Methods, systems, and devices for providing treatment to a target site are described. The system may include a guide assembly, an expandable support device coupled with the distal end of the guide assembly, and an operative member disposed on the expandable support device. The expandable support device may be configured to transition between a collapsed and expanded configuration. The expandable support device may be supported by one or more flexible supports aligned in parallel with an axis about which the expandable support device collapses and/or multiple splines arranged in a pattern configured to promote transitioning of the expandable support device between an expanded and collapsed configuration. The guide assembly may be configured to provide torque to the expandable support device. The operative member can include multiple electrodes arranged in parallel to the axis about which the expandable support device collapses.

Various devices and techniques exist for providing therapy in the body. A common approach to administering treatment or performing diagnostics at a tissue site in the body involves delivering an instrument to the site at a distal end of an elongate catheter or endoscope. A problem exists, however, in that many instruments and devices do not fit within the catheter or endoscope. Currently, some devices may be limited in use because the treatment surface of the device is too large for delivery to the site through a catheter or endoscope.
The delivery of many existing devices to a treatment site through the use of a catheter or endoscope can also be hindered by the location of the treatment site within the body. In some cases, for example, the device needs to be able to navigate a tortuous path or small diameter body lumens to reach a treatment site. Some known devices lack the ability to bend along tortuous delivery paths
Another problem may exist with treating a target site significantly larger than the delivery pathway through which the device must pass. In order to treat a large target site, a device with a large treatment surface is often desired. However, if the treatment surface is too large, it may not be possible to deliver the device through narrow lumens. If the treatment surface is reduced to fit within the catheter or endoscope, it may provide too small a surface area for efficient and efficacious delivery of treatment to the relatively large target site.
There may thus be a need for systems, devices and methods that may overcome the above and/or other disadvantages of known systems and methods.

Expandable support structure for delivery through a working channel


A head for a wire dot printer wherein the distance between each pair of adjacent armatures in a circumferential direction of a housing can be minimized to allow reduction in size of the head. The head includes a plurality of armatures each of which has a laterally extending tab formed on one side and a recess formed on the other side of of an outer end portion thereof. A guide member is located between each two adjacent ones of the armatures and has a recess and a tab formed on opposite sides of an outer end portion thereof. The recess and the tab of the guide member fit with the tab of one of the adjacent armatures and the recess of the other adjacent armatures, respectively.

This invention relates to a head for a wire dot printer, and more particularly to a head for a wire dot printer wherein a mounting structure for an armature is improved.
FIG. 3 shows an exemplary one of print heads which are used in conventional wire dot printers. The print head shown includes a hollow cylindrical housing 1, and a plurality of movable members located in a circumferential row within the housing 1 and each including a radially extending armature 2 and a wire 3 securely mounted at an end of the armature 2 by a suitable means such as brazing and extending laterally in a printing direction. Each of the armatures 2 is resiliently pressed at an outer end thereof against a yoke core 5 by a respective armature spring 4 interposed between the armature 2 and a ceiling portion of the housing 1 and is thus supported for pivotal motion on the yoke core 5. Each of the armatures 2 is urged upwardly at an inner end thereof toward an annular support projection 7 formed on an inner face of the ceiling portion of the housing 1 by a respective reset spring 6 interposed between the armature 2 and the yoke core 5. Thus, each of the armatures 2 is reciprocally rocked in upward and downward directions around a fulcrum at the outer end thereof by a magnetic force acting in a downward direction in FIG. 3 and a returning force of the reset spring 6. Upon such reciprocal rocking motion of the armatures 2, the wires 3 integrally secured to the armatures 2 are moved axially first in the printing direction and then in the opposite direction to effect printing while they are held in a regular arrangement by an intermediate guide plate 10 and an end guide plate 11 both mounted in a tapering annular housing 9 extending in the printing direction from the housing 1 so that they may provide impact points which generally make two parallel lines.
Referring to FIG. 4, the conventional print head further includes a guide member 12 located between each pair of adjacent ones of the armatures 2 for restraining movement of the adjacent armatures 2 in directions other than the upward and downward directions in FIG. 3. Further, each of the armature 2 has a pair of tabs 13 formed on opposite sides of the outer end thereof and extending in a symmetrical relationship in opposite substantially circumferential directions of the housing 1 while each of the guide members 12 has a receiving portion 14 which has a pair of recesses 14a formed on opposite sides thereof for receiving opposing ones of the tabs 13 of the adjacent pair of armatures 2 therein.
However, with the conventional print head described above, since each of the armatures 2 has a pair of tabs 13 formed thereon, it has a relatively great width in the circumferential direction of the housing 1. Besides, since there is a guide member 12 located between opposing ones of the tabs 13 of an adjacent pair of guide members 12, it is necessary to assure a relatively great distance between a pair of adjacent armatures 2 in the circumferential direction of the housing 1. Accordingly, the conventional print head has a drawback that it has a relatively large size and cannot contribute to reduction in size of a printer.

Wire dot printer head with armature guides


A self reference-counting pointer that keeps the reference count of the object within the pointer-object that does not impose any restrictions on the object itself and can be used freely on objects already created. A reference count object is created and is attached to a pointer-object of the object when the first instance of the object is created. When subsequent references or copies of the object are made, the reference count is incremented, and the pointer object associated with the subsequent reference or copy of the object are attached to the reference count object. When any instance of the object goes out of scope, the pointer-object to that instance is detached from the reference count object and the reference count is decremented. When there are no instances of the object attached to the reference counter, then the reference counter is deleted.

This invention relates generally to referencing objects in a programming environment and more specifically to managing objects.
Two common problems which occur in object oriented programming languages such as C++, are memory leaks and dangling pointers. A memory leak occurs when memory space is allocated for an object but never released after use. A dangling pointer points to a destroyed object or freed memory region. After an object is dynamically destroyed, any subsequent attempt to reference the destroyed object using the dangling pointer can have unpredictable and often disastrous results. For instance, if a reference to a destroyed object is used, the memory space can become corrupt and potentially cause the computer program, and perhaps the computer itself, to crash. These problems become even more pronounced in multi-threaded applications, particularly applications where an object has "suicide" methods (methods where an object will delete itself).
The C++ language allows objects to be constructed on the heap at runtime. These objects have to be deleted by the creating module or some other module when they are no longer required. However, this explicit object deletion can cause the two aforementioned common problems. First, if the object does not get deleted, this causes memory leaks making the program consume memory and starve other applications of memory. Second, if the objects are deleted too soon while some other module or thread still holds a pointer to the object, it will cause a crash when these pointers are used.
Existing solutions depend on the object to provide functionality to keep the reference count. This imposes restriction on the object makes the reference counting pointer not usable for any existing type of object. Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a typical prior art solution The real object 102 contains the reference count 104 of the pointer object 106. The reference count 104 is kept and managed by the real object 102. Typically, the below code must be implemented by each real object to sue the smart pointer by way of inheritance from a common class or in the object itself.
class RealObject {  int m_refCount;public:  RealObject( ):m_refCount(0){}    AddRef( )      {        m_refCount++;      }    Release( )      {        m_refCount−−;        if(m_refCount == 0)          delete this;        }  }
If a member function has to return the 'this' pointer, then the implementation must call AddRef( ) before returning the 'this' pointer. For example:
PointerOjbect GetObjectPtr( ){  AddRef( );  // must be called to correct reference count.  return this;}
It should be noted that there is a 'delete this' in the Release( ) function. This is not legal in some compilers.
Many prior efforts result in the creation of pointer-objects that will allow the keeping a count of the object references held by modules and threads. These pointer-objects also delete the object when the last reference is released. However, there are two main drawbacks to these efforts. First, these pointer-objects impose implementation restrictions on the object and force the object itself to keep the reference count or inherit the count from a base object. This makes the pointer-object unusable to an existing real object. Also, case has to be taken to increment the reference count manually when handing out the object reference from within the object ('this' pointer). second, these pointers cannot be cast to other object pointers, thus losing the true nature of the pointer.
Thus the needs exists for a self-reference counting pointer that keeps the reference count of the object within the pointer object.

Auto reference counting pointer for C++ objects with ability to re-cast and lookup from a free pointer


A tunable machining tool having a plurality of actuator devices, each operating at a uniform frequency but phase shifted by a controllable amount so as to create an vibratory output at a frequency that is a multiple of the input frequency.

