A stairwell cover adapted to seal a stairwell opening such as between a first floor living space and a basement when the basement is not in use includes a housing mounted to a wall partition above the base of the stairs, a retractable cover rotatably mounted in the housing, and a pair of roller rails extending along the sidewalls of the stairwell and along which the cover rolls for movement between an retracted position providing open access to the basement and an extended position closing off the basement at the top of the stairwell.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a device for energy conservation in residential construction.
More particularly, the invention relates to a retractable cover adapted to close off the top of an open basement stairwell of the type often built into homes of newer construction.
2. Description of Prior Art
Older homes were typically built with an access door located at the top of the stairs leading down to the basement. This door isolates the living space on the first floor from the space of the basement that is typically used for storage and other non-daily purposes, and prevents exchange between the conditioned environment on the first floor and the unconditioned environment in the basement. Specifically, the basement access door at the top of the stairs prevents the loss of cooled air-conditioned air if present down the basement steps during the summer, and it prevents cold drafts and dampness in the basement from reaching the first floor during the winter.
In contrast, many newer homes are built with an open stairwell between the first floor and the basement, with the basement access door installed at the basement level rather than on the first floor, and a large opening at the first floor level. The inventor is not positive of the purpose for relocation of the basement access door, but he supposes it is because the basement of many newer homes are at least partially finished for use as additional living space, and such an arrangement gives the appearance of including the basement in the living space of the home.
Unfortunately, this newer construction technique presents a potential for loss of heating and cooling energy for home owners that do not utilize the basement for living space. In a home where the basement level is not used, it will not typically be air-conditioned in the summer or heated in the winter, or at least not to the temperature of the rest of the house. Consequently, where once was provided a door at the first floor level, to isolate the conditioned environment of first floor from the unconditioned basement environment, is now provided an open stairwell leading down to the basement. While the access door at the basement level does provide some buffer with the basement environment, the temperature differential can often be felt through the door and the walls surrounding the stairwell. As a result, such open stairwell construction presents substantially more surface for heat transfer from the unconditioned environment to the conditioned environment, and can result in a substantial loss of heating and cooling energy between the living space of the house and the basement. The inventor has found this condition to be particularly troublesome during the winter months when the open stairwell construction exposes dampness and cold air drafts to the first floor living space.
The general aim of the present invention is to reduce the above-described energy losses common through an open stairwell between an unconditioned environment in a basement and a conditioned environment on the first floor of a home.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the invention to provide an environmental divider adapted to isolate the conditioned and unconditioned environments of the first floor and the basement.
Another objective is to provide a divider that is easily opened and closed, for ease of access between the two floors when desired.
Still another objective of the invention is to provide a retractable divider at the top of the stairwell, to cover and seal off the stairwell, and isolate the first floor from the basement access door and basement walls surrounding the stairwell, and thus prevent exposure of the living space to dampness and cold drafts from the basement.
Other objectives of the invention include providing a divider that may be either manually or electrically opened and closed, and that may be installed in both new construction and existing homes.
These and other objectives and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
In preferred embodiments, a stairwell cover in accordance with the invention includes a housing mounted to a wall partition above the basement landing, a retractable cover rotatably mounted in the housing, and a pair of roller rails extending along the sidewalls of the stairwell. The free end of the retractable cover rolls along the rails between a retracted, stowed position in the housing providing open access to the basement, and an extended position at the top of the steps closing and sealing off the top of the stairwell. The cover is either manually operable, or is driven such as with an electric motor in the housing that is operated by a wall-mounted switch at the top of the stairwell. The housing and components therein may be either mounted to the wall partition in an existing house, or built-in during construction of a new home.
Closing off the basement stairwell in this manner seals the unconditioned environment of unused basement space from the conditioned living space on the first floor, and prevents dampness and cold air drafts from the basement to the first floor during winter months, as well as preventing cooled air-conditioned air from dropping from the first floor to the basement during summer months. Consequently, the stairwell cover of the invention results in savings of heating and cooling costs in a home, and reduces the changes in temperature on the first floor in the vicinity of the stairwell.

Retractable in house open stairwell cover


A communication system is provided for an automotive vehicle (10) that uses existing vehicle components with only slight modifications that can be implemented in readily changeable software. The system includes a vehicle bus (14) and a vehicle information source coupled to the vehicle bus. The vehicle information source (28) couples vehicle information to the vehicle bus (14). The transmitter (16) transmits a first communication having a first transmitter identification code and first vehicle information. A receiver (22) is coupled to the vehicle bus. The receiver (22) couples a second communication word having second vehicle information to the vehicle bus. The automotive vehicle (10) also has a safety system and a safety system controller (34) coupled to the bus. The safety system controller (34) actuates the safety system (36) in response to the second vehicle information.

The present invention relates generally to a communication system for an automotive vehicle, and more particularly, to a communication system that allows automotive vehicles to communicate information to each other for use in various vehicle systems such as safety systems.
While operating an automotive vehicle it may be useful to transmit various vehicle operating conditions to other vehicles to facilitate crash mitigation actions. Vehicle location, vehicle weight, bumper height, vehicle type, and other information may be useful in crash mitigation.
Crash mitigation may include various actions to be performed by the automotive vehicle. Such actions include but are not limited to steering actions, braking actions, and deployment of occupant restraint devices. By receiving vehicle information, mitigation actions may be performed prior to onboard sensing which react only to forces acting directly on the vehicle.
A transponder for transmitting such information and a receiver for receiving such information may be added to a vehicle. One drawback to this approach is that added components increase the cost of the vehicle.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a vehicle communication system that uses existing vehicle hardware and therefore reduces the cost of implementation of a vehicle-to-vehicle communication system.
The present invention advantageously provides a communication system for an automotive vehicle that uses existing vehicle components with only slight modifications that can be implemented in readily changeable software. The present invention includes a vehicle bus and a vehicle information source coupled to the vehicle bus. The vehicle information source couples vehicle information to the vehicle bus. The transmitter transmits a first communication having a first transmitter identification code and first vehicle information. A receiver is coupled to the vehicle bus. The receiver couples a second communication word having second vehicle information to the vehicle bus. The automotive vehicle also has a safety system and a safety system controller coupled to the bus. The safety system controller actuates the safety system in response to the second vehicle information.
One advantage of the present invention is that the transmitter may be an existing vehicle transmitter such as an integrated garage door opener such as those commonly included in high-end vehicles. Another advantage of the invention is that the receiver of the communication system may use the receiver of the remote keyless entry system. By utilizing existing vehicle components, the cost of implementing such a system is greatly reduced.
Other advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent when viewed in light of the detailed description of the preferred embodiment when taken in conjunction with the attached drawings and appended claims.

Vehicle communication system implemented reusing existing vehicle components


A postal workstation for high volume computerized printing of labels, cards, an the like comprises a main support surface including a front portion and a rear portion, wherein the front portion includes an open cut-out region for a person to stand within to comfortably reach the rear portion, which is intended to support primary and secondary printers and a monitor mount. A worksurface pivotally connected to the support surface adjacent a lateral side of the cut-out region is movable between a working position wherein the worksurface covers the cut-out region and provides area for a keyboard and mouse, and a servicing position wherein said cut-out region is exposed for facilitating worcer access to the rear portion of the main support surface for printer maintenance. A storage compartment adjacent an opposite lateral side of the cut-out region has an upwardly facing compartment opening covered by the worksurface when the worksurface is in a working position. The workstation further comprises an auxiliary support surface slidably mounted on the main support surface for travel along a path extending between the rear and front portions of the main support surface so that a secondary printer supported thereby can be easily accessed. A tray is supported for movement between a working position above the path of the auxiliary support surface, where it receives output from the secondary printer, and a servicing position removed from above the path of the auxiliary support surface so as not to block forward positioning of the secondary printer.

A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to computerized workstations for printing labels, forms, and the like, and more particularly to a novel workstation suited for use and service of dual printers supported thereby.
B. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, computerized postal workstations for printing labels, forms, cards, and the like have generally comprised a large table having sufficient surface area to support a computer monitor, keyboard, mouse, and at least one attached printer while leaving space for collecting, sorting, and/or processing the printed output. It is commonplace in workstations of this type to find thermal printers dedicated to high volume use, and consequently it is necessary to restock such printers with labels, cards, etc., and to change printing ribbons or cartridges on a regular basis. In workstations comprising a large table-top, access to a primary and/or a secondary printer is often restricted, particularly if the printer is located at a rear portion of the table and the rear portion of the table abuts against a wall, and disruption of workstation operation becomes necessary to perform printer maintenance tasks.


