A method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device includes forming a gate pad on a substrate, forming an electrode and a data pad, forming a passivation layer on the electrode and data pad, etching the passivation layer to form first, second, and third contact holes for exposing the electrode, gate pad, and data pad, forming a transparent electrode and simultaneously forming a gate pad electrode and a data pad electrode connected to the gate pad and the data pad through the second and third contact holes, forming a barrier metal layer and a reflective layer on the transparent electrode and the pad electrodes, annealing the reflective layer for preventing lifting of the reflective layer, and patterning the reflective layer and the barrier metal layer to form a reflective electrode and a barrier metal layer pattern on the transparent electrode, wherein the barrier metal layer pattern and the reflective electrode are formed only on the transparent electrode excluding the first contact hole.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reflection-transmission type liquid crystal display device and a method for manufacturing the same, and more particularly to a reflection-transmission type liquid crystal display device and a method for manufacturing the same in which a pad electrode is formed with the same layer as in a transparent electrode to enhance the pad reliability.
2. Description of the Related Art
Among flat panel devices, liquid crystal display (LCD) devices have been widely utilized for various electronic devices because the LCD devices are light, thin, have low power dissipation, and are capable of displaying a high quality image.
LCD devices generally comprise transmission, reflection, and reflection-transmission types. The transmission type LCD device displays information by using a light source such as a backlight. The reflection type LCD device displays information by using natural light. The reflection-transmission type LCD device operates in a transmission mode for displaying an image using a built-in light source when needed, such as in a dark room where a light source is not available, and operates in a reflection mode at other times for displaying the image by reflecting incident light.
At present, thin film transistor-liquid crystal display devices (TFT-LCDs) are widely used. The TFT-LCD has a structure that two substrates respectively having electrodes are provided and a thin film transistor (TFT) for switching a voltage applied to the electrodes is generally formed in a pixel region of one of the substrates.
FIGS. 1A to 1C are cross-sectional views showing a conventional reflection-transmission type liquid crystal display device. In FIGS. 1A to 1C, the reflection-transmission type liquid crystal display device is an amorphous silicon type TFT-LCD having a bottom-gate structure. FIG. 1A shows a display region of the liquid crystal display device where a thin film transistor 15 is formed. FIG. 1B and FIG. 1C show a gate pad region and a data pad region of the liquid crystal display device, respectively.
Referring to FIGS. 1A to 1C, after depositing a first metal layer on a substrate 10 composed of insulating material such as glass, quartz, or sapphire, the first metal layer is patterned by a photolithography process using a first mask to form a gate wiring. The gate wiring includes a gate line (not shown) extending in a first direction, a gate electrode 12 branched from the gate line and a gate pad 11 connected to the end of the gate line for applying a scanning voltage to the gate electrode 12.
A gate insulation layer 14 composed of silicon nitride is formed on the substrate 10 on which the gate wiring is formed, and then, an amorphous silicon layer and an n+ doped amorphous silicon layer are successively formed on the gate insulation layer 14. Subsequently, the amorphous silicon layer and the n+ doped amorphous silicon layer are patterned by a photolithography process using a second mask to form an active pattern 16 and an ohmic contact pattern 18. Thus, the active pattern 16 is composed of amorphous silicon and the ohmic contact pattern 18 is made of n+ doped amorphous silicon.
After depositing a second metal layer on the ohmic contact pattern 18 and the gate insulation layer 14, the second metal layer is patterned through a photolithography process using a third mask to form a data wiring. The data wiring includes a data line (not shown) extended in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, source/drain electrodes 20 and 22 branched from the data line and a data pad connected to the end of the data line for applying an image voltage to the source electrode 20.
Then, a portion of the ohmic contact pattern 18 exposed between the source electrode 20 and the drain electrode 22 is dry-etched away to form a channel region of the thin film transistor.
After forming an inorganic passivation layer 25 on the data wiring and the gate insulation layer 14, a portion of the inorganic passivation layer 25 on the drain electrode 22 is removed by a photolithography process using a fourth mask. Here, pad contact holes 33 and 35 exposing the gate pad 11 and the data pad 19 are simultaneously formed.
After forming an organic passivation layer 26 on the entire surface of the resultant structure, a portion the organic passivation layer 26 on the drain electrode 22 and the pad regions is removed by exposure and develop processes using a fifth mask, thereby forming a first contact hole 28 exposing the drain electrode 22. At the same time, a plurality of grooves for scattering a light are formed in the surface of the organic passivation layer 26 using a sixth mask. That is, the first contact hole 28 and the grooves are simultaneously formed by two exposure processes using two masks and by one developing process.
After depositing a transparent conductive layer composed of indium tin oxide (ITO) or indium zinc oxide (IZO) on the resultant structure, the transparent conductive layer is patterned by a photolithography process using a seventh mask, thereby forming a transparent electrode 30 connected to the drain electrode 22 through the first contact hole 28.
A buffer layer 32 composed of inorganic material such as silicon nitride is formed on the entire surface of the resultant structure including the transparent electrode 30, and then, the buffer layer 32 is etched away by a photolithography process using an eighth mask to form a second contact hole 34 partially exposing the drain electrode 22.
After depositing a reflective layer composed of metal having high reflectivity such as aluminum-neodymium (Al—Nd) on the second contact hole 34 and the buffer layer 32, the reflective layer is patterned by photolithography process using a ninth mask to form a reflective electrode 36 connected to the drain electrode 22 through the second contact hole 34. The reflective electrode 36 has a transmission window T1 exposing the underlying transparent electrode 30. At the same time, a gate pad electrode 38 and a data pad electrode 40 are formed. The gate pad electrode 38 and the data pad electrode 40 are connected to the gate pad 11 and the data pad 19, respectively.
According to the conventional method, the reflection-transmission type amorphous silicon type thin film transistor-liquid crystal display device is manufactured using nine masks. At that time, the buffer layer 32 composed of silicon nitride is formed between the transparent electrode 30 and the reflective electrode 36 to prevent a galvanic corrosion generated due to a direct contact between the transparent electrode 30 and the reflective electrode 36. In particular, when the transparent electrode 30 is a bottom layer of a multilayered pixel electrode, an insulation layer should be interposed between the transparent electrode 30 and the reflective electrode 36 so as to prevent the reflective electrode 36 from being lifted due to a voltage difference between the transparent electrode 30 and the reflective electrode 36 during the development of a photoresist layer for patterning the reflective electrode 36. Hence, the manufacturing process is more complicated because an additional photolithography process is needed for etching the insulating layer to form the contact hole connecting the reflective electrode 36 to the thin film transistor.
Also, the buffer layer 32 must be formed by a low temperature chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method since the buffer layer 32 is positioned over the organic passivation layer 26. Furthermore, metals may be corroded during a subsequent chip on glass (COG) bonding process because the pad electrodes 38 and 40 are formed from the same layer as in the reflective electrode 36.
In the pixel electrode having the transparent electrode as the bottom electrode, the buffer layer can be formed by using organic material instead of using silicon nitride to prevent the metal corrosion and the lifting of the reflective electrode. However, such process is complicated since at least one mask is required for patterning the buffer layer. In addition, a reflectivity of the reflective electrode is decreased and the buffer layer is hardly patterned because the organic buffer layer is positioned over the organic passivation layer. Furthermore, metals are corroded during subsequent COG bonding process since the pad electrodes and the reflective electrode are formed from the same layer.
FIGS. 2A to 2C are cross-sectional views illustrating another conventional reflection-transmission type liquid crystal display device. In FIGS. 2A to 2C, the reflection-transmission type liquid crystal display device has a structure in which a transparent electrode is directly contacted with a reflective electrode. FIG. 2A shows a display region of the liquid crystal display device where a thin film transistor 55 is formed. FIG. 2B and FIG. 2C show a gate pad region and a data pad region of the liquid crystal display device, respectively.
Referring to FIGS. 2A to 2C, after depositing a first metal layer on a substrate 50 composed of insulating material such as glass, the first metal layer is patterned by a photolithography process using a first mask to form a gate wiring. The gate wiring includes a gate line (not shown) extended in a first direction, a gate electrode 52 branched from the gate line and a gate pad 51 connected to the end of the gate line for applying a scanning voltage to the gate electrode 52.
A gate insulation layer 54 composed of silicon nitride is formed on the substrate 50 on which the gate wiring is formed, and then, an amorphous silicon layer and an n+ doped amorphous silicon layer are successively formed on the gate insulation layer 54. Subsequently, the amorphous silicon layer and the n+ doped amorphous silicon layer are patterned by a photolithography process using a second mask to form an active pattern 56 composed of amorphous silicon and an ohmic contact pattern 58 composed of n+ doped amorphous silicon.
After depositing a second metal layer on the ohmic contact pattern 58 and the gate insulation layer 54, the second metal layer is patterned by a photolithography process using a third mask to form a data wiring. The data wiring includes a data line (not shown) extended in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, source/drain electrodes 60 and 62 branched from the data line and a data pad connected to the end of the data line for applying a image voltage to the source electrode 60. Successively, a portion of the ohmic contact pattern 58 exposed between the source electrode 60 and the drain electrode 62 is dry-etched away to form a channel region of the thin film transistor.
After forming an inorganic passivation layer 65 on the data wiring and the gate insulation layer 54, a portion of the inorganic passivation layer 65 on the drain electrode 62 is removed by a photolithography process using a fourth mask. Here, pad contact holes 69 and 71 for exposing the gate pad 51 and the data pad 59 are formed at the same time. After forming an organic passivation layer 66 on the entire surface of the resultant structure, the organic passivation layer 66 is patterned by an exposure process and a develop process using a fifth mask and a sixth mask, thereby simultaneously forming a contact hole 68 exposing the drain electrode 62 and a plurality of grooves.
After depositing a reflective layer composed of metal having high reflectivity such as aluminum-neodymium (Al—Nd) on the resultant structure, the reflective layer is patterned by photolithography process using a seventh mask to form a reflective electrode 70, a gate pad electrode 74, and a data pad electrode 76. The reflective electrode 70 is connected to the drain electrode 62 through the contact hole 68. The gate pad electrode 74 and the data pad electrode 76 are connected to the gate pad 51 and the data pad 59 through the contact holes 69 and 71, respectively.
Subsequently, after depositing a transparent conductive layer composed of IZO on the reflective electrode 70, the transparent conductive layer is patterned by a photolithography process using an eighth mask to form a transparent electrode 72 being directly in contact with the reflective electrode 70. Here, a region having the transparent electrode 72 and not having the reflective electrode 70 forms a transmission window T2.
According to the above-described method, one mask can be omitted during the manufacturing process in comparison with the conventional method of FIG. 1 because the transparent electrode 72 is directly in contact with the reflective electrode 70 without a buffer layer. Also, the lifting of the reflective electrode 70 cannot occur since the transparent electrode 72 is positioned as a top layer. However, a galvanic corrosion between the reflective electrode 70 and the transparent electrode 72 is generally developed. Further, when the transparent electrode 72 is composed of IZO, the transparent electrode 72 and the reflective electrode 70 are not simultaneously patterned because the IZO reacts with an aluminum etchant or a chrome etchant. In addition, the transparent electrode 72 should be positioned as the top electrode to directly contact with the reflective electrode 70 and the transparent electrode 72.

