A light quantity distribution control element includes a substrate of 20 mm×20 mm×3 mm made of a material that transmits light, such as optical glass or acryl, and a antireflective structure provided on a surface of the substrate. As the antireflective structure, a conical antireflective structure of a pitch of 0.15 μm (periodic structure having conical convexities) is formed. This corresponds to a antireflective structure having a pitch of a wavelength or less in the ultraviolet band (150 nm to 400 nm) at the time when ultraviolet light is used as incident light.

1. Technical Field
The disclosed concepts relate to a light quantity distribution control element and a light quantity distribution control lens used preferably to correct non-uniform light quantity in optical scanning devices or the like, and an information recording/reproducing apparatus, an image pickup device and an optical scanning device using the same, and an image-forming apparatus using the optical scanning device.
2. Description of the Background Art
A number of optical scanning devices used in laser beam printers or the like include a semiconductor laser as a light source, a first imaging optical system for imaging light flux from the light source linearly on a rotary polygon mirror in order to correct the pyramidal error of the rotary polygon mirror, a polygon mirror as the rotary polygon mirror and a second imaging optical system for imaging uniform spots at a constant velocity on a photoconductor drum, which is a surface to be scanned.
In a conventional optical scanning device, an effective aperture in the main scanning direction is provided before the polygon mirror, and this is a underfilled type in which a line image that is smaller than the width in the main scanning direction of the deflection reflective surface of the polygon mirror is formed. However, in order to increase the number of the deflection reflective surface of the polygon mirror, it is necessary to increase the inner diameter and thus it is difficult to increase the speed. Therefore, optical scanning devices of overfilled type in which a line image larger than that in the main scanning direction of the deflection reflective surface of the polygon mirror is formed and the deflection reflective surface of the polygon mirror is used as the effective aperture in the main scanning direction have been proposed. However, in such a case, the width of the defection reflective surface of the polygon mirror is smaller than the width of the light flux having a spatial intensity distribution, so that the light quantity directed to the periphery is smaller than the light quantity directed to the vicinity of the center in the longitudinal direction of the photoconductor drum. Therefore, the light quantity on the photoconductor drum becomes non-uniform, so that it is difficult to obtain high quality recorded images.
Therefore, methods for correcting non-uniformity of light quantity have been proposed, such as a method of providing a filter for cutting by coating a portion having a strong beam intensity distribution with a metal film between the light source and the polygon mirror, and a method of coating a fθ lens so as to provide a transmittance distribution such that the light quantity distribution becomes uniform (e.g., see JP8-160338A and JP2001-290093A)
However, with the above-described configurations, the cost is increased and variation in light quantity also is increased.

Light quantity distribution control element and optical apparatus using the same


An applicator assembly includes a cradle in which there is provided a support having a stem and a pallet and with the cradle having an imprint including a groove and a recess for receiving, respectively, the stem and the pallet with the recess having been provided with the cosmetic product prior to insertion of the pallet into the recess; pressure is exerted on the at least the pallet to force the pallet into contact with the cosmetic product in the recess so that the pallet will take up at least a portion of the cosmetic product when the pallet is removed from the recess.

Field of the Invention
The invention concerns an applicator assembly containing a small amount of make-up product. The term small amount implies here an amount allowing a test application or a single application of the make-up product. The invention thus essentially concerns an applicator assembly which can be distributed as a sample and is not re-usable.

Manufacture process for applicator assembly containing a small amount of make-up product and corresponding applicator assembly


A hanging condiment container holder is provided including a clip portion for removably attaching the holder to an upper portion of a food package, a loop portion for receiving a condiment container, and an extension wall extending between the clip portion and the loop portion. The clip portion may be contoured to the shape of the upper edge or lip of a food package such as a cup. Various clip portions may be employed for removably attaching the hanging condiment container holder to a food package such as a cup.

Snack foods, for example, french fries, nacho chips, or pretzel nuggets, are often eaten along with condiments including ketchup, dipping sauce, ranch dressing, melted cheese, and the like. Such snack foods are often enjoyed at sporting events, arenas or concerts. In those environments, a person has a cramped space in which to enjoy their snack food and, thus, eating can at times be difficult. In addition, people at sporting events, arenas or concerts often have both hands occupied, perhaps holding a beverage in one hand, and their snack food of choice in the other. Even at a local bar, pub or tavern, there is often limited space in which to enjoy a food item.
Foods such as snack foods are often served in a food container cup for convenient and economic reasons. Rather than smother an entire portion of food in a dipping sauce or condiment such as ketchup, most people prefer to dip a snack food into ketchup or other dipping sauce, thus regulating the amount of ketchup or other dipping sauce to suit their personal preference. However, when a cup or similar container is used to dispense the snack food, as is the case at, for example, arenas, a person must apply the ketchup or other dipping sauce directly to the top layer of snack food. This results in the top layer of snack food being immersed in ketchup or dipping sauce, and the lower layers of snack food completely devoid of any of the desired ketchup or dipping sauce. In addition, a person must inevitably dip their fingers into the ketchup or dipping sauce in order to take the snack food from the top layer.
Food packages have been pre-formed with flaps or pockets to hold condiments. Such food packages consist of complicated arrangements, and must be manufactured so that the condiment container is a permanent part of the food package. In addition, such food packages cannot be adjusted or moved by a person eating the food.
Other known condiment containers are essentially small troughs. These troughs do not accommodate the shape of known condiment cups. Soufflé cups are often used by establishments such as restaurant as condiment holders, or for dispending condiments from bulk containers or pumps. For example, soufflé cups sold under the brand name SOLO® are generally cylindrical or frustoconical, as shown in the examples of FIGS. 8, 9, and 13-15. These cups come in various industry standard sizes, such as 1½ oz (44.4 ml), 2 oz (59.1 ml), 2½ oz (73.9 ml), 3¼ oz (96.1 ml), 4 oz (118.3 ml), and 5½ oz (162.7 ml). Other known pleated soufflé cups are offered under the brand name SWEETHEART®, are cylindrical or frustoconical, and are offered in various sizes. The known trough condiment holders cannot readily accommodate these industry standard soufflécups.
Still other known condiment holders are suspended directly from the sides of food packages. These arrangements are awkward and unbalanced. In addition, these know arrangements cannot be firmly attached to food packages, and can result in spills.
Yet other condiment holders are positioned adjacent the upper lip of a cup or food package. This creates an awkward and unbalanced arrangement, which can also easily result in spills. For example, a thick dipping sauce, such as melted cheese, could easily topple the food container to which the condiment cup is attached. This is more likely as a person consumes the contents of the food container, whereby the food container cup will become lighter and topple more easily. In addition, there is very little support for the condiment cup, as the attachment means must carry the weight of the condiment cup, plus the weight of the ketchup or dipping sauce in the condiment cup.
Thus, there is the need for a condiment holder that can be used in connection with any commercially available food container or cup.
There is also the need for a condiment holder that can be secured firmly to a food container, without having to specially manufacture food containers for receiving such a condiment holder.
There is even further the need for a condiment holder that attaches to a food holder such as a cup that provides for a sturdy arrangement with less potential for spilling the condiment or tipping the food holder.
There is even further the need for a condiment holder that accommodates known, industry standard soufflé cups.
The present invention satisfies these needs.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A height adjusting structure is adapted to support objects and adjust height of the objects, including a supporting body having at least one receiving portion, and at least one side of the receiving portion having a sliding groove with height difference; a shaft tube disposed in the receiving portion and having spiral trails on a surface thereof; a sliding base disposed in the receiving portion and sleeved on the shaft tube, a spiral connecting portion formed in an inner edge of the sliding base and corresponded to the spiral trails; and a torque unit sleeved on the shaft tube and two ends of the torque unit are separately fixed in the axis block and the shaft tube. Whereby the sliding base supports objects and the sliding base is slid along the sliding groove in the receiving portion to adjust height of the objects.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a height adjusting structure and more particularly to a height adjusting structure with easy assembly, less components, and simple operation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Due to the differences of the gene and growing environment, the height of every one isn't the same. Furthermore, the height of human isn't invariable but increased with time or decreased being aged.
Since the early days, the desks, chairs, the counters, and etc., are designed mostly with height unable to adjust. Although manufactures can plan and produce these furniture with specifications of different heights in advance and satisfy user's heights and use as far as possible, in fact, this in not the truth.
Especially, users have to consider all of family members' height conditions for using when purchasing the furniture. If users use unsuitable furniture over a long period of time, not only it is tired easily but also it influences normal growth and health.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems so as to prevent unnecessary injury that is to choose exclusive furniture for every one. However, it is expensive and not enough space to place them.
In addition, home appliances, such as the TV displayer, computer displayer, and etc., are indispensable equipment for displaying the digital media image data. Hence, if the displayers can't be adjusted height to a suitable location for users, it is easy to damage human eyesight when using for a long period of time.
The inventor of the present invention recognizes the above shortage should be improved and special effort has been made to research this field. The present invention is presented with reasonable design to resolve the above problems.


A method for image processing of digital image pixels. Pixels are preferably filtered spatially and dithered, and the value for at least one color component is bit reduced. The space freed by the bit reduction is used to allocate a look-up table selection bit that indicates which look-up table (LUT), from a plurality of small LUTs partitioned from a bigger LUT, should be used for the color transform. The transformed pixels are then selected according to the used LUT, format converted and output. The invention, which also covers an apparatus and a pre-processing module, enables an apparatus with a LUT to be used both as a single full-rate LUT apparatus and as a lower-rate n smaller LUT apparatus.

