A rear wheel driving device includes left and right electric motors connected to left and right rear wheel, respectively; and a control device for controlling the electric motors such that a third relationship is satisfied as the first priority based on at least either a first relationship or a second relationship, and the third relationship. The first relationship includes sum of right and left wheel torques, sum of right and left motor torques, sum of right and left wheel driving forces, or sum of right and left motor driving forces. The second relationship includes difference between right and left wheel torques, difference between right and left motor torques, difference between right and left wheel driving forces, or difference between right and left motor driving forces. The third relationship includes sum of left and right electric powers generated or consumed by the electric motors, respectively.

Patent Document 1 discloses that, in a vehicle driving device provided with a left motor generator connected to a left wheel and a right motor generator connected to a right wheel, one of the motor generators is operated as an electric motor and the other motor generator is simultaneously operated as a generator in accordance with steering, thus enabling effective utilization of electric power and a reduction in battery capacity.
Patent Document 2 discloses that, in a vehicle driving device provided with a motor generator for driving right and left rear wheels independently, torques for the right and left rear wheels are outputted in order to satisfy driver's driving requirements and produce an optimal yawing moment for traveling of a vehicle under any battery charging conditions.


The combined water balloon launcher and water discharging device preferably includes a mechanism for discharging water. A water-holding reservoir may be mounted onto a handle section. A first barrel may also be coupled to the handle section. The first barrel may have an inlet port formed at a proximal end thereof in fluid communication with the water-holding reservoir. A guard may be coupled to a first plunger and may be slidably seated about the first and second barrels. The first plunger may displace air from the air holding chamber into the water holding reservoir. The water balloon launching mechanism may include a second barrel and a revolving water balloon-holding drum. The drum may contain isolated chambers in which water balloons are loaded. A second spring member may be anchored to the handle and attached to a second plunger. The second plunger urges the water balloon outwardly from the second barrel.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to water toys and, more particularly, to a combined water balloon launcher and water discharging device for providing user enjoyment.
2. Prior Art
In the past, amusement devices such as water guns have been provided which are carried by the user and which are hand-held for operation. Normally, the device takes the form of a gun which includes a water reservoir and a trigger operated pump for forcing the water from the reservoir through a discharge orifice or nozzle. Usually, the reservoir is connected to the nozzle via a plurality of tubes which are interconnected via the pump. It is also known in the prior art to fill latex balloons with water and toss them at each other as a form of entertainment, especially on warm summer days.
The prior art examples do not specifically address the problems solved by the combined water balloon launcher and water discharging device of the present invention. Other inventions may either only discharge water along a trajectory or launch a water balloon along a trajectory.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,575,318 to Kunz discloses an apparatus wherein a squirt gun member includes a conduit in fluid communication with a housing, wherein the housing is arranged for mounting to a torso portion of an individual utilizing a waist and shoulder strap arrangement. A modified gun construction of the instant invention utilizes a projected balloon member formed with a tether line mounted to the gun structure of the instant invention. Unfortunately, this prior art examples does not provide the user with an effective means of simultaneously discharging water and launching water balloons.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,257,460 to Parana discloses a water gun having a body formed with a central bore opening at its opposite ends to provide a discharge nozzle at one end of the body and a storage compartment or reservoir end at the opposite end of the body. The storage compartment end is adapted to releasably hold the end of an inflatable member which when loaded with water under pressure, expands so as to stretch the membrane of the inflatable storage compartment. Upon termination of the loading pressure, the inflatable member collapses under its own elasticity to discharge the stored water via the nozzle end of the body. A clamping device is employed for detachably connecting the inflatable storage compartment to its respective end of the body and a trigger mechanism may be employed for selectively releasing the pressurized water within the storage compartment. Unfortunately, this prior art examples fails to provide the user with a means to launch a water balloon along a trajectory path.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,361 to Cuisiniear discloses portable dispenser adapted to filling water balloons and water pistols. A reservoir is pressurized by a hand pump that draws air in from the atmosphere and forces the air into the reservoir. The pressure in the reservoir forces water down a flexible tube to a trigger mechanism in a water pistol. The trigger mechanism performs three functions: it throttles the water, it acts as relief valve by releasing water if the pressure is greater than a predetermined limit, and it indicates the pressure within the reservoir. When the trigger mechanism is actuated, water flows through the mechanism to a valve that directs the water either to a filling nozzle or to a spraying nozzle. In an alternative embodiment, the pump takes water from a storage chamber within the reservoir and pumps it into a high pressure chamber within the reservoir. Unfortunately, this prior art example fails in providing a user with a means to discharge water along a trajectory.
Accordingly, a need remains for a combined water balloon launcher and water discharging device in order to overcome the above-noted shortcomings. The present invention satisfies such a need by providing a device that is convenient and easy to use, is durable yet lightweight in design, is versatile in its applications, and provides users with a new and exciting way in which to enjoy the classic game of tossing water balloon.

Combined water gun and water balloon launcher and associated method


An identification device includes a computer readable code. The computer readable code includes data relating to one or more pictures of a person and identity data for the person. The computer readable code is readable by a device reader, and the device reader is configured to interpret the computer readable code and to display the picture of the person using the computer readable code data relating to the picture of the person.

Barcode and quick response (QR) codes can be encoded with information, and this information can be gleaned by reading the bar code or QR code with a reader. While bar codes and QR codes have historically been used on paper and other such substrates, with the advent of smart phones and other such devices, bar codes and QR codes can be stored, displayed, and read electronically. Consequently, bar codes, and QR codes in particular, can store a relatively large amount of digital information that can be optically communicated between common devices. Additionally, by using public-private key digital signatures on bar code and QR code content, authenticity can be established.


