A separator for use in a linear guide having a guide rail, a slider disposed on the guide rail so as to move relatively each other, and a plurality of roller-shaped rolling elements incorporated in the slider, the separator has a separator main body having, on both sides in a front and rear direction thereof, recessed surface sections which contact circumferential sections of the rolling elements; and at least a pair of arm sections provided parallel to each other on both sides of the separator main body while being oriented in the same direction, wherein a length of the arm section is equal or shorter than a distance between centers of two adjacent rolling elements with the separator main body sandwiched therebetween, with respect to a lateral direction of the separator main-body.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a linear guide, and more particularly, to a separator (partition element), a linear guide equipped with the separator, and an apparatus using the linear guide.
The present invention also relates to a direct-acting apparatus used in industrial machinery; e.g., a linear guide bearing, a ball screw, a ball spline, and a linear ball bush.
2. Description of the Related Art
A linear guide using roller-shaped rolling elements as rolling elements comprises a guide rail for guiding an object which moves linearly; and a slider disposed on the guide rail in a movable manner. When the slider has moved over the guide rail in a longitudinal direction thereof, a plurality of roller-shaped rolling elements incorporated in the slider roll in the longitudinal direction of the guide rail between a raceway formed on the guide rail and another raceway formed on the slider.
Such a linear guide has greater rigidity and load capacity than a linear guide using spherical rolling elements. When adjacent rolling elements come into contact with each other, at the area of contact the respective rolling elements rotate in opposite directions. Therefore, the frictional force which develops at the contact area hinders smooth rolling actions of the rolling elements. In the previously-described linear guide, axial fluctuations; that is, so-called skews, arise in the rolling elements, which may in turn impair the operability of the linear guide.
To solve the problem, JP-A-2001-132745 and JP-B-40-24405, which are provided below, disclose a linear guide which has separators sandwiched between roller-shaped rolling elements, to thereby prevent occurrence of contact between rolling elements and skew.
However, the linear guide disclosed by JP-A-2001-132745 uses, as separators to be interposed between the roller-shaped rolling elements, a separator main body which has, on both sides in the front and rear direction thereof, recessed surfaces to contact a circumferential surface of the roller-shaped rolling element; and a flange section which extends from either side of the separator main body in opposite directions and comes into surface contact with one end face of a rolling element. Therefore, the rotational resistance of the rolling element is increased on one end of the separator main body, thereby decreasing the rotational balance of the rolling elements. Therefore, the effect of suppressing skew is insufficient.
The linear guide disclosed by JP-B-40-24405 employs a configuration wherein partition elements, in which plate-like webs extending toward centers of rolling elements are provided on both sides of each partition element, are used as separators; and wherein the webs of the partition elements are brought into contact with each other in the vicinity of the center of the rolling elements, thereby supporting each other. Therefore, a clearance rises between any of adjacent rolling elements and any one of adjacent partition elements. As a result, a distance between the centers of two rolling elements which are adjacent to each other with a partition element interposed therebetween become larger than necessary. Therefore, the number of rolling elements disposed in a load zone may be decreased, which may in turn result in a decrease in load capacity. Moreover., in the case of the linear guide described in JP-B-40-24405, the widthwise length of the partition is greater than the axial length of the rolling element. Hence, a clearance arises between the end face of the rolling element and the web. Thus, an effect for inhibiting occurrence of skew is insufficient.
In a linear guide having a plurality of rolling elements arranged therein, the rolling elements circulate endlessly, and the respective rolling elements roll in a single direction. When adjacent rolling elements come into contact with each other, at the area of contact the respective rolling elements rotate in opposite directions. Therefore, the force—which develops at the contact area and presses the rolling elements—hinders smooth rolling actions of the rolling elements which remain in contact with each other. This may impair smooth operation of the linear guide.
When columnar or cylindrical rollers are employed for rolling elements, the rigidity and load capacity (allowable bearing load) of the rolling elements can be enhanced as compared with a case where spherical balls are adopted as rolling elements. However, axial fluctuations; that is, so-called skews (a phenomenon of longitudinal axes of columnar or cylindrical rollers failing to remain orthogonal to the traveling direction and becoming skewed), arise in traveling rollers, which may in turn impair the operability of the rolling elements and, by extension, the operability of the linear guide.
For this reason, the linear guide is constructed to prevent the rolling elements from coming into direct contact with each other by means of interposing separators (partition elements) between rolling elements, in an attempt to make rolling (traveling) actions of the rolling elements smooth, enhance the operability of the same, and reduce noise which arises during traveling of the rolling elements.
For instance, JP-B-40-24405, JP-UM-A-52-110246, and JP-B-56-2206 provided below describe separators to be interposed between rollers.
JP-B-40-24405 discloses partition elements as partition elements (separators) to be employed in a bearing using rollers. The partition element has a recessed contact section fitting to a cylindrical surface of the roller, and arm sections (webs) which are provided on respective sides of the partition element with the center thereof aligned therebetween in the direction of linear motion and are extended to the center of the roller. This partition element is configured to bring the arm sections thereof into contact with arm sections extending from adjacent partition elements.
However, the partition element disclosed by JP-B-40-24405 is configured to transmit the force—which is transmitted to the partition element when the roller rolls and moves—to the next partition element by way of an arm section provided on the next partition element. In reality, the partition element suffers the following problems.
As motion of the roller shifts from a linear section to a change direction section, a change arises in the areas where the arm sections come into contact with each other, which may in turn widen a distance between rollers originally, in order to increase load capacity of the linear guide, rollers and partition elements are arranged comparatively tightly within the change direction section so that the largest possible number of rollers can be arranged in a load zone. For this reason, by means of action of the widening force, force which is greater than necessary may act on the arm sections remaining in contact with each other, thereby hindering smooth movement of the rollers and partition elements and deteriorating operability.
As described in JP-B-40-24405, in the case of the partition elements which transmit force by means of bringing arm sections into contact with each other, a gap arises between a roller and a partition element located before or after the roller in the traveling direction, which may fail to sufficiently hinder occurrence of skew. Moreover, the number of rollers which can be disposed in the load zone is diminished by presence of the gap. This may also result in a failure to sufficiently enhance the load capacity.
In a linear guide, a slider moves relative to a guide rail while a plurality of rolling elements are rolling through an endless circulation path. When the slider has moved relative to the guide rail, the respective rolling elements move while rolling in one direction, and hence adjacent rolling elements contact each other. As a result, there arises the problems of hindrance of smooth rolling actions of the rolling elements, rapid progress in abrasion of the rolling elements, and an increase in noise.
Therefore, there has hitherto been known a linear guide which smoothly rolls rolling elements to thus prevent early abrasion of the rolling elements and is provided with separators interposed between adjacent rolling elements in order to activate the linear guide while suppressing emission of noise (see, e.g., JP-A-11-247855, JP-A-2000-291668, JP-A-2001-317552, JP-A-2002-089651, JP-A-2002-039175 and JP-A-2002-156018).
A known conventional separator has arm sections or the like for retaining adjacent rolling elements in a predetermined position. For instance, according to the technique described in JP-A-11-247855, a train of rolling elements is constituted by connecting adjacent separators with rolling elements sandwiched therebetween. The rolling elements can be aligned in parallel within the endless circulation path by means of interconnecting the separators. As a result, axial fluctuations (skew) in and interference between the rolling elements is lessened, thereby enabling stable circulation of the rolling elements.
According to techniques described in, e.g., JP-A-2000-291668, JP-A-2001-317552, JP-A-2002-7089651, JP-A-2002-039175 and JP-A-2002-156018, a lubricant reservoir section, which is formed from a recess or a through hole, is formed in the separator for preserving lubricant. As a result of the lubricant reservoir section being formed in the separator, the rolling elements are smoothly rolled, thereby activating the linear guide while preventing early abrasion of the rolling elements and generation of noise.
However, according to the technique described in JP-A-11-247855, the separator is not provided with a recess, a through hole, or the like which is employed for preserving lubricant according to the techniques described in JP-A-2000-291668, JP-A-2001-317552, JP-A-2002-089651, JP-A-2002-039175 and JP-A-2002-156018. Therefore, the technique allows some improvements in terms of smooth rolling action of the rolling elements, prevention of early abrasion of the rolling elements, and activation of the linear guide while suppressing generation of noise.
In the meantime, according to the techniques described in JP-A-2000-291668, JP-A-2001-317552, JP-A-2002-089651, JP-A-2002-039175 and JP-A-2002-156018, the separator is not equipped with arm sections or the like which are employed for actively regulating the position of the rolling elements according to the technique of JP-A-11-247855. Therefore, a problem of stable circulation of the rolling elements while effectively suppressing axial fluctuations (skew) in and interference between the rolling elements still remains unsolved.
The present inventors have worked on development of a separator capable of comprehensively solving the above-described problems.
An assembly operation for manually inserting rolling elements into an endless circulation path while interposing separators between adjacent rolling elements is very time consuming. Therefore, automation of the assembly operation is desirable in terms of an improvement in productivity.
Therefore, a conceivable method is to align the separators through use of an automatic alignment machine, such as a parts feeder, and to successively automate the assembly operation through use of, e.g., a robot.
As separators capable of comprehensively solving the foregoing problems, there were prepared a plurality of separators which merely constitute a train of rolling elements, each rolling element having arm sections enabling alignment of the rolling element, and a lubricant reservoir section constituted of a recess or a through hole. A test was performed for automatically aligning the separators. In some cases the arm sections came to fit into the through holes or the like serving as the lubricant reservoir sections, which resulted in entanglement of the separators and ended in failure to align the separators.
As mentioned above, there still remain problems to be solved before realizing separators which have the function of controlling the position of the rolling elements and storing lubricant and take into consideration automation of production.
As shown in, e.g., FIG. 40, a linear guide bearing apparatus having an axially-extending guide rail 501 and a slider 502 disposed so as to straddle the guide rail 501 and be relatively movable in an axial direction has been known as a conventional direct-acting apparatus of this type.
Two axially-extending raceway surfaces 503 are formed on either side surface of the guide rail 501 in a transverse direction thereof, and hence a total of four raceway surfaces 503 are formed. Raceway surfaces 505 opposing the raceway surfaces 503 are formed on each inner side surface of a sleeve section 504 of a slider main body 502A of the slider 502.
A plurality of cylindrical rollers 506, serving as rolling elements, are rotatively loaded between the raceway surfaces. The slider 502 can axially, relatively move over the guide rail 501 by means of rolling actions of the cylindrical rollers 506.
As the slider 502 moves, the cylindrical rollers 506 interposed between the guide rail 501 and the slider 502 rotate and move toward an axial end of the slider 502. However, in order to continuously move the slider 502 in the axial direction, the cylindrical rollers 506 must be circulated endlessly.
Holes 507 are formed in the sleeve section 504 of the slider main body 502A so as to penetrate through the sleeve section 504. A circulation tube 8 whose inside is formed into a passage (rolling element passage) 508a for the cylindrical rollers 506 is fitted into each of the holes 507. A pair of end caps 509, which serve as rolling element circulation components, are fixed to the respective axial ends of the slider main body 502A through use of screws or the like. A change direction path 510 (see FIG. 41B)—which brings the raceway surfaces 503, 505 into communication with the rolling element passage 508a and is formed into a semi-circular shape—is formed in each of the end caps 509, thereby forming an endless circulation path for the cylindrical rollers 506.
The plurality of cylindrical rollers 506 that circulate the endless-circulation path rotate about roller shafts in one direction. When adjacent cylindrical rollers 506 have come into contact with each other, velocities of the rollers at that contact area are oriented in opposite directions. Force stemming from the contact hinders smooth rolling action of the cylindrical rollers 506.
As shown in FIG. 41., with this being the case, separators (partition elements) 520 are interposed between adjacent cylindrical rollers 506, thereby hindering the cylindrical rollers 506 from coming into direct contact with each other. As a result, the travel of the slider 502 is made smooth, and an attempt is made to diminish noise which arises during the course of travel of the slider. As shown in FIGS. 42 through 44, the separator 520 comprises a separator main body 521 interposed between the adjacent cylindrical rollers 506, and arm sections 522 which are arranged such that the axial end faces of the cylindrical roller 506 are sandwiched between the arm sections 522 and which are formed integrally with the separator main body 521. Recessed sections 521a agreeing with the outer circumferential shape of the cylindrical roller 506 are formed in areas of the separator main body 521 opposing the outer circumferential surface of the cylindrical roller 506. In FIG. 40, reference numeral 523 designates a separator guide member interposed between an outer side surface of the guide rail 501 and the inner side surface of the slider 502.
When the cylindrical rollers 506 circulate through the space defined between the raceway surfaces 503 and 505, the change direction path 510, and the rolling element passage 508a, the arm sections 522 of the separators 520 are guided along guide grooves 524 in the direction in which the cylindrical rollers 506 are circulated, wherein the guide grooves are formed in the separator guide member 523, the rolling element passage 508a, and the change direction path 510.
Incidentally, the present applicants have already proposed use of an elastomeric material, such as Hytrel® or Pelprene® (manufactured by Toyobo Co., Ltd. under this tradename), in order to absorb fluctuations in the length of a path due to a change in the phase of the rolling element in the endless circulation path for the rolling elements (see JP-A-2002-21849). Further, the separators have been swollen by fat and oil of lubricant or the like. Depending on a contact position between the rolling element and the separator, the pitch between the rolling elements may have become greatly changed, thereby raising a problem which adversely affects operability, a low noise characteristic, and durability. Therefore, the contact position between the rolling element and the separator is defined as a position of 50% or less the diameter of the rolling element, particularly a position ranging from 30% to 50% (when the positions are converted into contact angles, a position where a contact angle of 30° or less is achieved, particularly a position where a contact angle of 17.5° to 30° is achieved) (see JP-A-2003-49834).
However, depending on a radius curvature "f" of the recessed section of the separator {determined by (a radius R of a groove of a recessed section)/(a radius Dw of a rolling element)} or the value of a thickness 2δ of the bottom of the groove of the recessed section of the separator, the contact position between the rolling element and the separator defined in JP-A-2002-21849 cannot always attain an optimum value. For instance, when there are employed 0.54 for the curvature radius "f" of the recessed section of the separator; 8 mm for the radius Dw of the rolling element; and 1.2 mm (a value which ensures the number of rolling elements required to satisfy load capacity or the like) for the thickness 2δ of the recessed section of the separator, the contact position between the rolling element and the separator exceeds 50% (corresponding to a contact angle of 30°) of the diameter of the rolling element, and 52% (corresponding to a contact angle of 31°) becomes an optimum value {a dimensional difference between the length of the swelling in the separator in a radial direction thereof and the thickness of the swelling in the separator in a thicknesswise direction thereof becomes zero (see FIG. 45); the swelling in the radial direction leads to a decrease in the pitch between the rolling elements, and the swelling in the thicknesswise direction leads to an increase in the pitch between the rolling elements}.

