Example embodiments relate to a plasma-spraying device for spraying a powdered material, including electrodes, which may form a plasma channel having an inlet end and an outlet end, and a unit for supplying the powdered material to the plasma channel. The powder supply unit may be arranged between a first section of the electrodes located upstream of the powder supply unit and a second section of the electrodes located downstream of the powder supply, as seen in the direction of plasma flow of the plasma channel.

Plasma-spraying devices or plasmatrons are used for low-power thermal spraying of powdered materials, for example in connection with different kinds of surface-coating. Such devices generally comprise a cathode, an anode and a plasma channel formed therebetween. During use of the device an electric arc is generated in the plasma channel, between the anode and the cathode, and gas is then introduced in the plasma channel for forming a plasma. The plasma jet thus flows through the plasma channel from an inlet end adjacent the cathode to an outlet end adjacent the anode. At the same time, a powdered material is supplied to the plasma jet for spraying thereof.
Today, one of two alternatives is used for supplying the powder.
According to the first alternative, the powder is introduced in the outlet area of the plasma channel, adjacent the anode. One advantage of this alternative is that when the powder is supplied the plasma flow is fully developed and has certain determined properties (temperature, velocity, sectional area, energy, etc.). These properties are dependent, inter alia, on the geometry of the plasma channel, the plasma-generating gas used and the amount of energy supplied. A further advantage of supplying the powder at the anode is that the heating of the plasma flow is not affected by the properties of the powdered material.
In connection with this variant of powder supply the powder is usually supplied perpendicularly to the plasma flow. The path of the powder particles travelling out from the anode area towards the surface to be coated will thus depend largely on the size and weight of the particles. The larger and heavier particles enter the high-temperature zone of the plasma jet directly, whereas the lighter ones first reach the centre of the plasma jet only in relatively cold zones located relatively far away from the anode. This means that there is a risk of part of the powder particles not being sufficiently hot and, moreover, of them missing the target, i.e. the object to be coated, for example, with the powdered material.
This is disadvantageous in that a large part of the powdered material is wasted, resulting in poor material economy. In other words, the powder-sprayed coating is produced using only a small part of the powder supplied. This is particularly disturbing when expensive coating materials are being used. The problem can be solved to some extent by using more homogeneous powders. A disadvantage associated with such powders, however, is that they are difficult to manufacture and, thus, relatively expensive.
To avoid problems associated with a perpendicular powder supply at the outlet area of the plasma channel, attempts have been made to provide a supply pipe for horizontal powder supply, which pipe is arranged directly in the plasma jet. However, one disadvantage hereof is that problems arise in connection with the heating of the plasma flow and that the plasma flow properties are greatly interfered with.
A further disadvantage generally associated with the introduction of the powdered material in the anode area, at the outlet of the plasma channel, is that a large amount of energy is needed to maintain the high temperature and specific power (power per unit of volume) of the plasma flow, so as to obtain, in turn, a homogeneous coating. It is believed that this is due to the fact that the plasma flow at the outlet of the plasma-spraying device, where the powder is supplied, has a virtually parabolic temperature and velocity distribution. Thus, the temperature and velocity gradient and the thermal enthalpy of the plasma flow are inversely proportional to the diameter of the plasma jet. To increase the homogeneity of the spray coating it is therefore necessary to increase the diameter of the plasma jet, which requires a lot of energy.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,145,287 and 4,445,021 discloses plasma-spraying devices in which the powdered material is introduced in the anode area, at the outlet of the plasma channel.
According to a second known alternative, the powder is supplied at the inlet of the plasma channel, at the cathode. In this case, the powder is heated by the electric arc simultaneously with the plasma-generating gas. The cathode area is considered to be a cold zone, which allows the powder to be introduced in the centre of the plasma flow.
When supplying gas at the cathode area in a plasma channel where an electric arc is generated at a predetermined discharge current, a small part of the gas will flow into the central part of the channel where the temperature is high, while the remaining part of the gas will flow along the channel walls, forming a cold gas layer between the channel walls and the electric arc. By using this gas distribution only a small part of the powder supplied at the inlet will flow into the electric arc, while the large part of the powder will flow in the cold layer adjacent the channel walls. This results in the powder being unevenly heated and the process being difficult to control. Furthermore, the channel and the anode risk being clogged by the powder, which thus has a detrimental effect on the conditions required for a stable plasma flow.
Trying to increase the transfer of mass to the central part of the channel by increasing the gas and powder flow is not a practicable alternative. The reason is that if the gas and powder flow is increased, while the current is kept constant, the diameter of the electric arc will decrease, which aggravates the problem of powder material accumulating in the cold areas along the channel walls. At the same time, the time during which the powder particles that actually end up in the heating zone remain in this zone decreases, since their velocity increases. This further reduces the quality of the process. Therefore, the amount of material in the hot zone cannot be increased if the current remains constant. Increasing the current implies, in turn, disadvantages both for the design and handling of the plasma-spraying device.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,225,652, 5,332,885 and 5,406,046 disclose plasma-spraying devices in which the powder is supplied at the cathode.
When analysing plasma-spraying processes, it has been found that the properties of the coating formed mainly depend on the thermal condition and velocity of the powder during spraying. The term "thermal condition" here primarily means the thermal profile and state of aggregation of the material. In prior-art plasma-spraying devices it is difficult, as described above, to control the thermal condition and velocity of the powder.


A lighting strike protection device for applying automatically to a fiber composite component. The protection device includes a reinforcement structure having a width that is less than a width of the metal strip. The fiber composite component having an integrated lighting strike protection.

The invention concerns a lighting strike protection means for applying automatically to a fiber composite component and a fiber composite component with a lightning strike protection.
In modern aircraft construction components that are manufactured with fiber-composite plastics are widely deployed. In the structural regions of aviation vehicles carbon fiber-reinforced thermosetting plastics are primarily deployed, wherein carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastic high-performance plastics are also encountered to some extent. Furthermore other reinforcing fibers, such as, for example, glass fibers, Kevlar® fibers, or Aramid® fibers, can be deployed. With the deployment of fiber composite plastics a considerable potential for weight saving ensues; amongst other factors this leads to increased ranges by virtue of reduced fuel consumption. Furthermore in comparison to the metallic materials, in particular the aluminum alloys, for a long time customary in aircraft construction, plastic materials have excellent corrosion and fatigue resistance, as a result of which the servicing and maintenance effort can be significantly reduced in the operation of such aircraft.
By virtue of the generally significantly lower electrical conductivity of the fiber composite plastics compared with metallic materials, additional measures must be taken, in particular for lightning strike protection and earth return paths for the on-board electrical systems. The earth return paths are achieved, for example, by means of additional copper lines with large cross-sections, while the lightning strike protection is achieved by means of metals integrated into the external surfaces of the structural components. At the present time structural components, such as, for example, shell modules for fuselage sections, are often produced with the aid of the so-called ATL-method ("Automated Tape Laying"). In the tape laying process prepreg materials having the shape of tapes, in particular carbon fiber tapes, that are preimpregnated with a resin and that have a common width from 75 mm to 300 mm are laid down in an automated manner by means of a suitable device on a form-defining molding tool in various spatial directions, until the fiber composite component that is being manufactured has achieved a prescribed material thickness in all regions.
An alternative laying method is the so-called AFP-method ("Automated Fiber Placement"). In the fiber placement process prepreg materials, in particular carbon fiber strands or carbon fiber bundles that normally are ⅛″ to 1″ wide are laid down automatically. Alternatively, the prepreg materials are replaced by dry fiber strands or dry fiber bundles.
Due to the enhanced width of the tapes to be laid down, the ATL-method is used basically for slightly curved or flat surfaces, while the AFP-method is preferred for more complex geometries.
In the procedures of previous known prior art, lightning strike protection means are manually applied before or after the fiber tapes have been laid down. For this purpose a ribbon-form copper foil is laid down and pressed down on load-bearing material in the form of overlapping widths. With the application of pressure and/or temperature, for example by means of a vacuum bag procedure in an autoclave, the construction is then cured to form the finished fiber composite component.
In the patent application WO 2010/135318 A2 a method for automatically laying down a lightning strike protection means is shown. The lightning strike protection means has a metal strip and a bendable reinforcement structure for stabilizing the metal strip during the automated laying process. The reinforcement structure is attached to the metal strip over the entire length and has the same width as the metal strip.

Lightning strike protection means and fiber composite component


The present invention discloses a yellow dye compound having a structure of the following formula (I):

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a yellow dye compound, and more particularly relates to a yellow dye compound especially applied to ink jet ink for paper printing, which can be made into yellow ink jet ink with greenish yellow, wide color gamut, and excellent solubility.
2. Description of the Related Art
The conventional C.I. Reactive Yellow 95 is used in cellulose fiber dyeing. The present invention modifies the structure of C.I. Reactive Yellow 95 and then applies it to the yellow dye compound for paper-printing ink jet ink and improves the solubility of the dye compound. Besides, the usually used yellow ink composition, such as C.I. Direct Yellow 86 with reddish yellow and C.I. Acid Yellow 23 with greenish yellow, are not bright and chromatic enough.
Therefore, among the dye compounds of ink jet ink, a dye compound is in demand in purpose of making a yellow ink jet ink with greenish yellow, wide color gamut, excellent solubility and good storage stability.

