A bush- and bracket-integrated stabilizer bar includes a stabilizer bar, a rubber bush attached to an outer periphery of the stabilizer bar, and a bracket configured to mount the stabilizer bar to a bottom of a vehicle body with the rubber bush intervened. The stabilizer bar has amine-based curable epoxy paint or amine-containing cationic paint and a surface treatment layer containing a halogen donor-based surface treatment agent on the paint. The rubber bush has a surface treatment layer containing a halogen donor-based surface treatment agent on an inner surface thereof. A thermosetting epoxy adhesive layer containing an amine-based or an organic hydrazide-based curing agent and a bisphenol type epoxy resin is formed between the stabilizer bar and the rubber bush.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bush- and bracket-integrated stabilizer bar in which a stabilizer bar, a portion of a suspension device for a vehicle such as an automobile, is integrated with a rubber bush and a bracket for mounting the stabilizer bar to the vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
A stabilizer bar is a member which mainly controls rolling, i.e., rolling movement around the longitudinal axis of a vehicle body. A rubber bush is attached between the stabilizer bar and the vehicle body, and it reduces the propagation of vibration entering the stabilizer bar depending on the conditions of road surface to the vehicle body, and at the same time it flexibly follows-up the movement of the stabilizer bar and supports the vehicle body.
Force is exerted on the rubber bush attached to the stabilizer bar in the direction of rolling of the stabilizer bar depending on the vertical movement of the wheels or the vehicle body. Concurrently, force is exerted on the rubber bush in the vertical direction due to supporting the vehicle body and due to vibration.
The mainstream of a conventional stabilizer bar with a rubber bush has been of a non-bonded type where the stabilizer bar and the rubber bush, and the rubber bush and the bracket are not bonded to each other. Consequently, when water intrudes into the non-bonded portion or when ambient temperature is extremely low, for example, at −30° C., the problem of generating a strange sound due to stick-slip arises.
FIG. 6 shows generated torque (output) with respect to displacement of the stabilizer bar (input such as a kink in the stabilizer bar) when stick-slip occurs to a stabilizer bar with a rubber bush of a non-bonded type. As shown in FIG. 6, a phase shift develops between the displacement of the stabilizer bar and the torque, so that handling performance is affected and steering stability is impaired.
Further, since the stabilizer bar and the rubber bush, and the rubber bush and the bracket are not integrated by bonding, clearances develop between them when a large force is applied to the stabilizer bar. When hard foreign substances intruded into such clearances, there were cases where the stabilizer bar and the bracket were marred and a strange sound generated. Moreover, when hard foreign substances such as sand and stone were left in the clearances, there were cases where malfunctions such as abrasion and breaking occurred.
In order to cope with such problems, various measures by bonding have been conventionally taken. However, they have problems of producing insufficient effects, carrying high costs and others.
(1) Vulcanization Bonding Method (Examined Patent Publication No. 3716750 and Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-123818)
Examined Patent Publication No. 3716750 discloses a technology of placing a stabilizer bar and brackets in a mold and performing bonding concurrently with vulcanization molding of rubber bushes. However, since the stabilizer bar and the brackets made of metals are placed in the mold, strength and precision are required for the mold, besides durability of the mold degrades. Moreover, the stabilizer bar usually has a length of about one meter, and thus equipment including the mold and others is made larger and raise the problem of carrying a large cost. Further, paint is usually applied to the stabilizer bar and others after vulcanization bonding is performed, and thus coating defects are likely to develop, for example, between the rubber bush and the stabilizer bar, and incur loss of reliability. In addition, powder painting or cationic painting usually used in painting the stabilizer bar requires a drying or curing process involving high temperature and a long time period, and thus the problem of causing the possibility of heat deterioration of the vulcanization bonded rubber bush arises.
On the other hand, in Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-123818, the problems of the upsizing of equipment and others are avoided by performing vulcanization bonding on the brackets when vulcanization molding of the rubber bushes are performed, followed by bonding the rubber bushes with brackets vulcanization bonded thereto to the coated stabilizer bar using a chlorinated rubber based adhesive. However, the present inventors performed a trial manufacture based on the disclosed information and confirmed that heat treatment was necessary to bond the rubber bushes and the stabilizer bar using a chlorinated rubber based adhesive, and that the strength of the rubber bushes degraded by 40 to 50% by heat deterioration. Further, this method requires two sets of a bracket with a rubber bush on the upper and lower sides of a stabilizer bar, and thus it is hard to say that is advantageous from a cost standpoint.
(2) Post Bonding Method 1 (Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-319850)
Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-319850 discloses a method of performing vulcanization molding on vulcanized rubber as a measure for suppressing the cost rise by the method described in (1). By using the vulcanized rubber, this method resolves the drawbacks such as increased cost through the upsizing of equipment described in (1). However, the present inventors performed a trial manufacture under the same conditions (heating under 10% compression, at 160° C., and for 60 minutes) based on details disclosed therein, and confirmed a significant degradation in strength of rubber bush due to heat deterioration and a problem was raised as to the long-term reliability of the rubber bush. Further, in Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-319850, the bush and the bracket are not bonded or fixed together, and thus the problem of generating a strange sound in this portion or the problem of abrasion and breaking caused by intrusion of foreign substances cannot be resolved.
(3) Post Bonding Method 2 (Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-270315, Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-008082, and Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-027311)
Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-270315 discloses a method of using a thermosetting adhesive. This method involves curing the adhesive by applying high temperature painting treatment (at 130 to 200° C. for 20 minutes) in a painting step. However, this method also cannot prevent the heat deterioration caused by exposing the vulcanized rubber bush to a high temperature for a long time period. Further, this method also bonds the stabilizer bar and the bush alone and does not bond the bush and the bracket, and thus cannot prevent the strange sound from generating or abrasion and breaking caused by intrusion of foreign substances into this portion. Moreover, painting is performed after the rubber bush is bonded to the uncoated stabilizer bar, and thus painting defects such as leaving portions uncoated are likely to develop at the boundaries of the stabilizer bar and the rubber bush, and corrosion may develop from the painting defect portions, which may raise the problem of, for example, the stabilizer bar getting broken after use for a long time period.
On the other hand, Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-008082 and Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-027311 disclose methods for bonding a rubber bush by painting a thermosetting adhesive on a stabilizer bar which has been subjected to electrostatic painting or powder painting. However, as a result of performing a trial manufacture based on the details described in these documents, it is found that rubber breaking will not occur, since the adhesion force between the adhesive and the stabilizer bar or between the adhesive and the rubber bush is poor in these methods. Further, in these methods, the bush and the bracket are merely fixed by compression and are not bonded with each other, thus the problem of generating a strange sound in this portion or the problem of abrasion and breaking caused by intrusion of foreign substances still remains unresolved.
(4) Post Bonding Method 3 (Unexamined Patent Publication No. H11-108096)
Unexamined Patent Publication No. H11-108096 discloses a method for bonding chlorination treated rubber bush to a coated stabilizer bar with a thermosetting adhesive. This method is considered to improve the adhesion force of the rubber bush by performing chlorination treatment. However, as a result of performing a trial manufacture based on the disclosed information, it is confirmed that the rubber surface is roughened by the chlorination treatment and the adhesion force improved to a certain degree by anchor effect, but that the adhesive strength of the vulcanization bonding produced by the adhesive alone is by far insufficient for the rubber breaking to occur. Further, also in this method, the bush and the bracket are merely fixed with a clamp, thus the problem of generating a strange sound in this portion or the problem of abrasion and breaking caused by intrusion of foreign substances cannot be dealt with.

Bush- and bracket-integrated stabilizer bar


A window for use in buildings for housing animals, such as barns, that is openable in two generally perpendicular directions, is provided. The window includes an outer frame secured within an opening in the structure, a middle frame that is pivotally secured to the outer frame, and an inner frame pivotally secured to the middle frame. A first pivoting mechanism includes a pair of hinges that enable one of the frames to be pivoted with respect to the outer frame along a generally vertical axis, and the second pivoting mechanism enables the other frame to be pivoted with respect to the outer frame along a generally horizontal axis. The second mechanism pivots and slides one of the frames in order to open the window for ventilation purposes while enabling the remaining frame to remain closed, thereby preventing the entering or exiting of large objects through the window, such as an animal's head.

