In order to remove material from the surfaces in a vacuum chamber it is proposed to activate hydrogen gas in a plasma with the aid of a low voltage arc discharge which is supported by a hot emitting electrode in a cathode chamber. The removing method allows the cleaning of surfaces onto which subsequently safely adhering layers of a highest purity can be precipitated. The method can also be used for cleaning vacuum chambers. The small expenditures regarding apparatuses with the high rates of removal to be obtained produce a highly economical practicing of the method.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of removing material from a surface in a vacuum chamber by using plasma-activated hydrogen.
When coating workpieces it is for instance often necessary to subject the support for the workpiece to a cleaning process prior to the coating in order to be in a position to precipitate thereafter the coating to be deposited with a high adherent strength Such a method is applied in all such cases where workpieces are to be coated by means of a vacuum process such as for a coating of semiconductor circuits or for instance tools. Further applications of the method encompass the removal of contaminations not only from the workpieces but also from the vacuum chamber itself. The field of such a cleaning procedure covers the removal of contaminations consisting of oxides, carbon and also carbon compositions whereby the chemical reactivity of the hydrogen is utilized.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Known cleaning methods for workpieces are for instance plasma etching processes and atomizing etching processes. When the above mentioned methods involve high etching rates, it is possible that temperatures of several 100.degree. Celsius are encountered at the workpiece. In many cases such high temperature values are not suitable for the workpiece. Additionally, relative high energy values of the particles by means of which the workpiece is treated in the range of several 100 electron volts are encountered. Apart from the high thermal loading such can lead to a change or to defects, in the surface structure of the workpiece. A further drawback of the known methods is that the etching process itself can cause a contamination of the workpiece by a recoating. By means of the known methods highest demands of purity can thus be achieved only within limits
In order to circumnavigate these drawbacks and to be in a position to use a more protective etching process it has been proposed to etch silicon dioxide by means of activated hydrogen such as disclosed in the publication of Arthur Sherman "In situ removal of native oxide from silicon wafers", technical journal J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 8 (4), July/August 1990, page 656. According to this publication it is proposed to activate the hydrogen in a hollow cathode discharge at a discharge voltage of 600 Volts and a discharge current of 100 milli-amps. The there proposed arrangement does, however, not completely solve the above mentioned problems because the high electron energy of about 600 volts can lead to defects of the surface structure and to a re-coating by sputtering processes. A further technical publication of Y. Kunitsugun I. Suemune "Low temperature cleaning of Si and growth, of GaAs on Si by hydrogen plasma assisted metallorganic molecular beam epitaxy" of Journal of Crystal Growth 95 (1989) 91-95 North-Holland, Amsterdam discloses a further etching method for silicon and gallium arsenide surfaces, which operates with activated hydrogen, whereby here the activation of the hydrogen proceeds in a ECR-plasma. The generating of such ECR-plasma discharges with a microwave coupling is relatively costly and is difficult to realize specifically for large area applications. In case of high demands made at the homogenity of the distribution of the removal, this method is specifically intrinsic and the realization in case of very large dimensions, if possible at all, poses large problems.

Method of removing material from a surface in a vacuum chamber


The present invention provides a method and system for measuring the spatial distribution of fluorescence from the excited radiochromic luminescent material; and for signal processing of the spatial distribution of fluorescence to thereby detect tracks of one or more heavy charged particles with which the luminescent material has been irradiated. The present invention also provides a method and system for measuring the spatial distribution of fluorescence from an excited radiochromic luminescent material that has been irradiated with a hot particle of a radioactive material. The present invention provides a method for detecting thermal and fast neutrons as well as a method for determining parameters of heavy charge particles. In several embodiments of the present invention, the luminescent material comprises Al2O3 doped with magnesium and carbon.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to radiation dosimetry techniques.
2. Related Art
The measurement of neutrons and heavy charged particles (HCP) remains one of the most challenging tasks in radiation dosimetry. Among the most widely investigated and used passive detector technologies are: plastic nuclear track detectors (PNTD) based on CR-39 plastic and its derivatives, pairs of 6LiF and 7LiF thermoluminescent detectors (TLD) in an albedo configuration and superheated bubble detectors (SBD). See Benton et al., "Proton Recoil Neutron Dosimeter for Personnel Monitoring. Health Phys., 40, pp. 801–809 (1981); Piesch et al., "Albedo Dosimetry System for Routine Personnel Monitoring," Radiat. Prot. Dosim., 23(1/4), pp. 117–120 (1988); d″Errico, "Radiation Dosimetry and Spectrometry with Superheated Emulsions," Nuclear Instr. Meth. B, 184, pp. 229–254 (2001). TLDs have the strong neutron energy dependence and the difficulty in discriminating between radiations having low- and high linear energy transfer (LET). PNTDs have good neutron/gamma discrimination but require laborious wet-chemistry processing and have low saturation fluence. SBDs are very sensitive to neutrons but bulky and environmentally unstable. All these difficulties have stimulated the search for a new approach.
The measurement of neutrons presents a special problem. Neutron radiation is not a directly ionizing type of radiation and requires transformation or conversion into ionizing radiation (e.g., electrons or heavy charged particles) that can detected by detectors based on ionization of the detector medium. Detection of thermal neutrons requires nuclear reaction and conversion with isotopes such as 6Li or 10B having large thermal neutron capture cross-section. Fast neutron detection is most efficient using plastic converters containing high concentration of hydrogen. Having the same mass as a neutron, a proton can accept most of the kinetic energy of a neutron in head-on collision. The high energy recoil protons generated by these collisions are then able to cause ionization in the detector medium. The amplified signal from the active or passive detector is then processed and provides dosimetric or spectroscopic information about the radiation field.
Dosimeters and methods for detecting neutrons and heavy charged particles based on optically stimulated luminescence, thermoluminescence, and other luminescent and fluorescent techniques have been disclosed in the art. For example, an optically stimulated luminescent, fast neutron sensor and dosimeter is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,140,651 (Justus et al.), issued Oct. 31, 2000. The disclosed fast neutron sensor and dosimeter comprises a proton radiator with a doped glass, such as Nd-doped glass containing ZnS:Cu and can be read by either laser heating or infrared stimulation of the glass or by direct scintillation.
Thermoluminescent dosimeters and methods for reading thermoluminescent radiation are also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,638,163 (Braunlich et al.), issued Jan. 20, 1987; U.S. Pat. No. 4,825,084 (Braunlich et al.), issued Apr. 25, 1989; U.S. Pat. No. 4,839,518 (Braunlich et al.), issued Jun. 13, 1989; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,015,855 (Braunlich et al.), issued May 14, 1991. The disclosed dosimeters and methods measure ionizing radiation, particularly heavy charged particles emitted from radioactive materials and other heavy charged particle radiation sources by laser heating and thermoluminescence of phosphors, using, for example, a thin layer of thermoluminescent phosphor material and an inorganic binder heat bonded to a substrate, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,825,084 (Braunlich et al.).
A fluorescent glass dosimeter for reading a radiation dose is also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,057,693 (Burgkhardt et al.), issued Oct. 15, 1991. The disclosed dosimeter reads a radiation dose from a fluorescent glass element, where the radiation dose is determined from the intensity of the fluorescence emitted from the glass element's detecting face. A fluorescence diaphragm arrangement is provided so as to overlay the glass element detecting face and is movable thereon for changing the fluorescence detecting areas and a fluorescence intensity reading device is provided for determining fluorescence intensity distribution and the glass element detecting face.
A neutron dosimetry method, dosimeter and system are also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,319,210 (Moscovitch), issued Jun. 7, 1994 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,876 (Moscovitch), issued Mar. 12, 1996. The method, dosimeter and system disclosed stores information in a three dimensional fluorescent optical memory element that is altered by exposing the optical memory element to neutron radiation and dosimetric information is subsequently retrieved and analyzed by readout of the altered data with the laser system. One described optical memory element is a three dimensional optical random access memory (ORAM) comprising a volume of a transparent polymer doped with a light sensitive chemical such as spirobenzopyran, which is also described in Moscovitch et al., "Radiation Dosimetry Using Three-Dimensional Optical Random Access Memories," Nucl. Inst. Meth. Phys. Res. Vol. 184 (2001), pp. 207–18.
Unfortunately, the lower efficiency of detection and poorer discrimination between absorbed doses induced by heavy charged particles versus gamma radiation, remain as obstacles to the dosimetry of neutrons by prior dosimeters and methods. Prior dosimeters and methods can have limited spatial resolution, are sometimes not provided with imaging and/or spectroscopic capabilities or systems, may be able only to detect strongly penetrating photon and beta radiation, and may not be able to detect and image individual track of heavy charged particles. In particular, in integrating thermoluminescent and optically stimulated luminescent detectors, the small amounts of intense fluorescence produced within the particle track can be masked by the luminescence occurring from the significantly larger crystal volume as a result of photon and electron interactions. Thermoluminescent detectors and methods are also not able to detect every heavy charged particle incident and can have very low detection efficiencies. In addition, thermoluminescent methods are very slow, requiring tens of milliseconds per data point. Dosimeters and methods based on organic memory materials such a three-dimensional ORAM require pre-recorded optical data stored in the memory medium, require several spatially distributed bits to be affected by radiation and may not posses the sensitivity and spatial resolution required for imaging individual tracks of heavy charged particles.