Separator, linear guide using the separator and linear motion apparatus


Aspects of the present disclosure address improved systems and methods for generating a clock tree based on route-driven placement of fan-out clock drivers. Consistent with some embodiments, a method may include constructing a spanning tree comprising one or more paths that interconnect a set of clock sinks of a clock net of an integrated circuit device design. The method further includes calculating a center of the set of the clock sinks based on clock sink locations in the integrated circuit device design and identifying a point on the spanning tree nearest to the center of the set of clock sinks. The method further includes generating a clock tree by placing a clock driver at the point on the spanning tree that is nearest to the center of the set of clock sinks.

An integrated circuit (IC) layout specifies portions of various components of an IC. When the IC is to include a large number of registers, latches, flip-flops and/or other types of clocked devices ("sinks") that are to be clocked by one or more clocks, the IC must include one or more clock trees for delivering the clock signal from the clock source to all of the sinks to be clocked by it. A clock tree distributes a clock signal from its root to a set of sinks within an IC through a branching network of fan-out drivers (e.g., buffers or inverters). A single driver distributes the clock signal to a grouping of sinks referred to as a "clock net."
Electronic design automation (EDA) software systems commonly perform clock-tree construction. As part of clock-tree construction, the EDA software assigns a position to each net driver so that a possible tree topology can be evaluated. While this initial position may be later refined by the EDA software, the position assignments determined during clock-tree construction determine an overall tree topology thereby impacting the performance of the IC device. According to one conventional approach, a minimum bounding box is determined for all sinks in a clock net, and a net driver is placed at the center of the bounding box. Although this approach can provide benefits in terms of skew and electro-migration (EM), it often results in layouts with excessive wire length.