In barns and other structures utilized to house animals of various types, windows are necessary in order allow ventilation of the structure, and in specific situations to enable the animal to access the exterior of the structure. With specific regard to larger animals, such as horses, these windows can provide the horse with the ability to extend its head out of the window.
For animals who spend any time in a barn, light and proper ventilation are important factors in keeping those animals healthy. Most animals do best when living as close as possible to their natural outside habitat, as they are not used to being confined. For their mental well-being, the ability to see what is going on outside is important.
It is not always practical to keep animals outside, especially in northern climates. In the case of horses, expensive show or race horses must spend quite a lot of time in their stalls. In a situation where each horse is housed in an individual stall within the barn, good ventilation and light becomes paramount.
Many modern barns use plastic light panels which run the length of the barn wall just under the roofline. To augment this, skylights are placed in the roof over the center aisle to provide more daylight. Ventilation is provided by using ceiling fans and opening the end doors of the barn. The horse never sees the real world until he is led outside.
Other barns have individual windows for each stall which can be opened by various methods, either sliding one panel behind another or pushing out or pulling in. Often, the windows are left shut because they are painted shut, or because the windows have grills or mesh in front of them which necessitates the windows being opened from the outside.
Southern horse barns are often designed as a long shed with an outside covered aisle. Each stall opens onto the aisle by means of a dutch door—a door split side to side. By opening the top half, the horse has plenty of light and air. But in bad weather and at night, the top half is closed—the horse has no window and little ventilation.
Except for the situation when a horse is recovering from surgery and requires quiet and darkness, it is part of the therapy for recovery that a horse who is confined to his stall has adequate light and ventilation. He will recover sooner if he can see what is going on outside his stall.
In northern barns, extreme weather is an important consideration in designing openable windows. Ideally, the window should protect the horse from snow, rain and wind even when opened. Barn windows which slide open or open to the inside cannot protect the horse from the elements and still provide ventilation.
No matter what form the individual stall window takes, in too many barns the window design is an afterthought during the design process. Windows become an expensive detail and are often reduced to the least costly size without much thought to the horse's well-being.
However, with the majority of windows used in permanent structures housing animals for this purpose, the windows are openable in only a single direction, i.e., about a generally vertical axis, such that when the window is open, any precipitation, dust or other debris, can be carried by the wind into the structure housing the animal through the open window. Further, when these windows are closed, while precipitation and debris are prevented from entering the structure, ventilation is significantly reduced as the window prevents any movement of air between the interior and exterior of the structure.
Other prior art windows have been developed that include mechanisms which allow the window to move along separate axes, such as a horizontal axis and a vertical axis to enable the window to provide ventilation even in inclement weather conditions. Examples of these types of windows are shown in Lalagüe U.S. Pat. No. 3,667,162 and McHeffey U.S. Pat. No. 3,911,621, which are herein incorporated by reference. However, with these types of windows, the pivoting mechanisms necessary to move the window in the various directions involve many interlocking and moving parts, making the mechanism expensive and difficult to service.
Therefore, it is desirable to develop a window for an animal-housing structure that provides the ability to prevent precipitation and other debris from entering the structure while simultaneously enabling sufficient ventilation of the interior of the structure. To do so, the window should be independently movable in generally perpendicular directions using separate pivoting mechanisms that are of simple and inexpensive construction. The window constructed to achieve these goals should also be easy to operate and maintain.


A safety device that allows a baseball spectator to return a foul ball without interrupting the game or risking injury to a player or an umpire, made up of a basket that attaches to the spectators"" side of a backstop. The basket has an opening through which a spectator can insert a retrieved foul ball and has a flapped opening through which an umpire can collect the ball as needed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the sport of baseball and, more particularly, to a safety device which allows a spectator to return a foul ball without interrupting the game or risking injury to a player or an umpire. The device is a basket that attaches to the back of a backstop and has an opening through which a spectator can insert a retrieved foul ball.
2. Description of the Related Art
At Major League baseball games, a foul ball caught or retrieved by a spectator is considered a souvenir which the spectator typically takes home or gives to a nearby child. However, at non-professional baseball games such as little league, junior high school, high school, softball and community league games, foul balls are not considered souvenirs and are typically returned to the game by being thrown onto the field, to a player or to the umpire. Although generally helpful, this practice presents two concerns: first, if the game has resumed play using another ball, then the spectator""s return of the retrieved ball interrupts the game. When the retrieved ball is thrown out onto the field, to a player or to the umpire, the game must be stopped while the umpire collects the ball. Second, and more importantly, the spectator""s return of a foul ball presents a serious safety hazard. If the spectator throws the ball to a player or an umpire who is unaware that the spectator is returning the ball to the game, then the player or umpire could be injured if, for example, the ball hits him in the head.
Although the prior art does not teach a device that enables a baseball spectator to safely return a foul ball without interrupting the game, it does teach several ball returning devices for various sports. Examples of these are provided by U.S. Pat. No. 1,869,642 to Woolman for a driving range registering device that measures the distance of a golf drive and returns the golf ball to the player via piping; U.S. Pat. No. 3,918,711 to Zak for a tennis training assembly that includes a funnel-like ball collecting means; U.S. Pat. No. 4,013,292 to Cohen et al. for an automated basketball game; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,275,883 to Grimaldi et al. for a pitching target with an inclined trough for ball return. However, none of the devices taught by these patents is suited for safely returning a foul ball without interrupting the game.
Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,927 to Anglea teaches a device used to support baseballs during batting practice. The device consists of a box-like container and an upright support member. During batting practice, the device is located near the pitcher and contains a plurality of baseballs. With the device, the pitcher is able to throw consecutive pitches without having to wait for a hit ball to be retrieved from the field. However, although the device is well suited for providing a pitcher with an uninterrupted supply of baseballs during practice, it is not suited for allowing a spectator to return a foul ball to an active game. First, spectators are usually separated from the playing field by fenced backstop or field fence and, therefore, simply placing a foul ball in such a device on the spectator""s side of a fence would not return the ball to the game. Second, a box-like device that is not permanently installed in the spectator""s area is likely to be moved, removed or used as a trash receptacle.
Thus, none of the above mentioned inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed and, further, a foul ball basket solving the aforementioned problems is desired.
The present invention is a safety device that attaches to the spectators"" side of a baseball backstop and allows a spectator to return a foul ball without interrupting the game or risking injury to a player or umpire. The device is comprised of a multi-planar frame that is partially covered with fence wiring. When attached to a baseball backstop, the device has two openingsxe2x80x94one with a flap that lines up with a pre-cut hole in the backstop and a second opening, without a flap, that faces the spectators. The device allows a spectator to return a foul ball by inserting it through the unflapped opening. The umpire is then able to retrieve the ball when needed by reaching through the flapped opening and grasping the ball. During active play of a baseball game, the flap prevents a thrown or hit ball from entering the device.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the invention to provide a device that allows a spectator to return a foul ball to an active baseball or softball game without interrupting play.
It is another object of the invention to allow foul balls to be returned in a manner that avoids injury to inattentive players or umpires by eliminating the need for a spectator to throw a retrieved ball back onto the field.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a device that does not obstruct a spectator""s view of a game.
Still another object of the invention is to prevent a ball, while in play, from being inadvertently thrown into the invention.
Further, it is an object of the invention to provide improved elements and arrangements thereof in a device for the purposes described which is inexpensive, dependable and fully effective in accomplishing its intended purposes.


A method for positioning both dies set to both movable and stationary platens of a plastic molding machine to form a cavity by fitting convex and concave portions formed on the facing surfaces of the dies into a spigot respectively, wherein a movable die is set to the movable platen at the retreat position to secure the movable die to the home position and a stationary die is temporarily clamped at the home position of the stationary platen by pressing the stationary die in the lateral direction by a repulsive member, the movable die is advanced against the stationary die under the above state, die matching of the stationary and movable dies is performed by fitting the convex portion to the concave portion, and thereby positioning of the stationary die is performed by correcting the position of the die before permanently clamping the stationary die to the stationary platen under the state in which the both dies are fastened by the movable platen. Thereby, positioning of high-accuracy dies with a small clearance of the fitting portion can be easily performed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for positioning the dies set to a stationary platen and a movable platen of a plastic molding machine such as an injection molding machine and a temporarily clamping apparatus used for the method.
2. Background Art
In general, one of the dies is set to a movable platen before the other is set to a stationary platen. The die is secured to the stationary platen with bolts at four places or by setting clamps at four places: right and left and top and bottom of a die mounting plate, one each, and fastening the die with the clamps.
Even when the dies are secured to their home position, imperfect die closing may occur due to a slight deviation between the dies. Therefore, it is necessary to perform the positioning of the dies before setting them.
The positioning is performed for the die of the stationary platen side. In most cases, the positioning is performed by slightly loosening the bolts or clamps securing the die and temporarily setting the die to the home position to provide the die with a margin in the lateral direction before performing die matching.
For the above positioning method, however, it is difficult to adjust the die fastening degree. If the fastening for temporary setting is insufficient, die matching is difficult because the die is deviated extremely lower than the home position. If the fastening is excessive, the die easily moves in the lateral direction. Therefore, galling occurs due to imperfect die matching and the die may be broken in the worst case.
Especially for a die to be closed by fitting the straight surface of it to a spigot, a clearance is provided to prevent the fitting portion from being abraded when the die is opened or closed. For the existing method, however, positioning is very troublesome and requires a long time because the clearance is very small. Therefore, for a small volume production requiring frequent replacement of dies, there is a problem in that the positioning causes the productivity to decrease.