A method for the preparation of electrostatographic toner comprising the steps of:. a) dissolving a polymer material in an organic solvent to form an organic phase; PA1 b) dispersing the organic phase in an aqueous phase comprising a salt selected from aluminum salt and gallium salt and a particulate stabilizer to form a dispersion and homogenizing the resultant dispersion; PA1 c) evaporating the organic solvent and recovering a resultant product; and PA1 d) washing and drying the resultant product.

Electrostatic toner polymer particles can be prepared by a process frequently referred to as "limited coalescence". In this process, polymer particles having a narrow size distribution are obtained by forming a solution of a polymer in a solvent that is immiscible with water, dispersing the solution so formed in an aqueous medium containing a solid colloidal stabilizer and removing the solvent by evaporation. The resultant particles are then isolated, washed and dried.
In the practice of this technique, toner particles are prepared from any type of polymer that is soluble in a solvent that is immiscible with water. Thus, the size and size distribution of the resulting particles can be predetermined and controlled by the relative quantities of the particular polymer employed, the solvent, the quantity and size of the water insoluble solid particulate suspension stabilizer, typically silica or latex, and the size to which the solvent-polymer droplets are reduced by agitation.
Limited coalescence techniques of this type have been described in numerous patents pertaining to the preparation of electrostatic toner particles because such techniques typically result in the formation of toner particles having a substantially uniform size distribution. Representative limited coalescence processes employed in toner preparation are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,833,060 and 4,965,131 to Nair et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,283,151 is representative of earlier work in this field and describes the use of carnauba wax to achieve similar toner morphology. The method comprises the steps of dissolving camauba wax in ethyl acetate heated to a temperature of at least 75.degree. C. and cooling the solution, so resulting in the precipitation of the wax in the form of very fine needles a few microns in length; recovering the wax needles and mixing them with a polymer material, a solvent and optionally a pigment and a charge control agent to form an organic phase; dispersing the organic phase in an aqueous phase comprising a particulate stabilizer and homogenizing the mixture; evaporating the solvent and washing and drying the resultant product.
Unfortunately, this technique requires the use of elevated temperature to dissolve the wax in the solvent and cooling the solution to precipitate the wax. The wax does not stay in solution of ethyl acetate at ambient temperature and as a result it is very difficult to scale up using this methodology.
The shapes of the toner particles have a bearing on the electrostatic toner transfer and cleaning properties. Thus, for example, the transfer and cleaning efficiency of toner particles have been found to improve as the sphericity of the particles are reduced. Thus far, workers in the art have long sought to modify the shape of the evaporative limited coalescence type toner particles by means other than the choice of pigment, binder, or charge agent. The shape of the toner particles are modified to enhance the cleaning and transfer properties of the toner.

Toner particles of controlled morphology


A cervical cell collection device, kit and method for the collection of cervical cells is provided. In some embodiments, the cervical cell collection device comprises an outer guide assembly having a distal end section with an aperture there through; an inner assembly positioned within the outer guide assembly, the inner assembly having a distal end with a collapsible collection pad secured thereto by a flexible collection support, wherein the inner assembly is movable from a first position where the collection pad is folded inside distal end section of the outer guide assembly to a second position where the collection pad is pushed through the aperture in the distal end of the outer guide assembly where it expands to contact and collect cervical cells.

According to a recent report from the World Health Organization, cervical cancer is the fifth most deadly cancer for women in the world. Cervical cancer screening is commonly based on cytological and colposcopic analyses. The generally accepted cytological smear of the cervix (Papanicolaou test or Pap smear) has led to a reduction in the incidences of and mortalities caused by cervical cancer.
Cervical cancer frequently begins as a precancerous lesion of the cervix. These lesions are also known as cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. If left untreated, these lesions can deepen over time and ultimately develop into an invasive cancer of the cervix and associated tissues. Fortunately, early detection followed by appropriate treatment results in a very high cure rate for cervical cancer.
Therefore, it is quite important that at least certain factions of the female population undergo regular screening. These factions include patients with previous cervical abnormalities and those who have a family history of cervical abnormalities. Women who are sexually active are at greater risk and should undergo regular screening, as are those who test positive for HPV (human papillomavirus).
The Pap screening test or Pap smear as commonly called, was developed by Dr. George Papanicolaou and detects cellular abnormalities and thus the development of potentially pre-cancerous lesions. Typically, the PAP test is performed in the physician's office as part of a woman's routine gynecological examination. The test involves collecting cervical cells via a brush, stick or swab that is used to loosen and then collect cells that can be examined microscopically.
In a Pap smear, the collected cells are placed on a glass slide and stained. In addition to a smear, in developed parts of the world the sample is placed into a preservative and then is sent to a lab for analysis, called Liquid Based Prep (LBP), and from there a slide is prepared using a machine or by spinning the sample with the cervical cells. The sample is examined by a specially-trained and qualified cytotechnologist using a light microscope. In short, it is a subjective analysis with several known disadvantages, such as an increase in false-negatives and equivocal results as a consequence of debris obscuring abnormal cells.
The PAP test is nearly always performed in a physician's office by a gynecologist or other medical professional. Thus, the test requires the expense of an office visit, and thus this means that the PAP test is not readily available to all women, for example, as would be desired in public health screening. Further, the test is considered by many women to be uncomfortable and embarrassing, and some women have religious beliefs that prohibit gynecological procedures such as the PAP test.
Thus a need remains for an apparatus that will extend cervical screening to more women by permitting women to easily and comfortably obtain a cervical cell sample without requiring a physician's assistance. Such an apparatus could be used, for example, to augment traditional PAP tests by providing cervical cell screening to women who would otherwise not have a PAP test. A personal cervical cell collection could also be used to confirm a previous diagnosis. While various designs have been developed, all suffer numerous limitations and no currently available personal collection has achieved meaningful adoption.
For example, for a personal collection device to be useful and accepted by the healthcare industry and patients, the device must be easy to use while obtaining a proper sample, meaning that the device needs to obtain cervical cells and without contamination from other cells. Thus, further developments and improvements are needed.

Personal cervical cell collection device, kit and method


A modular optical sensor system for fluid media has a measuring module which includes an exchangeable fluid chamber and an exchangeable optic holder. The fluid chamber has an inlet and an outlet as well as a measurement space for the fluid medium. The optic holder has at least one optical transmitter and at least one optical receiver. The optic holder is inserted within the measuring module relative to the fluid chamber in such a way that the radiation emitted by the optical transmitter traverses the measurement space for the fluid medium in the fluid chamber and impinges on the optical receiver.

Optical analysis methods for fluid media are carried out in the laboratory with special measuring apparatuses. Typical optical measurements cover the turbidity, color, or absorption of a fluid. For each optical measuring method, a separate measurement set-up is required in the laboratory. For on-site use, in particular also for monitoring optical properties of flowing media, the known measuring methods are not suitable.

Modular optical sensor system for fluid media


An apparatus and method for providing a multi-core integrated circuit chip that reduces the cost of the package and board while optimizing performance of the cores for use with a single voltage plane. The apparatus and method of the illustrative embodiments make use of a dynamic burn-in technique that optimizes all of the cores on the chip to run at peak performance at a single voltage. Each core is burned-in with a customized burn-in voltage that provides uniform power and performance across the whole chip. This results in a higher burn-in yield and lower overall power in the integrated circuit chip. The optimization of the cores to run at peak performance at a single voltage is achieved through use of the negative bias temperature instability affects on the cores imparted by the burn-in voltages applied.