Method for manufacturing reflection-transmission type liquid crystal display device


A system for optically down-converting a radio-frequency signal includes phase modulators in a push-pull configuration. Separately tuned optical bandpass filters pass through one or more harmonics and inverse harmonics based on the RF signal to produce a local oscillator. A balanced photo-detector receives a coherent interference signal and derives the down-converted local oscillator from a filtered harmonic and inverse harmonic.

Signal down conversion, particularly in the K and mm wave bands, is important in high bandwidth communication systems. Electronic down conversion is susceptible to signal loss and distortion. Long distance transmission of such electronic signals is also susceptible to electro-magnetic interference.
Optical radio-frequency (RF) carrier generation is useful for ultra-high-frequency operations as well as optically feeding the RF signal to a remote antenna site, with benefits in weight reduction as well as electro-magnetic interference immunity. However, no system or methodology exists to implement signal down conversion with optical carriers to create a local oscillator.
It would be advantageous to generate optical RF carriers with amplitude and phase-modulation to enable high-order quadrature amplitude modulation with the possibility of optically remoting the modulated signal.

Optical radio-frequency down-conversion and remoting


Large throw-off distances of the transfer cylinders in a double printing unit of a rotary printing machine operating on the rubber/rubber principle are achieved by enabling the two transfer cylinders to be set away from each other, and enabling the two form cylinders to be set away from the respective transfer cylinder. The form cylinder and the transfer cylinder of each printing unit have a drive connection via spur gears, the transfer cylinders are not in tooth engagement via their spur gears, and each printing unit has its own electric motor.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates printing machines, and more particularly, to a double printing unit of a rotary printing machine which can be switched off for a rapid production change, while the web continues to be led through between the transfer cylinders which have been moved out of contact.
2. Description of the Related Art
DE 93 11 113 U1 shows a double printing unit serving as a single printing unit, in which the form and transfer cylinders are arranged one above another. All four printing-unit cylinders have a drive connection to spur gears located on their journals. The drive is provided by means of a main shaft via a bevel-gear mechanism and an intermediate gear on one of the spur gears of the transfer cylinders. This drive can be disengaged by means of a clutch when the double printing unit is switched off for a plate change needed in the event of a production change. In order to put the drive back into service, the double printing unit is accelerated by means of an auxiliary drive, then coupled to the main shaft and finally printing is thrown on.
In the case of the single printing unit, the transfer cylinders have to be thrown relatively far off in the thrown-off state in order to lead the web which is printed, or is to be printed, by other printing units horizontally through between the transfer cylinders without contact. However, in order to prevent the spur wheels from being disengaged, limits are placed on the extent of the spacing. It is also necessary for there to be sufficient tooth engagement in order to accelerate a double printing unit of this type before printing is switched on in the event of a production change. Guide rolls are therefore provided upstream and downstream of the double printing unit. The guide rolls aid in the leading of the web through and between the transfer cylinders spaced apart from one another. The guide rolls make the double printing unit costly. Furthermore, ink is deposited on them, and, in a reverse action, is smeared on the web again.
According to Swiss Patent 549 471, the transfer cylinders of a double printing unit are each mounted in levers which can be pivoted around the associated form cylinder. The form and transfer cylinders and the transfer cylinders have a mechanical drive connection via spur gears on their journals. For the purpose of throwing off the printing, the levers, together with the transfer cylinders, are pivoted by means of toggle levers acting on the journals of the transfer cylinders. When such a double printing unit is used as a single printing unit, again the transfer cylinders have to be thrown off relatively far, in order to make it possible to lead through the web printed or to be printed by other printing units in this thrown-off state. However, the aforementioned limits are placed on the extent of the spacing, in order to prevent the transfer cylinders from being disengaged and, in addition, there is still sufficient tooth engagement in order to stop and accelerate the switched-off double printing unit.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,458,590 shows a double printing unit with printing-unit cylinders arranged one above another, which are all mounted in side walls by means of eccentric bushes. Here, too, limits are placed on the throw-off distances of the transfer cylinders, in order that engagement conditions which are still sufficiently good are provided for the spur gears in the thrown-off state.

Double printing unit of a rotary printing machine


A method and apparatus for injection molding thermoplastic material including a stack mold and an injection unit with a movable sprue bar communicating with the runner system. The sprue bar is releasably engaged with the runner system by relative movement in a direction perpendicular to the horizontal central axis of the stack mold.

The present invention relates to injection molding and more particularly to a stack mold configuration utilizing a movable sprue bar.
Stack molding provides the advantage that it enables an injection molding machine output to be doubled without significantly increasing its size. Stack mold configurations generally employ a stationary first platen, a movable center platen and a movable second platen. The cavities are conventionally located on opposing faces of the movable center platen. Advantageously, the same machine forces are applied to two cavities in series rather than to a single cavity. However, stack molding has the disadvantage that the melt runner system must extend through the moving center platen in order to reach the cavities.
Conventionally, multi cavity stack molds use a sprue bar which is a direct channel between the machine's extruder nozzle and the molds hot runner distributor mounted in the center section of the stack mold. In the case of large parts, one part being mounted on either side of the stack molds center platen, the part nearest the machine's extruder prevents the use of a conventional sprue bar. Therefore, an alternate means of conveying the resin to the center section must be devised.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,539,171 to Sorensen utilizes the a snorkel device which is essentially a sprue bar offset from and parallel to the central axis of the clamping platens. The snorkel of the '171 patent is attached to the stack molds hot runner and makes a seal with the injection molding machine's extruder nozzle by the action of the clamp closing the mold. This design is characterized by several disadvantages. Firstly, the machine's nozzle must be specially modified to extend its channel to the offset position chosen for the snorkel. In addition, a hole must be made in the stationary platen through which the snorkel and the extended nozzle may pass. Therefore, the design of the '171 patent requires expensive machine modifications.
There is an additional disadvantage of the design of the '171 patent that the action of sealing the sprue bar against the machine nozzle changes the clamping force applied to the half of the stack mold next to the extruder. This is a disadvantage shared by all conventional centrally mounted sprue bars. Thus, for example, the force required to maintain the nozzle to sprue bar seal is typically 20 tons and is usually applied by a hydraulic cylinder means acting between the extruder assembly and the stationary platen. This force is directly opposing the main clamping force applied between the machine's two platens attempting to keep the stack mold closed during injection. This main clamping force, for example, is typically 500 tons. Because the 20 ton force required to maintain the nozzle to sprue bar seal is transmitted directly to the center section of the stack mold it effectively subtracts 20 tons from the clamping force acting on the mold set next to the extruder and adds 20 tons to the mold set next to the moving platen. Thus, the two halves of the stack mold see 480 tons and 520 tons respectively. Consequently, disadvantageously, the filling of the two halves is not symmetrical.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,212,626 and 4,586,887, both to Gellert show a means to convey the resin to the parts by eliminating the sprue bar and making the channel seal at the molds parting line nearest the extruder. In the '626 patent the resin is fed through a first part 76 to a second part 78. Closing the resin channels to prevent disadvantageous drooling is achieved by means of valve gates at each surface. Hence, three valve gate nozzles are used. In the '887 patent a conventional multi-cavity stack mold is shown where the sprue bar is replaced with a nozzle. The nozzle seals to a hot runner manifold bushing at the parting line of the part nearest the machine's extruder. The channels are not closed at the parting line after the resin has been conveyed, instead a valve gate is used to close the hot runner manifold inlet channel. The design of both the '626 and '887 patent have the disadvantage of allowing drool to escape on the parting line surface. This is a considerable disadvantage. No matter how efficient the valve gates are in the '626 patent, or the fact that machine suckback may be employed to decompress the molds hot runner manifold, in both patents a small amount of drool will in fact escape. This cannot be tolerated at the parting line since it prevents complete mold closing and allows flashing to occur. Continued operation of the mold with slight drool causes permanent damage requiring expensive repairs.
An additional method is shown in Kunstoffe, June 1988 "Development and Construction of a Stack Mold" Pages 505-510, By R. Strauch. This design utilizes a sprue bar displaced from the mold center line and clamped at both ends to part of the molds hot runner system. The machine nozzle seals to a bush conventionally and resin is conveyed via a first manifold through a permanent seal to the sprue bar, and through a second permanent seal to the second manifold in the stack mold center section. This design has the advantage of being able to be installed in an unmodified machine, however, it suffers from the disadvantage that the ejector stroke and opening stroke for the part nearest the machine's extruders is severely limited. The ejector mechanism is incorporated within the mold structure on the core half of the mold. In accordance with this design, the strokes must be built into the shut height of the mold, and this severely limits the height of the parts that can be molded in this way in an unmodified machine.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide an improved injection molding method and apparatus.
It is a still further feature of the present invention to provide an improved injection molding method and apparatus a aforesaid employing a stack mold configuration and utilizing a movable sprue bar.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide an improved method and apparatus as aforesaid which is inexpensive and convenient to build and operate and which overcomes the disadvantage of differential clamping force applied to each half of a stack mold.
Further objects and advantages of the present invention are appeared hereinbelow.