Yellow dye compound and the ink composition thereof

Abstract: wherein M is H, Li, NH4 or Na. The dye compound of the present invention is particularly applied to yellow dye compound for paper-printing ink jet ink and can be made into yellow ink jet ink with greenish yellow, wide color gamut, and excellent solubility.


A socket for installing a removable memory card in a device is provided having a hook switch mounted on a mainboard of a device and electrically connected thereto, and a sliding tray is insertable into the tray socket from a position extended from the device to make an electrical contact with the tray socket. The sliding tray is alternately retracted and extended by the hook switch when the sliding tray is repeatedly pushed, and a memory socket is installed or formed on an top surface of the sliding tray, for accommodating a memory card and electrically connecting the memory card to the tray socket through the sliding tray.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for installing a small-sized removable memory card, such as a trans-flash memory card, in a terminal, and more particularly, to a socket for installing a trans-flash memory card in a terminal, the socket providing a reliable connection between the trans-flash memory card and the terminal and preventing the trans-flash memory card from breakage that may easily occur during installing and uninstalling due to its small size, thereby improving reliability of the terminal.
2. Background of the Prior Art
Nowadays, almost everyone possesses one or more portable wireless terminals owing to the rapidly developing electronic and communication industry. Therefore, users demand a terminal having various additional functions in addition to basic calling service, and accordingly terminals of various additional functions are consistently introduced into the market to satisfy such demand.
There are a number of additional functions in the portable wireless terminal: including basic Internet connection, video on demand (VOD), MP3 replay, digital camera using small-sized lens assembly, camcorder, access to various contents, and so on. That is, increasing numbers of functions, demanded in users' everyday life, are made possible with the wireless terminal.
To carry out the various functions, the terminal requires large memory capacity, and therefore terminal manufacturers are trying to make terminals that can efficiently use various kinds of removable memory cards such as MMC (Multimedia Card), SMC (Smart Media Card), xD (eXtreme Digital)-Picture Card, etc., besides basic built-in memory.
There are two typical sockets for installing a removable memory card (hereinafter also termed simply "memory card").
One is a push-type memory card socket using a well-known hook switch. The push-type memory card socket is installed in a mainboard of a terminal, and the hook switch is installed beside the socket. To install a memory card, a user inserts the memory card into a memory card slot defined at an outer side of the terminal and pushes the memory card inwardly to allow an electrical contact between the memory card and the socket. To remove the memory card, the user pushes the memory card again in the inserting direction to make the hook switch release and eject the memory card. That is, the installing and uninstalling of the memory card are carried out by the pushing actions. However, the push-type socket is not suitable for a small-sized memory card because the small-sized memory card can be easily bent or damaged by the pushing actions.
The other is a hinge-type memory card socket that is proposed to obviate the problems of the push-type memory card socket. The hinge-type memory card socket includes a cover of which one end is rotatably mounted on an upper side of the socket for a hinge motion. To install a memory card, a user opens the cover, inserts the memory card in the socket, and closes the cover. That is, the hinge-type memory card socket can be used regardless of the size of the memory card. The hinge-type memory card socket, mounted on a mainboard, must be exposed to the outside of a terminal for the user to install the memory card, and therefore the exposed side of the hinge-type memory socket is typically located at a rear side of the terminal to protect the exposed socket with a battery pack. However, it is inconvenient for the user to power off the terminal and remove the battery pack prior to installing the memory card.
As described above, the two types of sockets are not suitable for recently introduced very small-sized memory cards such as a trans-flash memory card having a width of less than 1 mm.


Reaction of a carboxylic acid-containing polymer with certain aromatic amines and polyols results in ester containing dispersant viscosity modifiers with improved soot handling performance in heavy-duty diesel engines, compared with non-ester containing dispersants.

The present invention relates to dispersants for use in fuels and in engine oil lubricants, especially for reducing soot-induced viscosity increase in heavy duty diesel engine lubricants.
Heavy duty diesel vehicles may use exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) engines in efforts to reduce environmental emissions. Among the consequences of recirculating the exhaust gas through the engine are different soot structures and increased viscosity of the oil at lower soot levels, compared with engines without EGR. It is desirable that oil exhibit minimal viscosity increase, e.g., less than 12 mm2/sec (cSt) at a soot loading of 6 weight % in a Mack T-11 EGR engine test.
Current methods used to disperse EGR soot include the use of dispersant viscosity modifiers (DVM's) consisting of a maleinated ethylene/propylene copolymer capped with an aromatic amine. One such aromatic amine is 4-aminodiphenylamine (ADPA) as discussed in Nalesnik, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,863,623.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,234,435, Meinhardt et al., Nov. 18, 1980, discloses a composition wherein a succinated polybutene is condensed with either an alkyl polyamine to make a succinimide dispersant or an alkyl polyol to make a succinic ester dispersant. U.S. Patent Application 2006/0025316, published Feb. 2, 2006, discloses a reaction product of a polymer comprising carboxylic acid functionality and an amine where the resulting product is used as a viscosity modifier in a lubricant.
The present invention provides an alternative to the DVM's discussed above for improved soot handling by using a succinic ester-containing dispersant. It is known that ester containing dispersants disperse sludge well but are not good soot dispersants. It is surprising then, that the ester-containing dispersants described herein show excellent soot dispersive characteristics.
The present invention, therefore, solves the problem of soot related increases in lubricant viscosity by providing improved soot dispersion and toleration properties, particularly in diesel engines, and especially in heavy duty diesel engines employing exhaust gas recirculation.

Ester dispersant composition for soot handling in EGR engines


A method of assessing the analytical performance of a biochemical measured using a multi-analyte assay is described. The method includes analytically validating a measurement of the level of a first biochemical in a sample, wherein the first biochemical has been previously analytically validated for three or more analytical validation conditions; measuring the level of a second biochemical in a sample, wherein the second biochemical is structurally or biochemically related to the first biochemical; and comparing validation parameters of the first biochemical with validation parameters of the second biochemical to determine whether the performance of the second biochemical is acceptable based on the comparison results.

Metabolomic profiling (global biochemical profiling) is a large scale, semi-quantitative method that examines perturbations related to biochemical abnormalities such as those in amino acid, carbohydrate, organic acid, lipid, and nucleotide metabolism. The test analyzes thousands of compounds simultaneously using a combination of chromatography and mass spectrometry (e.g., GC-MS and LC-MS/MS) technologies. Metabolomic profiling can be used as a screening tool for individuals who have, for example, an undifferentiated phenotype or as supportive evidence in individuals with equivocal mutations in genes related to metabolic processes.
For example, biochemical screening studies in the area of inborn errors of metabolism (IEM) have shown the clinical significance and utility of the metabolomic profiling approach (Miller, M J et al. J Inherit Metab Dis. 2015 November; 38(6):1029-39). The screening of the human metabolome in sample types such as plasma, serum, urine and cerebrospinal fluid has revealed informative and novel metabolic signatures as compared to the limited biochemical analysis provided by clinical diagnostic kits. The ability to use a metabolomic profiling approach to generate biochemical phenotypes provides an additional analytical tool to detect abnormal levels of metabolite production that can be used in combination with targeted, quantitative biochemical assays. Importantly, global biochemical profiling identifies and measures the levels of biochemicals not currently monitored in clinical diagnostic kits, which has underscored the utility of global metabolomic profiling as a tool for monitoring a variety of clinically relevant biochemicals.
Before a test or assay can be used in a clinical setting, certain regulatory requirements must be fulfilled. In addition to clinical validation and clinical utility, analytical validation must be demonstrated. Traditional approaches for validating a biochemical for use in clinical applications require full analytical validation of each biochemical by assessing numerous conditions including, for example single-day precision (intra-day precision), multi-day precision (inter-day precision), limit of detection (LOD), linearity, stability, carryover, matrix effect/biochemical recovery, interference, and comparison to currently used standard clinical assays by correlation analysis.
Global metabolomic profiling has been experimentally demonstrated to be a useful method for assessing health and diagnosis of disease. However, the process of analytically validating all of the biochemicals in a metabolomic profile for all validation conditions for the analytical validation of biochemical analytes is extremely time and resource intensive, which limits the use of the metabolomic profiling method in the clinical setting due to the extensive analytical parameters that must be assessed and satisfied to fulfill regulatory requirements for analytical validation. Methods for quantitation allowing for measurement of the level of one compound based on the level of an internal standard for a compound with similar chemical characteristics to the first compound have been suggested (CLSI. Mass Spectrometry in the Clinical Laboratory: General Principles and Guidance; Approved Guideline. CLSI document C50-A. Wayne, Pa.: Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute; 2007). However, that approach requires calibration standards and internal standards to accurately quantify the compounds. As such, its application to analytical validation of a global metabolomic profile is limited by the number of internal standards that can be analyzed simultaneously with the vast number of compounds measured using the metabolomic technology.