Method and apparatus for positioning dies


A collet-operating mechanism employs a plurality of locking pins which, under centrifugal forces generated during rotation of a machine spindle, engage an element of a slidably mounted collet-operating member to maintain the collet in closed condition.

The collet used to secure the work in an automatic bar machine, screw machine, or the like, is normally closed by effecting relative longitudinal movement between it and the spindle within which the collet is coaxially mounted. The means that is provided for impressing the force necessary to either slide the spindle over the collet, or to pull the collet into the spindle, is called the "collet closing mechanism." For many years such mechanisms have most commonly comprised an arrangement of chuck levers mounted in a chuck lever fulcrum. Because of structural constraints and the magnitude of forces involved, however breakage has been common in such closing mechanisms and attendant risks to personnel and damage to machinery have been substantial.
Other designs for collet-closing mechanisms have of course also been proposed and adopted. The so-called "ball-chucker" system, for example, utilizes a circular array of ball bearings assembled in a cage behind a displaceable thrust collar. An external, slidably mounted sleeve moves over the ball bearings, forcing them inwardly against the thrust collar to thereby shift it in one direction or the other; this motion is transmitted by appropriate means to effect closure of the collet.
While devices of the kind described may offer advantages over the earlier, lever-operated mechanisms, still they are seriously deficient in certain respects. In particular, because they are subject to extreme wear on mating surfaces, due in part to the minimal areas of contact provided by the spherical bearings employed, the useful life of such mechanisms is relatively short and their practical value is limited.
A collet-operating mechanism that substantially avoids such disadvantages is described and claimed in Nowak; U.S. Pat. No. 4,418,925, issued Dec. 6, 1983. In accordance with the invention described therein an array of wedge members is employed as the force-transmitting means, thus providing extensive areas for contact with the associated bearing surfaces.
Despite the effectiveness and wide acceptance of mechanisms such as that of the Nowak patent, in some instances there is a tendency for the collet to open inadvertently due primarily to the effects of vibrational forces, which promote movement of the operating sleeve. Among the many sources for vibration in automatic screw machines, and the like, are mechanical looseness in spindles and drive means, imbalances in rotating components, free length harmonics set up by rotating bar stock, and cutting forces reflected back through the machine.
As will be discussed more fully below, a current practice that is employed to prevent such accidental release of a collet chuck involves the provision of a block on the machine, so located as to be abutted by the operating sleeve of the closing mechanism in its operative position, to thereby prevent inadvertent retraction. Because such blocks are subjected to constant wear, however, they must be replaced at fairly frequent intervals. Apart from matters of attendant power consumption and hardware costs, the machine down-time required for replacement represents a very significant detriment.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel collet-operating mechanism which is inherently adapted to effectively maintain the collet in closed position, and which will readily permit release, as desired.
It is a more specific object of the invention to provide such a mechanism in which the forces inhibiting opening automatically increase with the speed of rotation, thereby affording effectiveness related to dynamic demand.
Other specific objects are to provide a mechanism having the foregoing features and advantages, which is also of relatively uncomplicated design and construction, which affords a long useful life, which is highly effective for its intended purposes, and which is relatively economical and facile to manufacture.

Mechanism for preventing inadvertent chuck release


The disclosed rotating rectifier assembly (12) has a reduced axial length thereby achieving the goal of reducing the overall axial length of a brushless generator (10) which includes a rectifier assembly disposed along its axis (26) for developing DC output power from three phase AC power supplied by a three phase rotor armature (14) also contained within the generator (10). A typical rotating rectifier assembly is comprised of plates and diodes arranged in a stack clamped axially along the axis of rotation with a diode sandwiched between each adjacent pair of plates. The reduction of the axial length of the rectifier (12) is achieved by positioning a stack (67) of diodes (19) and plates (52 through 64) perpendicular to the axis of rotation (26) while providing the necessary electrical conductors to define a rectifier circuit.

In many generators such as high speed generators utilized in aircraft, it is highly desirable to eliminate brushes since they frequently require maintenance and/or replacement and are perhaps the single weakest point in the system in terms of breakdowns. Moreover, by its very nature, the electrical path between a brush and a commutator is subject to arcing which may introduce transients into the electrical energy being produced which in turn may interfere with proper operation of some types of electrical loads on the generator.
A typical brushless generator has three distinct generating systems, including a main generator, an exciter and a permanent magnet generator. The permanent magnet generator includes rotatable permanent magnets for establishing a magnetic field which is electrically employed to induce current in a set of stationary windings which in turn is employed after rectification and voltage regulation to generate a magnetic field in the exciter. The magnetic field in the exciter is in turn employed to induce an even higher level of current, typically three phase alternating current, which is then employed after rectification to generate the magnetic field for the main generator by flowing a DC current through a main field winding of the generator system.
In order to avoid the use of brushes, it is necessary that the field winding in the main generator be in the rotor so that the output of the system can be taken from a stator of the main generator. In order to generate a suitable magnetic field in the rotor, it is necessary to utilize direct current as opposed to alternating current for the same. Since the output of the exciter is an alternating current, this current must be rectified by a rectifier assembly to direct current. Again in order to avoid resorting to brushes, it is necessary that the rectifier assembly interconnecting the exciter and the main generator field winding be carried by the rotor of the generator. Such a rectifier assembly should also be capable of withstanding high centrifugal loading. One such rectifier assembly is disclosed in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 4,628,219 issued Dec. 9, 1986, to Troscinski.
It is of course desirable in aircraft applications to minimize weight. In the case of brushless generators having a relatively long axial length, because such generators are typically mounted to the engine gear box at only one end of the generator, such generators result in the presence of a relatively large, so-called "overhung" moment. In order to support such a generator, the gear box must be made proportionately stronger than would be the case for a generator having a lesser overhung moment; and that reinforcement will most frequently require the presence of additional undesirable weight. In addition, aircraft applications require that close heed be paid to aerodynamic considerations. These considerations may dictate location of aircraft components in areas where space is at a premium or else an aerodynamic penalty may be felt.
One method of reducing the overall length of a two-pole brushless generator system is disclosed in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 4,797,590 issued Jan. 10, 1989 to Raad, et al. Raad disclosed a brushless generator wherein both the permanent magnet generator and the exciter are adjacent one end of the main generator in an essentially coplanar relation with the permanent magnet generator radially inward of the exciter. However, in a two pole brushless generator system where, as is well known in the art, a solid rotor is required, use of the arrangement disclosed in Raad is not feasible.
A way to reduce the overall axial length of a brushless generator system is to reduce the axial length of the rotating rectifier diode package. The package in use now has an axial length greater than three inches This application describes a design of a rectifier assembly which is 1.55 inches long, which presents a decrease in the length of the package.
It is also desirable to provide a way for easily removing a rectifier assembly in the event of a failure.
The present invention is directing to overcoming one or more of the above problems.