Route driven placement of fan-out clock drivers


A data and power transmitting/receiving system applicable to a home automation system. Plural terminal units and associated communication units are connected via a common signal bus. Each terminal unit may operate an electrical load to be controlled remotely, and may include control switches for operating such loads at a number of remote locations. Each communication unit generates an n-bit data signal, each bit corresponding to the desired function of a corresponding terminal unit. A sync signal is combined with the data signal in time sequence such that the respective communication units can identify which signal operates which terminal unit. The sync signals also can supply DC power to ther respective communication units.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a data and electric power transmitting/receiving apparatus used for an automatic control system, e.g., a so-called "home automation system." More specifically, the present invention is directed to a system where simultaneous data and electric power transmission and reception are carried out between a plurality of controllers and terminal devices.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, the so-called "home automation (HA) system" is adapted to home electric appliances as terminal devices, and connects the terminal devices to a plurality of controllers via a common transmission line to establish data communication between the terminal devices and controllers.
Such a HA system for electronically uniting terminal devices such as air conditioners and bath heating systems is disclosed, for instance, in Japanese Patent Publication (examined application) No. 62-142431(1987). According to this conventional HA system, a control signal is transmitted from one controller via a common transmission line to the corresponding terminal device. The control signal contains an address set to one of the terminal devices. In transmitting the control signal, this controller firstly confirms that there is no control signal transmitted from others controllers or terminal devices on the common transmission line. If there are no signals on the common transmission line, this controller sends the control signal to the terminal devices through the common transmission line. Each terminal device receives the control signal only when the address contained in the control signal coincides with an address of the terminal device in question, so that the terminal devices may be controlled independently of each other. Accordingly, operations of the selected terminal devices may be readily controlled in desirable modes, such as starting and stopping operations.
In recent years, the HA systems have remarkably been enhanced as demands for conveniences have increased, and these systems have been utilized with more kinds of electric appliances. As the number of kinds of electric appliances to be controlled by the HA systems increases, it is important to quickly let an operator confirm whether or not the electric appliances are operating according to specified conditions, or whether or not the specified conditions are being maintained safely. Otherwise, the desired convenience may not be realized by the conventional HA systems.
Although the conventional HA systems can freely stop, start or leave unchanged the, operations of the terminal devices, the conventional HA systems have several drawbacks. Namely, operating conditions of one terminal device can be known by receiving a signal indicative of the operating conditions of the terminal device, after confirming that no control signal is being transmitted from the controller or that no signals indicating operating conditions of the remaining terminal devices are present on the transmission line. Therefore, a relatively longer time period is required from sending an operation instruction to one terminal device from the controller until receiving a result from the terminal device at the controller.
In controlling electric appliances by the HA systems, therefore, it is required to improve the communication speed of the HA systems.
According to another conventional HA system, a control unit is connected to various actuators and sensors through a large number of many communication lines, respectively. Therefore, the communication lines form a transmission line network for the system as a whole. Such a network formation requires difficult connection and maintenance works and tends to cause erroneous operation due to line disconnection and external noise.
An object of the present invention is to solve the drawbacks of the conventional systems and provide a data and power transmitting/receiving system to freely stop, start and release operations of selected ones of a plurality of terminal devices and improve a communication speed between a plurality of controllers and the terminal devices.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a data and power transmitting/receiving system causing no erroneous operation due to external noise and line disconnection and make connection and maintenance works easier.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a data and power transmitting/receiving system using a two-wire communication line to almost simultaneously transmit and receive data as well as electric power between a plurality of terminal devices and controllers. Particularly, the system combines a synchronization signal with a data signal and uses the synchronization signal as electric power to the terminal devices.

Simultaneous data and electric power transmitting/receiving system


An improved absorbent article is disclosed. The absorbent article has a longitudinal centerline and a lateral centerline, and comprises a topsheet, a backsheet, and an absorbent component. The topsheet has a topsheet opening. The absorbent component comprises a storage member and a distribution member. The storage member has a storage member opening surrounded by a periphery edge. The distribution member comprises an acquisition portion and a main portion wherein. The main portion extends underneath the storage member. The acquisition portion protrudes through the topsheet opening and the storage member opening, and extends over the topsheet longitudinally outwardly or laterally outwardly beyond the periphery edge of the storage member opening.

Absorbent articles such as sanitary napkins, panty liners, and incontinence pads are devices that are typically worn in the crotch region of an undergarment. These devices are designed to absorb and retain liquid and other discharges from the human body and to prevent body and clothing soiling. Sanitary napkins are a type of absorbent article worn by women in a pair of panties that is normally positioned between the wearer's legs, adjacent to the perineum. Sanitary napkins of a wide variety of shapes and dimensions are currently used by women for the collection of menses and other bodily discharges.
In the past, a number of efforts have been directed at providing sanitary napkins that maintain contact with the wearer's body. One attempt to provide such body contact is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,747,575 issued May 29, 1956 to Mercer. The Mercer patent discloses a catamenial bandage having a longitudinal hump which bulges towards and may contact the body of the wearer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,425,130 issued to DesMarais on Jan. 10, 1984, discloses a compound sanitary napkin that comprises a primary menstrual pad and a panty protector joined to one another at their corresponding ends in such a manner that the two constituents are free to move relative to one another along essentially their entire common length. The primary menstrual pad is intended to absorb the bulk of the bodily fluids discharged by the user, while the panty protector is intended to protect the user's garments from soiling. In use, the relative freedom of movement between the primary menstrual pad and the panty protector serves to maintain the primary menstrual pad adjacent to the user's crotch region while the panty protector remains associated with the user's undergarment.
PCT International Patent Application Publication No. WO 94/16658, entitled "Generally Thin, Flexible Sanitary Napkin With Central Absorbent Hump", published in the name of Osborn on Aug. 4, 1994, discloses a generally thin, flexible sanitary napkin which has a central absorbent hump, and is capable of handling medium to high menstrual flows.
Thus, the absorbent articles having humps are useful to allow close contact of the absorbent articles to the wearer's body, whereby the humps preferentially acquires body fluid. However, due to the limited size of the humps, such humps do not typically have sufficient absorption capacity for retaining the acquired body fluid over the period of the use of the absorbent article. Therefore, after the absorption capacity of the hump is exhausted by body fluid discharged from the wearer's body, body fluid tends to overflow from the hump and causes rewet feeling to the wearer and/or leakage from the absorbent article, thereby causing soil of the wearer's undergarment.
Thus, there is a need for an absorbent article which relatively quickly acquires body fluid discharged from the wearer's body. There is also a need for an absorbent article which relatively quickly moves absorbed body fluid away from the wearer's body. There is also a need for an absorbent article which relatively quickly moves absorbed body fluid into the absorbent article. There is also a need for an absorbent article which has an enhanced absorption capacity for body fluid.

Absorbent article with acquisition portion protruding through a topsheet opening and a storage member opening


A gated pixel device employing conjugated polymer electroluminescent material is disclosed. Pixel devices are triodes or diodes. Conjugated polymer electroluminescent material is spun onto a flexible, transparent substrate thereby reducing fabrication cost when compared to conventional material deposition techniques. A plurality of pixels can be integrally fabricated on a common, flexible, transparent substrate thereby producing a display panel which can be formed or shaped into any desired geometry, and thereby creating applications not possible with conventional, rigid flat panel displays in the prior art. Both monocolor and full color flexible display panels are disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure sets forth pixel elements which uses polymer electroluminescent materials, and more particularly integrally fabricated pixel elements and control circuitry for flexible, flat panel displays.
2. Background of the Art
Early prior art electroluminescent (EL) devices used in flat panel displays are called are diodes in which applied alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) or pulse potentials affect luminescence. The diode or two terminal embodiment of flat display panel pixels presents significant operational and manufacturing limitations. One limitation is in the form of a barrier contacts at both the injector and the collector terminals of the diode. These barrier contacts increase significantly the potential required for the luminescence, and decrease the operational lifetime of the device because of cumulative terminal EL material interface stress. The stress of the high field of the non-ohmic contacts to the EL material affects the interface therebetween, degrading operation and causing failure. Another limitation is the increased complexity of address and intensity modulation necessary for use as pixel elements in information display.
Still another limitation of prior art EL devices is that the address and intensity modulation circuitry must be separately manufactured and assembled to prior art diode pixel display devices thereby increasing the cost of the display product. Another limitation is the power requirements for the control circuitry which are orders of magnitude greater than the control circuitry for the presently disclosed device. Still another limitation of the diode pixel element is that light is emitted through the diode's transparent contact and not laterally as will be expanded upon in the following paragraph. This results in a significant percentage of light emission that is not utilized, thereby further increasing the power required in the prior art to obtain the desired level of luminescence.
In the prior art DC diode devices, one contact to the EL material of the diode is made by transparent indium-tin oxide (ITO), and the other by a metal which is typically Al. Both of those contacts are Schottky barrier, tunneling contacts. A reverse bias applied to the EL material produces a field across the depletion region. A sufficient field causes avalanche of energetic carriers which are typically electrons. The electrons impact excite centers, or color centers of the EL material, creating electron-hole pairs, and/or excitation of the color dopant atoms. Relaxation of the excitation within the EL materials causes photon, colored light, emission. Only the photons exciting the EL material parallel to the field produced laterally, perpendicular to the field, is essentially lost and does not markedly contribute to the brightness of the viewed light of the prior art.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,656,883 Alton O. Christensen, Sr., which is assigned to the assignee of the present disclosure and which is entered herein by reference, discloses a triode pixel device and complementary triode logic devices for control of the pixel devices. Both the pixel devices and the associated control circuitry are fabricated and interconnected in the same continuous manufacturing process to economically produce full color flat panel display products. Both pixel and logic devices are operated in a gate controlled avalanche mode. Pixels are formed of inorganic or organic EL material ohmically contacted by low work function metal. Luminescence is directly viewed through a glass substrate from the brighter, lateral EL emission which is an improvement over other previously discussed prior art devices. Operating potentials required are those of integrated circuits and are, therefore, low. Power consumption is reduced and the devices present no electromagnetic hazard to a user. The ohmic contacts to EL material and the gate terminal increase operating lifetime and failure problems of other previously discussed prior art direct current (DC) operated devices.
Although superior to other prior art devices, the pixel element devices and flat screen displays comprising these devices disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,656,883 exhibit certain shortcomings and limitations. The deposition and subsequent etching process used to manufacture these devices is relatively expensive. Power requirements, although low when compared with other prior art devices, can still be substantial. The beneficial effects of gate control on power consumption leave room for economic improvement. The pixel structures and flat panel displays made therefrom are rigid and limited in geometry by the shape of the rigid substrate. Furthermore, the devices are somewhat less than robust in certain environments.
In view of the prior art, and object of the present invention is to provide a pixel element using conjugated polymer electroluminescent (CPEL) material which is less costly to manufacture in that the CPEL material can be spun on the substrate and therefore does not require expensive deposition systems used in prior art devices. These materials are also referred to as light emitting polymers (LEPs).
Another object of the present invention is to provide pixel devices which are higher in efficiency and require lower power to operate that prior art devices.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide pixel elements that can be used to form flexible display panels rather that the rigid display panels taught in the prior art.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a pixel element with improved and more efficient gate control thereby further reducing power consumption.
Another object of the invention is to provide a flexible color display panel with numerous novel applications.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a more efficient optical interface between the CPEL and substrate directly by eliminating the ITO layer of the prior art.
There are other applications of the invention which will become apparent if the following disclosure.