Streamlined method for analytical validation of biochemicals detected using an untargeted mass-spectrometry platform


A tubular adapter fitting for attachment to the service connector of a refrigeration unit enabling receipt of a quick disconnect coupler to attach the coupler end of refrigeration tubing in flow communication therewith. The fitting in comprised of a tubular body adapted at one end for mounting onto a service connector. A contoured periphery serves to receive a quick connect coupler almost instantaneously in a pressure tight interlock relation thereon. Two adapter fitting embodiments are disclosed, one of which is particularly suited to a threaded service connector of a type normally provided with the refrigerant unit of a vehicular air conditioning system. The second embodiment of the adapter fitting is more suited to servicing non-vehicular refrigerant systems in which a service connector is not normally provided in advance by the manufacturer of the equipment but must be provided by the serviceman on site.

Servicing of refrigeration or air conditioning systems providing less than satisfactory performance usually involves a check-out of the refrigeration side of the system. This entails obtaining pressure measurements on both the high pressure and low pressure or suction side of the compressor. Service connectors to which a pressure gauge can be connected are commonly provided for this purpose in the refrigerant tubing by the fabricator of the system or alternatively are improvised by the serviceman on site. The procured pressure measurements enable a diagnostic analysis of system performance while identifying deficiencies in the system that can be readily remedied for improving system operation to manufacturer's standards.

Test fitting adapter for refrigerant lines


Wafer inspection with stable nuisance rates and defect of interest capture rates are disclosed. This technique can be used for discovery of newly appearing defects that occur during the manufacturing process. Based on a first wafer, defects of interest are identified based on the classified filtered inspection results. For each remaining wafer, the defect classifier is updated and defects of interest in the next wafer are identified based on the classified filtered inspection results.

Evolution of the semiconductor manufacturing industry is placing ever greater demands on yield management and, in particular, on metrology and inspection systems. Critical dimensions are shrinking while wafer size is increasing. Economics is driving the industry to decrease the time for achieving high-yield, high-value production. Thus, minimizing the total time from detecting a yield problem to fixing it determines the return-on-investment for the semiconductor manufacturer.
Fabricating semiconductor devices, such as logic and memory devices, typically includes processing a semiconductor wafer using a large number of fabrication processes to form various features and multiple levels of the semiconductor devices. For example, lithography is a semiconductor fabrication process that involves transferring a pattern from a reticle to a photoresist arranged on a semiconductor wafer. Additional examples of semiconductor fabrication processes include, but are not limited to, chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP), etch, deposition, and ion implantation. Multiple semiconductor devices may be fabricated in an arrangement on a single semiconductor wafer and then separated into individual semiconductor devices.
Algorithms can be used to detect defects on a wafer. When machine learning algorithms are used to create defect classifiers and nuisance filters, the algorithms tend to be considered as black box solutions that are not tuned or diagnosed. Assessment of an inspection recipe typically waited until observing a new set of labeled data received for the assessment or, alternatively, not using some part of the labeled data and reserving it for the validation. Both of these techniques wasted resources.
When setting up an inspection recipe, the overall performance assessment may be done based on the quality of the data used to train the classifier and the classifier's ability to learn and extract the information from the data. If the quality of the data is poor and the real defects and nuisance do not have a clear separation boundary, then any classifier will likely fail.
The performance of each recipe is evaluated using two measures: discriminability and reliability. There are many discriminability measures. One is the confusion matrix of the training data, which consists of a set of conditional error rates. From these conditional error rates, the cap rate and nuisance rate may be important to semiconductor manufacturers. Cap rate is the ratio of the number of defects of interest (DOI) that are classified correctly to the total number of DOI in the wafer. The nuisance rate is the number of nuisance that are classified as DOI to the total number of defects that are classified as DOI. A higher cap rate and a lower nuisance rate mean a better recipe. However, nuisance rate and cap rate could only previously be evaluated for the training data set that included the actual labels of data.
Reliability is a measure that shows how certain the classifier is about the decision it makes. It is a function of the estimation of posteriors done by the classifier. Previously, the classifier reliability was evaluated through the confidence calculation for each defect.
Although discriminability and reliability can be important measures, discriminability and reliability can cover up the reality if the underlying distributions of DOI and nuisance have certain characteristics. This can be referred to as a shadowing effect.
Commonly used approaches for the classifier assessment on broad band plasma (BBP) and laser scanning (LS) tools are based on the confusion matrix of the training set, which is used to measure discriminability, and calculating the confidence histogram, which is used to measure the reliability. As seen in FIG. 1(a), the discriminability is only measured based on the training data, which is biased if any special sampling method being used. The confidence histogram has been used to measure reliability. There may be no information for a user about the reliability for the DOI or the nuisance classes using this technique.
Using the confusion matrix of the training set typically is not sufficient to understand the behavior of the recipe on the entire wafer. If the defects in the training set have been selected in certain way (which normally is done in order to reduce the number of defects for scanning electron microscope (SEM) review and manual classification), then the confusion matrix of the training set is biased toward those defects and is not be a good estimator of the classifier performance over the entire wafer.
Previous solutions retrain a binary classifier (e.g., nuisance vs. DOI) based on manual classification obtained during process monitoring (production sampling). These previous solutions used the updated classifier to create new DOI/nuisance separation on the subsequent wafer and used the new bins to generate production sample, which in turn was used to tune the next classifier. 50% of the previous solutions' sample is random sampling from the DOI bin of the latest classifier, and the other 50% is random sampling from the entire population. The two samples are used to compare the statistical process control (SPC) of the two inspections, and the second sample also provides "sub-threshold" defects to be used for retraining of the classifier.
Another previous method for dealing with process/wafer variations relied on building the classifier from scratch and iteratively building the training set with the aid of the SEM automatic defect classification (ADC), and then generating production samples from the new created DOI bin. However, the need to create a classifier from scratch on each wafer is more costly in terms of the SEM tool time. In addition, the ground truth for training the BBP model is based on SEM ADC without human verification, which makes the ground truth potentially less reliable. Lastly, this method does not leverage defects from previous wafers and, thus, increases the risk of data insufficiency and instability during the training process.
Previous techniques do not find the estimation of the cap rate and nuisance rate on the entire wafer (and for the unlabeled data) without additional sampling. Thus, the user does not know how tuning the recipe can affect the overall performance Previous techniques also do not identify the shadowing effect. Therefore, a new defect detection technique and system is needed.

Diagnostic methods for the classifiers and the defects captured by optical tools


It is determined whether a first kind of communication link, such as a high speed link, can be supported between a first unit and a second unit, wherein the first kind of communication link does not support a transmission range above a first maximum value. This is done by using a second kind of communication link, such as a low speed link, to determine a propagation loss value between the first unit and the second unit, wherein the second kind of communication link supports the transmission range above the first maximum value. Then, the propagation loss value is used to determine whether the first kind of communication link can be supported between the first unit and the second unit. The first and second units can be a master and slave in a piconet. Alternatively, they can both be slaves in a piconet.

