An apparatus (10) for supporting a winding (7) on a stator (1), in particular on a generator stator in a power station. The winding (7) has an end winding (9) which is supported axially on the core (2) of the stator (1) via winding supports (11) of the supporting apparatus (10). The winding supports (11) are supported on the end winding (9) via a stressing device (22), at right angles to an envelope surface (21). In order to improve the axial position between the winding support (11) and the end winding (9) during operation of the stator (1), a coupling device (23) is provided which allows relative movements between the end winding (9) and the winding support (11) in the circumferential direction and at right angles to the envelope surface (21), and prevents such relative movements in an envelope line direction (30).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for supporting a winding on a stator, in particular on a generator stator in a power station.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
Normally, a stator, in particular a generator stator in a power station, has a core as well as a winding which has two or more winding bars. The ends of these winding bars are passed out of the core at at least one axial end face of the core of the stator, and are thus bent around and connected to one another such that they form an end winding on the end face of the core, which widens in the form of a funnel or in the form of a cone as the distance from the core increases. For operation of the stator, this end winding must be supported in the axial direction of the stator, that is to say axially, with tensile stress being applied to the core. Furthermore, the end winding must be loaded radially from the outside to the inside by means of prestressing. This stressing or support of the end winding is necessary in order to make it possible to absorb the electrodynamic forces which occur during operation. In some cases, the desired bracing of the winding and of the end winding is applied even during the manufacture of the stator. However, seating processes and the like may occur during operation of the stator which may have a disadvantageous effect on the stress acting on the winding and on the end winding.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,798,595 discloses a supporting apparatus in which the end winding is braced and is radially supported with the aid of supporting rings. The supporting rings in this case extend in the circumferential direction and surround the outer face of the end winding. The end winding is in this case supported on the outside of these supporting rings at right angles to its envelope surface. These supporting rings allow a predetermined prestress to be applied to the end winding during the manufacture of the stator winding. However, this stress may decrease as a result of seating processes. In the case of the known supporting apparatus, the winding supports each have an associated damping device which operates with compression springs that are arranged between the respective winding support and the supporting rings. This results in a sprung bearing for the supporting rings on the winding supports. At the same time, the compression springs can produce axial bracing for the winding. However, the compression springs cannot provide additional radial bracing, or bracing at right angles to the envelope surface, of the end winding, since the supporting rings absorb the spring forces in this direction.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,488,079 discloses a further supporting apparatus for an end winding, in which the end winding is stiffened with the aid of bracing plates, which are arranged radially on the outside of the end winding. The winding supports are then supported radially and at right angles to the envelope surface on the bracing plates of the end winding.

Apparatus for supporting a stator end winding


A haptic feedback device includes: a determination unit which calculates, as a path length, a length along which a user touches the touch panel; a display control unit which converts the path length into a rotation angle of a manipulation image, and display the rotated manipulation image on a display unit; and a vibration control unit which drives a vibration unit according to a drive waveform having a predetermined amplitude and a predetermined frequency upon starting rotation of the manipulation image, decreases the amplitude of the drive waveform with an increase in the path length, and performs control to cause the vibration unit to vibrate according to the drive waveform the amplitude of which is decreased to zero in a predetermined time after the rotation of the manipulation image stops.

In recent years, touch panels have been widely used as manipulation interfaces of smart phones, tablet terminals, personal computers, game machines, and others. Such a device detects, as a touch position, a position on the touch panel at which a user makes a touch, and allows the user to manipulate a virtual object such as a graphical user interface (GUI) displayed at the touch position. In general, touch panels, unlike mechanical switches, do not provide a user with a sense of touch when the user manipulates a virtual object (a manipulation sensation through haptic feedback), and thus a haptic feedback device is disclosed which allows a user to certainly recognize the state of a virtual object or a manipulation state by vibrating the touch panel when the user manipulates the virtual object.

Haptic feedback device, method for driving haptic feedback device, and drive program

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.


A bi-directional charge pump cell includes a p-type substrate having a main surface. A first n-well is formed in the p-type substrate that includes n+ doped regions formed in the first n− well at the main surface. A first p-well is formed in the first n− well that includes p+ doped regions formed in the first p-well at the main surface. A second n-well is formed in the first p-well that includes n+ doped regions and PMOS transistors formed at the main surface. A second p-well is formed in the first n-well that includes p+ doped regions at the main surface. A third p-well is defined in the second p-well that includes p+ doped regions and NMOS transistors at the main surface.

The design of electrically-differential MEMS microphones requires minimal (ideally zero) variation in the DC output magnitudes of the positive and negative charge pumps (CPs) to ensure that the acoustic signals generated by each microphone are truly differential. Although careful design can keep this difference low, dissimilarities in layout can produce leakage paths or other loss mechanisms in each pump that can increase the separation between the efficiency of the positive and negative CPs, which in turn make the voltage difference between both pumps worse. These factors are amplified as the charge pumps are evaluated across process, frequency, etc.
Prior art describes the use of individual charge pump cells to create positive and negative charge pumps as illustrated in FIG. 1. Specifically, FIG. 1 shows schematic representations of a positive charge pump cell 102 and a negative charge pump cell 104. In some embodiments, the charge pump cells can be cascaded to form a larger charge pump to provide a larger DC output voltage thus increasing the DC output voltage. FIG. 1 further shows a multi-stage positive charge pump 106 and a multi-stage negative charge pump 108. The output voltage of the multi-stage positive charge pump 106 can be determined based on the equation: OUT+=[ηSTAGE+*(VREFP)(NTOTAL_STAGES)]+VIN, where our is the positive output voltage, VIN is the input voltage, VREFP is a reference voltage, NTOTAL_STAGES is the total number of charge pump stages and ηSTAGE+ is the efficiency of the positive charge pump. Similarly, the output voltage of the multi-stage negative charge pump 108 can be determined based on the equation: OUT−=−VIN−[ηSTAGE−*(VREFN)(NTOTAL_STAGES)], where OUT is the negative input voltage and ηSTAGE− is the efficiency of the negative charge pump.
FIGS. 2 and 3 show differences in the most basic layouts for a positive charge pump cell (FIG. 2) and a negative charge pump cell (FIG. 3). The positive charge pump cell of FIG. 2 includes a p-type substrate 202. An n-type well 204 is formed within the p-type substrate 202 and includes two n+ doped regions 206 and 208. The n-well 204 is connected to VOUT+ through the n+ doped regions 206 and 208. An optional second n-well region 222 can be placed in the n-type well 204. Within the n-well regions 204 or 222, p-type metal-oxide-semiconductor (PMOS) transistors are formed by the p-type region 226. The gates and drains of the PMOS transistors are connected to nodes A and B according to the charge pump cell 102 while the sources and bulks of the PMOS transistors are connected to VOUT+. A p-type well 210 is formed in the n-type well 204 and includes two p+ regions 212 and 214. The p-well 210 is connected to VIN+. An optional second p-well region 216 can be placed in the p-type well 210. Within the p-well regions 210 or 216, n-type metal-oxide-semiconductor (NMOS) transistors are formed by the n-type regions 220. The gates and drains of the NMOS transistors are connected to nodes A and B according to the charge pump cell 102 while the sources and bulks of the NMOS transistors are connected to VIN+.
The negative charge pump cell of FIG. 3 includes a p-type substrate 302. An n-type well 304 is formed within the p-type substrate 302 and includes two n+ doped regions 306 and 308. The n-well 304 is connected to GND through the n+ doped regions 306 and 308. A p-type region 310 is formed within the n-well 304. The p-type region 310 is connected to VOUT− through the p+ doped region 312. A second n-well region 322 is formed within the p-type region 310. Within the n-well region 322, PMOS transistors are formed by the p-type region 326. The gates and drains of the PMOS transistors are connected to nodes A and B according to the charge pump cell 104 while the sources of the PMOS transistors are connected to VIN−. An optional second p-well region 316 can be placed in the p-type well 310. Within the p-well regions 310 or 316 NMOS transistors are formed by the n-type regions 320. The gates and drains of the NMOS transistors are connected to nodes A and B according to the charge pump cell 104 while the sources of the NMOS transistors are connected to VOUT−.
As noted above, the differences in layouts of the previously known positive and negative charge pumps can produce leakage paths or other loss mechanisms in each pump that can increase the separation between the efficiency of the positive and negative CPs. The efficiency difference can in turn make the voltage difference between the two charge pumps larger. Improvements to charge pumps in MEMS microphones to reduce or eliminate differences in the DC output magnitude from CPs would be beneficial.

Configurable bi-directional charge pump design


Methods and systems are provided for reliable starting an engine during cold start. In one example, a method may include in response to an engine start request, warming up an intake manifold by compressing intake air via an electric supercharger, and adjusting an intake manifold pressure before starting a first combustion of the engine.