Detection of neutrons and heavy charged particles


A semiconductor device having: a semiconductor substrate; an isolation trench formed in a surface portion of the semiconductor substrate and defining an NMOSFET active region and a PMOSFET active region; a silicon oxide film burying only a lower portion of the isolation trench and defining a recess above the lower portion; an NMOSFET structure formed in the NMOSFET active region and having an insulated gate electrode structure and n-type source/drain regions; a PMOSFET structure formed in the PMOSFET active region and having an insulated gate electrode structure and p-type source/drain regions; a tensile stress film covering the NMOSFET structure and extending to the recess surrounding the NMOSFET active region and to the recess outside the PMOSFET active region along a gate width direction; and a compressive stress film covering the PMOSFET structure and extending to the recess outside the PMOSFET active region along a channel length direction.

A MOSFET as a constituent element of a semiconductor integrated circuit device has been made finer or smaller in accordance with the scaling law of MOSFET. Finer or smaller MOSFET has an improved operation speed. With scaling-down of MOSFET, integration density of MOSFETs can be increased. It is also known that mobility of charge carriers in semiconductor is influenced by stress.
JP-A-2003-86708 reports that in MOSFETs having a channel direction <110> and formed on the surface of a (001) Si plane, a drain current of an NMOS transistor increased with an increase of tensile stress in the channel direction and in the direction perpendicular thereto, whereas a drain current of a PMOS transistor increased with an increase of tensile stress in the direction perpendicular to the channel increased, and reduced with an increase of tensile stress in a direction parallel to the channel. The effect of stress in the channel length direction is larger than the effect of stress in the direction perpendicular to the channel.
JP-A-2006-13322 describes a relation between a drain current and a stress in gate length (channel length), gate width (channel width) and depth directions in an NMOSFET and in a PMOSMET. Driving ability of NMOSFET is improved by a tensile stress in the gate length direction and gate width direction. Driving ability of PMOSFET is improved by a compressive stress in the gate length direction and by a tensile stress in the gate width direction. In the channel length direction, a tensile stress improves the driving ability of NMOSFET and a compressive stress improves the driving ability of PMOSFET. In the channel width (gate width) direction, a tensile stress improves the driving ability of both NMOSFET and PMOSFET.
Isolation between MOSFET's has been realized by a shallow trench isolation (STI) structure. An isolation trench is formed between elements, and an insulating film is buried in the trench. Since a silicon oxide film provides good burying characteristics, silicon oxide is used as burying material. An intrinsic stress of a silicon oxide film is a compressive stress, and the compressive stress becomes high as heat treatment is repeated. Silicon crystal generates compressive strain under the compressive stress of STI.
A compressive stress of STI is a factor for improving the driving ability of PMOSFET in the channel length direction and degrading the driving ability of PMOSFET in the channel width direction and the driving ability of NMOSFET in the channel length direction and in the channel width direction.
Manufacture process for a semiconductor device includes generally a process of forming a MOS transistor structure, covering the MOS transistor structure with an interlayer insulating film, and forming a contact hole through the interlayer insulating film and exposing an electrode region of a MOS transistor. In order to form a contact hole with good controllability, the interlayer insulating film is made of lamination of an etching stopper film and an insulating film formed on the etching stopper film. A silicon nitride film generally providing a tensile stress is used as the etching stopper film. A silicon nitride film providing a compressive stress is also known.
JP-A-2003-86708 proposes to cover an NMOSFET with a film providing a tensile stress and cover a PMOSFET with a film providing a compressive stress. The characteristics of a CMOSFET are improved by applying a tensile stress to a NMOSFET region and a compressive stress to a PMOSFET region.
JP-A-2006-13322 proposes to cover an NMOSFET with a tensile stress film, cover a PMOSFET with a compressive stress film, and release the compressive stress outside the active region in the gate width direction in PMOSFET. By reducing the compressive stress in the gate width direction of PMOSFET, it becomes possible to suppress lowering of a driving ability of PMOSFET.
JP-2008-66484 proposes to cover an NMOSFET with a tensile stress film, cover a PMOSFET with a compressive film, and locate the border between the films nearer to PMOSFET than NMOSFET. By setting the border nearer to PMOSFET, a driving ability is improved.
Together with the miniaturization of transistors, the size (length, width) of the transistor becomes small. The smaller and narrower the length and width of a transistor are, the larger a compressive strain in the channel length and width directions of the channel region applied from the compressive stress of STI is. As miniaturization advances, lowering of the driving ability of transistors becomes an important issue.
In the technology era of 65 nm rules and succeeding eras, such a structure has been adopted in which an NMOSFET is covered with a tensile stress silicon nitride film and a PMOSFET is covered with a compressive silicon nitride film for performance improvement. Usually, a tensile stress silicon nitride film is deposited on NMOSFET, and the tensile stress silicon nitride film is removed from the PMOSFET region. A compressive stress silicon nitride film is deposited, and the compressive stress silicon nitride film is removed from the NMOSFET region to leave only the tensile stress silicon nitride film in the NMOSFET region.


When a caller initiates an interaction with an interactive voice response (“IVR”) system, the caller may be transferred to a live agent. Apparatus and methods are provided for integrating automated tools into the interaction after the caller been transferred to the agent. The agent may determine which AI responses are appropriate for the caller. AI may be leveraged to suggest responses for both caller and agent while they are interacting with each other. Such human-computer interaction may shorten response time of human agents and improve efficiency of IVR systems.

Interactive voice response ("IVR") systems receive inputs from callers. The inputs may be voice, text or selections. These inputs typically correspond to the caller attempting to express a purpose or goal of the caller. IVR systems use a variety of techniques to correctly discern the meaning of the caller inputs and allow the caller to efficiently achieve their purpose or goal.
However, the IVR system may not be able to accurately discern the purpose or goal of the caller. In such instances, the IVR system may be configured to transfer the caller to a human agent. Typically, after the caller is transferred to the human agent, the human agent exclusively attends to the caller without further automated assistance from the IVR system.
It is technically challenging to integrate responses from an automated system into responses formulated by a human agent such that involvement by both the human agent and automated system improves efficiency of the IVR system and increases caller satisfaction. However, as described herein, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ("AI") INTEGRATION WITH LIVE CHAT provides apparatus and methods for efficiently leveraging an IVR system even after a caller is transferred to a human agent.

Artificial intelligence (“AI”) integration with live chat


The present invention is embodied in a system and method for dynamically adjusting data values and preventing conflicts in response to remote user input. Namely, the system and method provides a remote user with real time interaction of data values, such as a set of results, associated sub-items or dependencies, and rules of enforcement of sub-item combinations produced by a host system. Adjustment of conflicting sub-items is prevented with the rules of enforcement and predefined interactive options. As such, the user can dynamically adjust the set of results and sub-items from a remote location. The system and method of the present invention preferably utilizes client-side processing to achieve real time interaction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method for processing data, and in particular, to a system and method for adjusting data values and enforcing valid combinations of the data in real time in response to remote user input.
2. Related Art
Quick and easy interaction between a server and a client user is desirable, especially for systems with bandwidth limitations. For example, the Internet utilizes a server-client system. Many client users with Internet access have bandwidth limitations. For example, during interaction with the World Wide Web, these client users typically encounter server processing every time the user makes a request. Constant server processing bogs down the server, delays user Internet navigation and creates an unpleasantly
Typical server-client systems utilize servers that provide remote users access to database information stored on the server. For instance, in many systems, first, a user requests information based on user defined criteria. Second, the server collects available information relating to the user defined request, such as associated sub-items. Third, the server transmits the associated sub-items to the client and displays the sub-items on the client. Fourth, the user builds a sub-item configuration by making sub-item selections and submitting the selections. Fifth, if the selections are invalid, the server notifies the user that the selections are invalid and the process starts over from the third step. This validation step is repeated until the remote user submits a valid sub-item configuration and sub-item selections without conflicts. When the selections are valid, the server collects results based on the sub-item selections and sub-item configuration. Sixth, the results built from the sub-item selections are transmitted to the client. Last, if the results are not desired by the user or if the sub-item selections require adjustment, the process must be repeated starting from the third step.
One such system is a server database with a used car price guide for access by a remote user. First, the remote user makes an initial request to access results, such as pricing information for a particular car. After the remote user makes the initial request, the server collects sub-items, such as options relating to the particular car, and transmits the options to the remote user. The remote user is then required to select options for building an option configuration. If the option selections are invalid or conflict, the server notifies the user that the selections are invalid and then retransmits the options to the user. This validation step is repeated until the remote user submits valid option selections and an option configuration without conflicts. When the selection is valid, the server collects pricing information based on the option selections and overall configuration. The pricing information built from the selected options is then transmitted to the remote user.
However, if the user desires to modify, adjust, limit, etc. the options, the process must be repeated starting from the third step and the server must be re-accessed. In addition, conflicts between options that are unknown to the remote user can cause the server to be unnecessarily re-accessed numerous times. This is because attempts to adjust options that conflict will produce an error and the user will be given the options again and be required to submit new options for re-accessing the server until there are no conflicts. As a result, the user is required to navigate sometimes through several layers of information. Hence, these systems are slow, do not allow real time user interaction and require undue processing. Therefore, what is needed is an effective and efficient technique for adjusting data values, preventing conflicts and enforcing valid sub-item combinations in real time in response to remote user input. What is also needed is a system and method that utilizes client-side processing instead of server-side processing for data processing to avoid lengthy server reloading.
Whatever the merits of the above mentioned systems and methods, they do not achieve the benefits of the present invention.