1. Technical Field
The present application relates generally to an apparatus and method for providing an improved integrated circuit device. More specifically, the present application is directed to an apparatus and method for customized burn-in of cores on a multicore microprocessor integrated circuit chip.
2. Description of Related Art
In the manufacture and testing of integrated circuit chips, a common technique is to form a wafer of semi-conductive material, such as silicon, and to form in and on the wafer the necessary circuitry for a multiplicity of integrated circuit chips. The wafer is formed with all of the circuitry necessary for the functioning of each of the chips, including I/O contacts for connecting to I/O signals, power and ground. The contacts may be for either wire bond connections or compressive bonding connections or for controlled collapse chip connect (C4) bonds which utilizes solder balls for flip chip bonding.
Whatever type of contact is to be made to the chip, it is necessary for the chip to be tested and a determination made as to whether the chip is good, i.e. operates correctly. This testing normally includes what is known as a "chip burn-in." The burn-in process is intended to accelerate the early life of the integrated circuit chip so as to expose those chips that will fail. That is, it has been determined that the failure rate of integrated circuit devices is greatest at the beginning and end of the average life cycle of an integrated circuit chip. The relationship between failure rate of integrated circuits and time, both for testing and for application of end users, is usually referred to as a bathtub curve. An example of this bathtub curve is shown in FIG. 2.
As shown in FIG. 2, with the increase of time (period), the bathtub curve can be divided into an infant mortality period, a normal life period, and a wear out period. The infant mortality period usually corresponds to failure induced by defects of fabrication and usually lasts about several weeks. The normal life period usually corresponds to some random failures and usually lasts about twenty, thirty, or more years. The wear out period usually corresponds to failure induced by long-time waste and is continuously increased while time goes by.
The burn-in process is intended to accelerate the life of the integrated circuit chips through the infant mortality period to thereby identify which chips have fabrication defects and will fail. In order to perform such accelerated testing, a testing environment that is harmful and dangerous to the integrated circuit chips is generated by testing equipment and the relationship between the failure rate and testing time is measured. In order to generate the harmful testing environment, the chips are heated to an elevated temperature above which they are rated to function, and stressed by the application of voltage and current, also often in excess of what the chip is rated to withstand. The difference between the testing environment and a normal operating environment is used to estimate the relationship between failure rate and real time, which is the experienced time under the normal environment.
In the past, this burn-in process has normally taken place on the individual chips after the wafer has been diced to form the individual chips, often after the chips have been packaged. Thus, in the past, it was necessary to form the chips, individually handle the chips and test the chips individually, and only then were bad chips detected. An example of testing such chips is shown in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,420,520, which is hereby incorporated by reference. While this type of testing does work well, it requires a significant amount of processing of the wafer following the formation of the circuitry on and in the wafer before a determination is made that a chip is indeed bad. Moreover, the device of U.S. Pat. No. 5,420,520, has a direct connection between the tester head and the chip. When the tester head connection is worn, the entire head must be discarded, or at least significantly reworked.
Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,094,059, which is hereby incorporated by reference, provides an improved mechanism for performing burn-in/testing of integrated circuit chips that avoids the drawbacks of the mechanism described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,420,520. According to the mechanism in U.S. Pat. No. 6,094,059, a technique for testing/stressing integrated circuit devices, and especially wafers, having a plurality of contacts on one face thereof arranged in a predetermined pattern is provided. The technique includes providing an interposer, with the interposer including a dielectric substrate having a device contact face and a tester contact face. A first plurality of releasable connectors is provided on the device contact face arranged in the same predetermined pattern, and a second plurality of releasable connectors is provided on the tester contact face, also arranged in the same predetermined pattern. Conducting vias connect the corresponding connectors of the first and second releasable connectors respectively. A test head is provided having a plurality of contact pads also arranged in the same predetermined pattern. Circuitry is provided on the test head to connect each of the contact pads thereon with external leads extending to provide signal contact to each of the contact pads on the test head. The interposer is positioned between the IC device and the test head, with the contacts on the IC device in contact with the first plurality of connectors and the contact pads on the test head in contact with the second plurality of connectors.
Signals are provided to the connector pads from the electrical leads for performing testing and/or burn-in of the integrated circuit device. The test head can be heated to provide the necessary heat for testing at elevated temperatures, although preferably the entire assembly of the test head, interposer and IC device is placed in an oven which is heated to a controlled temperature, at which point the electrical testing signals are provided from an external source. The oven itself, in some instances, may be provided with outlets to connect with the electrical leads, thus connecting the leads to the exterior of the oven for the reception of the electrical signals.
Regardless of the particular mechanisms used to perform the burn-in process, be it the mechanism in U.S. Pat. No. 5,420,520, U.S. Pat. No. 6,094,059, or another mechanism, burn-in parameters used to control the burn-in process are set and run at the chip level. Thus, the entire chip is burned-in using the same temperature and voltage parameters.
Modern multi-core (or multiprocessor) microprocessor integrated circuit chips require separate voltage planes for each processor core in order to optimize performance of the cores (or processors). As the number of cores grows, so do the number of voltage planes that are needed in the integrated circuit chip. This leaves the architect two choices using today's technology: (1) keep adding voltage planes which increase the wiring needed for each part on the chip, package and board, as well as the amount of voltage regulator modules (VRMs) on the board; or (2) use one voltage plane for the multicore processors. The second option is less expensive, however it sub-optimizes the performance of the part for the cores that need a different voltage from the main voltage provided by the one voltage plane in order to perform at an optimum speed.
If a known burn-in process is applied to an integrated circuit chip using the single voltage plane approach discussed above, the burn-in is performed using chip level burn-in parameters. Thus, the same voltage and temperature is applied to all of the cores. Therefore, even after burn-in, the cores may still operate at sub-optimal speed due to the single voltage plane and the different voltage requirements of the various cores for running at speed.

Apparatus and method for customized burn-in of cores on a multicore microprocessor integrated circuit chip

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention relates to a slave communication device which received control delegation from a master communication device and performs communication with an originating telephone apparatus through a host station based on a call originated from that originating telephone apparatus, and has a master communication device 1 having a unique master ID set therefor for using a wireless telephone line provided by a host station 3 and one or more slave communication devices 2 receiving control delegation from the master communication device 1 to perform communication using the wireless telephone line for the master communication device 1. The slave communication device 2 comprises storage means for storing the master ID and a slave ID recognizable by the master communication device 1, wireless communication means for performing communication using the wireless telephone line for the master communication device 1 through the host station 3, pager signal reception means for receiving a pager signal of a radio paging system, and control means for controlling the wireless communication means based on a predetermined pager signal received by the pager signal reception means.