1. Field of the Present Invention
The present invention relates generally to vibratory mechanical actuation devices, and, in particular, to tunable machining tools utilizing a plurality of actuator devices.
2. Background
Actuator mechanisms capable of creating high-frequency, vibratory movement at very small, precise amplitudes are used in a variety of fields. Because of their unique properties, piezoelectric actuators are among the most widely used mechanisms for this type of actuator. For example, vibration assisted diamond turning, referred to herein as "VADT," is a known technique that enables the use of diamond tools to machine brittle materials without excessive wear. Researchers are not sure why the technique reduces wear. Many postulate that the vibration motion allows the tool to leave the workpiece momentarily, allowing either cooling, the penetration of cutting fluids into the area of material removal, or other mechanisms. The systems apparently only work when the maximum linear velocity of the tool exceeds the linear velocity of the part being machined. In diamond turning applications, performance parameters on the order of 40 kHz vibrations with amplitudes of 6-8 micrometers are desired.
Current VADT systems have been in use for a number of years. However, developing a tool that can vibrate at those frequencies and amplitudes is non-trivial. Most commonly, known systems rely on small, piezoelectrically-driven motions to excite natural frequencies in a tool bar, resulting in amplification of the output displacement and creating the desired motion. However, previous ultrasonic vibration cutting systems, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,218,893 to Shikata et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,911,044 to Mishiro et al., utilize tools having a fixed resonant frequency, and such systems are not easily modified to change either the amplitude or the frequency of tool motion. In addition, the response is affected by damping caused when the tool contacts the workpiece and begins to cut, thus making the system dynamics variable and nonlinear.
One significant drawback of previous actuator-driven systems such as VADT is the absence of a means for tuning the actuators. If an actuator could be tuned, then the mechanics of the material removal process could be more thoroughly examined through the ability to deterministically vary the vibration parameters. In addition, however, a tunable actuator would enable the machine or process to adapt the nature of the vibration to changing cutting conditions. For example, in diamond turning, since linear velocity is the product of the radius from the center of a workpiece times angular velocity, which is constant, the linear velocity of the cutting tool along the surface of the workpiece varies as the tool approaches the center of the workpiece. This means that the linear speed of the tool changes throughout the cutting operation. In prior art systems, which are resonant frequency-based systems, the frequency of operation cannot be easily modified and thus will remain constant throughout this dynamic cutting process. A tunable tool would allow compensation for the changes in linear velocity.
Examples of other applications in which stacks of piezoelectric actuators, driven at a high frequency by a single impulse signal, include U.S. Pat. No. 5,431,010 to Stone, which discloses a high speed, amplitude variable thrust control method; U.S. Pat. No. 6,273,538 to Mitsuhashi, which discloses a method of using a pulsed piezoelectric stack to drive an ink jet head; U.S. Pat. No. 6,052,251 to Mohajerani et al., which discloses an actuator arm integrated piezoelectric micro actuator; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,438,554 to Seyed-Bolorforosh et al., which discloses a tunable acoustic resonator for clinical ultrasonic transducers. However, no known system utilizes two or more impulse signals in concert to produce a higher output frequency.
The use of torsional flexure in other applications has been established. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,201,629 to McClelland et al. discloses the use of a torsional micro-mechanical mirror system, while U.S. Pat. No. 4,044,283 to Allison discloses the use of an electromechanical resonator. The use of a rotary arm based turning machine for ophthalmic lenses is also known. However, although it is well known that a rotational flexure generally has a higher natural frequency, and potentially lower inertia, than a translational flexure there are no elastic torsional flexures known which rely on these characteristics and use multiple actuator devices to produce frequencies greater than that achievable using a single actuator device.

University of North Carolina at Charlotte


A laser based tracking unit communicates with a target to obtain position information about the target. Specifically, the target is placed at the point to be measured. The pitch, yaw and roll movements of the target, and the spherical coordinates of the target relative to the tracking unit are then obtained. The target can be, for example, an active device incorporated into a moveable device such as a remote controlled robot.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a measuring system. In particular, the systems and methods of this invention are directed toward a multi-dimensional laser tracking system.
2. Background of the Invention
Precision measuring systems have a wide variety of applications. For example, in robotics, accurate positioning and orientation of a robot is often required. To achieve a high degree of precision, a robot position measuring system can be used. Such a system typically uses a laser beam interferometer to determine the position and/or orientation of an end-effector of the robot. Such system can monitor the position and orientation of the robot end-effector in real-time while providing accuracy, speed and measurement data.
For example, a Three and Five Axis Laser Tracking System is discussed in Applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 4,714,339, and a Five-Axis/Six-Axis Laser Measuring System is discussed in Applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 6,049,377, both of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. In addition, Applicant's U.S. Application No. 60/377,596, entitled "Nine Dimensional Laser Tracking System and Method," which was filed on May 6, 2003, is also incorporated herein by reference in its entirety to provide additional description for the present invention.


A 3D gas chromatography (GC) column development is possible by assembly of two parts each being substrates formed by gas tight materials. One part may be a silicon substrate with a snake shaped flow channel structure and the other part may be a glass plate. Both are coated with a column packing comprising polubutadiene, which is also able to glue or bond both parts together, thereby sealing the flow channel, thus forming a GC column. The column packaging can be composed in all kinds of polarity from very hydrophobic till very hydrophilic. In this way the column packing can be tuned on resolution for particular molecules which are interesting to detect, e.g. Octane. The invention is advantageous for micro GC columns.

Exhaled breath analysis in health and disease is an area of growing clinical interest. Using breath as a biological sample is appealing, because breath-collection is cheap, easy to perform and non-invasive. Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are excreted from the skin, urine, feces and most notably via exhaled breath. Besides of pulmonary origin, VOCs may also originate from the blood, reflecting physiological, pathological or pathogen related biochemical processes throughout the body. As such exhaled breath analysis may allow metabolic fingerprinting of disease processes anywhere inside the body.
For analysis of gas samples, such as for the above-mentioned applications, 3D GC columns can be used. A typical μGC column can be comprised of basically two parts: a substrate wafer of silicon with the 3D channel structure and a glass part that covers the channels to form the column. The functional part of such a column is realized by a uniform coating on the sidewalls of the column. The thickness of this coating is typically such as 1 μm, and this thickness must be controlled very well. The assemblage of the substrate and glass parts provides a problem. The glass will not bond onto the coated silicon, since these coatings are mostly based on silanes and siloxanes. This implies that columns may only be filled with the coating as a post assemblage step.
Another problem is the resolution of the coating with respect to the gas components to be separated for detection. For example, in one particular case for breath analysis, it is desired to create a high resolution for Octane and similar molecules over the columns. Detecting Octane in the breath of a person can indicate a certain lunge illness.

Gas chromatography column with polybutadiene coating


A method of establishing a system delay time and a frame length in a Time Division Duplexing (TDD) system includes adjusting time lengths of an uplink (UL) frame, a downlink (DL) frame, a Transmit/receive Transition Gap (TTG), and a Receive/transmit Transition Gap (RTG); a Base Station (BS) transmitting a DL frame and receiving a UL frame; and a Mobile Station (MS) receiving the DL frame and transmitting the UL frame.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a Time Division Duplexing (TDD)-based wireless communication system, and in particular, to a method of establishing a TDD time frame.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a mobile communication system repeaters are used to extend cell coverage of the system. In particular, in the case of a basement or the inside of a building in which electronic wave propagation is limited or non-existent, optical repeaters using an optical link are widely used. The optical link is used to transmit a wireless signal through an optical repeater and also used to transmit a wireless signal to an antenna far from a base station. The optical repeaters are configured and used for transmitting a wireless signal of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) or Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) corresponding to current mobile communication systems.
Mobile communication systems use a Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) method using different frequencies and a Time Division Duplexing (TDD) method using different times as a duplexing method for distinguishing an uplink (UL) from a downlink (DL) for transmission of a wireless signal.
CDMA and WCDMA mainly use the FDD method, and the TDD method is discussed for Wireless Broadband Internet (WiBro) and 4th Generation Mobile Communication (4G), which correspond to new type mobile communication systems.
According to characteristics of the TDD method, as Uplink (UL) and Downlink (DL) data amounts vary and a channel characteristic of a UL Radio Frequency (RF) signal is the same as that of a DL RF signal, it is considered that the TDD method is suitable for next generation mobile communication systems in which multiple antennas are used. In addition, the TDD method is different from the FDD method in that UL data is transmitted at a predetermined time while DL data is transmitted at the other time.
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration of a conventional TDD system in which a time delay occurs. In FIG. 1, it is assumed that a wireless base station system time delay occurs as a Base Station (BS) is separated from a Relay Station (RS). The BS and the RS may be connected to each other in a wireless manner or through a wired transmission medium such as an optical fiber. In the case where the BS and the RS are connected to each other in a wired manner, a time delay between the BS and the RS may be referred to as tfiber and the time delay of the BS in processing the data may be referred to as tbs. Thus, time taken for data generated by the BS be emitted from an antenna of the RS may be referred to as t_fix, and represented as t_fix=tfiber+tbs.
When the wireless base station system transmits wireless data in the TDD method, a signaling diagram is illustrated in FIG. 2.
FIG. 2 illustrates a typical signaling diagram of UL and DL signals in a BS and an RS in a time axis. In FIG. 2, a duration time of a DL is defined as t_DL, and DL data having the duration time of t_DL is emitted from an antenna of the RS after time t_fix after generation in the BS. Assuming the time delay between the RS and a Mobile Station (MS) is negligible (i.e., a distance between the RS and the MS is short enough to neglect the time delay between the RS and the MS), the MS receives the DL data a time t_fix after the DL data is generated by the BS.
As the MS transmits UL data after receiving the DL data, the MS transmits UL1 data after receiving DL1 data as illustrated in FIG. 2. As illustrated in FIG. 2 the MS has a Transmit/receive Transition Cap (TTG), that represents a time delay from reception of DL data to transmission of corresponding UL data. UL data generated by the MS arrives at the BS after the time delay of t_fix.
Thus, in this wireless BS system, the BS receives UL data a time (t_fix+t_fix+t_DL+TTG) after transmitting DL data.
In the typical wireless BS system, if tfiber or t_fix is large, because the distance between the RS and the BS is large, a time delay taken from transmission of DL data to reception of UL data is significantly large, a decrease of capacity of the wireless BS system is noticed. When efficiency of a TDD wireless system is defined as a ratio of the sum of a DL data duration time and a UL data duration time to a total time, the efficiency can be represented by Equation 1.Efficiency=(t—UL+t—DL)/(t_fix+t_fix+t—DL+t—UL+TTG)  (1)
In order to increase the efficiency of a TDD wireless system, which is represented by Equation 1, the time of t_UL or t_DL must be very long, or the time of t_fix must be very short. However, since t_UL is not sufficiently long compared to t_fix in many wireless BS systems, TDD wireless system efficiency decreases due to a time delay of each of a BS and an RS.