Techniques, systems, and apparatus for offloading data connections from a kernel onto an associated TNIC are disclosed. Generally, embodiments of the invention are configured to send message packets of a connection to an endpoint at substantially the same time as an associated offload set-up process is performed. A method provides a data connection enabling data exchange between two TCP endpoints. After a determination is made that the connection is suitable for offloading, the kernel sends connection state information and a request that the connection be offloaded to a TNIC. Prior to completion of offload set up, an initial transmission of connection data is sent to an associated TCP endpoint. These principles can be implemented as software operating on a computer system, as a computer system module, as a computer program product and as a series of related devices and products.

Conventionally employed computer systems commonly include a TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) processing layer and an IP (Internet Protocol) layer as part of the kernel to facilitate the transmission and receipt of data over a networked system. Network Interface Cards (NIC's) are commonly used to enable computers to be connected with other systems in a network.
Commonly, when message packets arrive at a receiving computer system they are processed by the TCP and IP layers of the kernel (i.e., the network protocol stack)(also referred to as the TCP/IP stack). With the steadily increasing capabilities of modern NIC's, throughput of on the order of 1 Gb/s (gigabit per second) is possible. Although advantageous from a data transfer perspective, such high data transfer rates can, and often, do overwhelm the kernel. In fact, the processing in the TCP layer and IP layer can so occupy the kernel, that in many cases, the kernel spends between 70 and 80 percent (or more) of the total CPU resources processing packets. Thus, little other data processing can be performed in the CPU. As a result, little processing power remains for the implementation of applications. This can drastically compromise system efficiency.
In an effort to address this problem some companies have constructed NIC's that incorporate ASIC's (Application Specific Integrated Circuits) configured to implement various functions. In particular, some types of NIC's use an on-card ASIC to perform TCP processing to enable communication with other systems connected with a network. These NIC's are sometimes called TNIC'S. When long message streams are to be received by a computer system, the processing of these messages can, in some circumstances, be offloaded onto the TCP and IP layers of the TNIC. In such circumstances the TNIC can relieve some of the TCP/IP processing burden from the kernel of the CPU. Thus, offloading simply amounts to transferring TCP/IP processing from the kernel to an associated TNIC card.
Commonly, the kernel accepts a connection and then offloads the TCP/IP processing during a data transfer phase of message processing. For purposes of this patent a connection refers to a message stream established between two communication endpoints. In a connection, the endpoints can operate as a remote endpoint (at some distant non-local node) and a local endpoint (generally operating locally on a host CPU). In a connection the endpoints are configured to allow the exchange of data between the endpoints. These endpoints are commonly identified using unique IP addresses and unique port identifiers. Data is exchanged between the endpoints, for example, as message streams comprising sequences of data packets that are transmitted between the endpoints.
As stated briefly above, TCP/IP processing of these message streams of these connections can be offloaded from the kernel onto a TNIC during a data transfer phase of message processing. Unfortunately, the offloading of such connections from the kernel to the systems of the TNIC can be very time intensive. Commonly, the set-up for such offloading requires allocating resources in the TNIC driver and other hardware as well as synchronizing a connection state across various data structures. This set-up process is time consuming, commonly taking on the order of several milliseconds (ms) (generally in the range of about 10-15 ms) to set-up and offload the connection onto the TNIC for subsequent processing. This makes such offloading very useful for long-lived connections, but is less useful for very short-lived connections. Internet and web-based message commonly have short connections (e.g., commonly lasting on the order of a few milliseconds). Under such conditions, the set-up time required to offload the message traffic onto a TNIC is longer than the transmission time for the entire internet-based message. In other words, offloading the connection onto the TNIC actually takes longer that the entire transmission time for the stream of message packets comprising the message and does not provide any real relief for the kernel. Thus, in conventional implementations, the TCP/IP layers of the TNIC cannot effectively accommodate the need for offloading of short-lived connections (e.g., internet and web-based connections) and therefore do not substantially reduce the processing burden on the kernel. In addition, a NIC may be incapable of supporting some network connections that require special processing capabilities. Consequently, using the TNIC to handle all network connections in accordance with conventional methods can be counter-productive to performance. Additionally, with web-based (internet) message traffic growing on a daily basis, any mode of operation for a computer system (including TNIC) that can relieve the kernel of some of the TCP/IP processing burden for short-lived connections (e.g., internet message packets) will substantially enhance performance in the CPU.

System and method for conducting fast offloading of a connection onto a network interface card


An example recommendation device can include a memory resource storing instructions executable by a processing resource to: determine dependencies of a hardware topology, determine properties of an upgrade to be performed on the hardware topology, compare the properties of the upgrade to the determined dependencies of the hardware topology to identify potential events, and generate a recommendation for deploying the upgrade on the hardware topology based on the comparison.