Gated pixel elements using polymer electroluminescent materials for panel displays


Techniques are described for debugging an application executing on a remote host device. A daemon executing on the host device is instructed, from a server device, to install an application to be debugged and to launch a remote debug module on the host device. A communication session is established between the remote debug module and a local debug module executing on the server device. Debug commands received at the local debug module are communicated to the remote debug module and employed during the debugging of the application. Debug output from the debugging session may be provided to the server device via a mount point into shared memory on the host device.

With the growing popularity of mobile devices, there is an increasing demand for applications, or apps, to run on such devices. To ensure a substantially positive experience for a user interacting with an application on a device, operations of the application may be tested and analyzed on various devices and under various operating conditions. Results of such testing and analysis may be employed to address bugs or other issues associated with the application, or to improve the performance of the application.
Certain implementations and embodiments will now be described more fully below with reference to the accompanying figures, in which various aspects are shown. However, various aspects may be implemented in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the implementations set forth herein. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.


In accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention there is at least a method, computer program, and apparatus for receiving over a first component carrier from a serving cell at least one of a first threshold and a second threshold, and performing at least one of: measuring the first component carrier and determining if the measurement exceeds the first threshold, and utilizing the second threshold and determining if a neighboring cell is a potential candidate for scheduling on a second component carrier.

This section is intended to provide a background or context to the invention that is recited in the claims. The description herein may include concepts that could be pursued, but are not necessarily ones that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description and claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
The following abbreviations that may be found in the specification and/or the drawing figures are defined as follows:
3GPPthird generation partnership projectBWbandwidthCAcarrier aggregationCCcomponent carrierCSGclosed subscriber groupDCdual carrierDLdownlink (eNB towards UE)eNBE-UTRAN Node B (evolved Node B)EPCevolved packet coreE-UTRANevolved UTRAN (LTE)HSDPAhigh speed downlink packet accessHSUPAhigh speed uplink packet accessLTElong term evolution of UTRAN (E-UTRAN)LTE-ALTE advancedMACmedium access control (layer 2, L2)MM/MMEmobility management/mobility management entityNodeBbase stationOFDMAorthogonal frequency division multiple accessO&Moperations and maintenancePDCPpacket data convergence protocolPHYphysical (layer 1, L1)RelreleaseRLCradio link controlRRCradio resource controlRRMradio resource managementRSRPreference signal received powerRSRQreference signal received qualitySGWserving gatewaySC-FDMAsingle carrier, frequency division multiple accessUEuser equipment, such as a mobile station, mobilenode or mobile terminalULuplink (UE towards eNB)UTRANuniversal terrestrial radio access network
The specification of a communication system known as evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN, also referred to as UTRAN-LTE or as E-UTRA) has been a working project within the 3GPP. As specified the DL access technique is OFDMA, and the UL access technique is SC-FDMA.
One specification of interest is 3GPP TS 36.300, V8.11.0 (2009 September), 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (EUTRA) and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Access Network (EUTRAN); Overall description; Stage 2 (Release 8), incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. This system may be referred to for convenience as LTE Rel-8. In general, the set of specifications given generally as 3GPP TS 36.xyz (e.g., 36.211, 36.311, 36.312, etc.) may be seen as describing the Release 8 LTE system. More recently, Release 9 versions of at least some of these specifications have been published including 3GPP TS 36.300, V9.1.0 (2009 September).
FIG. 1A reproduces FIG. 4.1 of 3GPP TS 36.300 V8.11.0, and shows the overall architecture of the EUTRAN system (Rel-8). The E-UTRAN system includes eNBs, providing the E-UTRAN user plane (PDCP/RLC/MAC/PHY) and control plane (RRC) protocol terminations towards the UE (not shown). The eNBs are interconnected with each other by means of an X2 interface. The eNBs are also connected by means of an S1 interface to an EPC, more specifically to a MME by means of a S1 MME interface and to an S-GW by means of a S1 interface (MME/S-GW). The S1 interface supports a many-to-many relationship between MMEs/S-GWs and eNBs.
The eNB hosts the following functions:                functions for RRM: RRC, Radio Admission Control, Connection Mobility Control, Dynamic allocation of resources to UEs in both UL and DL (scheduling);        IP header compression and encryption of the user data stream;        selection of a MME at UE attachment;        routing of User Plane data towards the EPC (MME/S-GW);        scheduling and transmission of paging messages (originated from the MME);        scheduling and transmission of broadcast information (originated from the MME or O&M); and        a measurement and measurement reporting configuration for mobility and scheduling.
Of particular interest herein are the further releases of 3GPP LTE (e.g., LTE Rel-10) targeted towards future IMTA systems, referred to herein for convenience simply as LTE-Advanced (LTE-A). Reference in this regard may be made to 3GPP TR 36.913, V9.0.0 (2009 December), 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Requirements for Further Advancements for EUTRA (LTE-Advanced) (Release 9). A goal of LTE-A is to provide significantly enhanced services by means of higher data rates and lower latency with reduced cost. LTE-A is directed toward extending and optimizing the 3GPP LTE Rel-8 radio access technologies to provide higher data rates at lower cost. LTE-A will be a more optimized radio system fulfilling the ITU-R requirements for IMT-Advanced while keeping the backward compatibility with LTE Rel-8.
As is specified in 3GPP TR 36.913, LTE-A should operate in spectrum allocations of different sizes, including wider spectrum allocations than those of LTE Rel-8 (e.g., up to 100 MHz) to achieve the peak data rate of 100 Mbit/s for high mobility and 1 Gbit/s for low mobility. It has been agreed that carrier aggregation is to be considered for LTE-A in order to support bandwidths larger than 20 MHz. Carrier aggregation (CA), where two or more component carriers (CCs) are aggregated, is considered for LTE-A in order to support transmission bandwidths larger than 20 MHz. The carrier aggregation could be contiguous or non-contiguous. This technique, as a bandwidth extension, can provide significant gains in terms of peak data rate and cell throughput as compared to non-aggregated operation as in LTE Rel-8.
A terminal may simultaneously receive one or multiple component carriers depending on its capabilities. A LTE-A terminal with reception capability beyond 20 MHz can simultaneously receive transmissions on multiple component carriers. A LTE Rel-8 terminal can receive transmissions on a single component carrier only, provided that the structure of the component carrier follows the Rel-8 specifications. Moreover, it is required that LTE-A should be backwards compatible with Rel-8 LTE in the sense that a Rel-8 LTE terminal should be operable in the LTE-A system, and that a LTE-A terminal should be operable in a Rel-8 LTE system.
FIG. 1B shows one non-limiting example of carrier aggregation, where M Rel-8 component carriers are combined together to form an MHRel-8 BW (e.g. 5 H 20 MHz=100 MHz, given M=5). Rel-8 terminals receive/transmit on one component carrier, whereas LTE-A terminals may receive/transmit on multiple component carriers simultaneously to achieve higher (wider) bandwidths.
Based on a latest agreement from RAN2#68bis it was decided that the UE can be configured with deactivated CCs. For a deactivated DL CC the UE does not receive the PDCCH or PDSCH, and no CQI-like measurements. For an activated DL CC the UE receives PDSCH and PDCCH, if present. Activation/deactivation per CC or in common may be used. CCs are activated by L1 or MAC. In addition, CCs are deactivated by MAC or implicitly.
Additionally it was agreed that measurements on an activated CC can be done without gaps, and Rel-8/Rel-9 events are to be generalized.
It has not yet been discussed in detail how the handling of the measurements will be achieved. One obvious way forward is to reuse existing E-UTRAN mobility measurements and reporting. Reference in this regard can be made to 3GPP TS 36.331 V9.1.0 (2009 December) Technical Specification 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) Radio Resource Control (RRC); Protocol specification (Release 9), section 5.5.
It also has been acknowledged by RAN4 that if the UE supports carrier aggregation, which would allow it to simultaneously receive considered carriers, the UE hardware has the capability to perform mobility measurements without measurement gaps, even if the carrier is not active, (e.g., is only configured).
As is defined in 3GPP TS 36.331, section 5.5.1, "measurement gaps" are periods that the UE may use to perform measurements, i.e., no (UL, DL) transmissions are scheduled.
Further reference with regard to carrier aggregation can be made to 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 #68bis, Tdoc-R2-100531, Valencia, Spain. 18-22 Jan. 2010, Source: NTT Docomo, Inc., Title: Carrier aggregation deployment scenarios.
E-UTRAN mobility measurements and functionality as described in the above-referenced 3GPP TS 36.331, and performance is described in 3GPP TS 36.133 V9.2.0 (2009 December) Technical Specification 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Requirements for support of radio resource management (Release 9).
UTRAN DC-HSDPA mobility is based on a primary carrier and for DC-HSUPA independent thresholds are assumed for each carrier.