Method and apparatus for establishing system delay time and frame length in time division duplexing system

Maetan-dong, Yeongtong-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do


There is provided a surface emitting semiconductor laser satisfying a requirement of making a transverse mode stable and having characteristics of high output power, low resistance, high efficiency, and high speed response and a method for manufacturing the surface emitting semiconductor laser.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a surface emitting semiconductor and a method for manufacturing the surface emitting semiconductor. In particular, the present invention relates to a surface emitting semiconductor used as a light source for optical information processing and optical communication and as a light source for a data storage device using light and to a method for manufacturing the surface emitting semiconductor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, the need for a surface emitting semiconductor laser in which a light source is easily arranged in a two-dimensional array (Vertical-Cavity Surface Emitting Laser Diode which is hereinafter referred to as VCSEL) is increasing in the technical field of optical communication and optical recording and the like.
The surface emitting laser has advantages of having a low threshold current and lower power consumption, easily producing a circular optical spot, and being excellent in productivity because it can be evaluated in the wafer state. Conversely, it has been known that the volume of an active region is small, and thus the threshold current becomes lower, increases device resistance to a range from several tens Ω to several hundreds Ω and makes it difficult to increase the optical output power of the device to a range from several mW to several tens mW.
Recently, a short-haul optical communication (from several meters to several hundred meters) using a multimode type optical fiber which is manufactured at low cost and is typically a plastic optical fiber (POF) has received much attention. A combination of a single-mode optical fiber and a comparatively long wavelength laser having a wavelength of 1.3 μm or 1.55 μm is used for a long-haul optical communication, but these are expensive and not suitable as consumer goods since the cost is too high. On the other hand, the light source device itself used for the multimode type optical fiber needs to be inexpensive, there should be no need for a special optical system and a driving system and the multimode optical fiber must be small in size and weight. For this reason, the surface emitting laser having these features is thought to be a promising device.
Among the typical surface emitting lasers now available in the market is a proton injection type VCSEL. In the proton injection type VCSEL, a small difference in refractive index is produced by a thermal lensing effect caused by heat between a region through which a current passes and the peripheral region thereof to produce a state of weak light confinement. According to this principle, the diameter of a non-proton injection region (current path) is made ten to several tens μm to produce a laser oscillation. However, it is also known that because a luminous efficiency is reduced by the weak light confinement and heat generation is large, the threshold current is high and a response performance is not good in the state where a bias voltage is not applied thereto.
The proton injection type VCSEL is referred to as a "gain wave guide structure" when classified based on structure. Meanwhile, the type in which a refractive index distribution for light confinement is specifically formed, is a selective oxidation type VCSEL which is classified as a "refractive index wave guide structure". In this type of VCSEL, a refractive index wave guide is formed by selectively oxidizing a part of a semiconductor multilayer reflection film near an active region to produce a strong light confinement effect, so this type of VCSEL has a low threshold current and a high response performance.
However, even in the selective oxidation type VCSEL showing a good performance, if the diameter of a light emitting region (nearly corresponding to the diameter of a non-selective oxidation region) is enlarged for the purpose of increasing an output power, the VCSEL is also allowed to produce oscillations of various orders, that is, produces a so-called multimode oscillation. In the multimode oscillation, a spectral line width is made wide and the optical fiber has the mode dispersion characteristics, so the attenuation of signal in the fiber is increased, or a mode state is made unstable and thus the main order of mode of the oscillation is easily varied by a change in the amount of current injected and a change in the environmental temperature. A dynamic change in the mode order is not preferable because it changes a coupling efficiency with the fiber.
To avoid this problem, there is a method of controlling an oscillation transverse mode so as to oscillate only in a fundamental mode of the lowest order (0 order) by making the diameter of the light emitting region smaller.
However, the diameter of the light emitting region of the VCSEL needs to be reduced, typically, to 4 μm or less, which is smaller than that of the above-described proton injection type VCSEL, and thus these VCSEL has a defect of having a high element resistance and being unable to produce high output power. Making the transverse mode stable is an important requirement for preventing the signal from being attenuated when the VCSEL is optically coupled to the optical fiber. In addition, it is necessary to improve electric optical characteristics.
Among ideas for simultaneously realizing opposing goals of making the transverse mode stable, and reducing resistance and increasing output power in the selective oxidation type VCSEL having excellent luminous efficiency and high response performance, is a VCSEL having a structure disclosed in IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, Vol. 11, No. 12, page 1536–1538 (see FIG. 13). In this example, the diameter of the light emitting region is as large as 20 μm but the inside of an electrode aperture emitting laser light is etched away to a depth of 40 nm except for a region of a radius of 7.75 μm from the center of the aperture.
The report discloses the following: Since the diameter of the light emitting region is as large as 20 μm, in the case where there is no surface processing, the order of oscillation mode is varies in accordance with the amount of injection current and thus a far-field image is observed to vary; in contrast, a surface emitting semiconductor laser with a hole produces a fundamental mode up to an optical output of 0.7 mW but when current exceeding that level is injected, the mode splits to gradually widen the far-field image.
The purpose of the VCSEL described above is to improve the optical output power in the fundamental mode. However, the maximum optical output power of the surface emitting semiconductor laser with a hole is 10.4 mW, whereas the output power in the fundamental mode is only 0.7 mW. Taking into account that the maximum output power in the case where there is no surface processing is 17.9 mW, the report described above clearly shows that it is very difficult to make the transverse mode stable and to produce a large optical output power at the same time.
In this respect, various other VCSEL structures for controlling the mode have been proposed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,940,422, filed Jun. 28, 1996, assigned to Honeywell Inc. discloses a VCSEL in which a mode control is performed by forming two regions of different film thicknesses. In this invention, only a region on which an additional film is deposited becomes a light emitting region. It is thought that the purpose of the invention is to artificially determine the position of a light emitting spot and not to determine the position by taking into consideration the specific oscillation to be produced in the VCSEL (for example, the oscillation mode of producing five light emitting spots, described as one preferred embodiment, does not exist in the natural world).
Further, U.S. Pat. No. 5,963,576, filed Aug. 4, 1997, assigned to Motorola Inc. discloses a VCSEL having an annular waveguide. It is thought that the purpose of the invention is to produce a mode in which light emitting spots are arranged regularly in an annular region so as to produce a super resolution spot and not necessarily to deliberately produce a specific oscillation mode of a determined order.
IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, Vol. 9, No. 9, published in September 1997, page 1193–1195, authored by University of Bristol and Hewlett Packard Labs, discloses a VCSEL having a configuration in which a circular cavity is formed on the top surface of a post by etching to locally vary a mirror reflectivity. The report discloses that the spectral line width of this device is reduced to a half of that of a device with no cavity to produce an effect of suppressing the mode. However, as the amount of current injected increases, an oscillation spectrum is observed to vary. This clearly shows that a specific oscillation mode is not always dominant, in other words, that the mode is not stable.
Further, Electronics Letters, Vol. 34, No. 7, published in April 1998, page 681–682, by Motorola Inc. proposes a VCSEL having a configuration in which a circular cavity is formed on the top surface of a post by etching and in which an annular light emitting region is formed on the outer peripheral portion of the cavity. It is clear from a near-field pattern that a very high order (larger than 30th order) mode is produced and at the same time that there are large variations in the intensity of light emitting spot. This shows that it is difficult to inject a uniform current into the annular region of an inside diameter as large as 30 μm. Therefore, there is plenty of room for improvement of the VCSEL in order to obtain a stable high order mode oscillation for practical application.
As described above, as to the VCSEL expected as a light source for a multimode type optical fiber, the state of art in the VCSEL technology can not provide a device that satisfies a requirement of stabilizing a transverse mode and has high output power, low resistance, high efficiency and high speed response.

Surface emitting semiconductor laser and manufacturing method thereof

Abstract: Five holes are formed on the top surface of an upper multilayer reflection film formed in the shape of a post by the use of a focused ion beam (FIB) processing unit. One hole is formed on the surface of an upper multilayer reflection film corresponding to the center position of a square current injection region which is about 8 μm square and the remaining four holes are formed at the corners of the square current injection region, for example, at the positions about 2 μm square away from the one hole to produce four light emitting spots.

Fumio Koyama c/o Tokyo Institute of Technology


Disclosed are methods, compounds, and compositions useful for increasing autophagy and promoting longevity. The methods, compounds, and compositions relate to urolithins and urolithin precursors and use thereof. Certain urolithins are represented by Formula I, while certain urolithin precursors are represented by Formula IV. The urolithin may be urolithin A, urolithin B, urolithin C, or urolithin D. The urolithin precursor may be ellagic acid or an ellagitannin. The methods include in vivo, ex vivo, and in vitro uses of the compounds and compositions.