A data center can be a location where a plurality of computing devices or computing systems are stored and operated. In some examples, a data center can utilize different types of hardware and/or instructions operating on the hardware. In other examples, the data center can utilize different computing systems that utilize different versions of hardware, instructions operating on the hardware, and/or firmware. These types of data centers can be utilized to provide computing resources to a plurality of locations through a network.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP


An asymmetry-reducing circuit adapted to process an input signal having positive and negative pulses of different amplitudes and generate a corresponding balanced signal having positive and negative pulses of substantially uniform amplitudes. The asymmetry-reducing circuit balances the input signal by providing signal contributions corresponding to the second and third orders of the input signal. In a representative embodiment, the asymmetry-reducing circuit includes a differential amplifier and a plurality of arrayed MOS transistors connected to its inputs and outputs such that source-to-drain conductance of the transistors provides input and feedback resistances to the amplifier. A switch set selectively couples the fingers (gates) of the transistors to the input signal to modulate the source-to-drain conductance with said signal such that the input and feedback resistances change in a complementary manner. Advantageously, circuits of the invention can correct signal asymmetry within a relatively wide asymmetry range.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to magnetic disk drives and, more specifically, to signal processing circuits for magneto-resistive (MR) heads.
2. Description of the Related Art
The principle of operation of MR heads is based on the ability of metals to change their resistance in the presence of a magnetic field. A typical MR head has an MR element composed of a thin film (e.g., about 250 nm in thickness) of Ni—Fe alloy, also called permalloy, which converts magnetic field variations at the surface of a magnetic storage medium (e.g., a magnetic platter) into resistance variations. The resistance variations are then converted into a differential voltage swing at the output of the MR head.
MR technology solves numerous problems associated with magneto-inductive heads, such as the dependence of signal amplitude on the rotational speed of the magnetic disk. However, MR heads have created new challenges for disk drive designers. One problem is the asymmetry in the response of a biased MR element to magnetic flux changes of opposite polarity. As a result, positive and negative pulses in the output signal of the MR head have different amplitudes, which impairs both servo and read channel performance in the disk drive.

Asymmetry correction for magneto-resistive heads


A pitch system for a wind turbine rotor, comprising a first bearing and a second bearing, each provided with an outer race, an inner race, and at least one row of rolling elements, the first and second bearings being adapted to be arranged between a hub and a blade root portion or extender, to allow rotation of the blade with respect to the hub, wherein the first bearing is adapted to be arranged nearer to the hub than the second bearing in the axial direction, the pitch system further comprising an intermediate body arranged between the first bearing and the second bearing in the axial direction, said intermediate body comprising at least a blade-side part extending between the race of the first bearing that is associated with the blade and the race of the second bearing that is associated with the blade.

Known wind turbines have a rotor generally comprising a hub and three turbine blades mounted on the hub. The load on the rotor may be controlled by pitching the blades, i.e. by rotating each blade around its longitudinal axis (from root to tip) and cause the wind to engage a larger or smaller surface of the blade.
For the purpose of pitching the blades, each blade is mounted on the hub by means of a pitch system, which in known turbines comprises a pitch bearing arranged between the hub and the blade, and a pitch drive which may include a motor, a drive pinion, and an annular gear meshing with the pinion and causing the blade to rotate and change its pitch angle, upon rotation of the drive pinion.
A known pitch bearing has one of the bearing races, e.g. the outer race, connected to the hub, and the other bearing race, e.g. the inner race, connected to a blade root portion (or sometimes to an extender); the annular gear of the pitch drive may then be fixed to the inner race of the pitch bearing, such that its rotation causes rotation of the inner race of the bearing and of the blade attached thereto.
For attachment of the pitch bearing to the blade root portion and to the hub, it is known to provide a plurality of studs, screws, or similar elements, each extending through a bore in one of the bearing races and screwed or fixed in any other way to the hub or to the blade root portion. It is known that such studs need to withstand fatigue loads and that long studs are better suited to withstand fatigue than short studs, and it is therefore desirable to provide a pitch bearing construction that allows a sufficient stud length.
On the other hand, pitch bearings must stand several forces and moments, and in particular the bending moment caused by the force of the wind on the blades, that tends to strain especially the region of the bearing remote from the hub. One known construction employs a pitch bearing having two or three rows of rolling elements, usually balls, in order to transfer the torque from the blades to the hub and at the same time withstand bending loads.
However, the axial length of such pitch bearings is relatively large, and at the same time they need to have a suitable stiffness to withstand the loads; their construction is therefore relatively complex, and their cost rather high.
It would be desirable to provide a pitch system for a wind turbine rotor that is cost effective and of relatively simple construction.


In one implementation, a method for providing access to a secure facility includes authenticating the user; generating a card credential, transmitting the card credential to an access card carried by of the user, and transmitting the card key to the access card in a form that is usable by the access card. The generating the card credential includes encrypting the card key using a server encryption key. The card key is usable for a challenge-response interaction during subsequent access requests by the user.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to secure access techniques, and more particularly to authentication using access cards.
2. Description of the Related Art
Physical access cards are often used as a security measure for preventing access by unauthorized personnel to a secure area such as an office suite. A simple form of a physical access card is an access card with a magnetic stripe that stores a digital password. When a user approaches a locked door and presents the access card to a card reader, the card reader reads the password from the magnetic stripe. The card reader may communicate with a central server to confirm the password, and/or to check if the user is listed in an approved access control list. The central server can then unlock a door for the user.
One weakness of this simple system is that if the password from the magnetic-stripe can be read and reproduced by a malicious party, then the malicious party may be able to use the password to gain unauthorized access. One approach for strengthening the security measures is to use access cards that are "smart" cards, with a built-in processor and memory. A password, or key, is stored into the memory in such a manner that it can be read by the built-in processor, but cannot be read by a malicious party.
When a smart card is used to gain access to a secure area, the smart card can respond in real time to a "challenge" received from a card reader. The card reader typically uses random numbers to generate challenges that are unique: the challenges include data that are different from one access attempt to another. The smart card performs a calculation using its internally stored key and the data received from the card reader, and transmits a response, based on that calculation, back to the card reader. The card reader examines the response to confirm that the smart card possesses the correct key. Access is granted only if the smart card returns an acceptable response to the challenge sent by the card reader. This challenge-response interaction protects the key on the smart card: the key itself is not transmitted as part of the communications between the smart card and the card reader.
Such smart cards are generally more difficult to reproduce or simulate than a magnetic-stripe card. One of the concerns in such smart card authorization systems is that a malicious party may be able to deduce the internal key or otherwise "break" the cryptographic features in the calculations performed by the smart-card, and thereby provide acceptable responses to challenges from card readers. One approach to avoiding such attacks is to increase the sophistication of the challenge-response calculations performed by the smart-card. Such an approach generally imposes some additional cost, such as an increased processing power for the smart card. System designers, therefore, must generally make trade-offs between various costs and cryptographic security.


