Disclosed herein is a cover sheet supply apparatus having variable clamps for a thermoforming machine. The apparatus includes a support frame (100); longitudinal guides (200) which are disposed in the support frame and each of which includes a longitudinal rail (210) and a longitudinal fixed unit (220); lateral guides (300) which are disposed in the support frame on opposite sides of the longitudinal guides, and each of which includes a lateral rail (310) and a lateral fixed unit (320); longitudinal movable clamps (230) which are installed on each longitudinal rail and are connected to each other by a longitudinal link (400); lateral movable clamps (330) which are installed on each lateral rail and are connected to each other by a lateral link (500); a lateral moving means (600) which moves the longitudinal guides in the lateral direction; and a longitudinal moving means (700) which moves the lateral guides in the longitudinal direction.

Generally, thermoforming machines are used to manufacture interior materials of vehicles, for example, door trims, instrument panels, dashboards, headliners, carpets, luggage boards, etc. of vehicles.
Particularly, the thermoforming machines are mainly used to adhere a cover sheet to the surface of a substrate of a door trim of a vehicle. Door trims for vehicles typically have a variety of shapes depending on the models of vehicles such that parts of speakers, power windows, etc. of the corresponding vehicle models can be installed in the door trims. Given this, various techniques related to methods of adhering a cover sheet to a substrate of a door trim have been developed.
Generally, a method of manufacturing a door trim for vehicles includes: placing a hard substrate, formed in a predetermined shape by a forming apparatus, on a lower mold; placing a cover sheet, heated by a heater, on the hard substrate; and moving an upper mold downwards to compress the cover sheet onto the substrate.
Matching the size of the cover sheet with that of the door trim is followed by heating the cover sheet using the heater and compressing it onto the substrate of the door trim.
However, when the cover sheet is heated by the heater, it is expanded, so that the cover sheet may become larger than the door trim.
As a result, there is a problem in that cover sheets that become larger than the size of the door trim are discarded during a production process.
Such cover sheets are selectively used only in luxury cars because they are relatively expensive. As the number of cover sheets discarded is increased, the unit cost of production is also increased.
Furthermore, if the cover sheet is expanded, it sags downwards. In this case, the cover sheet wrinkles during the forming process, thus becoming a defective product.
In an effort to overcome the above problems, apparatuses which include variable clamps arranged along the perimeter of a cover sheet to clamp the cover sheet expanded by heat and stretch it has been proposed.
These conventional apparatuses with the variable clamps can clamp the perimeter of the cover sheet that has been expanded and softened and stretch the cover sheet in opposite directions, but cannot stretch the cover sheet in a direction perpendicular to the opposite directions. In other words, these apparatuses cannot adjust the distance between the clamps that face each other. Therefore, these conventional apparatuses cannot uniformly stretch the entire area of the cover sheet. As a result, the effect of reducing the consumption of material needed for cover sheets is comparatively low, and it is difficult to enhance the quality of the products to a satisfactory level.
To solve these problems related to the conventional techniques introduced in Korean Patent Application Nos. 20-2004-0036254 and 20-2002-0021114, entitled "Apparatus for adhering interior material or cover sheet for door trims", an apparatus for supplying a cover sheet for vacuum forming machines was proposed in Korean Patent Registration No. 10-0837314, which was filed by the inventor of the present invention. Detailed description of this apparatus of No. 10-0837314 will be omitted.

Cover sheet supply apparatus having variable clamp for thermoforming machine


A patterned mask is provided on a surface by formulating a liquid, 100% solids-type thermally curable mask composition, applying the composition as a film to the surface, selectively thermally exposing the film in the desired mask pattern using a focused beam of heat energy without use of an interposed patterned mask, and then developing away the film areas not thermally exposed so as to produce a patterned mask. The invention enables the elimination of potentially troublesome volatile solvent carriers or diluents from the composition, while at the same time still enabling production of finely-defined patterns without having to bring a patterned mask (cf. phototool) into contact with the composition. Similarly, the expense involved with use of dry film photo-sensitive masks is avoided.

The present invention relates to the fabrication of printed circuits, and more particularly to solder masks utilized in connection with printed circuit fabrication.
A solder mask comprises a resin coating which is provided on a printed circuit board surface in order to prevent all but selected areas of the board (e.g., metallized through-holes and their surrounding pads; lands for surface mounted electronic components) from coming into contact with solder during operations which are designed to selectively provide solder at those areas (e.g., by tin-lead reflow/fusing or hot air solder levelling) and during operations which are designed to solder-connect electronic components at those areas (e.g., wave soldering). Solder masks also serve as a means for generally protecting surface circuitry against scratches, dirt contamination, corrosion, and the like.
Of necessity, solder masks must be applied to the board surfaces in a predetermined pattern so that holes, pads, lands, etc. are not covered thereby. One means for effecting this patterned application is to provide a liquid resinous composition which can be cured (cross-linked) either by heat or by radiation-induced mechanism. The composition is screen printed onto the board directly in the desired pattern through an appropriately-stenciled screen, and then baked or blanket-exposed to radiation (e.g., UV), as the case may be, in order to cure the patterned composition into a suitable solder mask. An advantage of such solder mask compositions is that they can be formulated as essentially 100% solids compositions, i.e., liquid compositions but without need for a volatile solvent carrier which might pose health concerns in handling of the compositions and during evaporation after application.
A disadvantage of screen-printed solder mask compositions, however, is the difficulty in applying them in the precisely defined patterns dictated by modern day fine line, closely-spaced circuitry. The compositions tend to bleed through the stencil onto board areas where solder mask is not desired, necessitating constant monitoring and touch-up in order to blot away such areas before final cure takes place.
Much improved fine line definition is attainable utilizing photo-sensitive solder mask compositions which are applied in generally unpatterned form (e.g., as a continuous coating) over the circuit board surface, followed by exposure of selected areas of the composition to radiation of suitable wavelength so as to effect radiation-induced curing of the composition at such selected areas. A developer is then employed to remove unexposed composition and produce the desired solder mask pattern.
In known methods for utilizing photo-sensitive solder mask compositions, the imagewise exposure to radiation is accomplished using an appropriately patterned phototool which permits transmission of radiation (e.g., UV light) therethrough, to the composition coating, only in the desired pattern, and for the most precise line definition, the phototool must be arranged in direct contact with the composition. For this reason, 100% solids-type compositions cannot be employed, i.e, it is not possible to place a phototool in direct contact with these wet (liquid) compositions. Rather, the photo-sensitive solder mask composition must be formulated as a solvent-carried resin system which is applied to the board as a liquid coating and then evaporated to substantial dryness so as to enable arrangement of the phototool directly thereon. In turn, then, this necessity brings into play the earlier noted problems and concerns with volatile solvents.
Dry film solder masks avoid, at least for the printed circuit manufacturer, the need to deal with solvent-carried photo-sensitive solder mask compositions. However, dry films are inherently more expensive than liquid photo-sensitive compositions, and require more expensive application techniques and equipment.


The method is disclosed that Si+ is implanted on Si substrate to enhance strain relaxation at the interface between the metamorphic GexSi1−x buffer layers and Si substrate, in order to facilitate the growth of a high quality Ge on Si substrate. And several GexSi1−x buffer layers (Si/Ge0.8Si0.2/Ge0.9Si0.1/Ge) are grown on top of Si substrate by UHVCVD. Then grow pure Ge layer of low dislocation density on GexSi1−x buffer layer. Finally, grow up high efficiency III-V solar cell on GexSi1−x buffer layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for forming a GexSi1−x buffer layer, particularly to a method for forming a GexSi1−x buffer layer of solar-energy battery on a silicon wafer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The germanium-based (Ge) as a base substrate of InGaP/InGaAs/GaAs/Ge solar cell has become the main structure of III-V triple-junction solar cell, since the emergence of high-efficiency III-V triple-junction solar cell facing the world. In other words, these solar cells are composed of the gallium arsenide (GaAs) material system. At present, a lot of materials can be matched with the GaAs lattice, such as InGaAsP, InGaAlP, and AlGaAs etc. The growth technology of these materials is very mature, which is used by the industry widely. Due to these materials own the larger energy gap, they are able to be used on the junction with energy gap greater than GaAs. When the energy gap is smaller than GaAs, except germanium, it is very difficult to find other mature materials which can match with the GaAs lattice.
In the conventional GaAs solar cell fabrication process, the Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) is usually employed to deposit the Ge layer, InGaP layer, InGaAs layer, and the buffer layers sequentially on the germanium substrate by series packing, finally the electrodes and anti-reflect layers are coated on both ends of above-mentioned layers to form the finished product of solar cell. The absorption spectrum distribution and power generation efficiency of solar cell will be influenced by the composed elements of every conjunction layer, the lattice matching of every epitaxial layer, and the quality of crystal-type, in order to fabricate the high-efficiency solar cell that is best the lattice matching and the best energy gap distribution, also, the composed elements of every conjunction layer, the lattice matching of every epitaxial layer, and the quality of crystal-type will often become the key-point of bottleneck and fabrication yield for the technological development of solar cell.
Thus in the conventional technological area of solar energy, the germanium substrate is collected. The III-V semiconductors are grown on the germanium substrate. The total weight is relatively heavy, and the price of germanium substrate is quite higher as well. The maximum size of germanium substrate is only 4 inches, and it is unable to produce larger product. Thus the cost of Ge-based solar cell cannot be reduced for the industrial requirement.
In addition, the conventional method usually use Si1−xGex (x=0˜1) to grow the germanium on the silicon wafer. This method has the shortcomings, such as thicker SiGe buffer layer (up to about 10 μm), higher manufacturing cost and difficult fabrication process integration. And the surface of Ge will be rougher due to the generation of cross hatch pattern.
Thus in order to respond the demand for the related technology of solar cell, it is necessary to develop relevant technologies of solar cell, to save the cost of manpower and time, and to form the high-efficiency solar cell.