Method and apparatus for injection molding using a movable sprue bar


The disclosed technology addresses the need in the art for an enhanced communication system for emergency departments. A system is configured to receive, from an emergency department device, registration information for a patient device, generate a unique identifier associated with the registration information, and provide the unique identifier to the emergency department device. The system is further configured to receive, from the patient device, a communication including the unique identifier and contact information and store, based on the communication, an entry for the patient device in a device database, wherein the entry for the patient device comprises the registration information and the contact information.

Various electronic communication technologies such as short message service (SMS) text messaging, email, or messaging applications provide various means for users to communicate with one another generally. Furthermore, many of these technologies are conveniently available on mobile devices such as smart phones or tablets. However, existing technologies are not appropriate for all settings. For example, in the medical setting, and in particular in the context of emergency department or emergency room waiting areas, there exist a number of technological obstacles that prevent the adoption of available communication solutions.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Emergency department communication system


A method and an apparatus for measuring muscle fatigue is disclosed, in which electromyographic (EMG) signals are measured from a muscle in order to determine the fatigue level of the muscle. The invention comprises the steps of: receiving an EMG input signal from electrodes attached to the muscle to be analyzed; sampling said input signal to a sequence of discrete signal values; calculating the difference between several pairs of successive sample values; depending on the sign of the calculated difference, adding cumulatively the sampled values in a first or second accumulator means, and said difference values in a third accumulator means; obtaining separate sequences of quotients between the values representative of the output from said third accumulator means and values representative of the outputs from said first and second accumulator means, respectively; obtaining for each of said sequences a single quotient having a weighted value representative of a number of said quotients; multiplying the obtained weighted values with each other in order to obtain an index indicative of fatigue during said time period in said muscle.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for measuring muscle fatigue, in which electromyographic (EMG) signals measured from a muscle are used to determine the fatigue level of the muscle.
2. Description of Prior Art
There are two basic methods to assess muscle fatigue: mechanical and electrical. Mechanical methods are based on measuring direct force output from muscle performance. This is, however, mostly unpractical and unreliable due to inability to separate each muscle component force from the total output force. Muscular systems have a strong tendency of compensating weak muscles with stronger ones in a constant dynamic fashion. In practice, by measuring single muscular contraction indirectly through muscle electrical signals (EMG), more precise conclusions can be drawn about the neurophysiological status of the muscle. Consequently, it has become widely accepted to deploy certain signal processing methods for EMG to gain information about muscle fatigue. In the following, a first exemplary technique to be discussed is based on estimation of spectral parameters, and a second technique to be discussed uses simple time domain signal processing.
In the first case, a measure of some form of average frequency (spectral shift) is calculated through the signal (EMG) spectrum. The original signal is sampled to produce a discrete time series, which is then subdivided into shorter segments of N samples each. For each segment spectral components (Fourier Spectrum) are estimated exploiting commonly known Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) algorithms. Average frequency calculations normally resort to power spectrum, which can be readily derived from the original Fourier spectrum. The two most popular frequency parameters used as fatigue descriptors are Mean Power Frequency (MPF) and Median Frequency (MF).
The second technique, called Zero Crossings (ZC), is a strongly simplified way of estimating average signal frequency in time domain, although it can be also defined through spectral calculations. Average intensity of rectified and smoothed EMG signal has also been correlated to some extent with muscle fatigue, but this has not gained as much popularity as the two other techniques.
In discrete form the two spectral parameters can be written by ##EQU1##
In the second technique (ZC) the time domain approach simply tries to determine the number of polarity changes in the signal during a given period of time. EQU ZC=.SIGMA.hd j[s( ).sub.j +s( ).sub.j ] (3)
where s( ).sub.j denotes the j.sup.th polarity change of the signal from negative to positive; and s( ).sub.j denotes the j.sup.th polarity change from positive to negative.
As mentioned earlier, there are ways of estimating ZC rates through spectral calculations, but they are rarely used due to slower processing times and inherent uncertanties as compared to direct time domain estimations.
Several problems emerge as these methods are applied to assess fatigue reflected in EMG signals. To achieve fast spectral estimations FFT algorithms are commonly used. This implies limiting the source time series segment to specific number of points, i.e. only groups of points having 2.sup.N elements (N is a positive integer) can be processed by FFT.
It has been suggested different solutions to circumvert these problems, but basically only few different size groups of points are allowed. This means that a huge number of varying length signal segments cannot be analyzed directly by FFT. The only known method to manage arbitrary number of points is the actual Discrete Fourier Transforms which is unpractical because of the much greater number of calculations required compared to FFT.
The basic problems with spectral estimations are, however, intrinsic. First of all, power spectrum is not unique. There is an unlimited number of different signals that can produce exactly the same power spectrum. Secondly, varying amounts of errors are always introduced to spectral estimations due to the finite number of temporal points and also due to different windowing functions used. Thirdly, the Fourier spectrum implies sinusoidal structural model for its target, which is rarely the case in physiological signals. These three factors to large extent can be credited to great amount of unspecificity and insensitivity found in many physiological signal analysis applications using spectral estimators.
Zero crossings methodology, on the other hand, does not account for any other information except the signal polarity. Therefore, any signal behaviour between two consequtive polarity changes will be left unnoticed. Since signal changes are mostly unpredictable in e.g. EMG, huge ammounts of information are ignored by using the ZC analysis method.

Method and apparatus for measuring muscle fatigue


A band-gap voltage reference circuit having first and second branches respectively including first and second groups of transistors of different emitter current conduction areas and current sources for running the first and second groups of transistors at different emitter current densities to generate respective base-emitter voltages, and output terminals connected to receive a regulated voltage (Vout) which is a function of the base-emitter voltages of the first and second groups of transistors. Each of the first and second groups includes at least one npn-type transistor and at least one pnp transistor connected with their emitter-collector paths in series in the respective one of the branches so as to present cumulated base-emitter voltages across the respective group.