The present invention relates to a wireless communication device, a master communication device, a master/slave communication device, and a wireless communication system, and more specifically, to a wireless communication device, a master communication device, a master/slave communication device, and a wireless communication system in which, after control is delegated to one or more slave communication devices from a master communication device, any of the slave communication devices is specified by originating from an unspecified originating telephone apparatus to perform communication between that slave communication device and the originating telephone apparatus through a host station.
The development of fixed telephones, mobile communication telephones and the like has been remarkable, and it is expected that, in the near future, communication functions using fixed telephone lines or mobile communication telephone lines are added to a considerable number of electronic apparatuses (for example, television sets, various kinds of cameras and the like). Here, when a case is assumed where the communication functions are added to various kinds of electronic apparatuses., if different telephone lines are set for respective ones of the electronic apparatuses, various problems arise such as unregulated creation of IDs such as telephone numbers managed by users and host stations, and bloating of base rates of telephone lines borne by users. It is thus necessary to construct a system in which a plurality of electronic apparatuses can share a common telephone line.
Also, in IMT-2000 which is a next-generation mobile communication system, it is expected that a function referred to as so-called multicall, that is, a function allowing a plurality of mobile communication devices to simultaneously perform communication over a single mobile communication telephone line in a range of communication speeds provided for that telephone line is added. In this case, a system which avoids the aforementioned problems such as the unregulated creation of IDs is also needed.
Specifically, in a mobile communication system, seeing that frequency bands allocated to mobile communication are finite, telephone number resources allocated to individual mobile communication devices are also finite, and if unique IDs are allocated to respective electronic apparatuses, it is expected that the telephone number resources are readily exhausted while unutilized telephone numbers are suddenly increased. Thus, in a next-generation mobile communication system, it is inevitable that telephone numbers are allocated with reluctance to individual mobile communication devices, which may become a factor in increasing a base rate for a single ID.
Conventionally, to use a telephone line common to a plurality of electronic apparatuses, in the case of a fixed telephone line, a line such as an ISDN line through which a plurality of communication processing can be simultaneously processed is installed to construct a local area network (LAN), and a personal computer, a facsimile apparatus and the like having communication functions are connected to the LAN, thereby avoiding the aforementioned problems, for example.
When a telephone line common to a plurality of electronic apparatuses is intended to be used and when each electronic apparatus does not change its location, the construction of a LAN as mentioned above can deal with the case. However, when that electronic apparatus is a portable telephone, a digital camera, a video camera, or another mobile communication device having portability and premised on movement, or when it is installed in a position where the construction of a LAN is relatively difficult even when its location is not changed, it is difficult to deal with the case with a LAN.
In addition, in recent years, data transmission/reception through radio signals among a plurality of electronic apparatuses with Bluetooth (see Nikkei Electronics Jan. 17, 2000, pp.37-44) or the like has been proposed. In this case, however, there is also a problem of a transmission/reception range of radio waves with Bluetooth being limited to within a short range. Furthermore, when a large amount of data is transmitted and received over a mobile communication telephone line, an electronic apparatus such as a portable telephone performing communication with a host station through radio waves over the mobile communication telephone line also performs processing of transmitting data on radio waves to another electronic apparatus through the Bluetooth, so that a problem of power consumption may arise in that portable telephone or the like.
To address such problems, the present applicant has already proposed xe2x80x9cControl Delegation System for Telephone Linexe2x80x9d (Patent Application 2000-122791). The control delegation system uses a master communication device having a master terminal ID such as a unique telephone number for utilizing a telephone line provided by a host station and one or more slave communication devices for which slave terminal IDs created on the basis of the master terminal ID and recognizable by the host station (host computer) are set and which use those slave terminal ID to utilize the telephone line for the master communication device.
The control delegation system is a new system totally different from a conventional extension telephone in which a base unit and one or more handsets are used and any one of them utilizes the same telephone line, in that the slave communication devices utilize the telephone line using the slave terminal IDs created on the basis of the master terminal ID, that the host computer which received the slave terminal ID performs authentication of the correspondence relationship between that slave terminal ID and the master terminal ID or the like, that the slave communication device can perform originating (originate a call) by itself using the telephone line for the master communication device even when it becomes distant from the master communication device, that the respective terminals can simultaneously perform communication within a range of communication speeds previously allocated by the host computer of the master communication device (applicable to multicall), that it is possible to specify contents of control delegated by the master communication device to the slave communication device (for example, the communication speed to be used, dedicated to transmission, dedicated to reception, or the like), and the like.
According to the control delegation system, since communication functions for using the telephone line based on the ID of the master terminal are added to the plurality of slave communication devices and a state is established in which control for using the telephone line is delegated to the plurality of slave communication devices by a communication means of the master communication device, it is possible to perform processing such as substitute execution of communication, which should be essentially performed by the master communication device, by the slave communication device.
In the control delegation system, for an originating function (originating a call) of the communication functions of the slave communication device to which control has been delegated, each slave communication device uses a slave terminal ID created by, for example, adding a branch number to the telephone number of the master communication device to establish communication within the range of the communication speeds of the master communication device, so that the plurality of slave communication devices can perform originating respectively while using the common telephone line to solve the aforementioned problems.
Specifically, a slave communication device which does not have a unique ID (telephone number or the like) performs originating by using a slave terminal ID (for example, xe2x80x9c090-1234-5678-01xe2x80x9d) created on the basis of the master terminal ID (for example, xe2x80x9c090-1234-5678xe2x80x9d) of the master communication device to allow various communications to be performed through the host station. In other words, each slave communication device for which control delegation has been completed and a slave terminal ID has been set can directly perform various communications through the host station, thereby eliminating the need for the intervention of the master communication device and the need that it should be within a short distance from the master communication device and the other slave communication devices. Thus, according to the control delegation system, the problem of the positional relationship among the electronic apparatuses is solved, and further, the problem of power consumption in the master communication device is also solved.
On the other hand, for a termination function of the communication functions of the slave communication device to which control has been delegated, for example, the slave terminal IDs and the correspondence relationship between those slave terminal IDs and the master terminal ID are previously registered in the host station and a telephone or the like of an originating party specifies the ID of the slave communication device at the time of origination of a call to allow establishment of bi-directional communication between the originating party and the slave communication device on the terminating party through the host station.
Incidentally, when a mobile communication telephone line with radio signals is used in the control delegation system, a problem as described below is expected to arise when a larger number of slave communication devices have slave terminal IDs set therefor in connection with location registration performed on the host station side.
Specifically, there is a problem that, when a larger number of slave communication devices receive control delegation from the master communication device and have slave terminal IDs set therefor, a burden of processing for the location registration is excessive on the host station side if respective users carrying respective communication devices move to positions distant from one another, causing the possibility of failing to deal with such a case.
Typically, in the mobile communication system, the configuration of the host station is provided with a single central control station having a host computer, and a plurality of base stations connected to the central control station and performing transmission and reception of radio signals (radio waves) for communication. The respective base stations monitor the positions of respective portable telephones present within certain areas, respectively, to transmit position information of the respective portable telephones to the central control station which performs registration (area registration) based on the position information.
Then, a typical portable telephone (including a PHS, a PDA or the like) originates a weak radio wave (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9ca radio signal for location registrationsxe2x80x9d) including an ID of that portable telephone (telephone number information) receivable by a base station in an area where that portable telephone exists in order to perform communication through any one of the respective base stations. Here, when an unspecified telephone (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9can originating telephone apparatusxe2x80x9d) and a portable telephone make a call, the central control station performs control for connecting communication based on originating (origination of a call) from any telephone through a base station in an area where that portable telephone exists.
Thus , if the control delegation system presented earlier by the present applicant is applied to such a system for a mobile communication telephone line, when a number of slave communication devices to which control has been delegated originate radio signals for location registration simultaneously by using the slave terminal IDs different from one another based on the master terminal ID from areas different from one another, a burden of processing is excessive on the central control station side which controls the respective base stations, causing the possibility of failing to deal with such a case.
Such a problem can be addressed by each user carrying each slave communication device voluntarily turning off the main power supply of the communication device to normally prevent originating of the radio signal for location registration and turning on the main power supply only when it is required. However, a problem concerning termination then occurs that each slave communication device cannot receive a call originated by the said originating telephone apparatus.
In addition, in the already proposed control delegation system, since the host station side must register the correspondence relationship between the master terminal ID and the slave terminal IDs to perform the processing of authentication for communication performed by the slave communication devices, the processing is not completed only by the master communication device and the respective slave communication devices and the host station side needs to perform various processing.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a wireless communication device as a slave communication device, a master communication device, a master/slave communication device, and a wireless communication system which allow a slave communication device to perform communication with an originating telephone apparatus through a host station based on a call originated from that originating telephone apparatus even when there are a number of slave communication devices which received control delegation from a master communication device to have slave IDs set therefor and that slave communication device moves to a position away from the master communication device or the other slave communication devices.
A first configuration of a wireless communication device according to the present invention is a wireless communication device receiving control delegation from a master communication device having a unique master ID set therefor for using a wireless telephone line provided by a host station to perform communication using the wireless telephone line for said master communication device, characterized by comprising storage means for storing the master ID and a slave ID recognizable by the master communication device, wireless communication means for performing communication using the wireless telephone line for the master communication device through the host station, pager signal reception means for receiving a pager signal of a radio paging system, and control means for controlling the wireless communication means based on a predetermined pager signal received by the pager signal reception means.
A second configuration of a wireless communication device according to the present invention is characterized, in the first configuration, in that the control means normally turns off the power of the wireless communication means, and when the pager signal reception means receives a pager signal, determines whether or not the pager signal includes an originating instruction that originating should be performed to an originating telephone number, and when it determines that it is not included, performs control to maintain the power of the wireless communication means off.