Reduced length rotating rectifier assembly


A display apparatus having a backlight unit whose brightness is adjusted according to input image signals. The display apparatus processes input image signals in order for them to be appropriate to a display characteristic in an image signal processing unit and outputs each chromatic signal, R, G, and B, related to a color configuration of the image signals, processed in the chromatic signal output unit. Then a display panel drives an image display screen according to each chromatic signal. Meanwhile, a chromatic averaging unit calculates average brightness of the input images from each chromatic signal to transfer to a controller. The controller controls an inverter through an inverter current limiting unit in order for currents provided to the backlight unit in the display panel, to be controlled according to the average brightness of the input images calculated in the chromatic signal averaging unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display apparatus and a control method thereof, and in particular, to a display apparatus with an adjustable backlight unit and a control method thereof. The present application is based on Korean Patent Application No. 2002-40098, filed Jul. 10, 2002, which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
Since a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) employs a non-light emitting element, different from a Plasma Display Panel (PDP), a Field Emission Display (FED), etc., it is not possible to use it where light does not exist.
In order to compensate for this defect of the LCD, a backlight unit is developed for illuminating light homogeneously on its information display screen.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional Thin Film Transistor (TFT)-LCD with the backlight unit. The TFT-LCD includes an image signal processing unit 10, a chromatic signal output unit 20, a Low Voltage Differential Signaling (LVDS) 30, a TFT-LCD panel 40, an inverter 50, and a controller 60.
The image signal processing unit 10 performs signal processing to satisfy a TFT-LCD characteristic for input image signals.
The chromatic signal output unit 20 outputs an RGB signal to satisfy a characteristic of the TFT-LCD panel 40 from the processed image signals.
The LVDS 30 transmits digital Red (R), Green (G), Blue (B) signals to the TFT-LCD panel 40.
The TFT-LCD panel 40 comprises a LVDS and timing processing unit 41 for processing chromatic signals transferred from the LVDS 30 and controlling timing with the chromatic signals, a DC/DC converter 42 for raising voltages to be provided to a gate driver 46 of the TFT-LCD module 48, which generally requests a high voltage driving power source, a V-com generator 43 for providing voltages to common electrodes of each transistor of the TFT-LCD module 48, a gamma correction unit 44 for controlling brightness and color coordinates, etc., in order to correct a difference between the display characteristic of the TFT-LCD and the human visual perception characteristic for the gray scale of the image signals, a source driver 45 for transferring voltages of gray scale according to image data to source electrodes of each transistor (not shown) which consists each pixel of the TFT-LCD module 48, a gate driver 46 for driving gates of the transistors consisting each pixel of the TFT-LCD module 48, the TFT-LCD module 48 for displaying images by means of transistors activated by signals transferred through the gate driver 46, and a backlight unit 47 for illuminating the light on the image display screen of the TFT-LCD module 48.
The inverter 50 provides driving currents to the backlight unit 47 of the TFT-LCD panel in response to a control signal output from the controller 60.
The controller 60 controls an overall display apparatus in order to enable the transferred image signals to be displayed on the image display screen through the TFT-LCD module 48, and in particular, controls the inverter 50 in order to drive the backlight unit 47 illuminating the light on the image display screen of the TFT-LCD module 48.
As described above, in the conventional TFT-LCD, the backlight unit 47 illuminates the light on the image display screen using currents provided through the inverter 50, and a user can see the image via the image display screen due to the illuminated light.
However, since the currents are designed to be provided constantly to the backlight unit 47 via the inverter 50 in the conventional TFT-LCD, the light is only to be constantly illuminated on the TFT-LCD module in a predetermined amount. Consequently, there occur problems in that the brightness of the input image signals is not controlled efficiently. That is, relatively better quality of the display can be provided by providing more currents to the backlight unit to raise the brightness when the amount of reproduced signals in the LCD is small and limiting maximum currents provided to the backlight unit when the amount of reproduced signals in the LCD is large. However, since the currents provided to the backlight unit through the inverter remain constant, the quality of the display image can be deteriorated.

Display apparatus with adjustable backlight unit and control method thereof


A method of forming at least one three dimensional (3D) color image of at least one object in a target space. The method comprises projecting, each of a plurality of projection cycles, a sequence comprising a plurality of gray coded light patterns, each colored in one of red green or blue, on a target space, capturing a plurality of two dimensional (2D) images of the target space during a plurality of acquisition cycles, each the acquisition cycle being timed to correspond with the projection of at least a sub sequence of the sequence, the sub sequence comprising red, green, and blue gray coded light patterns of the plurality of gray coded light patterns, extracting range data and color texture information of at lea one object in the target space from the plurality of 2D images, and forming a 3D color image of the range data and color texture information.

The present invention, in some embodiments thereof, relates to imaging and, more particularly, but not exclusively, to devices and methods of generating three dimensional (3D) colored models.
Geometry acquisition and 3D imaging of objects, such as moving objects, is required in a wide variety of applications ranging from motion capture, such as marker-less motion capture, to 3D face recognition.
Various acquisition and reconstruction methods have been developed for this purpose. An example of a traditional acquisition technique is laser scanning, for example as described in F. Bernardini and H. E. Rushmeier, The 3d model acquisition pipeline. Comput. Graph. Forum, 2(21):149-172, 2002, which is incorporated herein by reference. This technique is currently implemented for modeling static scenes. Another technique, which allows faster acquisition, is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,224,384, filed Sep. 8, 1999, that teaches an optical imaging system with a taking lens system that collects light from a scene being imaged with the optical imaging system, a 3D camera that comprises at least one photo surface that receives light from the taking lens system simultaneously from all points in the scene and provides data for generating a depth map of the scene responsive to the light, and an imaging camera with at least one photo surface that receives light from the taking lens system and provides a picture of the scene responsive to the light.
This method measures range data by calculating a depth profile of reflected photons resulting from an accurately gated and synchronized light pulse illuminating the scene. Time of light has low complexity reconstruction and can be implemented by a fast camera with linear response achieving video rates. The method involves compensating for the object albedo and other optical and manufacturing factors and therefore has a limited spatial resolution.
Another technique, which allows relatively fast acquisition, is a shape from stereo method that is based on multiple views. This method involves finding dense correspondences between two images of the same scene captured at two different viewing angles. Some of these methods use controlled source of illumination, which allows alleviating or completely resolving the correspondence problem. An example of the shape from stereo method is a structured light process where one or more known patterns, often grids or horizontal bars, is projected on a target space 99, a scene. The way that the one or more known patterns deform when striking surfaces in the target space 99 allows calculating the depth and surface information of the objects in the scene. An example for this technique is described in Patent Application NO. 2010/0079581 which describes imaging device capable of capturing depth information or surface profiles of objects is disclosed herein. The imaging device uses an enclosed flashing unit to project a projection sequence of structured light patterns onto an object and captures the light patterns reflected from the surfaces of the object by using an image sensor that is enclosed in the imaging device. The imaging device is capable of capturing an image of an object such that the captured image is comprised of one or more color components of a two-dimensional image of the object and a depth component that specifies the depth information of the object.
A recent review on coded light techniques can be found in C. Rocchini, P. Cignoni, C. Montani, P. Pingi, and R. Scopigno. A low cost 3D scanner based on structured light. In Eurographics 2001, volume 20, 2001 and a detailed description on pattern coding and reconstruction algorithms in A. M. Bronstein, M. M. Bronstein, E. Gordon, and R. Kimmel. High-resolution structured light range scanner with automatic Calibration, CIS-2003-06 technical report, Technion, 2006, both incorporated herein by reference.
Low-cost accurate depth acquisition based on coded light system is described in A M. B. Vieira, L. Velho, A. Sa, and P. Carvalho. A cameraprojector system for real-time 3D video. In DVPR '05, 2005, which is incorporated herein by reference. This document describes a scanning system which is based on coding part of the projected patterns in color. This approach requires a color camera and can be sensitive to the reflectance properties of the scanned objects.

Devices and methods of generating three dimensional (3D) colored models


A light source module including a light guide plate, a plurality of light emitting devices, and a plurality of first reflective devices is provided. The light guide plate has a plurality of through holes and a light emitting surface. The through holes pass through the light emitting surface. Each of the through holes has a first side wall and a second side wall opposite the first side wall. At least one of the light emitting devices is disposed in each of the through holes. Each of the light emitting devices is capable emitting a light beam. The light beam enters the light guide plate from the first side wall of the through hole which the light emitting device is disposed in and leaves the light guide plate from the light emitting surface. The first reflective devices are disposed on the second side walls of the through holes.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to a light source module, and more particularly, to a light source module including a light guide plate.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional side-type light source module includes a light guide plate, a plurality of light emitting devices disposed in one side of the light guide plate, a reflector disposed under the light guide plate, and an optical film disposed above the light guide plate. A light beam emitted by the light emitting devices enters the light guide plate from a side wall of the light guide plate. Then, the light beam leaves the light guide plate from a light emitting surface by optical micro structures disposed on the light emitting surface. However, in the prior art, the heat generated by the light emitting devices is easily gathered in one side of the light guide plate so that wrinkles are formed on the optical film. Thereby, the optical performance of the conventional side-type light source module is influenced.
A conventional direct-type light source module includes a plurality of optical films, a plurality of light emitting devices disposed under the optical films, and a reflector disposed under the light emitting devices. In the prior art, there must be an enough light-mixing distance between the light emitting devices and the optical film to remain the uniformity of the conventional direct-type light source module. However, the design of the light-mixing distance causes the thickness of the conventional direct-type light source module to hardly be reduced.
Taiwan Patent No. 1358004 discloses a backlight module including a light guide plate and at least one light source optically coupled with the light guide plate. China Patent No. 01122554 discloses a light guide plate having two ends and being slice-shaped. Taiwan Patent No. M368093 discloses a side-type backlight module including a plurality of light guide plates, a plurality of light emitting source, a plurality of light shielding plate, a diffuser, a brightness-enhanced film, and a reflector. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20110242794 discloses an illumining device having a plurality of light guide plates disposed in a shell. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20090303410 discloses a light guide plate in which a plurality of fillisters are formed. U.S. Pat. No. 8,083,390 discloses an illumining device having a light guide plate. U.S. Pat. No. 6,598,998 discloses another kind of illumining device.


Methods and systems are provided for debugging a program executing on a processor. In a first implementation, a processing system includes a processor configured for switching to a debug mode from a non-debug mode upon executing a software breakpoint. The system may include a program memory configured to hold instructions for a program, where the software breakpoint replaces at least one of the instructions. The system may also include an instruction replacement register separate from the program memory that is configured to receive the replaced instruction from any of the processor and an external debugger. The system may further include a control component that controls whether the processor fetches a next instruction for execution from the program memory or from the instruction replacement register.