A widely used voltage reference supply is a band-gap circuit, which has typically been used to provide a low reference voltage with stability in the presence of temperature variations and noise or transients. In one form of band-gap circuit, known as a Brokaw circuit and described in the article "A simple Three-Terminal IC Bandgap Reference" in IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. SC9, no 6, December 1974, two groups of junction-isolated bipolar transistors run at different emitter current densities. The difference in emitter current densities produces a related difference between the base-emitter voltages of the two groups. This voltage difference is added to the base-emitter voltage of the transistor with higher emitter current density with a suitable ratio defined by a voltage divider. The temperature coefficient of the base-emitter voltage is negative and tends to compensate the positive temperature coefficient of the voltage difference.
A Brokaw band-gap circuit exhibits good stability and accuracy compared with other known circuits but still suffers from residual process dispersion, variability and temperature drift caused, for example, by mismatch of the mirror currents and base currents, especially when PNP transistors are used, which have low beta (collector-to-base current gain). PNP vertical transistors are preferred however for low power applications, to reduce parasitic effects in NPN vertical transistor integrated circuits, where parasitic horizontal transistor structures are formed by the different buried PN junctions, and high frequency current injection occurs due to DPI (direct power injection), with high frequency currents induced in the transistor collectors by parasitic capacitances at the buried PN junctions.
Especially, a standard Brokaw band-gap circuit also suffers from some inaccuracies due to dispersion of parameters due to manufacturing tolerances. While some of these sources of errors can be corrected during manufacturing, for example by trimming the products, such corrective actions do not give optimal results and increase manufacturing cost. It is desirable to reduce the sources of reference voltage inaccuracy in reference voltage circuits and also to ensure low quiescent current sustaining parasitic high frequency injected in the power supply.
The present invention addresses some or all of these issues.
The article "A curvature-corrected low-voltage bandgap reference" by Gunawan, M.; Meijer, G. C. M.; Fonderie, J.; Huijsing, J. H.; in the IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits Volume 28, Issue 6, June 1993 Page(s): 667-670 and US patent specifications 20050122091, 5081410, 20050035813 and 6172555 describes various derivatives of the Brokaw circuit.

Band-gap voltage reference circuit having multiple branches


The present invention includes: a plurality of terminal devices configured to wirelessly communicate with a balance storage medium; and a settlement control device that is communicably connected to each of the plurality of terminal devices. The settlement control device includes an update instruction distribution unit that distributes, to each of the terminal devices, balance update instruction information including a balance update instruction and an update instruction identification number corresponding to the balance update instruction. The terminal device includes an update control unit that performs balance update processing corresponding to the balance update instruction on the basis of a comparison between an update instruction identification number that has been acquired from the balance storage medium and that is recorded in the balance storage medium, and the update instruction identification number included in the balance update instruction information.

There is utilized a technology in which a user has a balance storage card, which the user carries with a balance stored on the balance storage card instead of recording a balance in a bank or other financial institution, and uses the balance storage card for settlement of purchased merchandise. A technique related to this technology is disclosed in Patent Document 1. The technique of Patent Document 1 is one which, even if a failure occurs between a transaction device that reads a transaction history from an electronic money recording medium and settles the transaction and a transaction management device, is capable of performing point calculation without being affected as much as possible by the failure.

Settlement control system, settlement control device, terminal device, settlement control method, processing method, and program


An electronic device includes: an input configured to electronically obtain first information relating to a request for establishing communication between a fitting device and an end user device, the end user device being configured to configure a hearing device based on fitting data from the fitting device; and a processing unit configured to electronically process the first information, and provide second information for transmission to an AV provider; wherein the processing unit is also configured to obtain a connection information associated with a virtual fitting room from the AV provider, and provide the connection information associated with the virtual fitting room for the fitting device; and wherein the processing unit is also configured to provide the connection information associated with the virtual fitting room for transmission to the end user device.

Hearing aids are configured to compensate for hearing loss of users. Before a user can use a hearing aid, the user generally needs to go through a fitting process to fit the hearing aid so that the hearing compensation provided by the hearing aid will address the hearing deficiency of the particular user.
Fitting of a hearing aid may occur in a health care provider's office. For example, to fit a hearing aid, the user of the hearing aid needs to visit an audiologist's office. At the office, the audiologist will perform hearing tests on the user to determine the type and degree of hearing deficiency suffered by the user. Based on the results of the hearing tests, the audiologist may then configure the hearing aid so that its functionalities are specific for the particular user.
The subject disclosure is directed to systems and methods for configuring hearing devices (such as hearing aids), so that the user is not required to physically visit a health care provider's office in order to have his/her hearing device being fitted.

Systems and methods for configuring hearing devices


A method for fabricating an artificial bone by multi-pass extrusion, includes: a first extrusion process of forming roll-shaped filaments having sheets of calcium phosphate/calcium phosphate-(t-ZrO2)/t-ZrO2; a second extrusion process of arranging the prepared roll-shaped filaments circularly and extruding the same; and a third extrusion process of forming an external shell of hydroxyapatite (HAp). The method for fabricating an artificial bone allows fabrication of an artificial bone having the biocompatibility and mechanical strength of the natural bone and may be utilized variously in biomedical engineering, medicine and other applications.

Bone grafting performed by orthopedic surgeons to repair bone fractures can be largely classified into autograft, allograft and artificial bone graft. Among them, autograft shows excellent biocompatibility, but it is disadvantageous in that the size of bone is limited and the bone has to be harvested from the patient's own body. Allograft is associated with the problem that the bone is often obtained from a cadaver of an unknown source. Also, the donated bone may cause infections. Thus, development of an artificial bone capable of replacing the natural bone is strongly required. However, there remain problems with regard to improvement in biocompatibility with the human body and mechanical strength.
The natural bone exhibits better strength than any other synthetic materials developed for artificial bone thus far. This may be due to the characteristic lamellar microstructure of the natural bone. The most important factor in developing artificial bone is to provide superior mechanical property as well as biocompatibility.
Although many researchers are striving to mimic the natural bone using bioceramics, an artificial bone satisfying both biocompatibility and mechanical strength is not developed as yet.

Fabrication method of a novel artificial cortical bone using a multi-pass extrusion process

SOONCHUNHYANG UNIVERSITY INDUSTRY ACADEMY COOPERATION FOUNDATION


A video playback method and a video playback apparatus are provided. The object path extraction module of the video playback apparatus extracts at least one object path from an original video. The video synthesizing module of the video playback apparatus selectively adjusts said object path, so as to synthesize the object path into the synthesis video. The video synthesizing module determines the time length of the synthesis video based on the playback time length set by user, wherein the time length of the synthesis video less than the time length of the original video.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a video apparatus, and particularly relates to a video playback method and apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
A video surveillance system is capable of obtaining an original video by using a camera module to shoot a scene and storing the original video in a hard disk. For a conventional video playback system, playback is a commonly used function. The playback function allows the user to watch the original video stored in the hard disk. The user may watch a specific time section of the original video, so as to look for an object that draws interest or an abnormal event. However, the time length of the original video may be extremely long. For example, the time length of the original video may be as long as several hours or even days. The user may speed up displaying/watching the original video stored in the hard disk by using a preset constant speed. While a conventional video playback system is capable of reducing the video playback time, the conventional video playback system are unable to display all the objects in the original video within a time length set by the user.


A shoe tying system is provided enabling those who have difficulty reaching their shoe laces to tighten and loosen their laces by coiling and uncoiling to/from a rotatable drum using a specially configured key that can be positioned at the end of a cane, rod, or the like and used to manipulate the rotatable drum as desired.

The present invention is directed to a shoe tying system which allows shoes to be tied remotely.
More and more people are having trouble tying shoes because, due to physical restrictions, they are unable to reach the laces. It is among the objects of the present invention to allow shoe laces to be secured while the wearer is standing or sitting, without the need to actually manually engage the laces, once the system of the present invention has be put in place.
The present invention comprises a shoe tying system which permits remote tightening and loosening of shoe laces, the system comprising a) a base housing having a tongue securable beneath a portion of the laces of a shoe to be tightened; b) a rotatable column about which portions of those laces may be coiled to adjust a level of tension in those laces; c) a cap having a first configuration of slot in an upper surface; d) a key adapted to be fit on a remote end of an extension rod, the key having a second configuration complementary to the first configuration of the slot in the upper surface of the cap; whereby a wearer of the shoe to be tightened may remotely adjust a tension in the laces of the shoe by rotating said rotatable column in a first direction to increase the tension and in a second opposed direction to loosen the tension. The invention additionally comprises a geometrically shaped protrusion formed on a top surface of said rotatable column, a complementarily shaped recess formed on a nether surface of the cap, a spring biasing the recess away from said protrusion, whereby when the key collapses the spring bringing the recess into engagement with the protrusion, rotation of the key turns the cap and, with it, the rotatable column, winding and unwinding the shoe lace onto and from the rotatable column, tightening and loosening the shoe lace without requiring manual engagement thereof.
Additionally, the shoe tying system comprises at least a partial gear formed on an interior periphery of the cap, an external mating gear formed on an internal portion of the rotatable column, the partial gear and the external mating gear being adapted to maintain tension in the shoe lace when the key is disengaged from the cap.
Various other features, advantages, and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent after a reading of the following detailed description.


A magnetic sensor configured to reside in proximity to a recording medium during use having a high spin polarization reference layer stack above AFM layers. The reference layer stack comprises a first boron-free ferromagnetic layer above the AFM coupling layer; a magnetic coupling layer on and in contact with the first boron-free ferromagnetic layer; a second ferromagnetic layer comprising boron deposited on and contact with the magnetic coupling layer; and a boron-free third ferromagnetic layer on and in contact the second ferromagnetic layer. A barrier layer is deposited on and in contact with the boron-free third ferromagnetic layer. In one aspect of the invention, the magnetic coupling layer may comprise at least one of Ta, Ti, or Hf. A process for providing the magnetic sensor is also provided.