A third configuration of a wireless communication device according to the present invention is characterized, in the second configuration, in that the control means performs control to turn on the power of the wireless communication means when it determines that the originating instruction that originating should be performed to the originating telephone number is included.
A fourth configuration of a wireless communication device according to the present invention is characterized, in the third configuration, in that the control means controls the wireless communication means to perform originating to an originating telephone apparatus of the originating telephone number using the master ID after the power of the wireless communication means is turned on.
A fifth configuration of a wireless communication device according to the present invention is characterized, in any one of the first to fourth configurations, in that, when the pager signal reception means receives the pager signal Including the originating telephone number of the originating telephone apparatus, the control means performs control to notify a user of the fact that a telephone call should be made to the originating telephone apparatus of the originating telephone number.
A sixth configuration of a wireless communication device according to the present invention is characterized, in any one of the first to fifth configurations, by further comprising transmission/reception means for receiving the slave ID created by the master communication device in the control delegation and performing transmission and reception of various signals to and from the master communication device, and characterized in that, when the transmission/reception means receives the slave ID, the control means controls the storage means to store the slave ID in the storage means.
A seventh configuration of a wireless communication device according to the present invention is characterized, in the sixth configuration, in that the storage means has a pager ID stored therein for the page signal received by the pager signal reception means, and the control means controls the storage means and the transmission/reception means to read and transmit the pager ID to the master communication device in the control delegation.
A first configuration of a master communication device according to the present invention is a master communication device having a unique master ID set therefor for using a wireless telephone line provided by a host station, using n (n is an integer equal to or larger than one) wireless communication devices provided with any one of the said first to seventh configurations as slave communication devices, and providing each of the slave communication devices with a slave ID created on the basis of the master ID to perform control delegation to each of the slave communication devices, characterized by comprising wireless communication means for performing wireless communication through the host station by transmitting the master ID to the host station, and control means for controlling the wireless communication means, and characterized in that, when the wireless communication means receives, during communication with an originating telephone apparatus, a signal indicating an originating telephone number of the originating telephone apparatus and a signal specifying any of the slave communication devices to which control has been delegated originated from the originating telephone apparatus, the control means disconnects the communication with the telephone apparatus and controls the wireless communication means such that the pager signal reception means of the slave communication device receives a pager signal including the originating telephone number and an originating instruction that originating should be performed to the originating telephone number.
A second configuration of a master communication device according to the present invention is characterized, in the first configuration, by further comprising storage means for storing a pager ID of each of the slave communication devices to which control has been delegated, and characterized in that the control means reads the pager ID from the storage means and controls the wireless communication means to perform originating to the pager ID of the slave communication device such that the pager signal reception means of the slave communication device receives the pager signal including the originating telephone number and the originating instruction that originating should be performed to the originating telephone number.
A third configuration of a master communication device according to the present invention is characterized, in the second configuration, by further comprising transmission/reception means for receiving the pager ID from each of the slave communication devices in the control delegation and performing transmission and reception of various signals to and from each of the slave communication devices, and characterized in that the control means stores each of the pager IDs received from each of the slave communication devices in the storage means and creates slave IDs corresponding in number to the slave communication devices to which control is to be delegated, and controls the transmission/reception means to transmit individually each of the slave IDs to each of the slave communication devices to which control is to be delegated.
A first configuration of a master/slave communication device according to the present invention is characterized by comprising a master communication device having a unique master ID set therefor for using a wireless communication line provided by a host station and one or more slave communication devices receiving control delegation from the master communication device to perform communication using the wireless communication line for the master communication device, and characterized in that the master communication device comprises wireless communication means for performing wireless communication through the host station by transmitting the master ID to the host station, and control means for controlling the wireless communication means, and each of the slave communication devices comprises storage means for storing the master ID and a slave ID recognizable by the master communication device, wireless communication means for performing communication using the wireless telephone line for the master communication device through the host station, pager signal reception means for receiving a pager signal of a radio paging system, and control means for controlling the wireless communication means based on a predetermined pager signal received by the pager signal reception means.
A second configuration of a master/slave communication device according to the present invention is characterized, in the first configuration, in that the control means of the slave communication device normally turns off the power of the wireless communication means, and when the pager signal reception means receives a pager signal, determines whether or not the pager signal includes an originating instruction that originating should be performed to an originating telephone number, and when it determines that it is not included, performs control to maintain the power of the wireless communication means off.
A third configuration of a master/slave communication device according to the present invention is characterized, in the second configuration, in that the control means of the slave communication device performs control to turn on the power of the wireless communication means when it determines that the originating instruction that originating should be performed to the originating telephone number is included.
A fourth configuration of a master/slave communication device according to the present invention is characterized, in the third configuration, in that the control means of the slave communication device controls the wireless communication means to perform originating to an originating telephone apparatus of the originating telephone number using the master ID after the power of the wireless communication means is turned on.
A fifth configuration of a master/slave communication device according to the present invention is characterized, in any one of the first to fourth configurations, in that, when the pager signal reception means receives the pager signal including the originating telephone number of the originating telephone apparatus, the control means of the slave communication device performs control to notify a user of the fact that a telephone call should be made to the originating telephone apparatus of the originating telephone number.
A sixth configuration of a master/slave communication device according to the present invention is characterized, in any one of the first to fifth configurations, in that each of the slave communication devices comprises transmission/reception means for receiving the slave ID created by the master communication device in the control delegation and performing transmission and reception of various signals to and from the master communication device, and when the transmission/reception means receives the slave ID, the control means of each slave communication device controls the storage means to store the slave ID in the storage means.
A seventh configuration of a master/slave communication device according to the present invention is characterized, in the sixth configuration, in that the storage means of each of the slave communication devices has a pager ID stored therein for the page signal received by the pager signal reception means, and the control means of each slave communication device controls the storage means and the transmission/reception means to read and transmit the pager ID to the master communication device in the control delegation.
An eighth configuration of a master/slave communication device according to the present invention is characterized, in any one of the first to seventh configurations, in that the master communication device comprises storage means for storing a pager ID of each of the slave communication devices to which control has been delegated, and the control means of the master communication device reads the pager ID from the storage means and controls the wireless communication means to perform originating to the pager ID of the slave communication device such that the pager signal reception means of the slave communication device receives the pager signal including the originating telephone number and the originating instruction that originating should be performed to the originating telephone number.
A ninth configuration of a master/slave communication device according to the present invention is characterized, in the eighth configuration, in that the master communication device comprises transmission/reception means for receiving the pager ID from each of the slave communication devices in the control delegation and performing transmission and reception of various signals to and from each of the slave communication devices, and the control means of the master communication device stores each pager ID received from each of the slave communication devices in the storage means and creates slave IDs corresponding in number to the slave communication devices to which control is to be delegated, and controls the transmission/reception means to transmit individually each of the slave IDs to each of the slave communication devices to which control is to be delegated.
A tenth configuration of a master/slave communication device according to the present invention is characterized, in any one of the first to ninth configurations, in that, when the wireless communication means receives, during communication with an originating telephone apparatus, a signal indicating an originating telephone number of the originating telephone apparatus and a signal specifying any of the slave communication devices to which control has been delegated originated from the originating telephone apparatus, the control means disconnects the communication with the telephone apparatus and controls the wireless communication means such that the pager signal reception means of the slave communication device receives a pager signal including an originating instruction that originating should be performed to the originating telephone number.
An eleventh configuration of a master/slave communication device according to the present invention is characterized, in any one of the first to tenth configurations, in that the pager signal reception means of the slave communication device receives a pager signal including the originating telephone number of the originating telephone apparatus and an originating instruction that originating should be performed to the originating telephone number originated from the originating telephone apparatus.
A first configuration of a wireless communication system according to the present invention is characterized by comprising a master communication device having a unique master ID set therefor for using a wireless telephone line, one or more slave communication devices receiving control delegation from the master communication device to perform communication using the wireless telephone line for the master communication device, and a host station for performing control of communication using the wireless telephone line and transmission control of a pager signal of a radio paging system, and characterized in that the master communication device comprises wireless communication means for performing wireless communication through the host station by transmitting the master ID to the host station, and control means for controlling the wireless communication means, and each of the slave communication devices comprises storage means for storing the master ID and a slave ID recognizable by the master communication device, wireless communication means for performing communication using the wireless telephone line for the master communication device through the host station, pager signal reception means for receiving a pager signal of the radio paging system, and control means for controlling the wireless communication means based on a predetermined pager signal received by the pager signal reception means.
A second configuration of a wireless communication system according to the present invention is characterized, in the first configuration, in that the host station has a plurality of radio signal transmission/reception means for performing transmission/reception of a radio signal using the wireless telephone line and receiving a radio signal originated from the wireless communication means of the master communication device or the wireless communication means of each slave communication device to perform location registration.