Despite the best efforts, colours are not always rendered in the same way on different display media, such as a television, a computer monitor or a cinema screen. In fact, even within a particular media, there may be visible differences, such as between plasma television sets and rear projection television sets, or between different television systems or video systems.
These differences are naturally not desired by, primarily, the film and television industry, where it is desired to ensure that e.g. a film looks the same regardless of the media used for the display.
At this point, it should be pointed out that while there are several neighbouring problems—the format of the screen, the resolution of images, the rendering of the colours—the present invention is concerned with the colour problem.
A known solution to this problem, known from e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 5,604,610, uses colour processing repeatedly to produce a plurality of versions of the film, each version adapted to render colours correctly on a particular medium or media. For example, one version may be intended for cinema projection, a second for NTSC (National Television System Committee) television, and a third one for French SECAM (Séquentiel Couleur Avec Mémoire) television.
Due to the trichromatic characteristics of the human vision, colour processing most of the time uses colour triplets in various colour spaces. A basic one is RBG (for Red, Green, Blue) representing colour for TV or PC monitors. Other device dependent or device independent representations exist such as XYZ from the International Commission on Illumination (CIE).
In its strict sense—i.e. considering only colour levels and not spatial processing—colour processing realizes a colour transform for each pixel of an image, such as one film frame, or more generally for each pixel of a pixel stream.
If a, b and c are three components of an input colour triplet and a′, b′, c′ are the three components of the corresponding output triplet, the colour transform can be defined by:
      (                  a        ′            ,              b        ′            ,              c        ′              )    =            f                    (                  a          ,          b          ,          c                )              ⇔          {                                                                  a                ′                            =                                                f                  a                                                                  (                                      a                    ,                    b                    ,                    c                                    )                                                                                b                ′                            =                                                f                  b                                                                  (                                      a                    ,                    b                    ,                    c                                    )                                                                                c                ′                            =                                                f                  c                                                                  (                                      a                    ,                    b                    ,                    c                                    )
While any type of colour transform can be realized in software, recent hardware developments provide hardware platforms—in the description called "colour boxes"—able to perform real-time colour transforms on high bandwidth signals such as the 2K or 4K data formats of Digital Intermediates (digital film processing). 2K corresponds to 2048×1556 colour pixels per frame at a 24 frames per second frame rate with 10 bits per colour, while 4K corresponds to four times of that (4096×3112 colour pixels).
It should be noted, however, that present day colour boxes often do not have full sets of conversion values, but that they rely on e.g. 16×16×16 control points (corresponding to 4 bit) that are expanded by tetrahedral interpolation.
It should also be noted that colour boxes may also be used to "colour grade" film sequences according to the intent of a colour grader or of the director of photography. An example is a science fiction film that takes place on a planet with a red sun. Outdoor sequences for that film could be shot in normal sunlight and processed later to make everything have a reddish tinge.
However, a problem with present day colour boxes is that they only can be used for one purpose at a given time. If a colouring artist working on his own display wishes to verify what the result looks like on the big screen, he has to load the new transform parameters into the colour box (which may take 10 seconds or more), see if it is okay, and if this is not the case, reload the original transform parameters, make a change and so on. Similarly, it is not possible to simultaneously process a plurality of versions of a scene; the colouring artist first has to work on one version before changing parameters and turning to the next.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,596,510 teaches a system for colour transformation using three look-up tables. However, the look-up tables in question—a sampled look-up table, a delta look-up table, and a restriction table—are used in series, i.e. each table is used to provide a value that is combined with the other, values to provide final transformed colour value. It will be appreciated that this does not increase the flexibility of the system as desired.
It can therefore be appreciated that there is a need for a multi-purpose apparatus for colour processor. This invention provides such a colour processor.

Method and apparatus for color transformation by addressing a look-up table


A method for producing branched polymerizates by radical polymerization of monomers in two stages comprising. in a first stage, adding 10 to 500 parts by weight of at least one monomer M.sub.1 and 0.1 to 20 parts by weight of a mercaptan with an olefinic, radically polymerizable double bond RM as a molecular weight regulator, and polymerizing said at least one monomer M.sub.1 and mercaptan RM to form a copolymer MM.sub.1 in the presence of at least one polymerization initiator and 0 to 100 parts by weight of an inert, non-aqueous solvent, which completely dissolves the monomer M.sub.1, the mercaptan RM and the copolymer MM.sub.1, where the polymerizable double bonds and M.sub.1 and RM have a reactivity, expressed by a copolymerization parameter r, between 0.1 and 10, and PA1 in a second stage, adding 10 to 2000 parts by weight of a monomer M.sub.2 and 0.01 to 10 parts by weight of a saturated molecular weight regulator, and optionally, an inert, non-aqueous solvent, to the reaction mixture formed in the first stage, and polymerizing in the presence of at least one polymerization initiator to form a branched polymerizate. Branched polymerzates made by the method.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for the production of branched polymerizates P by means of at least two-stage polymerization of monomers M.sub.1 and M.sub.2, optionally in the presence of inert, non-aqueous solvents L, in which a mercaptan RM with an olefinic, radically polymerizable double bond is used as a molecular weight regulator in the first stage, as well as to uses for polymerizates P produced in this manner.
2. Description of the Background
Branched polymerizates, particularly comb polymers, are generally produced by polymerization of macromonomers, optionally with other monomers.
By definition, macromonomers represent polymers with an end group capable of polymerization, particularly a radically polymerizable end group, with mean molecular weights M.sub.w of 500 to about 10.sup.5 daltons, particularly from 2000 to 5.times.10.sup.4 daltons (for the determination of M.sub.w, see, for example, H. F. Mark et al., Encyclopedia of Polymer Science and Technology, 2nd Ed., Vol. 10, pages 1 to 19, J. Wiley, New York, 1989).
The production of macromonomers is described in detail in the literature (see, for example, P. F. Rempp, E. Franta, Adv. Polym. Sci. 58, 1 (1984); K. Albrecht, W. Wunderlich, Angew. Makromol. Chem. (Applied Macromolecular Chemistry) 145/146, 89-100 (1986); H. F. Mark et al., Encyclopedia of Polymer Science and Technology, 2nd Ed., Vol. 9, pages 195-204, J. Wiley (1989); T. Corner, Adv. Polym. Sci. 62, 95-141 (1984); P. Rempp and E. Franta. Adv. Polym. Sci. 58, 1-50 (1984); DE-PS 27 23 905 or U.S. Pat. No. 3,390,206).
Macromonomers are known to be obtainable via anionic and cationic "living polymerization," or via radical polymerization, where the end group capable of polymerization is usually introduced upon initiation or at the chain break, or by means of a subsequent chemical conversion. Another possibility for the production of macromonomers is offered by "Group Transfer Polymerization" (GTP; see, for example H. F. Mark et al., Encyclopedia of Polymer Science and Technology, 2nd Ed., Vol. 10, pages 1-19, J. Wiley, 1989).
A method for the production of comb polymers based on an acrylate which form elastomers, is described, for example, in DE-A 39 02 653, where the comb polymers are composed of 95 to 50% by weight of acrylate monomers and at 5 to 50% by weight of macromonomers consisting of a polyvinyl unit with a vinyl end group, where the polyvinyl unit consists of monomer units selected from the group of acrylates, methacrylates and styrenes, optionally substituted, as well as having a glass transition temperature T.sub.g of at least 60.degree. C. and a mean molecular weight of 500 to 10.sup.5 daltons.
EP-A 357 036 comprises a method for the production of comb polymers in which macromonomers with vinyl end groups and mean molecular weights between 3000 and 50000 daltons are mixed with vinyl monomers and a polymerization initiator, in a solvent which dissolves the macromonomers well and has a solubility in water of more than 10% by weight at 30.degree. C., and where the resulting mixture is subjected to aqueous suspension polymerization.
In DE-A 40 10 893, a method for the production of acrylic elastomers is described, where alkyl acrylates and alkoxyalkyl acrylates are polymerized in the presence of an organic peroxide with a non-conjugated double bond as the polymerization initiator, as well as in the presence of molecular weight regulators containing sulfur and having non-conjugated double bonds.
In EP-A 520 668, a two-stage process in aqueous emulsion for the production of branched polymerizates is described, where in the first stage, macromonomers with end vinyl groups are formed by the polymerization of ethylene-unsaturated monomers in the presence of mercaptans with olefinic groups, which macromonomers are converted to branched copolymerizates with other ethylene-unsaturated monomers in the second stage.
The state of the art methods for the production of branched polymerizates which have macromonomer units as comonomer units mostly comprise separate production and isolation of the macromonomers, before they are converted to branched end products by means of polymerization, optionally with other monomers.
While EP-A 520 668 offers a method for the production of branched polymerizates by means of copolymerization of macromonomers with other monomers, in which the macromonomers produced in the intermediary stage are subsequently directly polymerized further, this method has a disadvantage that it is carried out in aqueous emulsion. Depending on the area of use of the branched polymerizates, this requires rather complicated processing of the resulting polymer dispersion to remove the polymer emulsifiers. This is particularly true when branched polymerizates are used as thermoplastic elastomers with high transparency. The method disclosed in EP-A 520 668 is further limited in that comb polymerizates are produced almost exclusively because of the reactivity difference between the unsaturated group of the monomers used for the production of the macromonomers and the olefinic group of the mercaptans used as molecular weight regulators, which practically prevents inclusion of the mercaptans into the macromonomers via polymerization of the unsaturated group.
Thus, a need exists for a method for the production of branched polymerizates which is simple to carry out and allows easy isolation of the branched polymerizates.