A fundamental property of debugging a conventional processor (e.g., microprocessor)-based system is the ability to halt execution at a specific instruction in the program code. The point at which execution is halted is commonly referred to as the breakpointed instruction. Breakpoints allow an associated debugger to examine the state of the system at the designated time, allowing, for example, software errors to be quickly identified and removed.
The debugger can be an external debugger connected to a debug port (in some conventional systems the port is can be implemented as a JTAG port, a particularly configured serial interface specified by the IEEE Joint Test Action Group), or the debugger can be a monitor program running on the processor's central processing unit (CPU). Such a monitoring program is commonly referred to as a self-hosted debugger. External debug tools are well suited for basic low-level, application-independent debugging. Self-hosted debuggers consume some system resources (e.g., program memory, communication peripherals, registers etc.), but are useful for higher-level debugging of complex applications, e.g. operating systems (OS), as they can provide OS-specific task and status information. Furthermore, self-hosted debuggers allow peripherals and interrupts to be serviced during the debug session, minimizing the impact to the underlying application. Both external and self-hosted debuggers can rely on the same debug features (e.g., breakpoints) in the CPU to enable the user to debug the program.
One conventional way to implement a breakpoint is to allocate a specific instruction opcode as a breakpoint instruction. When the CPU of the processor executes this software breakpoint, the CPU can enter debug mode, and return control to the debugger.
To insert a software breakpoint, conventionally the debugger may be required to store the opcode of the breakpointed instruction in some kind of internal, temporary storage. The program memory contents can then be changed, overwriting the opcode of the breakpointed instruction with the software breakpoint instruction. When the CPU executes the software breakpoint, the debugger can examine the system state, and optionally perform other debugging tasks. When finished with the debug tasks, the debugger must execute the breakpointed instruction and return to the instruction following the breakpoint. In some conventional systems, the breakpointed instruction is written to a debug instruction register, and executed on the CPU after it has returned from debug mode.
Software breakpoints are popular, as they are relatively inexpensive to implement, and a large number of breakpoints can be inserted. However, software breakpoints do have a few drawbacks, which limit their usefulness. Some instructions may depend on the mode in which they are executed, e.g. they may execute differently in debug mode than in normal mode. Other instructions, such as a branch instruction, may depend on the current program counter (PC) location as well. In certain implementations, the breakpointed instruction cannot be executed when the CPU is in debug mode, as described above. Instead, the debugger removes the software breakpoint by rewriting the original opcode back to its location in the program memory and exits debug mode, restarting the instruction. The original instruction is thus executed correctly, but the software breakpoint is lost, which is normally not desired. To prevent this, the debugger may be required to insert another software breakpoint on the following instruction before exiting debug mode. When returning from debug mode, the breakpointed instruction will be executed correctly, and the CPU will immediately return to debug mode on the following software breakpoint. The debugger can then overwrite the breakpointed instruction with the software breakpoint, remove the second breakpoint, and exit debug mode.
The multi-breakpoint process described above is sometimes used in connection with microcontrollers having volatile program memory (e.g. RAM). However, if non-volatile program memory such as Flash memory is used, the process becomes further complicated, since a large part of the memory may be required to be erased and rewritten to replace the breakpoint with the original opcode. The whole scale erase and re-write operations are a time-consuming procedure, and may only be applied a limited number of times before the Flash memory wears out. Software breakpoints in these types of systems and processes are less suitable for interactive debugging (e.g., on microcontroller devices with embedded Flash program memory).
For this reason, a number of hardware breakpoint modules are frequently found in such conventional systems. The hardware breakpoint modules do not alter the program memory, but instead halt the CPU when instructions at a particular address in the code are executed. In some conventional systems, each module can normally only halt at a single address. The hardware breakpoint modules may be very costly in terms of silicon area and normally only a relatively small number of hardware breakpoint modules may be included in a singular system. Therefore, hardware breakpoints are most useful to supplement software breakpoints, to reduce the number of times the Flash memory needs to be reprogrammed. In cases where the user needs more breakpoints than there are hardware breakpoint modules available, the debugger must again rely on software breakpoints, despite their inherent drawbacks.

Debugging system and method for use with software breakpoint


A method for controlling an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) having a polyphase power input and an input power circuit coupled to the polyphase power input includes determining to reduce a load on a first phase of the polyphase power input, and in response thereto, controlling the input power circuit to reduce a first input current drawn from the first phase by a first amount and increase a second input current drawn from a second phase of the polyphase power input by a second amount. The UPS may determine to reduce the load on the first phase in response to a request from a smart grid to reduce the load on the first phase or in response to a local determination to reduce the load on the first phase.

1. Field of Invention
Embodiments of the invention relate generally to power management, and more particularly, to dynamic load adjustment per phase of a polyphase uninterruptible power supply.
2. Discussion of Related Art
An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is used to provide backup power to an electrical device, or load, while the primary power source, or mains, is unavailable. A conventional UPS rectifies input power provided by an electric utility using a power factor correction circuit (PFC) to provide a DC voltage to a DC bus. The rectified DC voltage is typically used to charge a battery while mains power is available, as well as to provide power to the DC bus. In the absence of mains power, the battery provides power to the DC bus. From the DC bus, an inverter generates an AC output voltage to the load. Since the DC bus is always powered either by mains or the battery, the output power of the UPS is uninterrupted if the mains fails and the battery is sufficiently charged.
While uninterruptible power supplies are typically used to provide a continuous source of power at a local level (e.g., at a data center or in an office or home), such devices primarily depend on utility power due to the limited capacity of the batteries or other energy storage devices used in conjunction with the UPS. Historically, electric utility service has been demand-driven and inefficient, but increasingly technology is being employed to improve the availability, reliability and efficiency of the electric grid. Commonly, these improved electric grids are called "smart grids."
A "smart grid," as described by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of New York, N.Y., includes "a next-generation electrical power system that is typified by the increased use of communications and information technology in the generation, delivery and consumption of electrical energy." As of 2011, a smart grid is considered an overarching and evolving concept that is not limited to any particular technological features, and may also include standards, goals, objectives, and procedures that collectively support the development, implementation, and efficient delivery of reliable, affordable, and sustainable electricity services. Accordingly, no standard definition of smart grid presently exists; rather, the term refers broadly to various interrelated power generation, distribution, and consumption concepts. Some existing electrical power systems presently incorporate one or more elements that may be characterized as forming portions of a smart grid system rather than the whole.
Among other goals, one objective of a smart grid is to intelligently match power generation with power consumption. Historically, electric utilities have relied on total load averages, which are relatively stable and can be computed ahead of time, to anticipate power demands based on reasonable expectations of consumer requirements. The total load average is used to determine a baseload or minimum amount of power that a utility needs to make available without risking an interruption of service.
However, the total load connected to a power grid can vary significantly over time; for example, commercial power usage is typically higher during daytime than at night, residential power usage is highest during the early morning and evening hours, and loads also increase during periods where heating or cooling demands are greatest. Therefore, by using a total load average, the baseload (and any additional power generation kept in contingency) may be higher than necessary to support loads that fluctuate in real-time. Accordingly, highly reliable power delivery is achieved at the expense of wasted power that is generated in excess of demand. Furthermore, there may be times when the load increases substantially above the baseload capacity of the power utility with little or no warning, which introduces additional reliability and efficiency costs. Accordingly, one objective of a smart grid, generally, is to reactively and/or proactively adjust the baseload (e.g., increase or decrease supply to meet demand) and/or the total load (e.g., increase or decrease demand to meet supply) to optimally match the amount of power generated with the amount of power consumed (demanded) at any given moment. Today many power distributors attempt to match the power generated with the power consumed by stepping up or stepping down individual phases in the power distribution transformers (away from the power consumers); however, this only helps in outbalancing any unbalance in the line voltage and does not balance the grid load nor help reduce the unwanted losses in the distribution lines caused by the unbalance in the grid current. Therefore, it can be difficult to accomplish the power management objectives of the smart grid without some degree of cooperation between the electric utility and power consumers.


A system including an additive manufacturing device to perform at least one additive manufacturing process and to include a prefabricated component during the at least one additive manufacturing process to accelerate build completion of a produced object. Another system and a method are also disclosed.

Manufacturing of goods has traditionally been a multi-location, time intensive process. Typically, raw materials are transformed into components and sub components. These components are then transported to one or more additional facilities where they are turned into assemblies and finally into finished products. The finished product is packaged and shipped to a reseller, such as a retailer. In some instances, the finished product is shipped directly to the end user. Due to the length of the supply chain, goods are, by and large, produced in large volumes with little or no customization. Further, in order to reduce transportation costs and maximize sales volumes, goods are typically shipped to populated areas or other commercial centers.
Remote operations and space operations are impacted by the manufacturing supply chain because availability of a wide variety of goods is drastically reduced and supply of new goods is limited or nonexistent. In many cases, due to high cost, it is impractical to build new manufacturing facilities in remote locations or in space.
Additive manufacturing and similar customizable, computer-controlled manufacturing devices enable rapid on-site production of a part from a raw material, such as a polymer filament feedstock.
Given the foregoing, systems and methods are needed which facilitate on-site or near-to-site production of goods which might otherwise be produced by traditional manufacturing supply chains and facilities. Such goods may be produced by combinations of raw materials (e.g., feedstock) and stocks of sub-components located within the manufacturing system.
Additionally, systems and methods which produce multi-component, multi-material goods in space are needed.