Autophagy is a lysosomal degradation pathway in both animals and plants that is essential for development, differentiation, homeostasis, and survival. In animals, autophagy serves principally as an adaptive mechanism to protect organisms against diverse pathologies, including infection, cancer, neurodegeneration, heart disease, and aging. The repertoire of routine housekeeping functions performed by autophagy includes elimination of defective proteins and organelles, prevention of the accumulation of abnormal protein aggregates, and elimination of intracellular pathogens. The autophagy pathway is uniquely capable of degrading entire organelles, such as mitochondria, peroxisomes, and endoplasmic reticulum.
Multiple reports indicate that proteins required for autophagy induction, such as sirtuin 1, have reduced expression in aged tissues; levels of autophagy have been shown to diminish with age. Reduced levels of autophagy have also been associated with obesity, diabetes, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular disease, osteoarthritis, and age-related macular degeneration.
A number of compounds that stimulate autophagy have been identified, including rapamycin, resveratrol, metformin, spermidine, and glucosamine.
Urolithins are ellagitannin- and ellagic acid-derived metabolites produced, e.g., by mammalian colonic microflora, including human colonic microflora. Urolithins are known to exhibit anti-oxidant activity.

Enhancing autophagy or increasing longevity by administration of urolithins or precursors thereof


An adjustable pre-fabricated 3-way inside drywall corner with two flat sides and a flat face to be placed in the pointed 3-way corners created where sheets of hung drywall are joined to form two walls and a ceiling. This pre-fabricated corner can be paper, metal, or other suitable material. It allows a drywall worker to string tape by starting the tape a few inches away from a corner and running to the next corner, ending a few inches away from the second corner. The worker thus does not have to gauge exactly where to cut the tape to mate into the corners. Also, the effect of tape slip while stringing becomes unimportant. After the tape and drywall mud is dry, before the finishing step, the pre-fabricated corners are placed in every corner of a room, held in place by drywall mud. A drywall worker needs only to put a small amount of topping mud on the flanges and then "kill" the corner with a 4-6 inch knife. This is done by smoothing the topping mud down the taper of the flange to form a flat, flush surface with the hung wall or ceiling board. The pre-fabricated drywall corner allows the creation of perfect 3-way corners by professionals and relatively inexperienced persons with a considerable time savings. The adjustable corner is folded to match ceilings of any rise-run angles. After the corner is folded it is typically stuck together with "peel and stick" glue.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of drywall construction and more particularly to adjustable prefabricated interior 3-way corners for completion of drywall installation in construction.
2. Description of the Related Art
The use of gypsum drywall board in modern construction is well known. Manufactured drywall sheets are nailed to studs to form interior walls and ceilings. Before these sheets can be painted or textured, the joints must be taped and sealed with joint sealing compound (drywall mud).
In some special cases, metal beads or seams are used, as well as metal nailed corners. U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,598 is an example of extruded plastic strips and corners which are nailed. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,598 a system of raised members is nailed into place. This is mainly used for exterior corners. However, the bulk of finished drywall work requires taping with paper and the application of drywall mud. All finished surfaces and corners must end up completely smooth and flush. Raised surfaces or bumps, as well as imperfections, are not allowed. Drywall workers spend considerable work time to accomplish this. The dry taped, mudded surface is finished and becomes the final surface that receives paint or texture.
A professional drywall worker commonly tapes (strings) all interior seams with a tool known in the trade as a "bazooka". The bazooka dispenses both drywall tape and mud at the same time. Stringing straight seams in the center of walls and ceilings with a bazooka is relatively easy; however, stringing joints where walls or walls and ceilings come together is considerably more difficult. The most difficult, time-consuming, and frustrating task is stringing the pointed, 3-way corners where two walls and a ceiling come together. It is to this type of corner that the present invention relates and finds great utility.
To string an interior wall-ceiling seam with two 3-way corners, the worker starts the tape at one pointed corner of the room and works along the ceiling toward the other pointed corner. As the tape and mud strings out of the bazooka, the tape has a tendency to slip in the direction of the pull (away from the first corner). Thus, even though the tape was started in the first corner, by the time the worker reaches the second corner, the tape has slipped away from the first corner by up to an inch in some cases. As the worker approaches the second corner, there is no way to pull the bazooka completely into the second corner. This forces the worker to cut the tape away from the corner guessing at the correct length by experience. The tape is usually either cut short or long in the second corner, even by experienced drywall workers. The slippage of the tape away from the first corner, and the over or under cut of the tape in the second corner, make it difficult to achieve perfectly finished taped 3-way corners, and requires recutting and patching by hand.
Once the tape is strung, the worker must "roll" and "glaze" to pre-finish the taped seams and angles (corners) to press the tape into place and remove excess mud. A roller is first rolled along all tapes to firmly seat the tape into position. Then, a glazer is run along the tape to leave the mud as a thin uniform film. When the worker reaches the 3-way corner, neither the roller or glazer will fit into the corner. In addition, the worker finds that the tape usually is too long or short in the corner for the reasons already mentioned. The worker must first fix the tape length, and then attempt to glaze by hand using a wide knife blade. This step in the corners is very slow and extremely frustrating. The result must be a perfectly clean and glazed 3-way corner, something difficult to achieve.
Once the tape and mud has dried (usually the next day), the professional taper will coat the angles with topping mud using a glazer and angle box. Again, as the worker coats the tape, the mud will accumulate into the 3-way corners. This mud needs to be "starred" or pulled in different directions with a 4 to 6 inch knife. Again the problems of producing a perfect 3-way finished corner arise. This time they are more acute since this is the last step in the process, and the result must be perfect. Depending on the finish of the walls (texture, orange peel, smooth, etc.), this process may need to be repeated a few times. With as many as seventy 3-way corners in a typical 2000 sq. foot house, the amount of hours spent processing 3-way corners becomes extremely large.
While the prior art is replete with devices, corner beads, re-enforcement members, etc. to form 2-way joints, there is virtually no notice of any method or apparatus to ease the work and frustration of un-beaded, un-nailed, flat 3-way corners. Since these corners are prevalent in almost all residential construction and much commercial construction, what is badly needed in the art is an adjustable apparatus that allows easy application of tape and mud to 3-way corners of any angles with the bazooka; easy rolling and glazing into the corners; and easy application of topping mud and finishing these same corners. The savings in work hours would be immense. Since the frustration of finishing so many corners would be removed, the professional worker could spend more time on more critical parts of the job and save time and money by completing the job faster with higher quality.

Adjustable prefabricated 3-way inside drywall corner


A warming system, mounted to the foot of a bed, warms a person's lower extremities by directing air into the space between the mattress and overlaying blankets. A blower directs air into an elongated distribution chamber having many tiny exit apertures. The chamber is mounted at the foot of the bed, so that air exiting the apertures warms the person's feet. For maximum thermal transfer, the chamber is placed under the sheet and any blankets, but above the mattress cover and fitted sheet. The chamber may be implemented by a length of open cell foam, a hollow manifold with many punctures or other tiny distribution apertures, collapsible pocket, etc. While the person is lying on the bed beneath the blankets, with feet proximate the foot of the bed, the blower directs temperature-regulated air into the chamber and through the exit apertures, thereby warming the person's feet. A temperature regulator ensures a normothermic air temperature (or alternatively, hyperthermic air temperature.) Thus, the invention helps relieve or prevent “cold feet” by directing normothermic air at a person's lower extremities. Additionally, by applying heat to the feet and legs, the invention encourages blood flow by virtue of sympathetic vasodilation and local temperature-mediated vasodilation. The invention is also believed to prevent some leg and foot ulcers from forming by maintaining the lower extremity at a near normal temperature during sleep.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns external techniques to warm the human body for comfort, therapy, surgery, or other treatment. More particularly, the invention concerns a warm air blower that is mounted to the foot of a bed and utilized to direct warm air to the lower extremities of a supine person.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many people complain of having "cold feet" while laying in bed. For some people, they simply feel colder at any given temperature than other people. For others, the problem is more serious because they suffer from inadequate circulation to the legs and feet, resulting in abnormally cold feet and legs. In either case, the perception of cold feet can cause significant discomfort, especially while trying to sleep.
Normal body core temperature ("normothermia") occurs at about 37° Celsius. Body temperatures below this are considered "hypothermic," and have many negative physiological effects beyond mere discomfort. Temperature excursions of a mere 1–2° Celsius below normal can profoundly affect many cellular and physiological functions in areas such as the immune system, coagulation system, cardiovascular system, and death rates during surgery. According to one published study, surgical patients with a core temperature of 34–35° Celsius experienced three times more wound infections than persons maintained at 36° Celsius.
Historically, the definition of "normothermia" has been limited to the core thermal compartment of the body. The peripheral thermal compartment, including the legs and other extremities, is designed to act as buffer or insulator between the core and the environment. Therefore, the peripheral compartment is expected to be hypothermic under many circumstances. This is one example of an "evolutionary tradeoff." Namely, in order to maintain their core temperatures within a narrow range, warm blooded animals readily sacrifice warmness of the extremities.
This natural tendency toward peripheral hypothermia is exacerbated by vascular disease, which further reduces blood flow to the extremities. In fact, the combination of sacrificial hypothermia of the extremities and peripheral vascular disease can result in especially profound hypothermia of the legs. Persons with vascular insufficiency of the legs generally have colder legs, sometimes even approaching room temperature. These same persons are also prone to chronic non-healing skin wounds on their legs. These wounds may originate for various reasons, such as diabetes causing small vessel disease, external pressure causing local vascular occlusion, venous disease, and circulatory insufficiency reducing the blood flow and changing the hydrostatic gradients.
Whether peripheral hypothermia results from vascular disease, sacrificial hypothermia, or both, this condition inhibits important cellular functions of leg tissue. These cellular functions are not any different, or less important, than functions of cells in core vital organs. For example, a circulating immune cell does not know if it is fighting an infection in the heart or lungs, or the big toe. However, the extremities are more often hypothermic than the core vital organs, and therefore suffer more frequently from hypothermia-induced limitations.
Hypothermia in the lower extremities, then, is especially prevalent due to sacrificial hypothermia, peripheral vascular disease, or a combination of both. Peripheral hypothermia causes pain and possible interference with cellular functions of leg tissues.