Method for the production of branched polymerizates


The application of flagellin derivative CZLC31 from Salmonella in preparation of medicines for preventing and treating inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is introduced in this invention. The CZLC331 protein has a good preventive and therapeutic effect for IBD, such as ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD) in this invention. Therefore, this protein can be prepared into the drug for prevention and treatment of IBD. It has been found that the bad efficacy, slow onset, long course of treatment, side effects can be significantly avoided for existing clinical IBD drugs, it can reduce the patient's pain during the treatment in this invention. The rehabilitation and quality of life of the patients have been largely improved. The drug will play an important role in the prevention and treatment of IBD in this invention, and has broad application prospects.

Ulcerative colitis (UC), also known as idiopathic ulcerative colitis or chronic nonspecific ulcerative colitis, is a disease of large intestine with infiltration of the mucosa and idiopathic chronic non-specific inflammation. The main clinical symptoms are abdominal pain, diarrhea, mucus and bloody stools, and associated with optic neuritis, neuritis, and osteoporosis. It has been characterized as a hardy disease by the World Health Organization (WHO) because treatment of the disease is difficult and time-consuming and the disease relapses easily. Although currently there are a variety of drugs for curing IBD, such as amino salicylic acid, glucocorticoids and immunosuppressive agents, but they have many shortcomings, such as poor efficacy (especially to severe UC), slow onset, long course, and large side effects. Therefore, the drug with an effective, rapid onset, short course, high safety, little side effects, convenient for IBD (especially chronic nonspecific ulcer colitis) is urgently needed.
It has been shown that CBLB502, one of the flagellin derivatives from Salmonella, has a protective effect on the hematopoietic system, and can extend the survival time of mice to the high-dose radiation injury and improve the survival rates of low-dose irradiated mice (Lyudmila G. Burdelya, et al,. An Agonist of Toll-Like Receptor 5 Has Radioprotective Activity in Mouse and Primate Models. Science 2008; 320 (5873): 226-230). The study found that the flagellin protein derivatives from Salmonella and other derivants containing the N-and C-terminal conserved domain have the radial protection, they can effectively improve the number of hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow of mice and effective preventing the death of mice caused by lethally irradiation. Its mechanism may be the anti-apoptotic role through NF-κB signal pathway. It means that this protein can be applied to development of anti-radiation drugs. There is no report on Salmonella flagellin derivatives except for the anti-radiation drug.

Suzhou Sciscape Biomedicine Science & Technology Co. Ltd.

Institute of Radiation Medicine, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, People's Liberation Army of China


A method for shifting gears of a transmission of a vehicle, which, during a shift, a first shift element opens and a second shift element closes. To increase the spontaneity and reduce the shifting frequency a downshift from a first gear to a second gear is interrupted without delay and the first gear returned to when an interruption criterion is recognized. The interruption criterion is established when the driver upshifts before a current transmission input speed deviates from a synchronous speed of the first gear or before a time interval, which begins when the speed deviates from the synchronous speed of the first gear, has exceeded a predefined, time-related limit value or before the current transmission input speed has deviated from a synchronous speed of the first gear by a predefined, speed-related limit value or before a pressure of the first shift element falls below a pressure-related limit value.

Gear shifts in an automatic transmission of a motor vehicle are usually initiated when a desired performance is called for by the vehicle's driver, for example, by acting on an accelerator pedal or throttle valve setting, exceeds an upshift or downshift characteristic of a shifting performance field of the automatic transmission. Besides these shifts initiated by way of the accelerator pedal, the driver can also initiate gear shifts manually at any time. Thus for example, DE 43 11 886 C2 shows a device which a driver can initiate gear shifts using a selector lever with a manual gate or switch-lever on the steering wheel.
In this, the gear shifts of the automatic transmission can for example be carried out as overlap shifts in which a first shift element opens and a second shift element closes. The pressure variation of the respective shift elements involved in the gear shift is usually controlled or regulated by an electronic transmission control unit, which acts upon a hydraulic shift element control system via electromagnetic control elements. Such a control method is known from DE 42 40 621 A1.
In practice, the following problem can now occur at the beginning of an intended overtaking process; the driver uses the accelerator pedal to call for a downshift which is then initiated by the transmission control unit. During the overtaking process just started, the driver then realizes that he must give way to oncoming traffic. As a reaction to this he interrupts the overtaking process by releasing the accelerator pedal. As a rule, this release of the pedal causes the transmission control to carry out an upshift. At a later time, still during the upshift, if the driver now sees that the opposite lane is free, he then resumes the overtaking process either by again actuating the accelerator pedal or by initiating a downshift manually using the selector lever. According to the prior art, however, the automatic transmission will first carry out the downshift completely and then the upshift and only then can another downshift be started.
As an improvement, a method for controlling an overlap gear shift is known from EP 0 341 631 B1 in which a first gear shift process that has been started is not completed if, after the passage of a blocking time after the shift command for the first gear shift, a shift command for a second gear shift is given within a time during which the clutch to be released is still transmitting torque and the clutch to be engaged is not yet transmitting any torque. If a second shift command is given after that moment, i.e., at the end of the first and during the second phase of the overlap gear shift, the first gear shift that has been started is first completed, a further blocking time is allowed to pass and only then is the next gear shift carried out.
To further increase the spontaneity of an electro-hydraulically controlled automatic transmission, a method is known from DE 197 22 954 C1 for the control of overlap gear shifts that take place in three phases, in which an upshift from a first to a second gear is, on the one hand, carried out immediately and, on the other hand, interrupted without delay, before the beginning of the third phase of the overlap upshift in progress, if a driver-specific command for a downshift is recognized. In this, the first phase of the overlap gear shift is defined as the filling and control phase during which the shift element to be engaged is being filled with pressure medium and a speed increase of a transmission input speed is adjusted by a pressure reduction of the shift element being disengaged. The second phase corresponds to the load uptake by the shift element being engaged and begins with a reduction of the speed increase. In the third phase, which begins when the synchronization point of the first (old) gear is reached again, the shift element being engaged is closed completely and the transmission input speed is brought to the level of the synchronous speed of the second (new) gear.
From EP 0 800 022 B1, a method for controlling a gear shift process is known in which an upshift from a first to a second gear initiated by a first shift command is interrupted and the first gear returned to, when, during the closing phase of the upshift, in which a transmission input speed is changed from the synchronous speed of the first gear to the synchronous speed of the second gear by the shift pressure of the shift element being closed, a second shift command for a downshift is recognized. To those with knowledge of the field it is clear that this method can only be used properly in combination with automatically initiated free-running for automatic torque uptake during the return to the original first gear. Its use with an overlap gear shift, especially in the case of an upshift interruption at a late stage of the upshift closing phase, leads to considerable comfort problems (shift jerks) due to the clutch overlap.
Thus, on one hand, the problem is that there can be a large time lag between the driver's wish concerning the acceleration of the motor vehicle and the reaction of the automatic transmission, particularly in combination with overlap gear shifts, especially when a downshift-upshift-downshift sequence is called for. On the other hand, because of continual shifting, the shifting behavior of the automatic transmission can be perceived by the driver as hectic.
The purpose of the present invention is to further improve the spontaneity of a motor vehicle automatic transmission without adverse effect on the quality of shifting, in particular with overlap gear shifts and to reduce the shifting frequency of the automatic transmission perceptible by the driver.
According to the invention, this objective is achieved by the characteristics of claim 1 and by a method having the characteristics of the auxiliary claims 2, 4 or 6. Advantageous features of the invention emerge from the subordinate claims.