Radio communication device, parent communication device, parent-child communication device and radio communication system


The invention disclosed relates to the field of requirement specification in application development. This invention provides a system for business process automation which can generate an executable optimized requirements set by capturing the requirements from the users and processing them to create prototypes. Feedback is obtained from external users on the played prototypes to correct and enhance the requirements to obtain an optimized, complete, correct and consistent requirements set. This helps in the successful development of business application with minimal errors in a very short time.

For carrying out any task, there are certain requirements which are perceived as necessary and essential for successfully accomplishing the task. These requirements may be inherent in the task to be performed, typically referred to as the problem domain or may be inherent in the implementation, typically referred to as the solution domain.
Business requirements describe in business terms what must be delivered or accomplished by an application to provide value. Product requirements describe the system or product which is one of several possible ways to accomplish the business requirements. Process requirements describe the processes the developing organization must follow and the constraints that they must obey. The product and process requirements are closely linked. For example, a maximum development cost requirement (a process requirement) may be imposed to help achieve a maximum sales price requirement (a product requirement); a requirement for the product to be maintainable (a product requirement) often is traced to by requirements to follow particular development styles (like object-oriented programming), style-guides, or a review/inspection process (process requirements).
A requirements specification is a complete documented description of the behavior of the system to be developed. It includes a set of use cases that describe all the interactions the users will have with the system. Use cases are also known as functional requirements. In addition to use cases, the requirements specification also contains nonfunctional (or supplementary) requirements. Poor requirement specification is a source of many defects in application development.
Different apparatus and methodologies are known for the development of applications. For instance the Rational Unified Process (RUP) prescribes a Use Case-driven approach and defines views for application development. This method addresses software development lifecycle (SDLC), and is very comprehensive. It is a UML (Unified Modelling Language) based method that promotes a use case centric approach. However RUP does not explicitly state or recommend any mechanism to identify a complete set of use cases. The granularity at which a use case should be defined is also left to the choice of an RUP user. There are no specific guidelines on how to ensure completeness and correctness of the use case model arrived at or on establishing consistency between requirements gathered from multiple stakeholders. [Philippe Kruchten, The Rational Unified Process—an Introduction, Addison-Wesley, 1999. 10(4): 13-16, 1997.]
Similarly, the KAOS (Knowledge Acquisition in Automated Specification) approach presents a goal-oriented requirement elaboration method. The method goes by the route of identification, structuring, refinement and formalization of goals. KAOS focuses on formal refinement of high-level goals into system constraints meant as functional requirements. [Axel Van Lamsweerde, Goal-Oriented Requirement Engineering: A guided Tour, Proceedings RE'01, 5th IEEE International Symposium on Requirements Engineering, Toronto, August 2001, 249-263.]
Yet another apparatus and method, the Enterprise Knowledge Development (EKD) is a refinement of Enterprise Modelling to accommodate change management. The focus here is on alternate scenarios for change and selection of the most appropriate one. These are goal-driven approaches and they focus largely on the enterprise modelling part of application development [Kerry Raymond, Reference Model of Open Distributed Processing: Introduction]
Another method, 'The Reference Model of Open Distributed Processing—RM-ODP' also uses the notion of viewpoints for this purpose. These are goal-driven approaches and they focus largely on the enterprise modelling part of application development. [Colette Rolland and Naveen Prakash, From Conceptual Modelling to Requirements Engineering, Annals of Software Engineering, 10, 151-176, 2000. This method too lacks explicit focus on requirements.
'The Zachman framework' organizes development processes around the points of view taken by the various players in the business environment and the things they must take into account and represents each of these as cells in a matrix. [J. A. Zachman, A Framework for information systems architecture', IBM Systems Journal, vol 26 no 3, 1987]. This framework does not have an explicit focus on requirements and does not take into account the complete software development life cycle and therefore does not offer any specific guidelines in the process of application development and planning.
All of the above approaches have a consensus on the fact that requirements must be done right, but they do not recommend any approach that addresses the 'how' part. How do we make requirements better in terms of consistency, completeness and correctness is still left to the practitioners of the method. Most of the tools in requirements space address requirement management problem—which means they assume that requirements are in place and they only need to be managed better. But in reality, the problem starts at a much earlier stage, at the stage of requirements definition itself.
Therefore there is a need to have an approach that explicitly addresses different types of requirements and offers clear and specific guidelines to meet them through a machine implementable solution.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,571,247—Danno et al describes a method to generate object design information. Resources and business activities to be performed in a business need to be entered hierarchically to generate the design information The disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 6,571,247 covers only the analysis and design aspects of application development.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,745,381—Ehnebuske et al describes a method and notation to enable an explicit distinction between static and dynamic features of object-oriented models. The methodology does this during the modeling process by capturing the decisions to allow for business driven variability as explicit diagram annotations called control points. The business variable portions of the system of interacting objects are simultaneously captured as objects called business rules.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,996,012—Jarriel et al describes an application builder to generate a configuration management application for use in a computing environment. Application developer creates prototyping data for a particular management application. The prototyping data is used to generate a prototype application.
But there is felt a need for a business process automation system which can generate an executable optimized requirements set which                provides requirements driven application development approach;        separates the problem domain and solution domain clearly and identifies four distinct contexts for capturing, analyzing, modeling and prototyping requirements in the course of application development;        renders agility to application development;        provides reliable verification and validation;        makes the application to be delivered with minimal errors using feedback and requirement enhancement.

Method of automation of business processes and apparatus therefor


A calibration method for calibrating a measurement device for measuring a concentration of a gas dissolved in a liquid includes varying the concentration of the gas dissolved in the liquid, and predetermining, as a reference concentration, a concentration of the gas at which an intensity of luminescence produced when the liquid is irradiated with ultrasonic waves shows a peak. The liquid is illuminated with ultrasonic waves while varying the concentration of the gas in the liquid and a measured value is measured, using the measurement device, as a concentration of the gas in the liquid when the intensity of the luminescence shows a peak. The measurement device is calibrated based on the measured value and the reference concentration.

In a process for manufacturing substrates such as silicon wafers, a process for cleaning substrates such as a dip type or a single-wafer type has been conventionally performed, in order to remove from the substrates organic substances, metal impurities, particles (fine particles), native oxide film, and the like that may cause defects in semiconductor devices.
In such processes for cleaning substrates, various types of cleaning methods are used to suit their purposes. In particular, when foreign substances such as particles are removed by a dip type cleaning method, a method is used in which a substrate is dipped in a cleaning liquid contained in a cleaning tank, and the cleaning liquid in which the substrate is dipped is irradiated with ultrasonic waves having a frequency around 1 MHz, referred to as "megasonics". It is generally believed that the use of ultrasonic waves having a frequency around 1 MHz can increase the cleaning effect on submicron-size microparticles on the surface of a substrate, while reducing damage to the substrate.
The concentration of a gas dissolved in a cleaning liquid affects the removal efficiency for foreign substances such as particles. For example, when particles are removed from substrates by using ultrapure water as a cleaning liquid, and irradiating the ultrapure water with megasonics, the particle removal efficiency from the substrates is affected by the concentration of nitrogen dissolved in the cleaning liquid. More specifically, when the concentration of nitrogen dissolved in the cleaning liquid is within a prescribed range, the particle removal efficiency from the substrates is relatively high. Thus, theoretically, it is possible to effectively remove particles if the concentration of a dissolved gas such as the concentration of nitrogen dissolved in the cleaning liquid is monitored in the cleaning process, and the concentration of the gas dissolved in the cleaning liquid is controlled to be within a certain range.
Conventionally, a gas component contained in a fluid medium is introduced into a receptor through a polymer membrane, and the concentration of the gas component is calculated based on a change in thermal conductivity within the receptor (Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 1991-176640). Thus, a method in which the concentration of nitrogen dissolved in a cleaning liquid is monitored using this measurement method is being conducted.