Method for forming a GexSi1-x buffer layer of solar-energy battery on a silicon wafer


A battery pack is provided for use with a mobile phone. The battery pack includes audio signal power amplifier circuitry with an inductive coil. The inductive coil boosts the magnetic field strength of the audio signal received by the phone, so that a tele-coil circuit for a hearing aid can be used to pick up the audio signal received by the phone. Consequently, the picked up audio signal can be discerned from the magnetic noise created by the phone. Also, the use of the battery coil allows a tele-coil pick up of the audio signal even if the phone has a speaker that does not generate an appreciable magnetic field.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the communications field and, in particular, to a battery for use with a mobile phone in conjunction with a hearing aid device.
2. Description of Related Art
A "tele-coil" is an inductive device that is placed near a telephone speaker and used to couple audio signals from the speaker to a hearing aid. Essentially, a pick-up coil is placed into the magnetic field of the speaker. The audio signals induced in the coil are amplified and coupled to the speaker or transducer of the hearing aid. Consequently, the tele-coil facilitates the use of telephones by people who have hearing problems.
The Hearing Aid Compatibility Act of 1988 requires all fixed and mobile telephones to be hearing aid compatible. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has set forth these requirements in 47 C.F.R. .sctn. 68.316, which states that the axial magnetic field generated at a telephone speaker by a -10dBV signal at 1kHz should be greater than -22dBA/m. The radial magnetic field generated at the speaker should be greater than -27dBA/m. However, although these requirements may be appropriate for fixed telephones operating in a relatively noise-free environment, they are not suitable for those environments where there is substantial noise.
For example, a mobile telephone employed in the North American Personal Communications System (PCS) can transmit at full power (1/2W) and generate peak axial noise of about -16dBA/m. A standard speaker used in a PCS mobile phone generates an axial magnetic field of about -17dBA/m at 80dBSPL. Consequently, the noise generated by a PCS mobile phone speaker produces a substantial amount of interference in a hearing aid that uses a tele-coil, and the tele-coil user is unable to distinguish the audio signal from the speaker-generated noise.
A different problem encountered by tele-coil users is that newer mobile phones utilize piezoelectric speakers that do not generate a magnetic field. Consequently, a tele-coil cannot be used to couple the audio signal from the speaker in such a mobile phone.


The present invention is a contact lens treatment solution containing the following copolymer A and copolymer B in a ratio of A/B=40/1 to 5/1 (by weight). According to the present invention, there can be provided a contact lens treatment solution capable of removing dirt having adhered to contact lens surfaces, capable of improving lubricity of contact lens surfaces and capable of imparting persisting hydrophilicity to contact lens surfaces, by simple immersion treatment.

Generally in wearing contact lenses, dirt of proteins, lipids and others derived from tear glands, eye discharges, sebum, cosmetics and the like may be often deposited thereon, and such dirt may often worsen the wearability, lower the corrected eyesight, and cause infectious diseases. Therefore, various measures against CL dirtiness have been developed.
As approaches heretofore taken for removing dirt having adhered to CL, a method of washing CL with a detergent that contains a surfactant, an oxidizing agent and a polishing agent is widely used. Further, as typified by PTL 1, a method of adding an enzyme to a CL detergent to efficiently remove dirt from CL is also widely used. In these approaches, the essential theme is to remove dirt having adhered to CL, which, however, could not attain a sufficient effect in prevention of dirt adhesion to CL.
As opposed to this, an approach of hydrophilizing CL surfaces is known as an approach for preventing dirt adhesion to CL. For example, PTL 2 proposes a method of hydrophilizing the surface of CL, using a solution that contains a phosphorylcholine group-containing polymer. However, the essential theme of the method is to prevent adhesion of dirt to CL, by which, therefore, a sufficient effect in removing dirt having adhered to CL could not be attained.
As an approach of satisfying both removal of dirt having adhered to CL and prevention of dirt adhesion to CL, PTL 3 proposes a CL treatment solution that contains a phosphorylcholine group-containing polymer, an alkylamide polyoxyethylene ether sulfate salt, and a hydrolase in a specific ratio. Using the treatment solution, dirt of proteins and lipids can be removed, and additionally adsorption of dirt of proteins and lipids can be prevented by imparting hydrophilicity to CL surfaces.
Further recently, a technique of imparting lubricity to CL surfaces has become desired in addition to the above-mentioned prevention of dirt adhesion to CL and removal of dirt having adhered to CL. Lubricity is said to be an important parameter for improving wearability of CL (for example, NPL 1).

Abstract: Copolymer A: a copolymer obtained by copolymerization of a monomer (a) represented by formula (1) and a monomer (b) represented by formula (2), in which the copolymerization ratio of the monomer (a) to the monomer (b), a/b=7/3 to 9/1 (by mol), and having a weight-average molecular weight of 400,000 to 800,000.Copolymer B: a copolymer obtained by copolymerization of a monomer (a) represented by the formula (1) and a monomer (b) represented by the formula (2), in which the copolymerization ratio of the monomer (a) to the monomer (b), a/b=2/1 to 8/1 (by mol), and having a weight-average molecular weight of 1,000,000 to 1,500,000.


A reader and pressure pad apparatus is disclosed for urging documents with various physical characteristics to conform to the shape of the reader, increasing the efficiency of the reader. The reader has a curved convex surface with a centrally located read head gap and the pressure pad, an oppositely curved concave surface, which is biased against the read head in order to improve the contact area between the document and the read area.

In ongoing attempts to provide more efficient and convenient service to customers, many retailers have begun to use "point of sale check printers" to reduce the time required for a customer to manually fill out and sign a check. Most people have encountered delays at checkout lines when another customer waits until all of his or her items are checked or scanned to begin to fill out a check for the total purchase. Faster service is provided if the retailer uses a point of sale check printer. A point of sale check printer automatically enters information such as the date, amount of purchase and the name of the retail establishment in the proper spaces on a check, leaving only the signature line blank for the customer to sign. The process of paying by check is therefore made similar to a purchase by credit card, in which the date, the amount of the sale and the name of the retail establishment are provided for the customer, who then needs only to sign a receipt to complete the transaction.
It is known in the art to encode data on a check with Magnetic Ink Character Recognition ("MICR") technology. In MICR technology, ferromagnetic indicia, or "magnetic ink" is used to print the customer's account number, a number identifying the bank, and the check number on each check. In the typical embodiment, alphanumeric characters are printed on the front face of a check with magnetic ink. The ferromagnetic particles in the magnetic ink are capable of holding a magnetic charge. Accordingly, when the characters are brought into proximity to a magnet, the magnetic ink is magnetically charged. The magnetically charged characters are then readable by a MICR reader. MICR readers read this information, for example, during the check clearing process to insure the proper account is charged with the amount for which the check is drawn.
MICR readers consist of a magnetic read head, a magnet, a device to advance the check (or other document printed with magnetic ink) past the read head and the magnet, and a device for holding the check or other document in proper relation to the read head. The read head typically has a curved surface and contains an active area, which is a narrow gap along the surface of the read head. Various approaches have been taken to keep documents in proper contact with the read head, including rollers, flat guides and high friction pads.
For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,801,804, by Von Glahan, et al., a mechanism comprising a rotating circular read head and a serpentine belt held against an arc of a rotating drum is disclosed. The methodology implemented in this patent requires several bearings along with the belt itself which are all susceptible to failure. No provision is made for documents having different thicknesses or stiffnesses. Further, the document being read must contact the belt and the drum throughout the extent of the contact area therebetween. The belt is always in contact with the roller, even with document present. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,031,359, by Christou et al., A Straightline Mechanism for Reading Documents, is disclosed. In this apparatus, no provision is made for holding a document securely against the read head to improve the efficiency of the reader. Further, the pressure pad disclosed within this patent is in the form of a metallic spring that will only permit a document to be fed through the apparatus in one direction. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,442,427 by Kogan, a magnetic transducer pressure pad is disclosed. The pressure pad is a flexible belt made of elastomeric material. The belt is spring-loaded against a read head and the pressure pad must contact the read head for the system to work. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,309,302 by Vollmann, is disclosed. A pressure pad is contained within a removable cassette. A read head is provided external to the cassette. The contact with a read head is aided by a spring-loaded felt pad with metal guides to advance and bias the pressure pad against the read head in a direction perpendicular to the path of travel of the tape. Further, no attempt has been made in this patent to conform the shape of the pressure pad to the read head.
Current point of sale check printers contain MICR readers for reading MICR encoding on the check and transmitting the encoded data to credit verification agencies. After the information regarding the customer's bank and account number is transmitted to the credit verification agency, a decision may then be made by the retailer whether to accept the presented check. The verification step is not necessary, as some point of sale check printers merely read and record the MICR-encoded data. After the MICR is read and any verification or approval completed, the back of the check is endorsed or franked.
Although the physical locations for endorsement and printing purchase information on checks have become somewhat standardized in recent years, other physical characteristics of checks such as their thickness and stiffness continue to vary widely from one customer's check to the next. Checks having differing widths may have MICR-encoded data in different relative positons. Checks to be read by a MICR reader may have creases or wrinkles from having been folded. Further, differing atmospheric conditions such as humidity levels may cause paper checks to respond differently inside a point of sale check printer. Finally, the printing in magnetic ink on a check may vary widely, such that one check may have a substantial quantity of magnetic ink and the next may have a lesser or even insufficient quantity of ink, making reading of the magnetic ink information difficult unless the check is held in close proximity to the read head.
What is needed is a means for reliable reading of MICR characters on checks and other documents having a variety of physical characteristics and under a variety of physical conditions.