Method for increasing the spontaneity of an automatic transmission


A portable communication device is disclosed. The portable communication device includes a body housing; a rotatable auxiliary housing which continuously maintains a state in which the auxiliary housing is received so as to be parallel to a bottom surface of the body housing, the auxiliary housing being opposite to the bottom surface of the body housing; and a rotation/swing housing engaged with the body housing and rotated about a first hinge axis so as to rotate away from the body housing and to be swung about a second hinge axis perpendicular to the first hinge axis.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to portable communication devices including cellular phones, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), HHPs (Hand Held Phones), camera phones, game phones, Internet phones, and message phones.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, the term "portable communication device" refers to an electronic device that a user can carry to perform wireless communication with a desired partner. To facilitate portability, designs of such portable communication devices tend not only to be compact, slim, and light, but are also moving toward providing multimedia availability, having a wider variety of functions. In particular, future portable communication devices are expected to incorporate greater multi-functionality and be capable of multi-purpose utilization, as well as being more compact, light, and capable of being modified to be suitable for various multimedia or Internet environments. Additionally, portable communication devices are now commonly used by people of all ages and all walks of life throughout the world, and are recognized by some people as a nearly indispensable commodity which should be carried all the time.
Portable communication devices may be classified into various categories according to their appearance, such as a bar-type portable communication device, a flip-type portable communication device, and a folder-type portable communication device. A bar-type portable communication device refers to a device having a single housing of a bar-shape. A flip-type portable communication device refers to a device in which a flip is rotatably mounted to a housing by a hinge unit. A folder-type communication device refers to manner in which a folder is rotatably connected to a single bar-type housing by a hinge unit.
Portable communication devices may also be classified into a necklace type portable communication device and a wrist or bracelet type portable communication device according to the position or the way in which users put on the portable communication devices. The necklace type portable communication device refers to a portable manner in which a terminal is worn around a neck of a user using a string. Further, the bracelet type portable communication device refers to a portable manner in which a terminal is worn around a wrist of a user.
In addition, portable communication devices may be classified into a rotation-type portable communication device and a slide-type communication device according to the manner of opening and closing the portable communication device. The rotation-type portable communication device refers to a manner in which two housings are rotatably connected, opposed to each other. The slide-type communication device refers to a manner in which two housings are slid with respect to each other in the lengthwise direction of the device. These variously classified portable communication devices can be easily understood by those skilled in the art.
Meanwhile, conventional portable communication devices now tend to transmit data at a high speed in addition to performing the basic voice communication function. In other words, according to the increase in consumer demand, portable communication devices now tend to provide a service using a wireless communication technology capable of transmitting data at high speed.
Recent portable communication devices also tend to be equipped with a camera lens to obtain video signals for transmission. In other words, current portable communication devices have an external or embedded camera lens module which enables users to perform video communication with desired partners or to photograph desired subjects.
However, according to the conventional portable communication device, since the camera lens is generally fixably mounted to the body, a user cannot photograph a subject conveniently. Especially, since the camera lens employed in the conventional portable device is always exposed, it cannot be protected from the exterior environment. Further, since the camera lens of the conventional portable device cannot be rotated, there is a problem in photographing moving images.


The present invention is a logic circuit and a special module of BIOS for a computer motherboard that automatically reconfigures the motherboard to accept different microprocessors, (CPUs). Each series of CPUs includes different types having different parameters including: manufacturers; basic frequencies; multipliers; and operating voltages. These different parameters must be set on a conventional motherboard by opening and closing jumpers and/or dip-switches. The present invention avoids the need for changing these jumpers or switches by using the Basic Input/Output System, (BIOS), to instruct a logic circuit to set the proper voltage, frequency and multiplier for the specific CPU installed in the motherboard. When a user wishes to upgrade their computer, they remove the old CPU, insert the new CPU and turn on the computer. When the computer "powers up" the operating system senses whether a "hot key", (this can be preprogrammed to be any of the keys on the keyboard), is being or has been pressed. When the hot key has been pressed, the computer enters BIOS setup and the operator can then change the CPU parameters, (voltage, frequency and multiplier), as displayed on the screen. If the hot key is not pressed, the computer simply uses the parameters as previously defined. As with conventional personal computers, the BIOS can be entered from resets other than power-up and the CPU configuration can be changed without turning the computer off.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a motherboard for a personal computer that automatically configures itself for the speed, multiplier and voltage required for the type of microprocessor, (CPU), installed in the motherboard.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Today's personal computers are evolving at an ever increasing speed. Since the introduction of Intel's 386DX there have been several types of CPUs manufactured for each series. For each type of CPU three parameters must be selected, and these include the frequency, (ranging from 33 MHz-75 MHz), multiplier of the CPU frequency, (ranging from 1.5-3), and operating voltage, (including 5 volts, 3.3 volts, 2.5 volts, etc.). The frequency, voltage and multiplier for each type of microprocessor are normally selected by changing jumpers or dip-switches located on the motherboard. Several other methods for reconfiguring different computer options have been employed by prior art devices and the following documents illustrate some of these. U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,346, (Freidin) discloses a universal microprocessor interface for accepting different processors on the same motherboard. U.S. Pat. No. 5,371,892, (Petersen et al.) discloses a method for upgrading a personal computer by utilizing the set-up (i.e., power up) initialization of the computer to change any settings identifying upgrades. European Patent Document No. 0,510,241 discloses a computer system for changing the particular processor, (i486), having differing clock speeds without having to alter any jumper or dip-switch settings. British Patent No. 2,271,446 discloses a kit for a user to build a computer, having simplified upgradable characteristics.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.

Motherboard with automatic configuration


The present invention provides a pointing device which can be mounted in a limited space in a PC housing with no gap therebetween and which permits continued control of a cursor on the PC screen regardless of the size of a tablet sheet. Cursor control data is produced from data about the positional relationship between a pressed position (x.sub.n, y.sub.n) on the tablet sheet and a fixed reference position (x.sub.0, y.sub.0). Since the relative position data represents the distance and direction of the pressed position relative to the reference position, the movement of the cursor can be controlled by changing only the position where to press the tablet sheet relative to the reference position when the cursor control data is provided to a personal computer. Hence, even if the tablet sheet is narrow, the cursor can be controlled continuously. Additionally, marginal portions of the tablet sheet can be closely joined to the PC housing with no gap therebetween.

With recent developments in Graphical User Interface (GUI) environments, a pointing device has come into wide use as a substitute for the keyboard in PC operations. The pointing device moves the cursor to a window, icon or similar visual interface to enable the PC to execute the operation designated by the window or icon.
Conventional pointing devices include those which are independent of PCs, such as a mouse. However, with the widespread use of notebook or similar portable PCs, there has been a demand for a pointing device which is easy to carry along with the PC and which saves space for operation on the go. To meet such a demand, a pointing device of the type that is built into the PC main unit has been developed.
FIGS. 8 through 10 illustrate a conventional pointing device 100 built in the main unit of a PC 110. As shown in FIG. 8, a control button 101 is mounted in a PC housing 111 and protrudes from the keyboard panel so that a user actuates it with his thumb while holding other fingers at home positions.
As depicted in FIG. 9, the control button 101 is composed of a truncated conical stick 102 and a disc-shaped flange 103 which are formed in a single piece of hard rubber. A fulcrum projection 104 on the underside of the flange 103 is loosely fitted in a positioning hole made in a rigid panel 105 so that the control button 101 is rockingly supported on the rigid panel 105.
At four corners around the control button 101, strain gauges or similar pressure-sensitive elements 106a to 106d are disposed. The strain gauges or pressure-sensitive elements 106a to 106d have pressure receiving pieces 107a to 107d held just above the circumferential margin of the flange 103 at four places, respectively. The strain gauges or pressure-sensitive elements 106a to 106d are each connected to a transducer (not shown) for transducing the output of the strain gauges or pressure-sensitive elements 106a to 106d to voltage.
With the pointing device of the above described construction, when the stick 102 is tilted, a tensile force is applied to the pressure-sensitive element pressed by the stick 102 and the voltage corresponding to the tensile force is output from the transducer.
A microcomputer (not shown), which is equipped in the pointing device 100, detects the direction of tilt of the stick 102 by comparing output voltages from the four pressure-sensitive elements 106a to 106d and the angle of tilt of the stick 102 on the basis of a voltage change, and produces and sends out cursor control data to the PC 110. That is to say, the direction and angle of tilt of the stick 102 are used to produce 8-bit positional data in the X and Y directions, which is sent out as part of the cursor control data to the PC 110.
To make the pointing device 100 compatible with a mouse or other tablet pointers, the cursor control data mentioned herein uses the same data format as that of cursor control data that is output from the mouse or similar.
FIG. 7 is a table showing an example of the data format of the cursor control data. Positional data in the X direction of the 3-byte cursor control data is contained at bit positions X0 to X7. Positional data in the Y direction of the 3-byte cursor control data at bit positions Y0 to Y7.
Thus, the conventional pointing device 100 permits controlling movements of the cursor according to the direction and amount of tilt of the stick 102 in the same manner as does the manipulation of the mouse.
The pointing device 100, though capable of outputting 8-bit positional data as the cursor control data, detects the direction and amount of tilt of the stick 102 by the use of only the four pressure-sensitive elements 106a to 106d. Therefore, the pointing device 100 cannot attain high resolution in both of the direction and the amount of tilt of the stick 102 and cannot control the cursor exactly in response to the stick manipulation.
On the other hand, only a limited number of pressure-sensitive elements can be provided in the narrow space defined in the PC housing 111 and an increase in the number of the pressure-sensitive elements would only make circuitry complex and raise the manufacturing costs accordingly.
Further, as shown in FIG. 9, there is a gap 113 between the rocking stick 102 and the PC housing 111. Water, dust or foreign particles may get in the housing 111 through the gap 113 and thus, cause malfunctions of circuit components in the PC housing 111.
As a pointing device with high stick control resolution but free from the above-mentioned problem of the gap 113, a tablet pointer is known that makes use of the principles of operation of a tablet, a digitizer and so forth. This tablet pointer derives positional data from the position on the tablet sheet where it is being pressed, and outputs cursor control data, ensuring accurate detection of the absolute position on the tablet sheet being pressed. By tightly joining the marginal edges of the tablet sheet to the PC housing 111, there will be no gap between the marginal edges of the tablet sheet and the PC housing even during operation.
To form a PC-contained pointing device by mounting the above-mentioned conventional tablet pointer in the PC housing 111, however, the operation area of the tablet sheet needs to be reduced. Thus, the pointing device poses a problem in its operability in the case of continuously moving the cursor, because it is necessary that the tablet sheet be pressed in two or more steps as described below.
FIG. 11(a) shows the case of moving the cursor from a point 0 to (4) via (1), (2) and (3) on a PC screen 112.
The cursor can be moved from the point 0 to (1) on the PC screen 112 by pressing the tablet sheet 107 from a point "0" to (1) with the user's finger, for instance. The tablet pointer calculates absolute positions (x.sub.0, y.sub.0) and (x.sub.1, y.sub.1) of the points "0" and (1) in the X and Y directions and multiplies their difference, i.e., the relative position (X', Y'), by a predetermined constant C to obtain positional data (see FIG. 11(b)).
The PC 110 moves the cursor on the screen 112 according to the cursor control data containing such positional data, so the cursor moves in proportion to the value of relative movement data.
Similarly, continuing the pressing of the tablet sheet 107 to the point (3) via (2), the cursor draws on the PC screen 112 a locus similar to the path of the finger on the tablet sheet 107.
As mentioned previously, however, the tablet sheet 107 needs to be as small as about 3 square centimeters, far smaller than the PC screen 112; consequently, even when the point (4) still remains unreached by the cursor on the screen 112 as depicted in FIG. 11(a), the pressing of the tablet sheet 107 can no longer be effected. The frequent occurrence of such an interruption of the tablet sheet pressing operation makes the cursor control cumbersome.
A similar problem can arise when moving the cursor merely straight for a relatively long distance on the PC screen 112. That is, to move the cursor straight for a long distance on the PC screen 112, it is necessary to repeat pressing of the tablet sheet 107 over a certain distance thereon in the same direction a plurality of times.
A possible solution to these problems is to use a large constant C, but this fails to minutely control the movement of the cursor, and hence also presents the problem of the lack of operability.
Another possible solution is to contain the absolute position on the tablet sheet 107 as positional data in the cursor control data. Unfortunately, this method also encounters, but cannot settle, a problem similar to that in the case of deriving the positional data from the afore-mentioned relative position.