Disk drives typically use heads residing on sliders to read from and write to the magnetic media. Read and write transducers residing in the head are flown at a small, controlled spacing above the magnetic medium (disk) during read and write operations. An air bearing forms between the head and the disk due to the disk rotating at high speeds to provide controlled head to disk spacing. Magnetic fields emanating from the write transducer pole tip switches magnetization of the magnetic medium, i.e., writing to the medium. Among other factors, a smaller and more tightly controlled magnetic writing field will allow more data to be written in the same space, thereby increasing areal density.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional disk drive 10 used for data storage. Figures are not drawn to scale and only certain structures are depicted for clarity. Disk media 50 is attached to spindle motor and hub 20. The spindle motor and hub 20 rotate the media 50 in a direction shown by arrow 55. Head Stack assembly (HSA) 60 includes a magnetic recording head 30 on actuator arm 70 and positions actuator arm 70 by positioning the voice coil motor (VCM) 25 over a desired data track, shown as recording track 40 in this example, to write data onto the media 50.
FIG. 1a illustrates an enlarged view of a section of FIG. 1 including head 30 and track 40. A magnetic recording transducer 90 is fabricated on slider 80. Slider 80 may be attached to suspension 75 and suspension 75 may be attached to actuator arm 70 as shown in FIG. 2. A read transducer 93 is also fabricated on slider 80.
Referring again to FIG. 2, Slider 80 is illustrated above recording track 40. Media 50 and track 40 are moving under slider 80 in a down-track direction shown by arrow 42. The cross-track direction is shown by arrow 41.
The magnetic recording transducer 90 has a leading edge 91 and a trailing edge 92. In this embodiment, the trailing edge 92 of recording transducer 90 is the final portion of magnetic transducer 90 that writes onto the recording track 40 as the media moves under the slider 80 in direction 42.
FIG. 2 illustrates a side view of the disk drive 10 shown in FIG. 1. At least one disk media 50 is mounted onto spindle motor and hub 20. HSA 60 comprises at least one actuator arm 70 that carries suspension 75 and slider 80. Slider 80 has an air bearing surface (ABS) facing media 50. When the media is rotating and actuator arm 70 is positioned over the media 50, slider 80 floats above media 50 by aerodynamic pressure created between the slider ABS and the surface of media 50 facing the ABS of slider 80.
FIG. 3 illustrates an ABS view of a writer 300 of a magnetic recording transducer. The ABS view is the view looking at the ABS of the slider from the viewpoint of the media surface. Main pole 301 of magnetic recording transducer 300 is separated from surrounding structures by nonmagnetic gap 302 and nonmagnetic gap 305. Main pole 301 has leading edge 301a on the leading side of main pole 301 and a trailing edge 301b on the trailing side of main pole 301. A trailing shield 320 is on the trailing side of main pole 301 and a leading shield 303 is on the leading side of main pole 301. Writer portion 300 also has side shields 304 on the sides of main pole 301.
The main pole 301 is illustrated with a conventional trapezoidal shape used in perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR); however, other shapes may also be used. Pole shapes may be, for example, rectangular or triangular. Pole edges illustrated with straight lines may also be implemented as curved or faceted. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that these shapes, combinations or variations of these shapes, and other shapes may be used.
FIG. 4 illustrates a side section view of read/write head 400 incorporating a write transducer 450 and read sensor 410. FIG. 3 depicts an ABS view of a section of writer 300 only, while FIG. 4 depicts a side section view of read/write head 400 with ABS 490, including read sensor 410 and write transducer 450. The read sensor 410 may include shield 411 and shield 413 as well as sensor 412. Write transducer 450 shown in FIG. 4 includes shield 414, main pole 401, assist (or auxiliary) pole 401′, coil 440 and coil 440′, and trailing shield 420. Main pole 401 has trailing bevel 401a. Write transducer 450 also includes leading shield 417, nonmagnetic layer 414, nonmagnetic gap layer 405, and nonmagnetic spacer 402. Other and/or different components may be fabricated in other embodiments. In some embodiments, coupling layers, stop layers and/or seed layers may also remain between layers as part of the fabrication process.

Magnetic sensor having a high spin polarization reference layer


A method of manufacturing a gas mixture of at least two components. Oxygen, nitrogen, helium, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and carbon monoxide are all suitable for use as components in this method. Defined amounts of the components are dynamically mixed in order to obtain a first gas mixture at a first pressure less than 200 bar. The first gas mixture contains an intermediate amount of the second component which is less than the amount desired in the final gas mixture. A first component is then added to the first gas mixture to concomitantly dilute the second component. The addition of the first component is stopped when the pressure of the diluted gas mixture reaches a second pressure greater than both the first pressure and 170 bar, and when the diluted gas mixture contains the desired final proportion of the second component.

The present invention relates to a method of dynamically filling containers with gas mixtures, particularly O2/N2O mixtures containing an N2O proportion not less than 30% by volume, at a pressure of at least 170 bar.
At the present time, there are several methods of filling pressurized containers, such as gas bottles, with gas mixtures.
Thus, the method referred to as gravimetric filling is generally used for filling with gas mixtures based on liquefied gases, such as N2O or CO2, or mixtures of air gases, such as O2, N2, Ar or He. However, this filling method has the drawbacks of resulting in a high level of manufacturing scrap, after analytical inspection, a low-productivity manufacturing process, since the containers must be filled one by one, a container rolling cycle that penalizes production times, and a high analytical inspection cost.
Moreover, the pressure/temperature gravimetric sequential filling method is also known. However, with this method, the mixtures produced in the various bottles from one and the same production rail often exhibit deviations in the final composition. To avoid this, it is necessary to comply with pressure stabilization and balancing times that penalize the overall productivity.
In the case of other conventional methods of filling containers with mixtures, the amounts of gas introduced are therefore controlled by measuring the pressure and the temperature of the gases. However, the determination of the gas contents is based on two measurement instruments, their measurement inaccuracies being additive. In addition, the location of the measurement points on the filling plant does not allow direct access to the physical quantities desired, i.e. the temperature and the pressure are generally measured on the filling rail by a temperature probe or a pressure sensor. However, the values thus measured are only approximations, not effective measurements of the temperature or the pressure within containers.
The method of mixing the gases dynamically partly overcomes these problems and drawbacks. This method, described for example in document EP-A-1 174 178, consists in filling the bottles with the gas mixture in its expected final composition from the start right to the end of the filling sequence. The mixture is produced upstream of the filling rail in a very small mixing chamber into which the various gaseous constituents making up the composition of the final mixture are introduced.
The amounts of each gas introduced are controlled by a mass flowmeter installed on the line for each constituent gas of the composition of the mixture to be produced. Moreover, a combination of several regulating valves is used to control the flow rate of the gases thanks to the action of an automatic regulating system. Mass metering by a mass flowmeter makes it possible to factor out any uncertainties in the measurements and any production vagaries associated with the inaccuracies as regards the amounts mentioned above.
However, filling with a dynamic mixer is accompanied, in certain cases, by expansion of the gas downstream of the mixing chamber and a lowering of the temperature of the gases below the demixing temperature, which is explained by the fact that the line downstream of the chamber is at the same pressure as the containers relative to atmospheric pressure. The gas flow is then a two-phase flow in the bottle-filling rails.
Given that the liquid and gaseous phases flow at different flow rates, the operation of filling the bottles is no longer uniform and deviations in the final contents may be observed in bottles filled from the same rail during one and the same manufacturing run. These disparities may be explained by preferential flows in the pipes of the container-filling rails.
To solve this demixing problem, document EP-A-1 174 178 has proposed to maintain the mixture above the demixing temperature by using, in order to do this, a perfectly regulated heater for heating the gases leaving the dynamic mixing chamber during the filling cycle.
Since the mixture is thus always maintained in the gaseous state, the homogeneity of the mixture is preserved and the deviations in contents are low enough to make it possible for the set of bottles to be checked by analyzing only a single bottle taken off the filling rail.
However, in practice, there is sometimes a limitation in filling containers with certain gas mixtures, in particular of the O2/N2O type in which the N2O content is not less than 30% by volume for pressures above 170 bar.
This is because, for this type of mixture, the final pressure is limited by the pressurization of the N2O to around 170 bar. The N2O must therefore be heated in order to rise to higher pressures, which then take it into the supercritical state.
The heating temperature is also limited by the decomposition temperature of N2O, the more so as certain metals of the filling device and the bottle, such as silver, platinum, cobalt, copper and nickel oxides, are catalysts for the reaction.
The dynamic filling of certain gas mixtures is therefore in general limited to a pressure of around 170 bar.
The problem to be solved is therefore how to improve the method of filling using a dynamic mixer, especially the method described by document EP-A-1 174 178, so as to be able to fill containers dynamically with gas mixtures at pressures above 170 bar, in particular medical gas mixtures of the N2O/O2 type, the N2O content of which is not less than 30% by volume.