Activation and deactivation of component carrier measurements based on thresh-old settings


A structure for mounting a battery pack on a vehicle includes a mount for supporting the battery pack. The battery pack is fixed to an upper side of the mount by bolts. The battery pack is disposed on a rear side of a rear seat. The battery pack includes screw holes through which the bolts are inserted. The screw holes have closed shapes. The screw holes are long in a front-rear direction and formed so that the battery pack moves when an impact is applied on it. A fixed state of the battery pack by the bolts is canceled after movement of the battery pack.

In recent years, an electric car using an electric motor as a driving source and a so-called hybrid electric car using a combination of an electric motor and another driving source are in the actual use. On such an automobile, an electricity storage device for supplying electricity as energy to the electric motor is mounted. As the electricity storage device, a secondary battery represented by a nickel-cadmium battery, a nickel-hydrogen battery, a lithium-ion battery, and the like or a capacitor that can be repeatedly charged and discharged is used. The electricity storage device is housed in a case and mounted on a vehicle body as an electricity storage pack.
There is a battery carrier support structure for an electric car as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 6-270694, wherein a front bracket is fixed to a rocker by a bolt on an upper face of a front portion of a flange of a battery carrier and a rear bracket is fixed to the rocker by a bolt on an upper face of a rear portion of the flange of the battery carrier. In the battery carrier support structure, a lower wall portion of a rocker inner is formed at its middle portion in a front-rear direction of the vehicle with a bent bead. A rear portion of the rocker bends downward from the bent bead as a bend. A sliding load of the front bolt is smaller than that of the rear bolt. According to this battery carrier support structure, an energy absorbing burden on a front side member can be reduced, when an impact force is applied from a front side of the vehicle body.
There is a battery mounting structure as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2004-262413, wherein a plurality of elongated holes are formed in stays to which the batteries are coupled and which fix the batteries onto a floor panel to thereby form brittle portions on the stays. In the brittle portions, the strength only in the front-rear direction is reduced to a certain degree while the strength in the vertical direction is maintained. In this battery mounting structure, if the spare tire at the front of the vehicle body is struck up while guided by a slope in a collision and collides with rear portions of the batteries, the stays are deformed at their brittle portions. With this battery mounting structure, it is possible to prevent damage to the batteries due to the collision of the spare tire struck up in the collision. In place of the elongated holes formed in the stays, elongated holes having open rear ends may be formed in flanges to form slide mechanisms.
There is a battery frame fixing portion structure as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 7-81431, wherein a side frame of a battery frame is fixed by a bolt and a nut plate and a front slit portion and a rear slit portion are formed on a front side and a rear side of an insertion hole for the bolt of a side member. A reinforcing member is inserted into the side member from a position corresponding to a rear portion of the side frame to a rear end of the side member. A front end of the reinforcing member is fixed to the side member by inserting the bolt into the insertion hole. A slit is formed at a rear portion of the insertion hole of the reinforcing member. With this battery frame fixing structure for an electric car, it is possible to suppress increase in weight of a vehicle body to prevent movement of the battery frame in a collision.
There is a battery support structure for an electric car as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 7-117490, wherein a mounting hole is formed in a flange of a battery carrier and a bolt is inserted through the mounting hole. The battery carrier is mounted to the rocker by the bolt with a specific tightening force. A thin-walled portion is formed on the flange of the battery carrier to be adjacent to the mounting hole. With this battery support structure, it is possible to absorb kinetic energy of the battery carrier as well as to improve rigidity of a supporting portion of the battery carrier supported on a vehicle body.
There is a battery support structure for an electric car as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 6-115361, wherein a plurality of holes not communicating with each other are formed in a flange of a battery carrier along a front-rear direction of a vehicle body. With this battery support structure for the electric car, it is possible to improve rigidity of a support portion of the battery carrier supported on the vehicle body and also to absorb kinetic energy of the battery carrier.
The electricity storage pack is fixed to a support member such as a floor panel and a side member for supporting the electricity storage pack. Disclosed in the above-described Patent Documents is the structure for mounting the electricity storage pack on the vehicle and for absorbing an amount of the impact when the impact is applied from the front-rear direction of the vehicle body. In the above-described Patent Documents, the member supporting the electricity storage pack bends or the bolts inserted through the holes formed at intervals break the portions between the insertion holes to thereby absorb energy of the impact of the collision or the like.
Here, if a small car bumps into the rear of a standard-sized car, the support member for the electricity storage pack is deformed. The impact is applied on the electricity storage pack through the support member. In other words, a secondary impact is applied on the electricity storage pack due to deformation of the support member.
On the other hand, in a case of an impact from an outside high position, the impact may be directly applied on the electricity storage pack. For example, if the electricity storage pack is disposed on a floor of a trunk room of the standard-sized car and a large truck bumps into the rear of the car, the large truck may directly apply an impact on the electricity storage pack. In this case, the electricity storage pack itself may be broken by grinding or crushing. If the impact is applied from the outside high position, the electricity storage pack cannot be sufficiently protected.

Structure for mounting electricity storage pack on vehicle


A pair of sign support frames connected to a sign with upright member has upright reinforcement bars secured to arch or base members. The bars are associated with the upright members to reinforce the upright and arch members in motor vehicle impact areas above the arch members. When the upright members are hit with a motor vehicle the sign support frames move upwardly and rearwardly into engagement with the bumper or front frame of the motor vehicle to limit rearward movement of the sign toward the motor vehicle and reduce bending and breaking forces on the upright members and sign support frames.

Conventional sign supports for retaining signs in viewing positions along roads and highways comprise stationary posts and frames attached to the road shoulder or ground adjacent the road and portable sign supports. Portable sign supports include foldable A frames and inverted T frames. The conventional inverted T frame sign support has a pair of frames connected to perforated upright members. Plywood or aluminum work zone or road condition signs are fastened with bolts to the upright members. Each frame has a horizontal leg member and an upright stud or receiver secured to the center of the leg member. The studs are short having a height of no more than 12 inches. A small section of the upright member telescoped over the stud is attached to the stud with a reasonable connection. The upright member and stud are separable to facilitate handling, storage, and transport. The stud is located below the automobile impact area on the upright member. When the upright members are hit with an automobile, substantial impact forms on the upright members bend and break the studs from the horizontal members and bend, break and fragmentize the upright member. The separated parts of the sign and support frame can penetrate the windshield of the automobile or enter the bottom of the driving compartment which can cause injury to persons and property.
United States Transportation Equity Act, Public Law 105-178, requires mandatory compliance with sign safety guidelines. All highway appurtances and devices, including signs, guard rails, barricades, and traffic cones, to be tested for crashworthiness. The test involves crashing a small automobile into each device at 100 km/hour. A device is considered safe or crashworthy if none of its components penetrate in the test automobile's passenger compartment via the windshield or up through the floorboards. The automobile must also remain on its pre-crash trajectory and no experience unnecessary deceleration. A number of tests have been conducted on the conventional sign and sign support to ascertain crashworthy structures. The results of these tests have not been favorable. The portable sign systems often found crashworthy are those that display flexible rollup traffic signs. W. A. Werner in U.S. Pat. No. 4,951,407 discloses a yieldable sign stand. There is a high cost of converting entire inventories of connected sign systems over to rollup sign systems. Sign systems have been proposed with structures that break away at their base or horizontal member with the intent of allowing the sign and a portion of the upright members to pass over the automobile. The type of controlled fracture structure tends to direct the sign into the windshield of the automobile or send the sign spinning into on-coming traffic.


A loadline bias circuit for biasing solid state devices operable at high frequencies is disclosed. The source impedance of the dc bias circuit is adjusted to influence the RF device characteristic, thereby creating a way to optimize the device performance. The bias circuit comprises a resistive element coupled in series connection with a constant voltage source or in parallel connection with a constant current source. The bias circuit may be adapted to set an optimum relationship between the bias current and bias voltage so that when one bias parameter changes, the other will automatically compensate with an appropriate change as well. The resistive element provides a device operating range throughout which the bias power supplied to the device is substantially constant. The value of the loadline, that is, the resistive element, can be selected to optimize particular performance parameters.