Curvilinear pressure pad for improved MICR reading and method

International Business Machines Corporation


An interface circuit includes a detector to detect a particular pattern from a sequence of output data, a shift clock generator to change a cycle of a shift clock according to the detection result, a shift register section to change a data output width by the shift clock and output it as drive data, and an open-drain output section including an N-channel transistor driven by the drive data and a pull-up resistor. The detector detects a sequence where the current output data is “0” and the next output data is “1”, and the shift clock generator shortens and extends the cycles of the shift clock corresponding to “0” and “1”, respectively.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an interface circuit including an open-drain or open-collector transistor.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 7 shows an example of a serial interface circuit according to a related art. The serial interface circuit 201 includes a shift register section 210 that receives data in parallel format through an internal bus and outputs the data in serial format to a receiving end, and a baud rate generator 220 that supplies a shift clock to the shift register section 210.
During data transmission, the shift register section 210 receives data in parallel format from a controller (Central Processing Unit or CPU) or the like through an internal bus and outputs the data in serial format through an input/output terminal 216. During data reception, the shift register section 210 receives data in serial format from a receiving end through the input/output terminal 216 and an input buffer 219 and sends the data in parallel format to the CPU. The shift register section 210 includes 8-bit shift registers b0 to b7, for example, and outputs 8-bit serial data each time. The output of the shift register section 210 is connected to the gate of an N-channel transistor 215a of an output section 215 through an inverter 214. The drain of the N-channel transistor 215a is connected to the input/output terminal 216. Thus, the output section 215 has an open-drain configuration.
The input/output terminal 216 is connected to a bus line 217 and further connected to another serial interface circuit (not shown) through the bus line 217. If any of serial interface circuits that are connected to the bus line 217 does not output Low level, the voltage of the bus line 217 is pulled up to a power supply voltage through a pull-up resistor 218.
The baud rate generator 220 receives a basic clock and generates a shift clock at a prescribed frequency (baud rate) The baud rate generator 220 includes a counter 221, a comparator 222 and a ½ frequency divider 223. The baud rate generator 220 counts a basic clock by the counter 221, supplies a clock to the ½ frequency divider 223 at the timing corresponding to a set value of the comparator 222, and outputs a ½ frequency-divided clock as a shift clock. In accordance with the ½ frequency-divided shift clock, shift registers 211 of the shift register section 210 sequentially output data in serial format.
FIG. 8 is a waveform chart of the serial interface circuit. A shift clock having a constant cycle T0 is generated by the baud rate generator, and the data stored in each shift register is output in synchronization with the shift clock. Because the output section 215 has an open-drain configuration, the waveform of data output at a transmitting end is slightly rounded when outputting a High-level signal.
At a receiving end, the output from transmitting end is evaluated with respect to a prescribed threshold level and thereby converted into a pulse signal as shown in the determination result at the receiving end in FIG. 8. However, although the cycle of the shift clock at the transmitting end is constant at T0, the data line is less apt to become High level due to pull-up resistance and therefore the rising edge of the High-level signal is rounded as shown in FIG. 8, which causes the data rate in the receiving-end determination result to appear not to have a constant width. Specifically, the period of Low level before shifting to High level is T2 that is longer than the original cycle T0, and the period of High level after shifting from Low level is T1 that is shorter than the original cycle T0.
A receiver for remote control (which is referred to hereinafter simply as a receiver) with an aim to prevent an error due to a change in pulse width during data exchange with a transmitting end is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 10-167009 (Yamamoto). The receiver determines if a bit is "0" or "1" based on a difference in pulse width between High level and Low level. Specifically, it evaluates a received signal with respect to a set value that is set to be narrower or wider than a predetermined pulse width, thereby enabling the bit decision even when a pulse width has changed.
However, the technique taught by Yamamoto needs to add a function for enabling accurate decision even with a changed pulse width to a receiving end, and it is necessary to add the function to each receiving device if there are a large number of receiving devices to receive data from a transmitting end, which causes an increase in system size and costs. Further, because the technique corrects a received signal from the transmitting end by estimating a change, it sometimes fails to provide accurate decision depending on the degree of change. It thus sometimes fails to ensure a desired decision accuracy because it is a system to provide accurate decision based on a change that has already occurred.
Furthermore, because the period of High level at the receiving end is shortened in the open-drain output as described above, it hampers the high-speed transmission. An increase in transmission speed causes failure to transmit a High-level signal to the receiving end, in which case it is difficult to make a correction at the receiving end.

Interface circuit including a shift clock generator to generate a shift clock having different cycles according to data sequence of data string


A structure including a circuit board including a plane and a pin-in-hole component; and a heat transfer device, where the heat transfer device is thermally connected to the plane at a leading edge of the circuit board, the heat transfer device transfers heat from a wave of molten solder to the plane.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the manufacture of electronic circuit boards, and, in particular, to a method and apparatus for transferring heat during a wave solder technique.
2. Background of Invention
Wave solder is a common method of connecting multiple electronic components or connectors to a circuit board using a wave of molten solder. A circuit board populated with pin-in-hole (PIH) electronic components or connectors is passed over a wave of molten solder. The molten solder wets the leads of the components and fills the plated-thru-holes (PTH) of the circuit board.
Typical wave solder techniques may suffer from a problem referred to as the 'leading edge' effect. The leading edge effect may be experienced when the PIH components at a leading edge of the circuit board experience higher hole fill defects than the PIH components at a trailing edge of the circuit board. The leading edge of the circuit board is the edge that contacts the wave of molten solder first, and the trailing edge is the edge that contacts the wave of molten solder last. The leading edge effect may be caused by a temperature differential between the PIH components at the leading edge of the circuit board versus the PIH components at the trailing edge of the circuit board. The temperature differential may be explained by a pre-heating effect experienced by the PIH components at the trailing edge of the circuit board. During a wave soldering technique heat may transfer from the leading edge of the circuit board to the trailing edge of the circuit board via a power plane or a ground plane, and in turn pre-heat the PIH components at the trailing edge of the circuit board. The pre-heating heating effect witnessed by the PIH components at the trailing edge of the circuit board may be responsible for the difference in hole fill defects between PIH components at the leading edge of the circuit board versus the trailing edge of the circuit board.
Therefore, pre-heating the PIH components at the leading edge of the circuit board to minimize or eliminate unwanted hole fill defects may, among other things, be desirable.

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention relates to a method for the formulation of fibrin sealant in a single delivery system. The method involves mixing a fibrinogen/Factor XIII precipitate solution with thrombin under conditions such that thrombin clotting activity is inhibited and said mixture is applied to a body site under conditions which activate the thrombin to convert fibrinogen into fibrin sealant. A single device, syringe or container, can be used to apply the fibrin sealant formulation.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method of fibrin sealant preparation and delivery, which permits use of a single delivery device. The method may be used for autologous, single-donor, pooled-donor or cell culture-derived fibrin sealant for various human and veterinary surgical procedures. The invention further relates to a kit suitable for use in such a method.
2. BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The blood coagulation system is a complex series of proteins and factors which are activated sequentially to produce a fibrin gel or clot. In the final stages of the process, fibrinogen is cleaved by thrombin to generate fibrin monomer, which rapidly polymerizes and is cross-linked by activated Factor XIII to form a fibrin matrix.
Preparations of human coagulation factors, including fibrinogen and thrombin, have been used extensively in surgery over the last ten years (Schlag et al (eds), Fibrin Sealant in Operative Medicine, vol 1-7, Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg). These biological fibrin sealants promote hemostasis and wound healing by sealing leakage from tissues, sutures, staples, and prostheses, and are particularly useful during open heart surgery in heparinized patients. The sealants also have use as an adhesive for the bonding of tissues and they reduce the amount of blood required for transfusions by controlling intraoperative bleeding. Their effectiveness is reflected in the extensive range of surgical applications for which they have been used, including cardiovascular surgery, plastic surgery, orthopedics, urology, obstetrics and gynecology, dentistry, maxillofacial and ophthalmic surgery.
Fibrin sealant products prepared from pooled human plasma fibrinogen/Factor XIII are available commercially in Europe (Tissucol/Tisseel, Immuno AG, Vienna, Austria and Beriplast P, Hoechst, West Germany) but such products have not received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval. As an alternative, some hospitals are preparing fibrin sealant in-house using the patient's own blood (autologous) or single-donor (homologous) plasma as a source of fibrinogen and Factor XIII.
The plasma fibrinogen/Factor XIII component of fibrin sealant is typically prepared by freezing plasma at a temperature below -20.degree. C. overnight, slowly thawing the material at 0.degree.-4.degree. C., centrifuging, and transferring the cryoprecipitate to a syringe or spray container (Dresdale et al, Ann. Thorac. Surg. 40:385 1985; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,627,879). The thrombin component, usually purified from bovine plasma, can be obtained commercially and is typically prepared in a separate syringe or spray container. In use, the two solutions are delivered simultaneously or alternately to generate fibrin sealant at the site of the wound; alternatively, the sealant is applied to a collagen matrix (e.g. Gelfoam or Avitene) and then pressed against the site (Lupinetti et al, J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. 90:502 1985; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,453,939).
The use of fibrin sealant in surgery has been limited by problems associated with mixing and delivery of the sealant to the wound. Generation of fibrin sealant at the wound site is currently achieved using a two syringe or spray container system to prevent premature mixing and clotting of the components. Such two syringe systems are, however, unsatisfactory due to the awkwardness of filling and manipulating the delivery devices at the wound site. In addition, the syringe system is accompanied by problems of inadequate mixing of the two solutions, resulting in the formation of a weak clot. Alternatively, the two syringes can be placed into a holder designed such that the solutions are permitted to mix before entering the needle (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,735,616, 4,359,049, and 4,631,055). The mixing chamber directs the flow of the separate components through two narrow channels and forces mixing at the top of the outflow needle. Although the strength of the clot obtained using this method is reproducible, the needle frequently clogs and must repeatedly be replaced.
In view of the problems inherent in the methodologies currently available for delivering fibrin sealant, the need for a simple, reproducible technique is clear. Such a technique must be convenient to use and must result in the formation, at a specific site, of a clot of appropriate strength. Such a delivery technique is provided by the invention disclosed herein.