A high optical density, i.e., .gtoreq.3.0, at 1 micron or less film thickness, black matrix is disclosed having improved stability and shelf life as a consequence of admixing Pigment Black 7 and organic dye or dye mixtures on a polyimide polymer vehicle.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to organic black matrices for color filter plate manufacture and to methods for making the same. It particularly relates to black matrices, having high optical density at ultra thin film thicknesses, excellent evenness, high strength, low cost and being useful for the production of a variety of display devices.
2. Background of the Prior Art
Multicolor liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are routinely produced having a thin, light-absorbent film, called a black matrix, applied to an array of color pixels which together form a color filter plate. The processing of such color filter plates remains one of the most troublesome steps during mass production of the LCDs because such processing normally employs a black matrix film made from sputtered chrome.
A spin-coatable, organic polymer based black matrix would tend to be more environmentally friendly than chrome, easier to reproduce, and offer lithographic processing advantages. However, there are at least two types of color filter plates for LCDs where organic polymer black matrices are woefully expensive and/or lack the desired performance. That is, the unavailability of an organic black matrix photoresist having sufficiently high optical density at ultra thin film thickness, has hampered the advancement of 1) thin film transistor (TFT)-arrays for TFT-LCDs and 2) super twisted nematic (STN) LCDs.
The optical density (O.D.) of the black matrix must be greater than 2.0 in order to block the transmission of light to the TFT or STN displays. Otherwise, photo leaks from non-display areas will reduce the contrast ratio and create adverse photo leakage current. In other words, one can enhance the contrast of the LCD by eliminating the light leakage which would otherwise occur through spaces patterned between the red, green, and blue (RGB) pixels on the color filter plate. The technical goal is to keep the light transmission at or below 1%, across the entire spectrum of from ultraviolet to infrared, at ultra thin black matrix film thicknesses.
It has proven extremely difficult, if not impossible, to manufacture an organic black matrix having an O.D. of .gtoreq.3.0 at ultra thin black matrix film thicknesses. Although O.D. greater than, or equal to, 2.0 have been achieved for organic black matrices at a 2 micron polymer thickness, such thick layers tend to cause a number of defects. For example, the so-called reverse tilt inside each pixel display area occurs at a gap of 2 microns. Reverse tilt causes defects in image and contrast deterioration. Overcoming that drawback, inter alia, requires an organic black matrix film having O.D. greater than 2.0 at a thickness of 1.0 micron or less.
Chrome Based Black Matrix
Therefore, despite
1) the high cost-of-ownership, PA1 2) the complexity of the sputtering process, PA1 3) the potential environmental problems, and PA1 4) a higher reflectance than desired,
the most common black matrix material has continued to be sputtered chrome. Vacuum evaporation and other coating techniques for metals such as nickel, aluminum and even chromium have been contemplated, but sputtering remains the most common technique and chrome remains the most common material, because other techniques and other materials, thus far, lack sufficiently high O.D. (.gtoreq.3.0) to provide enhanced contrast and high resolution, at sufficiently ultra thin thicknesses (1 micron or less) to be commercially effective for various display applications such as TFT and STN.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,378,274 by Yokoyama, et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,587,818 by S. Lee disclose typical chrome based black matrices for LCD's. That is, chromium is sputtered to form a thin film of about 2000 .ANG.. As previously discussed, such sputtering is an undesirably complex and expensive manufacturing process which poses serious environmental problems.
Dye Based Black Matrix Systems
U.S. Pat. No. 4,822,718 by Latham discloses an alternative potential black matrix for color filters. It contains a polyimide precursor vehicle and dyes. The color filters are used in color liquid crystal displays, light emitting diodes, photodiodes, and solid state lasers. However these black matrix compositions have several drawbacks, as a consequence of using dyes, rather than pigments, as the coloring agents. The dyed systems have lower heat, light and chemical resistance than desired for many applications. Moreover, dyes are not completely soluble in the solvent and polyimide vehicle system, thus the dyes fail to absorb light across a sufficiently broad spectrum of wavelengths. For example, Latham uses blue and brown dyes and, while not illustrating any data on optical density, we have that the desired optical density (.gtoreq.3.0) is not achievable using blue and brown dyes. Also, the dyed composition has long process steps which tend to lower production yield and raise fabrication cost.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,176,971 by Shimamura, et al., also discloses a dyed black matrix composition for color filters, which contains dyes and a polyimide precursor vehicle for use in color LCD devices. Its system is subject to fading as a consequence of the composition's limited heat stability. The dyes are said to have a relatively low thermal resistance. Additionally, a resin-surface modifier is added to the composition so as to impart water and oil repellency to the surface of the coating layer. The presence of excessive amounts of this surface modifier, however, impedes control of the uniformity of the thickness of the coating layer. Thus, even with the surface modifiers, the composition shows poor performance with respect to heat, light and chemical fastness. Furthermore, relative weight proportions of dye and polyimide must be carefully controlled; otherwise excessive dye will leak into the photoresist at a later step.
Pigment-Carbon Black Based Black Matrix Systems
It has been disclosed by Hesler, et al., in the article "Pigment-Dispersed Organic Black Matrix Photoresists for LCD Color Filters," SID Digest, 26:446 (1995); that carbon black dispersed in acrylic polymer provided an average optical density of 2.8 for 1.5 .mu.m film thickness. However it reports poor reproducibility and poor coating properties. The composition needed improvement in image quality.
As disclosed by Yamanaka, et al., in his article, "Integrated Black Matrix on TFT Arrays," SID Digest, 23:789 (1992); carbon black, even with advanced acrylic photo polymer, does not achieve OD greater than 2.0, at thickness less than 2 .mu.m without creating crosstalk. Yamanaka also describes the disadvantage of a 2 .mu.m "step size" (or thickness). It is so large that it results in reverse tilt inside each pixel display area. This causes spot defects in image and contrast deterioration.
Hasumi, et al., in his article "Carbon Dispersed Organic Black Matrix on Thin Film Transistor," Proc. of Int. Display Res. Conf. (EuroDisplay-96), 16:237 (1996) also discloses a carbon black dispersed system providing OD more than 2.0 at 1.5 .mu.m film thickness, but presumably, like Yamanaka, it is also subject to crosstalk.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,976 by Tajima, et al., discloses another pigment-dispersed color filter composition useful for the production of LCD and charged coupled devices. The system requires controlling the molecular weight (M.W.) of a radiation-sensitive acrylic block copolymer vehicle. If M.W. exceeds 500,000, then scum develops around the pixels, causing insufficient sharpness at pattern edge, surface soiling, and excess resin at non-pixel portions. If M.W. is less than 10,000, the development time margin is deleteriously decreased. The radiation-sensitive copolymer composition promotes adhesion to the substrate, facilitates transmittance and aids in color contrast. The acrylic type copolymer has limited thermal stability and poor photospeed. The pigment, copolymer and a radiation sensitive component are dispersed via grinding in a ball mill for 18 hours which is unduly time consuming. The dispersed pigment is filtered through a 10 .mu.m filter which allows pigment particle sizes in the formulation which fabricate into low transparency film. The shelf life of one week in a dark place at room temperature is too short. The dispersion needs dark conditions and is not stable after one week. The composition uses Pigment Black 1 and Pigment Black 7 only. Pigment Black 1 does not provide high optical density and the process does not use any dyes.
In summary, the previous black matrices have several drawbacks which may be listed as follows:
Chrome based black matrix suffers from, inter alia, high cost, poor adhesion, and toxicity concerns.
Dyed matrices are limited by the generally lower absorptivity of black dyes in comparison to black pigments and the limited solubility of such dyes either in solvents or a polymer matrix. Also, dyed formulations do not provide sufficient heat, light and chemical stability.
Pigmented coatings suffer from one or more of the following problems: 1) the formulations are unstable against gelation or flocculation at the required high carbon black loadings, making it very difficult to have long shelf life for the pigmented systems; 2) if the formulations are designed to be photosensitive, they can not be too highly loaded with carbon black without losing their imaging properties; and 3) formulations containing non-carbon black pigments do not provide very high optical density, while 4) carbon black pigments have particle sizes too large to permit sufficiently thin layer thickness at the requisite high optical densities.
The cited prior art reveals the need for a black matrix composition with very high optical density (.gtoreq.3.0), and with heat, light, and chemical fastness and longer shelf life. The prior art also illustrates the need for a composition with low cost, less manufacturing (and processing) time, long shelf life, and environmentally safe.