The present invention relates to radio communication systems, and more particularly to radio systems deploying different air interfaces for short-range/high-rate communications, and long-range/low-rate communications.
In recent decades, progress in radio and Very Large Scale Integrated circuit (VLSI) technology has fostered widespread use of radio communications in consumer applications. Portable devices, such as mobile radios, can now be produced having acceptable cost, size and power consumption. Although wireless technology is today focused mainly on voice communications (e.g., with respect to handheld radios), this field will likely expand in the near future to provide greater information flow to and from other types of nomadic devices and fixed devices. More specifically, it is likely that further advances in technology will provide very inexpensive radio equipment which can be easily integrated into many devices. This will reduce the number of cables currently used. For instance, radio communication can eliminate or reduce the number of cables used to connect master devices with their respective peripherals. The aforementioned radio communications will require an unlicenced band with sufficient capacity to allow for high data rate transmissions. A suitable band is the Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) band at 2.4 GHz, which is globally available. The band provides 83.5 MHZ of radio spectrum.
To allow different radio networks to share the same radio medium without coordination, signal spreading is usually applied. In fact, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States currently requires radio equipment operating in the 2.4 GHz band to apply some form of spreading when the transmit power exceeds about 0 dBm. Spreading can either be at the symbol level by applying direct-sequence (DS) spread spectrum techniques, or at the channel level by applying Frequency Hopping (FH) spread spectrum techniques. The latter is attractive for the radio applications mentioned above because it more readily allows the use of cost-effective radios. A system called BLUETOOTH(trademark) has recently been introduced to provide pervasive connectivity, especially between portable devices like mobile phones, laptop computers, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), and other nomadic devices. This system applies frequency hopping to enable the construction of low-power, low-cost radios with a small footprint. The system supports both data and voice. The latter is optimized by applying a robust voice coding in combination with fast frequency hopping with a nominal rate of 1600 hops/s through the entire 2.4 GHz ISM band. The system concept includes piconets consisting of a master device and a limited number of slave devices sharing the same 1 MHz channel. With its maximum output power of 20 dBm, it covers areas with radii up to about 100-200 m. Over this extended range, a maximal data rate of 1 Mb/s can be supported.
When the BLUETOOTH(trademark) system operates with output powers above 0 dBm, power control becomes mandatory. This power control is based on a closed-loop control as is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/156,695 entitled xe2x80x9cAutomatic Power Control in Uncoordinated FH Radio Systems,xe2x80x9d filed Sep. 18, 1998 which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. At the receiver, the signal strength is measured. The transmitter is then requested to increase or decrease the transmitter power level so that the received power level falls within a certain power window. Power control based on received signal strength indication compensates for path loss, not for interference. This type of power control is preferred in uncoordinated ad-hoc systems because it reduces mutual interference.
For applications demanding higher data rates, the system can be extended with a high-speed mode. A description of a possible air interface for this high-speed mode is presented in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/385,024 entitled xe2x80x9cResource management in uncoordinated FH systems,xe2x80x9d filed Aug. 30, 1999 which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Since increasing the bit rate has the effect of reducing the energy per bit, either the power has to increase, or the range must be decreased. Increasing the power is limited by radio implementation, current consumption, and also by governmental regulations. The FCC allows high-power radios to operate with transmit powers exceeding 0.75 mW in the 2.4 GHz band, but in these cases requires the radios to apply spread spectrum techniques. DS spreaders are not cost or power efficient, nor is implementation trivial at high bit rates because the necessary chip rates increase tremendously. FH spreaders are limited to rates of 1-2 Mb/s because of the bandwidth restriction of 1 MHz. Therefore, only those high-rate modes operating at low power (i.e., below 0.75 mW) are considered, because at low power, the use of spreading techniques is not required. The use of low power, however, puts restrictions on the range. This means that two dual-mode radios that want to switch from the low-speed mode to the high-speed mode have to be sufficiently close to one another. Yet, because the low-rate connection covers larger ranges and is used for connection establishment, for two units that connect at the low-rate, it is unclear whether a high-speed connection can be supported between them as well.
There is therefore a need for methods and apparatuses that enable a dual-mode radio to assess whether a high-speed connection is feasible.
It should be emphasized that the terms xe2x80x9ccomprisesxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9ccomprisingxe2x80x9d, when used in this specification, are taken to specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps or components; but the use of these terms does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, components or groups thereof.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the foregoing and other objects are achieved in methods and apparatuses that determine whether a first kind of communication link can be supported between a first unit and a second unit, wherein the first kind of communication link does not support a transmission range above a first maximum value. This is accomplished by using a second kind of communication link to determine a propagation loss value between the first unit and the second unit, wherein the second kind of communication link supports the transmission range above the first maximum value. Then, the propagation loss value is used to determine whether the first kind of communication link can be supported between the first unit and the second unit. As examples, the first kind of communication link may be a high speed link, and the second kind of communication link may be a low speed link.
In another aspect, using the propagation loss value to determine whether the first kind of communication link can be supported between the first unit and the second unit can comprise using the propagation loss value and a maximum transmission power level associated with the first maximum value to estimate a received signal strength value. It is then determined that the first kind of communication link cannot be supported between the first unit and the second unit if the estimated received signal strength value is below a predetermined value. Otherwise, it is determined that the first kind of communication link can be supported between the first unit and the second unit if the estimated received signal strength value is not below the predetermined value.
In some applications of the invention, the first kind of communication link may be one that does not include use of spread spectrum techniques, and the second kind of communication link may be one that does include use of a spread spectrum technique.
In another aspect of the invention, using the second kind of communication link to determine the propagation loss value between the first unit and the second unit can comprise, in the first unit, measuring a received signal strength value of a signal transmitted by the second unit. The propagation loss value between the first unit and the second unit is then determined as a function of the measured received signal strength value and a transmission power level used by the second unit.
In some embodiments, the first unit may be a master unit and the second unit may be a slave unit. The master unit and the slave unit may communicate in accordance with BLUETOOTH(trademark) standards.
In other embodiments, the first unit is a first slave unit in a piconet, and the second unit is a second slave unit in the piconet. The signal transmitted by the second unit in these cases is transmitted to a master unit in the piconet. In such embodiments, the step of, in the first unit, measuring the received signal strength value of the signal transmitted by the second unit can comprise, in the first unit, receiving a first packet transmitted by the master unit; and determining whether a packet address included in the first packet identifies the second slave unit. Then, the received signal strength value of a second packet transmitted in a next time slot is conditionally measured if the packet address included in the first packet identifies the second slave unit.
The piconet may operate in accordance with BLUETOOTH(trademark) standards.

Permissible operating mode determination in a dual-mode radio


A communications system and associated method distributes media in a communications network. A Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) communication session call is established between a caller and a communications server. A message is transmitted from the communications server to the media server that includes Session Description Protocol (SDP) parameters for media provided by the media server. Media is delivered to the caller in a packet format in accordance with the Real Time Transport Protocol (RTP) to reuse the same socket as the source IP and port numbers and update RTP timestamps and sequence numbers. The media is transferred to the caller with minimal jitter buffer flushes and network resource usage.

Phone switches often provide callers with specific targeted media that originates from a media server as a separate device from the phone switch. The targeted media could include music-on-hold or sales-on-hold when the caller is connected in a queue. To transmit the same data to multiple endpoints of a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) or a traditional analog or time division multiplex (TDM) endpoint, it is desirable to minimize the network and switch resources used in the process of transferring the targeted media. This is performed typically with a media server where the endpoint media stream is renegotiated to a different connection point. This renegotiation often causes jitter buffer flushes and audio delays, which are often exacerbated by the delays associated with the packetized networks and with the buffers.
There is also a certain amount of communications network "slop" at the network that impacts how the packets arrive. Packets may not arrive as they would, for example, in a TDM or ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) network. Another technical problem is sometimes associated with the communications network when a session begins between the caller and a communications server that establishes the communications. This technical problem occurs because the timestamp and sequence numbers each start with semi-random numbers. If the communications system wants to switch the audio the caller is hearing to another data stream without renegotiating the communications session, the Real Time Transport (RTP) headers should be modified to maintain the timestamp and sequence numbers synchronized with the current numbering between the communications server and the caller.

Communications system and related method of distributing media


A method for testing signals of integrated circuits (ICs). According to the invention, a first IC chip successively drives a number of test patterns one at a time. At the receiving end, a second IC chip latches in the test patterns one by one. Meanwhile, the second IC chip determines whether a currently latched test pattern is correct or not. If it is incorrect and at least an error bit occurs, depending on the type of the test patterns, the second IC chip indicates that there exists ground bounce or power bounce in a signal trace corresponding to the error bit.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to integrated circuits, and more particularly to a mechanism for testing and fine-tuning the signal quality of integrated circuit (IC) chips.
2. Description of the Related Art
In computer systems, the general method for improving the data transfer rate is to raise the bus frequency or increase the data bus width. Growing bus width significantly increases the I/O density of IC chips. Although this is a common method in recent years, a great increase in the I/O density causes computer systems to be more susceptible to electromagnetic interference (EMI) caused by higher frequencies, and presents a difficult challenge in IC design, board layout and PCB manufacture.
Today, the most commonly encountered noise problems in high-speed systems are ground bounce and power bounce. The basic form of ground or power bounce occurs when the IC chip has multiple output pins changing state simultaneously. Such bounce types are referred to as simultaneous switching output (SSO) noise. For example, the least significant bit (LSB) of an 8-bit output is in the low state and the others are switching from high to low, that is, from "11111110" to "00000000". This creates an induced voltage across the parasitic inductance in the ground lead of the IC chip. Because the parasitic inductance is between the external system ground and the internal IC chip ground, the induced voltage causes the internal ground to be at a different potential than the external ground. This induced voltage is known as ground bounce as shown in FIG. 1. In this case, ground bounce on the LSB in the low state may be substantial enough to cross the input threshold of a subsequent device, which in turn can cause this device to misinterpret the static LSB as a logic "1". Power ground is the inverse of ground bounce. For example, the most significant bit (MSB) of an 8-bit output is in the high state and the others are switching from low to high, that is, from "10000000" to "11111111". This creates an induced voltage across the parasitic inductance in the power lead of the IC chip. FIG. 2 shows an exemplary graph of power bounce. In this case, power bounce on the MSB in the high state may be substantial enough to drop below the input threshold of a subsequent device, which in turn can cause this device to misinterpret the static MSB as logic "0".
Ground and power bounce problems can result in the unexpected, unreliable, and sometimes intermittent, behavior of a computer system. As data transfer rate increases, SSO noise becomes a crucial issue for high-speed IC design. Therefore, what is needed is a way for IC chips to quickly detect and effectively defeat SSO noise.

Signal testing of integrated circuit chips


Pack provided with an antenna extension for electronic cards, the antenna extension module being made of plastic materials and fixedly joined to an external shielding of this electronic card by a device comprising two arms irreversibly held on at least one of the shielding shells of the pack. The two shielding shells are then irreversibly joined together by means of projecting blades and notches of the borders of these shells, force-fitted to each other. This pack is preferably designed to receive a PCMCIA type card.