A cold ambient battery chilling mode of an electric vehicle may be implemented if the vehicle battery is being charged when the ambient air temperature is low and a temperature of the battery is elevated. During cold ambient charging, coolant flows through a heater core and through a battery heat exchanger. Cold ambient air may be utilized to cool the coolant flowing through the heater core, and coolant from the heater core flows through the battery heat exchanger and cools the battery during charging. A battery chiller may be deactivated when the cold ambient battery chilling mode is activated to reduce energy consumption.

Various climate control (HVAC) systems for motor vehicles have been developed. Existing HVAC systems may be configured to control a temperature of a vehicle cabin by heating or cooling air supplied to the cabin. Electric vehicles may include a thermal control system to control a temperature of a vehicle battery. The battery thermal control system of an electric vehicle may be operably interconnected with a cabin HVAC system of an electric vehicle.

Cold ambient battery cooling utilizing the climate cabin heating system


An engine system includes a thrust chamber that has a cooling channel. The cooling channel is adapted to provide sustained cracking conditions for a fluid at steady-state operating conditions. A turbine has an input in fluid communication with an output of the cooling channel. A pump is mechanically coupled with the turbine and is in fluid communication with the cooling channel.

This disclosure relates to a thrust chamber of a rocket engine system that allows higher energy from hydrocarbon fuels.
Bi-propellant rocket engines are known and used to power aerospace vehicles. A typical bi-propellant rocket engine can utilize an expander cycle. The expander cycle typically involves heating the fuel, which is then expanded over a turbine drive system to drive a propellant pump before delivery to the combustion chamber.
Typically, the expander cycle fuel is a light-molecule fuel, such as liquid hydrogen, methane or propane. The expander cycle fuel has a high specific heat that is advantageous to cooling the chamber and/or nozzle and providing the energy to power the propellant pumps. Heavier molecule hydrocarbon fuels have not found widespread use in expander cycle rocket engines because at high temperatures, heavier fuels tend to form coke deposits that block the passages and foul the system.


The problem of synchronization of the handover of the CS and PS resources to the same target cell during DTM handover is solved without affecting the performance of the CS handover. The mechanism of synchronizing the handover of the PS and CS resources is supported by the following functions: (1) resource indications on the CS and PS handover signalling to indicate to target cell network nodes that the CS and PS handover is ongoing at the same time for the same MS; (2) allocated resources indications on the CS and PS handover signalling to indicate to the source cell nodes that there are resources available in the target cell for CS and PS resources; (3) management of the synchronization of the CS and PS handover in the source and target cell.

Dual Transfer Mode (DTM) is specified in 3GPP TS 43.055 V6.7.0 (2004-11), 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group GSM/EDGE, Radio Access Network; Dual Transfer Mode (DTM); Stage 2 (Release 6). In this dual transfer mode, where the mobile station (MS) has simultaneous Circuit-Switched (CS) and Packet-Switched (PS) connections, a handover procedure is defined only for the CS resources. The details of a handover of CS resources is being specified for general handover purposes in 3GPP TS 23.009 V6.0.0 (2004-12), Technical Specification, 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Core Network; Handover procedures (Release 6).
In DTM handover, the PS resources are torn down and only re-established once the MS has successfully completed the handover. The handover of PS resources is being standardized for general purposes in the 3GPP TSG (Technical Specification Group) "GERAN" (GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) Radio Access Network) in the technical specification 3GPP TS 43.129 v6.0.0 (2004-11), 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Group GERAN, Packet-switched handover for GERAN A/Gb mode; Stage 2 (Release 6).
FIG. 1 of TS 43.129 shows a reference architecture for PS handover in GERAN A/Gb mode including a Core Network (CN) with an MSC connected to a first SGSN via a Gs interface, the first SGSN connected to a second SGSN and to a GGSN via Gn interfaces, the MSC also connected to a PSTN with the first SGSN connected to other networks via a Gp interface, and with the GGSN connected to other networks via Go and Gi interfaces. For the radio access network, a BSS/GERAN is shown connected to the MSC of the CN via an A interface and to the first SGSN via a Gb interface. The BSS/GERAN includes a BSC connected to BTSs by Abis interfaces. One of the BTSs is shown in communication with an MS via a Um (wireless) interface. An RNS (or another BSS) is also shown with an RNC (or BSC) connected to NodeBs each having cells with Uu interfaces also capable of communicating with the MS. The RNC (or BSS) is shown connected to the MSC via an Iu-CS interface and to the second SGSN via an Iu-PS interface. The figure shows both user traffic and signalling on most of these interfaces. It will be understood from the foregoing that in the case of a handover involving both CS and PS resources, there is a longer path for the PS signalling which will take longer than the CS signalling.
As suggested above, the DTM procedures specified in 3GPP TS 43.055 only enable the handover of CS resources, while PS resources have to be (re-)established after the MS's successful access in the new cell.
It has been shown that for such an MS in DTM, the PS service interruption at handover is substantial (3.4 s in the Inter-BSC Inter-MSC Inter-SGSN case, with approximately 2.7 s induced by Routing Area Update procedure). See PS Service Interruption Estimations for DTM Operation, 3GPP TSG GERAN #17bis, Edinburgh, Scotland, 12-16 Jan. 2004, Source: Siemens; Tdoc G2-040049, Agenda Item 188.8.131.52. This interruption is not tolerable for services with stringent delay requirements, e.g., PS conversational video. Thus, the handover in the existing TS 43.055 specification introduces a problematic interruption of the PS service.
While Dual Transfer Mode (DTM) Enhancements have been proposed as a work item for GERAN A/Gb mode in 3GPP Release 6 (see Reduction of PS service interruption in Dual Transfer Mode in TSG GERAN #17, Budapest, Hungary, 17-21 Nov. 2003 in Tdoc GP-032548, Agenda item 6.7, see also GERAN Project Scheduling and open issues for GERAN in 3GPP GERAN TSG#22, Cape Town, 8-12 Nov. 2004 (GP-042836)), there is still an outstanding need to define improvements enabling combined handover of the CS and PS resources in dual transfer mode in order to minimize the end-to-end delays for real-time PS services. The service interruption required by the real-time PS services is a maximum of 150 ms.
There is no prior art solution enabling combined (parallel or simultaneous) handover of CS and PS resources.
The problem could be circumvented if the handover of the PS resources were to be enabled together with the handover of the CS resources either in parallel or simultaneously.
A problem in enabling the combined handover of CS and PS resources in parallel in DTM is that the CS and PS handover procedures are executed independently of each other and hence there might be a risk that one procedure completes before the other, for example, CS handover is completed prior to the PS Handover completion. This would lead to failing a handover for one of the CS or PS resources in DTM, although there were resources allocated in the target cell, the DTM handover would not be able to be performed. Therefore, there is a need to synchronize the PS and CS handover procedures in the source and target systems, such that the MS in DTM can continue with both the CS and PS sessions after handover at the same time.

Combined handover of the circuit-switched (CS) and packet-switched (PS) resources


A level sensor, i.e., a light receiving section (11X) having multiple light receiving elements (PDX1 to PDXn) arranged in parallel. In the level sensor, each two adjacent output terminals of the light receiving elements (PDX1 to PDXn) are connected by one of resistors (RX1 to RXn).

Heretofore, a level sensor having a plurality of light receiving elements arranged up and down in parallel has been known. For example, see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-309440.
Such a level sensor amplifies received light signals outputted from the light receiving elements with respective multiple amplifiers, compares signals outputted from the amplifiers with a threshold using respective multiple comparators, and obtains a level, i.e., the center position of a laser beam, based on a comparison signal outputted from each comparator.
In such level sensor, an amplifier and a comparator should be arranged for each light receiving element, thus increasing the circuit complexity and cost.
Accordingly, there is a need for a level sensor with which a light receiving position of a laser beam can be obtained by just providing a simple circuit.

Level sensor implemented with a plurality of light receiving elements


A method and a system for detecting presence of an application layer gateway (ALG) in a network path between an analog telephone adapter and a communications service provider (CSP), and transmitting a media message by bypassing the (ALG) are provided. A communication management application (CMA) detects, processes, and augments the media message sent by a first user device to a second user device. A message relay server (MRS) processes and manages the media message. The CMA receives the media message from the first user device and detects the presence of the ALG using a message echo server. The CMA scrambles the media message and transmits the scrambled media message to the MRS via a network. The ALG is bypassed due to non-recognition of the scrambled media message. The MRS unscrambles the scrambled media message and transmits the unscrambled media message to the CSP for forwarding to the second user device.