High optical density ultra thin organic black matrix system


A system for performing loudness normalization based on user feedback is described herein. The system includes a content delivery system and a plurality of audio playback devices. The audio playback devices may communicate volume settings used during playback of pieces of sound program content to the content delivery system. Based on these collected data points, a statistical analysis may be performed to generate loudness adjustment values for pieces of sound program content. The loudness adjustment values may be communicated to the audio playback devices through metadata in associated pieces of sound program content or as separate communications from the content delivery system. An offline version is also described that supports individual loudness normalization adjustments based on a single user's preferences. Under either system, loudness normalization may be achieved based on real world volume settings for individual pieces of sound program content played using various playback configurations.

The music industry produces audio content at various loudness levels. This lack of an established standard during production provides a poor user experience when randomly playing back content produced by different entities, produced for different albums, and/or content of different genres as loudness levels may wildly fluctuate.
The movie industry widely adopted a loudness normalization scheme based on the loudness of dialog anchors in a movie.1 Further, the International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication (ITU-R) Sector ratified loudness normalization recommendations based on program loudness.2 The result is that all content in movies is at a static target loudness level after normalization. This approach reduces the need for a user to adjust volume settings triggered by inconsistent loudness variations from one audio track to another. ATSC, "ATSC Standard: Digital Audio Compression (AC-3, E-AC-3)," Doc. A/52:2012 23 Mar. 2012.2ITU-R, "Algorithms to measure audio programme and true-peak audio level," Recommendation ITU-R BS.1770-3, August 2012.
While loudness normalization is a first step in the right direction, it still results in undesired and sometimes unexpected loudness levels. This is because the assumption that all content should play at the same static target loudness is not always correct.

Loudness normalization based on user feedback


An artillery gun having a weapon disposed on a carrier vehicle is provided and comprises a first module, containing the weapon and mounted on a gun mount and also containing at least a portion of an automatic projectile feed mechanism. A second module contains further portions of the projectile feed mechanism. A standby member disposed to the rear of a projectile transporter of the feed mechanism is displaceably guided and can be disposed in a transfer position parallel to a charger disposed on a free end of a projectile transfer arm of the first module. A third module is provided and is embodied as a munitions magazine in which are stored upright projectiles that are adapted to be grasped via a projectile transporter and, accompanied by rotation and alignment, are conveyed via the standby member and charger into a region at the rear of the end of the weapon and to be raised into a loading position. At least one fourth module forms the carrier vehicle.