System and method for dynamically adjusting data values and enforcing valid combinations of the data in response to remote user input


A graphical user interface displays a shape. Further, a buffer region that is adjacent to an edge of the shape is displayed at the graphical user interface. In addition, a set of drawing data located within the buffer region is received from a user input device. A first subset of the drawing data that is located in the buffer region at a predetermined distance from the edge and a second subset of the drawing data in the buffer region that is located at a distance from the edge that exceeds the predetermined distance are determined with a processor. Further, the first subset of drawing data is displayed. In addition, the second subset of drawing data is prevented from being displayed at the distance. The process also displays the second subset of drawing data at the predetermined distance.

1. Field
This disclosure generally relates to freeform drawing. More particularly, the disclosure relates to freeform drawing with edge detection.
2. General Background
Systems have been developed to allow users to draw various types of drawings. These systems vary in complexity so that a user ranging from the leisure artist to the professional developer has the tools that will be helpful in his or her artistic ventures.
Some of these systems allow a user to perform freeform drawing. The freeform drawing tool may be useful to a leisure or professional user. However, current freeform drawing tools are limited in their abilities. The user is not provided with enough supportive functionality to encapsulate the benefits of freeform drawing.
Further, in the physical world, a user can place a pen against an edge of a support tool such as a ruler. The user receives haptic feedback as a result of whether the pen is against the edge or not. However, in the virtual world, haptic feedback is currently not provided for support drawing tools. Accordingly, a user may have difficulty lining up an edge of a support drawing tool with a virtual pen.


A process for producing an exterior member/seal member assembly includes: a first step of moving a slide core to protrude into a major cavity defined between first and second dies and, and injecting a hard synthetic resin into an exterior-member forming cavity partitioned in the major cavity; and a second step of retracting the slide core and injecting a soft synthetic resin into a seal-member forming cavity which is a remaining portion of the major cavity. An outer-seal-lip forming portion is connected to an outer end of the seal-member forming cavity; a recess-shaped step is formed on one side face of the slide core and adapted to define an inner-seal-lip forming portion leading to the seal-member forming cavity between the step and an inner surface of a guide bore in the second die when the slide core is retracted; and the soft synthetic resin is filled into the outer and inner-seal-lip forming portions 15 and 16 at the second step. Thus, the seal member having the pair of inner and outer seal lips can be formed and coupled to the exterior member by one stroke of the seal-member forming step, and complication of the forming step can be avoided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improvement in a process for producing an exterior member/seal member assembly comprising an exterior member made of a hard synthetic resin and a seal member made of a soft synthetic resin and coupled to one end of said exterior member, said process comprising: a first step of moving a slide core slidably mounted in a guide bore in a second die so that it protrudes into a major cavity defined between a first die and the second die, and injecting a hard synthetic resin into an exterior-member forming cavity partitioned in the major cavity to form an exterior member; and a second step of retracting the slide core out of the major cavity and injecting a soft synthetic resin into a seal-member forming cavity, which is a remaining portion of the major cavity, to form a seal member.
2. Description of the Related Art
Such process for producing an exterior member/seal member assembly is already known, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 6-143333.
In the known process for producing the exterior member/seal member assembly, it is not taken into consideration to form a pair of seal lips on an inner surface of a seal member in order to enhance the sealing function of the seal member of the exterior member/seal member assembly.

Process for producing exterior member/seal member assembly


A blade or a vane preferably used in a gas turbine engine, the blade or vane being formed of a metallic core or insert with a ceramic airfoil surface bonded to the metallic insert. The insert includes a series of concave and convex portions arranged along the outer surface, in which a plurality of hoop fibers are secured within a resin matrix to firmly secure the metallic insert to the ceramic airfoil body. Axial loads between the insert and the ceramic body are transferred to the hoop fibers. The hoop fibers are strong enough to resist extending in length that would permit the hoop fibers from sliding over the widest portion of the insert.

1. Field of the Invention
This Invention relates to the field of Gas Turbine Engines, and, generally to airfoils and, more particularly, to ceramic turbine airfoils with a metal internal support structure.
2. Description of the Related Art including information disclosed under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
Gas Turbine Engines include a turbine with a plurality of rows of rotating blades and stationary vanes, or airfoils. Airfoils are generally made hollow, with air cooling passages therein to provide cooling for the airfoil. The external surfaces of the airfoil are subjected to high temperatures from the flowing gas. Cooling a turbine airfoil prolongs the turbine airfoil useful life and improves turbine airfoil performance.
A hollow airfoil may have a metal insert secured within the airfoil by a resin matrix, possibly including a fibrous material embedded within the matrix. One problem with the prior art is that the metal material of the insert does not bond well to the resin matrix. With a weak bond, the insert can slide out of the hollow airfoil under light loads.
FIG. 1 show a helicopter blade 20 secured to a rotor of a driving engine. The rotor includes a blade mounting portion 10 having an annular recess 12 formed completely around the shaft of the blade mounting portion. The blade includes fingers 22 extending inward and toward the annular recess of the mounting portion 10. Each finger 22 includes a hoop fiber arrangement 30 extending in an annular arrangement around the fingers 22. The hoop fibers 30 form a bump portion extending inward from the fingers 22 and align with the annular recess 12 formed in the blade-mounting portion 10. The hoop fibers 30 are formed within a resin matrix, forming a fibrous composite material. Because of the strength of the fibers within the matrix, the blade is securely attached to the rotor mount even under the extremely high centrifugal forces developed during high-speed rotation of the blades about the rotor. In order for the blade to slip out of the blade mount, the fibers would have to break.
FIG. 2 shows an airfoil known in the prior art and shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,249,291. A plurality of holes 24 are drilled in an oversized airfoil core blank 25 at spaced locations corresponding to the desired locations of cooling tubes in the airfoil. The cooling tubes are separately fabricated as preassembled composite tube inner member 27 within an outer member 26 and are inserted into the holes 24 formed in the airfoil blank 25. The so-inserted composite tubes 27 are then HIP diffusion bonded or brazed in place.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,563,128 issued to Rossmann on Jan. 7, 1986 shows a Ceramic turbine Blade Having A Metal Support Core in which a hollow ceramic blade member is supported between flanges on a metal core, or by a core head attached at an end of a metal rod passing though a hollow portion of the ceramic blade.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,790,721 issued to Morris et al on Dec. 13, 1988 shows a Blade Assembly in which a ceramic blade jacket is supported on a metallic core between a lower flange extending from a root of the blade and a top flange formed on the metallic core.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,314,794 issued to Holden, deceased et al on Feb. 9, 1982 shows a plurality of hollow ceramic washers in the shape of a blade supported on a metal core, a bolt securing the metal core to a ceramic root portion of the blade.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,285,634 issued to Rossmann et al on Aug. 25, 1981 shows a gas turbine blade constituted of a supportive metallic blade core and a thin-walled ceramic blade airfoil, in which the airfoil is supported against a tip plate of the blade core. The blade core consists of rod or wire-shaped pins which have widened bases at their radially inner ends. Through these widened bases, the pins are retained in a metallic adapter slidably into a turbine disc.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,479,057 issued to Bodger on Aug. 16, 1949 shows a ceramic blade secured to a metallic post by a shroud segment welded to the metallic post, the shroud segment forming a flange to hold the ceramic blade onto the metallic post.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,514,046 issued to Morrison et al on Feb. 4, 2003 shows a vane assembly for a turbine assembly includes an inner end cap, an outer end cap, and a body. The body includes a metallic core assembly, a ceramic shell assembly and a support assembly. The metallic core assembly is coupled to the inner and outer end caps and bears most of the mechanical loads, including aerodynamic loads. The ceramic shell bears substantially all of the thermal stress placed on the vane assembly. The support assembly is disposed between the metallic core assembly and said ceramic shell assembly and is coupled to the metallic core assembly.
The above cited prior art references do not have strong bond between a metallic insert and a blade or vane body made of a ceramic material that can withstand modern high stresses in the airfoil that tend to separate the metallic material from the ceramic material.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a high strength bond between a metallic insert and an outer ceramic airfoil member, the airfoil being a blade or vane used in a gas turbine engine.


A device and method of operation for analyzing signal features over multiple optical wavelengths is presented. A plurality of rotating thin film filters is arranged with respect to a collimated beam of light so that each thin film filter transmits light of a particular wavelength to a detector unit responsive to an angle of incidence of light upon the thin film filter when the thin film filter optically interposes the collimated light beam. Each of the plurality of thin film filters is optically interposed periodically and rotated so that the angle of incidence of light from the first input unit upon the thin film filter varies when the thin film filter is optically interposed to scan the light by wavelength within a selected wavelength band into a detector unit for measurement.