Consumer voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services offered by many communications service providers, for example, internet telephony service providers (ITSPs) are established by installing an analog telephone adapter at a subscriber's premises. The analog telephone adapter bridges an analog telephone, for example, a plain old telephone system (POTS) phone to the internet by exchanging signaling messages and media data such as audio data with the communications service providers. To use the VoIP service, the subscriber has to just pick up the POTS phone to make and receive calls in a manner similar to a conventional home phone service.
A session initiation protocol (SIP) is a typical VoIP signaling protocol with a message format similar to the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP). While the SIP may be transported securely over a transport layer security (TLS) protocol and/or a secure sockets layer (SSL) protocol, most communications service providers transport the SIP over a user datagram protocol (UDP) or a transmission control protocol (TCP). In the SIP, the transport addresses for communication between peers or users are embedded in signaling messages. A transport address is an internet protocol (IP) address: port combination where packets or messages are sent from or received at a peer. The transport address is of two types, for example, a public transport address and a private transport address. Users anywhere in the world can send packets to a public transport address. Only users in the same private network can send packets to a private transport address. Each user is required to indicate his/her transport address to another user for sending signaling messages and media data to each other.
An analog telephone adapter typically connects to a network via a home router. The analog telephone adapter indicates private transport addresses in session initiation protocol (SIP) messages. The home router replaces the private transport addresses in the IP header of the packets carrying these SIP messages with corresponding public transport addresses through network address translation (NAT), before the SIP messages are forwarded. Many home routers also have a gateway which is a network node equipped for interfacing a communications network with another communications network that uses different protocols. The gateway, for example, a SIP application layer gateway (ALG) is configured to augment VoIP signaling or SIP through the NAT. The SIP ALG replaces the private transport addresses in the SIP messages with corresponding public transport addresses before forwarding the SIP messages. The modified SIP messages appear to be corrupted if the SIP ALG is incorrectly configured and are therefore dropped by the communications service provider. Moreover, the communications service provider may be misled into believing that the analog telephone adapter is connected directly to the internet without a NAT and handles the SIP message differently, causing a communication breakdown between the analog telephone adapter and the communications service provider.
With conventional analog telephone adapter devices, communications service providers spend a lot of time diagnosing session initiation protocol (SIP) application layer gateway (ALG) related issues reported by their subscribers. To resolve this, the subscribers are advised to disable the SIP ALG option in the home router settings, or to replace the home router with a router that does not have the SIP ALG feature, or to disable the SIP ALG feature by reconfiguring the home router. However, reconfiguration is an expensive option for the communications service provider to support subscribers. Sometimes, frustrated subscribers may decide to drop the service of the communications service provider altogether. Hence, there is a need for an analog telephone adapter that can detect whether an ALG, for example, the SIP ALG exists in the path between the analog telephone adapter and the communications service provider, or assist the communications service provider to detect the presence of the SIP ALG, and that can bypass the SIP ALG.
The presence of the session initiation protocol (SIP) application layer gateway (ALG) in home routers creates a major support issue for communications service providers, and many diagnostic steps are required before a trouble-ticket can be diagnosed as a SIP ALG problem. Conventional analog telephone adapter devices can neither detect the presence of the SIP ALG nor bypass the ALG in a network path between the analog telephone adapter and the communications service provider. These conventional analog telephone adapter devices cannot explicitly inform the communications service provider whether the SIP ALG exists in the network path between the analog telephone adapter and the communications service provider. These analog telephone adapters also do not offer a feasible way to bypass the SIP ALG if the SIP ALG is indeed present in the network path. To apply itself, the ALG must first recognize that the received media message is an SIP message. Although a few conventional analog telephone adapter devices may in effect bypass the ALG by transporting the SIP over a secure channel, such a solution is impractical to most commercial communications service providers as this solution requires a major equipment upgrade. Hence, there is a need for a method and a system that detects the presence of the SIP ALG and bypasses the ALG without requiring the communications service providers to upgrade their equipment, or without replacing and/or reconfiguring subscribers' home routers.
Hence, there is a long felt but unresolved need for a method and a system that detects the presence of an application layer gateway (ALG), for example, a SIP ALG in a network path between the analog telephone adapter and the communications service provider. Moreover, there is a need for a method and a communications management system that transmits a media message by bypassing the ALG in the network path between the analog telephone adapter and the communications service provider.

Communications management and gateway bypassing system


A composite shoe sole, composed of an upper layer and a lower layer, wherein the upper layer is integrally formed of a soft material and the lower layer is integrally formed of a hard material, the lower layer being formed with a notch at a location corresponding to a right side of thenar, or right-side region of phalanx, the upper layer being formed with a projection at a location corresponding to the notch, such that the upper layer and lower layer are joined to each other by means of engagement between the projection and notch to form a shoe sole having a soft upper layer with elastic and shock-absorbing effects for relieving foot pressure, and a hard lower layer for providing upward support to the soft upper layer so as to prevent cave-in, thereby providing good bottom support, elastic air cushioning and shock-absorbing effects.

According to American Podiatric Medical Association, the pressure that a person feet sustain is approximately equal to one's weight while walking and as well as 3 to 3 times of one's weight while running. Taking a person weighing 60 Kg as an example, the overall pressure that one's feet sustain in a one day is as high as 600-1200 tons. It is thus likely to cause weariness and pains to the feet if the reactive pressure applied by the ground is only counteracted by a thin layer of foaming material, thereby damaging one's knees, waist or even spine after an extensive period of time.
To effectively relieve the pressure applied to one's feet, various shoe soles claiming to be equipped with air cushioning effect have been developed. Where the so-called elastic and shock-absorbing effects are able to support foot arch by means an arch chamber to mitigate pressure sustained by the feet and to improve foot comfort. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,218,056 discloses an elastic air cushion, where indents are formed at locations corresponding to one's metatarsus and calcaneus, in which indents sheet-like elastic air cushions are received. U.S. Pat. No. 4,918,838 further discloses an elastic air cushion structure, where a cylindrical shock-absorbing component is placed in a circular bore formed at the heel.
Though the above air cushioned shoes are capable of reducing the reactive pressure resulted from one's weight, their structure tends to be relatively complicated and result in dislocation of the shock-absorbing component after a period of time, thereby failing to provide an optimum contact between the shock-absorbing component and soles at a proper orientation, and resulting in discomfort similar to prolonged toe-tipping.
Furthermore, the Taiwan Patent Application No. 90215337 entitled "Composite Inner Sole with Hard and Soft Features" discloses a composite inner sole integrally formed of a material with different hardness by injection forming. The sole top of the inner sole is provided with a hard end portion and at least one soft end portion. The hard end portion and the soft end portion is progressively joined to each other. The soft end portion is pliable, flexible and deformable while the hard end portion is rigid, less flexible and deformable. However, the soft end portion is partially provided to the sole top so as to require high precision in manufacturing. Furthermore, the degree of wearing for the soft end portion is not comparable to the hard sole top, thereby resulting in discomfort similar to prolonged toe-tipping as the soft end portion is not located at the same level of the hard sole top after a period of time.


A control system receiving an input signal, comprising speech with ambient noise, determines the ambient noise power spectrum, retrieves control information corresponding to the closest-matching ambient noise power spectrum, and outputs the input signal along with display of a predetermined effect or image corresponding to the ambient noise power spectrum.

The present invention relates to a control system for executing control of displaying an image and reproducing a piece of music corresponding to a sound such as an ambient sound, and so on.
There has hitherto been a case of desiring to know, when talking by a mobile phone, an ambient condition of a speaker as the other party such as detecting whether the other speaker might feel embarrassed talking as in a train, a library etc.
There is, however, little ambient information conveyed from a voice, and it is difficult to exactly grasp the ambient condition.
Further, in the case of giving a call through IP (Internet Protocol) telephony and performing a voice chat between personal computers, an arbitrary image and a music file are transmitted to the other party for the communications. This scheme is, however, no more than transmitting the data specified by the user each time, and is incapable of objectively judging the user's ambient condition.

Control system outputting received speech with display of a predetermined effect or image corresponding to its ambient noise power spectrum


The U-Bra Breast Pillow is a strapless women's undergarment that fits around the breast area, fastens in the back, and has a unique memory foam pillow attachment in the front which tucks under large breasts to provide a natural lift. The front center gathering provides comfortable breast separation, adornment, and style. It is a complete breast covering bandeau with an attached under-breast memory foam technology that lifts the breasts and contours the chest without straps, underwire, or buckles. The U-Bra Breast Pillow system aims to contribute positive effects on the back, neck, and shoulder areas by relieving top-heavy tension, defying gravity with frontal support and alleviating tight, downward pulling strap marks from the shoulders that often causes discomfort for individuals with a large, well-endowed chest area. It elevates unsightly sagging breasts, promotes fullness, and provides a sense of freedom and confidence for a fuller, more voluptuous appearance.