Dynamic filling with high-pressure gas mixtures, particularly an N


A tube flushing device has a shell having a first housing and a second housing connected on a side thereof so as to be movable between an open position and a closed position. A first pair of wheels are rotatably mounted in the first housing. A second pair of wheels rotatably mounted in the second housing. The first pair of wheels engages the second pair of wheels when the housings are in the closed position. The shell has openings on opposite ends thereof. A tube can extend through the openings and between the first and second pair of wheels so as to allow fluids therein to be flushed therefrom as the shell moves along the length of the tube.

Tubing is used extensively in hospitals to convey fluids for various purposes including introducing fluids into the body and withdrawing fluids from the body. In body fluid drainage systems, for example, in chest drainage apparatus, an elastomeric tube is connected at one end to a chest drainage catheter connected to the plural cavity of the patient. The opposite end of the tube is connected to a fluid drainage collection bottle, bulb, or chamber. Such drainage apparatus may collect drainage either by the effects of gravity alone or by vacuum assist.
In such chest drainage systems, fibrin or a blood clot may occlude the tube or restrict the fluid discharge rate of flow. It has been common practice for the attendant to displace or clear the contents of the tube and remove the obstruction by hand. Because the tubing is generally made of a material which produces an outer surface with a relatively high coefficient of friction, such as polyvinyl chloride, latex, polyurethane or silicone, the fingers are generally first lubricated by applying an oil or grease to them. Then, while squeezing and compressing the tube between the fingers, the fingers are advanced longitudinally along the tube to move fluid and other matter through the tube thereby removing the obstruction or increasing the fluid flow rate. Clearing solids, semi-solids or liquids from resilient flexible tubing in various other fluid systems is often accomplished in a similar manner. If a lubricant is not employed, the friction between the fingers and tubing would cause chaffing of the skin. Even when a lubricant is used, some chaffing of the skin occurs and the tubing may not be cleared as well as it should be. Also, the use of lubricants is time consuming since it requires the application, as well as, removal of the lubricant from the hand.
In order to avoid the above-identified problems associated with the stripping or clearing the contents of tubing, various hand tools having rollers have been proposed. The tubing is clamped between the rollers and then the rollers are moved longitudinally along the tubing to move the tubing contents longitudinally therealong. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,881,916, issued on Mar. 16, 1999 to M. G. Madjarac, describes a tube unclogging device which has a first roller mounted on one side of a U-shaped body and another roller mounted on an opposite side of the U-shaped body. The U-shaped body is suitably flexible so that the application of force onto the outer surfaces of the U-shaped body will cause the rollers on one side of the body to be pushed toward the rollers on the opposite side of the body. As a result, a tube can be placed between the rollers. The movement of the rollers along the length of the tube will cause the liquids in the tube be expressed outwardly therefrom.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,266,751, issued on May 12, 1981 to D. S. Akahavi, teaches the use of a pair of rollers that are flexibly connected together. The rollers can be applied over the length of the tube for the purposes of expressing the contents of the tube. The roller is moved in a direction with thumb motion across another roller and across an adjacent table surface longitudinally disposed relative to the roller in a top arm. A clamp advances toward a blood analyzing machine without buckling the tubular reservoir. The device is useful for one-handed movement toward a dispensing end of a flexible tube blood reservoir.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,164,223 teaches another type of item having a pair of hinged rollers which are used to flush tubes. The instrument is for use with surgical procedures, such as clearing and dislodging the contents of chest tubing, catheters, common duct T-tubing and IV tubing. The pair of rollers are mounted on shafts which are hinged together at one end. A cylindrical handle is mounted on the opposite end of one shaft. An opposed thumb rest is mounted on the end of the other shaft. The hand of the user grasps the handle and the thumb rest for moving the rollers into and out of engagement with opposite sides of the tubing. The instrument compresses the tubing and is moved a desired distance along its length for propelling tubing contents.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,245,030, issued on Jun. 10, 1941 to Gottesfeld et al., teaches a portable pair of rollers that are used for flushing fluid-bearing tubes.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,296,150, issued on Oct. 2, 2001 to B. Farris, describes the use of a pair of rollers with a hinge that allows the rollers to open for the purposes of placing a tube between the rollers.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,648,701, issued on Mar. 14, 1972 to M. Botts, describes a forcep instrument for striping the contents of flexible tubes. One arm of the forceps has a roller mounted thereon. Another arm of the forceps also has another roller resiliently mounted thereon. The closing of the forceps will create a compressive force upon the tubing for the purposes of flushing fluid from the tubing.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,563,171, issued on Jan. 7, 1986 to R. O. Bodicky, describes an apparatus for conveying fluids through a tubing. A tube clearing sleeve surrounds the tubing. The sleeve has a slick inner surface and a coefficient of friction less than the outer surface of the tubing. The sleeve is compressed between the fingers to compress the tubing and the compressed sleeve is advanced along the tubing to displace contents in the tubing.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,129,330, issued on Oct. 10, 2000 to G. Guala, describes a roller clamp that is used for regulating fluid flow through an elastically deformable tubing. A roller adjustably resides over a surface of the tubing so as to suitably compress the tubing for controlling fluid flow.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for removing fluid from tubing.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a fluid stripping device that is relatively compact, easy to use and inexpensive.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a fluid flushing apparatus that is self-locking upon the tube.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a fluid removing device that effectively prevents air from passing into the tubing during the stripping operation.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a tube flushing device which includes wheel which will not slide on the tube and will not kink the tube.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a tube flushing apparatus which maintains the tube in line during the flushing of the tubing.
It a further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus which can maintain a fluid-receiving bulb in proximity to the human body.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus in which multiple fluid-receiving bulbs can be organized and matched to receiving pouches.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus which allows the user to properly sleep, walk, shower, and carry out daily activities without interference by a hanging fluid-receiving bulb.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus which prevents gravity, or other pulling forces, from affecting the fluid-receiving bulb.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus whereby an end of the tube can be securely affixed by stitches to the human body.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus whereby air is prevented from entering the human body while not reducing the flow the drain tube.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus which is easy to use, relatively inexpensive, easy to manufacture and disposable.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a reading of the attached specification and appended claims.

Apparatus for flushing fluids from a tube


A heat exchanger for cooling cracked gas has a nest of heat-exchange tubes (1) that the gas flows through and that are secured at the ends in bases (2 and 3) and surrounded by a jacket (4) that demarcates in conjunction with the bases a chamber occupied by evaporating water. Each heat-exchange tube has two sections (10 and 11) that differ in diameter and communicate through a cone (12). The section (11) with the longest diameter is at the emerging-gas end of the heat-exchange tube.

The invention concerns a heat exchanger for cooling cracked gas.
cracked gas, which is generated by thermally cracking hydrocarbons accompanied by the addition of steam, is a mixture of hydrocarbons that differ in molecular weight and partial pressure. To stabilize its molecular composition the gas must be cooled very rapidly from approximately 800.degree.-900.degree. C. to 600.degree.-650.degree. C. The gas is cooled by transferring its heat indirectly to the steam, which acts as a head-absorbing fluid. To maintain the high cooling rate the gas must flow through the heat-exchange tube very rapidly. Atlhough the gas is further cooled from 600.degree.-650.degree. C. depending on the material, the sole purpose of the procedure is to recover heat, and it has little effect on the quality of the gas. This secondary cooling can occur at lower flow rates.
In addition to sufficiently rapid cooling, the gas-end pressure in the tubes in the gas furnace and gas cooler also affects the quality of the resulting gas. A slight loss of pressure in the cooler for example results in lower pressure in the furnace, which increases the yield of ethylene. An attempt is accordingly made in practice to optimize between the rate of flow and the loss of pressure in the flowing gas.
Nested-tube heat exchangers that cool the gas from 800.degree. C. to 400.degree. C. in one draft are employed as cracked-gas coolers. A correspondingly low rate of flow is maintained in the heat-exchanger tubes. Although a heat exchanger of this type is simple in design, the rate of cooling is sometimes too low, especially at the intake, to stabilize the gas at the desired composition.
Two-stage heat-exchanger systems are also known. They are usually single-pipe coolers and cool the gas at a higher flow rate from 800.degree. C. to 500.degree. C. Downstream of these coolers is a separate heat exchanger wherein the gas is cooled to 400.degree. C. at a lower flow rate. Systems of this type cost considerably more.
Finally, the tendency of a heat-exchange tube to become dirty, a tendency that is related to pressure and temperature, must also be taken into consideration. Such contamination occurs when the temperature of individual gas constituents drops below condensation temperature, which depends on partial pressure, and they precipitate on the inner surface of the tube. The result is what is called a coke bed, which increases flow resistance and hence pressure. The temperature of the gas at the exit end increases and less steam is generated. After a certain number of hours of operation, accordingly, the cooler must be stopped to remove the coke bed.
Maintaining the temperature of the tube wall at or above the condensation temperature of the gas constituents in order to decelerate the formation of a coke bed is known. This can be done for example by a two-stage cooling wherein evaporating water is employed as a heat-exchange fluid at the intake and steam at the outlet or in a separate device (German Patent 3 643 801). Decreasing the cooling at the outlet from a cracked-gas cooler by jacketing the outlet end of the heat-exchange tube and allowing a limited amount of evaporating water to flow through the jacket is also known (German Patent 3 715 713).