This invention is related to optical devices for analyzing signal features at multiple optical wavelengths and is particularly adapted to monitoring a plurality of wavelength communication channels in an optical network.
Current optical networks typically use a particular wavelength of light to define a communication channel so that multiple communication channels can be carried on a single optical fiber. DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing) networks are such networks in which an ITU (International Telecommunications Union) standard specifies the particular channel wavelengths and the spacings between these channels. DWDM is based upon WDM (Wavelength Division Multiplexing), an earlier ITU standard in which a smaller number of wavelength channels are carried by an optical fiber with the channels further spaced apart. It should be noted that the term DWDM, as used herein, refers to the more inclusive sense of wavelength definition of communication channels so as to include the ITU WDM and DWDM standards, unless specifically stated otherwise.
To properly administer the increasing load of data, voice and video information signals transported over optical networks, optical channel monitors (OCMs) are used to measure the wavelength, power and signal-to-noise ratio of each communication channel. Many different optical elements have been used in OCMs to decompose optical fiber signals into their wavelength components for monitoring. These elements include wavelength dispersive elements, such as gratings, Fabry-Perot etalons, thin film filters, linear variable filters, and AWGs (Array WaveGuides). Single and arrays of multiple photodetectors are used to detect the dispersed wavelength signals. Nonetheless, despite varied arrangements of such optical elements, OCMs still suffer from numerous infirmities, including poor or slow performance, and high costs of manufacture.
The present invention solves or substantially ameliorates these problems. Furthermore, the present invention is also adaptable to function as an analyzer device for measuring properties of light at multiple optical wavelengths, such as an optical performance monitor, an optical wavelength meter, a DWDM spectrum analyzer, an optical spectrometer, and other instruments which analyze light by its constituent wavelengths.

Multiple wavelength optical analyzer device


The present invention relates to a method for generating a complete medical image data set from an incomplete image data set, comprising the method steps of: providing a first image data set which represents an image of a first region of a body, including at least a part of the surface of the body, at a first point in time; providing a second, incomplete image data set which represents an image of a second region of the body at a second point in time, wherein the first region and the second region overlap; providing a third data set which represents the contour of the body in the form of points on the surface of the body, substantially at the second point in time; adapting the first image data set to the second image data set by taking into account the third data set; and accepting the adapted first image data set as a complete image data set.

In the field of medicine, it is often necessary to have an exact image of a body in order for example to plan and/or perform surgery or an irradiation treatment, wherein it is necessary to obtain the image as immediately before the irradiation and/or treatment as possible, since a body can significantly change even within short periods of time. Such images are predominantly obtained by means of cone beam computed tomographs (CBCT), since they represent relatively simple apparatuses for 3D imaging and only require a little time to prepare the image. However, because of the cone beam, they have the disadvantage of exhibiting only a limited detection range which often does not include the entire relevant region of the body. Moreover, their spatial resolution and dynamic range are lower than with fan beam computed tomographs (CT) or magnetic resonance tomographs (MRT).
In order to avoid this disadvantage, the U.S. Pat. No. 6,915,005 B1 suggests: preparing a CT image, chronologically before the CBCT image, which captures a larger region of the body than the CBCT image; aligning the CT image onto the CBCT image; converting the aligned CT image into a sinogram; and supplementing regions of the sinogram of the CBCT image outside the detection range of the CBCT image from the sinogram of the aligned CT image.

Method for completing a medical image data set


A device is provided for transferring fluid into or out of a tank and is particularly useful in transferring fluid in a substantially aseptic, hygienic, or sterile manner. The device has a body with an elongate passage extending through the body. The body has a proximal end and a distal end. A longitudinally displaceable cannula is disposed in and extends along the passage in the body. A septum sealing the passage is at a first location; the septum being pierceable and self-sealing. A diaphragm sealing the passage is at a second location intermediate the septum and the distal end of the passage. The cannula extends through and is secured to the diaphragm and has a sharpened end disposed adjacent to or in the septum. Longitudinal displacement of the cannula causes its sharpened end to pierce and project through the septum, the diaphragm stretching to accommodate the displacement of the cannula while maintaining its aseptic seal of the passage.

In the manufacturing and processing of many different products, it often is necessary to transfer fluid into or out of a closed processing system and do so in a substantially aseptic, hygienic, or sterile manner. In particular, the need to transfer fluid often arises in the manufacturing and processing of pharmaceuticals, biopharmaceuticals, or other biotechnology applications where processes are conducted in large process tanks, including but not limited to, the transfer of media solutions. The need for fluid transfer arises in other applications and industries as well, including but not limited to, the production of food, cosmetics, paint, chemicals, including hazardous chemicals, and the transfer and handling of semiconductor fluids. During transfers or sampling, fluid in tanks or other vessels must remain substantially free of contaminants. In addition, when making such transfers, it is desirable to keep the environment surrounding a vessel free from contamination by the contents of the vessel or a sample taken therefrom. It is often the case that throughout the manufacturing process there is a need to take multiple samples from the fluid or, in some circumstances, add additional fluid or media to the fluid in a vessel. To accomplish a substantially aseptic, hygienic, or sterile transfer, it is desirable to control the environment through which the fluid flows, for example, the pathway from a tank to a sample container should be substantially aseptic, hygienic, or sterile along the entire pathway. Furthermore, it is desirable that the fluid transfer device be safe for use, reliable, and of low-cost construction.
It is also desirable to transfer fluid using a device which is pre-sterilized and disposable. A pre-sterilized device avoids the need for an operator to prepare the device for use. In addition, a disposable device avoids the time consuming and laborious task of sterilizing sampling equipment.
In view of the above, there exists a need for a fluid transfer device that is pre-sterilized and disposable and capable of use in common industrial settings, such as those found in the pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, or other high purity industries.


A hub mounting assembly for mounting a plurality of impellers onto a shaft has a first hub ring and a second hub ring. A first key piece is adapted to engage with the shaft and engage with at least one of the hub rings, and a first lock pin is adapted to engage with the shaft and engage with at least one of the hub rings. In the installed state, the first hub ring is adapted to be fastened to the second hub ring, to trap the key piece and lock pin in a position so that the hub rings together form a hub that is locked against rotation and axial movement with respect to the shaft.

Mixing devices are in wide use in industry, and many mixing devices include a large vessel which contains a liquid or other material to be mixed. In some types, a typically vertically-oriented impeller shaft runs down some or all of the length inside the vessel. The impeller shaft typically enters the vessel through a bearing and seal arrangement, and the impeller shaft is rotatably driven from outside of the vessel usually by a motor located at the top of the vessel. Inside the vessel, at one or several axial locations on the length of the shaft, radially extending impellers are attached to the shaft which have paddles or blade type features extending radially outwardly. Rotation of the shaft rotates the impellers to mix and or otherwise impart energy to the fluid or other material inside the vessel.
In some instances, the motor and drive assembly, along with the bearing and sealing arrangement, are mounted at the top opening of the vessel, and the shaft is suspended, so that it hangs down from the motor with its lower end being either a free end spaced above the bottom of the vessel, or a lower stub of the shaft may be rotatably supported by a bearing at the bottom inside of the vessel. In the case of long shafts, intermediate steady bearings may be mounted to provide radial support against flexing or bending or vibration of the shaft.
In some instances, the impellers themselves are welded directly onto the shaft at the time of manufacture. This arrangement is often suitable, but also can have the disadvantage that welding of the impellers onto the shaft is relatively permanent. Thus, replacement or substitution of different impellers for different applications is not convenient. Further, the opening in the top of the vessel needs to be large enough to permit a shaft, and the welded impellers all to be inserted through the opening when installing the shaft in the impellers into the vessel. This can require a large opening in the top of the vessel.
To overcome these disadvantages, there are arrangements in which a removable or detachable hub that supports the impellers can be mounted onto the shaft. However, at least some of the removable hub designs suffer from the disadvantages that all of the impellers are mounted to a single removable hub, and thus the hub and impeller assembly, which may be quite large, still needs to fit through the opening in the vessel. Further, some of these arrangements have a disadvantage that they may not be as sanitary as the desired. In many applications, it is desirable to have a very sanitary arrangement which reduces as much as possible any of the mixing material from going into the inside structure of the hub mounting arrangement. Entry of the material into the inside structure of the hub mounting arrangement, and into any gaps, crevices or clearances between the hub and the shaft, can be undesirable because it can lead to difficulty in cleaning the installed arrangement and possible contamination of the material being mixed.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need in the art for a removably attachable impeller hub that can quickly and easily be attached and/or detached to an impeller shaft, which can provide a secure attachment while also having desirable sanitary properties.