Cleaning apparatus, measurement method and calibration method


A grounding unit for a high-frequency connector is provided, wherein the grounding unit may include a grounding unit body configured to be selectively fixed to the high-frequency connector; and a grounding fixation unit configured to be connected to the grounding unit body, to be in pressure contact with a grounding region of a printed circuit board (PCB) under elastic force applied in proportion to a thickness of the PCB, and to electrically connect the high-frequency connector to the grounding region.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Generally, a wireless communication device such as a mobile phone has a printed circuit board (PCB) which includes a plurality of electronic parts for conducting individual functions. Such a PCB typically further includes a wireless communication module for wireless communication with another wireless communication device.
A wireless communication module includes a high-frequency antenna unit, which is generally connected to a connector to be grounded to a grounding pattern formed on the PCB.
A conventional method of fixing a high-frequency connector to a PCB is described below.
A general high-frequency connector has one end on which a connection unit having a device such as a high-frequency antenna connected thereto is formed and the other end on which a grounding terminal unit of a certain length that is accessible to a grounding pattern on an edge of a PCB is formed. In this case, the grounding terminal unit is generally in the shape of a rod of a predefined length. In addition, the grounding terminal unit may be composed of a plurality of rods.
The grounding terminal unit may be in physical contact with the grounding pattern on the PCB, and be soldered to the contact area by a solder material.
Thus, the bearing capacity or soldering force of the grounding terminal unit of the conventional PCB is dependent on the solder material because the grounding terminal unit is in direct contact with the grounding pattern on the PCB.
Hence, if an external impact is applied to the grounding terminal unit, a crack occurs on the soldered portion between the grounding terminal unit and the PCB, and as a result, the grounding terminal unit may be problematically moved aside or dislocated from the pattern of the PCB.
Further, since only the grounding terminal unit is soldered to the PCB, the mechanical stability cannot be ensured.
Thus, when a problematic event such as a crack occurs on a soldered portion, mechanical instability between the grounding terminal unit and the grounding pattern may increase, and accordingly the electrical stability may deteriorate since the conventional high-frequency connector increases fixation power by soldering on the PCB.
Furthermore, in an assembling procedure in which locations of the PCB and the high-frequency connector to be fixed are decided, since there is no additional apparatus for closely fixing the high-frequency connector to an edge of the PCB, manufacturing time is increased.
Specifically, when the PCB is inserted between grounding rods which are spaced apart from each other farther than a thickness of the PCB, the rods are not fixed but movable in respect of the edge of the PCB while the soldering process is performed. Therefore, during the soldering process, the connector may be dislocated, or one manufacturer needs to hold the connector and the PCB with both hands when another manufacturer solders the connector and the PCB, and as a result, the manufacturing process is inconvenient and soldering time is lengthened.
Moreover, a conventional high-frequency connector cannot be selectively fixed to a PCB which varies in thickness.
That is, due to such various thicknesses of PCB's, connectors for different distances between rods have been required. Therefore, it is required to develop a connector which can be fixed to an edge of a PCB before soldering, regardless of a thickness of a PCB, is easy to be soldered, and is applicable to PCBs of various thicknesses.

Grounding unit for high-frequency connector and high-frequency connector module having the same


The invention relates to articles, e.g., sheet metal, comprising surface coatings that have the appearance of polished stone and methods for making such articles.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the application of surface coatings to substrates (e.g., metal substrates). More specifically, the invention relates to surface coatings made to have the appearance of polished stone.
2. Description of Related Art
Surface coatings that have the appearance of polished stone have many applications. For example, metal strip with a surface coating that has the appearance of polished stone is particularly useful for the manufacture of building materials (e.g, exterior cladding, interior wall panels, or ceiling panels) for the construction industry where the materials can that have the visual appearance of polished stone but have a much lower mass than that of actual stone.
Several manufactures have developed surface coating techniques that allow the production of metal strip that has the appearance of aged metal or natural stone. For example, U.S. Steel (Pittsburgh, Pa.) sell the "Weather Metal Series™" coil-coated strip metal products, which have paint coatings that resembles weathered metal. In addition, PreCoat Metals (Saint Louis, Mo.) sell the "Field Stone," "Natural Stone" and "Architecture Tile" coil-coated strip metal products, which have paint coatings that resemble unpolished stone. However, none of the surface coating techniques currently employed in the art produce a surface coating on a metal strip that has the appearance of polished stone.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for novel surface coatings that can give articles (e.g., articles formed from metal strip) the appearance of polished stone.

Stone-effect articles and methods for making same


Methods and systems for validating a negotiable instrument. One method can include obtaining an electronic image of the negotiable instrument, electronically determining a first value and a second value of the negotiable instrument based on the electronic image, and automatically validating the negotiable instrument if the first value is substantially equal to the second value.

Negotiable instruments, such as checks, are often used as a form of payment. In some situations, checks provided as payment are imaged and processed in order to complete a transaction. For example, handwritten information included in a check is electronically analyzed (e.g., using optical character recognition) in order to identify information about the check, such as an amount of the check. If, however, errors occur when information is identified in a check, the check may not be deposited or processed correctly. For example, if a handwritten "7" on a check is identified as a "1" during optical character recognition or if an optical character recognition application cannot read the long-hand dollar amount in the legal amount received ("LAR") field of a check, the check may be processed incorrectly.
In remittance processing environments, also known as lockbox environments, a payment stub that accompanies a check payment can be used as a validation point to ensure a correct identification or reading of information from the check, such as the check amount. The payment stub can also be used to automate processing of the check payment and reduce human intervention during the processing procedure.
In some situations, however, a payment is not accompanied with a payment stub or another document specifying payment details, and a payment receiver is forced to use only the handwritten data on a check to process the check. As previously noted, electronically identifying handwritten data included in a check can introduce errors and can increase the need for manual review and correction.
Additionally, payment receivers are often not readily informed as to whether a check that was accepted by the payment receiver was processed properly such that the payment receiver received the promised funds. If a check accepted by a payment receiver cannot be processed properly (e.g., the check is written for an incorrect amount or the check was not authorized correctly), the check is often referred to as a non-compliant item. Currently, the only ways for a payment receiver to determine and/or identify non-compliant items is to either manually match checks to transactions processed by the payment receiver (e.g., reviewing transactions managed by a point of sale ("POS") system of the payment receiver) or to wait for non-compliant checks to be returned (e.g., from a financial institution). Each of these ways can be time-consuming and can delay the processing of a check.
Furthermore, check processing typically includes multiple manual operations. For example, checks presented at one or more POS devices are collected by an individual. The individual must then order the checks according to their receipt at a POS device and arrange the checks so that each check is positioned in the same orientation. In most situations, an individual (e.g., a store manager) routinely collects the checks and brings the checks to a secure area for further processing. Once the checks have been manually processed, they are stored until ready for further processing. When the process is to continue, the batch of checks is submitted to a document processing machine that images the checks.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods and systems for validating negotiable instruments


An alpha-beta titanium-based alloy including titanium; one of 0.001-1.0 wt. % neodymium, 0.001-1.0 wt. % dysprosium, or 0.001-0.5 wt. % erbium; and at least one of aluminum, zirconium, tin, oxygen, molybdenum, vanadium, niobium, iron, and chromium present in amounts defined based on an aluminum equivalent and a molybdenum equivalent, wherein the aluminum equivalent (Al-eq) is between 0 to 7.5% and the molybdenum equivalent (Mo-eq) is between 2.7 to 47.5, and wherein the aluminum equivalent (Al-eq) and the molybdenum equivalent (Mo-eq) are defined, in weight percents, as follows:Al-eq=(Al %)+(Zr %)/6+(Sn %)/3+10*(O %)Mo-eq=(Mo %)+0.67*(V %)+0.33*(Nb %)+2.9*(Fe %)+1.6*(Cr %).

Components produced from titanium-based alloys are widely used for aerospace applications due to high strength-to-weight, excellent corrosion resistance, and high-temperature properties. However, the high cost of raw materials along with a high buy-to-fly ratio drives the aerospace industry in the development of near net-shape technologies, including additive manufacturing processes.
Titanium-based alloys exhibit solidification behavior in which crystals of high-temperature beta phase nucleate and grow to long dimensions during additive deposition processes. Microstructure containing large grains results in material with lower static as well as fatigue properties. Also, the elongated beta grains leave a crystallographic texture that results in more anisotropic properties.
In addition, the condition that results in formation of coarse beta grain size can also contribute to formation of alpha phase at the grain boundary, which, if severe, contributes to low elongation. Another issue manifesting during additive manufacturing processes is a combination of slow solidification (lower cooling rate) with high thermal gradient—this combination especially promotes large, elongated grains. Thus, such deficiencies limit the use of titanium-based alloys in additive manufacturing in more critical applications, such as those sized by cyclic or thermal fatigue or static property-sized applications with smaller tensile property margins. Accordingly, those skilled in the art continue with research and development in field of titanium-based alloys and methods for manufacturing titanium-based alloy components by an additive manufacturing process.