The present invention relates to an artillery gun having a heavy weapon that is disposed on a carrier vehicle. Such an artillery gun is described in the European patent EP 0 331 980 B1 in an embodiment as an armored howitzer. This armored howitzer has a carrier vehicle that is embodied as a tracked vehicle, with a rotatable turret that is disposed behind the center of the vehicle and on which is disposed a heavy weapon that is pivotable in elevation. Disposed within the vehicle, in the region of the center of the vehicle, are projectile magazines in which the projectiles are upright relative to the base of the vehicle, while leaving free a passageway that extends essentially in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle. An automatic projectile feed mechanism is present via which a respective projectile is grasped out of the projectile magazine and, accompanied by rotation and orientation, is conveyed in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle into the region behind the end of the weapon, and there, accompanied by orientation in azimuth and elevation to the direction of the weapon at any given time, is raised into the loading position. The projectile feed mechanism has a projectile transfer arm that is pivotably mounted on the trunnion of the weapon and is moveable, independently of the as a ramming device being disposed on the free end of the transfer arm in the region behind the weapon. In the raised position of the projectile transfer arm, the charger is aligned relative to the axis of the bore of the weapon, and in the lowered position of the projectile transfer arm is oriented in the vertical direction. Further portions of the automatic projectile feed mechanism are disposed in the interior of the vehicle, and in particular a projectile transporter having a transport arm on the end of which is disposed a pivotable gripping device, as well as a standby member that disposed behind it, is displaceably guided in a transport rail, and can be disposed in a transfer position parallel to the charger. By means of the projectile transporter, the projectiles are removed from a projectile magazine and, accompanied by rotation and orientation, are conveyed by the standby member and the charger into the region behind the end of the weapon and are raised into the loading position. Further details of the known artillery gun are described in the above-cited document.
This artillery gun, which is generally known and introduced under the characterization PzH 2000, has a transport mass of altogether 49 t, and cannot be divided for transport in such a way that the individual parts have a maximum transport weight of 27 t and can thus also be transported with medium-sized aircraft.
Proceeding from the armored howitzer described in the above-cited document, the object of the invention is to provide an artillery gun having a heavy weapon disposed on a carrier vehicle that on the whole has a lighter weight construction and in addition can be divided into numerous parts, without great expense, for transport with medium-sized aircraft.

Artillery gun with a heavy weapon arranged on a support vehicle


Convertible skiing pants are disclosed. The skiing pants comprise an upper pants portion or shorts, which includes a waist opening and respective leg openings. The leg openings of the upper pants portions are located around the knees of the skier. A pair of lower pants portion may be removably attached to the upper pants portion by an attachment device, such as a zipper, which extends substantially circumferentially around the legs of the skier. The upper pants portion and both lower pants portions include a device for opening the respective portions along a longitudinal length thereof so that the ski pants may be converted to ski short and the shorts removed altogether, all without the need to remove skis or ski boots.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to the field of recreational clothing, and more particularly to skiing pants which may be worn by skiers and converted to skiing shorts or alternatively removed altogether without having to remove skis, ski boots or other footwear.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Trousers which can be converted to shorts by the temporary removal of all or part of each leg are generally known in the art. Generally, the trousers are detachable along the mid-thigh by means of hook and loop, zippers, snaps or buttons. While such trousers may be easily converted to shorts, the wearer generally still must remove their shoes in order to remove the lower half of the garment which generally covers the area below the knees of the wearer.
UK patent application 2271711 discloses convertible trousers in which the lower half of the garment may be removed from the upper trouser portion to convert the trousers into shorts. The lower removable trouser portion which generally covers the portions of the legs below the knees is provided with a side opening allowing the lower half of the shorts to be opened along the length thereof. While the U.K. '711 Patent discloses convertible trousers in which the calf or lower leg portion may be removed while footwear is worn, the converted shorts of the U.K. '711 Patent cannot also be removed. While the wearer is outfitted with oversized apparatuses attached to the feet, such as skis.
Thus, prior art convertible garments are not directed to, nor solve, the unique problems specifically applicable to the recreational and competitive sporting industry. In particular, none of the prior art appears to be directed specifically to converting a pair of skiing pants to skiing shorts. Until now, no pants have been known to utilize removable fasteners to create a removable pant and a removable short together as a single unitary garment. Furthermore, no such combination of removable pants and removable shorts is known to have been proposed for a garment for use in the recreational and competitive sporting industry, and particularly for wear by downhill skiers.
These and other disadvantages of the prior art are sought to be overcome by the convertible skiing pants of the preferred embodiments.


Methods and systems for controlling the number of computations involved in computing the allocation of resources given resource constraints. According to one embodiment, a set of existing constraints for providing the resources is received. An adjustable parameter for reducing the number of computations is received. A complexity-scalable resource-allocator is executed where the complexity-scalable resource-allocator computes an estimated constraint for providing a resource, at least in part, by dividing an existing constraint for providing the resource by the adjustable parameter, rounding down, and multiplying by the adjustable parameter, wherein the estimated constraint is used to optimally allocate the resources.