Sanitary removable impeller hub and method


A plurality of mobile sensor devices each periodically measure a property of their environment, and determine the rate of change in that property. Neighboring devices also co-operate to determine the values of the property being measured by each other. If the property is invariant both over time and over a number of neighboring devices, their periodicity of measurement-taking is reduced to conserve power for more significant measurement events. The devices may co-operate to relay their measurements to a data collection point. Each device determines the level of data traffic being carried by one or more neighboring devices, identifies the device that is carrying the least traffic, and puts itself under the control of that device. Any device that determines that it is carrying less such traffic than any of its neighbor assumes control of the data sensing rate for itself and those neighbor, and transmits control data to the said other devices to co-ordinate their data collection rates and stagger their data collection times.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to sensor networks of the kind in which data is collected from a network of mobile sensor devices, each of which is capable of taking measurements and relaying packets of data. Such devices are used by scientists taking measurements of the behavior of the environment. Mobile sensors are of particular application in monitoring the movement of individual objects such as vehicles or animals, and of fluid flows such as air, water, ice, lava, etc. However, they also have uses in measuring other, non-movement related, phenomena, because the mobility of the sensors avoids the researcher having to place them by hand, or the need for a fixed or uniform architecture. The properties to be measured may include temperature, pressure, or the chemical composition of the medium in which the sensors are carried. In some applications, the sensors may be attached to vehicles or other objects capable of autonomous movement. For example they may be attached to animals in order to monitor their migratory behavior or physiological condition, or to aircraft to monitor atmospheric conditions.
2. Related Art
The environments in which such devices are required to operate often have measurement points widely dispersed in both space and time. Some of the environments are hostile to human life. In some applications, such as the study of animal behaviour, human intervention could compromise the data. For these reasons the devices must be capable of operating autonomously, and transmitting the data they collect to a more convenient point using a wireless medium such as radio or sonar. Moreover it is not usually possible to provide a continuous power supply, so the useful life of a device is primarily constrained by battery life. A particular area where advantage would be seen would be in the application of pollution monitoring in rivers and reservoirs, or in the atmosphere. Here, again, it would be inconvenient to have to fix sensor devices to river beds or reservoir basins, or at monitoring points such as weather stations: it would be far easier to use floating devices. Such devices may also allow measurements at points where there is no solid surface, without the provision of buoys, tethered balloons, masts etc.
The sensors are each supplied with a wireless transmitter to transmit readings to a data collection point. The medium of the wireless transmissions may be radio, ultrasound or any other suitable means, depending on the environment in which the sensors are to be used.
Memory and processor capacity, and energy usage, are particularly important in sensor networks. These typically consist of very small, very cheap microprocessors, e.g., 16 bit, with 32 kilobytes of RAM. They also have a finite battery supply, which would be impractical to replace given the nature of the applications in which the sensors are to be used. It is therefore, very important that any communication protocol is energy-efficient, and also pared to a minimum in communication overhead and memory usage. The present applicant has developed a number of processes to develop an "ad hoc" wireless transmission network, in which the sensors relay data from one to another. This reduces the transmission power required overall, because two or more short-range transmissions require less power than a single transmission over the same total distance to the data collection point. (This is a consequence of the "inverse square law" of radiation propagation.) To avoid exhaustion of individual devices, these processes take into account the amount of traffic handled by each sensor device, and its remaining battery life, in order to determine how much relay traffic each device should be required to handle.
International patent applications PCT/GB2004/001999 (published as WO 2005/006668) and PCT/GB2004/003510 (published as WO 2005/025147) discuss this work. The first of these discloses a system of mobile data wireless relay devices, each having
receiving means for receiving payload data from a data source,
a buffer for storing payload data for subsequent transmission,
means for receiving status data from similar devices,
status data generation means for generating status data, the status data being derived from the quantity of data in the buffer store and the status data received from other devices, and comprising data relating to                the position of the device,        the quantity of data in the buffer store        a scalar forwarding value (δ) and        a forwarding direction,
status transmitter means for transmitting status data to other devices
selection means for identifying from the status data a receiving device to which the payload data is to be forwarded, the receiving device being located in a position indicated by the forwarding direction,
payload transmission means for transmitting the payload data to the receiving device.
The other application discloses a system in which the data relay devices have
receiving means for receiving payload data from a data source,
a buffer for storing payload data for subsequent transmission,
means for receiving status data from similar devices,
status data generation means for generating status data, the status data being derived from the quantity of data in the buffer store and the status data received from other devices, and comprising data relating to                the separation of the device from other devices,        the quantity of data in the buffer store
means for determining a scalar status value determined by the quantity of data stored in the buffer and its separation from nearby sensors,
status transmitter means for transmitting the status value to other devices
selection means for identifying, from the status data received from other devices, a receiving device having a status value which varies from its own status value in a manner indicative that payload data may be forwarded to it, and
payload transmission means for transmitting the payload data to the identified receiving device.
The wireless relay devices therefore identify the neighbouring device giving the best chance for the payload data to ultimately get all the way back to a data collection point or "sink". It requires no explicit knowledge of the topology of the network, and in particular requires no details of any hop other than the one to which the device is directly connected.
These systems therefore allow the routing of data from sensor devices to higher-powered "sink" or "base-station" devices, using sensor/relay sensor devices that may be mobile in unpredictable ways, of low power, small, cheap and simple, and yet able to convey data back to a central network point or points in an opportunistic way, without prior configuration. In these systems the sensor/relay devices each have some buffer data storage capacity, which can be used either for data it has collected itself, or for data relayed from other devices. They co-operate to determine whether an individual device should transmit data to another such device. This decision is based on the amount of spare data capacity in each device, the distance between them (and therefore the transmission power required), the battery life remaining, and their relative proximities to the intended ultimate destination of the data (a data "sink").
As has already been discussed, battery life is an important consideration in systems of this kind, as it would be impractical to locate or recover the devices in order to replenish their power supply when the batteries are exhausted. In addition to controlling the relaying of data between sensors as discussed in the patent specifications referred to above, it is desirable to find other ways to minimise power consumption in order to maximise the useful life of the devices. The present invention is concerned with improving the efficiency of the data collection process itself.
W B Heinzelman, A P Chandrakasan and H Balakrishnan, (Energy-Efficient Routing Protocols for Wireless Microsensor Networks, Proceedings of the 33rd International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS '00), January 2000) describe a process for routing data efficiently in sensor networks by exploiting distributed aggregation of data based on clustering techniques. Cluster heads are chosen in rotation to act as local aggregators and relays of data back to the central network point(s) (sink/base-station). Such aggregation of data can reduce communication load, and rotation of the heavy-duty function of relaying the data over long distances ensures that no one device is exhausted prematurely. However, there is a cost associated with maintaining these clusters and negotiating the next cluster head, which is viable for stationary sensor devices, but offers diminishing return as sensor devices become mobile.
This prior art arrangement is designed to maximise the data collected. However, in many situations, the contributions of individual items of data to the whole are not equal. A typical use of such sensors is for the detection of the time or location of a significant phenomenon within a much larger region of space and/or time monitored by the sensor network. For example, they may be used to detect the presence and dispersion of pollution in water. In such a situation, in order to provide useful data, the data points have to be spaced closely enough, in both space and time, to detect the phenomenon being measured. However, in many cases this results in the collection of a large amount of redundant data, collected in regions or at times when the phenomenon is not present, or has a constant value. This is because the distribution of the sensors is more or less random, and the time and location of the phenomenon is not knowable in advance. It is desirable to optimise the roles of sensing and routing in order to gather as much significant information from the sensor network as possible, within the constraints of the limited processing and communications capability, and the unpredictable movement of the sensors, which limit the amount of co-operation possible between the devices.
Work by A. Cerpa, J. Elson, D. Estrin, L. Girod, M. Hamilton and J. Zhao, refers to habitat monitoring as a driver for wireless communications technology, and focuses on power-saving by having devices switching themselves on and off according to whether they are in the vicinity of regions where interesting activity is expected, or detected by other devices. ("Habitat Monitoring: Application Driver for Wireless Communications Technology", ACM SIGCOMM Workshop on Data Communications in Latin America and the Caribbean, Costa Rica, April 2001.) However, this process requires foreknowledge of where such activity is likely to take place,