Pointing device with improved cursor control data


The present invention concerns modified oligonucleotides and processes for their production wherein these oligonucleotides contain at least once the structure P═N-Acc where Acc is an electron acceptor or an electron acceptor substituted with a residue R and R is any organic substituent.

Various processes have already been previously described to produce nucleotides or oligonucleotides with a modified phosphate residue. Synthetic (deoxy) oligonucleotides are usually prepared on a solid phase with the aid of phosphoramidite chemistry. Glass beads with pores of a defined size are usually used as the solid phase (abbreviated in the following as CPG=controlled pore glass). The first monomer is linked to the support by a cleavable group so that the free oligonucleotide can be cleaved off after completion of the solid phase synthesis. In addition the first monomer contains a protected hydroxyl group in which case dimethoxytrityl (DMT) is usually used as the protective group. The protective group can be removed by acid treatment. Then at the 5′ end, 3′ phosphoramidite derivatives of (deoxy) ribonucleosides that are also provided with a DMT protective group are successively coupled to the reactive group that is freed in each case of the DMT protective group in a cyclic process. Alternatively 3′ dimethoxytrityl-protected 5′ phosphoramidites are used in inverse oligonucleotide synthesis. The H-phosphonate strategy is also used in particular to introduce modifications on the phosphate backbone, e.g., to prepare radiolabeled phosphorothioates. Various strategies are also already known for preparing modified or labeled oligonucleotides: trifunctional support materials are used according to the prior art to prepared oligonucleotides labeled at the 3′ end (U.S. Pat. No. 5,290,925, U.S. Pat. No. 5,401,837). Labeled phosphoramidites in which the labeling group is bound to the phosphoramidite via a C3-12 linker are usually used to prepare oligonucleotides labeled at the 5′ end (U.S. Pat. No. 4,997,928, U.S. Pat. No. 5,231,191). Furthermore modifications can be introduced into oligonucleotides on the individual bases (U.S. Pat. No. 5,241,060, U.S. Pat. No. 5,260,433, U.S. Pat. No. 5,668,266) or by introducing internal non-nucleoside linkers (U.S. Pat. No. 5,656,744, U.S. Pat. No. 6,130,323).
Alternatively an internucleoside phosphate can be labeled by postsynthetic labeling of phosphorothioates (Hodges, R. R., et al. Biochemistry 28 (1989) 261-7) or by post-labeling a functionalized phosphoramidite (Agrawal, S., Methods in Mol. Biology 26 (1993), Protocols for Oligonucleotide Conjugates, Humana Press, Totowa; NJ, Chapter 3). However, these methods have not gained acceptance due to the instability of the phosphoramidites and phosphoric acid thioesters.
It is also already known from the prior art that modifications can be introduced on the inter-nucleoside phosphate residue of oligonucleotides. In the most prominent cases these are phosphothioates (Burgers, P. M., and Eckstein, F., Biochemistry 18, (1979) 592-6), methylphosphonates (Miller, P. S., et al., Biochemistry 18 (1979) 5134-43) or boranophosphates (WO 91/08213). Special monomers have to be synthesized in order to prepare methylphosphonate oligonucleotides. In contrast conventional phosphoramidites or H-phosphonates can be used to synthesize phosphorothioates and boranophosphates in which case the borano or thio modification can be introduced directly during or also after oligonucleotide synthesis by using special reagents that react with the trivalent H-phosphonate or with the phosphonic acid triester. Although all these methods lead to modified oligonucleotides, the requirements of the synthesis chemistry used for this does not allow labels that can be detected in this manner or functional groups to be directly introduced on the phosphate backbone of the oligonucleotide chain during oligonucleotide synthesis.
Baschang, G., and Kvita, V., Angewandte Chemie 85(1) (1973) 43-44 describe the reaction of a nucleotide phosphoric acid triester with azides such as methylsulfonyl azide to prepare trialkyl(aryl)imidophosphates which are, however, unstable and decompose.
Nielsen, J., and Caruthers, M. H., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 110 (1988) 6275-6276 describe the reaction of deoxynucleoside phosphites provided with a 2-cyano-1,1-dimethylethyl protective group in the presence of alkyl azide. Furthermore, the authors suggest that this principle is suitable for preparing nucleotides that are modified on the phosphate residue without elucidating which types of modifications prepared with the aid of the disclosed method could have particular advantages. In particular the authors suggest the introduction of alkyl residues.
WO 89/091221 discloses N-alkyl phosphoramidites or rather oligonucleotides substituted with N-alkyl on at least one phosphate residue which are prepared by oxidizing nucleoside phosphites (provided with a protective group) with iodine in the presence of suitable alkylamines.
WO 03/02587 discloses the preparation of modified oligonucleotides in which H-phosphates are converted by amination into phosphoramidates.
Thus all of these publications describe the preparation of molecules which contain a phosphoramidate instead of a phosphate residue. However, molecules containing phosphoramidate are susceptible to hydrolysis since the anine group is protonated in an acidic environment and is then substituted by water.
In addition WO 01/1.4401 proposes nucleotide building blocks or oligonucleotides in which a phosphate residue is substituted with N—ClO3, N—NO2 or N—SO2R. According to the teaching, from WO 01/14401 such substances can be prepared by reacting the free hydroxyl group of a deoxy nucleoside with amidophosphonyl chloride in the presence of pyridine. However, this type of preparation is complicated, time-consuming and unsuitable for the routine synthesis of nucleotides or oligonucleotides.
The technical object forming the basis of the present invention was thus to prepare improved labeled to oligonucleotides and to provide a simple process for their preparation.

Polynucleotide containing a phosphate mimetic


An adapter for single serving cartridges includes a coffee maker readable identification feature. The identification feature may be visual (for example any feature which may be read or a bar code), a readable magnetic strip, a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), or any feature able to contain information and provide that information to a reader. The adapter may be configured for known disposable single serving cartridges, and may include one or more needles to puncture the cartridges for use. The identification feature may inform the coffee maker that an adapter carrying a disposable single serving cartridge is in use, and adjust the coffee maker accordingly.

The present invention relates to brewing coffee and in particular to a single serving brewing material holder.
Coffee is generally prepared in a coffee maker by measuring an amount of ground coffee into a coffee filter, closing a lid over the ground coffee, and providing a stream of hot water through the loosely packed ground coffee. Unfortunately, water passes freely through the loosely packed ground coffee and does not obtain the full flavor which might otherwise be obtained.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/777,831 filed Jul. 13, 2007 for "Pod Adapter System for Single Service Beverage Brewers" by the present applicant overcomes this problem using pre-packaged coffee in closed filter paper commonly called a pod, and inserting the closed pod into a pod holder including a tamping spring and bottom tamper for tamping the pod between the bottom tamper and a coffee holder lid. While the pod adapter of the '831 application works well for coffee pods, it does not always hold the pod (or packer) firmly against the cover of the pad adapter and in some instances a needle for injecting water into the pod fails to puncture the pod.