The transport of streaming media is an important means of communicating information and data. Information of many types may be communicated in this manner including audio, video and text. Providers of streaming media content transmit the content to receivers (e.g., computer, television etc.) that are often operated by end users.
An issue confronted by streaming media content providers is the optimization of the encoding and/or transport of standard-compliant video streams over lossy networks for real-time playback. Factors that impact the optimization of encoding and transmission of streaming media include available computing resources for the optimization process, and the characteristics of transmission source and network. Optimization for streaming media delivery typically involves choosing an appropriate set of discrete parameters for the encoding of media material and/or the transport of the encoded media. The set of chosen parameters often has to satisfy additional constraints, such as a total transmission bit budget. This is difficult because a large number of parameters are involved for both media source and channel, and there is a substantial interdependency of these parameters.
For general discrete parameter optimization with constraints, there are two basic approaches to choosing the right parameter set: a primal approach where the original constrained problem is solved directly, and a dual approach where the constrained problem is first transformed to an easier associated unconstrained problem. Exhaustive parameter set search is one instance of the first approach, while the Lagrangian approach is one instance of the second approach. Both approaches have been used in various forms as a means of solving the network streaming media problem outlined above.
The most straightforward instance of the primal approach for choosing the best set of parameters is through an exhaustive search. By enumerating every single available possibility, one can guarantee the identification of the optimal solution in bounded time. However, such a solution is prohibitively expensive and inefficient. For example, with 20 parameters each assuming 10 possible values, the number of cases that must be enumerated using exhaustive search techniques is 1020 which is equal to 100×1 billion×1 billion.
In the second dual approach such as Lagrangian, instead of directly evaluating the different cases, the original constrained problem is approximated by a corresponding unconstrained problem where penalty function(s) are added to the objective function of the original problem. While generally faster than the primal approach, as unconstrained problems are usually easier to solve than contrained problems, dual approach like the Lagrangian relaxation has two important drawbacks that limit their applications for streaming media applications. First, dual approaches using penalty functions will converge to a good answer only when some additional assumptions on the characteristics of the objective function and/or the penalty functions are met which generally limit its application. Second, there is no easy way to select a good penalty function, and iteratively searching for one means no bound on how fast the solutions converge. Specifically, given a desired amount of computation, the quality of the solution cannot be determined a priori. Conversely, given a desired quality of solution, the amount of computation cannot be determined a priori.
Dynamic programming is a very efficient and structured technique to efficiently perform exhaustive search for many optimization problems. It is not generally applicable to all optimization problems, but is relevant to many problems, such as streaming media. There are two important characteristics of dynamic programming. First, since all possible combinations are considered in a structured manner, dynamic programming guarantees the optimal set of parameters in bounded time. Second, it is possible to terminate a dynamic programming optimization at any time, and the best set of parameters that has been evaluated to-date will be available. Nevertheless, it is generally impossible to determine the quality of the parameters obtained by a terminated dynamic programming procedure to the optimal set of parameter.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


Sintered materials and a method for their manufacture are described together with products made therefrom, such as piston rings and valve seat inserts for internal combustion engines. The sintered material comprises a porous matrix with a composition lying in the range expressed in wt % of 8 to 12 chromium, 0.5 to 3 molybdenum, up to 1.5 vanadium, 0.2 to 1.5 carbon, other impurities 2 max., up to 1 manganese sulphide, optionally up to 5 molybdenum disulphide, balance iron, the matrix having a uniform dispersion of submicroscopic particles of molybdenum rich carbides which render the material resistant to thermal softening.

The present invention relates to sintered materials, a method for their manufacture, and products made therefrom.
Some components such as valve seat inserts and piston rings for internal combustion engines and compressors, for example, may be produced via a powder metallurgy (PM) route. Such PM components are generally made from an iron based powder material.
One such known material containing about 12 wt % of chromium, 6 wt % of copper, 1 wt % of carbon, 0.4 wt % of molybdenum, and the balance iron is described in GB 1,339,132. Similar compositions are found in GB 2,087,436.
These prior art materials employ additions of elemental molybdenum powder with or without molybdenum disulphide powder to the already prealloyed iron-chromium alloy powder.
Molybdenum is beneficial from the point of view of improving hardenability and, potentially, the resistance to thermal softening of the sintered material. However, the use of elemental molybdenum powder is disadvantageous in that it is an inefficient way of using an expensive material and in that the metallurgical microstructure so produced is not the optimum attainable, since the sub-microscopic carbides that give resistance to thermal softening in the ferrous lattice cannot be uniformly dispersed due to the limited diffusion of molybdenum into the matrix lattice during sintering.
Molybdenum, when added as an elemental powder, forms coarse particles of molybdenum rich carbide in the matrix so that only a small proportion of molybdenum dissolves in the matrix, thus the effect on hardenability is small and there is little effect on the heat resistant properties of the material unless the sintering temperature is raised well above 1200 degrees Centigrade.
Where molybdenum disulphide is added, this can react with chromium in the matrix to form chromium sulphide, freeing molybdenum into the material matrix to locally endow the matrix with an improved degree of heat resistance. Not all the molybdenum disulphide reacts in this manner and some of it remains to provide self-lubricating properties.
Molybdenum, more than most other carbide forming elements, is also beneficial from the point of view of the microstructure in the formation of molybdenum carbide. There is a large difference between the atomic weight of molybdenum and carbon (96 and 12, respectively). 1 wt % of molybdenum requires only about 0.06 wt % of carbon to form the stoicheiometric molybdenum carbide composition. Therefore, theoretically, a desired degree of hardening and thermal resistance can be achieved from a very low carbon content.
WO 90/06198 describes the manufacture of precision moulded components in iron based powder materials. This document mentions some of the advantages to be gained from prealloying the molybdenum with the iron but specifies that other alloying additions such as manganese, chromium, silicon, copper, nickel and aluminium must be maintained below a maximum level not exceeding 0.4 wt % in total in the prealloyed powder. It is further stated that if this figure is exceeded a severe decrease in the compressibility of the powder results, which effectively means final components having lower densities and, therefore, inferior properties.