This invention relates to quinazoline compounds of Formula (I) which are inhibitors of the histone lysine methyltransferase (HKMTase) EZH2, and to uses of such compounds as medicaments, in particular in the treatment of a disease or disorder in which inhibition of EZH2 provides a therapeutic or prophylactic effect.

Transcriptional regulation by epigenetic processes has been implicated in the aetiology of many diseases. In cancer, aberrant epigenetic silencing of genes implicated in tumorigenesis and progression has been observed in all tumour types. Epigenetic silencing can be associated with repressive histone marks, such as H3K27me3 (3). The epigenetic H3K27me3 repressive mark is executed and maintained by the polycomb repressive (PRC2) complex via its HKMT catalytic subunit EZH2 (5). EZH2 along with EED and SUZ12 are the indispensible core components of PRC2. Unlike most other epigenetic marks that are mediated by multiple enzymes, the trimethylation of H3K27 appears to be mediated primarily by EZH2 suggesting EZH2 inhibition as a key target for development of epigenetic therapies (6). EZH2 over-expression is a prognostic marker for shorter patient survival for a variety of cancers (9-11). It has been implicated in tumor angiogenesis (12), while mouse models demonstrated its role in driving tumorgenesis (13). Furthermore, maintenance of cancer stem cells seems to depend on EZH2 expression and knock-down of EZH2 in tumour cells blocks tumour cell growth (14-16). Thus, there is strong evidence that inhibition of EZH2 may be useful for the treatment of cancer, and it would be desirable to identify small molecule inhibitors of that target.
Small molecule inhibitors of EZH2 based on indole (A) and azaindazole cores (B) have previously been described, see WO2011/140324 and WO2012/005805.

However, there remains a need for further compounds having useful EZH2 inhibitory effects.
The aminoquinazoline compound BIX-01294 (see structure (C) below) and related compounds have been described as having activity against the protein lysine methyltransferase G9a (see J. Med. Chem. 2011, 54 (17), p. 6139-6150)

Quinazoline compounds and their use in therapy


A plug valve with adjustable actuation phases for controlling a flow rate by means of plug axial movement includes a power disk, a bearing, an inner spline, an outer spline, a valve stem, a pushing ring, a pushing fork, a plug body and a valve body. The plug body, the valve stem, the pushing ring and the outer spline are integrally formed, and are in spline connection with the power disk and the inner spline. The plug body has a special-shaped through hole in which a left portion thereof is narrow and a right portion thereof is wide. The valve body has a radial valve through hole, and the valve through hole corresponds to the plug special-shaped through hole provided at the same axial position segment, so that an actuating member for controlling actuation of a passageway is formed.

A plug valve is actuated by enabling a passageway port on a plug body to be communicated with or to be separated from a passageway port on a valve body. The plug valve is widely applied in oilfield exploitation, transportation and refinery equipment, and is broadly applied in the industry.
A plug valve is a valve which uses its plug body with a through hole as an actuating member. The plug body rotates along with the valve stem for actuation. Importantly, the plug valve easily adapts to a multi-passageway structure, and one valve may obtain one or more different passageways. Accordingly, the design of a piping system may be simplified, and the quantity of the valves and connection accessories may be reduced.
A conventional plug valve is composed of a valve body, a plug body and a manual handle with a valve stem. The plug body is of a cylindrical body with a radial through hole. The valve body is of a circular pipe with a radial through hole and is in close contact with the plug body. The manual handle reciprocally rotates within a range of 90 degrees. The plug body is driven by the valve stem to rotate to change a phase of the plug through hole. The plug through hole and the valve through hole constitute an actuating member. Reference is made to FIG. 8. The conventional plug valve has the disadvantage that during reciprocal rotation, a position of an opening point, a position of a closing point, and a phase of an opening travel cannot be changed.
An actuation process of the conventional plug valve refers to FIG. 9, which is a D-D sectional view showing a continuous change in plug phases. FIG. 9 sequentially shows a first phase 1, a second phase 2, a third phase 3, a fourth phase 4 and a fifth phase 5 from left to right. Starting from the first phase, namely, a valve fully-close point, the plug body rotates for 30 degrees clockwise to the second phase, namely, a valve opening point. The plug body rotates for 60 degrees clockwise to the third phase, namely, a valve fully-open point. Then, the plug body rotates for 60 degrees counterclockwise to the fourth phase, namely, a valve closing point. The plug body rotates for 30 degrees counterclockwise to become the fifth phase, namely, a valve fully-close point, which is the same as the first phase.
For the conventional plug valve, there are two methods to control and change a flow rate of a fluid through a valve. The first method is to change a rotation speed of the plug body in different periods within an actuating cycle, wherein prolonging an opening period of the plug body may allow more fluid to pass through. The second method is to change a differential pressure of the fluid, for example, a supercharging apparatus is disposed at the upstream of the fluid, so that a differential pressure between the upstream and the downstream of the fluid is increased, and more fluid may be allowed to pass through the valve within the same opening travel phase. The two methods are supported by a complicated variable-speed or variable-pressure device, which have limitations.
There is a need for a plug valve with a plug body having a special-shaped through hole, wherein the plug body may move rightward or leftward along an axial direction, is capable of adjusting actuation phases during uniform rotation, and is capable of controlling a flow rate of a fluid under a constant differential pressure of the fluid.

Plug valve with adjustable actuation actuation phases for controlling flow rate by means of plug axial movement


An organic light-emitting display device includes a substrate having a display region and a peripheral region, a plurality of pixels on the substrate in the display region, a first wiring and a second wiring on the substrate in the peripheral region, a compensation layer on the first and second wirings, the compensation layer surrounding a top surface and a sidewall of each of the first and second wirings, and an encapsulation layer on the plurality of pixels and on the compensation layer.

1. Field
Example embodiments relate to display devices. More particularly, example embodiments relate to organic light-emitting display devices including a compensation layer that compensates a stepped region derived from wirings.
2. Description of the Related Art
An organic light-emitting display device may have an organic light-emitting structure including a hole injection layer, an electron injection layer, and an organic light-emitting layer formed therebetween. In the organic light-emitting display device, light may be generated as excitons, that are the combination of holes injected from the hole injection layer and electrons injected from the electron injection layer, fall from an excited state to a ground state. The organic light-emitting display device may not require a separate light source, and thus the organic light-emitting display device may have a small thickness and a light weight, as well as low power consumption. Furthermore, the organic light-emitting display device may have a wide viewing angle, a high contrast, and a high response speed, etc.
However, the organic light-emitting structure may be easily degraded by vapor or oxygen from the outside. Therefore, an encapsulation member may be required to protect the organic light-emitting structure from the vapor or the oxygen. Recently, an encapsulation layer has been used as the encapsulation member for the organic light-emitting structure to make the organic light-emitting structure thin and flexible.

Organic light-emitting display device having compensation layer for wirings


In preferred embodiments, the game pieces of the present invention concentrate the mass and weight of the game piece away from the center of the game piece and around the periphery. Preferably the center portion of the game piece has a minimum of weight while maintaining the ability of the game piece to function correctly. In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, a game piece for a simulated hockey game encompasses a peripheral portion which is configured to slide on a simulated hockey game surface and having at least one central portion mounted within the peripheral portion. Optionally, the at least one central portion is made of a material different than the material of the peripheral portion.

The present invention deals with hockey pucks or game pieces for games such as simulated hockey games, typically hockey game tables or games supported on flat surfaces such as tables. Puck pieces are typically used with hockey game tables with solid surfaces or with AIR-HOCKEY® forced air style tables. The game pieces are normally propelled by the game players using handles or mallets. In vigorous games, the game pieces can sometimes leave the surface of the game table and become airborne. The game piece may land within the playing area or may sometimes leave the table, causing a disruption to the game. It is preferred to have a game playing piece which enhances play and minimizes game disruptions.
The present invention addresses these and other needs.

Hockey game table puck with weighted perimeter


The present invention relates to a display device.

In general, a lattice type black pattern, which is called a black matrix, is disposed between color pixels of a color filter for the purpose of improving contrast. In a known black matrix, a method for forming a pattern by depositing chrome (Cr) as a pigment on an entire glass substrate and etching the glass substrate is used, but high cost is required in a process, and a problem of high reflectivity of chrome and a problem of environmental pollution due to chrome waste liquid occur.
By the reason, research on a black matrix, of which a fine process is available, has been actively conducted, and research for preparing a black composition as a coloring pigment, other than carbon black, has also been conducted, but the coloring pigment other than the carbon black has a weak light blocking property, so that the quantity of coloring pigment mixed needs to be extremely increased, and as a result, there is a problem in that viscosity of the composition is increased, so that it may be difficult to treat the coloring pigment, or strength of the formed layer or adhesiveness to the substrate is considerably degraded.
Further, as a size of the screen of a display device is increased, a problem in brightness occurs, such that a lighter backlight is adopted. Since brightness of the backlight is increased, it is required that the black matrix has a higher light blocking property as compared to the known black matrix.