The present invention relates to high frequency solid state devices, and more particularly to biasing techniques for solid state power devices, for example, IMPATT diodes employed in RF circuits.
Power is supplied to solid state power devices generally in the form of a direct current or voltage through what is commonly referred to as the bias circuit. The dc bias circuit provides the energy that is converted from dc to RF by the solid state device, typically an IMPATT diode. The converted energy is coupled to a load through an RF circuit.
The common practice has been to bias IMPATT diodes with a constant current (CC) bias, i.e., a bias circuit adapted to supply a constant current to the device, even as the device voltage varies in operation. Such variations may be due, for example, to changes in temperature, RF circuit impedance, frequency or power of the RF input signal. Since the current is held constant, there is no adjustment in the bias to compensate for the changes in voltage. If the circuit performance was originally optimized for one condition, it would be degraded with the change in voltage. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,359,700 and 4,328,470 are understood to disclose examples of constant current bias circuits.
The IMPATT device with a CC bias is generally operated as an injection-locked oscillator, whose performance is typified by high stage gain and narrow bandwidth. Bandwidths of IMPATT diode circuits for X band operation have generally not exceeded 1%.
The reference "Linear High Power IMPATT Amplifiers Using Constant Voltage Bias," J. W. McClymonds, G. C. Dalman and C. A. Lee, Proceedings of the Seventh Biennial Cornell Device Conference, pp. 349-359 (1979) discusses the use of constant voltage (CV) biasing as a way to improve the linear gain of IMPATT circuits. The change from CC to CV biasing results in correspondingly different RF circuit performance. The studies at Cornell University are believed to have demonstrated IMPATT operation with bandwidths of 20% or more using a low gain (3 to 4 db) reflection amplifier with CV biasing.
Thus, until very recently, IMPATT amplifiers have been biased using CC power supplies as were conventionally used with oscillators. In addition to performance improvements resulting from CV biasing of IMPATT amplifiers, the relative simplicity of CV pulser design over CC circuits may result in a considerable cost, weight and volume advantage over conventional CC pulsers. To achieve high combining efficiencies, however, IMPATT radar transmitters usually demand gains of 10 db or better, necessitating the use of injection-locked oscillators rather than lower gain amplifiers.
The CC and CV bias circuits can be characterized as direct bias compensation techniques with respective infinite and zero impedances for the bias circuit. These two known biasing techniques are illustrated by the conceptual bias circuits of FIG. 1(a), a CC bias circuit, and FIG. 1(b), a CV circuit. FIG. 2 plots the bias voltage V.sub.B applied to the diode against the bias current I.sub.B. The diode device lines 1 and 2 represent the IV characteristics of the IMPATT diode for two distinct operating temperatures. The intersection of the constant current line CC and device line 1 denotes an initial device operating point P1, indicating the initial bias voltage and current for the diode. For a device biased by a CV bias circuit, the line "CV" in FIG. 2 denotes the voltage level supplied by the bias circuit for the same initial operating point P1.
If for some reason, for example, with an increase in temperature, the IMPATT device line shifts to the device line 2, the new operating points for the CC and CV bias circuits would not be coincident, representing quite different device performance. The new CC operating point P2 is at a higher voltage than before, resulting in an increase in bias circuit power and, concomitantly, output power. Thus, use of CC biasing requires that the bias circuit be adapted to provide protection against thermal runaway, resulting in sacrifice of some available output power. This margin is provided by operating at somewhat less than the maximum available power. The new CV operating point P3, on the other hand, is at a lower current, resulting in a reduction in bias circuit power and operating power.
IMPATT diodes are often employed in RF combiner circuits to increase the available output power as, for example, described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,359,700. Generally, it is desirable to have the individual diode circuits in a combiner operate with substantially the same performance to maximize the output performance of the combiner circuit. Another drawback of CC or CV bias circuits is readily apparent from FIG. 2 if operating lines 1 and 2 are understood to represent two different IMPATT diodes. With the CC and CV bias circuits, two IMPATT diodes will have substantially different operating performance (power and frequency).
Moreover, the frequency, output power and functional bandwidth tend to shift as the temperature changes. For a CC biased RF combiner circuit, as the temperature increases, the output frequency is lowered and the average output power increases. These effects may result in a combiner circuit which fails to provide a required minimum power output at any one frequency in the combiner frequency bandwidth over the possible temperature range.
Another drawback of the CC bias circuit is that diode cold-start performance suffers from a slow heating effect, caused by the lower bias circuit power at lower temperatures.
It is known in the art to provide bias current compensation for IMPATT diodes using feedback circuits employing active devices, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,328,470. The desired goal of such feedback circuits is to provide bias circuit compensation as the operating characteristics of the device change. These feedback circuits suffer from decreased reliability resulting from the use of active devices, and are more complex and accordingly more expensive.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a solid state device bias circuit adapted to increase the bandwidth of RF circuits in which the device is employed.
Another object of the invention is to provide a solid state device bias circuit adapted to result in increased circuit gain.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a bias circuit for solid state devices which results in substantially linear gain over the circuit bandwidth.
A further object of the invention is to provide a bias circuit for solid state devices which is simplified and of greater reliability than prior art bias circuits.
Other objects of the invention are to provide a bias circuit for solid state RF devices which results in increased output power, reduced temperature sensitivity, elimination of thermal runaway and faster turn-on (cold start) characteristics.


A holder (4) holds a cord fastener (3) on an adhered object (1), the cord fastener (3) being equipped on a cord (2) of the adhered object (1). The holder (4) has a mounting part (40) attached to the adhered object (1), and a housing part (50) provided on the mounting part (40), and holding the cord fastener (3) so as to allow the cord fastener (3) to be housed therein. The housing part (50) holds the cord fastener (3) so as to allow the cord fastener (3) to be housed therein, with an operation part (31) of the cord fastener (3) being exposed. Also, the holder (4) has a third cord insertion hole (41, 57) which continuously communicates with a first cord insertion hole (12) of the cord fastener (3) when the cord fastener (3) is housed in the housing part (50).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a holder for holding a component, which is attached to a cord of an adhered object, on the adhered object. More particularly, the present invention relates to a holder for holding, for example, a cord fastener capable of being fixed to an arbitrary position of a cord, or a buckle capable of coupling/separating ends of two cords with/from each other, on an adhered object such as garments, bags, or the like provided with such a cord or cords.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, a cord fastener has been used as a tool for tightening or loosening cuffs of garments, mouths of bags, and the like. For example, in the case of a jacket having a hood as shown in FIG. 11, a cord is inserted through the edge of the opening of the hood, and the hood is adjusted by adjusting the peripheral length of the cord around the opening with a cord fastener 100.
The cord fastener is constituted by a cylindrical socket, and a plug. The plug is contained in the socket, biased by a biasing unit such as a spring toward the direction in which the plug projects from the socket. Also, the plug can be pushed into the socket against the force of the biasing unit. The socket is formed with a first cord insertion hole penetrating through a plug insertion hole, into which the plug is inserted, the plug is formed with an operation part on an end thereof, and a second cord insertion hole which communicates with the first cord insertion hole when the plug is pushed into the socket by a predetermined amount.
In the state that the plug is pushed into the socket such that the second cord insertion hole is in alignment with the first cord insertion hole, a cord is inserted through these first and second cord insertion holes, and the cord fastener is moved to an arbitrary position along the cord. Thereafter, if the force pushing the plug is released, the plug will be moved toward the direction in which the plug projects from the socket due to the biasing force of the biasing unit. Accordingly, since the second cord insertion hole is shifted off of the first cord insertion hole, the cord is thereby sandwiched between these cord insertion holes, so that the cord fastener is fixed to an arbitrary position of the cord.
However, in the state that the opening of the hood is loosened, since such a cord fastener is positioned in the middle of the cord which is dangling from an adhered object such as a garment, the cord fastener dangle will dangle together with the cord dangle. Further, since the cord fastener contacts or collides into other things while dangling, the cord fastener may be damaged or lose its function as a cord fastener. Besides, since the cord fastener is made of hard material in view of its function, it will give sense of a foreign matter when the cord fastener contacts human skin directly or indirectly through the garment, in the case of a cord fastener that is attached to a garment or the like.
As a solution to the above problems, a proposal has been made for a cord fastener which can be held on an adhered object such as a garment (see, for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. Hei. 7-39518). The cord fastener disclosed in this publication is provided with an eyelet which holds the cord fastener on an adhered object. A male nail is formed on the cord fastener while a female nail is formed on the eyelet, and by engaging these nails with each other, the cord fastener is integrated with the eyelet. In other words, the cord fastener is held on the adhered object.
However, the cord fastener disclosed in the above publication has a complicated structure and is difficult to mold because male and female nails have to be formed respectively on the cord fastener and the eyelet. In addition, since the fastener is held by a male nail and a female nail, the engagement therebetween cannot be easily released. Besides, since the cord fastener is exposed from the surface of the adhered object, the cord fastener contacts and collides into external objects, and thereby the outer appearance or function of the cord fastener may be spoiled. If the cord fastener contacts the skin directly or indirectly through the garment, the user may have a sense of a foreign matter.


A packaging member can include a foldable member deformable between a folded state and an unfolded state and configured to form a deployed configuration in the folded state. The foldable member can include a plurality of foldable sections and a slot forming portion. The foldable sections can be configured to form a plurality of walls in the folded state. The slot forming portion can be configured to form a slot in the folded state. The slot can be configured to receive a portion of an article.