Internal combustion engines are frequently equipped with turbochargers. A turbocharger is driven by the exhaust flow of the internal combustion engine, and may compress the intake airflow into the engine in order to achieve more power. Multi-stage intake charging systems with series stages of turbocharger or electric supercharger (ES) systems are adopted to improve the boost response of turbocharged engines. Compared to the turbocharger, the ES has the advantage of delivering boost pressure faster in a shorter response time. For example, an ES typically has a response time (idle to 100% duty cycle) in the 130-200 ms range, compared to 1-2 seconds for a turbocharger.
Ethanol is widely used as a renewable fuel worldwide. However, due to the ultra-low volatility of ethanol at around freezing temperature, vehicles using a high percentage of ethanol as fuel may be difficult to start in cold weather. During vehicle cold start, fuel injected into the engine cylinder may stay in the liquid form and fail to form a combustible air/fuel mixture with intake air. As such, a first combustion of the engine may not be reliably initiated, which may impair drivability, fuel consumption, and exhaust gas emissions.
One example approach to address the issue is shown by Gluckman in U.S. Pat. No. 4,667,645. Therein, during cold start, an intake manifold is warmed up by an intake manifold heater before injecting fuel into an engine combustion chamber.
However, the inventors herein have recognized potential issues with such a system. As one example, the intake manifold heater may take a relatively long time to warm up the intake manifold to a desired temperature. As a result, engine start may be delayed and vehicle drivability may be affected. Moreover, because of thermal expansion of air in the intake manifold, manifold pressure may change during the warmup process. Pressure in the intake manifold may change in response to the ambient temperature and the desired manifold temperature. Thus, intake manifold pressure may vary from one engine start to another and further affect vehicle drivability.
In one example, the issues described above may be addressed by a method for starting an engine, comprising: in response to an engine start request, operating a supercharger to warm up an intake manifold; and adjusting an intake manifold pressure before starting a first combustion of the engine. In this way, the engine may be reliably and quickly started during cold start.
As one example, during engine cold start, an ES is operated to compress intake air in response to an engine start request. The intake manifold may be warmed up by the compressed air. When temperature of the intake manifold reaches a predetermined value, intake manifold pressure is adjusted to a desired level for a first combustion. Temperature of fuel injected into the cylinder may be increased when passing through the warmed up intake manifold. As such, fuel injected during engine cold start may be warmed up without extra heating equipment. Moreover, due to the fast response and high efficiency of ES, engine start time may be shortened. Further, by adjusting intake manifold pressure before initiating the first combustion, engine operating conditions for the first combustion may be accurately controlled.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.

Method and system for assisting engine start with a supercharger


A lid for a garbage can formed of a flexible material and having a retaining means for releasably maintaining the cover in place.

Garbage can lids often fall off when the cans are tipped over by dogs, and the like, scattering the contents, and causing unsightly and unhealthy conditions, and such cans are subjected to unusually harsh treatment, particularly at the hands of the collectors, who knock the lids of and strike the cans against the garbage truck to loosen its contents, resulting in bending and distorting the contour of the top margin of the can, preventing the conventional lids from seating properly on the can. It is an object of this invention to provide a garbage can lid that will be formed of flexible material, having a strap which may be mounted around the depending flange of the lid and that may be stretched to provide a grip on the can, and be locked in place to prevent the untimely removal of the lid.


The disclosed embodiments illustrate methods data processing for real-time text analysis. The method includes receiving text content from a plurality of user-computing devices, wherein the text content comprises at least a current text segment and a previous text segment. The method further includes extracting one or more first features from the current text segment, wherein at least a first feature of the one or more first features corresponds to a difference between timestamps associated with each of the current text segment and the previous text segment. The method further includes categorizing the current text segment into a predetermined category of one or more predetermined categories, based on at least the one or more first features, automatically by utilizing a classifier. Further, the method includes predicting a likelihood of evolution of an attribute in the text content, based on the predetermined category associated with the current text segment.

Past decade has witnessed a plethora of advancements and various competitive techniques in the field of data and voice communication over wired and wireless networks. Most of the organizations, whether product providers or service providers, focus on building strong customer relationships through various approaches, such as the provision of satisfactory customer care services. Accordingly, a customer care representative or a help-desk agent at a call center or a commercial organization communicates with the customers, or other individuals, to respond to the queries on different products/services, recommend new services/products, or provide technical support on existing services/products, over different communication channels.
The communication between the entities, i.e., the customer and the customer care executive, may be text-based or voice-based conversation. To ensure a high level of customer satisfaction, such conversations are recorded for quality analysis. The recorded conversations are manually reviewed, for categorization, on a periodic basis based on pre-defined criteria, such as addressing to the customer by the agent, correctly thanking the customer for correspondence, using correct grammar, focusing on the subject matter, emotions and the like. Such categorization may allow the organization or the service provider to draw one or more inferences. For example, categorizing the text content (transmitted during an ongoing communication between a customer care representative and a customer) into one or more categories may help to the organization to determine whether the customer is satisfied with the services. However, the manually categorizing the text content while the conversation is taking place may be arduous.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of described systems with some aspects of the present disclosure, as set forth in the remainder of the present application and with reference to the drawings.

Method and system for data processing for real-time text analysis


There are provided an arithmetic unit and a receiver unit which execute an arithmetic operation at a high speed and allow reduction of the size thereof. An input section inputs data of the data group. First to n-th (n>1) storage sections have a capacity capable of storing at least part or all of the data group. A readout section selects one of the first to n-th storage sections and reads out therefrom a data group already stored therein. An arithmetic section performs a predetermined arithmetic operation between the data group read out by the readout section and the data group newly inputted by the input section. A writing section writes a result of the predetermined arithmetic operation by the arithmetic section in a predetermined one of the storage sections, which is not selected by the reading section as the one from which the data group already stored therein is to be read out.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an arithmetic unit and a receiver unit, and more particularly to an arithmetic unit and a receiver unit which receive a data group formed of a plurality of data, and perform a predetermined arithmetic processing operation between the data group and another data group received earlier.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of information processing, there are cases in which a data group formed of a plurality of data are received, and a predetermined arithmetic processing operation is carried out between the data group and another data group received earlier.
This kind of operation is employed in a cellular phone system of the W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) method in integrating a received signal in units of slots to calculate a correlation value between a cellular phone and a base station.
FIG. 8 shows an example of the construction of a conventional integrating circuit employed by the W-CDMA method. As shown in this figure, the conventional integrating circuit is comprised of an ADD (adder) 10, and a DP-RAM (Dual Port Random Access Memory) 11.
The ADD 10 adds received or inputted data (DATA) and data read out from the DP-RAM 11, and outputs data Σ1 as the result of the arithmetic operation, i.e. addition.
The DP-RAM 11 reads out and outputs data stored in an address designated by an Address_B signal as data Σ2 when a Read_B signal is active, and writes data outputted from the ADD 10 into an area designated by an Address_A signal when a Write signal is active.
It should be noted that the DP-RAM 11 operates in synchronism with a clock signal (CLOCK).
Next, the operation of the conventional integrating circuit will be described.
First, when a first data group is inputted, a control signal from a control system, not shown, causes the output data from the DP-RAM 11 to be "0". As a result, the data supplied to the ADD 10 becomes "0", and "0" is added to data of the first data group so that the data inputted from the ADD 10 is outputted therefrom without any change.
The data outputted from the ADD 10 is stored in an address designated by the Address_B signal. The Address_B signal is increased in increments of 1, and when the maximum address value is reached, the address value is returned to "0000". It should be noted that this process is carried out for each data group, so that the data of each data group outputted from the ADD 10 are sequentially stored in the address "0000" to the maximum address.
Therefore, the data of the first data group are stored in the address "0000" to the maximum address, respectively, without any change.
Subsequently, when a second data group is inputted, the DP-RAM 11 reads the stored data (first data of the first data group) from the address "0000", and supplies the same to the ADD 10.
The ADD 10 adds the first data of the second data group and the first data of the first data group supplied from the DP-RAM 11, and outputs the data Σ1 as the result of the computation.
At this time, the Write signal is active, and the Address_A signal designates the address "0000" of the DP-RAM 11, so that the data Σ1 as the result of computation is stored in the first address of the DP-RAM 11.
It should be noted that the timing in which the data Σ2 is read out precedes the timing in which the data Σ1 is written, so that the data Σ2 cannot be lost by being overwritten by the data Σ1.
FIG. 9 is a diagram useful for explaining the operation of the conventional arithmetic unit.
As shown in the figure, the data Σ2 read from the address "0000" of the DP-RAM 11 one clock earlier is added to newly inputted data, and this new result of computation i.e. addition is written as the data Σ1 into the same address "0000".
The same operation is carried out between data inputted next and the data stored in the address "0001", and the data Σ1 which is a new result of the computation is stored in the address "0001".
By repeatedly carrying out the above operation a predetermined number of times, the inputted data groups are sequentially added, and the result of additions can be outputted as data of integral values.
By the way, the conventional arithmetic unit described above uses the DP-RAM 11, which enables the reading operation and writing operation to be carried out in parallel with each other, so that the computation can be carried out at a high processing speed. On the other hand, the DP-RAM 11 occupies a larger area than a SP-RAM (Single Port RAM), which makes it difficult to reduce the size of the arithmetic unit.
As a result, it is also difficult to reduce the size of a receiver unit, such as a cellular phone which incorporates such an arithmetic unit.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A filter filters the gas generated by an air bag inflator. The gas comprises an alkali metal oxide. The inflator comprises a non-woven metal fibrous mat and small particles of a silicon compound, reactive with the alkali metal oxide, adhered to strands of the mat.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a filter for an air bag inflator.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Inflators to expand an air bag, when a vehicle encounters sudden deceleration, such as in a collision, are well known. The inflated air bag restrains movement of an occupant of the vehicle during the collision. The air bag is inflated by gas generated through ignition of gas generating material. The gas generating material is contained in the air bag inflator.
A commonly used gas generating composition is one containing an alkali metal azide and a metal oxide, such as copper oxide or iron oxide. The composition may also contain an oxidizing agent such as sodium nitrate or ammonium perchlorate. Ignition of the gas generating composition produces a hot gas stream. The hot gas stream will typically include nitrogen gas, oxygen, molten metal, sodium oxide, a sodium salt of the metal, and metal nitride. The nitrogen gas carries the other reaction products, some of which are in the form of a residue or sinter. It is desirable to remove certain reaction products from the nitrogen gas stream before the gas streams enters the air bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,878,690 discloses a filter assembly used in a gas generator for a vehicle occupant restraint. The filter assembly comprises, in the direction of gas flow, a plurality of layers of 30 mesh stainless steel screen, a filter member for fine filtering the generated gas, and then another layer of 30 mesh stainless steel screen. The filter member can be an alumina-silica fiber paper such as "Lytherm" ceramic fiber paper marketed by Mansville Co. Other examples of filter paper disclosed in the patent are silica fiber paper marketed by Sandtex Corporation of Japan under the trademark "Sandtex" and a filter material sold by National Standard Corp. of Corbin, Ky. under the trademark "FIBREX".
U.S. Pat. No. 4,902,036 discloses a gas generator for a vehicle occupant restraint. The generator contains a plurality of filters including a final filter assembly which filters the nitrogen gas before the gas exits from the generator into an air bag. The final filter assembly comprises a first section of mesh screens. The mesh screens remove particulate reaction products from the gas stream. The final filter also has a second section of screens of smaller mesh size. The screen sections are separated by a pad formed from a ceramic fiber that is a mixture of aluminum oxide and silicon dioxide. The pad is sold under the trademark "Fiberfrax" by Sohio Carborundum, Inc.