The invention relates to an undergarment breast band covering the breast area with a unique memory foam pillow lift. The U-Bra Breast Pillow system is a unique nontraditional bra or undergarment that enables users to customize the selection, style, and usage. The selection and customization can occur at the point of purchase. Interchangeable customization can be based upon size, shape, and colors. A user's compatibility, choice, and selection can be worn as under or outer wear.
Women's under garments and particularly bras, have become a major part of fashion industry. As more and more bra types, functions, purposes, and designs of bras are available today, consumers naturally attempt to find the undergarment with the optimum combination of style and comfort to meet their special or specific needs. As women get older, they begin to experience gravity working against them. Breast appear heavier often causing shoulder pain, back pain, and upper body discomfort. Women often find themselves wanting to go braless, however, they really don't like the visible and unappealing shape of their breast just hanging low, unshapely, unsupported, and sagging. This invention conforms and molds itself to the user's shape and upper torso, thereby allowing for a comfortable and secure fit and lift due to the bandeau, breast band shape.
In today's market, women find the structure of the traditional bra, and their related accessory components; confining, restricting and in some cases bruising to the shoulders, back area and underarms. The traditional bra is usually constructed with shoulder straps, underwire, and back straps. Women have often found these binding, uncomfortable, and restrictive. The solution to problems that some traditional bras can cause, is the U-Bra Breast Pillow.
The U-Bra Breast Pillow is a unique undergarment designed to free, uplift, and support the breasts from underneath without harsh wires, tight straps or binding materials. It is a revolutionary design that is comfortable, unrestrictive, simple, and easy to use. It is a pillow like ledge of support that works as a stand-alone undergarment, or as an additional piece and component to the traditional bra unit. The U-Bra Breast Pillow is a strapless women's undergarment that fits around the breast area and fastens in the back. The front has an attached, enclosed, memory foam padding pillow that tucks under the breasts to provide natural and strap free lift. The center front gathering provides breast separation, adornment, and style. It is a complete breast covering bandeau with an attached under breast memory foam casing/technology that lifts the breast, and contours the breast area without straps, underwire, or buckles.
It is estimated that about 75-80% of women have trouble with proper bra fittings, measurements, and selections. Even with some specific breast measurements, it is difficult to use one measurement due to various types of bras which include: plunges, full cups, half cups, pushups, fashionable, fitting, well-fitting, sports, and string pull-up bras, and more. The various bra types often require a different measurement and cup size for each traditional bra style. For example, where a user might wear a 36 D in a "Full Cup Bra", the same user might be a 36DDD or 36G in a "Plunge Bra". This is a problem that had been known to cause frustration and confusion for the ladies, young woman, and girls since the invention of the traditional bra.
Over time, woman's breast size may change significantly, particularly during and after pregnancy. Other factors include weight loss, weight gain, menopause, and menstrual cycle with body weight variations. All of which can influence the fit, look, and appeal of the traditional bra. As women begin to mature, they are looking for comfort, uniqueness, simple solutions, and liberating style and experience. Over the years, along with life changes, women find themselves with an over whelming desire to just simply go free and braless. Girls begin wearing traditional bras at puberty, ages 10-12 typically. Women can easily say they wear bras most of their life from age 10-80 on average. This results in seventy years or more of being bound up, restricted, and harnessed around the breast area for a vast spectrum of their lives. On an average work or school day, a woman or young girl wears the traditional bra for about 42% of her day, and the first thing she wants to do when she gets home is to take the traditional bra off. However, the older or well-endowed woman really don't care for the look and appearance of sagging breasts as it is unattractive and unappealing even around the house in the presence of their mate, children, or love ones. Now with the Un-Bra Breast Pillow, users can wear this band-like undergarment that has a special breast pillow lift from underneath as a welcomed replacement to the traditional bra. At the end of the day ladies can easily change from the traditional bra to the Un-Bra Breast Pillow in a way that eliminates drooping or sagging breasts.


The present invention provides an electrical connector (100) including a magnetic module (200) for noise-filtering. The magnetic module (200) includes an interior printed circuit board (21), a common mode choke and a number of transformers mounted on the interior printed circuit board (21). Each of said common mode choke and transformers has a magnetic core (20,22) and a number of magnetic wires (23) winding around the magnetic cores (20,22), wherein the magnetic core (20) of the common mode choke defines two holes (203,205) parallel extending therethrough and forms a center wall (201) therebetween. The magnetic wires (23) of the common mode choke wind around the center wall (201) and through said two holes (203,205) in a same direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly, to an electrical connector having magnetic module for noise-filtering.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Magnetic elements are often used in noise-filtering in the high frequency field. An electrical connector having magnetic modules with more effective noise filtering, smaller size and lower cost is always a focus of the designers of the field.

Electrical connector with magnetic module


A method for a treatment of a product web which is transported in an advance direction includes guiding the product web through a treatment gap which is formed by a first treatment roll being arranged in a first working position and a contour tool, providing a second roll, moving the second roll into a second working position in which the second roll forms a second treatment gap with the counter tool, and moving the first treatment roll into a first parked position in which the first treatment roll does not form a treatment gap with the counter tool.

For treatment of a product web, it is known to transport the product web in an advance direction and to guide the product web through a first treatment gap formed by a treatment roll located in a first working position and a counter tool. Product webs of this type may in particular be those made of non-woven fabric, textile, plastics material or paper, as well as composite materials comprising one or more of these materials.
In a treatment of this type, there is regularly a need to replace the treatment rolls. Examples of reasons therefor include:                The wear limit of the treatment roll being reached.        Changing the treatment result by replacing the treatment roll with one having a changed surface structure and/or surface property, for example, changed engraving, cover material, cover hardness, etc.
Replacement of the treatment roll may also be due to a desire to change the surface temperature of the treatment roll, which has a decisive influence on the treatment result. A temperature change of this type can regularly be brought about more quickly by changing the replacement roll for a further roll of this type kept at the desired temperature, since a temperature change in the surface of a roll is often only possible at 1 to 3 K/min to avoid thermal tensions in the roll material.
An example treatment of a product web is thermal solidifying of a product web that comprises non-woven material having thermoplastic fibers or filaments. During the thermal solidifying of non-woven materials using a treatment gap, the treatment roll is regularly formed as an engraved roll. The counter tool is regularly a smooth roll. Depending on requirements stemming from the desired treatment result, however, the roll forming the counter tool may also be an engraved roll. At least one of the two rolls, for example, the treatment roll, is heated. The surface temperature of the heated roll is usually between 80° C. and 300° C., for example, between 120° C. and 250° C., for example, between 140° C. and 200° C. In thermal bonding methods, the line load in the treatment gap is usually 10-300 N/mm, for example, 30-150 N/mm. At least the treatment roll must be replaceable to be able to produce different products.
In the treatment of paper or textiles, the treatment gap is often formed by a treatment roll having a resilient cover and a counter tool, which may in particular be formed as a heated smooth or engraved roll. In a treatment of this type, there is also a need to be able to replace the treatment roll, for example, to be able to use a different cover type or cover hardness or to be able to replace the treatment roll for an unworn roll when the wear limit thereof is reached. The covers of these treatment rolls may, for example, be plastics material covers or else ones that contain cotton material.
There has long been a desire to be able to perform a rapid change of a treatment roll. The calender known from DE 100 05 306 C1, for example, is suitable for this purpose. It comprises two treatment rolls, which are each mounted about a dedicated lever and which can alternately be displaced from an associated parked position into a working position in which the treatment roll in question forms the treatment gap with a counter tool, in this case, a counter roll. By pivoting out a first treatment roll from the working position into the parked position thereof and subsequently pivoting in the second treatment roll from the parked position thereof into the working position, it is possible in principle to change the treatment rolls in an extremely short time.
In spite of this mechanically provided option for a rapid treatment roll change, the change is not always possible in practice due to method conditions. One example is a production method for non-woven materials that comprises the method step of thermal solidifying.
In this method, calenders for thermal solidifying of the non-woven material are often arranged downstream of a spinning machine in the advance direction of the product web. In this spinning machine, one or more spinning beams lay fibers or filaments (hereinafter referred to collectively as "filaments") of a thermoplastic material is laid down on the upper face of a circulating filter belt (also hereinafter referred to as the "spinning process" for short), which circulating filter belt is deflected close to the treatment gap and which transports the filament layer (also known as unsolidified non-woven or unsolidified product web) to the treatment gap. An extruder, via which a granulate of thermoplastic plastics material is heated to a melt, the melt being supplied under pressure to spinning nozzles provided in the spinning beam, may be associated with each spinning beam. The filaments exiting the spinning nozzles are stretched by an airstream that strikes the upper face of the filter belt, cooled, and deposited on the filter belt. The airstream can be sucked through the filter belt.
Upon passing through the treatment gap, the previously unsolidified non-woven undergoes solidification as a result of the temperature and line pressure prevailing in the treatment gap, making it possible to supply the product web to further treatment stations, such as cooling, application, drying or winding means, as well as pulling units or inspection systems for quality control.
Although devices that make rapid replacement of a treatment roll possible are have previously been described, such as the calender described in DE 100 05 306 C1, in the described method for thermal solidification, because of the tear sensitivity of the still unsolidified non-woven web, the transport of the product web in the advance direction is regularly interrupted for the duration of the roll change; i.e., no product web is guided through the calender and the further system components during the roll change. The circulating filter belt is stopped for this purpose. To avoid filaments being deposited on the filter belt by the one or more spinning beams accumulating in the meantime, the deposition of the filaments must also be interrupted; i.e., the spinning beams must be shut down.
The shutdown is highly disadvantageous since the product web must initially be guided off again at a transport speed of less than 50 m/min. To achieve the product web stability required for this guiding off, a prepared precursor is initially laid on the filter belt and guided through the system, with the spinning process subsequently being restarted on the precursor. The transport speed is then again increased, usually to 100 m/min to 1,000 m/min or even higher. After a restart, a not insignificant time is initially required until the treatment parameters required for the desired treatment result have been established, such as the temperature of the spinning beams, the viscosity of the thermoplastic, the surface weight dependent thereon of the unsolidified product web, etc. Production efficiency is sensitive to disruption due to a roll change, not only from the interruption of the treatment method during the roll change, but also from the production of a not insignificant amount of waste after the treatment method is restarted.
As an alternative to the above-described procedures, for a roll change the filaments from the spinning beams can be deposited on an already solidified product web, which is deposited upstream of the spinning beam and deposited on the filter belt. The deposited filaments are otherwise combined into two already solidified product webs in that another additional one is deposited on the layer of filaments downstream of the spinning beam. Supplying these additional product web(s) is started before the roll change and only stopped thereafter.
To make manual handling of the solidified layer(s) possible in this case, the transport speed must also initially be reduced to, for example, less than 50 to 100 m/min. To minimize the amount of waste produced during the roll change and, in particular in systems having a high overall throughput, to keep the surface weight of the unsolidified top layer or intermediate layer low enough that it can actually be guided through the system using the solidified layer(s), the throughput of the individual spinning beams can/should be reduced. However, this is attempted to be avoided since this change can lead to a disruption of the method parameters in the spinning beam. The thermal equilibrium must in this case also first be reestablished after the roll change. The outlay to be provided by the system operators is also high, and (as a result of the solidified layers) much more material must be disposed of or recycled.
If product webs, for example, of textile, plastics material or paper, are being treated, a roll change always leads to an interruption of the treatment method and thus reduces the method productivity.