Titanium-based alloy and method for manufacturing a titanium-based alloy component by an additive manufacturing process


A method is provided for surface treating a substrate utilizing powder coating so that the substrate can be adorned with a decorative pattern and/or color, and can have a durable, aesthetically appealing finish. The decorative pattern can be applied via transfer printing processes, for example, by a sublimation process or a hydrographic process. The method optionally can be used to produce a visually perceivable transition between a decorative pattern, for example, a camouflage pattern, and a generally solid color on the substrate. The transition can be gradual, so that the decorative pattern appears to fade into the generally solid color to provide an appealing visual effect on a product. The method can be used to surface treat a variety of products, for example, archery products and/or firearm products.

The present invention relates to a method for surface treating and optionally decorating a substrate, and more particularly to a method for powder coating substrates that optionally can be decorated, for example, by sublimation transfer printing or water transfer printing, and a resultant product.
The history of powder coating began in the late 1940s. At that time, organic polymers were being spray coated in a powder form onto metallic substrates. Then, in 1953, Dr. Erwin Gemmer, a German scientist, developed and patented a fluidized-bed method for the processing of thermosetting powder coatings, which is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,844,489. Generally, only functional applications, which required a high film thickness, utilized the fluidized-bed method.
The technology of electrostatic powder coating, developed in the United States, and commercialized between 1962 and 1964, soon overshadowed the fluidized-bed method. Between 1966 and 1973 the four basic types of thermosetting resins—epoxy, epoxy polyester hybrid, polyurethane and polyester, which are still used today, were developed and commercially distributed. In the early 1970s, powder coating spread worldwide, but its growth was modest because application systems were expensive. Additionally, the thickness of powder coated films was generally too great for commercial use, as it consumed significant amounts of materials. Further, color change problems, and high curing temperatures, greatly limited the finished product color spectrum and substrate diversity. For example, softer plastics were difficult to powder coat as the temperatures used to set the powder coat often was great enough to deform or melt the plastics.
Since the early 1980s, powder coatings have seen continuous growth, driven by innovations pertaining to the available materials, improved formulating expertise, advances in application technology, and the development of new applications. There remain, however, opportunities to advance powder coating technology.

Method for powder coating and decorative printing and related product


A mobile telecommunications network includes a mobile telecommunications device (1), a plurality of transceiver nodes (5), and control means (21) operable to choose at least one of the transceiver nodes for use by the mobile telecommunications device for uplink communications and to choose at least one of the transceiver nodes for use by the mobile telecommunications device for downlink communications. The control means is operable to choose the at least one of the transceiver nodes for use by the mobile telecommunications device for uplink communications based upon at least one criterion that is independent of received signal power/path loss, such as: the number of the transceiver node antennas; the antenna gain of the or each of the transceiver node antennas; the maximum uplink transmit power allowed by the transceiver node from the mobile telecommunications device; the load of the transceiver node; the backhaul capacity of the transceiver node; and/or the interference level in the uplink to the transceiver node from the mobile telecommunications device. Arrangement for reducing interference is situations where mobile telecommunications devices engage in Device-to-Device (D2D) communication are also described.

In a telecommunications network (e.g., mobile/cellular network), user equipment (UE—e.g., mobile/cellular telephone, mobile device, etc.) establishes a communication link with a transceiver node (e.g., base station, cell site, BTS, NodeB, eNodeB, access point, access node, femto cell, pico cell). This communication link allows transmission of data from the UE to the transceiver node (uplink, UL) and, also, reception of data from the transceiver node to the UE (downlink, DL).
Standard-setting bodies within various telecommunications industries, such as ETSI, have promulgated standards for how user equipment (UE) is required to uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) to transceiver nodes. These standards require the user equipment to UL and DL with the same transceiver node. Thus, when the UE migrates out of range from one transceiver node and into range of another transceiver node, the standards require simultaneous handoff/handover or reselection of both the UL and DL from one transceiver node to another. This simultaneous transfer of both the UL and DL has some disadvantages.
Transceiver node selection in conventional cellular networks is based on the DL signal level only, where a UE in idle mode measures the received signal power from different transceiver nodes and a transceiver node selection decision is taken based on the strongest received signal power.
This approach is adequate in homogeneous networks composed of Macro transceiver nodes (e.g., MeNB). However, the introduction of heterogeneous networks (HetNets) composed of MeNBs and small transceiver nodes (e.g., SeNBs) makes the transceiver cell node selection based on the DL received power very inefficient in terms of the UL.
DL coverage is based on the transmission power of a transceiver node. SeNBs have a much smaller coverage area than MeNBs because they tend to have a much lower transmission power. However, UL coverage depends on the terminal transmission power which is more or less the same whether the terminal is transmitting to a SeNB or MeNB. This fact creates an imbalance in the UL and DL coverage in a HetNet scenario.
The imbalance problem also causes high interference scenarios where MeNB UEs cause high interference to the SeNB UEs when these MeNB UEs are very close to (or in) the coverage area of the SeNBs. This interference can more severely affect UEs engaging in Device-to-Device (D2D) communication, when the D2D connection is in band and is using the UL cellular resources (as e.g. in Rel-12 LTE D2D, which is fully incorporated herein by reference). If we have two devices communicating in a D2D fashion in a SeNB, a MeNB UE that is very close to the SeNB coverage could cause a high level of interference to the D2D couple because the interference is received at the devices and not at the SeNB/Scell as in a typical cellular connection. Also, if we assume a scenario where two devices covered by a MeNB are communicating in a D2D fashion and are located near the cell edge of a MeNB, UEs covered by a SeNB located close to the same (above-mentioned) cell edge would both perceive and inflict a high level of interference from the D2D pair. This happens because both D2D UEs and cellular UEs are power controlled in the uplink based on their pathloss to their serving eNB. When UEs are covered by the same eNB, they are scheduled in a manner so as not to cause interference at the receiving eNB. However, when they are covered by different cells that are nor synchronised or coordinated, avoiding (or mitigating) interference is not possible. As mentioned above, this issue is even more pronounced when the interference is perceived by neighbouring (e.g. D2D) UEs.
Also, cell loads in UL and DL are different in terms of volume where the DL load is generally much larger than the UL (a DL:UL ratio of 80:20 has been observed). The DL and UL volumes are not necessarily dependent, meaning that a cell or a UE having high UL traffic volume does not necessarily have high DL traffic volume too. In fact mostly the UL and DL traffic volumes are independent.
A known proposed solution to this imbalance problem is to decouple UL and DL transceiver node association, where DL transceiver node association is based on the DL received power whereas UL transceiver node association is based on path loss.
US20130163441A1 discloses decoupling downlinks and uplinks between UEs and transceiver nodes. The transceiver node for the DL connection with the UE is determined as a function of DL signal strength. The transceiver node for the UL connection with the UE is determined as a function of path loss. Determining path loss is performed by subtracting a measured signal strength at the UE from the transmit power of each transceiver node. The path loss for each transceiver node is then used as a proxy for UL signal strength, and the UL signal strength is then used as a basis for determining which transceiver node is optimal for UL from the UE. In other words, a processor within the UE determines the DL signal strength and also the received signal strength, and then calculates the path loss as a function of the DL signal strength and the received signal strength. An optimal UL transceiver node is then determined as a function of the path loss.
US20130089034A1 discloses an arrangement in which a UE can associate with different transceiver nodes for its UL and DL communications. To achieve this, the two transceiver nodes communicate with each other. A signalling methodology within a cellular standards framework (such as LTE) is disclosed, by which a UE can associate with a different transceiver node for UL and DL communications and further facilitate communication between a transceiver node handling UL and a transceiver node handling DL. The selection of a transceiver node by sending a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS), which allows a received power value to be determined, is disclosed. The applicability to heterogeneous networks, where different transceiver nodes can have different transmit powers, is discussed.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,824,326 B2 ("Method and apparatus for managing device-to-device interference") discusses interference management for D2D by sensing interference on the resources and trying to schedule the D2D communication on resources that have a low interference level. This prior art document is in the context of a 'traditional' telecommunications network, i.e. the UE is connected to the same cell in UL and in DL. Accordingly, the prior art does not solve the problem of D2D interference management in a decoupled UL/DL telecommunications network.
US 20120051315 A1 ("Method and Apparatus for Managing Device-to-Device Interference") also relates to interference and proposes to solve interference issues by scheduling D2D on resources that are less interfered. This prior art document is also in the context of a 'traditional' telecommunications network, i.e. the UE is connected to the same cell in UL and in DL. Accordingly, the prior art does also not solve the problem of D2D interference management in a decoupled UL/DL telecommunications network.

Arrangement for choosing transceiver nodes in a mobile telecommunications network