In a technique for suppression of mirroring in a system which utilizes discrete Fourier transformation of an input signal, a correction apparatus adjusts the observed forward velocity spectrum by a first correction function and adjusts the observed reverse velocity spectrum by a second correction function to provide corrected velocity spectra. The first and second correction functions are representative of mismatches between the in-phase and quadrature channels of the signal processor. The correction functions are obtained during a calibration period in which calibration signals are applied to the signal processor. A first calibration signal contains frequencies of only forward velocities, and a second calibration signal conmtains frequencies representative of only reverse velocities. The correction functions are calculated from the spectra that were measured during calibration. In many cases, the first and second correction functions are the same.

Doppler ultrasound imaging systems are used to map blood flow in target regions of the human body. Ultrasonic energy is transmitted into a target region by an ultrasonic transducer. A portion of the ultrasonic energy is reflected back to the transducer. Moving cells, typically red blood cells, which have a velocity component toward or away from the transducer produce a frequency shift in the signal that is received by the transducer in accordance with the well-known Doppler principle. Red blood cells moving toward the transducer shift the ultrasound carrier higher in frequency, and cells moving away from the transducer shift the carrier lower in frequency.
The reflected signals received by the transducer are detected by a quadrature detector to provide in-phase and quadrature components of the received signal. The in-phase and quadrature signals are filtered, and a discrete Fourier transform is performed, using either digital techniques such as the fast Fourier transform or analog techniques such as the chirp-Z transform. The output of the discrete Fourier transform is a spectrum of upper sideband frequencies, or frequencies above the ultrasound carrier frequency, and a spectrum of lower sideband frequencies, or frequencies below the ultrasound carrier frequency. The Doppler equation is used to convert the sideband frequencies to velocities. The upper and lower spectra are usually nonsymmetric, since they represent forward and reverse velocities of red blood cells in the target region.
The single sideband quadrature detection technique described above uses parallel detection channels to extract the upper and lower sideband frequency information from the received signal. Each channel contains both the forward and reverse flow signals. The signals are differentiated by the phase relationships between the parallel channels.
Mirroring refers to a phenomenon in Doppler ultrasound imaging systems wherein forward flow toward the transducer appears as a reverse flow away from the transducer, and vice versa. Thus, blood flow at a particular velocity appears in the spectrum of the Doppler system as both a forward and a reverse velocity.
It is known that mirroring occurs as a result of mismatches between the in-phase and quadrature channels of the signal processing circuitry. More specifically, the quadrature detector may introduce an undesired phase shift between in-phase and quadrature signals. The filters used in the in-phase and quadrature channels may have magnitude and phase mismatches. Finally, the analog-to digital converters which digitize the in-phase and quadrature signals prior to performing the discrete Fourier transform may be mismatched. Mirroring is eliminated entirely only when the in-phase and quadrature channels are perfectly matched. The problem is complicated by the fact that the magnitude and phase of the mismatches vary with frequency so that the amount of mirroring varies as a function of frequency. In the past, mirroring has been reduced by using precision components in the in-phase and quadrature channels and/or by manually adjusting components to eliminate mismatch. However, since the magnitude and phase of the mismatch vary with frequency, mirroring may be eliminated at one velocity but may be made worse at other velocities. Furthermore, the use of precision components or manual adjustment of components adds to the cost of the system.
Signal processing circuitry which utilizes single sideband detection followed by discrete Fourier transformation is used in other applications. Examples of such applications include spectrum analyzers, network analyzers, Doppler radar systems and sonar systems. Mirroring can occur in such systems.
It is a general object of the present invention to provide improved methods and apparatus for medical Doppler ultrasound imaging.
It is another object of the present invention to provide method and apparatus for reducing or eliminating mirroring in medical Doppler ultrasound imaging systems.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide methods and apparatus for highly accurate spectral processing of signals.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide Doppler ultrasound imaging systems which are low in cost and easy to manufacture.
It is a further object of the present invention to reduce or eliminate mirroring in signal processing circuitry which employs single sideband detection and discrete Fourier transformation.

Method and apparatus for elimination of mirroring in signal processing system


The present disclosure sets forth an improved shower curtain rod. It is adapted for use with a enclosure defined by left and right end walls, and a back splash wall defining a bath tub enclosure above a bath tub. The bath tub is oval or elliptical and fits in an oval and elliptical hole in a horizontal deck. The shower curtain rod of the present disclosure has ends connected with a curving middle portion which ends are anchored at end fittings. There is, between the two ends, a curving portion which conforms with an oval or elliptical bath tub shape.