System for warming lower extremities of supine persons


A computation system comprising an orientation detection device configured to detect position information comprising a position and an orientation of the computation system, a multi-sensor system coupled to the orientation detection device, wherein the multi-sensor system is configured to capture environmental input data, wherein the multi-sensor system comprises at least one of an audio capturing system and a three-dimensional (3D) image capturing system, and wherein the environmental input data comprises at least one of audio and an image, and at least one signal processing component coupled to the orientation detection device and to the multi-sensor system, wherein the processor is configured to modify the captured environmental input data based on the position information.

Different manufacturers have provided different tablets into the consumers market, such as the products released since 2010. The tablets, also referred to as personal tablets, computer tablets, or pads, such as the iPad from Apple, are portable devices that offer several advantages in documentation, email, web surfing, social activities, and personal entertainment than other types of computing devices. Generally, a tablet has a sound recording system which enables the tablet to record sound, for example to enable voice communications or media applications. The digital data converted by a microphone in this recording system is used to perform various purposes, such as recognition, coding, and transmission. Since the sound environment includes noise. The recorded target sound in the microphone is enhanced or separated from noise in order to obtain clean sound. Some tablets may also have a three dimensional (3D) video camera feature, which can be used to implement 3D video conferencing with other tablet or device users.

Smart audio and video capture systems for data processing systems


The invention relates to a method for determining at least one relevant single image, wherein a plurality of single optical images are generated during a continuous optical measurement (3) of a dental subject (1) to be recorded. During the optical measurement (3) an audio recording is generated by means of a microphone (4) and at least one speech sequence (12; 15; 28) spoken by a user (6) is recorded. The relevant single image (7; 8; 24) is then selected within a specified sequence duration between a start time (17, 18) and an end time of the speech sequence (12; 15; 28).

From the existing art, methods are already known for archiving dental findings. In these methods, the dentist examines a patient and communicates the status and the finding to a dental assistant who enters the status or finding in a patient file, usually manually. This patient file can for example also be produced in special software.
DE 199 16 162 A1 discloses a dental laser system made up of a plurality of modules, the dental laser system having a read unit, a multimedia module, a scanner module, a protocol unit, and a speech control module. The speech control module can have a small microphone that for example can be integrated into a dental camera. Using the speech control module, comments can be added to the individually recorded images, which comments are subsequently archived and can be accessed later. The treating physician can also use the speech control module to input the treatment result, the treatment result being entered via a speech conversion program. The treatment results can subsequently be entered in record cards.
DE 10 2007 054 907 A1 discloses a method for the optical measurement of an object using a triangulation method by means of an optical recording device, a plurality of light sources and a plurality of diaphragm means being used in order to project a plurality of patterns onto the object simultaneously. For the measurement, advantageously a stripe projection method can be used, in which a pattern of parallel stripes is projected onto the object, and in this way a plurality of measurement points can be measured simultaneously.
In addition, archiving methods are known in which in additional video recordings of the relevant region in the oral cavity of the patient are recorded, and are manually assigned to the respective status or finding. Here, the video recording is usually actuated by actuating a switch on a dental camera, or a foot switch.
A disadvantage of this method is that if the dental assistant is inattentive, an incorrect assignment of the findings may occur. This can result in an error in treatment, or can require another examination of the patient.
Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a method that enables a reliable and time-saving assignment of single images, associated with a low outlay.

Method for determining at least one relevant single image of a dental subject


A microfabricated magnetic field transducer uses a magnetically sensitive structure in combination with one or more permeable magnetic flux guides. The flux guides may route off-axis components of an externally applied magnetic field across the sensitive axis of the magnetically sensitive structure, or may shield the magnetically sensitive structure from off-axis, stray fields or noise sources. A combination of flux guides and magnetically sensitive structures arranged on a single substrate may enable an integrated, 3-axis magnetometer in a single package, greatly improving cost and performance.

This invention relates to a microfabricated transducer used for sensing the direction and magnitude of a magnetic field.
Microelectromechanical systems are devices which are manufactured using lithographic fabrication processes originally developed for producing semiconductor electronic devices. Because the manufacturing processes are lithographic, MEMS devices may be made in very small sizes. MEMS techniques have been used to manufacture a wide variety of transducers and actuators, such as accelerometers and electrostatic cantilevers.
Magnetically sensitive structures employing effects such as anisotropic magneto resistance (AMR) and giant magnetoresistance (GMR) are well known in the field of magnetic recording, and may be fabricated using MEMS and integrated circuit lithographic processes. These microfabricated devices provide a response to an applied magnetic field, for example, that arising from individual domains created in a magnetic recording medium. Because of their small size, the AMR and GMR sensors can resolve very small bit sizes and thus increase the density and storage capacity of the recording medium. Accordingly, these devices are suitable for detecting relatively large changes in flux density over a relatively small spatial dimension. However, when these transducers are used to detect slowly varying, extensive magnetic fields, such as the earth's magnetic field, their small size limits their performance. Furthermore, extensive fields may give rise to noise in the sensor, such that measures are often taken to shield the sensor from such fields.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,898,249 to Paul, et al. discloses a microfabricated magnetoresistive (AMR) and giant magnetoresistive (GMR) transducer which uses a soft magnetic material to shield the transducer from stray or long ranging magnetic fields. U.S. Pat. No. 7,898,249 is incorporated by reference in its entirety. Because of the presence of the shields, magnetic fields between the closely spaced shields are substantially perpendicular to the direction of the gap between the respective flux guides, and thus arise primarily from the domains created in the data storage medium.
Hall effect sensors can also be used to detect the position of a small magnet on a movable component, as described for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 8,285,328. Because of the low output, these sensors generally must be disposed in close proximity to the magnet, and are thus also not useful for detecting or measuring extensive magnetic fields.
Because the size of these microfabricated devices is small, when making field sensing devices, the capture area of the device within that field may also be small, and therefore the signal or output of the sensor may be small as well.
Furthermore, prior art magnetic field transducers which are capable of detecting and measuring components of a magnetic field lying along any or all of the three orthogonal spatial axes, x-, y- and z- have required the fabrication and packaging of three separate, independent transducers. Current technology either packages several transducer dies each sensitive in the x-, y- and/or z-directions into one package, thus increasing packaging cost and complexity, or are utilizing technologies other than semiconductor based technologies, e.g. using proof masses. Proof mask based transducers have moving parts and can therefore break upon mechanical shock or magnetic overloading.
Because of this requirement, 3-axis magnetic field sensing has remained a relatively costly and complex endeavor, and the 3-axis devices may be resultingly too large to be inserted into very small spaces. In fact, common highly sensitive semiconductor based magnetic transducers are only sensitive to one single direction x-in plane of the wafer while ignoring magnetic field components in the other directions y-and z-. For many applications sensitivity in more than one direction is desired, often with space restrictions, for example in consumer goods.

Microfabricated magnetic field transducer with flux guide


A method and system for improving debug information pertaining to user variables using a compiler. The method may include identifying a statement to be removed from its current position in an internal representation of a program by a compiler as part of the compiler optimization, replacing the statement to be removed with a debug annotation, adding references to the debug annotation in subsequent debug expressions referring to the removed statement, and emitting debug location information for a user variable using the debug annotation.

Compilers can communicate the location of user variables at run time to debuggers, program analysis tools, run-time monitors and the like. However, as compilers gained more and more optimization passes, the lack of infrastructure to retain a correspondence between source-level and run-time constructs has become a serious problem. As a result, a compiler may fail to emit location information for some local user variables or a compiler may emit locations that make it seem like variables hold unexpected values at certain points in the program.
One solution for improving debug information is to annotate the internal representation of a program, held by the compiler, with statements that bound user variables to expressions that represent the variables' location or value. FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art mechanism for annotating an internal representation of a program in a compiler system known as GNU compiler collection (GCC).
Referring to FIG. 1, source code statements 102 represent portions of an exemplary program. The source code statements 102 are converted into an internal representation 104, which includes annotations that bound user variables to debug expressions. In particular, a statement # v=>_n means that a user variable v is bound to the value held by the internal representation name_n.
An optimizing compiler realizes that—7 and —5 compute the same value, and —8 and —6 compute the same value, as shown by statements 110. Hence, the compiler discards the duplicate computations as part of the compiler optimization. In addition, the compiler realizes that —9 is assigned to zero (i.e., —6-—6), as shown by statement 112. As a result, all internal names are left unreferenced, except for the uses in debug statements 106.
As all definitions, from —1 to —8, have become unused in the executable code (excluding debug statements), the compiler is supposed to discard them while retaining as much debug information as it can. The result is a set of statements 108. As shown, expression 110 that computes the value for the optimized-away user variable f has grown exponentially, increasing memory consumption and resulting in CPU overhead when emitting debug information.

