complete the structure as indicated in FIG. 57.
Next, how this thin film probe operates will be explained briefly with the help of FIG. 63 through FIG. 66.
As is generally known, a piezo element has a property of expansion or contraction depending on the direction of the electric field applied thereto. Therefore, by applying an appropriate voltage of either positive or negative polarity to the electrodes 106a, 106b, 107a and 107b while the electrode 108 is kept grounded, the cantilever 102 can be freely deformed through a control of the electric field that is applied to the thin film piezo elements 104 and 105.
As illustrated in FIG. 63 for example, when voltages of the same polarity are applied to the electrodes 106a, 106b, 107a and 107b and also electric fields of the same direction are applied to the thin film piezo elements 104 and 105, the cantilever 102 as a whole will show expansion or contraction in the longitudinal direction. (X direction in FIG. 63).
Also, as illustrated in FIG. 64 through FIG. 66 by hatched lines (indicating that closely spaced diagonal lines rising towards right mean the applied voltage to be positive, for example, and loosely spaced lines rising towards left mean the applied voltage to be negative), when the electric fields applied to the thin film piezo elements 104 and 105 are controlled by applying a positive or a negative voltage to each respective electrode, it will be possible to provide the end of the cantilever 102 with such motions of high freedom as moving in the horizontal direction (the Y direction in FIG. 64) or in the vertical direction (the Z direction in FIG. 65) or twisting as indicated by an arrow M in FIG. 66.
Accordingly, the probing needle 103 attached to the end of the cantilever can be precisely moved for the purpose of scanning a specimen since the piezo elements have extremely high resolution.
Thus, a thin film probe for the scanning probe microscopy can be made by depositing piezo elements on a silicon substrate through semiconductor fabrication processes and it is expected that the employment of this probe will greatly contribute to the production of an extremely small and high performance scanning probe microscope.
Also, magnetic heads for VTR and magnetic disc equipment and optical heads for optical disc equipment are generally known as the conventional pickup heads for recording and reproducing equipment. Efforts have been always made to make the recording and reproducing equipment smaller in size and larger in recording capacity. For that purpose, development and progress of the precision mechanism technology as typically applied to high density recording and pickup heads is absolutely necessary.
There is a probe recording method among many new approaches proposed at present for the high density recording. This method is to use a probing needle as used with a STM or the like as a head for mechanical scanning.
The probing needle type charge storage recording, for example, as described in a paper authored by Barrett et al. (xe2x80x9cCharge storage in a nitride-oxide-silicon medium by scanning capacitance microscopyxe2x80x9d, J. Appl. Phys. Vol. 70, No. 5, pp. 2725-2733, Sep. 1, 1991) proves the possibility of high density and non-destructive recording and reproducing.
The principle of operation thereof will be explained here briefly. When an electro-conductive probing needle mounted on a cantilever of an AFM (Atomic Force Microscope) is kept in contact with a dielectrics layer (silicon nitride), which is placed on an electro-conductive body, and applied with a bias voltage, electric charges will be trapped by the dielectrics layer and information will be stored therein. Reproduction of the information is performed by detecting capacitance existent between the probing needle and the substrate by means of a sensor. It is possible to erase the information by applying a reversed bias voltage and also perform recording repeatedly.
The recording medium is prepared by depositing an oxide layer and a nitride layer on a polysilicon substrate which was added with boron. By having a probing tip of tungsten placed in contact with the above recording medium and a voltage of xe2x88x9225 V applied for 20 xcexcsec., information of 75 nm bits have been recorded. The recording density has reached as many as 180 bits/xcexcm2, more than 200 times the conventional recording.
The first prior art structure as exemplified in the foregoing tends to have torque loss due to rolling friction since the dot-like mounds on the rotor bottom are in contact with the shield layer and also the flange is in contact with the rotor while the rotor is revolving. Besides, various parts of the motor suffer from mechanical wears due to friction over a long period, resulting in a considerable reduction in the life of the motor.
Further, the rotor and the shield layer tend to fail in having the respective potentials kept at the same level in a stable manner since the electrical contact between them is performed through a sliding action between the dot-like mounds under the rotor bottom and the shield layer surface, resulting in deteriorated reliability.
Furthermore, since the rotational characteristics of the motor are governed by the dimensional accuracy of the outer diameter of the bearing, the outer and inner diameters of the rotor, and the inner diameter of the electrode lay-out, it is difficult to gain stable rotational accuracy.
In addition, the difficulty in taking out the torque of the rotor for possible utilization in a micropositioner on account of the rotor moving only in the inner space inside the boundary formed by the electrode lay-out has presented a problem.
Also, It is required according to the second prior art structure as exemplified in the foregoing to move either the entire thin film probe including the silicon substrate 101 or the specimen in order to perform a measurement of a different place of the specimen.
Besides, there has been a problem of not being able to observe a particular surface of a specimen multi-purposely by not only an STM but also, for example, an AFM or a MFM (Magnetic Force Microscope).
The conventional precision mechanism technology has been mostly involved with component parts in the areas of how to put them together, realizing higher accuracy of them, making them smaller in dimension, laying them out effectively as a whole and so forth. The problem has been in that even when an innovative progress was made in the recording principle or in the recording medium such innovation was not utilized to the fullest extent in achieving the ultimate miniaturization and performance of the recording and reproducing equipment.
The object of the present invention is to provide a microactuator that can be produced by semiconductor processes, which excel in micro-miniaturization and mass-producibility, is capable of high accuracy positioning and also in possession of long life and high reliability.
The structure disclosed by the present invention comprises:
a plurality of electrodes arranged along a circumference on a substrate;
a ring-like displacement plate located inside said electrodes;
beams, each of which is fixed at one end to an anchor solidly formed on said substrate and at the other end to a specified place of the inner circumference of said displacement plate in support of said displacement plate elastically; and
a voltage application means whereby voltages are selectively applied to said respective electrodes to have said displacement plate attracted electrostatically towards said electrodes, which have been applied with said voltages, and moved.
The foregoing structure as disclosed by the present invention has made it possible to bring about the following effects:
Since the displacement plate to be driven electrostatically is securely in electrical contact through the beams, reliability in the driving characteristics of the displacement plate has been greatly enhanced.
The adverse effect due to friction at the time when the displacement plate comes into contact with the electrodes has been made extremely small, resulting in longer life.
It has been made possible to control the position and angle of the displacement plate very accurately with resultant realization of an excellent positioning mechanism.
High torque has been obtainable.
It has become possible to design a microactuator for the most suitable configuration with abundant freedom.
With the use of semiconductor processes, it has become possible to achieve micro-miniaturization and secure mass-producibility.
Besides, by employing the microactuator of the present invention in a multi-head probe for a scanning probe microscope, a plurality of movable thin film probes can be simultaneously manipulated to realize equipment whereby a surface of a specimen is observed in a diversified manner without moving the specimen.
Furthermore, by utilizing the microactuator of the present invention in a pickup head of recording and reproducing equipment, it has become possible to provide a microactuator produced by an entirely new fabrication method based on a concept that has not been existent before.