The present disclosure is directed to a shower curtain rod and more particularly to a shower curtain rod which is shaped and profiled to fit above and in cooperation with a particular type shower or tub construction. It is intended to be used to support a shower curtain to prevent water from splashing out of the enclosure bordered by the shower curtain as the curtain is draped into a bath tub below the curtain rod.
In the construction of most bathrooms, it is common to position a shower nozzle mounted on the wall at an enclosure above a bath tub to thereby provide the option of a shower for the resident using the bathroom facility. In defining such enclosures, splashing water out of the enclosure is limited by the use of a sliding door, typically a translucent plastic or shatter proof glass, or more conveniently, a shower curtain. The shower curtain is ordinarily constructed and arranged to drape loosely from a set of eyelets or curtain rings which slide along the curtain rod. A set of such rings is normally mounted slidably on the shower curtain rod which is positioned normally at the height of the sprinkler head or other nozzle. The shower curtain is draped in the bath tub below so that water is not splashed out of the bath tub. Because the bath tub is below the shower nozzle, the bath tub functions to collect water which drains from the bath tub during the shower. In this particular instance, the shape of the bath tub may well cause the shower curtain to drape in such a fashion that some of the splashed water will not be captured within the curtain, maintained on one side of the curtain, and directed into the bath tub for drainage. The present disclosure provides a shower curtain rod which is shaped so that the bathroom is assuredly protected by draping the shower curtain in such a way that splashed water does not escape from the bath tub. The present disclosure is particularly adapted for use with oval or elliptical shaped bath tubs. The rod of this disclosure extends from the end walls defining the tub enclosure and over the curving front edge of the oval tub so that the alignment of the shower curtain is directed into the tub to avoid water splash.
Many bath tubs, indeed most bath tubs are constructed with a straight exposed side. Straight side bath tubs are constructed so that they can be positioned immediately below a straight shower rod. In the use of a straight shower rod, the drape of the shower curtain is fairly well defined by the support provided overhead by the shower rod. Since the shower rod is straight, the bath tub itself defines a companion or parallel, perhaps slightly inset, opening where the loosely hanging shower curtain can be directed. In that event, the shower curtain is positioned so that all of the splashed water is maintained in the bath tub. In a rectangular bath tub, this is accomplished through the use of a straight shower curtain rod. One example of this is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 5,022,104. This patent shows a straight sided bath tub where the shower rod is provided with a central straight portion having a length approximately equal to that of the bath tub and which also includes offset end rod portions which enable connection with the tile wall which surrounds the bath tub. In that construction, the bath tub is positioned below the rod so that the shower curtain can drape in the tub. This reference sets forth the requisite overhead rod having a straight length portion with end portions which approximately conform to the length or profile of the bath tub when viewed from above.
The present disclosure cooperates with a bath tub constructed with an overhead curtain rod to hang or drape a shower curtain in an oval shaped bath tub. The improved shower curtain rod contrasts markedly with that of the conventional tub profile. The shower curtain rod, when viewed from above, has a curving portion which conforms with the curvature of the bath tub. Since the bath tub is an oval or is elliptical in shape, the shower rod has a portion which matches that curvature and is located the requisite distance above the bath tub so that the shower curtain, hanging loosely from the rod on a set of rod hangers, drapes into the tub and prevents splashed water from escaping from the bath tub around the ends of the curtain.
The present disclosure is therefore summarized as a shower curtain rod having two end portions with angled fittings to enable the shower curtain rod to be attached between a pair of parallel walls at a bath tub enclosure. The shower curtain rod is constructed with a central portion curving to follow the edge or profile of an oval or elliptical bath tub. This curving central portion enables the shower curtain to hang into the bath tub. When positioned above the bath tub, the shower curtain rod of the present disclosure is particularly useful to deflect splashed water into the tub by enabling a user to simply slide the shower curtain along the length of the shower curtain rod so that it hangs into the tub therebelow.
In particular, the curving rod is provided with a curve that in the preferred embodiment provides curvature at a radius of about 4'. This provides a rod of total length of about 5'1". The curving portion is preferably about 40" to 45" in length. The two end portions (tangential to the curved portion) are equal in length and are about 6" to 10" in length. As will be understood, the 4' radius of curvature enables the curved shower curtain rod to approximately coincide with the marginal edge of the bath tub when spaced thereabove. This curvature is highly desirable to match the bath tub below so that the shower curtain drapes appropriately in the bath tub. The end support brackets accommodate the angle of the rod so that bracket faces abut the end walls while supporting the curved shower curtain rod.


Provided are a pressure-sensitive adhesive optical film, a crosslinkable composition, and a display device. A pressure-sensitive adhesive layer using a polymer component exhibiting excellent crosslinking efficiency even at a low molecular weight to exhibit excellent workability, durability and dimension stability, and the optical film to which such a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer is applied may be provided.

A polymer composition realizing a crosslinking structure is being used in various industrial fields. A representative polymer composition realizing a crosslinking structure may be used to form a pressure-sensitive adhesive. For example, a pressure-sensitive adhesive may be used to attach a polarizing plate or an optical film such as a retardation film to a display device such as liquid crystal display device (LCD device) or to laminate a polarizing plate or an optical film such as a retardation film. For example, in patent documents 1 to 3, as a pressure-sensitive adhesive composition, a polymer composition capable of realizing a crosslinking structure is disclosed.


A clamping device for clamping a punch block to a jaw of a punch press assembly where the action of clamping does not disturb the alignment between the punch block and the die. The device includes a pair of cams residing in a stacked relationship with each of the cams having a tapered aperture therethrough. A bolt passes through the tapered apertures of both cams and through a bore in the jaw to engage a threaded orifice in the punch block. Each of the cams has a generally cylindrical cam surface with a flat formed therein. Once the punch block is properly aligned with the die, the bolt is lightly tightened with the flats of the two cams in planar abutment with one another such that the cylindrical axes of the cams are separated by a first distance. The cams are then rotated with the lower one of the cams rolling on the surface of the jaw. Rotation of the cams moves the flats out of abutment with one another such that the axes of the cams become separated by a second distance which is greater than the first distance causing the upper one of the cams to bear against the head of the bolt thereby placing the bolt in tension while imparting no substantial force perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the bolt.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to clamping devices, and more particularly, to clamping devices for use with punch and die sets.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
The tooling for punching holes into sheets for webs has traditionally consisted of a hardened punch which penetrated into a die fabricated from a softer material. The die had an opening which was considerably larger than the punch but which had been peened to be slightly smaller than the punch. The peened upper surface of the die was then ground flat leaving a thin ridge of material protruding into the die opening beyond the interior walls of the die. This ridge was broached to be the same size as the punch and exactly aligned with the punch by inserting the punch into the die after the two were pinned and bolted into the upper and lower punch jaws of the assembled punch press. This insured a tight fit between a particular punch and a die as mounted on a specific assembled punch press and overcame the difficult task of machining a die to match a punch. Further, the expensive machining problem of establishing a pin position tolerance for the punch on one punch jaw, the die on the other punch jaw, and the two jaws relative to each other through linear motion guideways such that the punch would not interfere with the die and would, in fact, be centered in the die was obviated.
The major drawback to fabricating dies of softer material was that the die did not last long before it needed to be resharpened. In addition, it was discovered that a larger clearance between the punch and die was desirable to improve cut quality on certain types of products so long as the clearance was uniform on all sides of the punch. Machine tool improvements allowed hard die materials to be machined to precisely match a punch contour with a prescribed amount of clearance. However, since the die was now made of a harder material, the method of broaching the die to precisely center the punch in the die was no longer possible. Instead, the die or the punch was rigidly mounted to one of the jaws of the assembled press while optical or other means were used to float the punch into centered alignment with the die. The punch, being in contact with but not yet fixed to the second punch jaw would be free to move in three degrees of freedom, two translational and one rotational. When the punch was centered, the screws for securing it to the punch jaw would be progressively tightened with great care to avoid shifting the punch on the jaw which would result in loss of the desired punch position. This was a delicate operation which often had to be repeated several times as numerous factors could cause the punch to shift two or three microns out of position. The friction between the threads and the punch tend to induce a rotation of the punch during tightening. Further, if the load bearing area of the head of the bolt is not flat and perpendicular to the axis of the bolt, or if the head seating area on the jaw is not flat and parallel to the head of the bolt, then a large lateral force can exist upon tightening which will cause the punch to translate slightly. Even the effort of applying a force to a wrench to tighten the bolts can cause some lateral displacement of the punch.
Cam actuated devices are well known for their advantages of quickly and securely clamping materials together in a single motion and are often used as compliments to or substitutes for screw-type fasteners. Prior art examples of cam actuated clamping devices for attaching one member to others are disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,156,508 to Grisley and U.S. Pat. No. 5,257,855 to Nagano. These devices include a course adjustment means using a threaded draw bar to bring the parts to be clamped into sufficiently close abutment such that the limited additional displacement afforded by the cam brings the parts into a tightly clamped relationship. Both the Grisley and Nagano devices produce the cam actuated clamping motion by rotating a cam lobe having a cam surface which is increasingly eccentrically offset from the pivot point of the cam. However, upon actuating the cam, the sliding action of the cam surface against the abutting plate gives rise to a friction force having a magnitude on the order of 60 percent of the clamping force. This force, acting tangentially at the point of contact between the cam surface and the abutting plate is generally perpendicular to the axis of the tie rod thereby generating opposing laterally directed forces on the abutting plate and the tie bar. U.S. Pat. No. 4,010,669 to Kloren teaches a bolt tensioning arrangement comprising a plurality of ring-shaped elements having interacting conical surfaces. One of such ring-shaped elements is radially collapsible. A plurality of circumferentially spaced screws are uniformly tightened stepwise in circumferential order to axially draw the ring-shaped elements together which, in turn, put the bolt in axial tension. The result is a time consuming procedure requiring precision tightening of multiple screws in a prescribed sequence for each clamping bolt.


Disclosed are a method, a system and a computer program product for determining and reporting minterms to aid in implementing an engineering change order (ECO). A Minterm Tracing and Reporting (MTR) utility, which executes on a computer system, receives two or more timing points of an optimized netlist, where one or more of the two or more timing points are received from one or more of a user, a memory medium, and/or a network. For example, a timing point is a primary input, a primary output, or a latch point. After receiving the two or more timing points of the optimized netlist, the MTR utility determines two or more minterms of the optimized netlist. In determining the minterms, from one timing point to a next timing point: a polarity at the timing point may be determined, and a forward trace from the timing point to the next timing point is performed to determine the two or more minterms of the optimized netlist. In the forward trace from the timing point to the next timing point, the MTR utility determines two or more logical cones and one or more intersections of the logical cones. The MTR utility reports (e.g., communicates) each of the determined minterms, the determined polarities, and the one or more intersections of logical cones to one or more of a computer-executable application, a network, a memory medium, and/or a display.