The application relates to a method of inspecting an object and an inspection apparatus. The object has a plurality of features and the method includes the step of identifying a current primary feature on the object. Once the current primary feature has been selected, one or more additional features are selected, each of the one or more additional features selected having at least one common attribute with the current primary feature. The method also includes the step of capturing an image of the selected features on an image capture module.

In applications where parts are required to be manufactured to a high level of precision, for example in the airline and aerospace industries, highly accurate quality control mechanisms must be in place in order to ensure that parts are manufactured to specification without divergence from the design or error. Whilst highly accurate manufacturing machines are used to manufacture parts in these industries, errors may still be present in a particular part.
It is impractical and indeed impossible to visually inspect many of these parts by eye and obtain any degree of confidence that the part has been manufactured exactly to specification.
Video measurement machines are used to inspect manufactured parts. These machines generally have an image capture device, such as a digital camera or the like, and data processing and storage capabilities. The part is placed within the field of view of the image capture device and the design technical specification of a manufactured object, referred to in the art as the parts program, is stored within the storage device of the measuring machine.
The parts program includes a series of features associated with the manufactured object. Each feature in the parts program has a series of attributes associated therewith including the feature's geometric properties and spatial location on the object and illumination, magnification and focus settings to allow the measurement machine to capture a suitable image of the feature.
When the parts program is executed, instructions are provided to the operating program of the measurement machine to control the camera and move the camera relative to the object in order to measure each of the features of the object recorded in the parts program. Typically, measurement machine operating programs move through the features recorded in the parts program sequentially and capture the features on the object independently to determine whether the object has been manufactured in accordance with the design specification without error.
For objects that are large and/or have a large number of physical features requiring inspection and measurement, this process can be time consuming. As the measurement and inspection process is part of the manufacturing process, any reduction in the time required to perform this highly accurate quality assurance will deliver reductions in manufacturing time and hence a benefit to the manufacturer.
In this specification, the terms "comprises", "comprising", "includes", "including" or similar terms are intended to mean a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a method, system or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include those elements solely, but may well include other elements not listed.

Inspection method and inspection apparatus


This disclosure is related to devices, systems, and techniques for performing patient parameter measurements. In some examples, a medical device system includes an optical sensor configured to measure ambient light and a tissue oxygen saturation parameter and processing circuitry configured to determine that a current measurement of the tissue oxygen saturation parameter is prompted and control the optical sensor to perform an ambient light measurement associated with the current measurement of the tissue oxygen saturation parameter. The processing circuitry is further configured to determine, based on the ambient light measurement, at least one of whether to control the optical sensor to perform the current measurement of the tissue oxygen saturation parameter, when to control the optical sensor to perform the current measurement of the tissue oxygen saturation parameter, or whether to include the current measurement of the tissue oxygen saturation parameter in a trend of the tissue oxygen saturation parameter.

Some types of medical devices may be used to monitor one or more physiological parameters of a patient. Such medical devices may include, or may be part of a system that includes, sensors that detect signals associated with such physiological parameters. Values determined based on such signals may be used to assist in detecting changes in patient conditions, in evaluating the efficacy of a therapy, or in general evaluating patient health. For example, medical devices that monitor physiological parameters may analyze values associated with such physiological parameters in order to identify or monitor a patient condition.

Performing measurements using sensors of a medical device system


A clamp support for holding and guiding a cable loom has a basic element and a wedge, which can be shifted relative to the basic unit to clamp the basic unit to a structural component. While clamping the basic unit with the structural component, the wedge is arranged in a position between the basic unit and structural component to reflect the width of the transverse carrier.

The invention relates to clamp supports. In particular; the invention relates to cable supports, for holding and guiding electrical cable bundle, lines and pipes (water, climate, etc.) in airplanes.
In aircraft, cable supports made of plastic are preferably used due to their low intrinsic weight. In this case, the supports are each tailored to specific connection conditions of a structural component, such as a carrier or frame, etc. Such connection conditions include the thickness of transverse carrier webs, bore diameter or the like.
One disadvantage to known cable supports is that changes in the carrier thickness of a carrier (e.g., transverse carrier) result in cost and time-intensive changes in the supports, since the injection molding tools must be altered accordingly to manufacture the supports.


A latency control circuit includes a delay unit configured to delay an input signal for a delay corresponding to a phase difference between an external clock and an internal clock and generate a delayed input signal, a delay information generation unit configured to generate a delay information based on a latency information and a delay amount of the input signal caused by a chip including the latency control circuit, a shift unit configured to shift the delayed input signal for a time period corresponding to the delay information in synchronism with the internal clock and an asynchronous control unit configured to selectively control the shift unit to output the delayed input signal without performing a shift operation.

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a method for fabricating a latency control circuit, and more particularly, to a latency control circuit efficiently performing a latency control operation.
When operations are performed between plural semiconductor devices, a predetermined latency occurs from receiving an operational request signal to starting an operation corresponding to the operational request signal. For example, a memory controller outputs a termination command signal and a memory device starts terminating a data pad after a column address strobe (CAS) latency from an input timing of the termination command signal. In order to ensure the reliable processing of the operations between the semiconductor devices, it is important to properly control the latency. A latency control circuit is used for controlling the latency.
A conventional method for controlling a latency of a termination command signal is disclosed in Korean Patent Application No. 10-2006-0049027, herein incorporated by reference. The conventional method uses two clocks, i.e., an internal clock and an external clock having different domains from each other, and two counters respectively allocated to the clocks. For performing reliable operations, the conventional method should continuously provide the clocks even for an asynchronous mode and, therefore, the power consumption increases.

Latency control circuit and semiconductor memory device including the same


In one embodiment the present invention includes a system and method of performing risk analysis on a portal. In one embodiment, risk analysis software sends requests for user information and user authorization data to an agent. The agent may be coupled to a portal and may generate queries for accessing information on the portal. The portal may include user information and authorization data useful for performing risk analysis. The agent may retrieve information used in a risk analysis process and send the information to the risk analysis software.

The present invention relates to computer implemented processes and systems including software for risk analysis, and in particular, to a system and method of performing risk analysis using a portal.
FIG. 1 illustrates a typical system of performing risk analysis based on data from enterprise systems. Enterprise systems may comprise of an ERP system 104, CRM system 106, a data warehouse 108, and a database 110. System 100 may include risk analysis software 102 that may perform detailed risk analysis on user authorization data from each data source in the enterprise system over a network 103. Software 102 may also include a plurality of predefined system connectors to enable secure connections to different data sources on an enterprise system. For example, software 102 may perform a risk analysis for user authorization data from ERP 104. Software 102 can access ERP 104 with a specific system connector for ERP 104 to retrieve data for analysis. In another example, software 102 may perform a risk analysis for user authorization data from CRM 106. Software 102 can access CRM 106 with a specific system connector for CRM 106 to retrieve data for analysis. In another example, software 102 may perform a risk analysis for user authorization data from data warehouse 108. Software 102 can access database 108 a specific system connector for data warehouse 108 to retrieve data for analysis. In another example, software 102 may also perform a risk analysis for user authorization data from database 110. Software 102 can access database 110 with a specific system connector for database 110 to retrieve data for analysis.
One problem with existing risk analysis systems is that different connections must be established for accessing information from each different system described above. Additionally, each system may store data in different format, which requires each separate connection to separately retrieve data in different native formats and separately interpret the data.
Thus, there is a need for an improved system and method of performing risk analysis. The present invention solves these and other problems by providing a system and method for performing risk analysis using a portal, such as an Enterprise portal, for example.

System and method of performing risk analysis using a portal


Systems and methods for classifying documents into categories based on text associated with the documents are disclosed. Embodiments of the present invention further provide methods for establishing a database of hierarchical classes and a system for classifying text-related content into the hierarchical classes. Text relating to documents is parsed into features with at least one feature having a plurality of terms. Vocabulary is determined from the features based on feature frequency and for each class into which a document is classified, the vocabulary that occurs in the text associated with the document is stored.

Various forms of media, such as articles, videos, and images, will each typically have some form of text associated therewith, either in the body of the document or elsewhere, that provides information as to the content of the media. Often times this media is stored and retrieved according to the associated text. Media can be more efficiently stored and retrieved when it is classified by a particular subject so as to reduce the time necessary to file and retrieve it. Prior storage systems have typically classified media into mutually exclusive categories such as news, sports, entertainment, etc. This is also commonly referred to as flat partitioning.
In order to classify media into these mutually exclusive categories or partitions, key vocabulary consisting of one or more terms from the text is captured and extracted. These terms are typically stemmed, in which the ending of a term is removed and only the root is maintained. Furthermore, when capturing key vocabulary, terms are often taken individually, not in a group or phrase. As a result, key vocabulary can lose its primary meaning. Based on these individual, stemmed terms, the media to which they are associated is classified into one of a plurality of flat partitions. However, improper or poor classification of media can occur depending on how vocabulary is extracted and if key vocabulary have lost their primary meaning due to stemming and other filtering.

Facilitating document classification using branch associations