Single serving brewing material adapter with readable label


A garment hanger comprises a smooth rod shaped into a substantially horizontal arm coupled to a central, vertical hook. The horizontal arm is substantially the length necessary to span the garment being displayed. Coupled to one end of the arm is a shoulder portion looping back to near the middle of the arm, where the hook extends vertically upward and rearward from the shoulder and arm. The hook is angled such that it settles slightly to one side when loaded and hanging, encouraging garments to overlap when disposed along a hanger bar, but leaving a substantial portion of each garment exposed to frontal view.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to improvements to devices adapted to hang garments for display and storage, and specifically to devices and systems for hanging neckties so that they may be viewed efficiently by shoppers.
2. Description of Related Art
Numerous garments comprise relatively flat, often multilayered objects of significant length compared to their width, such as neckties, trousers and scarves. Stores selling such garments devise clever means to display together large selections of such garments while using as little floor space as possible. A tension arises, however, between department store frugality with floor space and manufacturers' demands that customers be able to view their garments efficiently.
For example, men's neckties usually are folded in half or fourths and hung from large arrays of pegs, one tie in front of the other, where only the first tie is visible frontally. A shopper wishing to view the other ties must push aside those in front, and removing any but the front tie can be cumbersome. This has led most tie manufacturers to require stores to display a sizeable portion of their inventory lying flat on tables or in display cases, maximizing the required floor space. A need exists for a system of displaying neckties which satisfies the manufacturers' concerns for visibility while reducing floor space requirements.
To demonstrate to shoppers how they may look together, retailers often slip ties under the collars of shirts and drape the ties downwardly similar to the way they would appear when worn. To keep the ties in place, the shirts usually are laid horizontally, occupying precious floor space. When shoppers handle such displays, however, they disturb the juxtaposition and leave the display in disarray anyway. To keep the ties in place, some stores pin them to the shirts. Movement of the display risks harm to both the tie and the shirt, however, and substitution of different ties becomes cumbersome. A need exists for convenient means to secure a tie to a shirt collar which is easily removable.


Methods and systems are disclosed for fabricating electrically programmable link structures by fabricating a first conductor, which comprises a refractory conductive material, then fabricating an insulative link material over the refractory conductive material and, subsequently, depositing an upper conductive material over the link material. In use, an electrical path can be formed between the first and second conductive elements by applying a voltage between such elements across at least one selected region of the insulator, such that the insulative link material is transformed in the region and rendered conducti. The U.S. Government has rights in this invention pursuant to Contract No. F19628-90-C-0002 awarded by the Department of the Air Force.

The technical field of this invention is solid state integrated circuit fabrication and, more particularly, methods for fabricating voltage programmable link structures.
Programmable conductive paths, particularly "links" between two or more distinct metallization layers, are increasingly employed in solid-state integrated circuit fabrication to produce a wide variety of programmable circuits including, for example, programmable read only memories ("PROMs"), and other programmable electronic devices.
Most typically, such devices are "programmed" by the application of an electrical voltage to trigger an "antifuse" link structure disposed between two metallization layers and thereby establish an electrical connection across a region of the device which had previously been an insulator.
While this approach should in theory permit an almost limitless variety of custom circuits, certain factors make programmable devices difficult to implement. Some antifuse link structures rely upon crude melting mechanisms that require the dedication of large surface areas on the wafer to insure an electrical connection is formed.
In addition, there is an inherent tension between the desire for a link structure that will remain insulative at normal operating voltages for the solid state device (e.g., nominally five volts), and the desire that a conductive path can be reliably formed on each and every occasion by the application of a higher programming voltage (e.g., about ten volts).
If a link structure breaks down at a voltage below the "programming" or activation voltage, an unintended altered circuit will result, thereby disturbing the normal operation of the existing circuit. On the other hand, if the programmable link is over-resistant to the programming voltage, either the conductive path will not be formed when desired or greater voltages must be applied with the attendant risk of damage to nearby structures on the wafer.
Various programmable link structures have been proposed as alternatives to the crude structures which merely rely on melting or fusion processes. For example, the use of vertical holes ("vias") filled with amorphous silicon or doped silicon compositions have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,847,732 issued to Stopper et al. and in European Patent Application Pub. No. 416,903 by Whitten et al. In this approach, a programming voltage of about 10 volts or more is used to locally heat the amorphous silicon, and thereby convert it into a conductive polycrystalline structure.
Unfortunately, amorphous silicon-based and polysilicon-based link structures have a number of disadvantages, including the limited conductivity of polysilicon, the potential presence of leakage currents through the amorphous materials even prior to activation which can lead to inadvertent breakdown, and the need for large area structures to maximize the conductivity after the link has been activated.
Another approach which has been proposed is the use of composite or sandwich structures of silicon oxide-silicon nitride-silicon oxide as the link material. When such a sandwich composite is deposited in a via, contacting a first (lower) conductive layer and then covered by a second (upper) conductive layer, it can be rendered conductive by application of a programming voltage (e.g., a pulse of about 18 volts at a current of about 1.0 mA for a time duration of about 100 msec).
A typical sandwich structure of this type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,823,181 in which a bottom oxide layer of about 2-5 nanometers, a central silicon nitride layer of 4-10 nanometers, and a top oxide layer of 0-5 nanometers are described. Although this sandwich structure is relatively easy to fabricate (because the lower oxide layer can be thermally grown when the underlying conductor is polysilicon), these link devices also suffer a number of shortcomings in use.
The oxide-nitride-oxide compositions are poorly compatible with aluminum due to chemical reactivity and thermal effects. Aluminum readily reacts with silicon dioxide over time to form aluminum oxide and aluminum silicon complexes which can degrade the integrity of the link structure. Additionally, during wafer processing, sintering and other heating processes cause aluminum to expand more rapidly than the link composition, which applies thermal stress to the insulative oxide component of the link and can result in microfractures which facilitate premature breakdown. For these reasons, prior art sandwich link structures typically are used to form vertical conductive paths only between different layers of polysilicon lines. Polysilicon is typically a less desirable choice for conductive lines because its electrical resistance is about three orders of magnitude higher than most metals, causing signals to slow down and/or limiting the number of links that can be used in a given cell or chip.
Moreover, due to the thinness of the sandwich structures described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,823,181, they are particularly sensitive to the problems of reliability and consistency in usage. Thin oxide-nitride-oxide sandwich structures are prone to premature breakdown, while thicker structures can require high voltages (i.e. over 15 volts) with significant deviation in the actual breakdown voltage necessary from one link to another. Such high programming voltages can trigger parasitic responses and reactions in field devices and, hence, should be avoided.
There exists a need for more reliable programmable link structures, particularly structures which are voltage programmable at a nominal voltage of about ten volts, while providing stable insulation without breakdown at the normal operating voltage of about 5.0 volts.

Method of making electrically programmable link structures


A substrate processing method includes forming, by supplying a chemical liquid onto a central portion of a substrate while rotating a rotary table at a first speed, a liquid film of the chemical liquid having a first thickness; forming, by supplying the chemical liquid onto the central portion while rotating the rotary table at a second speed lower than the first speed after the forming of the liquid film having the first thickness, a liquid film of the chemical liquid having a second thickness larger than the first thickness; and heating, by heating the rotary table in a state that the rotary table is rotated at a third speed lower than the second speed or in a state that the rotating of the rotary table is stopped after the forming of the liquid film having the second thickness, the substrate and the liquid film of the chemical liquid.

In the manufacture of a semiconductor device, a liquid processing such as a chemical liquid cleaning processing or a wet etching processing is performed on a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer by supplying a heated chemical liquid onto the substrate. An example of a single-wafer type substrate processing apparatus configured to perform such a liquid processing is disclosed in Patent Document 1. The apparatus of Patent Document 1 includes a spin chuck configured to hold and rotate the wafer; and a non-rotary disk-shaped member (bottom surface moving member) attachable to/detachable from a bottom surface of the wafer held by the spin chuck. A heater is provided within the bottom surface moving member. A gap of about 0.5 mm to 3 mm is formed between a top surface of the bottom surface moving member and the bottom surface of the wafer W. This gap is filled with the chemical liquid, and the chemical liquid is heated by the heater of the non-rotary bottom surface moving member. By rotating the substrate at a low speed ranging from 30 rpm to 50 rpm by the spin chuck, a chemical liquid processing can be performed on the bottom surface of the wafer by the temperature-controlled chemical liquid while suppressing a stagnation of the chemical liquid in the gap.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent No. 3,837,026


Compositions and methods are described for transparent glass composite having nanoparticles therein that scintillate in the presence of nuclear radiation, particularly gamma rays, but also x-rays, alpha particles, beta particles, and neutrons. The transparent glass composites can be prepared by a melt/cool process to produce the transparent glass composite. The wavelength of light emitted by the transparent glass composite can be tailored based on the materials used to make the glass composite. A detector that utilizes the transparent glass composite can measure nuclear radiation from numerous sources.