1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to changing logical networks to aid in implementing change orders and in particular to changing logical networks that have been optimized from a hardware description language.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are times when an existing random logic macro (RLM) netlist needs to be modified to implement an engineering change order (ECO) to fix a problem or add an enhancement without changing and/or affecting other sections of the netlist. For example, to implement an ECO in a RLM, a circuit designer must be able to identify nets in a logical cone affected by the ECO and nets with which the circuit designer can construct new logic specified by the ECO. When logical optimization happens, nets that exist in a hardware description language (e.g., VHDL (VHSIC (Very-High Speed Integrated Circuits) Hardware Description Language), Verilog, etc.) may not exist in an optimized netlist. This happens because one or more computer-implemented optimization methods have been applied such that, in creating the optimized netlist, one or more simple functions may have been combined into complex functions and/or one or more complex functions may have been expanded into simple functions.

International Business Machines Corporation


A sensor chip has a substrate and a comb-teeth electrode arranged on the substrate. The sensor chip is fixed to a diaphragm structure to be distorted by receiving pressure, and is fixed to the diaphragm structure only through a predetermined fix area so as to detect the pressure. The fix area is defined on only a part of the sensor chip opposing to the diaphragm structure. The sensor chip is restrained by the diaphragm structure in a direction of transmitting surface acoustic wave. Flexibility of the sensor chip in a perpendicular direction approximately perpendicular to the wave transmitting direction is larger than that in the transmitting direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pressure sensor using a surface acoustic wave element.
2. Description of Related Art
JP-A-61-80024 discloses a pressure sensor using a surface acoustic wave (SAW) element. A substrate to generate surface acoustic wave has a diaphragm part, and a comb-teeth electrode is arranged on the diaphragm part as a resonator. When a pressure is applied to the diaphragm part, a surface stress of the diaphragm part is varied, such that an acoustic velocity is varied. Further, a variation of an electrode interval of the electrode changes a resonation frequency of the resonator. The applied pressure can be detected by the change of the resonation frequency.
JP-A-2008-185460 or JP-A-2007-114094 discloses a pressure sensor using a strain gauge sensor chip without the SAW element. A pressure sensor disclosed in JP-A-2008-185460 has a sensor chip mounted to a diaphragm part to receive and detect pressure. A pressure sensor disclosed in JP-A-2007-114094 has a diaphragm part, a pressure transmitting part and a strain part. Pressure received by the diaphragm part is transmitted to the strain part through the pressure transmitting part, and a sensor chip is mounted to the strain part, not to the diaphragm part.
The strain gauge sensor chip of the pressure sensor disclosed in JP-A-2008-185460 or JP-A-2007-114094 is changed to a SAW element sensor chip so as to provide a prototype pressure sensor.
The prototype pressure sensor is shown in FIGS. 28 and 29.
A pressure sensor J1 shown in FIG. 29 includes a diaphragm part J2, a sensor chip J3 and an adhesion layer J4. The sensor chip J3 is mounted to a top face of the diaphragm part J2 opposite from a pressure-receiving face. All back face area J4a of the sensor chip J3 shown in a hatched area of FIG. 28 is fixed to the diaphragm part J2 through the adhesion layer J4. The area J4a corresponds to an area on which the adhesion layer J4 is arranged.
The sensor chip J3 has a SAW element defined by a substrate J5 and a comb-teeth electrode J6 arranged on the substrate J5, so as to generate surface acoustic wave. The substrate J5 is made of a 128° Y-cut X-direction-propagating lithium niobate substrate.
The comb-teeth electrode J6 is arranged on the sensor chip J3 in a manner that a resonator is defined by the SAW element. A pressure is detected by a variation of a resonation frequency, similarly to the pressure sensor disclosed in JP-A-61-80024.
Specifically, when the diaphragm part J2 receives pressure in an arrow direction of FIG. 29, stress is generated to a top face of the diaphragm part J2 in a radial direction and a circumferential direction. Stress distribution is formed to be symmetric with respect to a center point of the diaphragm part J2.
At this time, because all the back face of the sensor chip J3 is bonded to the diaphragm part J2, the sensor chip J3 is restrained to the diaphragm part J2 uniformly in all the direction. Therefore, the same stress is applied to the sensor chip J3 as the diaphragm part J2.
As shown in arrow directions of FIG. 28, the stress is resolved into a SAW transmitting direction stress P1 defined in a direction of transmitting surface acoustic wave, and a perpendicular direction stress P2 defined in a direction perpendicular to the transmitting direction. A resonation frequency f is defined by dividing an acoustic velocity v by a resonation period 2L (f=v/2L), in which L represents an electrode interval.
Therefore, when the diaphragm part J2 receives pressure, a variation Δf of the resonation frequency of the sensor chip J3 is a sum of a variation ΔL of the electrode interval L, a variation ΔV1 of the acoustic velocity due to the SAW transmitting direction stress P1, and a variation ΔV2 of the acoustic velocity due to the perpendicular direction stress P2 (Δf/f=ΔL/L+ΔV1/V+ΔV2/V), in which V represents an acoustic velocity of surface acoustic wave corresponding to a transmission speed.
However, a direction of the variation ΔV2 is opposite from directions of the variations ΔV1, ΔL. Therefore, pressure detecting sensitivity of the sensor chip J3 may be decreased, because the variation ΔV2 cancels the variations ΔV1, ΔL.
Specifically, when the diaphragm part J2 has a predetermined thickness, the SAW transmitting direction stress P1 is a tensile stress in the transmitting direction, and the perpendicular direction stress P2 is a tensile stress in the perpendicular direction, in all area of the diaphragm part J2.
Therefore, due to the tensile stress P1 in the transmitting direction, the electrode interval L is increased, such that the resonation frequency is lowered. Further, due to the tensile stress P1 in the transmitting direction, the acoustic velocity is lowered in the transmitting direction, such that the resonation frequency is further lowered.
In contrast, due to the tensile stress P2 in the perpendicular direction, the acoustic velocity is raised in the transmitting direction, such that the resonation frequency is raised. Therefore, stress detecting sensitivity may be decreased, because variations of the resonation frequency are canceled by each other.
As shown in FIG. 28, the electrode J6 is located at an approximately center position of the diaphragm part J2. Even when a position or direction of the electrode J6 is changed, the pressure detecting sensitivity is decreased.
When the SAW element is used as the resonator, pressure is detected by the variation of the resonation frequency. In contrast, when the SAW element is used as a filter element, pressure is detected by a variation of a delay time.
Similar disadvantage will be generated, if the SAW element is used as the filter element, because the variation of the acoustic velocity due the SAW transmitting direction stress P1 and the variation of the acoustic velocity due the perpendicular direction stress P2 have directions opposite from each other.
Similar disadvantage will be generated, if the substrate J5 is made of other substrate different from the 128° Y-cut X-direction-propagating lithium niobate substrate.
The above disadvantage is generated when all the face of the sensor chip J3 is bonded to the diaphragm part J2. Similarly, the above disadvantage will be generated in the pressure sensor disclosed in JP-A-61-80024. When the diaphragm part of the substrate receives pressure, the perpendicular direction stress P2 is applied to the diaphragm part, because stress is applied to the diaphragm part in a radial direction.


A method of anonymous access to a service, comprising the allocation, by at least one certifying entity, of a plurality of certificates to a user entity, the certificates being calculated on the basis of at least one attribute associated with the user entity, the calculation, by the user entity, of an aggregated certificate on the basis of a plurality of certificates among the certificates allocated to the user entity, the calculation, by the user entity, of a proof of knowledge of the aggregated certificate and a verification, performed by a verifying entity, of at least one of these certificates by means of said proof of knowledge, the access to the service being provided by the verifying entity to the user entity as a function of the result of this verification.