Method and device for the treatment of a product web


It is an object of this invention is to provide a constraint condition evaluation method and a constraint condition evaluation system which detect PCs speedily in a constraint graph in a large system. To achieve this object, the system has the disassembling means (3) which disassembles a constraint graph, representing the constraints in the layout of components, into a plurality of subgraphs according to a specific division method while retaining the cycles in the constraint graph, the back edge detecting means (4) which detects back edges in each subgraph, and the PC detecting means (5) which detects PCs associated with the back edge in each subgraph. The system disassembles a constraint graph into smaller subgraphs to prevent the processing time increase rate from increasing, and reduces the PC detection time.

This invention relates to an improvement in a constraint condition evaluation method and a constraint condition evaluation system which check if there is a conflict in the constraint conditions in the layout of components such as those on an IC.
When component layouts in ICs and others must be modified under some given constraints, one known method: is used; in that method, the constraint conditions are represented by a directed graph called constraint graph and, based on this graph, the check is made to see if there are conflicts in the constraint conditions. FIG. 14 shows an example of a constraint graph. As shown in this figure, a constraint graph, usually composed of edges connecting a plurality of vertexes (v), starts with a initial vertex called a source and ends with an terminal vertex called a sink. In this figure, a vertex is represented by a circle-shaped symbol, and an edge by an arrow-shaped symbol.
In a constraint graph, there are paths from the source to other vertexes. Each vertex usually represents the base point of a component to be laid out, and the position of the vertex X(v) represents the position of the base point of each component to be laid out. An edge between two vertexes has a numeric value called a weight. The weight of each edge represents an necessary interval or space required for both base points between elements to be laid out.
For example, FIG. 15 is an example of component layout corresponding to the constraint graph in FIG. 14. This figure shows how components A, B, and C are laid out along the X axis. The constraint condition in this example is that a space of 2 or larger is required between each two components.
The positions of components A, B, and C are represented by X(va), X(vb), and X(vc), respectively, based on the leftmost points, va, vb, and vc. FIG. 15 corresponds to the constraint condition. More specifically, the weight of 13 between vertexes va and vb indicates that the total width of 13, consisting of the width (11) of a part of component A and the space of 2, is required between the left end of component A and the left end of component B. Similarly, the weight of 12 between vertexes vb and vc indicates that the total width of 12, consisting of the width (10) of component B and the space of 2, is required between the left end of component B and left end of component. C.
A constraint graph normally contains a back edge whose initial vertex is smaller than that of the terminal vertex. Typically, a back edge has a negative weight. In FIG. 14, a back edge goes from vertex vc to vertex va, and the weight of -22 of this back edge indicates that the left end of component A is at most 22 left of the left end of component C. This is because the distance from the left end of component A to the right end of break of component A where component C is to be placed is 32 (11+21) and because the component C requires the length of 10 consisting of the width of 8 and the space of 2 on the right side. As a result, only the length of 22 is allowed.
In general, when the edge e .mu. .nu. is directed from the first vertex v .mu. to the second vertex v .nu. and when the edge e .mu. .nu. has the weight of W(e .mu. .nu.), the position X(v .nu.) of point v .nu. must be placed at least W(e .mu. .nu.) positions right of X(v .mu.). This relationship is represented by the following formula:
[Formula 1] EQU X(v .nu.).gtoreq.X(v .mu.)+W(e .mu. .nu.)
A constraint graph usually contains a cycle. A cycle, whose paths can be followed in the direction, has at least one back edge. The weight of a back edge indicates an space within which each component is to be placed. If the sum of the weights of the paths going from the terminal vertex of a back edge to the initial vertex is not superior to the weight of the back edge, each component may be placed within the space indicated by the back edge. Here, the sum of the weights of the paths going from the terminal vertex of a back edge to the initial vertex does not exceed the weight of the back edge, means the sum of the weight of the cycle is negative. Of course, when the sign of each weight is reversed, the sum is positive.
If the sum of the weights of the forward edges does not exceed the weight of the back edge or not is determined simply by adding up all the weights in the cycle. If the result is positive, the cycle is called a Positive Cycle (PC) and it is known that there is no solution for the constraint indicated by the PC (Reference 1: Y. E. Cho: A Subjective Review of Compaction, Proc. 22nd Design Automation Conference, 1985, pp. 396-404../Reference 2: K. Ishima, S. Tsukiyama: On an Algorithm to Detect Positive Cycle in a Constraint Graph for Layout Compaction, IEICE Trans. Vol. E 74, No. 11 November 1991, pp. 3613-3616).
For example, in FIG. 15, the width of said break is 21 and components B and C require the total width 24 of width of themselves 10+8=18 and spaces 2.times.3=6. Then break width is 3 less than the required width, therefore, it is impossible to lay out the components so that they satisfy the condition. This is confirmed simply by adding up the weights contained in the cycle on the constraint graph without having to lay out components. That is, in FIG. 14, because the sum of the weights contained in the cycle is calculated as
[Formula 2] EQU 13+12-22=3>0
and because this cycle is PC and the space is 3 less than the desired value, it is determined that there is no solution that satisfies the constraint condition.
Such a PC in a constraint graph must be dissolved and removed from the graph prior to the layout operation. The evaluation of a conflict in a constraint graph means to detect and remove such a PC. Detecting a PC with the use of a constraint graph is especially advantageous when the components relationship becomes complicated as the number and types of components increase.
The following is an example in which a PC is detected in a constraint graph. First, this method sorts the vertexes according to some criteria. Because a back edge is defined as an edge whose initial vertex is larger than the terminal vertex in the sort sequence, at least one edge is a back edge in a cycle. In particular, when the vertexes are sorted in ascending order according to their positions X(v), the number of back edges b is much less than the total number of edges in the graph. Therefore, investigating only the paths containing back edges efficiently finds cycles in a constraint graph.
In a prior art, this is used to reduce the time to detect PCs (Reference 2 shown above/Reference 3: J. Do, W. Dawson: SPACER II: A Well Behaved IC layout Compactor, Proceedings of VLSI 85 International Conference, 1985.).
This method is described more in detail. First, all back edges fi (i=1, . . . b) are removed from the constraint graph G, and the resulting back-edge-removed graph is defined as G0.
[Formula 3] EQU G0=G-{f1, f2, . . . , fb}
If G0 is unconnected, a minimum number of back edges are added to form G0, and added back edges are removed from the back edge set. Note that, when the back edge set is null (b=0), there is no PC in the constraint graph, so this method immediately ends processing.
Starting from the back-edge-removed graph G0, this method repeats the following processing for each back edge fi in order of i=1, . . . , b. First, the method adds the back edge fi to the graph Gi-1 to form the graph Gi-1+fi and, from this graph, detects a PC. When a PC is detected, the method records it in the specified memory area. Then it removes the back edge fi from the graph Gi-1+fi again to form the graph Gi-1 and regards the graph Gi-1 as the next graph Gi for use in the next back edge processing. On the other hand, when the back edge fi is added but no PC is detected, this method uses the graph Gi-1+fi as Gi, with the back edge fi still added, for the next back edge processing.
In repeating the above procedure, the initial graph G0 contains no PC because it contains no back edge. When the PC is detected in the graph Gi-1+fi, the back edge fi is re-detected. Therefore, the next graph Gi that is used for the next back edge fi+1 also contains no PC. After this procedure is repeated, all the detected PCs are recorded in the specified memory area. A resultant graph Gb becomes the constraint graph G from which all the back edges constituting the PCs have been removed.
If no PC was found while the procedure for each back edge fi (i=1, . . . , b) was repeated, all the back edges fi are added again to the back-edge-removed graph G0 and, therefore, Gb=G0.
FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing an example in which PCs are detected according to the prior art. For the graph Gi at a given vertex, the longest path length between two vertexes, v .mu. and v .nu., in the graph Gi is represented as Li (v .mu., v .nu.). Among them, the longest path length from the source to the vertex v .mu. is represented as Li (v .mu.).
In the processing shown in FIG. 16, the procedure finds the longest path length L0 (v .lambda.) from the source to a vertex v .lambda. in the back-edge-removed graph G0 (step 151). Next, the procedure sequentially selects all the back edges fi (i=1, . . . , b) while incrementing i from 1 to b (steps 152 and 153) and does the following processing for each back edge fi. In the following discussion, the initial vertex of the back edge fi is defined as v .mu., and the terminal vertex as v .nu..
First, the procedure determines that the back edge fi does not form a PC if the difference between the longest path length Li-1 (v .nu.) from the source to the terminal vertex v .nu. of the back edge fi and the longest path length Li-1 (v .mu.) from the source to the initial vertex v .mu. of the back edge fi does not exceed the weight W(Fi) of the back edge fi (step 154). That is, if the following is satisfied,
[Formula 4] EQU Li-1(v .nu.).gtoreq.Li-1(v .mu.)+W(fi)
then, the back edge fi does not form a PC.
Theoretically, it is simple to determine whether or not a PC is formed, using the relationship between the longest path length Li-1 (v .mu., v .nu.) from initial vertex v .mu. to the terminal vertex v .nu. and the weight W(fi) of the back edge fi. The following formula is used to determine whether or not a PC is formed:
[Formula 5] EQU 0.gtoreq.Li-1(v .nu., v .mu.)+W(fi)
Here, it should be noted that the longest path length Li-1 (v .mu.) from the source to the initial vertex v .mu. is equal to or larger than the sum of the longest path length Li-1 (v .nu.) from the source to the terminal vertex v .nu. and the longest path length Li-1 (v .nu., v .mu.) from the terminal vertex v .nu. to the initial vertex v .mu..
[Formula 6] EQU Li-1(v .mu.).gtoreq.Li-1(v .nu.)+Li-1(v .nu., v .mu.)
By transposing the formula;
[Formula 7] EQU Li-1(v .mu.)-Li-1(v .nu.).gtoreq.Li-1(v .nu., v .mu.)
By transposing formula 4;
[Formula 8] EQU 0.gtoreq.Li-1(v .mu.)-Li-1(v .nu.)+W(fi)
In the above formula, Li-1(v .mu.)-Li-1(v .nu.) may be replaced by the left hand side of formula 7. This results in formula 5, meaning that formula 4 may be used to determine whether or not a PC is present. So, using the difference between the longest path length Li-1 (v .nu.) from source to the terminal vertex v .nu. of the back edge fi and the longest path length Li-1(v .mu.) from the source to the initial vertex V .mu. of the back edge fi eliminates the need to find the longest path length Li-1 (v .nu., v .mu.) between the initial vertex v .mu. and the terminal vertex v .nu. of the back edge fi. This speeds up processing.
In step 154, if the back edge fi does not form a PC, the procedure uses the following formula by adding the back edge fi to the graph (step 155):
[Formula 9] EQU Gi=Gi-1+fi
The longest path length Li-1 (v .lambda.) from the source to any given vertex v .lambda. is the same. So, the longest path length Li-1 (v .lambda.) is used also for the processing of the next back edge fi+1.
[Formula 10] EQU Li(v .lambda.)=Li-1(v .lambda.)
Then, the next back edge is selected (step 152).
On the other hand, in step 154, if
[Formula 11] EQU Li-1(v .nu.)<Li-1(v .mu.)+W(fi)
then a check is made to see if the terminal vertex v .nu. is on the longest path from the source to the initial vertex v .mu. (step 156). If the terminal vertex v .nu. is on the longest path from the source to the initial vertex v .mu., the sum of the back edge fi and the path from the terminal vertex v .nu. to the initial vertex v .mu. form a PC. So, they are recorded as a PC (step 157). In this case, the procedure keeps the graph and the positions of the vertexes unchanged:
[Formula 12] EQU Gi=Gi-1 EQU Li(v .lambda.)=Li-1(v .lambda.)
and selects the next back edge (step 152).
If, in step 156, the terminal vertex v .nu. is not on the longest path from the source to the initial vertex v .mu., the procedure goes to the step 158 and the following steps. That is, for all the vertexes v .lambda. to which the paths from the terminal vertex v .nu. in the graph exist, the procedure finds the longest path length Li-1 (v .nu., v .lambda.) from the terminal vertex v .nu. of the back edge (step 158). And if there is a path from this terminal vertex v .nu. to the initial vertex v .mu., and if Li-1(v .nu., v .mu.) is larger than the weight W (fi) of the back edge, that is, if
[Formula 13] EQU Li-1(v .nu., v .mu.)+W(fi).gtoreq.0
then (step 159), the sum of the longest path from the terminal vertex v .nu. to the initial vertex v .mu. and the back edge fi is recorded as a PC (step 157). And, the procedure keeps the graph and the positions of the vertexes unchanged:
[Formula 14] EQU Gi=Gi-1 EQU Li(v .lambda.)=Li-1(v .lambda.)
and selects the next (i=i+1) back edge (step 152).
On the other hand, in step 159, if the longest path length Li-1 (v .nu., v .mu.) does not exceed the weight W (fi) of the back edge,
[Formula 15] EQU Li-1(v .nu., v .mu.)+W(fi).ltoreq.0
or if there is no path from the terminal vertex v .nu. to the initial vertex v .mu., the back edge fi does not form a PC. In this case, the procedure adds the back edge fi to the graph (step 1510):
[Formula 16] EQU Gi=Gi-1+fi
As the result, a path which is through the added back edge becomes new one of paths from the source to each vertex. Thus, the longest path length from the source to each vertex is updated (step 1511). That is, a check is made to see if the longest path length via the added back edge is larger than the longest path length Li of the path from the source to each vertex. If the former is larger than the latter, the longest path length is replaced.
The longest path length of the path from the source via the back edge to each vertex v .lambda. is calculated by adding the weight W (fi) of the back edge and the longest path length Li-1 (v .nu., v .lambda.) of the path from the terminal vertex v .nu. of the back edge to the vertex v .lambda. to the longest path length Li-1(v .mu.) of the path from the source to the initial vertex v .mu. of the back edge fi. That is,
[Formula 17] EQU Li-1(v .mu.)+W(fi)+Li-1(v .mu., v .lambda.)
Let this be Li-1 X, and let max .oval-hollow. be a function which returns the maximum value, then said replacement is represented:
[Formula 18] EQU Li(v .lambda.)=max(Li-1(v .lambda.), Li-1 X)
Then, the procedure selects the next (i=i+1) back edge (step 152). In finding the longest path length Li (v) and Li (v .nu., v .mu.), the Dijkstra algorithm speeds up the processing.
To efficiently detect a PC, the procedure in FIG. 16 uses the difference between the longest path length Li-1 (v .nu.) of the path from the source to the terminal vertex v .nu. of the back edge fi and the longest path length Li-1(v .mu.) of the path from the source to the initial vertex v .mu. of the back edge fi. We can also use only the longest path length Li-1 (v .nu., v .mu.) of the path from the initial vertex v .mu. of the back edge fi to the terminal vertex v .nu. in order to detect a PC.
According to the prior art, most of the processing time is used for the calculation of longest paths. Because the calculation time of the longest path is O (n log n), the time needed for detecting a PC is O (bn log n). And, the number of back edges is generally proportional to the number of vertexes in the graph, meaning that the execution time is O (n.sup.2 log n) (See the Reference 1 described above). This indicates that the more and more time is required as the system scale becomes larger and larger. So, a constraint condition evaluation method and a constraint condition evaluation system which detect speedily the PCs in a constraint graph used in a large system have long been awaited.
This invention seeks to solve the problems associated with a prior art described above. It is an object of this invention to provide a constraint condition evaluation method and a constraint condition evaluation system which detect speedily the PCs in a constraint graph used in a large system.