Terrestrial and space-based manufacturing systems


Methods and devices for creating a sound log of activities may include receiving a detected sound from at least one sensor on a computer device. The methods and devices may include comparing the detected sound to a plurality of audio patterns stored in a sound database. The methods and devices may include identifying a sound event for the detected sound based at least upon the comparison of the detected sound to the plurality of audio patterns. The methods and devices may include identifying context information that provides a context for the sound event. The methods and devices may include updating a sound log with the sound event and the context information.

The present disclosure relates to computer devices and audio awareness of environments.
During a day a user typically performs multiple actions in autopilot and may not have an active memory about the actions performed. As such, a user may not remember if they turned off a stove and/or shut a door. Previously, a user may have used a network of sensors (e.g., accelerometers and/or cameras) to aid in tracking their actions. However, if the cameras were not activated and/or a user had privacy concerns about having a camera activated, the user's actions may not have been captured.
Thus, there is a need in the art for improvements in awareness of environments surrounding a user.

Remembering audio traces of physical actions


A supplementary wheel support for a motorized wheelchair to provide a supplementary support, includes a chassis, rockers, wheel supports, buffers, springs, auxiliary wheels and tilt-proof wheels; both side rods of the chassis being respectively pivoted with one end of the rocker; another end of the rocker being pivoted to the wheel support; a buffer being fixed between the chassis and the rocker; the wheel support being bend for its both ends a bending portion to define a triangle; both ends of the wheel support being respectively pivoted to the auxiliary wheel and the tilt-proof wheel; the bending portion of the wheel support being pivoted to another end of the rocker; both ends of the spring being respectively provided on the rocker and the wheel support; and the wheel support being driven by the auxiliary wheel to rise for the tilt-proof wheel to descend and grab the ground.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a supplementary wheel support chassis for a motorized wheelchair, and more particularly, to one that allows an auxiliary wheel and a tilt-proof wheel grab the ground at the same time while maintaining the central gravity of the wheelchair within the chassis to achieve a smooth driving.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
A motorized wheelchair generally available in the market is transmitted with four wheels constantly on the ground. The wheelchair is vulnerable to tilt over when bumping into a pit or climbing up or down a slope due to instable central gravity of the wheelchair. Therefore, as taught in the motorized chair base disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,179,076, the manufacturing industry of motor-driven vehicle has come up with a design to have six wheels to grab the ground for achieving better stable central gravity. The six-wheel design is applicable to motor-driven cars including the power wheelchair by providing two motor-driven wheels in the existing 4-wheel structure so to keep the body stabilized with six wheels firmly grabbing the ground when traveling on rough road.
The six-wheel design is able to keep all six wheels contacting the ground in case of a rough road. However, the motor-driven wheels are provided at the center of the structure and only the motor-driven wheel is provided with a spring while the 4-wheel structure is fixed to where below four ends of the base. There is no spring or similar buffer provided between the base and those four wheels, meaning that the relative height of those four wheels is fixed. As a result, any higher protrusions, deeper pits or other barriers are found on the road, those four wheels may get stuck to prevent the car from moving on. Furthermore, the base on top of those four wheels shakes and swings in four directions to make the driver very uncomfortable since the relative height among four wheels is fixed.
The primary purpose of the present invention is to provide a supplementary support for a motorized wheelchair to keep the central gravity of the car within its chassis to achieve a smooth ride for the driver. To achieve the purpose, the present invention includes a chassis, rockers, wheel supports, buffers, springs, auxiliary wheels and tilt-proof wheels. Wherein, both side rods of the chassis are respectively pivoted to one end of the rocker. Another end of the rocker is pivoted to the wheel support and a buffer is fixed between the bottom of the chassis and the rocker. The wheel support bends for its both ends and a bending portion to define a triangle. Both ends of the wheel support are respectively pivoted to the auxiliary wheel and the tilt-proof wheel. The bending portion of the wheel support is pivoted to another end of the rocker. Both ends of the spring are respectively provided on the rocker and the wheel support. The wheel support is driven by the auxiliary wheel to rise for the tilt-proof wheel to descend to grab the ground and twist the spring. And the wheel support is restored to its original position by the spring upon the wheelchair is back on a flat road.
Another purpose of the present invention is to provide a supplementary wheel support with absorption. To achieve the purpose, a buffer is provided between the chassis and the rocker. The buffer is sandwiched by two hardwood pieces, and both hardwood pieces are packed with a resilient buffer pad. The buffer pad contains inside a hollow portion with the outer side of each hollow portion being provided with a gap for the buffer to function of absorption when the car travels on a rough road.

Supplementary wheel support for a motorized wheelchair


The present disclosure relates generally to semiconductor structures, and more particularly to asymmetric field effect transistors (FET) on fully depleted silicon on insulator (FDSOI) semiconductor devices for high frequency and high voltage applications and their method of manufacture. The semiconductor device of the present disclosure includes a semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) layer disposed above a substrate, the SOI layer having a source region, a channel region, a drift region and a drain region, where the drift region adjoins the drain region and the channel region, a gate structure disposed on the channel region, a multilayer drain spacer disposed on a drain-facing sidewall of the gate structure and covering the drift region, and a source spacer disposed on a source-facing sidewall of the gate structure, where the source and drain spacers are asymmetric with each other.

Rapid advances in semiconductor technologies, driven by immense consumer demand, have resulted in dramatically increased packing densities and higher speeds of operation for device elements in integrated circuits (IC). The evolution of technologies to produce smaller and denser ICs has created several challenges. For example, the applicability of smaller and denser semiconductor devices in high voltage microelectronics has created a challenge with respect to breakdown voltages of those devices.
Development of fully depleted semiconductor on insulator (FDSOI) platforms for semiconductor devices can offer higher performance, improved electrostatics and current leakage control, as compared to semiconductor devices built on bulk silicon substrate platforms. Performance of FDSOI devices may be further improved, for example, by increasing their maximum frequency. One possible approach to increasing the maximum frequency is to decrease the gate length of transistors in the semiconductor device. However, the decrease in the gate length is found to reduce the breakdown voltage of the transistor. As a result, current FDSOI devices do not include high voltage capabilities at high-frequency applications, e.g., radio frequency, due to an inadequate breakdown voltage (i.e., too low of a breakdown voltage) in such devices being made with smaller process technologies. With an increasing need for higher operating voltages in transistors, there is a higher likelihood of an eventual breakdown of the transistors, which causes an uncontrollable increase in the current flow. Other exemplary detrimental effects of the transistor breakdown may include punch-through, avalanche breakdown, and gate oxide breakdown.
Therefore, there is a need to provide semiconductor devices that can overcome, or at least ameliorate, one or more of the disadvantages as described above.


A device to permit marking of edges of a garden and the like is provided employing a flexible retractable tape mounted relative to a housing, wherein the housing is arranged to slidably receive a first flat post along a rear wall of the housing, with a round post through an opening within the tape to permit ease of length measuring relative to a garden scenario.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of invention relates to marking apparatus, and more particularly pertains to a new and improved garden marker apparatus wherein the same is directed for the measuring of garden areas.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Tape measuring devices of various types are indicated in the prior art and exemplified by the U.S. Pat. No. 4,730,783.
The instant invention attempts to overcome deficiencies of the prior art by employing a tape measure housing cooperating with spaced posts when mounted to the tape housing rear wall, with a further post slidably directed through a measuring tape free distal end and in this respect, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.


A method determines the probabilities of states of a system represented by a model including of nodes connected by links. Each node represents possible states of a corresponding part of the system, and each link represents statistical dependencies between possible states of related nodes. The nodes are grouped into arbitrary sized clusters such that every node is included in at least one cluster. A minimal number of marginalization constraints to be satisfied between the clusters are determined. A super-node network is constructed so that each cluster of nodes is represented by exactly one super-node. Super-nodes that share one of the marginalization constraints are connected by super-links. The super-node network is searched to locate closed loops of super-nodes containing at least one common node. A normalization operator for each closed loop is determined, and messages between the super-nodes are defined. Initial values are assigned to the messages, and the messages between super-nodes are updated using standard belief propagation. The messages are replaced by associated normalized values using the corresponding normalization operator, and approximate probabilities of the states of the system are determined from the messages when a termination condition is reached.