In a conventional accreditation system, a trusted organization issues certified accreditations for certain users, concerning one or more attributes of the user.
Such an organization may be, for example, city offices issuing certified accreditations in the form of identity cards which present certain attributes associated with the user such as the last name, first name, date of birth, address, etc. This organization can also be a university issuing certified accreditations in the form of student cards which present certain attributes associated with a student such as the last name, first name, student id number, fields of study, etc.
When wanting to access a service offered by a third party acting as a service provider, the user may then wish to use such certified accreditations anonymously, meaning while minimizing the information he provides to the service provider to obtain the desired service.
For example, access to certain specific services may be limited to city residents. In such cases, the user must then prove in a city-certified manner that he is indeed a resident of the city, but he may not want to reveal other attributes on his identity card, such as his name or exact address.
Similarly, a student may want to receive a discount on a service offered by the third party. The student must then prove that he possesses an accreditation issued by a university, but may not want to reveal other attributes concerning him on his student id card, such as his name or the courses he is taking.
To address this need for anonymity, it is possible to set up accreditation systems that use cryptographic techniques similar to group signatures or blind signatures.
For group signatures, during the accreditation creation phase the certifying organization signs the set of attributes associated with the user, producing only one signature. This signature must be such that the certifying organization cannot use this accreditation to pass itself off as the user, which is possible for example with techniques tied to group signature schemes. The trusted entity is the organization which issues the accreditations. In the examples presented above, the trusted entity is the city or the university.
Once the user possesses such an accreditation, he can reveal one or more of the attributers associated with him, depending on what is needed by the third party acting as service provider from which he is requesting a service, by generating, similarly to group signature techniques, proof on knowledge of unrevealed attributes and a signature for all attributes, whether revealed or not, without disclosing either the unrevealed attributes or the signature of the certifying organization. The user thus preserves his anonymity with the outside world.
In this case, it is necessary to use a signature scheme which allows signing multiple messages/attributes with a single signature and in which the person possessing the signature is able to prove that he knows the signature and the signed messages, without revealing either the signature or the set of these messages/attributes he wants to hide, while retaining the ability to provide in unencrypted form the attribute or attributes requested of him by the third party.
Such a signature scheme consumes computation time because it requires explicitly hiding non-revealed attributes. The size of the proof therefore depends on the number of attributes initially certified by the issuing entity. Also, its implementation requires using cryptographic data of significant size, such as the Idemix technology proposed by IBM.
In the case of blind signatures, the concept consists of having the certifying organization blindly sign the attributes. The use of such blind signatures makes the accreditation system more effective, at the cost, however, of increased user traceability. An example of this type of technique is applied in the UProve technology proposed by Microsoft.
The present invention has the object of overcoming the above disadvantages of prior art solutions, and proposing an alternative technique for anonymous accreditation which is potentially more efficient and less demanding of computation time and bandwidth, and which simplifies the procedures when a user needs to rely upon accreditations originating from different organizations.

Anonymous access to a service by means of aggregated certificates


Polyvinylbutyral sheeting, plasticized with a hydrolyzable ester, having low acid concentration through the use of formic acid salt as an adhesion control agent.

Polyvinylbutyral (PVB) sheeting is widely used as an interlayer for laminated safety glass. Typically, the polyvinylbutyral is used in combination with one or more layers of glass to provide a composite which is resistant to shattering. The polyvinylbutyral generally contains a plasticizer to provide a balance of mechanical properties satisfactory for the subsequent handling of the sheeting and performance in a laminar structure. In addition, the polyvinylbutyral sheeting often contains an adhesion control agent to provide a desirable balance between the energy absorbing function of the polyvinylbutyral on impact and adhesion needed to prevent broken glass from being detached from the interlayer when the laminate is broken.
A wide variety of adhesion control agents has been suggested for use with polyvinylbutyral sheeting. However, certain plasticizers used in PVB, including triethylene glycol di-n-heptanoate (3G7) and tetraethyleneglycol di-n-heptanoate (4G7) are usually hydrolyzable. Accordingly, when these plasticizers are incorporated into PVB, the acid concentration of the blend increases markedly with processing. Under these conditions, many adhesion control additives previously suggested for use with PVB are ineffective in providing the desired characteristics in the final product.


A signal generating module for an electronic apparatus is provided. The signal generating module includes a processor, a roller, a resistant film, a conducting member, a first lead and a second lead. The roller has a rotary center and is rotably connected to the electronic apparatus thereby. The conducting member is connected to the rotary center to rotate together with the roller. The conducting member has an end including a conducting contact point. The conducting contact point is configured to rotate around the rotary center along a motion path accompanying the rotation of the roller, wherein the motion path is disposed at a first area of the resistant film. The first lead is coupled to the processor and in contact with the resistant film. The second lead is coupled to the processor, and coupled to the conducting member via the rotary center.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a signal generating module, and more particularly to a signal generating module adapted for adjusting a signal emitting intensity.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, as notebook computers are more widely used, consumers are paying more attentions to additional audio and video functions thereof, which enables some types of notebook computers to function as general family audio and video apparatuses in addition to their original functions. Therefore, consumers pay attention not only to the size of displays and performance of speakers but also to the convenience of sound volume control of notebook computers.
Typically, a notebook computer controls the sound volume of a speaker with an aid of software, which is inconvenient for users. Therefore, some notebook computers apply variable resistors to control the sound volume. However, the sound volume set by variable resistor does not relates to that set by software, which requires adjustment of the variable resistor and software interface in sequence to obtain the maximum sound volume. Additionally, a variable resistor may malfunction due to poor contact after long time operation.
Taiwan patent publication No. 454891 discloses a digital sound volume control knob for a notebook computer including a primary control element and an auxiliary control element. The primary control element includes at least one spring leaf and the auxiliary control element includes a plurality of chips. The relative rotation or translation between the primary control element and the auxiliary control element allows the spring leaf to contact with different chips to generate different electrical signals so as to control the sound volume.
Since the sound volume control method of the sound volume control knob according to the above patent belongs to digital control, the digital sound volume control knob may synchronize with the sound volume control by software. In other words, while a user rotates the digital sound volume control knob, the sound volume settings by software is also adjusted accordingly, which may facilitate the operation of the sound volume controlling. Therefore, a user may adjust a speaker to the maximum sound volume through the digital sound volume control knob or software interface.


An etching process yields an optimized formation of via holes through the combination of semiconductor material selection and etchant parameters. Over an interlayer dielectric layer is formed a stop layer having a SiON layer over which is a SiC layer. Selective etching will attack the SiC layer while leaving the SiON layer undisturbed. When etching the via hole, a proportion of about 7:90 O2:CO was observed to yield a superior etch.

Damascene refers to a process in which interconnect metal lines are delineated by isolating dielectrics. Damascening is not performed by lithography and etching, but by chemical-mechanical planarization (CMP). In damascening, an interconnect pattern is first lithographically defined in the layer of dielectric, and then metal is deposited to fill in the resulting trenches. Then excess metal is removed by means of chemical-mechanical polishing (planarization).
Chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP), also called chemical-mechanical planarization, refers to a method of removing layers of solid by chemical-mechanical polishing carried out for the purpose of surface planarization and definition of the metal interconnect pattern.
Dual damascene is a modified version of the damascene process that is used to form metal interconnect geometry using a CMP process instead of metal etching. In dual damascene, two interlayer dielectric patterning steps and one CMP step create a pattern that would otherwise require two patterning steps and two metal CMP steps when using a conventional damascene process.
FIG. 1(a) through FIG. 1(d) are drawings explaining a conventional method of manufacturing a semiconductor device having dual damascene structure wiring.
In a first conventional method of manufacturing a semiconductor shown in FIG. 1(a), a first silicon nitride (Si3N4) film 3, a first silicon oxide film 4, a second silicon nitride (Si3N4) film 5 and a second silicon oxide film 6 are successively formed over a layer insulation film 2 in which a first wiring layer 1 is embedded. The first wiring layers are formed on a substrate, not depicted in the drawings for the sake of brevity.
Next, as is shown in FIG. 1(b), anisotropic dry etching to open via hole 8 is performed using a first photoresist 7 as a mask. This etching is performed until the first nitride film 3 is exposed in the interior of via hole 8. The via hole 8 is also referred to as a contact hole. The first nitride film 3 acts as a stopper film that stops the progress of etching in this etching process as shown in FIG. 1(b).
When the etching to open via hole 8 is finished, the first photoresist 7 is removed from above the second silicon oxide film 6. Optionally, a second photoresist 9 that has an open portion that corresponds to the wiring slot 10 is formed in its place, as shown in FIG. 1(c).
Next, anisotropic dry etching to open wiring slot 10 is performed using the second photoresist 9 as a mask. This etching is performed under the condition that a silicon oxide film can be removed with a significant selection ratio to the silicon nitride film. At this time, the first silicon nitride film 3 and the second nitride film 5 are both used as stopper films that stop the progress of etching. Next, etching for the purpose of removing the second silicon nitride film 5 exposed in the bottom of wiring slot 10 and the first silicon nitride film 3 exposed in the bottom of via hole 8 is performed. If this processing is done properly, via hole 8 which exposes the surface of first wiring layer 1 and wiring slot 10 which leads to via hole 8 are formed as shown in FIG. 1(d).
A typical damascene structure according to the conventional art is described by D. Edeletein et al., Proc. IEEE IEDM (1997) and S. Venkatesan et al., Proc. IEEE IEDM (1997).
Via hole formation according to the conventional art gives rise to a number of problems as feature size decreases. For example, etch selectivity must be controlled during the etch to prevent photoresist from being prematurely removed to cause damage to the underlying layers. For example, if a plasma etch uses a gas mixture that contains a 1:1 proportion of oxygen to carbon monoxide, then both the photoresist and the material not covered by the photoresist would be etched at the same rate. In order to prevent damage to the semiconductor device, it would then be necessary to use a very thick layer of photoresist, which could then cause poor line, trench and via hole definition.
Additional difficulties in conventional etch processes arise when silicon is etched using a fluorocarbon gas such as CF4. The etch process converts the silicon to SiF4, but a polymeric carbon residue remains on the semiconductor, frequently appearing as a "fence" around the via hole.
As has been shown, the conventional art technologies have disadvantages arising from inefficient etching. These disadvantages give rise to manufacturing inefficiency, semiconductor damage and such phenomena as the creation of fences from residual materials around the via holes. These fences give rise to such unwanted effects such as parasitic capacitance and reduced conductance by the metal component. Accordingly there is a need to provide new etch technologies that minimize these disadvantageous phenomena.