Constraint condition evaluation method and constraint condition evaluation system


Gaming devices, gaming systems, methods of conducting a wagering game, and computer programs for initiating a wagering game are presented herein. A gaming device is presented that includes a wager input device, a display, and at least one controller. The controller executes the wagering game, which includes first and second progressive awards each associated with a respective symbol-based outcome. Each symbol-based outcome has a respective frequency of occurrence. The controller randomly determines an outcome of the wagering game. The controller initiates a progressive-award-determination sequence in response to displaying the first and/or second symbol-based outcomes. There is a first probability of awarding the first progressive award, and a second probability of awarding the second progressive award. The first initial-award amount is greater than the second initial-award amount, the first frequency of occurrence is lower than the second frequency of occurrence, and the first probability is greater than the second probability.

Gaming machines, such as slot machines, video poker machines and the like, have been a cornerstone of the gaming industry for several years. Generally, the popularity of such machines with players is dependent on the likelihood (or perceived likelihood) of winning money at the machine and the intrinsic entertainment value of the machine relative to other available gaming options. Where the available gaming options include a number of competing machines and the expectation of winning at each machine is roughly the same (or believed to be the same), players are likely to be attracted to the most entertaining and exciting machines. Shrewd operators strive to employ the most entertaining and exciting machines, features, and enhancements available because such machines attract frequent play and hence increase profitability to the operator.
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Another concept that has been employed to enhance player entertainment and achieve player loyalty is the use of progressive games. In the gaming industry, a "progressive" game involves collecting coin-in data from participating gaming device(s) (e.g., slot machines), contributing a percentage of that coin-in data to a progressive jackpot amount, and awarding that jackpot amount to a player upon the occurrence of a certain jackpot-won event. A jackpot-won event typically occurs when a "progressive winning position" is achieved at a participating gaming device. If the gaming device is a slot machine, a progressive winning position may, for example, correspond to alignment of progressive jackpot reel symbols along a certain payline. Typically, the initial progressive jackpot is a predetermined minimum amount. That jackpot amount, however, progressively increases as players continue to play the gaming machine without winning the jackpot. Further, when several gaming machines are linked together such that several players at several gaming machines compete for the same jackpot, the jackpot progressively increases at a much faster rate, which leads to further player excitement. Typically, once the progressive jackpot is awarded, the jackpot amount is reset to the predetermined minimum amount.
In existing progressive games, there may be a single progressive jackpot or multiple progressive jackpots that may be awarded. Each progressive jackpot is typically awarded upon the occurrence of a single, qualifying jackpot-won event (e.g., a predetermined symbol combination on an active payline of the base game). In addition, the probability of achieving the qualifying jackpot-won event and, thus, winning a particular progressive jackpot is typically fixed prior to initiation of the wagering game, and remains fixed throughout game play. While some progressive game features provide some enhanced excitement, there is a continuing need to develop new features for progressive games to satisfy the demands of players and operators. Such new features for progressive games will further enhance player excitement, perpetuate player loyalty, and thus increase game play.

Progressive wagering game having symbol-triggering award feature