1. Field of the Invention
An object of the present invention is a pack provided with an antenna extension for electronic cards. An object of the invention is also a method for the assembling of such a pack. It can be used more particularly in the field of packs designed to contain cards meeting the criteria fixed by the PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) standard. Electronic cards of this kind are widely used, especially to add memory capacities and/or functions to a computer and more particularly to portable computers. These cards are present in packs provided with a connector at their front end. This end meets precise dimensional criteria.
2. Brief Description of Related Developments
In the prior art, it is sought, by means of such cards, to provide for a plurality of additional functions. In general, to combine several functions within a card of this kind, it is necessary, given the strict criteria imposed on card formats and pack formats, to connect an extension module to a rear part of the pack. The value of the invention is that it proposes a single-block pack complying with PCMCIA standards, and comprising both a shielded pack and an unshielded antenna extension.
In the prior art, there is a known electronic card provided with a pack. The pack has two metal shells positioned on either side of the card and directly fixed to each other without the use of a mounting frame. In particular, the document WO 98/20451 teaches the use of a pack comprising shells such that these shells have a front end to present a connector and two borders perpendicular at this front end. The borders of the shells have shoulders, the shoulder corresponding to an approximately 90xc2x0 fold of one plane of the metal shell. These shoulders furthermore have projecting blades and complementary notches for these blades. The shells are designed in such a way that the planes of the two shells are positioned in parallel and a notch of a shoulder of a first shell is positioned facing a projecting shoulder of the second shell. The projecting blades get fitted into the notches irreversibly because the non-return devices of the blades abut the edges of the notches.
The card mounted between the two metal shells is then shielded irreversibly. However, when an RF application is desired, it is necessary that an antenna extension should not be contained between these two shielded shells. To this end, the prior art, especially the document WO-A-99/14993, teaches the assembly of a second unshielded pack on the first pack. To this end, the second pack has a specific connector to be connected to a complementary connector presented at the level of a rear end of the first pack. Indeed, since the front end and the borders perpendicular to this first end have to comply with the PCMCIA card standards, the complementary connector can only be placed at the rear end.
This prior art approach is costly because it requires the positioning of a set of two complementary connectors to provide for a link between the first pack and the second pack used as an antenna extension module. Furthermore, this approach makes it necessary to provide for means to hold this second pack on the first pack of the electronic card, to prevent disconnection. Therefore, this system is cumbersome.
The teaching of the document U.S. Pat. No. 5,373,149 describes a known pack for electronic cards provided with an antenna extension. This antenna extension is connected by a flexible printed circuit to the electronic card of the pack. The antenna extension module, according to this teaching, is connected to a first section by a hinge. This hinge lets through the printed circuit. The hinge places the extension module in variable positions with respect to the first section. For example the extension module may be positioned at 90xc2x0 with respect to the first pack.
The use of a hinged system of this kind to connect an extension module is fragile. Indeed, there is a risk that the flexible printed circuit contained in this hinge may be damaged by being gripped. Furthermore, there is the risk that clumsy handing of the antenna extension with respect to the first pack might quite simply break this hinge.
The document U.S. Pat. No. 5,513,074 describes a known first pack comprising an electronic card having, at a first end, a connector that meets PCMCIA criteria and, at a second end opposite this first end, a second connector to be connected with a complementary connector of an extension module, for example an antenna extension module. This extension module has means of latching on to the pack and the latching means are designed to be inserted into the pack when it is totally closed. Indeed, the module according to the device is designed so that it can be detachably mounted. The means designed on either side of the complementary connector are therefore force-fitted into recesses designed for this purpose on the pack. This force-fitting corresponds to the fitting-in of a ridge into a channel or vice versa.
This last-named solution of the prior art raises a problem. It is costly because it requires the positioning of two complementary connectors to link the first pack to the extension module. Secondly, this approach does not provide for a solid and sure connection. When the PCMCIA pack is inserted, for example, into the connection port of a computer, then the way to withdraw the card is to pull on the rear end of the pack. In the present case, the tensile force is therefore exerted on the extension module. If the extension module is not solidly held, which is the case in the prior art, there is a risk that the exertion of the tensile force will cause the release of extension module of the pack and not the disconnection of this pack from the port of the computer.
The prior art solutions are fragile and costly, firstly because they require high precision means to set up a suitable connection between the extension module and the pack containing the electronic card. Secondly, these approaches generally lead to proposing an extension module with a thickness greater than that of the pack containing the electronic card.
It is an object of the invention to overcome the problems cited by proposing a pack containing an electronic card provided with an extension module such that the extension module is fixedly joined to the pack containing the electronic card, this extension module forming an integral part of the pack when it is closed. Indeed, the solution of the invention provides for the association, before the mounting of the electronic card in the pack, of the shielded shells of the pack with protective shells of the extension module. The electronic card is then mounted so as to be sandwiched between these two combined shells thus obtained. Indeed, the invention consists of a pack provided with a shielded lower shell on which a lower extension lid is mounted and, secondly, an upper shielded shell that is itself designed to be connected to an upper extension lid.
During the assembly, the upper extension lid is designed to be positioned so as to face the lower extension lid. The mounting of a lid on a shell is irreversible just as the joining of the two shells is also irreversible. There is therefore no longer any need for a connector between the module card and the extension module.
The mounting of the lower plastic lid on the lower shielded shell is achieved by fitting in along a direction orthogonal to a plane of extension of the shielded shell. To this end, when the electronic card is inserted in the lower shielded shell and when the upper shielded is mounted irreversibly in the lower shielded shell, then the extension lids are themselves held irreversibly to the pack. A tensile force exerted on the rear end in no way detaches the plastic lids from the shielded shell. Indeed, elastic tongues positioned on at least one shoulder of a shielded shell abut the lateral projections on either side of at least one of these plastic lids.
In a preferred example, the electronic card comprises a portion extending between the two extension lids. Then, the extension module is constituted by this portion of the electronic card. A particular use of the invention is to propose an antenna extension module comprising lids made of plastic materials permitting the passage of RF waves while the shielded shell protects the card from the electromagnetic fields.
An object of the invention is a pack comprising a lower shielded shell, an upper shielded shell and an electronic card positioned between the shielded shells, the shielded shell being provided with projecting blades and notches, the notches of a first shell being designed to receive respectively the blades of a second shell, characterised in that it comprises an extension module of the card and extension lids positioned on either side of the extension module, an extension lid comprising two arms held in a shielded shell, one of the two arms being inserted perpendicularly into a plane of this shell and mounted parallel to this plane.
An object of the invention is a method for the assembling of a pack comprising the following steps:
a lower extension lid is mounted on a lower shielded shell by inserting arms of this lid into means of this lower shielded shell in such a way that the arms are driven perpendicularly into the bottom of the shell in the means;
an electronic card is fixed in the lower shell;
an upper extension lid is connected with the lower extension lid in such a way that an extension module of the card is positioned between the two lids;
an upper shielded shell is mounted above the lower shielded shell in such a way that notches and projecting blades of the borders of the lower shell are irreversibly joined, respectively, with projecting blades and notches of the borders facing the upper shell.

Pack provided with an antenna extension for electronic card and method for the assembling of the pack


A support unit, for locating a body at different positions relative to another part of the body, comprising a chassis and a working carrier comprising a first section for the trunk, a second section for the thighs, and a third section for the legs. A waist coupling is located between the first section and the second section enabling the first section and second section to rotate relative to one another about a waist axis. A knee coupling is located between the second section and the third section enabling the second section to rotate relative to one another about the knee axis. The waist axis is parallel to the knee axis and separated substantially by the length of the second section. The working carrier at least with the first, second and third sections lie in a substantially common horizontal plane, having in plan overall dimensions substantially greater than the overall dimensions in plan of the chassis. A frame member slidably retaining the first section to support the working carrier at least when the working carrier is substantially horizontal. A variable length column extends between the chassis and the frame member to support the frame member and provide height adjustment. A link serves to limit rotation of the second section towards the first section, at least when the first section is tilted from horizontal. A first variable length longitudinal actuator for enabling the frame member and the working carrier to be rotated relative to the chassis about a horizontal main axis, and a second variable length longitudinal actuator for enabling the first section to be displaced linearly relative to the working carrier. A control mechanism controls operation of the support unit.

European Patent Publication 0 178 951 (Grantham) shows a convertible hospital bed in which an upper bed frame, bearing a mattress, which is movable over a lower bed frame towards the foot of the bed while elevating the trunk of the occupant. In this way the occupant arrives at the foot of the bed in an upright seated position. In this case the bed serves as a stable framework on which the occupant can readily be moved. Grantham acknowledges that the invention is for beds of the `hospital` type `being particularly designed for use in hospitals and nursing homes or for residential use with patients who are possibly ambulatory but too weak or incapacitated to get into and out of bed without assistance`. Grantham does not suggest that the bed can usefully be operated by the occupant.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,613,997 (Langdale) discloses a convalescent bed with a base frame and support frame for a mattress pivotally mounted for movement between horizontal and vertical positions. The support frame provides a support portion for the trunk and legs and a hinged portion for the head. The bed is provided with power mechanism to move the support frame as a unit between horizontal and vertical positions. No seating position is provided. As in EPO 0178951 Langdale relies on the structural support provided by a full size bed frame during movement of the support frame. The bed disclosed by Langdale also requires operation by skilled staff.