The electrical conductivity of organosiloxane compositions containing high loadings of finely divided silver particles coated with an esterified fatty acid is superior relative to the conductivity of compositions containing silver particles that are either uncoated or coated with prior art treating agents, including free fatty acids.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to curable organosiloxane compositions. More particularly, this invention relates to curable organosiloxane compositions containing finely divided silver particles that impart electrical conductance to cured materials prepared from these compositions. The silver particles contain a unique coating that not only increases the electrical conductivity of cured materials containing these particles relative to the values achieved using silver particles coated with known treating agents but also improves the ability of the materials to retain this conductivity during long term exposure to temperatures above 100.degree. C.
2. Background Information
It is known to impart electrical conductivity to a variety of organic and organosilicon polymers by adding a finely divided electrically conductive material such as carbon black or silver to the polymer composition. It is also known to treat silver with organic fatty acids such as stearic acid to facilitate processing of the silver to form finely divided particles and blending large concentrations of the resultant particles into polymer compositions.
Japanese patent publication No. 60/1222, published on Jan. 7, 1985 describes electrically conductive pastes prepared by blending a liquid epoxide resin, dicyandiamide curing accelerators and reactive diluents with a particulate form of silver. The exemplified reactive diluent is the glycidyl ester of a fatty acid containing 14 carbon atoms.
Japanese Laid-Open Application No. 01/31874 teaches using a mixture containing 70 to 95 weight percent of silver flake having a diameter of from 1 to 10 microns and from 30 to 5 weight percent of a spherical silver powder having a diameter of from 0.1 to 0.5 micron together with finely divided silica in a conductive epoxy resin paste.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,695,404, issued on Sep. 22, 1987 describes polymeric compositions having a volume resistivity no higher than 0.1 milliohm-cm. The compositions comprise a polymer and from 70 to 90 weight percent, based on the weight of the composition, of silver flakes exhibiting a volume resistivity in the compressed state of no more than 0.2 milliohm-cm. The polymer can be an epoxy resin, silicone, fluorosilicone, polyurethane or long chain hydrocarbon.
Other polymer compositions containing silver as a conductive filler are described in published European Patent Application No. 367,562, published on May 9, 1990; European Patent Application No. 388,473; Japanese Laid Open Application No. 1/189,806; Japanese Laid Open Patent Application No. 1/153,767; Japanese Laid Open Patent Application No. 1/31,874; Japanese Laid Open Patent Application No. 63/161014; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,685,028.
Because solid silver particles typically provide higher electrical conductivity than an equal weight of silver coated particulates such as glass beads and fibers, the solid particles are usually preferred when it is desired to maximize electrical conductivity.
Finely divided solid silver particles are available as a spherical powder and in flake form. Because the interparticle contact area of flakes is typically higher than that of powders, flakes are preferred in some applications.
Commercially available forms of silver flake typically contain a coating of a fatty acid as a processing aid. If the coating is not removed while the flake is being incorporated into a composition, the presence of the coating on the silver flake will reduce the electrical conductivity of the final composition. Because the fatty acid is polar and curable organosiloxane compositions are typically non-polar, the fatty acid coating tends to remain on the particles during preparation of the compositions and adversely affects the electrical conductivity of the cured material. The presence of the fatty acid may also interfere with curing of the organosiloxane composition.
While spherical silver particles without any coating are commercially available, these are difficult to disperse in organosiloxane compositions at the concentration required to achieve volume resistivity values less than 1 milliohm/cm following heat aging of the cured sample at temperatures of about 150 for at least two days.
An objective of this invention is to increase the electrical conductivity of elastomers, gels and resins prepared from curable organosiloxane compositions by increasing the concentration of finely divided silver particles that can be incorporated into the composition without increasing the viscosity of the composition to the extent that it is no longer suitable for the intended end use application, for example as a coating material or adhesive.
A second objective of the present invention is to provide silver-filled curable organosiloxane compositions that cure to yield electrically conductive gels, elastomers and resins which retain their initial level of electrical conductivity following long term exposure to elevated temperatures, typically 150.degree. C. and above.

Curable organosiloxane compositions yielding electrically conductive materials


In construction of an upper cymbal fastening assembly in which a felt washer unit holding an upper cymbal is clamped between an upper lock nut unit and a lower clutch nut unit both arranged on a tubular holder inserted over an extension rod, the clutch nut unit is made up of a pair of locally joined sections one of which is elastically deformable toward the other when a vertical force is applied thereto. The elastic deformation brings said pair of sections into firm pressure contact with the tubular holder thereby preventing slacking of the clutch nut unit due to vibrations during performance of the hi-hat cymbal.

The present invention relates to an upper cymbal fastening assembly for a hi-hat cymbal, and more particularly relates to improvement in a system for fastening an upper cymbal to an associated extension rod on a hi-hat cymbal.
The main parts of a hi-hat cymbal are mounted on a tripod made up of 3 foldable legs. More particularly, the tripod supports an upright lower pipe and an upper pipe is telescopically coupled to the lower pipe by assistance of an wing screw which is used for level adjustment. An extension rod extends slidably through the lower and upper pipes with it exposed lower end being operationally connected to a foot pedal attached to the tripod. A return spring is accommodated in a spring casing arranged in parallel to the lower pipe in order to urge the foot pedal to return to its stand-by position when foot pressure is removed. Upper and lower cymbals are attached to the upper section of the extension rod exposed upwards from the upper pipe by assistance of respective fastening assemblies.
When the foot pedal is pressed downwards against repulsion of the above-described return spring, the upper cymbal crashes against the lower cymbal for sound generation. As foot pressure is removed, the foot pedal resumes its stand-by position to separate the upper cymbal from the lower cymbal.
Furious vibrations are generated on a hi-hat cymbal during performance because of high pitch, repeated crash of both cymbals. So, the cymbals must be firmly attached in position to the associated extension rod without any undesirable displacement. In particular the fastener assembly for the upper cymbal which undergoes frequent, vertical reciprocation during performance, it required to fasten upper cymbal reliably to the extension rod whilst well withstanding furious vibrations.
Examples of such a fastener assembly are disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publications Sho. 57-8059 and Sho. 62-30065.
In the construction of JUMP Sho. 57-8059, a threaded pipe provided with an outer thread is idly inserted over the upper section of an extension rod and a tubular holder is attached atop the threaded pipe whilst embracing the extension rod. A fastener bolt is screwed into a radial threaded hole formed in the tubular holder with its inner point in pressure contact with the extension rod. At a position bellow the tubular holder, a felt washer unit is inserted over the threaded pipe. The felt washer unit is made up of a pair of felt pieces which sandwich an upper cymbal between them. At a position between the tubular holder and the felt washer unit, a lock nut unit is screwed over the threaded pipe. The lock nut unit is made up of upper and lower nut pieces. Just below the felt washer unit, a clutch nut unit is screwed over the lower section of the threaded pipe. Thus, the felt washer unit is clamped between the lock nut unit and the clutch nut unit. In the region of the felt washer unit, a wide circumferential groove is formed in the threaded pipe for reception of the upper cymbal. The depth of this circumferential groove is designed same as or larger than that of the outer thread on the threaded pipe so that movement of the upper cymbal should not damage the outer thread on the threaded pipe. Except for the lower joint to the threaded pipe, the inner diameter of the tubular holder is designed larger than that of the threaded pipe. This design enables the fastener bolt to firmly fasten the extension rod so that the latter should not displace out of the correct position despite unavoidable vibrations generated during performance.
The construction proposed in JUMP Sho. 62-30065 is an improvement of this earlier proposal. In the case of this improvement, a clutch bolt is attached to the upper section of a threaded pipe as a substitute for the tubular holder used in the earlier proposal and a fastener bolt is screwed into a radial threaded hole in the clutch bolt. On the side opposite to the threaded hole, a cutout is formed in the clutch bolt in communication with the threaded hole. The fastener bolt presses an extension rod against upper and lower edge in the cutout. Thus, the extension rod is fastened at three points for higher stability.
In either case, the clutch nut unit clamping the felt washer unit is coupled to the threaded pipe via simple screw engagement. Such a screw engagement can hardly withstand furious vibrations generated during performance and tends to allow slacking in clamp by the clutch nut unit, thereby inducing undesirable displacement of the upper cymbal held by the felt washer unit.