Single crystal detectors such as NaI:Tl and many other inorganic salts have been developed and used for gamma ray detection. These single crystals have several the desirable characteristics, including well-defined preparations, light emission at wavelengths suitable for photomultiplier tube (PMT) detection and amplification, efficient light transmission, and uniform light generation and transmission to produce spectra with good full-energy peak resolution. However, they are plagued by several substantial weaknesses that make them difficult or inapplicable to use in non-ideal conditions, e.g. in the field or in a port. These weaknesses include instability due to humidity, mechanical shock, and temperature fluctuations among other issues. Moreover, while materials such as NaI:Tl are excellent for gamma ray detection, they are often inapplicable for detection other forms of nuclear radiation. As an alternative, solid-state detectors far exceed the resolution of these inorganic crystals but so far are limited in size or require operation at very low temperature.
Use of nanoparticles to prepare large detectors for gamma-ray spectroscopy has been proposed to bypass these difficulties. Nanoparticles held in a small matrix have been reported within the past 9 years to yield single peaks attributed to interaction with gamma rays and alpha particles. Sheng Dai et al. prepared CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (1-20 nm dia.) embedded in a thin disk of a clear sol-gel. When the disk was exposed to the 5,300-keV alpha particles emitted by 210Po and the emitted light (peaking at a wavelength of about 590 nm) was collected with a PMT, they observed an energy continuum with a multichannel analyzer. Letant and Wang impregnated a porous glass slab (˜1×1×0.025 cm) with CdSe/ZnS quantum dots, exposed this material to the 59.5-keV gamma rays and 5,500 keV alpha particles emitted by 241Am, collected the emitted light with a PMT, and observed a peak associated with each type of radiation. McKigney et al. attached small pieces of LaF3.Ce particles (<10 nm dia.) embedded in an organic matrix (several mm on a side) to a small Teflon container, exposed them to gamma rays of 59.5 keV and 122 keV emitted by 241Am and 57Co, respectively, collected the emitted light (330 nm) with a PMT, and observed peaks for both radionuclides.
Recently, fabrication methods and optical properties of transparent oxyhalide glass composites containing GdF3 compounds doped with Tb3+, Eu3+ and Dy3+ were studied by Shan et. al. Lakshminarayana et al. further reported on the characteristics of a similar GdF3 glass composite with Pr3+, Sm3+ doping. However, few studies have been conducted in terms of gamma-ray spectroscopy applications. Such materials, utilized in a scintillator, could efficiently convert nuclear radiation to photons of a wavelength detectable by photomultiplier tubes (PMT) while the highly transparent nature of the matrix could potentially give rise to promising efficiency and resolution for nuclear radiation detection.

Transparent glass scintillators, methods of making same and devices using same


The invention provides compounds capable of acting as antagonists at cannabanoid receptors according to the following formula: Such compounds may be used to treat conditions for which the cannabinoid receptor system has been implicated, such as obesity, liver disease, diabetes, pain, and inflammation.

Cannabinoid receptors (CBRs) belong to the endocannabinoid (EC) system, which consists of receptors, transporters, endocannabinoids, and enzymes involved in synthesis and degradation of endocannabinoids. The EC system regulates many important physiological processes and several components of the EC system are under evaluation as targets to treat a diverse array of indications including obesity, liver disease, diabetes, pain and inflammation. To date, two different cannabinoid receptors have been identified (referred to as CB1 and CB2). CB1 and CB2 receptors fall within the class of G protein-coupled receptors, and primarily function to activate inhibitory G proteins (Gi/o).
The CB1 receptor is prominently expressed in the central nervous system (CNS) and also in peripheral tissues. Accordingly, drugs tarteting the CB1 receptors have been developed over the years to treat various metabolic disorders including obesity and diabetes. The first drug selective for CB1 that was developed for medical use was rimonabant, an inverse agonist/antagonist. Rimonabant was designed to treat obesity and other related disorders that have both CNS and peripheral components. Although rimonabant has demonstrated clinical efficacy in clinical trials, it was withdrawn from European markets and denied FDA approval in the United States due to CNS-related side effects including anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation. The development of other related compounds (e.g., taranabant, otenabant, and ibipinabant) was discontinued based on these noted side effects. Accordingly, it would be beneficial to provide CB1 antagonists that are effective, but that do not result in such CNS-related side effects.

Peripherally restricted diphenyl purine derivatives


Provided is an apparatus of determining a defect pixel which includes at least one of a first edge periphery defect determiner and a second edge periphery defect determiner, wherein the first edge periphery defect determiner is configured to determine if a central pixel of a pixel group is the defect pixel by using pixel values of pixels adjacent to the central pixel disposed close to an image edge, wherein the edge includes at least one of right, left, upper, lower, lower-left, lower-right, upper-left and upper-right pixels of the central pixel, and wherein the second edge periphery defect determiner is configured to determine if the central pixel is the defect pixel by using a pixel disposed at at least one of the lower-left, lower-right, upper-left and upper-right of the central pixel.

1. Field
Apparatuses and methods consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to determining a defect pixel.
2. Description of the Related Art
As technology for correcting a defect of a camera sensor, there are static type defect correction technology and dynamic type defect correction technology. In the static type defect correction technology, a defect pixel is detected by inputting an all-black image or an all-white image in releasing a product, and a position of the defect pixel is stored in a memory. In use, the position of the defect pixel is read from the memory, a pixel value of the defect pixel is substituted with a value that is calculated by using pixels neighboring to the defect pixel.
Such a static type defect correction technology has following problems. As the number of pixels increases, a large-capacity memory is needed for memorizing positions of defect pixels. As a defect detecting operation is required in releasing a product, costs increase. Also, it is unable to respond to a defect which is caused by a temperature change or elapse of a long time. For this reason, a demand for the dynamic type defect correction technology is increasing.
As the dynamic type defect correction technology, for example, there are technologies disclosed in the following patent documents.    (Patent Document 1) Japanese patent laid-open publication No. H2009-290653    (Patent Document 2) Japanese patent laid-open publication No. H2011-135566    (Patent Document 3) Japanese patent laid-open publication No. H2008-067158

Apparatus and method for determining defect pixel


A manual screeding system for use in leveling freshly poured concrete which includes a frame for providing structural integrity to the screed. The screeding system includes handles, attached to the frame, for manually holding and manipulating the screeding system during the screeding process. A support, attached to the frame, is provided for preventing the screeding system from rotating about the handles during the screeding process. The support is structured to engage the forearms of the user when the screeding system is in use. A pair of bracket assemblies are provided for securely holding a screed board to the frame.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a manual screeding system. More particularly, this invention concerns a manual screeding system for use in leveling freshly poured concrete and which can be manipulated and supported by the hands and arms of a single user.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Typically, after concrete is poured it must be leveled in order to provide a concrete surface that is relatively even and smooth. To provide the aforementioned smooth surface, screed boards are used. They normally are wooden boards of the two-by-four or two-by-six type and having a longitudinal length sufficient to level an area equal to the size of the concrete pour. The screed board is typically operated by having two individuals grasp the ends of the screed board and drag the screed across the concrete pour while maintaining the screed ends flush against the top of the form boards or screed guides.
A variety of screed systems have been developed in an attempt to make the screeding process easier. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,016,319 and 4,256,416 disclose screed systems comprising handle-like structures which are attached adjacent to each end of the screed board. Though such systems may be adequate for their intended uses, neither system teaches a screed system which may be used by a single operator.
Screed systems which require only a single operator are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,591,291 and 4,449,845. In particular, U.S. Pat. No. 4,591,291 teaches a screeding system for use by a single operator which incorporates the use of an electrically powered screed vibrator and counterweights. Though such a system may be adequate for larger concrete pours, it may be too cumbersome and costly for many simple concrete leveling applications. U.S. Pat. No. 4,449,845 also teaches a screeding system for use by a single operator incorporating the use of a harness arrangement and having extended handles spaced a fixed distance apart to accommodate the user's torso therebetween. Such an arrangement may be suitable for operators having a small or medium build but would be impracticable and inconvenient for those with larger torsos who may not be able to fit within the handles. Thus, it is believed by the applicant that none of the prior art referred to herein will accomplish the purpose of the present invention.


A compact magnetic field exposure sensor and analysis system suitable for use in the calibration of induction heating processes such as foil cap sealing or the heat treatment of metals. The compact sensor is a self-contained sensing coil, and signal storage, processing and/or transmittingcomponents that can be configured to suit narrow-mouth containers. Detected and/or processed signals can be transmitted to remote storage, processing and/or display subsystems from the sensor.