The White House, Long Lane near Hermitage


Methods and a systems are described for processing recordable content in a broadcast stream sent to a receiver, wherein said broadcast stream is protected in accordance with a conditional access system and wherein said receiver is configured for storing and consuming content in said broadcast stream in accordance with a digital rights management system. In this methods and systems recording information is sent in one or more entitlement control messages over a broadcast network to a receiver. Using the recording information in the entitlement control messages the receiver is able to store recordable events in a broadcast stream on a storage medium and to consume said recorded events in accordance with a digital rights management system.

In order to leverage investments content providers constantly develop new types of multimedia services. With the emergence of digital video recording (DVR) and mobile television, one type of such new services regards combining broadcast services with download services. For example a subscriber may obtain a subscription to receive a streamed service and—in addition—to store the streamed service for playback. Such functionality may be implemented using one or more consumer electronic devices e.g. a set-top box for access to a broadcast signal and a (portable) media player, which may be configured to connect to the set-top box for downloading a media file comprising the content.
Broadcast platforms typically use a Conditional Access (CA) system for access control to content in the broadcast stream. In order to scramble the content in the stream, the CA system uses control words (CW) which are periodically updated in order to enhance the security. CA receivers may descramble the scrambled content using so-called entitlement control messages (ECM) which are sent by the CA system along with the scrambled content stream to the CA receivers. An ECM comprises one or more CWs in encrypted form which may be decrypted by the CA receiver using a private key stored in a secure device (e.g. a smart card or the like). The ECMs may further comprise subscriber rights for accessing one or more programs in the scrambled content stream.
On the other hand, personal computers and/or portable media players typically use a digital rights management (DRM) system for access control to content such as DVDs, MPEG files etc. In a DRM system, e.g. the OMA DRM system of the Open Mobile Alliance used in mobile phones or the Windows Media DRM system for access control to paid content, a DRM rights issuer may issue a rights object (i.e. a license comprising the terms and conditions) associated with the use of a single piece of encrypted content, to a device. Such rights object may be delivered to the device separately from the content.
Hence, combining broadcast streaming with download services requires an interface between the different access control systems such that the required level of security may still be ensured. For example one type of interface may be configured for transcoding a CA protected broadcast file into a DRM protected media file. Interfaces between two access control systems, so-called bridges, are known and described for example in WO2009/002643 and EP1564622.
One problem associated with known interfaces is the management of keys used to re-encrypt a CA broadcast under a DRM system and to associate a right object to the content for managing the stored content once it has been transformed into a DRM format. The generation of rights objects within a consumer electronics device, e.g. a set-top box or a portable media player, may pose a significant security risk as access to the keys may allow the creation of right objects for any content that has been distributed. Hence, these DRM keys require high level security processing.
Another problem relates to the requirement that during a broadcast a recording may be started at a random point in time. Hence, at every point in time during a broadcast transmission all information needed for recording and consuming an event should be available to all authorized CA receivers in the system. This information should be provided to these receivers without compromising the bandwidth of the broadcast network.
Yet a further problem relates to the fact that a set-top box may require a connection to different media players supported by different DRM systems while at the same maintaining the required level of security. A bridge should thus be capable of transmitting content to devices having different DRM technology implemented therein (e.g. Windows Media DRM in portable media players and OMA DRM in mobile phones).
Hence, there is a need in the art for improved methods and systems for efficiently and securely processing recordable content in a stream. Further, there is a need in the art for an interface between a CA system and a DRM system which provides a secure key management system and/or enhanced interoperability.

Processing recordable content in a stream


Aqueous binders for soft feel materials, comprising predominantly aliphatic, water-soluble or water-dispersible polymers A having terminal or lateral cyclic carbonate groups and an amine B having at least two primary amino groups, the ratio of the number of primary amino groups in the component B to the number of cyclic carbonate groups in the component A being from 7:3 to 3:7.

In the coating of hard substrates, such as plastics, there is frequently a desire for the coating to achieve a soft feel, where the coated surface, although feeling soft to the touch, is unimpaired in terms of the mechanical and chemical resistance in comparison with the conventional coatings.
Binders for these so-called soft feel coating materials preferably have segments of polymers having a low glass transition temperature; the crosslinking density must be high enough for there to be very little or no reduction in the mechanical and chemical resistance properties but low enough to allow the effect of the low glass transition temperature to be manifested macroscopically as well.
Two-component binders have been disclosed for soft feel coating materials based on hydroxyl-containing polyester urethanes, which are to be cured preferably with isocyanates but also, for example, with acid anhydrides or amino resins.
It has not proven possible to date to provide practicable one-component binders for soft feel coating materials. Although crosslinking with amino resins is able to take place at elevated temperature in the manner of a one-component system, the soft surface of the soft feel coating is adversely affected by the high temperatures required.
The known, polyisocyanate-based systems which cure at room temperature have the problems typical of isocyanates of limited pot life and poor acceptability from the standpoint of occupational hygiene. A further important disadvantage of isocyanate curing agents in conjunction with soft feel coating materials is the "aftercuring" which is observed. Because of the presence of water (which is itself able to react with the isocyanates), the polyfunctional isocyanates used for crosslinking have to be used in excess. Their reaction with water involves decarboxylation and formation of the corresponding amines, which in turn form ureas with isocyanates which have not yet reacted. This urea formation reaction takes place during the drying of the coating material and adversely affects the feel of the coating film, which is still soft directly following application. There was therefore a need to develop a binder for soft feel coating materials which durably retains this soft feel. A further object was to provide a one-component binder which cures at moderate temperature and yet imposes very little restriction on the pot life.


Two apparatuses are disclosed for providing a dynamically varying water surge in a salt-water reef aquarium. The first apparatus is a micro-controller based variable frequency reef surge drive 100 for an AC permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) submersible aquarium pump. Drive 100 comprises voltage conversion circuitry 105, xmicro-controller 110, reef-surge generation program 115, variable frequency drive 118, mode switch 130 and tidal cycle switch 135. Three user-selectable modes of operation are provided: a random frequency mode, a fixed-program mode and a tidal mode. A second apparatus comprises a novel submersible AC PMSM pump with dual impeller assemblies and dual input and output chambers for supporting forward and reverse flow through an AC PMSM pump.

This invention relates generally to aquaria and particularly to a cost effective apparatus for generating a time-varying surge in a saltwater reef aquarium.
Reef aquaria contain organisms that evolved in a tidal environment where tidal processes presented an ever-changing flow of nutrients and removal of waste products. In the restricted aquarium environment a lack of appropriately varying circulation can cause waste product buildup (especially in living coral) and reduce the amount of nutrients available to other organisms such as anemones. Waste buildup can cause coral death and susceptibility of other animals in the tank to disease.
Thus methods and apparatuses for causing a dynamically changing circulatory pattern in the salt-water reef aquarium is of practical importance and essential to the well being of the animals in the tank.
To sense the difficulty of the problem one has only to view a toy snow globe with a battery-operated circulator. These globes generally appear on the market every year around Christmas. If one turns on the circulator and initially shakes the globe to insure uniform initial "snow" particle distribution, it only takes a short time for all the "snow" particles to be deposited on the scenic elements of the globe in stationary fashion. The globe has reached steady state with respect to the snow particles even though the circulator continues to move the water within the globe. Think of these "snow" particles as food and/or waste particles in a reef tank.
The general problem of causing a changing flow environment in a reef tank so as to roughly simulate a tidal ocean environment is referred to herein as generating a "reef surge".
There are a number of methods that have been used in the past to generate a reef surge in an aquarium. The majority of these employ mechanical devices that couple with the output fitting of a pump and vary the direction of flow over time in a cyclic manner. Aquaria using these devices quickly reach steady state.
One particularly clever, if decoratively and operationally challenging prior-art solution, is an adaptation of the British elevated water closet: water is pumped up to a reservoir above the aquarium and dumped at regular intervals back into the aquarium. Such an approach causes a cyclic momentary pounding turbulence in the tank that can dislodge tank animals and damage coral.
Electronic prior-art solutions revolve around solid-state relays for turning one or more submersible pumps on and off at pre-determined intervals. These approaches represent a step in the right direction but have limited effectiveness, as they yield no output flow variability.
An electronic solution wherein the flow rate of a submersible pump is varied over time would offer an immediate improvement over the above approaches.
Submersible pumps used in aquariums are almost exclusively AC permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) pumps. These pumps are available with maximum flow rates from approximately 25 gallons-per-hour (gph) to approximately 10,000 gph. Low voltage (i.e. 12VAC) implementations of these pumps, because of market demand, are currently only available for maximum flow rates under 200 gph. In the United States the majority of PMSM submersible pumps run on 110 VAC. Regardless of their design voltage, the speed of such pumps (which is related to the no-load zero-head flow rate) can only be varied by methods that vary the frequency of the waveform supplied to the pump.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,717,383 (co-invented by the present inventor) teaches a cost effective variable frequency drive for controlling PMSM submersible pumps of the type in widespread use in small fountain applications. The generated AC waveform is essentially a variable-width square wave pulse separated by a variable width-dead time. Pending utility application entitled "Variable Frequency, Drive for AC Synchronous Motors with Application to Pumps" by the present inventor provides novel, cost effective embodiments which reduce pump vibration in larger AC PMSM pumps; these have decided utility in the larger tank home aquarium arena.
Application of either of these above referenced electronic technologies in the previous paragraph to the problem of generating a reef surge would constitute a considerable improvement over the prior art. For instance, a single pump could be made to follow a complex sequence of flows with varying inter-flow ramping. Randomness could be introduced in both the sequence of flow rates and the time intervals between successive flow rates. Or, the variation of flow could be made to simulate a time-of-day dependent real-world tidal pattern. Further by adding multiple synchronously or asynchronously controlled pumps strategically located within the tank, a distributed surge could be realized. To the inventor's knowledge no such reef control surge variation protocols have been reported not alone implemented. One aim of this invention is to implement such control schemes in a reef surge apparatus that provides improved dynamically changing circulation in a reef aquarium.
A further considerable improvement would involve generating a dynamically changing forward and reverse flow of water from a single pump dedicated to creating reef surge in a salt-water reef tank. This is another aim of this invention.