This invention relates generally to modeling probabilistic systems, and more particularly, to modeling probabilistic systems using belief propagation in a Markov network.
Computer models are frequently used to study the behavior of complex probabilistic systems. When the systems contain many inter-dependent random variables, Markov networks are often used. In a Markov network, nodes of the network represent the possible states of a part of the system, and links between the nodes represent statistical dependencies between the possible states of those nodes.
By the Hammersly-Clifford theorem, from the study of Markov networks, the probability of any set of states at the nodes of the network can be written as the product of compatibility functions between clusters of nodes.
FIG. 1 shows a simple network with four nodes labeled a, b, c, and d. The links between the nodes represent the statistical dependencies between the possible states of the nodes. For the case of pairwise probabilistic interactions between nodes of the network, the overall joint probability of the system can be expressed as the product of compatibility functions for each linked pair of nodes:
P(Sa, Sb, Sc, Sd)=xcfx86ab(Sa, Sb)xcfx86bc(Sb, Sc)xcfx86ca(Sc, Sa)xcfx86bd(Sb, Sd),xe2x80x83xe2x80x83[1]
where xcfx86ab is the compatibility matrix between nodes a and b, sa is a random variable describing the state at node a, and similarly for the other nodes and variables.
Often, Markov networks for practical applications are very large. For example, an image acquired from a scene by a camera may be represented by a Markov network between all small neighboring patches, or even pixels, of the acquired image. Similarly, the well known xe2x80x9ctravelling salesman problemxe2x80x9d can map onto a Markov network where the maximum probability state corresponds to the shortest path of the salesman""s route. This network has as many nodes as cities to be visited. In some Markov networks, the nodes can represent measured input signals, such as visual input data. Markov models are also extensively used in speech recognition systems.
To analyze the probabilistic system modeled by a Markov network, one typically wants to find the marginal probabilities of certain network variables of interest. (The xe2x80x9cmarginal probabilityxe2x80x9d of a variable signifies the probability of that variable ignoring, the state of any other network variable.) For example, it may be useful to examine the probability of a variable that represents an underlying explanation for some measured data, such as the probability of particular words used to vocalize particular speech sounds. To find those probabilities, the Markov network is marginalized over all the other variables in the network. This gives the probability of the variable representing the explanation, given the measured input data values. This marginalization is thus a form of inference.
One may also want to find states of the nodes, which maximize the network probabilities. For example, for the Markov network corresponding to the travelling salesman problem, it is desired to find the state at each node which maximize the probability of the Markov network. These states, which minimize the length of the salesman""s route, are known as the maximum a posteriori probability (MAP) states,.
In the example of FIG. 1, it is possible to determine the marginal probability P(sa) of the variable at node a by summing the random values at nodes b, c, and d:                               P                                (                          s              a                        )                          =                              ∑                                          s                b                            ,                              s                c                            ,                              s                d                                                                                φ                ab                                                          (                                                      s                    a                                    ,                                      s                    b                                                  )                                                                                φ                bc                                                          (                                                      s                    b                                    ,                                      s                    c                                                  )                                                                                φ                ca                                                          (                                                      s                    c                                    ,                                      s                    a                                                  )                                                                                φ                  bd                                                                  (                                                            s                      b                                        ,                                          s                      d                                                        )                                            .                                                          [        2        ]
In general, especially for large networks, these marginal probabilities are infeasible to determine directly. The joint sum over all possible states of all the nodes can be of too high a dimension to sum numerically, particularly when the network has closed loops.
FIGS. 2a-b show examples of Markov networks with many loops for which it is difficult to find either the marginal probability at a node, or the state of the node which maximizes the overall probability of the Markov network. Both networks are in the form of lattices, which are commonly used to describe the joint probabilities of variables spatially, distributed over two dimensions. FIG. 2a shows a rectangular lattice, and FIG. 2b shows a triangular lattice. These type of lattice networks are used to model many systems.
Techniques to approximate the marginal probabilities for such structures are known, but these techniques are typically very slow. Simulated annealing can be used, or Gibbs sampling, see Geman et al. xe2x80x9cStochastic relaxation, Gibbs distribution, and the Bayesian restoration of images,xe2x80x9d IEEE Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 6:721-741, 1984. Another class of approximation techniques are variational methods, see Jordan, xe2x80x9cLearning in graphical models,xe2x80x9d MIT Press, 1998. However, these methods require an appropriate class of variational approximation functions for a particular problem. It is not obvious which functions, out of all possible ones, to use for the approximations.
For the special case of Markov networks that form chains or trees, there is a local message-passing method that calculates the marginal probabilities at each node, see Pearl, xe2x80x9cProbabilistic reasoning in intelligent systems: networks of plausible inference,xe2x80x9d Morgan Kaufmann, 1988. The later method is now in widespread use, and is equivalent to the xe2x80x9cforward-backwardxe2x80x9d and Viterbi methods for solving one dimensional Hidden Markov Models (HMM), and to Kalman filters and their generalization to trees, see Luettgen et al. in xe2x80x9cEfficient multiscale regularization with applications to the computation of optical flow,xe2x80x9d IEEE Trans. Image Processing, 3(1):41-64, 1994. This message-passing method gives the exact marginal probabilities for any Markov network that does not have loops. This is referred to as the xe2x80x9cstandardxe2x80x9d belief propagation, or message-passing method below.
Unfortunately, many Markov networks of practical interest do contain loops. For example, an image, modeled as a Markov network of local image patches connected to their nearest neighbors, gives a lattice structured Markov network as shown in FIGS. 2a-b, also called a Markov random field. This type of network contains many loops.
Another method for inference in Markov networks applies the local message-passing rules derived for trees and chains in a network, even though the network may contain loops, see Weiss, xe2x80x9cBelief propagation and revision in networks with loops,xe2x80x9d Technical Report 1616, MIT AI Lab, 1997. This is referred to as the xe2x80x9cloopyxe2x80x9d belief propagation method in the description below, although it should be clearly understood that the xe2x80x9cloopyxe2x80x9d method is nothing more than the xe2x80x9cstandardxe2x80x9d belief propagation method applied to a network with loops. When such a procedure converges, it can yield an approximate determination of the marginal probabilities. However, the loopy method sometimes gives too poor an approximation to the marginal probabilities, and often does not even converge. In the latter case, the approximation gives no single answer for the desired marginal probabilities.
Therefore, it is desired to provide a method for determining marginal probabilities in Markov networks that is both relatively fast and more accurate than the loopy method. Furthermore, it is desired to provide a method for networks with loops that converges more reliably than the prior art loopy belief propagation method.
The present invention provides a method for determining the probabilities of nodes in a network model of a complex probabilistic system. More particularly, the method determines desired marginal or maximum a posteriori probabilities in networks with loops. The method uses a message-passing scheme, appropriate for networks with loops, which is more accurate and typically converges more reliably and in fewer iterations than prior art loopy belief propagation methods.
The invention describes a class of procedures in which computational cost and accuracy can be traded off against each other, allowing a user of the invention to select more computation for more accuracy in a particular application of the invention.
The invention has two major advantages over the prior art loopy belief propagation method. First, the invented method normally gives much more accurate answers for the desired marginal probabilities. Second, the invented method can converge to a single answer in cases where the loopy method does not.
Instead of finding the marginal probability at a node, one embodiment of the invention finds the states at each node which approximately maximize the probability of the entire network. Thus, the invention provides a novel way to approximate both the marginal probabilities and MAP states in Markov networks.
Many Markov network problems of interest are known to be NP-hard problems. A problem is NP-hard when it is intrinsically harder than those problems that can be solved by a Turing machine in nondeterministic polynomial time. When a decision version of a combinatorial optimization problem belongs to the class of NP-complete problems, which includes the traveling salesman problem described above, an optimization version is NP-hard. The invented method yields fast, approximate solutions for some of these very difficult optimization problems.
More particularly, the invention provides a method that determines the probabilities of states of a system represented by a model. The model including nodes connected by links. Each node represents possible states of a corresponding part of the system, and each link represents statistical dependencies between possible states of related nodes. The nodes are grouped into arbitrary sized clusters such that every node is included in at least one cluster. A minimal number of marginalization constraints to be satisfied between the clusters are determined.
A super-node network is constructed so that each cluster of nodes is represented by exactly one super-node. Super-nodes that share one of the marginalization constraints are connected by super-links. The super-node network is searched to locate closed loops of super-nodes containing at least one common node. A normalization operator for each closed loop is determined, and messages between the super-nodes are defined.
Initial values are assigned to the messages, and the messages between super-nodes are updated using standard belief propagation. The messages are replaced by associated normalized values using the corresponding normalization operator, and approximate probabilities of the states of the system are determined from the messages when a termination condition is reached.