BRITISH TELECOMMUNICATIONS public limited company


A regulator (20) comprises a servo piston 21 and a tilting control valve (22) which is made up of a spool (22a), a spring (22b), a control piston (22d) and a first pressure bearing chamber (22e). With these components, the regulator (20) controls a pump tilting such that a pump delivery rate is reduced as delivery pump pressure rises. The tilting control valve (22) also includes a second pressure bearing chamber (22f). When a gate-lock lever (31) is operated to switch over a lock valve (30), a flow control valve (6) is disabled from operating not to move even if a control lever (11a) is erroneously touched, and the machine is surely kept from coming into operation. At the same time, pilot primary pressure from a pilot pump (3) is introduced to the second pressure bearing chamber (22f) of the tilting control valve (22), causing the pump tilting to reduce down to a minimum tilting (q.sub.min). In the inoperative condition where the operator has no intention of carrying out work, it is thus possible to minimize the tilting of the hydraulic pump and reduce an energy loss.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hydraulic circuit system for hydraulic working machines such as hydraulic excavators, and more particularly to a hydraulic circuit system for hydraulic working machines provided with a safety control device, e.g., a lock valve, which is operated upon a gate-lock lever manipulated by an operator when the operator has no intention of carrying out work, for cutting off pilot primary pressure from a control lever unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
A hydraulic circuit system for hydraulic working machines such as hydraulic excavators generally comprises a variable displacement hydraulic pump driven by a prime mover (engine), and flow control valves for supplying and returning a hydraulic fluid from the hydraulic pump to and from actuators. When any of control levers of control lever units is operated, a command signal in the form of pilot pressure, for example, is applied to the associated flow control valve, whereupon the flow control valve is driven to shift in position to operate the actuator.
Also, the hydraulic circuit system includes a regulator as tilting control means for controlling a tilting of the hydraulic pump and hence controlling a delivery flow rate of the pump. There are various types of regulators. One example of regulators which has an input torque limiting function is designed to receive the delivery pressure of the hydraulic pump, and when the pump delivery pressure becomes high, to make smaller a pump tilting to reduce a delivery flow rate so that the pump absorbing torque will not exceed the output torque of the prime mover driving the hydraulic pump. This surely prevents the prime mover from stalling even when the pump delivery pressure is so high. The prior art related to the regulator having an input torque limiting function is disclosed in, e.g., JP, Y, 62-26630.
In a hydraulic circuit system having a center bypass line by which flow control valves of the center bypass type are connected in series, a negative control type regulator is employed which detects a center bypass flow rate in terms of pressure and controls the pump tilting in accordance with the detected pressure. The negative control type regulator is designed to make smaller the pump tilting to reduce the delivery flow rate when the center bypass flow rate is large and the detected pressure is high, but to make larger the pump tilting to increase the delivery flow rate when the center bypass flow rate is small and the detected pressure is low, thereby delivering a pump flow rate depending on the flow rate demanded by the flow control valve to reduce an energy loss.
Also, in the negative control type regulator, the tilting of the hydraulic pump is generally controlled such that when the control levers are not operated and the flow control valves are in the neutral positions, a certain flow rate larger than a minimum flow rate is maintained as a stand-by flow rate to improve response of actuators at the start-up of operation. The prior art related to the regulator performing the negative control and setting the stand-by flow rate is disclosed in, e.g., JP, U, 6-28304.
Meanwhile, in hydraulic working machines such as hydraulic excavators, a lock valve is provided as safety control means to keep the machine from coming into operation even if a control lever is erroneously touched when the operator has no intention of carrying out work in such an occasion as getting off the machine. The lock valve is disposed in a pilot line through which the pilot primary pressure is supplied from a pilot pump to a pilot valve of a control lever unit. When a gate-lock lever is operated, the lock valve is shifted to cut off the pilot primary pressure, whereby the pilot secondary pressure, i.e., the command pilot pressure, is output in no way from the pilot valve even with the control lever moved. As a result, erroneous operation of the machine is prevented. The prior art related to the lock valve is disclosed in, e.g., JP, U, 5-57052.

Hydraulic circuit system for hydraulic working machine

Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd.


A cosmetic or dermatological preparation based on a W/O emulsion which is present as a plurality of shaped bodies. The shaped bodies are solid, semisolid and/or dimensionally stable at room temperature and comprise one or more of a wax, a lipid, an emulsifier, a natural polymer and a synthetic polymer.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a cosmetic and/or dermatological preparation for topical application based on a water-containing emulsion in the form of solid, semisolid and/or dimensionally stable spheres, spheroids or otherwise shaped bodies containing essentially waxes, emulsifiers, natural and/or synthetic polymers and/or mixtures thereof. The preparation melts upon rubbing and/or distribution on the skin and/or the hair and/or becomes completely or partially liquid due to shear forces and/or mixes with the lipids of the skin sebum and/or dissolves therein.
2. Discussion of Background Information
Tablets for peroral pharmaceutical use have been known since the 19th century at the latest. These are single-dose solid medicaments which are formed from dry powders, crystals or granules under high pressure and in the presence of auxiliaries (Rudolf Voigt, "Pharmazeutische Technologie" [Pharmaceutical Technology], Deutsche Apotheker Verlag, Stuttgart, 9th edition (2000), p. 163 ff).
Suppositories for rectal or vaginal use have also been used in pharmacy for a long time. These are dimensionally stable preparations which melt at body temperature or slowly dissolve in aqueous medium (Rudolf Voigt, "Pharmazeutische Technologie" [Pharmaceutical Technology], Deutsche Apotheker Verlag, Stuttgart, 9th edition (2000), p. 267 ff). They can be produced by molding or compression. Depending on the manufacturing process, besides the customary pharmaceutical requirements, such as good tolerability and compatibility with the active ingredient and durability, further requirements are placed on the raw materials used, such as, for example, small differences between the melting point and solidification point, and between the yield point and clear melting point and at least kinetic stability of the crystal modification formed first. Suppositories for topical use have not hitherto been described.
Moreover, the prior art discloses pharmaceutical capsules, for example soft and hard gelatin capsules, which consist of an envelope of gelatin and glycerol, and sometimes dyes, and a liquid, pasty or particulate filling. The method of producing these capsules known for many years takes place, for example, in accordance with the so-called rotary-die system (Seifen-Öle-Fette-Wachse, Vol. 113; No. 3/1987, page 67 ff). These gelatin capsules dissolve when swallowed in the gastrointestinal tract and release their ingredients. Since it is directly possible to produce capsules in different sizes and shapes, use is limited not just to peroral application forms (Rudolf Voigt, "Pharmazeutische Technologie" [Pharmaceutical Technology], Deutsche Apotheker Verlag, Stuttgart, 9th edition (2000), p. 543ff). Oral absorption can be achieved through suckable capsules. They are hollow on the inside and have a wall which is three times thicker than that of other capsules. The active ingredient is incorporated here in the gelatin envelope. A further example is nitroglycerol chewable capsules (bite-through capsules), which likewise allow rapid absorption of the active ingredient via the oral mucosa. Furthermore, individually dosed medicaments can be applied after puncturing or cutting the tubular ointment capsules by squeezing out the contents (percutaneous application of nitroglycerol heart ointment).
From the food sector, for example, various preparations which are solid at room temperature are known which melt at body temperature. These are mostly vegetable fat preparations, particularly based on cocoa butter and shea butter (chocolate) or W/O emulsions of hydrogenated vegetable fats and free fatty acids (margarine). As "ice confection", preparations are known in which a moderately high enthalpy of melt has to be applied and which therefore have a cooling effect in the mouth.
Moreover, pralines are known which comprise liquid or pasty ingredients in a dimensionally stable chocolate coating. The coating melts during sucking or biting-through in the mouth or after swallowing.
In the cosmetics sector, the so-called bath beads are known whose envelope, e.g. made of gelatin, dissolves in hot or warm bathwater without leaving a residue and releases its contents, for example surfactant preparations, emulsions, lipids, dyes and/or perfumes, into the bathwater. Since the envelope consists of gelatin, the product must not contain water, otherwise the envelope would soften during storage.
A second group of cosmetic capsules covers all products for which the capsule envelope represents only a container for the single dose and use and whose envelope is left behind following use. A disadvantage with this is that the envelope which is left behind is troublesome and in addition has to be disposed of.
Numerous cosmetic and/or dermatological active ingredients are unstable toward certain influences such as moisture, low or high pH values and oxygen or light. There has therefore been no lack of attempts to remove the specified undesired environmental influences from such active ingredients in such a way that the active ingredients are nevertheless released upon application. One way of achieving this aim is the microencapsulation or nanoencapsulation of active ingredients. The encapsulation material as carrier system for the active ingredients allows them to be incorporated into suitable preparations in a form protected against environmental influences without the user being able to perceive the capsules during product application.
The aim of such an encapsulation is, for example, to produce wax particles containing active ingredient in the micrometer range (1-250 μm) which can be incorporated into common pasty or liquid cosmetic preparations. It is hitherto not known to produce, store and topically use these microcapsules as an independent cosmetic preparation.
There are a number of approaches for encapsulating cosmetic active ingredients. For example, the liposomal encapsulation of medicaments, which is intended to lead to a slow release of active ingredient, is known. These are essentially spherical vesicles containing active ingredient and surrounded by phospholipids or other amphiphilic agents, the so-called liposomes. The long-term stability of such structures, however, is poor.
Nanoparticles are solid particles with particle sizes of from 20 to 500 nm. Sometimes, larger particles with diameters up to 1000 nm are also regarded as being nanoparticles. Particles of this type generally consist of polymers and have cavities or form an envelope so that guest molecules can stay inside them, these molecules being enclosed or adsorbed. These guest molecules are then slowly released upon application of the nanoparticle-containing product. Solid lipid nanoparticles, which comprise active ingredients distributed within a matrix made of solid lipids behave in a similar way. The size of the particles is comparable with that of nanoparticles.
Numerous methods are known for encapsulating pharmaceutical or cosmetic active ingredients for controlling active ingredient release or the stable incorporation in preparations.
European patent application EP 1064911 or EP 1064912 discloses microcapsules comprising active ingredients and having a diameter of from 0.1 to 5 mm which are obtained by preparing a matrix from gel formers, chitosan and active ingredient, and adding this dropwise to aqueous solutions of anionic polymers. In so doing, a membrane forms from chitosan and anionic polymer and surrounds the active ingredient solution. These microparticles are then in turn used as constituent of customary cosmetic preparations. General information regarding encapsulation techniques with chitosan can be found in Journal of Microencapsulation 14, pages 689-711 (1997).
Mostly lipophilic active ingredients encapsulated in lipid particles are known per se to the person skilled in the art. For example, EP 167825, DE 100 59 668, DE 199 45 203, EP 0934743, WO 94/20072, WO 00/10522 and WO 00/67728 describe lipid particles charged with active ingredient. However, these documents were unable to solve the problem of providing spherical preparations with or without cosmetic ingredients which can be prepared, stored and applied topically as an independent cosmetic preparation.
Lip care sticks made of W/O emulsions which are solid at room temperature are described, for example, in DE 10148313. This technology described therein is hereby subject-matter of the present invention. The emulsions according to DE 10148313 do not become liquid upon distribution or rubbing on the skin, the emulsion is merely rubbed off onto the area of application, particularly the lips. Liquefaction of the preparations described therein is even undesired since, to care for the lips, the applied material should remain for as long as possible at the site of application and not, for example, run off.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a cosmetic preparation which is in the form of dimensionally stable spheres, is thus individually portionable and can be distributed as a whole on the skin. In this connection, no residues, capsule material etc. at all should be left behind which would, if appropriate, have to be disposed of separately or remain visible on the skin. In particular, it is the object of the present invention to provide a cosmetic preparation which constitutes a novel cosmetic product form and offers the user a novel application experience and broadens the application spectrum of skincare and/or hair care products.