The present invention relates to exposure analysis systems to calibrate induction heating processes used in container sealing, metal hardening or annealing, and, more specifically, to magnetic field exposure sensors used in those exposure analysis systems.
Induction heating processes are used in-a variety of applications from sealing of bottles for pharmaceuticals to induction hardening of metals and annealing of parts. The process in the factory must be monitored for proper performance and for quality control statutory requirements. If the process parameters are not within specifications, the consequences could be very damaging.
In a bottle sealing process several problems can occur. Underexposure can cause a weak or incomplete seal resulting in an inability to keep out contaminants such as bacteria or viruses which could be fatal. Overexposure causes excessive heat in the foil layer which can cosmetically char the paper layer in contact with it or even degrade the plastic container.
Similarly, in an induction hardening process, the temper and surface hardness of the treated parts may not meet specifications, resulting in premature wear or catastrophic failure. In an annealing process, residual co stresses in the parts can cause failure with costly consequences.
Since induction heating processes involve the use of high frequency In (HF) magnetic fields, prior art in the measurement of this type of magnetic radiation is of some relevance. U.S. Pat. No. 3,914,689 of Wright disclose a self powered temperature-compensated rectifier for measuring current to assess the power in radio frequency waves; it does not require an additional source of power. French Patent No. 76 15704 of Bourgeois describes a method and an apparatus for measuring the magnetic vector, of an electromagnetic wave by incorporating a Faraday shield to exclude the electric field. U.S. Pat. No. 4,659,984 of Doss describes a passive integrating electromagnetic field dosimeter incorporating the use of an electrochemical cell. U.S. Pat. No. 5,432,437 of Turner relates to an exposure meter for use with induction heat sealing of containers. By using bottle caps with imbedded sensor coils and other apparatus, either integrated exposure values or instantaneous magnetic field readings can be indicated or transmitted to adjacent indicating meters.
Other background art includes PCT publication Ser. No. 82/12593 of Payne for a device which senses temperature variations in a material in a welding process and U.S. Pat. No. 3,604,882 of Seyfried for a sensing coil for analyzing induction heating and regulating voltage applied thereto. U.S. Pat. No. 3,914,689 of Wright describes a current measuring device, U.S. Pat. No. 4,634,969 of Edlin for a magnetic field safety probe to alert personnel, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,684,554 of Ou-Yang for a sealable container material.
However, there are inherent limitations with the prior art. For example, instantaneous readings or integrated exposure readings, such as described in Turner ""437, do not suffice to analyze the operation of induction heating equipment in a comprehensive manner.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide comprehensive exposure analysis of induction heating equipment to predict its accurate operation.
It is also an object of the present invention to sense the magnitude of a magnetic field produced by current flowing in an induction heating coil with a compact sensor that can include circuitry to process the sensed parameter and/or transmit the sensed parameter or processed data to a remote device.
It is also an object of the present invention to sense the magnitude of a magnetic field produced by current flowing in an induction heating coil over time by providing a signal proportional to the peak value of the magnetic field.
It is a further object of this invention to convert this signal to digital form and to store the digital values in a digital storage device.
It is another object of this invention to convert this signal using a voltage-to-frequency converter.
It is yet another object of this invention to transmit the data to a remote receiver by RF wireless transmission.
It is still another object of this invention to transfer the stored digital data to a computer or display device by a wire connection after the data have been collected.
It is also an object of this invention to use power supplied by the measured field to convert and store and/or to transmit the collected data.
It is further an object of this invention to provide multiple output of the data as field strength versus time, total energy, or average energy, as desired, from a single collection operation.
It is also an object of this invention to use multiple sensing coils to scan wider areas and to detect power from several points simultaneously.
It is yet another object of this invention to use a multi-channel analog-to-digital converter and a single microprocessor to accumulate data from several sensing coils simultaneously.
It is yet another object of this invention to improve over the limitations and disadvantages of the prior art.
In keeping with these objects and others which may become apparent, the present invention includes a high frequency magnetic field exposure sensor suitable for use in the induction heat sealing, hardening, or annealing of a member, during which operation each member passes beneath an induction coil.
The sensor of the sensing apparatus of the present invention includes a magnetic field sensing coil designed to be exposed to the same high frequency (HF) magnetic flux as the member receives during the induction heating operation.
A signal is produced proportional to the peak value of the magnetic field, as picked up by the sensing coil, and an overall power profile is detected by the sensing coil. The signal and power profile are converted into digital data and the data is stored in a digital storage device. The data are transmitted to a remote receiver, then transferred from the receiver and processed.
The sensing apparatus of the present invention preferably includes a power supply of different configurations, such as a means for using power from the measured field for the sensor, a rechargeable battery, or a replaceable battery.
When power is derived from the measured field, a capacitor is used, acting as an accumulator.
The apparatus may also provide multiple output of the data as field strength versus time, total energy, and average energy from a single collection operation. Multiple sensing coils may be used to scan wider areas and to detect power from several points simultaneously.
In addition, the analog-to-digital converter may be a multi-channel analog-to-digital converter using a single microprocessor to accumulate data from several sensing coils simultaneously.
Furthermore, the sensor apparatus may have a field presence detector for constantly monitoring for the presence of a magnetic field, maintaining the sensor in a sleep mode in the absence of a magnetic field, and producing a wake-up signal when a magnetic field appears, so it is only used intermittently, when needed.
Moreover, the obtained data may be transmitted by a wireless transmitter, or a non-volatile storage apparatus and a port for later access to the data.
Furthermore, the transmitter may be a real time transmitter of data which transmits data as the data in question are measured, wherein the receiver stores the measured data in a storage device located at the receiver.
In an alternate embodiment, the present invention includes a high frequency magnetic field exposure sensor, but uses a voltage-to-frequency converter. This sensor is also suitable for use in an induction heat sealing process for heat sealing the metal foil wad elements in a closure to a container to be closed by the closure, during which operation each closure passes beneath an induction coil of an induction heat sealing apparatus.
This sensor includes a magnetic field sensing coil designed to be exposed to the same high frequency (HF) magnetic flux as the metal foil wad elements of the closures receive during the induction heat sealing operation.
A signal is produced proportional to the peak value of the magnetic field as picked up by the sensing coil and an overall power profile as detected by the sensing coil.
The signal and the resultant power profile are converted into a frequency modulated radio frequency signal, which is transmitted to a remote receiver in real time. Then the signal is converted into digital data, which are stored in a digital storage device and transferred to a means for processing the data.
The invention may also have a power supply of different configurations, such as a means for using power from the measured field for the sensor, a rechargeable battery, or a replaceable battery. Moreover, the transmitting means may be a wireless transmitter.
In general, the present invention provides several exposure analysis systems with accurate power profiles and other important information to calibrate induction heating processes used in container sealing for pharmaceuticals, or induction metal hardening or annealing of parts.

Magnetic field exposure sensor and analysis system


A method is performed at an electronic device that includes magnetic random access memory (MRAM). The method includes loading the MRAM with data including main data, first error correcting data, and second error correcting data. The MRAM comprises a plurality of MRAM cells characterized by a first magnetic anisotropy corresponding to a first error rate at a predefined temperature that exceeds a threshold for correcting errors using only the first error correcting data. The method further includes, after loading the MRAM with the data, heating the MRAM to the predefined temperature and correcting errors in the main data using both the first error correcting data and the second error correcting data. The method further includes after correcting the errors in the main data, erasing, from the MRAM, the second error correcting data and maintaining, on the MRAM, the first error correcting data.

Reflow soldering is a process in which a solder paste (e.g., a sticky mixture of powdered solder and flux) is used to temporarily attach one or thousands of tiny electrical components to their contact pads, after which the entire assembly is subjected to controlled heat (e.g., via infrared thermal treatment). The solder paste reflows in a molten state, creating permanent solder joints. Reflow soldering can thus be used, for example, to attach a silicon chip to a printed circuit board or during chip packaging.
In order to keep costs down, manufacturers typically store firmware or other data on chips prior to the attaching the chips to larger devices and/or a packages via reflow soldering. The information stored in memory must therefore be resilient to the harsh thermal treatment of reflow soldering (e.g., 220-260° C. for 3 minutes).

Error recovery in magnetic random access memory after reflow soldering


A shipping carton adapted to hold sheet products in packages is provided. The shipping carton includes a carton having an internal compartment configured to hold packages of sheet products. The carton has a first pull tab and a second pull tab. A tear strip is connected to the first pull tab and it extends about an inner surface of an inner perimeter of the carton to connect to the second pull tab. The tear strip is configured such that when a user pulls as least one of the first and second pull tabs, the carton is separated into two separate containers. A shipping assembly and a method of using a shipping carton are also provided.

Sheet products, such as paper towels, facial tissue, commercial wipers, and so forth, are shipped to their final destination in shipping cartons. Such shipping cartons are often large and bulky, so that a great number of packages of sheet products may be contained in each shipping carton.
Cleaning personnel are often required to handle the shipping cartons to obtain the packaged sheet products for distribution to bathrooms, bedrooms, commercial kitchens, and so forth. Therefore, the cleaning personnel must open the shipping cartons and retrieve a sufficient number of packages which are then stacked on cleaning carts for distribution.
The cleaning carts have dimensions such that it is impractical to place large shipping cartons on the cleaning cart. Therefore, the shipping carton may be retained in a utility closet, and so forth, until all of the packaged sheet products are removed. Then, the shipping carton must be disposed of.
The separate packages of sheet products are often stacked on lower shelves of the cleaning cart, so that other items, such as cleaning solutions, wipers, and so forth, are readily accessed on an upper shelf. Such separate packages are easy to knock off of the cleaning cart, or inadvertently opened, and so forth, thereby causing waste.
At times, a group of packaged sheet products are placed in separate boxes, and the boxes are disposed in a shipping carton. However, in this instance, the shipping carton must be opened, each box removed, and the shipping carton discarded. Similarly, each box must be opened to access the packaged sheet products, and each box must be disposed of. While boxes may be sized to fit on a cleaning cart, providing boxes with a shipping carton increases costs.
It would be desirable to have a shipping carton which is configured such that it may be separated into two separate containers. Each container desirably would be configured to fit on the lower shelves of a cleaning cart. Further, each container would provide a large opening to provide easy access to the packaged sheet products. Therefore, the shipping carton would be used to reduce space needed to store the shipping carton. Further such use of a shipping carton would reduce waste of the packaged sheet products by containing and controlling the packaged products in a desirable location on the cleaning cart, while providing easy access and without creating any additional cost.

Shipping carton with pull tabs and tear strip