1. Field of the Inventions
The present inventions are directed to packaging members, for example, foldable packaging members that include a plurality of foldable sections.
2. Description of the Related Art
Protective packaging devices are often used to protect goods from shocks and impacts during shipping or transportation. For example, when transporting articles that are relatively fragile, it is often desirable to cushion the article inside a box to protect the article from a physical impact with the inner walls of the box that might be caused by shocks imparted to the box during loading, transit, and unloading.
In most cases, some additional structure is used to keep the article from moving uncontrollably within the box. Such additional structures include paper or plastic packing material, structured plastic foams, foam-filled cushions, and the like.

Foldable packaging member and packaging system using foldable packaging members


A flexible biaxially corrugated sheet material is formed from a plurality of identical trapezium segments which are arranged in a plurality of long strips a single segment wide. Adjacent strips are mirror images of each other and connected along adjoining sides with the angles of the four corners of adjacent segments being alternately less than 360.degree. and greater than 360.degree. along the length of a strip such that the sheet material has an undulating configuration, and is inherently curved and cannot lie in a flat plane.

The invention relates to a biaxially corrugated flexible sheet material, and, more particularly, to such a sheet material that is formed of a plurality of trapezium segments.
Several types of sheet material are currently used to form items such as seals, bellows, and the like. These materials are typically corrugated along one axis in order to give the structure strength and flexibility. The materials must be curved, such as when used in a cylinder, and be expandable. Currently such materials are generally flexible in only one direction, so that when the material is pulled axially, the diameter of the structure into which the material has been formed decreases slightly.
One type of corrugated sheet material is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,992,162. That sheet material is described for use as a building material, thus, it is not particularly necessary that the sheet material be flexible. The herringbone corrugation pattern described therein is formed from a plurality of abutting elementary surfaces, the sides of which are contiguous and the corners of which meet at points, which when the material is corrugated, form peaks and valleys. The sum of the angles of the corners of the elementary surfaces at each point is 360.degree. so that the sheet material can lie in a flat plane, but cannot follow an initially curved surface.
An object of the invention is to develop a flexible sheet material that is flexible in the direction of its length and width, so that it can expand in both directions at once. Further, it is desired to develop such a material wherein the flat planes of the segments of the sheet material fit together to form an initially curved shape.

Biaxially corrugated flexible sheet material


A marine pod breakaway connection includes a breakaway connector connecting ends of a vertical shaft in an upper housing section and a vertical shaft in a lower housing section. The breakaway connector is configured to yield or fracture to allow the vertical shafts to separate during a breakaway condition when the lower housing section separates from the upper housing section. The breakaway connection further includes disconnect fittings having upper section in the upper and lower portions in the upper and lower housing sections, respectively, the engage and open when the housing sections are assembled to allow fluid flow, and close when the housing sections are separated to substantially prevent leakage of oil from the housing sections.

In personal and commercial watercraft, such as engine-driven fishing boats and speedboats, propulsion systems are often used in which a drive engine of the watercraft is arranged inside the watercraft and is actively connected, via a drive unit in the area of the watercraft's hull, to one or more propellers on the outside of the watercraft's hull. The drive unit typically passes through an opening in the hull or rear transom of the watercraft's hull, and usually includes an upper housing section or gear and clutch housing disposed inside the hull and having a drive shaft connected to an output shaft of the engine, and a lower housing section or underwater housing disposed outside the hull and having one or more output shafts connected to one or more propellers that rotate to drive the watercraft through the water. To avoid having the watercraft take on water through the opening in the hull, the drive unit must be secured within the opening with an arrangement that provides a sufficiently water-tight seal to prevent leakage when the watercraft is disposed and operated in the water.
One example of a known sealing arrangement is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,182,657, issued Feb. 27, 2007, to Mansson, which discloses a mounting arrangement wherein a boat hull is formed with a vertical well having an internal flange. The boat hull is used with a drive unit having a vertical drive shaft with an underwater housing connected to an upper gear housing, with the upper gear housing having a horizontal drive shaft for connection to an engine. A mounting plate of a drive unit and a screw-down plate are fastened to opposite sides of the internal flange, with compressible rings between surfaces of the mounting plate and the flange and between surfaces of the screw-down plate and the flange. The rings dampen vibrations from the drive to the hull. The propeller forces are transmitted via the mounting plate and the screw-down plate to the flange and the well and, thus, to the boat hull.
During operation, the watercraft may encounter submerged objects that impact the underwater housing of the drive unit. If the impact force is great enough, the object can damage the drive unit and the boat hull. To minimize the damage and cost to fix or replace damaged components, drive units have been designed so that particular components yield to allow the underwater housing to break away from the remainder of the drive unit and boat hull without causing additional damage. One example of a known of breakaway arrangement shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,681,029, issued May 5, 1950, to Canozzi, which discloses a drive unit with a steering section having an upper section and a lower section connected by a pivot pin and a sheer pin. The upper section has an upper vertical shaft and the lower section has a lower vertical shaft. At the juncture of the upper and lower sections, companion chocolate elements are secured respectively to adjacent ends of the vertical shafts. The clutch elements are normally engaged for transmission of power between the vertical shafts. When the sheer pin is broken upon impact of the lower section with an object, the lower section swings about the axis of the pivot pin to minimize damage to the drive unit and boat hull, and the clutch elements and, correspondingly the vertical shafts, are separated to prevent bending or breaking of the vertical shafts.
The breakaway arrangement of the Canozzi patent may be effective in reducing damage to the drive unit with the boat hull in impact situations, but opportunities still exist for further improvements to underwater housing breakaway designs. In addition to damage to the drive unit and the boat hull, the potential exists for oil to leak into the water when the underwater housing detaches. Passages are provided for oil to flow from the upper housing section to the underwater section for lubrication of the gear case and shafts disposed therein. When the underwater section breaks away, oil may flow from the passages into the water. In view of this, a need exists for sealing the passages to prevent leakage of oil when the underwater section becomes detached.


The present invention provides a method for determining a background count rate in liquid scintillation counting. The method comprises measuring an external standard spectrum (201, 202) of a sample, determining, from the external standard spectrum, an external standard count rate within an energy window (203), determining, based on the external standard count rate within the energy window, a background reference parameter, and determining, based on the background reference parameter, the background count rate from a background reference curve (301).

Liquid scintillation counting is a widely used technique to measure the radioactivity of a sample. The measurement technique is applicable to all forms of nuclear decay emissions, such as alpha and beta particles, electron capture and gamma ray emitting radionuclides. In liquid scintillation counting, the sample is placed in direct contact with a liquid scintillation medium to which the sample is dissolved or suspended. The liquid scintillation medium contains a mixture of chemicals that can absorb, for example, the energy of alpha or beta particles and convert the absorbed energy to light.
The emitted light is measured using one or more photodetectors. Registering light pulses during the time of measurement enables to represent the number of light pulses as a function their energy (pulse height). This energy spectrum is indicative of the amount of activity associated with the radionuclides in the measured sample. The frequency of light pulses (typically presented in counts per minute) corresponds to the absolute activity in the sample (decays per minute) that eventually corresponds to the number of radionuclides in the sample.
In liquid scintillation counting, the measurement of the sample consists of net counts obtained from actual radioactive decays and different sources of background. The background sources are, among other, thermal random coincidence pulses from photodetectors, random luminescence coincidence pulses and pulses generated by ambient radioactivity including gamma radiation from the surrounding material and cosmic radiation. Thermal background can be reduced by coincidence counting and by cooling the photodetectors. Lead shielding can be used to protect the sample and the photodetectors from ambient radioactivity.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a liquid scintillation counting system that employs a coincidence counting technique to reduce background. The system comprises a scintillation vial 101 for holding a radioactive cocktail and two diametrically opposed photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) 102 and 103 for detecting and amplifying the photons emitted from the radioactive cocktail and converting them into electrical pulses. The outputs of the PMTs 102 and 103 are connected to a coincidence pulse detector 104, which compares the electrical signals received from the PMTs 102 and 103. The coincidence pulse detector 104 produces an output signal only when the two electrical signals occur together. By only accepting coincidence pulses, the system can discriminate single pulses that are caused by thermal background and single photon noise, such as luminescence. The output signal of the coincidence pulse detector 104 is fed to a multichannel analyser (MCA) 105, which produces an energy spectrum representing the amount and characteristics of the radioactivity in the sample.
In many liquid scintillation counting applications, it is necessary to be able to distinguish the net counts of the sample from the background. For this purpose, a specific background sample that is chemically like the (unknown) sample is prepared and measured. The measured counts from the background sample are subtracted from the gross counts of the sample to obtain the net counts of the sample. A problem associated with this technique is that the preparation of the background sample can be very difficult or even impossible, due to various chemical and/or technical reasons.