Spherical cosmetic preparations for topical application


A new Telescoping Handle With Multiple Attachment Ends for providing a multi-purpose cleaning tool with interchangeable cleaning attachments and a telescopic handle. The inventive device includes an elongated tube, an elongated rod slidably positioned within the elongated tube, and a plurality of cleaning attachments for selectively being attached to end of the elongated rod opposite of the elongated tube.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to Telescoping Handle Devices and more particularly pertains to a new Telescoping Handle With Multiple Attachment Ends for providing a multi-purpose cleaning tool with interchangeable cleaning attachments and a telescopic handle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of Telescoping Handle Devices is known in the prior art. More specifically, Telescoping Handle Devices heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art Telescoping Handle Devices include U.S. Pat. No. 4,524,484; U.S. Pat. No. 4,345,351; U.S. Design Pat. No. 354,554; U.S. Pat. No. 4,325,157; U.S. Pat. No. 5,392,673; U.S. Pat. No. 4,461,057; U.S. Pat. No. 4,081,186; U.S. Pat. No. 4,596,405; U.S. Design Pat. No. 283,176; U.S. Pat. No. 4,087,880; U.S. Design Pat. No. 321,793; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,068,346.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not disclose a new Telescoping Handle With Multiple Attachment Ends. The inventive device includes an elongated tube, an elongated rod slidably positioned within the elongated tube, and a plurality of cleaning attachments for selectively being attached to end of the elongated rod opposite of the elongated tube.
In these respects, the Telescoping Handle With Multiple Attachment Ends according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of providing a multi-purpose cleaning tool with interchangeable cleaning attachments and a telescopic handle.

Telescoping handle with multiple attachment ends


Transport arrangements for cutting heads or the like have previously been configured as independent one or two-axle trailers upon which the implement could be deposited. The disadvantage is that thereby a self-supporting construction is required which entails high costs. In another known embodiment a two wheel trailer is attached to both the front and the rear end of the implement, which is costly and increases the length of the complete rig. The transport arrangement proposed consists of a draft tongue and a trailer, where the tongue is inserted into and secured to the implement and the trailer is attached underneath the implement. Transport arrangements of this type are used to transport agricultural implements.

The present invention concerns a transport arrangement for an implement having a frame, and more particularly relates to such arrangements that are releasably connected to an implement frame so as to make the latter mobile in the endwise direction.
Transport arrangements are used to accommodate implements such as sowing machines, ground working tools, crop pick-up arrangements, cutter heads, picker attachments and the like in such a way that they can be towed behind a vehicle. In most cases the implements are those that exceed the maximum allowable width permitted on public roads, and therefor cannot remain in transverse position on the vehicle in public traffic. The vehicle concerned is usually an agricultural tractor, a combine, a forage harvester, a gang mower or the like, that is, the vehicle to which the implement is attached during operation.
Conventionally such transport arrangement uses one-axle or two-axle wagons that contain a longitudinal frame with contact surfaces and that can be connected to a towing hitch provided on the vehicle. Since these transporters must often accommodate implements which together with the transporters have a total working width/transport length of up to 6 meters, they are not only relatively bulky, but their manufacture entails excessively high production costs.
In contrast thereto, German Patent No. 2,644,360 issued Apr. 21, 1977 proposes a transport arrangement in which an adapter is provided at the forward and the rear ends of the implement, when considered in its endwise transport position, to each of which a support having two wheels can be attached. The forward wheeled support includes a tongue adapted to be coupled to a vehicle drawbar.
This transport arrangement has the disadvantage that it requires two wheeled supports and that the two wheeled supports considerably extend the length of the entire rig, which is undesirable in view of the transport mobility.
Another transport arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,385,483, issued May 31, 1983, as including a pair of wheels mounted in stored positions adjacent one end of the implement, with one wheel being pivotable to a transport position and the other being removable from storage and remountable to the implement in a transport position across from the one wheel so as to support the one end of the implement for being pulled endwise through means of a hitch telescopically attached to the other end of the implement.
While this last mentioned transport arrangement does not significantly add to the transport length of the implement, the implement structure is complicated by the need to provide brackets for storing the wheels and, due to the transport arrangement being attached to or carried by the implement, it is not possible to use the transport arrangement for transporting a different implement.

Arrangement for endwise transport of an implement


A movable model object which resembles a racehorse has a model supported on a base having wheels that run on a field of a horse racing game apparatus. The model includes front and rear legs as movable elements and a power transmitting mechanism for transmitting rotation of the wheels to the front and rear legs. The power transmitting mechanism includes an endless belt for transmitting the rotation of the wheels to a rotatable shaft rotatably supported on a fixed frame of the model to move the front and rear legs.

1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to a movable model object for use in games, and more particularly to a movable model object for use in various racing games which simulate races such as horse races, athletic track races, car races, bicycle races, motorcycle races, etc., on a game board which resembles a track.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
Heretofore, there have been known racing game apparatus having moving objects resembling racehorses, bicycles, athletes, cars, motorcycles, etc. which run along respective courses on a track-shaped game board to compete for higher ranks under the control of a computer. Game players who participate in racing games played on those racing game apparatus bet points or medals on favorite moving objects.
Those racing games employ movable model objects which are analogous to moving objects such as race horses, for example, that run in actual races. Japanese laid-open utility model publication No. 1-152698 and Japanese utility model registration No. 3009057, for example, disclose conventional movable model objects. Each of the disclosed movable model objects comprises a model horse device which simulates a racehorse and a jockey, and is used in a horse racing game apparatus.
The racehorse of the conventional movable model objects has front and rear legs that are swingable about their upper ends so as to be as similar to actual racehorses as possible in order to give the game player a realistic feeling when playing a horse race game.
The movable model object disclosed in Japanese laid-open utility model publication No. 1-152698 comprises a model horse mounted on a chassis movable on a field and having front and rear legs. The model horse is operatively coupled to a wheel shaft of the chassis through a crank, so that the model horse and the legs can swing when the chassis moves on the field.
More specifically, the model horse that is pivotally supported on the chassis is coupled to the wheel shaft by the crank and swing arms. When the chassis runs, the model horse is swung about its pivot by the crank and the swing arms, and the legs are also swung in response to the swinging motion of the model horse. Because the crank and the swing arms as they operate are visible to the game player, the game player clearly recognizes at all times that the model horse is being mechanically operated during the game. Therefore, the revealed movable model object does not look like an actual racehorse to the eyes of the game player, and is not aesthetically pleasing.
The movable model object disclosed in Japanese laid-open utility model publication No. 1-152698 is a four-legged movable model object comprising a model horse mounted on a movable body movable on a field by a support column. Rotation of a wheel shaft of the movable body is converted into rotation of a rotatable shaft in the support column and then into rotation of a main shaft that extends in the model horse parallel to the wheel shaft. The shaft in the model horse rotates an eccentric cam which causes the legs to swing about their upper ends.
More specifically, rotation of the wheel shaft of the movable body is transmitted to the rotatable shaft in the support column through gears, and rotation of the rotatable shaft is transmitted to the main shaft through a worm and a helical gear. In order to cause the various movable parts to move smoothly at a speed that is commensurate with the speed at which the model horse moves, it is necessary to reduce the rotational speed of the wheel shaft at suitable speed reduction ratios of the various gears. The speed reduction ratios, which depend on the sizes and combinations of the gears, cannot easily be selected and established due to limitations on the space that is available for the gears in the four-legged movable model object. Each of the legs comprises upper and lower leg members operatively connected to each other such that the lower leg member can move relatively to the upper leg member in response to movement of the upper leg member. The structure of each of the legs is made up of a number of components and is highly complex. Consequently, the legs cannot easily be assembled in a short period of time, and hence the rate of production of the legs is poor.