Abstract: The microactuator comprises a plurality of electrodes arranged around the circumference of a circle, a ring-like displacement plate located inside said electrodes, beams which support said displacement plate elastically at one ends and at the same time are fixed at the other ends to a point located towards the inside of said displacement plate on a substrate and a voltage supply means to apply voltages to said electrodes in order for said electrodes to attract said displacement plate electrostatically.

Abstract: An extremely small, long life and high reliability microactuator that is excellent in mass-producibility and capable of high precision positioning can be realized.


A reception apparatus for receiving data from a transmission apparatus includes a data receiver configured to receive a synchronization packet including clock information generated by the transmission apparatus and data from the transmission apparatus, a storage memory, storing the received data, a clock adjuster configured to correct a clock of the reception apparatus based on a deviation between a clock of the transmission apparatus and the clock of the reception apparatus by using the clock information generated by the transmission apparatus, a controller configured to control a clock correction amount of the clock adjuster based on a storage amount of data in the storage memory, and a data output circuit configured to retrieve the data from the storage memory to output the retrieved data in synchronization with the corrected clock.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to reception apparatuses and systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a system, in which data is transmitted from a transmission apparatus to a reception apparatus in real time, a technology is used, which enables adjustment of an operation clock of the transmission apparatus and an operation clock of the reception apparatus so that discrepancy of number of frames to be processed between the transmission apparatus and the reception apparatus does not occur.
For example, a remote monitoring system, in which video image data captured by a monitoring camera is distributed to monitoring devices via a LAN (Local Area Network), is used. Even if the same type of clock generators are respectively used in the monitoring camera at transmission side and monitoring device at reception side, a clock of transmission side may vary from that of reception side due to individual difference between the clock generators, temperature difference between installation places of clock generators, and the like.
A method is known, in which synchronization information related to the clock is transmitted from the reception apparatus to the transmission apparatus, thereby adjusting the operation clock of the transmission side to synchronize respective apparatuses (e.g., Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-018585).
However, in conventional technology of synchronization, a delay from receiving data to reproducing the data becomes greater.
For example, when the video image data received from the transmission apparatus is stored in a buffer of reception apparatus, and the reception apparatus sequentially retrieves the video image data to reproduce the video image, discrepancy of operation clocks in the transmission apparatus and the reception apparatus can be absorbed. Meanwhile, a delay from receiving data to reproducing the data becomes greater in this case.