An article support apparatus facilitates article interaction such as game play upon an oblong game table. The article or game support apparatus comprises a support plate, an anchor plate, and an article-positioning assembly extending therebetween. The article-positioning assembly may comprise a plate-extending assembly and a plate-rotating assembly. The plate-extending assembly functions to extend the game support plate away from the anchor plate. The anchor plate is of sufficient mass to interface the game support apparatus with a support surface and prevent the extended game support apparatus from tipping. The support plate functions to support an interactive article such as a gaming device or a common board game. The selected gaming device is supportable atop the game support plate and is thus extendable to separated player stations about the game support surface. The article or game support apparatus functions to enable game play in a spaced player setting.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an apparatus for supporting and positioning an article, such as a gaming device. More particularly, the present invention relates to an article support apparatus for facilitating article interaction such as game play in a spaced player setting, such as may be defined by board game play at an oblong table.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The game of checkers is ancient. It is thought that the earliest form of checkers was a game discovered in an archeological dig at Ur in Iraq. Carbon dating of the artifacts found at the archeological dig at Ur would support a finding that a version of this game was played around 3000 B.C. However, the game used a slightly different board, a different number of pieces and no one is quite certain of the exact rules. The continued popularity of the ancient game of checkers underscores the longevity of games as well as their usefulness in society. Game enthusiasts continue to develop novel ways and means to enhance the appeal and excitement of the gaming experience. Some of the more pertinent patented prior art relating to gaming tables and the like for enhancing the gaming experience are listed and briefly described hereinafter.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,185,114 ('114 patent), which issued to Consin, discloses a Retractable Table Top Shelf. The '114 patent teaches a slidingly mounted shelf which is slidingly bracketed to an underneath side of a restaurant or an equivalent table and which, when it is not in use, is retracted to assume a hidden or concealed position beneath and within the perimeter limits of the table top but is available and is so mounted at least one accessible end of the table that is may be withdrawn and caused to assume an outstanding position where it then provides an extra facility which is capable of being used in a number of ways. For instance, where the service involved is that which is afforded in a cafeteria it will be evident that the extending shelf may be employed to support one or more empty trays which are to be returned to the kitchen for washing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,026,052, which issued to Shelnutt, discloses a Game and Cruciform Game Table. The '052 patent teaches a game table having a cruciform shape when seen in plan view. A generally circular "in play" area is bounded by four generally rectangular and contiguous base areas. The table top is flat and the "in play" area and the surrounding base areas are demarcated only by a generally circular line of demarcation. Four ball-receiving pockets are equidistantly and circumferentially spaced about the periphery of the circular "in play" area, and points are scored by holing balls in those pockets. No ball can be holed unless it is in the "in play" area. However, each player may take a positioning shot to knock a ball into the "in play" area prior to taking a scoring shot. There are two different sets of balls and in some games, all members of one set must be holed before any members of the second set. A cue ball and a bogey ball are also involved in play, and detailed rules govern the several games.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,465 ('465 patent), which issued to Delaye et al., discloses a Table Assembly with Circumferentially Disposed Retractable Extension Members. The '465 patent teaches a table assembly with circumferentially disposed retractable extension members. The extension members, when not in service, are vertically stored beneath the table plate in radially space relationship with each other. On purpose to facilitate such a storing, each extension member is articulated to the table plate by a hinge-slider assembly.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,988,636 ('636 patent), which issued to Kilmer, discloses a Multi-Game Table Top System. The '636 patent teaches a multi-game table top system for providing a table top which converts into a multi-game recreational area allowing multiple people to utilize said table top for recreational purposes such as golf, soccer, or hockey, and thereafter reverting to the table top's original purpose. The inventive device includes a reticulated table top, a golf transparent board, a soccer transparent board, and a hockey transparent board where said boards are removably securable to the upper surface of the reticulated table top by a plurality of securing magnets around the edges. The reticulated table top is constructed from steel coated with a permanently bonded plastisol coating approximately one-quarter of an inch.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,634,646 ('646 patent), which issued to Wolpert, et al., discloses a Portable Game Table. The '646 patent teaches a portable game table having a protective outer surface when in the closed position. The portable game table includes a game table having an outer surface and a case configured to attach to the game table. A portion of the outer surface of the game table includes a portion of the protective outer surface. The game table may be configured to have a game played thereon, such as football, billiards and air hockey.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,976,434 ('434 patent), which issued to Roig et al., discloses a Floating Amphibious Game Table. The '434 patent teaches a floating amphibious game table that may be used on both land and water. The game table has a base member that has an upper surface and a lower surface. A plurality of upper openings in the upper surface of the base member is adapted to receive beverage containers. A plurality of lower openings in the lower surface of the base member is adapted to receive a plurality of legs. The game table floats to allow for use on water. The game table receives the plurality of legs to allow for use on land.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,766,747 ('747 patent) which issued to Wolfe, discloses a Game Table with Recessed Game Board Storage Area. The '747 patent teaches a game table which includes a storage area with a center leaf horizontally mounted in the storage area. When the top cover is in a closed position, the center leaf is positioned at the bottom of the storage area. A pulley system is used to raise the center leaf into a playing position when the top cover is moved to the open position. When the top cover is closed again, the pulley system lowers the center leaf into the storage area. A game board and game pieces positioned on the center leaf are maintained in the same position when the top cover is closed and the center leaf is lowered into the storage area. By maintaining the center leaf in a horizontal position, persons playing a game can suspend the game and safely keep the game pieces in the same position by merely closing the top cover. The game may be resumed by opening the top cover to raise the center leaf back into the playing position.
It will be seen from an inspection of the foregoing as well as from a general consideration of the state of the art that the prior art does not teach a game support apparatus for enabling game play in a spaced player setting whereby the game support apparatus essentially comprises a game support plate, certain plate-extending means, and certain plate-anchoring means. Thus, the prior art perceives a need for a game support apparatus for enabling game play in a spaced player setting whereby the game support apparatus essentially comprises a game support plate, certain plate-extending means, and certain plate-anchoring means.

Article support apparatus, system, and method


According to the present invention, a bead assembly consisting of a combination of a ring shaped bead core, a bead filler and a flipper is manufactured by continuous automated steps, whereby productivity is greatly improved. The present invention is characterized by the steps of providing bead locking drums on the free end portions of a plurality of rotary arms arranged radially around the center of rotation thereof, and turning and stopping these rotary arms sequentially so as to set a bead core on a bead locking drum stopped in a first stopping position A, wind a bead filler around the bead core set on the bead locking drum stopped in a second stopping position B to form a bead assembly, and then take out the bead assembly formed on the bead locking drum stopped in a final stopping position D. A third stopping position C is set between the second and final stopping positions, and a flipper is pasted on the bead assembly stopped in this stopping position C.

This invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for manufacturing bead assemblies for tires, and more particularly to a method of and an apparatus for manufacturing a bead assembly which consists of a ring-shaped bead core, a bead filler and a flipper by continuous automated steps.
As shown in FIG. 34, in the inner part of a tire T, ring-shaped bead cores W each of which consists of a bundle of metal wires are disposed in the left and right bead portions, and bead fillers F of hard rubber around the outer circumferences of the bead cores, both end portions of a carcass 201 being folded up so as to wrap these bead cores W and bead fillers F in the folded portions. For forming such a tire, a bead core W and a bead filler F are prepared in the form of a bead assembly in which these parts are combined unitarily in advance. In the production of a high-performance tire, a bead assembly, in which a flipper consisting of a rubber-coated cotton cloth is attached on the inner circumferential portion of a bead assembly mentioned previously so as to cover both side surfaces of the bead core and bead filler therewith, is used in some cases.
The assembling of these bead assemblies has heretofore been done manually in general cases. The manual assembling of one of these bead assemblies is done by initially provided a ring-shaped bead core W as shown in FIG. 35(A), and then winding belt type unvulcanized rubber as a bead filler F, which is cut to a length equal to the outer circumferential length of the bead core W, around the outer circumference of the bead core W as shown in FIG. 35(B) , to obtain a complete product. In the case of the manual assembling of a bead assembly for a high-performance tire, a step of attaching a flipper Fr consisting of an unvulcanized rubber-impregnated reinforcing cloth on the previously-mentioned bead assembly is further carried out so as to cover the inner circumferential surface of the bead core W and both side surfaces of the bead filler F therewith as shown in FIG. 35(C).
However, since assembling a bead assembly by such a manual operation requires a great deal of skill, the operation efficiency and productivity become low. Since such bead assemblies are produced by manual operations, different assembling accuracies result from different parts, so that it is difficult to obtain high-quality bead assemblies.

Apparatus for manufacturing bead assemblies for tires


Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a system on a chip (SOC) comprising a processing core, and a cache including a cache instruction port, a cache data port, and a port utilization circuitry configured to selectively fetch instructions through the cache instruction port and selectively pre-fetch instructions through the cache data port. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.

A system on a chip (SOC) generally includes at least one processing core, which generally is operatively coupled to a level 2 (L2) memory cache. A cache in a SOC typically needs to fetch, from a memory, current instructions and current data (as and when required by the processing core, in case such current instructions and current data are, for example, not already cached in the cache and/or is dirty), as well as pre-fetch instructions and pre-fetch data corresponding to instructions and data that are likely to be needed, by the processing core, in a forthcoming operation. In conventional SOC architectures each of the current instructions, current data, pre-fetch instructions and pre-fetch data are communicated between the processor and the cache, such as an L2 cache, via dedicated ports.
The description in this section is related art, and does not necessarily include information disclosed under 37 C.F.R. 1.97 and 37 C.F.R. 1.98. Unless specifically denoted as prior art, it is not admitted that any description of related art is prior art.


A pocket isolator form, for placement around a footer before a concrete slab is poured, is formed from plural barrier sections. At least some of the sections are curved, so that a sharp re-entrant corned is not formed in the concrete slab. The curved sections may be assembled with straight sections to form barriers of various form shapes which avoid the creation of sharp re-entrant corners in the slab.

Many large buildings, such as warehouses, shopping malls, big box stores, the like, are constructed with a superstructure that is supported at predetermined intervals by vertical steel support columns. The support columns are embedded at their bases within and extend upwardly from the concrete floor slab of the building. It is important that the bases of the columns be isolated from the concrete floor slab so that settlement or other movement of the columns does not transfer to the slab.
To accomplish this isolation, heavy concrete footings are cast in the ground at the prospective locations of the support columns. Anchor bolts are embedded in and project upwardly from the footings. When the footings have cured, the vertically extending steel support columns are mounted to the footings by means of the anchor bolts.
Before the floor slab is poured, isolation forms are attached to the footings surrounding the columns. Typically, the column footings are square or box-shaped. The floor of the building is then prepared by grading, leveling, and compacting aggregate material throughout the floor expanse to a predetermined depth to form a base. The aggregate is compacted around and against the exterior surfaces of the isolation forms leaving the interiors of the forms empty.
With the aggregate base prepared, the concrete floor slab is poured on top of the compacted aggregate up to the upper rims of the isolation forms. The isolation forms themselves may be filled at the same time or may be filled later after the floor slab has cured. The isolation forms typically are left in place within the concrete floor slab. Isolation pockets are thus formed in the floor slab around the bases of the support columns such that the column bases are isolated from the surrounding aggregate and concrete slab. Subsequent settlement or movement of the column and footing does not transfer to the slab. This insures a rigid and stable support for a building's superstructure.
Traditional concrete floor slabs inevitably tend to crack over time as a result of shrinkage of the concrete during the curing process, settlement, and other factors. Such cracks very often begin at the corners of square isolation pockets because stresses caused by slab movement are concentrated at these "re-entrant" corners, that is, at internal corners of the slab. Accordingly, crack control joints commonly are cut or scored in the concrete floor slab. The crack control joints connect the corners of each isolation pocket to the corners of surrounding isolation pockets. In this way, cracking of the floor slab generally occurs along the crack control joints where the cracks are not too visually objectionable.
Recently, improved concrete formulas have been developed that, when cured, produce a concrete slab that is highly resistant to cracking. These new concretes can be used to create concrete floor slabs that do not develop large cracks over time. While hairline cracks may appear, they are small and generally not objectionable. Accordingly, crack control joints are not needed when using these improved concretes. The result is a concrete floor slab with a pristine continuous top surface free of large cracks or crack control joints. Such a slab is preferred, especially for buildings such as grocery stores where the appearance of neatness and cleanliness is important. Jointless floor slabs are equally important in high volume distribution warehouses where the forklifts travel at high speeds and the roughness of the joint slows production.
Slab joints are notoriously high maintenance areas costing industry enormous amounts of time and money. Traditional square isolation pocket forms have been found less than suitable for use when pouring floor slabs using modern crack resistant concretes. Specifically, stresses in the floor slab still tend to become concentrated at the corners of the isolation pockets. The concrete of the slab is indeed resistant to cracking; however, the concentrated stresses at the isolation pocket corners still can initiate unsightly cracks in the floor slab at and around these corners. Since a crack resistant floor slab does not require crack control joints, these stress induced cracks can meander and result in unsightly areas around support columns and radiating out therefrom.
A need exists for a method and apparatus for constructing isolation pockets in floor slabs poured with crack resistant concrete that eliminates concentrated stresses at the isolation pockets and thus eliminate rogue cracks in the floor slab that begin at the isolation pockets. It is to the provision of such a method and apparatus that the present invention is primarily directed.

Isolation pocket form and method for making crack resistant concrete slabs


A silicon-based microlaser formed of rare-earth-doped CaF.sub.2 thin films has a semiconductor substrate material (240) and a CaF.sub.2 film layers (234) grown on semiconductor substrate material (240), The CaF.sub.2 film layer (234) is doped with a predetermined amount of rare-earth-dopant that is sufficient to cause a spectral emission from the CaF.sub.2 film layer (234) having a narrow linewidth when the CaF.sub.2 film layer (234) is optically or electrically pumped.

The availability of all silicon-based optoelectronic integrated circuit (OEIC) technology promises to revolutionize the optoelectronic industry and significantly impact a wide range of both military and commercial applications. One such area of impact is multi-chip module interconnectivity. Silicon-based OEICs will not only solve resistivity and high-capacitance problems by replacing electron transport with photons, they will also provide new functionality, such as circuit-level image processing. Silicon OEICs will also provide cost inroads to commercial markets as high-volume silicon processes enjoy economies of scale unparalleled by other electronic or optoelectronic materials technologies. Furthermore, silicon-based OEICs are expected to provide new functionality such as circuit-level image processing.
There are four technologies required to make silicon-based OEICs a reality: (1) detectors; (2) waveguides; (3) modulators and (4) emitters. While there has been considerable progress in the first three areas, a lack of an appropriate silicon-based light-emitting device, particularly a silicon-based laser, has greatly hindered the development of fully integrated silicon-based OEICs technology.
Most work to date on OEICs has been based on III-V materials. However, post-ultra large-scale integrated (ULSI) work will likely continue to use silicon substrates because of low material costs, high mechanical strength, good thermal conductivity, and the highly developed processing methods available for silicon. One approach to integrating optical and digital electronics is to integrate III-V silicon materials using epitaxially grown III-V layers for selected regions on silicon substrates. Although laser action from III-V layers grown epitaxially on silicon has been demonstrated, progress in this area has been limited by material quality problems resulting from the large lattice and thermal expansion mismatch between the two systems and incompatibilities between III-V and silicon processing.
Reduced cavity size has been found to significantly affect laser characteristics for silicon-based lasers. When the cavity length is comparable to the wavelength of the cavity-defined radiation, cancellation of spontaneous emissions, zero-threshold lasing and enhanced gain may be achieved. The degree of gain enhancement is determined by the coherent length of the spontaneously emitted radiation. Gain enhancement has been predicted to increase more than five-fold in III-V semiconductor microcavities as the emission linewidth decreases from 100 nm to 30 nm.
Although possible applications of these phenomena have been considered mostly for semiconductor lasers, the microcavity effects can also be applied to solid state lasers. Solid state lasers generally provide better thermal stability and narrower emission linewidths than semiconductor lasers. The narrow emission linewidths gain media from solid state lasers are ideal for inducing microcavity gain enhancement effects.
A need also exists for a way, to achieve light emission from these films by electroluminscence rather than by photoluminescence. If this were possible, electrons could be used to produce photons and, thus, utilize the optoelectronic devices made of these films through voltage variation.

Silicon-based microlaser by doped thin films