Use of compiler-introduced identifiers to improve debug information pertaining to user variables


A dispensing apparatus is disclosed. The dispensing apparatus comprises a liquid dispenser and a towel dispenser. The liquid dispenser further comprises a container member and an expelling member. The towel dispenser is disposed adjacent to and in contact with a portion of the container member of the liquid dispenser. Liquid is dispensed, through the expelling member of the liquid dispenser, in a substantially downward direction.

In sports or other activities, there are many situations in which it is necessary, but impractical, to maintain clean hands. For instance, when playing a round of golf, it is fairly common for players to get mud, food or other liquids on their hands. However, access to bathroom facilities is typically inconvenient or impossible. Similarly, the same issues can arise when participating in other outdoor activities, such as fishing, playing tennis, camping, hunting or other similar activities, which require a person to be away from bathroom facilities for an extended period of time.
Currently, portable devices do exist which assist in the maintenance of hygiene in environments where such facilities are not readily available. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,989, issued to Saraceni on 13 Oct. 1998, discloses a combination dispenser comprising both a cleaning solution and a towel dispenser. See, Saraceni, Abstract. Generally, the Saraceni reference provides a portable means by which a person can use a cleaning solution, complete with a means for wiping up any excess.
However, the Saraceni reference does not disclose a means for which the used paper towels can be disposed of properly. Further, it does not protect the towels from outside factors, such as rain and snow. Finally, the dispenser in the Saraceni reference does not provide for the downward expelling of the cleaning solution—an aspect that is impractical when considering the potential use of hygiene, as well as preventing wasteful use of the cleaning solution.
Therefore, the need exists for an apparatus that allows one to maintain proper hygiene that overcomes the disadvantages stated above.


A roller assembly (10) is provided which includes an anilox roller (12) mounted with a head (14) for applying a liquid (18) to another surface, such as a delivery, printing plate blanket, or impression cylinder. An end dam (42) is provided at each end of the head (14), which defines a curved seal surface (46) which bears against the bearer surface (58) at each end of the anilox roller (12). The curved seal surface (46) and bearer surface (58) form an end seal for the roller assembly. If desired, lubrication can be provided between the curved seal surface (46) and the bearer surface (58).

Anilox roller assemblies for applying a liquid to a cylinder are known. An example of one is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,425,809, issued Jun. 20, 1995 to Steven M. Person. An anilox roller has a series of very precise depressions or dimples which permit a liquid, such as a coating or ink, to be applied to the roller as the surface of the roller passes through a reservoir of the liquid and then transfer a controlled amount of the liquid to another cylinder, such as a delivery, printing or blanket cylinder.
The fluid reservoir is defined within a head having a cavity. A portion of the outer surface of the anilox roller is inserted within the cavity. Doctor blades extend from the head into contact with the outer surface of the anilox roller to seal the reservoir along the length of the roller and control the amount of liquid removed from the reservoir as the anilox roller rotates. However, ends of the anilox roller assembly must also be sealed. In the past, such sealing has been achieved by felt, foam and other resilient or compressible seal materials. However, these seals have proven troublesome in service, often having to be replaced every day. The felt or foam becomes squashed and no longer has sufficient resiliency to perform an effective sealing function.
A need exists for a better sealing mechanism between the ends of the anilox roller and the reservoir head. This mechanism should be reliable and long-lasting, while being economical to manufacture and use.

End seal engaging bearer of anilox roller assembly


A modular power supply including a voltage regulator configured to output a voltage, a first output configured to connect to a device under test and output the voltage from the regulator, a microcontroller connected to the voltage regulator, and an interface configured to connect to a test and measurement instrument. The interface includes an input configured to receive power from the test and measurement instrument and a second output configured to output a signal characteristic of the first output.

Power supplies are often utilized when testing a device under test (DUT) with a test and measurement instrument. For example, a power supply may provide a particular voltage to the device under test to monitor and/or record various signal from the DUT with the test and measurement instrument. There are often times when a user may need to monitor a signal characteristic of a power supply, such as a current and/or voltage supplied by the power supply to the DUT.
Some power supplies provide current monitoring and waveform display functions directly on the power supply. However, such internal monitoring of power supplies is limited. For example, the bandwidth of a power supply's measuring system is typically limited, which may prevent the power supply's measuring system from correctly measuring the fast transit time of current changes.
In some situations, an oscilloscope may be employed to measure an electrical output from a power supply to compensate for the limited nature of a power supply's measuring system or if the power supply does not include a measuring system. However, a power supply may not be synchronized with the oscilloscope. Accordingly, the waveforms of the signals output from the power supply may not accurately align with other waveforms measured by the oscilloscope. In some situations, a current probe may be employed to measure and display current from the power supply on an oscilloscope. However, such a test configuration is both complex and expensive.
Embodiments of the disclosure address these and other issues of the prior art.

Modular power supply monitoring by accessory interface of a test and measurement instrument