A method of controlling the yaw attitude of a hybrid helicopter including a fuselage and an additional lift surface provided with first and second half-wings extending from either side of the fuselage, each half-wing being provided with a respective first or second propeller. The hybrid helicopter has a thrust control suitable for modifying the first pitch of the first blades of the first propeller and the second pitch of the second blades of the second propeller by the same amount. The hybrid helicopter includes yaw control elements for generating an original order for modifying the yaw attitude of the hybrid helicopter by increasing the pitch of the blades of one propeller and decreasing the pitch of the blades of the other propeller, the original order is optimized as a function of the position of the thrust control to obtain an optimized yaw control order that is applied to the first and second blades.

In order to understand the object of the invention clearly, it is appropriate to recall the main types of flying machine corresponding to airplanes and to rotorcraft.
The term "rotorcraft" is used to designate any aircraft in which lift is provided in full or in part by one or more propellers of substantially vertical axis and of large diameter, referred to as rotors or as rotary wings.
The rotorcraft category is itself subdivided into several distinct types.
Firstly, there is the helicopter, having at least one main rotor that is driven by a suitable power plant and that provides both lift and propulsion.
Then there is the autogyro, which is a rotorcraft in which the rotor does not receive power, but provides lift by autorotating under the effect of the forward speed of the aircraft. Propulsion is provided by a turbine engine or by a propeller of axis that is substantially horizontal in forward flight and that is driven by a conventional engine.
The gyrodyne is a rotorcraft intermediate between the helicopter and the autogyro, in which the rotor provides lift only. The rotor is normally driven by a power plant during stages of takeoff, hovering or vertical flight, and landing, like a helicopter. A gyrodyne thus includes an additional propulsive system that is essentially different from the rotor assembly.
In forward flight, the rotor continues to provide lift, but solely in autorotation mode, i.e. without power being transmitted to said rotor.
Several other novel formulae have been studied to a greater or lesser extent, and some of them have given rise to practical embodiments.
In this context, mention may be made of the compound helicopter that takes off and lands like a helicopter and that flies like an autogyro when cruising: its rotor performs autorotation because of the forward speed of the aircraft and provides some of its lift, with the remainder of its lift being provided by an auxiliary wing. A tractor propeller of substantially horizontal axis delivers the force needed for movement in translation. By way of example, document GB 613 715 describes a compound helicopter.
Similarly, document U.S. Pat. No. 6,513,752 describes an aircraft comprising:                a fuselage and a wing;        two variable pitch propellers;        a rotor with heavy weights "at their ends" (sic);        a power plant driving the two propellers and the rotor;        control means for adjusting the pitch of the propellers such that:                    in forward flight, the thrust from the propellers is exerted towards the front of the aircraft; and            in hovering flight, the antitorque function is provided by one of the propellers delivering thrust towards the front and the other towards the rear of the aircraft, with the rotor being driven by the power plant; and                        the power plant comprises an engine and a clutch that, by disconnecting the rotor from the engine, enables the rotor to rotate faster than an outlet from the engine, because of the above-mentioned weights.
In addition, it is specified that the clutch makes autogyro mode possible in forward flight. Consequently, the aircraft according to document U.S. Pat. No. 6,513,752 is of the compound type.
In addition, a power transmission gearbox disposed between the power plant and the propellers enables said propellers to operate at a plurality of different speeds of rotation relative to the speed at the outlet from said power source.
The convertible constitutes another particular formula for a rotorcraft. This term covers all rotorcraft that change configuration while in flight: takeoff and landing in a helicopter configuration; cruising flight in an airplane configuration; with two rotors being tilted through about 90 degrees as to act as propellers, for example.
Another novel formula is known that is referred to as a "hybrid" helicopter for convenience.
The hybrid helicopter has a fuselage with a main rotor for rotating blades under drive from at least one turbine engine.
In addition, the hybrid helicopter is provided with a wing made up of two half-wings, with two propulsive propellers being disposed on either side of the fuselage, on respective ones of the half-wings.
In addition, the hybrid helicopter has an integrated drive train that comprises not only the turbine engine(s), the rotor, and the two propellers, but also a mechanical system interconnecting those elements.
With this configuration, the speeds of rotation at the outlet(s) from the turbine engine(s), of the propellers, of the rotor, and of the mechanical interconnection system are all mutually proportional, with the proportionality ratio being constant regardless of the flying configuration of the hybrid helicopter under normal conditions of operation of the integrated drive train.
Consequently, and advantageously, the rotor is always driven in rotation by the turbine engine(s) and always delivers lift regardless of the configuration of the hybrid helicopter, both in forward flight and in hovering flight. The hybrid helicopter is thus neither an autogyro, nor a gyrodyne, nor a compound, but a novel type of rotorcraft.
More precisely, the rotor is designed to provide all of the hybrid helicopter's lift during stages of takeoff, landing, and vertical flight, and to provide some of its lift during cruising flight, with the wing then contributing a fraction of the lift of said hybrid helicopter.
Thus, the rotor provides the major fraction of the lift of the hybrid helicopter in cruising flight, possibly also provides a small contribution to the propulsive or traction forces, and always operates with minimum drag.
By modifying the pitch of the blades of the propellers of the hybrid helicopter collectively and by the same amount, it is also possible to control the thrust generated by the propellers.
In contrast, the antitorque and yaw control functions are performed by using differential thrust exerted by the propellers, e.g. by the pilot operating a rudder bar.
Nevertheless, it is found that abusive use of the rudder bar can lead to a maneuver that subjects the helicopter to severe mechanical stress, or even to the hybrid helicopter yawing violently.
The technical field of the invention is thus the narrow technical field of flight controls for a hybrid helicopter.
Nevertheless, mention may be made of patents FR 2 476 013 and FR 1 132 452 that describe devices for allowing a control surface to move with large amplitude at low speed, while restricting said movement at high speed.
Thus, according to patent FR 2 476 013, an adjustment member limits the movement of a control means that might be moved by a pilot, with the limitation being a function of a signal that is derived from a dynamic pressure.
In contrast, patent FR 1 132 452 provides for limiting the effects of moving control means on a control surface as a function of the forward speed of the aircraft, such that identical movement of the control means gives rise to different movements of the control surface as a function of said forward speed.
Although they are of interest, those solutions would appear to be poorly adapted to the very particular context of a hybrid helicopter.
In addition, document FR 2 916 421 describes a control system having a member for generating a mean pitch setpoint.