Super-node normalized belief propagation for probabilistic systems

Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc


A method of connecting two high voltage DC cables in a flexible cable joint. Each high voltage DC cable can include, from the inside to the outside, a central conductor, an adjacent circumferential cable inner semicon layer, an adjacent circumferential cable insulation layer, and an adjacent circumferential cable outer semicon layer. The method includes: connecting the conductors of the two cables in a cable joint; providing adjacent to the conductors a circumferential joint inner semicon layer connecting the cable inner semicon layers of the two cables; providing at least one circumferential and contiguous layer of field grading material connecting the cable outer semicon layer with the joint inner semicon layer and covering the cable insulation layer of the corresponding cable; providing a circumferential joint insulation layer around the layer of field grading material, and where appropriate around the joint inner semicon layer; and providing a circumferential joint outer semicon layer connecting the cable outer semicon layers of the two cables.

For the transmission of high voltage (such as in the range of several hundreds of kV) direct current (DC), specific types of cables have been developed which take the particular requirements associated with DC transmission into account. These cables are known as high voltage direct current cables (HVDC cables), and their structure comprises essentially the following elements from the inside to the outside in a radial direction:                a conducting core or conductor, including a multitude of individual conductors such as copper or aluminium; this conductor is the high-voltage (HV) element;        a conductor screen ("semiconductor layer", generally called a "semicon") which can be made of an electrically conducting polymer layer, e.g. a polymer layer filled with carbon particles; the polymer layer is generally called an "inner semicon";        an insulation layer which can be made of cross-linked polymers such as polyethylene;        an insulation screen which can be made of an electrically conducting polymer layer, e.g. a polymer layer filled with carbon particles ("semiconductor layer"); this element is held on ground potential and is generally called an "outer semicon";        shielding and protecting layers which essentially do not contribute to the actual insulation of the high-voltage (HV) element.
In such a conductor, the inner semicon, the insulation layer and the outer semicon can be provided as one single polymer layer which is made in an extrusion process. The inner semicon layer and the outer semicon layer are made by providing the radially innermost and the radially outermost regions of this polymer layer with a corresponding carbon black filler.
In alternating current (AC) electricity transport, for which differences in the dielectric constant of different insulating materials are crucial in the distribution of the electric field around high voltage parts, the dielectric constant generally does not vary more than by a factor of 1-3 for commonly used materials. In contrast to AC electricity transport, for high voltage direct current transport, the resistivities of the insulating materials are of greater significance than the dielectric constants of the insulating materials, which can vary by factors of 100 or more. This phenomenon creates an impetus for a more careful analysis of the electric field distribution, such as in a situation where cables are connected in a way that the insulation is not simply terminated in a cable termination element but has to be continued in a cable joint. The variation in the resistivity is particularly problematic in view of the fact that resistivities show a high temperature dependence, and as a result, the matching of resistivity of insulation materials may not be possible for all temperatures.
Accordingly, specific prefabricated cable joints have been developed for such HVDC cables which ensure that the distortions of the electric field distribution in the insulating material are small in order to avoid field enhancements and concomitant electric breakdown.
It is known to use tape-based cable joining technology for flexible connections between HVDC cables. Flexible joints for HVDC light cables can be made by lapping and successively vulcanizing semi-conductive and insulating tapes around the cable. Then, the lead and polyethylene jacket sheaths, and the armouring are mounted. The joint-cable interface can have a conical shape.
Among other things, there is the consideration that the electric field distribution in the interface region between the cable insulation material and the joint insulation material is made as homogenous as possible. According to conventional techniques, the homogeneity of the interface region can be obtained by matching the electrical properties of the joint insulation and the cable insulation as close as possible. In particular, the resistivity ratio, which determines the field distribution in the cable joint region at DC voltages, is made close to one. However, this requires a high quality and extremely well controlled process.

Method of forming a flexible joint with resistive field grading material for HVDC cables


A lighting fixture apparatus includes a frame portion, a louver portion and a diffuser lens. The louver portion includes a baffle system for passing unobstructed at least a portion of the light impinging thereon. The diffuser lens includes a surface for diffusing light rays. At least one directional lighting apparatus comprised of LED strips is attached to and supported by the frame portion. The LED strips are disposed between the louver portion and the diffuser portion. The LED assembly includes a rigid strip having a first end and a second end opposite the first end portion, and a first surface and a second surface opposite the second surface. A first rotary support member and a second rotary support member are connected to the strip portion at respective first and second ends. A plurality of electrical lighting elements are mounted on the first surface and are configured in at least one electrical circuit.

Conventional luminaires used in lighting systems are generally classified as direct or indirect lighting fixtures. Direct lighting shines directly on a surface, such as a desktop or work surface, without being reflected from another surface. Indirect lighting is ambient lighting that is reflected from another surface such as a ceiling before impinging on the lighted area or surface. More recently, hybrid type fixtures have been developed that include both direct and indirect lighting characteristics. Such lights may be specified with the percentage of direct/indirect light characteristics, for example, 65%/35%, where 65% is the portion of indirect and 35% the portion of direct, of the total light emitted by the fixture. These ratios are generally achieved using fluorescent lighting tubes that emit light equally in all directions.
The light distribution ratio between direct and indirect is accomplished through the geometry of the fixture in which the fluorescent tubes are mounted. Diffusers and parabolic reflectors are positioned below the fluorescent tubes to reflect portions of the downwardly directed light, which is then reflected to the ceiling. Ceilings normally have an irregular surface that further diffuses and scatters the light, rather than directly reflecting the light. The percentage of indirect to direct light may be designed with more or less direct light. Once the light distribution profile of a luminance is set in the manufacturing stage it is not capable of being varied without disassembling and rebuilding the entire fixture with different components.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,789,914 discloses a luminance that provides both direct and indirect lighting through elongated reflecting members and a main reflector for delivering a uniform illumination. Each reflecting member is a louver extending along the luminance sides and the main reflector extends between the luminance sides. The luminance reflects light directly and indirectly to furnish a uniform illumination without undesirable hot spots and glare.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,843,586 is directed to a luminance having a concave reflector suspended from the ceiling. The reflector is positioned directly in the path of the light. The light is shielded from the reflector and diffused by being reflected onto the walls and ceiling. A reflector dome may be positioned above the light source and opposite the pendant reflector. The luminance redirects diffused light reflected by the pendant reflector while shielding a viewer from the intense light present at its point source.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,705,742 is directed to a system for directing light from a luminance. The luminance includes a source of light removably positionable in the luminance, a first reflecting device installed in the luminance for transmitting substantially indirect lighting from the luminance, a second reflecting device mounted in the luminance for transmitting substantially direct lighting from the luminance, and a fascia engageable with the luminance for emitting substantially luminous direct lighting. The luminance is useful for providing combinations and permutations of direct and indirect lighting.
Referring first to FIG. 1, an exemplary prior art luminance is generally designated as 10. A single lamp serving as a light source 12 is disposed between a louver portion 14 and a diffuser lens 16. Rays of light 20 are emitted radially from the light source 12 substantially uniformly in every direction. A portion of the light rays 20 emitted from the light source 12 are directed toward the ceiling 26. The upward light rays 20 penetrate the diffuser lens 16 and are spread or scattered by the diffuser lens 16 into a generally random pattern in the direction of the ceiling 26. The scattered light rays 20′ are then reflected from the ceiling 26 toward the area below the luminance 10, to provide the indirect component of the light distribution.
A portion of the light rays 20 emitted from the light source 12 are also directed toward the louver portion 14, as indicated by arrows 30 and 30′. The light rays 20 in the downward direction impinge on the louver portion 14 at various angles. The downward light rays 30, 30′ thus provide the direct component of the light distribution, and an additional portion of the indirect light distribution. Yet another portion of the light rays 20 are emitted horizontally, and do not impinge on either the diffuser portion 16 or the louver portion 14. This horizontally emitted portion of the light rays 20 accounts for ambient light in the general area.
The luminance shown in FIG. 1 is for illustration only, and many variations of these arrangements are known to those skilled in the art. For example, 2-, 4- or 8-lamp luminaires are commonly available, and the louver portions may be comprised of a variety of plastic lenses, parabolic reflectors, diffusers, and combinations thereof.
LED light sources offer several benefits over fluorescent systems, such as reliability, longer life, reduced heat dissipation, and reduced energy consumption, with little or no added weight. High voltage ballasts that are required to start the fluorescent tubes are not needed for LED light sources.
A light source made from LEDs is highly directional, focusing most light in one orientation as opposed to the continuous radial distribution of light around a fluorescent tube. The combination of mounting, location, filtering and distribution of white LEDs in a multi-LED design is critical to achieving an aesthetic light output. The directional nature of the diodes themselves creates a situation where a slight angular change in the installation can significantly change the appearance of lighted areas. As a result, the primary usage of LED light sources to date has been for commercial signage and architectural accent lighting, rather than general-purpose lighting. LEDs offer many advantages, including low power consumption, low heat dissipation and much longer life compared to traditional fluorescent and incandescent bulbs.
Therefore what is needed is a luminance that can have variable ratios of direct/indirect lighting without the need to change the geometry of the luminance.