An ink jet print head substrate is provided which can prevent voltage drop variations during driving, no matter in what way the ejection energy generation elements are driven, and which can also apply a stable energy to the ejection energy generation elements at all times. The ink jet print head substrate of this invention has a plurality of kinds of ejection energy generation elements to generate different magnitudes of ink ejection energy and wiring portions. The print head substrate also has a plurality of wiring layers arranged to at least partly overlap one another. The wiring portions connected to the different kinds of ejection energy generation elements are provided at least partly in different wiring portions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a substrate installed in an ink jet print head and to an ink jet print head that ejects ink to perform printing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Ink jet printers of recent years are required to form high-resolution images and at the same time print them at higher speed. To meet both requirements—higher resolution of images and faster print speed—one method is available that performs printing at low resolution using large ink droplets in a fast mode and, in a fine mode, performs printing at high-resolution using small ink droplets.
Selecting an optimal print mode on the part of the user to produce a desired image output is very useful. An ink jet print head that realizes this technique is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-122757.
An ink jet print head disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-122757 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,966,629 and 7,144,093) has one heater for each nozzle, with first and second heaters arranged alternately in one column extending in a predetermined direction. The first and second heaters can be selectively driven by a select signal, making it possible to produce an image with a wide range of gradation. This ink jet print head drives the first and second heaters of different electric resistances with one and the same power supply. This allows the first and second heaters to use common power supply wires, simplifying a circuit configuration, reducing cost and the size of the head.
FIG. 16 is a plan view of a conventional wiring configuration in an ink jet print head substrate having the first and second heaters arranged alternately in one column, extending in a predetermined direction. In FIG. 16, heaters 103 installed in a base layer 101 each have a first, a second heater, and electrode wires to supply electricity to them. One of wiring portions in each heater 103 is connected to one of power supply side wiring portions 104a, 104b, 104c, 104d. The other wiring portion of each heater 103 is connected to a drive element 108 formed of a switching device such as a transistor. The drive element 108 is further connected to common electrodes 105a, 105b, 105c, 105d on the grounding side.
Upon receiving a signal from a drive circuit described later, the drive element 108 selectively drives the heaters 103 according to print data to eject ink from the corresponding ejection orifices. The power supply side wiring portions 104a, 104b, 104c, 104d and electrodes 105a, 105b, 105c, 105d are connected to electrode pads 107, through which they are connected to a power supply and a grounding circuit, respectively. The grounding side electrodes 105a, 105b, 105c, 105d and the corresponding power supply side wiring portions 104a, 104b, 104c, 104d are constructed so that respective wiring resistances between the grounding side electrodes 105a, 105b, 105c, 105d and the corresponding power supply side wiring portions 104a, 104b, 104c, 104d are equal to each other. Thus, in this ink jet print head, which has the first heaters and the second heaters 103 of different electric resistances arranged on both sides of an ink supply port 102 as shown in FIG. 16, whichever of the first and second heater is selected, a voltage drop in the wiring portion will not vary either on the power supply side or on the grounding side. This in turn obviates the need to increase the wire width in coping with a voltage drop that would result when the first and second heaters are driven simultaneously, thus allowing for a reduction in the size of the print head.
FIG. 17 is a circuit block diagram of an example conventional ink jet head substrate.
The circuit shown in FIG. 17 has input terminals, such as a heater drive signal input terminal 401, a clock (CLK) input terminal 402, a data input terminal 403, a selection circuit 404, and a latch signal input terminal 405. It also has a heater voltage input terminal 406, a drive circuit 407, a selection data transfer circuit 408, a selection data hold circuit 409, a decoder 410, a data transfer circuit 411, a holding circuit 412, an AND circuit 413, and heaters A, B.
The heaters A, B are the first heater 103 and the second heater 103 shown in FIG. 16. There are m heater groups, each made up of 2n kinds of heaters (in this case, two kinds)—first and second heaters A, B. In each group, the drive circuit 407 and the AND circuit 413 are provided for each of the heaters A, B. The drive circuit 407 drives the heaters A, B according to an output of the AND circuit 413.
In the above circuit, a heater group and a heater kind are chosen according to data entered into the data input terminal 403 and, based on the input data, the first heater A and second heater B are driven. That is, the selected data transfer circuit 408 outputs heater group selection data to the decoder 410 through the selected data hold circuit 409, and also outputs heater kind selection data to the selection circuit 404. Further, the selected data transfer circuit 408 outputs data for printing an image to the data transfer circuit 411. The holding circuit 412 and the data transfer circuit 411 are commonly used by both heaters A and B. Switching between the first heater A and the second heater B is determined by the data entered into the selected data transfer circuit 408 through the data input terminal 403, and a selection of the first or second heater is made by the selection circuit 404.
In FIG. 17, a heater drive power is supplied to the heater voltage input terminal 406. The heater drive power is connected to the ends of the first and second heaters A, B of all groups S(1)-S(m) through a common wire. Input to the data transfer circuit 411 through the selected data transfer circuit 408 is serial image data from the data input terminal 403 that corresponds to each of the groups S(1), S(2), . . . , S(m). Also supplied to the data transfer circuit 411 through the selected data transfer circuit 408 is a clock input signal from the clock input terminal 402 to drive the data transfer circuit. The input image data is then output to the holding circuit 412 as a parallel signal.
The holding circuit 412 is supplied a latch signal through the latch signal input terminal 405. The holding circuit 412 temporarily holds the image data entered from the data transfer circuit 411 before outputting it to the AND circuit 413 for the corresponding group S(1), S(2), . . . , S(m). A drive pulse signal input to the heater drive signal input terminal 401 is supplied to the first heaters A and second heaters B of the groups S(1)-S(m).
As described above, the data input to the selected data transfer circuit 408 from the data input terminal 403 includes, in addition to image data, a signal representing a selection group and kind of heater to be driven. This selection signal is 5-bit long and output to the selected data hold circuit 409. The selected data hold circuit 409 outputs 4 bits of the 5-bit signal received to the decoder 410 and a 1-bit signal representing the kind of heater to be driven to the selection circuit 404.
The decoder 410 has its output terminals divided and connected to each of AND circuits of the groups S(1)-S(m) so that it can determine the group to be connected according to the 4-bit signal received. The selection circuit 404 selects the kind of heater (heater A or B in this case) making up each group. That is, the selection circuit 404 outputs the received 1-bit signal as is to the AND circuit for the first heater A and at the same time inverts the 1-bit signal by an inverter before supplying it to the AND circuit 413 for the second heater B. This prevents the first heater A and the second heater B from being selected simultaneously to ensure that only one of them is selected.
Therefore, the wires for the power supply side wiring portions 104a, 104b, 104c, 104d and the grounding side electrodes 105a, 105b, 105c, 105d, connected to the associated groups, carry only enough current to drive either the first heater A or second heater B at the same time. The voltage drops caused by the wiring resistances of the individual electrodes are of the same value, which means that power losses due to the wiring resistances are equal for all groups, thus preventing adverse effects on ink ejection characteristics.
It has also been proposed that large ink droplets and small ink droplets are used simultaneously to print an image with high gradation at high speed.
With the print head shown in FIG. 16 and FIG. 17, however, since there is a limitation that the heaters that can be driven simultaneously in each group are only either first or second heater, there remains room for improvement in forming printed images with high gradation.
In forming an image with high gradation, the first and second heaters that eject different volumes of ink may be driven simultaneously to eject large ink droplets and small ink droplets at the same time. That is, by selectively landing large ink droplets and small ink droplets at desired positions, improvements can be made of image quality variations caused by ink droplet size variations, which are caused by head fabrication variations, landing position variations, and mechanical precision variations in a printing apparatus body.
If there is a limitation that only one of the first and second heaters can be driven at a time, a degree of freedom in image design is degraded. That is, under the limitation that the ink droplets that can be ejected simultaneously are only large ink droplets or only small ink droplets, it is not possible to adopt an image design method of improving an apparent image quality by mixing different sizes of ink droplets. So, if such a limitation exists, there is a possibility of not being able to make improvements in image quality above a predetermined level.
Hence, to be able to produce an image with high gradation, a method may be employed that involves entering a selection signal, that can individually distinguish between the first heaters A and second heaters B, into the AND circuit 413. With this method, it is possible to drive the first heaters A and second heaters B individually or simultaneously. In addition to the selection signal, a group selection signal corresponding to each of the first heaters A and second heaters B may be provided. This enables the first heaters A and second heaters B in each group to be driven either individually or simultaneously.
However, in the circuit shown in FIG. 17, the power supply side wiring portions and the grounding side electrodes form common wires for the first and second heaters in the same group. Thus, if the first and second heaters are made individually selectable and if both of them with different electric resistances are driven simultaneously, as described above, a voltage drop occurs in each of the wiring portions connected to the electrodes according to a combined value of currents flowing through the heaters. Thus, a voltage drop occurring in each wire when the first heaters A and second heaters B are driven simultaneously differs from (i.e., is greater than) the one that occurs when the heaters are driven individually or separately.
If arrangements are made so that the first heaters A and second heaters B can be driven individually in each group, a voltage drop caused by a wire resistance varies from one group to another. This means that a resulting power loss differs among different groups, with an energy applied to individual heaters also varying among the groups. Then, the difference in energy applied to individual heaters will result in variations in ink droplet ejection characteristics, rendering ink ejections unstable, which in turn causes a phenomenon of ink droplet landing variations. This is against the object of this method of forming an image with high gradation by using large ink droplets and small ink droplets at the same time.
Under this circumstance, a method is being studied which arranges separately for each heater those wires of the power supply side wiring portions and the grounding side electrodes in each group of the first and second heaters and which sets the wire resistances individually to make them equal.
However, in a print head substrate having first and second heaters alternated or three or more kinds of heaters arranged repetitively, if one tries to connect individual heaters two-dimensionally to the corresponding power supply side wiring portions and grounding side electrodes, the area required for wiring becomes prohibitively large. That is, if the first and second heaters are arbitrarily driven in each group, although voltage drops caused by wiring resistances can be made uniform among different groups, an increase in substrate size and a substantial rise in substrate cost are inevitable.