Method of controlling a hybrid helicopter in yaw, and a hybrid helicopter provided with a yaw control device suitable for implementing said method


A two-way shipping label construction includes a strip of release material, a first printable label, and a second printable label. The first label is adhered to the strip of release material by the first pressure sensitive adhesive coating and includes at least one customer receipt label defined by a die cut having one or more ties. The first label has a first surface with a release coating on a portion thereof, and a second surface with a first pressure sensitive adhesive coating. The second label has a first surface and a second surface with a second pressure sensitive adhesive coating. The second printable label adheres to the strip of release material by the second pressure sensitive adhesive coating adjacent the first printable label. The second printable label includes at least one manifest label defined by a die cut having one or more ties.

The present invention relates to a label construction and, more particularly, to a shipping label construction of the type which is useful in sending a container in succession to an outgoing address location and to a return address location. The present invention further relates to a method of using such a label construction to re-label a container after it reaches a first location and before it is sent to a second location.
Several prior art label arrangements have been used to repeatedly re-label containers, such as reusable containers. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,858, issued May 13, 1997, to Petrou discloses a label arrangement in which a placard having a release coating on one side is adhesively secured to a container. The placard is transparent. A succession of pressure sensitive adhesive backed labels can be affixed to the placard surface, in dependence upon the changing contents of the container. While facilitating re-labeling a container, the arrangement of the '858 patent is somewhat inconvenient in that labels that are not in use on a container must be stored separately for subsequent use.
One prior art label arrangement used for sending a container to a succession of locations includes a pair of thermally printable labels, backed with a pressure sensitive adhesive coating, and mounted on a strip of release material. A first, longer label, having a portion bearing a silicone coating, is printed with a return address. A second, shorter label is printed with an outgoing address. The first label is adhesively applied to the container, and then the second label is adhesively applied over the silicone coated area of the first label, obscuring the return address. A small part of the release material is die cut and carried with the second label as it is applied to the first label. This release material part is manually engaged when the second label is to be removed from the first label. While this prior art label arrangement has the advantage that the two labels are kept together on the container, nevertheless it does not provide for additional labels that may be useful for receipts, manifest labels, and the like. It is seen, therefore, that there is a need for a labeling system providing greater flexibility.