Method for determining a background count rate in liquid scintillation counting


A method for trending the functionality of the circuits of a switch, router or other piece of equipment. The method accesses error logs for the equipment. These error logs are normally maintained in a data base associated with the piece of equipment. Next, a historical report is generated. This historical report comprises historical information regarding the operability of at least one circuit. Finally, the historical information in the report is used to predict the future operability of the circuit, or circuits.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of monitoring telecommunications equipment. More specifically, the present invention relates to the field of projecting the functionality of telecommunication switches over time.
2. Description of the Related Art
Telecommunications systems use a number of circuits. Some examples of circuits in use are fiber optic, DS3, T1, or any other kind of circuitry connected into a network.
Circuits fail for a variety of reasons and in different ways. First, the circuit could fail as the result of some sort of sudden unintended event. One example of this is a technician tripping over and dislodging a cable, among other similar types of random events. Sudden unintended failures like this are difficult, if not impossible to predict or prepare for. Another example of a sudden unpredictable failure might involve bumping of a buffer card which can cause errors.
These types of mishaps cannot be predicted with any certainty.
A second kind of circuit failure, however, is more predictable. This type of failure is more of a slow death. Circuits of all kinds degrade in service over time. Taking fiber optics as an example, the fibers may become dirty, causing them to gradually fail. Other kinds of circuits will fail over time as well for a variety of reasons. When a circuit fails due to gradual degradation, these circuits will go from being operational all the time, to being operational most of the time, to being operational only some of the time, and then being completely defunct.
Unexpected circuit failures are problematic. When a circuit fails unexpectedly, a system may have to be taken down for days in order to fix the circuit, or circuits, involved. This is costly. It also angers customers of the service provider. Nothing angers customers more than when they are unable to complete tasks because of some kind of system breakdown. These customers may become so bothered that they will terminate a business relationship. This can cost the provider not only lost business, but also damaged reputation.
There is presently no good way to predict gradual circuit failures. This is because most equipment, e.g., telecommunications switches, usually have alarms which are triggered only after a circuit fails at some extremely high threshold level. A craftsperson may detect a few alarms when in fact thousands have reported on the network element. A few alarms are often not noticed or ignored, particularly when they report sporadically.
This lofty error requirement is designed to avoid false error reports. All error reports are not indicative of a bad circuit. There can be other explanations for errors, such as service maintenance, etc. Thus, an error log might include 400 errors when there is actually nothing wrong with the circuit. Systems administrators do not want to repair circuits that are not bad, or waste time checking out faulty reports. Thus, the threshold has been set higher to avoid false reports by these still good circuits.
This has its costs, however. An elevated threshold prevents the administrator from gleaning any helpful knowledge from the errors detected which fall below the alarm level. This under-the-threshold error information is maintained in logs in an internal database associated with the piece of equipment. There it remains, unused, until it is scheduled for deletion because there is no way in the prior art to adequately use these logs.


This invention relates to a device and system for augmenting the learning to read process, the device comprising a surface enabled for aligned placement of written terms arranged for reading in vertically spaced positions and a plurality of voice activating means arranged in registered alignment adjacent the spaced terms comprising the document such that upon actuation thereof, the device sounds out the pronunciation of a term contained in registered alignment at the position adjacent thereto.

Learning speed and capability vary widely among students for many uncontrollable reasons. Such variations in the speed and capability, particularly of students learning to read, have been a problem in a modern society which relies upon a teaching professional to teach several students of diverse abilities in a classroom atmosphere. It is not unusual that some students in a mixed capability classroom are slower or less capable learners than others and are left behind as the faster and more capable learners advance. Thus, the teaching professional is left with the dichotomy of either slowing down the teaching process to accommodate the less skilled to the disadvantage of the more skilled, or maintaining a pace which allows the less skilled to fall behind. Attempts have been made to form classes into more closely equivalent learning groups, but such equivalency is difficult to assess and can still work to the disadvantage of those who fall marginally within the assessment boundaries.
Of particular concern are those students who may have learning disabilities which are severe and require constant repetition to overcome. Even in an ideally equivalent classroom structure, such students tend to need more personal supervision and input from the teaching professional. Such needs are time demanding and controvert the economies and efficiencies of classroom teaching. School systems have sought to resolve the problem by augmenting their classroom staff with reading and special education professionals who interact with individuals in separate sessions, in addition to and/or together with group classroom work. Such augmentation is expensive and can deny the disabled the full benefit of the classroom experience enjoyed by his/her classmates.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for augmenting reading skills which requires minimum supervision.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a device for augmenting reading skills which is controllable by the user.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a system for augmenting reading instruction which coordinates visual, hand and auditory senses.
These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.


In some embodiments, a switch module is configured to receive from a first edge device a multicast data unit having a VLAN identifier. The switch module is configured to select a set of port modules based on the VLAN identifier. The switch module is configured to define an unmodified instance of the multicast data unit for each port module from the set of port modules. The switch module is configured to send the unmodified instance of the multicast data unit to each port module from the set of port modules, such that each port module applies a filter to the received instance of the multicast data unit to restrict that received instance of the multicast data unit from being sent to a second edge device via that port module if the second edge device is associated with a VLAN domain different than a VLAN domain of the first edge device.

Some embodiments described herein relate generally to switch fabric systems, and, in particular, to methods and apparatus for using virtual local area networks (VLANs) in a switch fabric.
Some known switch fabric systems support multiple VLANs by adopting an existing standard that assigns a certain number of bits in a data unit header to specify a VLAN identifier. For example, according to the IEEE 802.1Q standard, 12 bits in the Ethernet header of a data unit are assigned to specify a VLAN identifier. The maximum number of VLANs that can be supported by such a known switch fabric system containing multiple switches, however, is the same number that a single switch can support. Thus, the availability of VLANs does not scale with the size of the switch fabric system. Some other known switch fabric systems support more VLANs by using more bits in the data unit header than defined in the existing standard to specify more VLAN identifiers. Such a method, however, is typically impractical because it changes the existing standard that is heavily in use for switch fabric systems.
Accordingly, a need exists for methods and apparatus that can increase the number of VLANs supported by a switch fabric system without changing any existing standard.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods and apparatus for using virtual local area networks in a switch fabric


When a trouble occurs in a machine tool (20) sold by a machine tool manufacturer to a customer, a failure analysis apparatus (11) installed in a service center (10) of the machine tool manufacturer remotely controls the machine tool (20) to obtain operation information or alarm information of the machine tool (20) and performs failure analysis based on such information. In the service center (10), a plurality of failure analysis apparatuses (11) comprising personal computers, and a server (12) which are connected to the failure analysis apparatuses (11) for communication and to which a global IP address for the exclusive use is allocated are installed. Machine tools (20) of customers are connectable to the server (12) via the Internet (30).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a remote control system for remotely controlling various kinds of apparatuses.
2. Description of Related Art
When a machine tool manufacturer remotely analyzes failure of machine tools sold to customers, such a remote failure analysis system as described below is generally used. In this system, as shown in FIG. 4, machine tools 60 of customers and failure analysis apparatuses 51 installed in a service center 50 of the machine tool manufacturer are connected to each other via the Internet 70 for communication. The failure analysis apparatuses 51 of the service center 50 remotely controls the machine tools 60 when any trouble occurs in the machine tools 60 to obtain operation information or alarm information of the machine tools 60 and analyzes the failure based on such information, for example.
In such a system, when failure analysis is to be performed simultaneously with respect to the machine tools 60 of a plurality of customers, each of the failure analysis apparatuses 51 is directly connected to a respective one of the machine tools 60, and either one of the machine tool 60 and the failure analysis apparatus 51 as the server module waits for communication request from the other one as the client module.
However, when remote failure analysis is performed by connecting the machine tools 60 and the failure analysis apparatuses 51 directly to each other via the Internet 70, a global IP address for the exclusive use need be allocated to each of the machine tools 60 or each of the failure analysis apparatuses 51 for smooth connection of the communication channel. Therefore, as the number of machine tools 60 for which failure analysis is to be performed increases, the cost for obtaining and maintaining global IP addresses for the exclusive use increases, which is disadvantageous.
Since the above-described remote failure analysis of the machine tools 60 is not always performed but performed only when any trouble occurs in the machine tools 60, it is not economical for the machine tool manufacturer or the owner of the machine tools 60 to continue to bear the cost for maintaining the global IP address exclusive to each failure analysis apparatus or each machine tool.


In a method for determining the roll attitude of a rolling flying object having a radio receiver, in particular for guiding a ballistic flying projectile/rocket having roll compensation, the aim is to determine a line of sight between a transmitting source and the antenna and to determine the roll attitude therefrom.

The invention relates to a method for determining the roll attitude of a rolling flying object having a radio receiver, in particular for guiding a ballistic flying projectile/rocket having roll compensation.
In the case of ballistic flying projectiles/rockets, but also in the case of other flying objects, the determination of the roll attitude is of decisive importance if subsequent guidance of these flying objects is to be performed during the mission. This holds, in particular, for guiding ballistic flying projectiles/rockets in which the possibility of a flight trajectory correction is provided, as is described in German Patent Application P 44 01 315.9, for example.
The present case is principally concerned with flying objects whose rotary movement about the roll axis is particularly pronounced. The rotary movements about the other body axes (pitch movement and yaw movement) are slight by comparison therewith. It is assumed in this case that the position and the velocity vector of the flying object are known by measurement Furthermore, flying objects having quasi-stable, that is to say slowly varying, roll frequency are considered, since it is only for this type of movement that the method presented here can reliably determine the roll attitude not only at individual instants.
To date, roll attitudes have been determined by means of position reference gyros or other inertial reference systems. These devices or systems are mechanical precision instruments and therefore correspondingly expensive

Method for determining the roll attitude of a rolling flying object