Upper cymbal fastening assembly for a hi-hat cymbal


The invention is a squeegee, consisting of a handle and blade assembly that is mounted on a set of tracks. The blade assembly has a left and a right side mounted roller which are designed to operate inside of each track. The side mounted rollers will allow the blade to move upwards and downwards on the tracks. Once installed, the track system ensures that the squeegee maintains constant pressure against the planar surface. In the preferred embodiment, the top of the tracks will feature a hook type design for the use of attaching the invention to the top of a planar surface. An alternative embodiment has the track mounted to the frame of the door or window. A third embodiment integrates a motorized squeegee that has the track mounted to the shower door or window.

A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of cleaning implements, and more specifically, to an improved squeegee system for cleaning generally planar surfaces such as glass, plastic panels and enclosures, tiles, and window panes.
B. Discussion of the Prior Art
The Hanson at al. Patent (U.S. Pat. No. 5,101,530) discloses an improved light-weight squeegee suitable for use in and around the home for cleaning and drying planar surfaces. The Hanson Patent uses S-shaped blades that are co-extruded from thermoplastics, each having a different hardness. However, the squeegee disclosed in the Hanson Patent does not include any type of track system to guide the squeegee along the planar surface to be cleaned.
The Kaminstein et al. Patent (U.S. Pat. No. 6,834,411) discloses a squeegee assembly that includes a handle connected to the blade. The handle assembly has a hole which allows for convenient storage of the squeegee. The Kaminstein Patent is similar to the present invention as both have a handle type assembly connected to the squeegee blade, however, the Kaminstein Patent differs from the present invention because it fails to provide any type of track to guide the squeegee along the planar surface.
The Shepherd Patent (U.S. Pat. No. 4,208,755) discloses a wiper for attachment to the bottom edge of a window, or a shower door, so that when the shower door or window is opened or closed the track along which it runs is wiped clear. While the Shepard Patent does employ a squeegee type device to clear standing fluid and this device is mounted to a track, the present invention uses a track type system that is not dependent on the movement of a planar surface to achieve cleaning and drying of a planar surface. Furthermore, the present invention can be moved to different planar surfaces, while the Shepard Patent is more permanently suited to a relatively small track.
The Meaden et al. Patent (U.S. Pat. No. 4,916,764) discloses a bathtub retractable shower curtain assembly that has a set of wipers which clean the shower curtain during its extension and retraction. The Meaden Patent use a track type system that is dependent on the movement of a planar surface to achieve cleaning and drying of a planar surface; whereas, the present invention does not require the movement of planar surfaces and it can be moved to different planar surfaces. Furthermore, the bathtub retractable shower curtain assembly is limited to the shower curtain and not any other planar surface requiring a squeegee.
The Siemund Patent (U.S. Pat. No. 4,075,730) discloses a squeegee construction for shower and bath surfaces. The Siemund Patent differs, however, because its utility does not provide any type of track to guide the squeegee along the planar surface.
The Jones Patent (U.S. Pat. No. Des. 280,247) illustrates a design for a squeegee, which lacks any illustration of a corresponding track system.

Squeegee with an integrated track system


Object of the present invention is to provide a welding method prevented the fracture at the spot welding zone by recovering the strength of a spot welding zone, namely, the ductility and the toughness in the spot welding zone, and a weld structure manufactured by the method. In the welding method, a spot welding zone provided with a weld nugget 13a is formed by conducting spot welding on the heat treated steel sheets in a stack; the spot welding zone is tempering treated by the high-frequency electrical current application to make the weld nugget have a hardness of 150% or less of the hardness of the heat treated steel sheets, and the heat affected zone surrounding the weld nugget is made to have a hardness of 30% to 90% of the hardness at the weld nugget before the tempering treatment by the high-frequency electrical current application.

A method of welding a plurality of steel sheets in a stack includes spot welding method. In the spot welding method, a plurality of steel sheets are stacked and sandwiched between a paired electrodes, and then electrical current is applied between the paired electrodes under pressure along the rods of the paired electrodes. The electrical current resistive-heats to melt the sandwiched portions in an area having a predetermined diameter and then the melted portions solidify, and thus a melted and solidified portion referred to as weld nugget is formed (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-211934).
In recent years, steel sheets high in tensile strength have been used as the materials for body of automobiles, and steel sheets high in tensile strength is welded by spot welding to achieve both the weight reduction and the safety in automobiles. Two methods represent investigation methods for the spot welding strength. The first method welds the stacked edge portion of the two rectangular steel sheets followed by applying tensile forces in the directions along the surface planes of the two plates. The second method welds the crossed two rectangular steel sheets at crossing center followed by applying tensile forces in the directions rectangular to the surface plane of the two plates at both ends of each of the steel sheets. The first method is referred to as the TSS (Tensile Shear Strength) test, and the second method is referred to as the CTS (Cross Tension Strength) test.
Regarding a carbon steel excellent in both ductility and toughness, a dual-phase steel having fine crystal grains has been investigated, and the segregation of carbides at the grain boundary is known as an effective mean (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-332457). Although the increased carbon content in the material is required to segregate carbides at the grain boundary, as high carbon content makes the spot welding zone too hard, the brittle spot welding zone cause a problem that the weld strength remarkably decreases. So, the carbon content is controlled to be about 0.15 mass % or less in the steel sheets for automobiles widely used.
Among the methods of spot welding the steel sheets, the method first conducting low-frequency electrical current application and then conducts the high-frequency electrical current application is known (WO 2011/013793).
Further, Japanese Patent No. 4006513 and the paper: Characterization of Microstructure for Tempered Martensite by Atomic Force Microscopy; Masao Hayakawa, Saburo Matsuoka, Materia Japan, Vol. 43, No. 9, pp. 717-723, 2004 disclose the method for evaluating the fine dual-phase microstructure of the high-strength steel by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Note that the evaluated sample is the steel type of JIS-SCM440 with carbon content of 0.4% by mass.


Methods and DNA constructs are provided for the expression of a fungal acetyl xylan esterase gene in microbial hosts. A purified fungal acetyl xylan esterase is obtained which is suited for the use as an accessory enzyme in the degradation of acetylated xylans.

The rigid structure of cell walls of plant tissues is due to xylans together with other hemicelluloses, pectins, cellulose and lignin. Xylans form the major hemicellulose, most xylans are heteropolysaccharides with a homopolymeric backbone chain of 1,4-linked .beta.-D-xylopyranose units. The plant of origin determines the degree and the type of substitutions of the specific xylan. Xylans are found to contain many different side groups, among these L-arabinose, D-glucuronic acid or its 4-O-methyl ether, and acetic, p-coumaric, and ferulic acids are the most prominent.
It has been suggested that both acetyl and arabinosyl substituents increase the solubility of hemicellulose by decreasing the possibility of intermolecular aggregation, however, these substituents are at the same time a severe hindrance to the enzymatic degradation of the plant tissues. For example, it has been reported that acetylation inhibits the digestibility of plant polysaccharides in ruminants. Poutanen and Puls (1989) (In Biogenesis and Biodegradation of Plant Cell Wall Polymers (Lewis, N. and Paice, M. eds) ACS Symp. Ser. 399: 630-640), have shown that the major xylanase of Trichoderma reesei is unable to depolymerize acetylated soluble xylan. Grohmann et al. (1989) (Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol. 20/21: 45-61) have shown that after chemical deacetylation xylan is 5-7 times more digestible by ruminants.
Esterases (EC 22.214.171.124) are classified according to their substrate specificity. Since it is generally difficult to determine the natural substrate for these enzymes the classification is problematic and this problem is enlarged by the widespread appearence of esterases in nature. It is therefore not surprising that although the existence of enzymes that deacetylate xylan may have been anticipated in view of the long known occurrence of microbial esterases that were known to act on various synthetic substrates, it was not until recently that the existence of acetyl xylan esterases was demonstrated.
Biely et al. (1985, FEBS Lett. 186: 80-84) demonstrated the presence of acetyl xylan esterases in (fungal) cellulolytic and hemicellulolytic systems: Trichoderma reesei, Aspergillus niger, Schizophyllum commune and Aureobasidium pullulans. As compared with plant and animal esterases, these fungal esterases exhibit high specific activities towards acetylated glucuronoxylan and were therefore named acetyl xylan esterases.
Further investigations on the fungal acetyl esterases have been reported. Poutanen et al. (1988, Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 28: 419-425 and 1990, Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 33: 506-510) described the purification and characterization of acetyl xylan esterases from T. reesei. Enzymatic deacetylation of xylan using purified acetyl xylan esterase resulted in the precipitation of the remaining polymer structure. Due to this effect acetyl esterase is not used as a single first enzyme in the degradation of acetylated xylans. The highest xylose yield from acetylated xylan was obtained by the synergistic action of xylanase, .beta.-xylosidase and acetyl xylan esterase.
To achieve a practically useful degradation of xylans there is a need for large amounts of the enzymes involved in the enzymatic hydrolysis of these highly substituted molecules. The present invention provides a way for obtaining large amounts of fungal acetyl xylan esterases, optionally in a purified form.

Cloning and expression of acetyl xylan esterases from fungal origin