Ink jet print head substrate and ink jet print head


The present invention provides a non-volatile memory cell structure suitable for the flash memory cell and EEPROM cell (electrically erasable programmable read only memory cell) to perform the byte programming and byte erasing operations. In the programming operation, a higher negative voltage applied to the drain region, such that the hot holes is generated to induce the hot electrons into the floating gate through the tunneling oxide layer in the lateral electrical field. In addition, the gate voltage is around the threshold voltage, which dependent on the integration circuit device design. Furthermore, the non-volatile memory cell utilized the channel Fowler-Nordheim tunneling for erasing operation. In order to perform the byte erasing operation, the drain junction used as an inhibition switch. Thus, the unselected cell in the same word line is inhibited by biasing the drain to ground. Therefore, the word lines of unselected cells are grounded.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a non-volatile memory cell with its operations, and more particularly to a non-volatile memory cell suitable for flash and byte operation application.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Semiconductor based memory devices largely comprises Random Access Memories (RAM) and Read Only Memory (ROM). RAM is referred to as volatile memory, in that when supply voltage is removed, data is destroyed with the passage of time. ROM devices, including Programmable ROM (PROM), Erasable PROM (EPROM), and Electrically EPROM (EEPROM). Numerous EEPROM cells and flash memory cells can be simultaneously erased, and are characterized by a stacked gate structure comprising a floating gate and a control gate.
The conventional P-channel stacked gate flash cell programming operation is utilized the channel hot hole induces the hot electron to put the electron into the floating gate. Furthermore, erasing operation is utilized FN (Fowler-Nordheim) tunneling through the tunneling oxide by FN tunneling to pull out the electron from the floating gate to the substrate. Accordingly, the programming operation is byte operation but the erasing operation is not.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional EEPROM cell 100 in which more than two binary states may be represented by programming cell 100's threshold voltage to one of many predetermined levels. When the EEPROM cell 100 is read, the current level conducted therein is dependent upon the threshold voltage thereof.
EEPROM cell 100 includes a storage transistor 104 and a select transistor 106 that are formed in a P-type substrate 102. N+ diffusion region 108 serves as the source of storage transistor 104. N+ diffusion region 110 serves as the drain of the storage transistor 104 as well as the source for select transistor 106, and N+ diffusion 112 serves as the drain of select transistor 106. A bit line, BL, of an associated memory array (not shown in FIG. 1) is coupled to the drain 112 of select transistor 106. A high impedance resistor 122 is coupled between the drain 112of select transistors 106 and ground potential. Storage transistor 104 has an interpoly dielectric layer 118 between the floating gate 116 and a control gate 120, and a select transistor 106 has a select gate 122. A tunneling window is formed within the tunneling oxide layer 114 of facilitate electron high voltage between floating gate 116 and the drain 110.
Floating gate 116 is charged by applying an erase voltage VE between 16 through 20 volts to the control gate 120, applying 16 through 20 volts to the select gate 122, and applying 0 volt to the bit line, and source region 108 is floating. Electrons of the tunneling oxide layer float from the drain region 110 to the floating gate 116, thereby the threshold voltage Vt of the storage transistor 104 can be increased.
The EEPROM cell 100 may be programmed by applying a program voltage Vpp between 13–20 volts to the bit line and the select gate 122 while the control gate 120 is grounding, and the source region 108 is in a high impedance state. The resultant electrical field causes the electrons of the tunneling oxide layer that floats from the floating gate 116 to the drain region 112, thereby the floating gate 116 is discharged, and the threshold voltage Vt of the EEPROM cell 100 is decreased. Thus, the current is conducted by the EEPROM cell 100 during a read operation that may be controlled by adjusting the program voltage Vpp.
Erase take place electrically by F-N tunneling of electrons from the floating gate to the source (source erase) to the channel region (channel erase). During the electrical erasing operation, an field oxide layer on the order of 10 MV/cm is generated across the thin oxide between the floating gate and the n+ source diffusion (or the channel). This is accomplished by the three types erasing methods. The extent of cell erasure is controlled by circuitry, and is done algorithmically by using a series of erasing and erasing verifies operation. Each erase pulse is typically 10 ms in length and is followed by a verification of the erased threshold by sensing the cell current.
One of the erasing methods is grounded gate source erase that is accomplished by biasing the source region at a high potential, which is about 12V, and the control gate and the substrate are grounded. The drain node is allowed to float. This causes electrons of tunneling oxide layer floats from the floating gate to the source region, which discharges or "erase" the floating gate. Under the grounded gate source erase conditions, the source bias generates significant band-to-band tunneling current, which is collected in the substrate. Because the source junction is biased near the avalanche regime, there is some multiplication of the band-to-band current. These current acts as a voltage clamp, thereby the junction voltage is limited to increase due to a voltage drop in the on-chip pass transistors. If the substrate current is sufficiently high, the hot holes are generated by the breakdown that may start to erase the memory cell. The hot holes erasing process is difficult to controls, and is avoided in well-designed memory cell.
Additionally, some holes are generated by band-to-band tunneling are trapped in the gate oxide. This may lead to erase threshold non-uniformity, speed-up of erase time with cycling, degradation of charge retention, or speed-up of gate disturb. Balanced against these negative points is the simplicity of the memory cell structure, which has led to considerable efforts to engineer junction in order to minimize the effects.
Another erase method is negative gate source erase, which is accomplished by biasing the source node at Vcc (5V) and applying approximately −10V to the control gate. In the grounded gate approach, the electrons of tunneling oxide layer float from the floating gate to the source diffusion. As a result, the memory cell is erased. The band-to-band tunneling generated holes, however, there are not heated as much as in the grounded gate case because of reduced lateral electrical field between the source region and the substrate (only 5 V at the source junction). Thus, the adverse effects from the holes are generated from the band-to-band tunneling that may be reduced. Offsetting the expected improvement in erasing performance is the additional circuit complexity that is required for the switching both positive and negative voltages by the word-line driver circuit.
Typical operation will have floating gate charged positively with respect to ground when eased and charged negatively with respect to ground when programmed. To read the memory transistor, the control gate is grounded and the gate of select transistor is biased positive voltage to provide a low resistance path from its drain contact to the drain of the memory transistor. The drain contact provides the connection to the metal bit line. The bit line is biased at a modest positive voltage (e.g. 2 volts) and the common source line is biased at ground. If the floating gate is erased, the current can flow from the bit line to the source region. If the floating gate is programmed, the memory transistor is in a non-conducting states, and there are no current flows. The presence or absence of current flow is sensed to determine the state stored by memory transistor.
The oxide in the tunnel window is typically about 10 nm thick. To program memory cell, the floating gate must be coupled to a sufficiently positive potential with respect to the drain region is of about 10 MV/cm that appears across the tunnel oxide. This is accomplished by biasing control gate at about 20 volts while biasing the select gate at a sufficiently high potential such that the select transistor is conducting with the bit line at ground potential. Under these conditions, the drain region provides a source of electrons on the cathode side of the tunneling oxide layer. With 10 MV/cm appearing across tunneling oxide layer, fowler-Nordheim tunneling occurs and charges the floating gate negatively.
To erase memory transistor, the bias across tunnel oxide must be reversed. This is accomplished by applying a high bias to drain of memory transistor while poly 2 control gate biased at ground in order to keep control gate capacitive coupled to a low voltage. The high voltage is applied to drain memory transistor by applying the desired voltage to bit line while gate of select transistor is biased at a potential that is higher than the desired voltage by at least the threshold voltage of select transistor.

Non-volatile memory technology suitable for flash and byte operation application


Cooled air introduced from an evaporator through a first passage is divided into laminar flows by a guide assembly mounted on an air mixing door, and is changed in direction thereby and supplied to a mixing region. Warmed air introduced from a heater core through a third passage is divided into laminar flows by the guide assembly, and is changed in direction thereby and supplied to the mixing region. The mixing region mixes the cooled air and the warmed air with each other, and delivers uniformly mixed air into a passenger compartment via a face outlet, a defroster outlet, or a foot outlet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicular air conditioner having a cooling means, a heating means, and an air-mixing door.
2. Description of the Related Art
Vehicular air conditioners installed on vehicles adjust the temperature and humidity in the passenger compartment by mixing air cooled by an evaporator and air heated by a heater core at a desired mixing ratio and delivering the mixed air from a defroster outlet, a face outlet, or a foot outlet into the passenger compartment. For increasing the comfort of occupants or passengers in the passenger compartment, it is necessary to mix the cooled air and the warmed air in as good a state as possible.
FIG. 4 of the accompanying drawings shows in cross section a vehicular air conditioner 2 having a mechanism for mixing cooled air and warmed air at a suitable mixing ratio and supplying the mixed air to the passenger compartment (see Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 11-342721). Air cooled by an evaporator 4 is introduced by an air mixing door 10 into a first passage 12 or a second passage 14. The air introduced into the first passage 12 is heated by a heater core 6 and then introduced by an outlet door 16 into a third passage 18 or a fourth passage 20. The air introduced into the fourth passage 20 is supplied to a face outlet 22. The air introduced into the third passage 18 is supplied by an outlet door 24 to a defroster outlet 26 or a foot outlet 28. Curved guide plates 32 are mounted by stays 30 on a surface of the outlet door 16 which faces the third passage 18.
When the outlet door 16 is positioned as shown in FIG. 4, the air heated into warmed air by the heater core 6 is changed in direction by the guide plates 32 and introduced into the third passage 18. The air supplied as cooled air to the second passage 14 is introduced across the stays 30 into the third passage 18. Since the warmed air and the cooled air that are supplied to the third passage 18 at this time are separated from each other by the guide plates 32, the warmed air supplied from the heater core 6 is introduced into the third passage 18 without being blocked by the cooled air introduced from the second passage 14. Therefore, the warmed air and the cooled air can be mixed with each other in the third passage 18 without staying stagnant and suffering increased resistance, and can be supplied to the defroster outlet 26 or the foot outlet 28.
FIG. 5 of the accompanying drawings shows a vehicular air conditioner 34 (see Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 4-95520). In the vehicular air conditioner 34, air cooled by an evaporator 36 is supplied to a bypass passage 38 and also supplied by an air mixing door 40 to a heater core 42. A bypass door 44 mixes the air introduced into the bypass passage 38 with the air heated by the heater core 42, and the mixed air is supplied by an outlet door 46 or 48 to a face outlet 50 or a foot outlet 52. As shown in FIG. 6 of the accompanying drawings, the bypass door 44 comprises a plurality of juxtaposed parallel sectorial walls 54 which are joined by successive partitions 56 that are alternately positioned on opposite sides of the walls 54.
The warmed air introduced from the heater core 42 and the cooled air introduced from the bypass passage 38 are changed in direction by the partitions 56 and supplied to the face outlet 50 or the foot outlet 52. Since the warmed air and the cooled air flowing along the bypass door 44 are divided into laminar flows by the walls 54, they can be mixed into a uniform stream of air.
With the vehicular air conditioner 2 shown in FIG. 4, the guide plates 32 mounted on the outlet door 16 separate the warmed air supplied from the heater core 6 and the cooled air supplied from the second passage 14, allowing the warmed air to be introduced at a desired rate into the third passage 18 without being blocked by the cooled air. For mixing the warmed air and the cooled air appropriately with each other, it is necessary that the distance from the third passage 18 to the defroster outlet 26 or the foot outlet 28 be increased. As a result, the vehicular air conditioner 2 is relatively large in size.
Furthermore, since the warmed air and the cooled air are separated from each other by the guide plates 32, when a foot/defroster mode for ejecting air from both the defroster outlet 26 and the foot outlet 28 is selected, the temperature of the air ejected from the defroster outlet 26 and the temperature of the air ejected from the foot outlet 28 are largely different from each other, tending to make the passengers feel uncomfortable.
As the guide plates 32 are mounted only on the side of the outlet door 16 which faces the third passage 18, when a bi-level mode for ejecting air from both the face outlet 22 and the foot outlet 28 is selected, the temperature of the air ejected from the face outlet 22 and the temperature of the air ejected from the foot outlet 28 are also largely different from each other.
With the vehicular air conditioner 34 shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, when air is ejected from either the face outlet 50 or the foot outlet 52, since the warmed air and the cooled air are appropriately mixed with each other by the bypass door 44, the mixed air with little temperature differences is ejected. However, when a bi-level mode for ejecting air from both the face outlet 50 and the foot outlet 52 is selected, the bypass door 40 presents itself as an obstacle, increasing the temperature difference between the air ejected from the face outlet 50 and the air ejected from the foot outlet 52.