A monitoring method capable of properly collectively managing the operating states and operation records of a group of injection molding machines. Monitor data sets delivered from the individual injection molding machines are cyclically detected by means of a processor of a monitor unit, and a plurality of sets of up-to-date monitor data for the individual injection molding machines are renewably loaded into a plurality of data tables. When the preset time of a timer associated with any one of the injection molding machines is up, or when the current injection frequency reaches a predetermined frequency, it is concluded that the monitor data output timing is reached, and whether the monitor data should be printed or displayed on a screen is further determined. In a print process or display process, the oldest data group, which includes the oldest monitor data set and the next oldest monitor data set or a combination of two these data sets and calculated monitor data variations associated therewith, is first printed or displayed, and similar data groups are successively printed or displayed by priority of oldness. When the print or display of the up-to-date data group, including the up-to-date monitor data set, is finished, a monitor data reload process is executed in order to update a plurality of monitor data sets to prepare for the next monitor data delivery.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a monitoring method for properly collectively managing the operating states and operation records of a group of injection molding machines.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known that the conformity of products can be determined by visually comparing product samples, extracted from a group of products obtained by repeating molding cycles, with conforming article samples. However, the determination of the conformity of the products by the sampling inspection is troublesome. Conventionally, therefore, molding process data (cushioning depth, injection time, etc.), detected in injection molding machines during the execution of the molding cycles and related to the conformity of the products, are cyclically printed or displayed on a screen under the control of a monitor unit, whereby they are offered as monitor data for an operator's monitoring (determination of product conformity) of the operating states of the injection molding machines.
In collectively managing a group of injection molding machines by using one monitor unit, monitor data for the individual injection molding machines are printed or displayed in rotation as detected by means of the monitor unit. The operator discriminates the conformity of an up-to-date molding cycle by determining whether or not up-to-date printed or displayed data are within a range for admission. In order to grasp the operation records of each injection molding machine, moreover, the operator picks out only those monitor data which are associated with the injection molding machine concerned, among other printed or displayed data, and checks the transition of the monitor data.
Although the conformity of the up-to-date molding cycle can be determined without a hitch by referring to the up-to-date monitor data, it is difficult to grasp the operation records of each injection molding machine. Thus, according to the conventional method described above, the monitor data for the group of injection molding machines are printed or displayed in rotation as detected, so that monitor data for another injection molding machine exist among the monitor data associated with the molding cycles successively executed by means of each injection molding machine. It is difficult, therefore, to pick out only the associated data among a lot of printed or displayed data. If the monitor data are delivered from each of those injection molding machines whose cycle times for each molding cycle are different with every predetermined molding cycle frequency, in particular, the delivery time intervals for the molding process data from the individual injection molding machines are different. Accordingly, the print intervals or display intervals for the monitor data for the individual injection molding machines are different from one another, so that it is more difficult to pick out the associated data. In displaying the monitor data on the screen, moreover, old monitor data are scrolled up, or new monitor data are overwritten on the old monitor data. It is impossible, therefore, to display sufficient monitor data for the management of the operation records of a large number of injection molding machines.

Operating state monitoring method for injection molding machines


A system for registering and calling documents in a character processing unit includes a memory for storing character string information and title information associated with the character string information, and a display for displaying the title information stored in the memory. An entry device enters the title information and a call device calls the relevant character string information from the memory by entering the title information associated with the title information displayed on the display from the entray device. A registration device registers a new character string by entering the title information which is not stored in the memory device and reads out a character string which is stored in the memory device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a character processing unit and, more particularly, to a document registering/calling system in a character processing unit which is provided with a memory and which can store a character string, i.e, sentences, in this memory and can print or display the character string stored.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, electronic equipment of this kind, for example, character processing units such as an electronic typewriter or word processor can process a great amount of information and can store and hold sentences or various information necessary for typing.
In case of storing such various information, the operator arbitrarily gives titles to the respective information, thereby enabling desired information to be easily registered and called on the basis of the titles.
FIG. 1 illustrates a keyboard unit KB1 of an electronic typewriter as an example of the conventional character processing unit of this kind.
In the diagram, SSW1 denotes a slide switch and its rightmost position STR instructs the registration into a memory, while the other positions C, W and L instruct the mode to specify the method for registration of, for example, every character, every word, every line, or the like.
A key switch P.Form instructs the registration or recall of the information regarding a page format, namely, a tab and a margin and the like for a particular form. A key switch S.FORM instructs the registration or recall of the top position information with respect to a stop position form, i.e., top position information of each entry portion of a particular chit. A key switch TEXT instructs the registration or recall of a document. A key switch K1 ( ) instructs a delimiter and the like during the operation. K2 is a character key group having keys for characters such as alphabetic characters, Katakana characters, numerical characters, symbols, etc.
FIG. 2 shows the outside appearance of a display which is used in combination with the keyboard shown in FIG. 1, for instance a liquid crystal display DSP of 30 digits in total. This display DSP shown in FIG. 2 is generally disposed in the upper portion of the keyboard of FIG. 1 and is used ordinarily to display characters to be entered.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operations to register a document in the conventional character processing unit of this kind.
First, the new registration is instructed by setting the slide switch SSW1 at the mark STR in step S1. The key switch TEXT is pressed in step S2, then one character key among 26 characters of alphabet keys A to Z, for example, is entered as an arbitrary title name using the character key group K2 in step S3. Subsequently, the key switch K1 is pressed in step S4 to start the entering operation of the document in step S5. Upon completion of the document entry, the key switch TEXT is again pressed in step S6, thereby finishing the registration processing.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the calling or recalling operation of the document in the conventional character processing unit of this kind.
First, the slide switch SSW1 is set at a mark other than STR in step S11 to instruct the call of the document which has been already registered. Then, the key switch TEXT is pressed in step S12 and the title name of the document (one character) which has been registered is entered in step S13. The key switch K1 is pressed in step S14 and subsequently the registered document is corrected or printed in step S15, then the key switch TEXT is pressed in the next step S16, thereby finishing the call processing of the document.
The conventional document registering/calling processing mentioned above is complicated since the slide switch SSW has to be switched whenever the document is registered and called. Moreover, it has a drawback such that it is necessary for the operator to completely memorize the title names of the registered documents and the title names of the unregistered documents.

Apparatus automatically entering mode for storing document and mode for reading document in response to representative data indicating whether stored document exists corresponding to input title


A method, a system, an apparatus, and a computer program product are presented for reducing synchronization waits when unique sequential identifiers are being allocated for transactions committed to a database that are occurring in a multi-threaded server environment. A transactional object containing an identifier data item is created for a transaction in an object-oriented environment. A pre-process object is then generated that contains the transactional object; when subsequently processed, the pre-process object allocates a sequential identifier value for the identifier data item. The pre-process object is added to a list of pre-process objects that are to be processed prior to completing the transaction, such as committing the transaction to a database. After some initial business logic processing, a commit operation for the transaction is commenced during which the pre-process object is processed, thereby allocating a sequential identifier value for the identifier data item just prior to committing the transaction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved data processing system and, in particular, to a method and apparatus for resource allocation within a runtime environment. Still more particularly, the present invention provides a method and apparatus for implementing the allocation of a specific resource using object-oriented late binding.
2. Description of Related Art
In many computer environments, it is desirable for a data processing system to handle many tasks concurrently. For example, a multi-threaded server can be used to simultaneously process transactions from multiple clients.
In many applications, a transaction needs to be assigned a unique identifier, such as for recording the transaction by management software or for use within the data processing of the transaction itself. In some cases, the unique identifiers must be assigned in strictly sequential order. When a particular transaction needs an identifier, the transaction is assigned the next identifier in the sequence of identifiers. If the transaction fails, then the assigned identifier must not be discarded and must be used for the next transaction without skipping any identifiers in the sequence. For example, an application might use pre-printed paper forms, such as tamper-proof tickets for a sporting event, on which the application outputs dynamically generated data. Each ticket must be printed in sequence, and the application would need to keep track of the number of tickets that have previously been printed. In general, unique identifiers can be classified as either global, in which case the identifiers must be unique across all possible clients, or local, in which case the identifiers must be unique for each categorization of clients. An example for using locally unique sequence of identifiers might include a situation in which each branch office of a company can have its own printer such that the identifiers need to be unique only for a given branch office.
As with most computational tasks, maintaining a sequence of unique identifiers should be accomplished not only accurately but also efficiently. A potential problem with sequencing unique identifiers involves the fact that once an identifier has been allocated, the next identifier in the sequence cannot be allocated until the preceding identifier has been successfully committed to the database. The strict sequencing process effectively limits the throughput on the server because of the potentially large synchronization delays.
Transaction processing on the server typically requires a number of pre-processing tasks before the transaction can be committed. The pre-processing tasks may include tasks such as validation, creation of new objects, and queries against the existing database. If a unique identifier is allocated too early, then all the other transactions are stymied until the blocking transaction has finished its tasks and commits to the database. Once the commit has occurred, then the next waiting transaction can allocate its identifier.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a methodology for reducing synchronization waits when unique, sequenced identifiers are being allocated for transactions that are occurring in a multi-threaded server environment.

Method and system for reducing synchronization waits when allocating sequenced identifiers in a multi-threaded server

International Business Machines Corporation