A physical layer frequency translating repeater (600, 700) for use in a wireless network includes signal processor (710-714) coupled with a signal processing bus (711), a processor (627) and a memory (650). The physical layer repeater conducts physical layer repeating and selectively conducts layer 2 and possibly layer 3 functions depending on network conditions and other factors. A demodulator (623) can extract address information such as media access control (MAC) addressing to enable packets to be redirected, terminated, stored and forwarded, if necessary, based on network conditions.

Because of the increasing popularity of unrestrained access to broadband services by, for example, portable computing devices, there is an increasing need to extend the range of nodes such as access points associated with wireless networks, including but not limited to WLANs and wireless metropolitan area networks (WMANs) described and specified in the 802.11, 802.16 and 802.20 standards. The effective proliferation of wireless networks depends heavily on sustaining and increasing performance levels as user demands increase.
Performance shortcomings between actual and specified performance levels can be caused by attenuation of the radiation paths of RF signals, which are typically transmitted at frequencies of 2.4 GHz or 5.8 GHz in an operating environment such as an indoor environment. Base or AP to receiver or client ranges are generally less than the coverage range required in a typical home, and may be as little as 10 to 15 meters. Further, in structures having split floor plans, such as ranch style or two story homes, or those constructed of materials capable of attenuating RF signals, areas in which wireless coverage is needed may be physically separated by distances outside of the range of, for example, an 802.11 protocol based system. Attenuation problems may be exacerbated in the presence of interference in the operating band, such as interference from other 2.4 GHz devices or wideband interference with in-band energy. Still further, data rates of devices operating using the above standard wireless protocols are dependent on signal strength. As distances in the area of coverage increase, wireless system performance typically decreases. Lastly, the structure of the protocols themselves may affect the operational range.
One common practice in the mobile wireless industry to increase the range of wireless systems is through the use of repeaters. Other approaches can include distributed base stations to broaden coverage areas or the like. However, many of the approaches are prohibitive from an expense standpoint. In more recent discussions within, for example, the Wi-Mesh Alliance IEEE 802.11 Task Group S, the use of ad hoc or mesh networks, where multiple APs are capable of forming connections to each other when proximity is established, are favored as a way of extending the range of the networks. In the proposed evolution of the 802.11(s) standard for mesh networks, mesh nodes are intended to be compatible with the multiple input multiple output (MIMO) and high data rate (540 Mbps) specifications associated with 802.11(n).
Such systems are already deployed in two-way radio networks such as might be used by local government services. In such systems, multiple hops can be traversed before becoming out of range of a primary AP, that is, an AP having the direct connection to the base station, source provider or the like. The primary disadvantage of such systems is the need for expensive proprietary repeaters that are not likely compatible outside of the proprietary network and that are typically configured to operate in accordance with layer 2 or higher of the Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) layered architecture.
It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill that operation of a repeater at layers above layer 1, commonly referred to as the physical layer (PHY), can cause significant performance issues when time sensitive data or data associated with high bandwidth applications is being transported by the network. For instance, so-called wireless distribution system (WDS) repeaters operate at layer 2 and with a single transceiver causing delay and throughput performance impact as will be discussed in greater detail hereinafter. Because the WDS repeater receives and transmits packets on the same channel, issues such as congestion and at least a 50% reduction in throughput will result. Still further, since the media access control (MAC) address of the packet is modified in conventional layer 2 or higher operation, security features can be compromised along with a reduction in the overall ease of use.
However, for pure physical layer repeaters, problems and complications can arise in that the random packet nature of typical WLAN protocols provides no defined receive and transmit periods. Further, when a series of repeaters are coupled together to serve a client, delays due to cascaded repeating can cause packet acknowledgements (ACKs) to be delayed. Because of delayed ACKs and because packets from each wireless network node are spontaneously generated and transmitted and are not temporally predictable, undesirable consequences such as packet collisions may occur. Some remedies exist to address such difficulties, such as, for example, collision avoidance and random back-off protocols, which are used to avoid two or more nodes transmitting packets at the same time. Under the 802.11 standard protocol, for example, a distributed coordination function (DCF) or other schemes may be used for collision avoidance. However, as the size of a mesh or other network increases, as measured by, for example, the number of "hops," the amount of delay associated with each hop and the likelihood of at least some delay in the return of ACKs or the like makes pure physical layer processing for individual repeaters prone to possible error as timeouts may occur before higher layer protocol messages can be transferred back and forth along the repeated network paths.
Known approaches to providing repeaters in WLANs, and specifically to providing 802.11 compliant repeaters designed to span larger areas, include providing repeaters configured as two Access Points (APs) in the same box with an inter-AP routing capability between them, and providing a store and forward repeater (SF Repeater). Both approaches are reflected in commercially available products. While a repeater configured as two APs in a box may be suitable for expensive outdoor wireless networks, such repeaters do not meet the requirements of low cost and small form factor generally associated with consumer product applications. Further, such repeaters are complicated to install and operate and can lead to compromised security.
Conventional consumer oriented SF repeaters are typically provided with configuration software. The consumer oriented repeater is generally a WDS repeater with a single radio frequency (RF) section as opposed to the two AP approach noted above. Such a repeater is loaded with software which determines the channels used by the AP. Channel information is then communicated by the consumer during initial configuration to the SF repeater to configure the repeater in kind. Problems arise however, in that such systems are difficult to implement for the average consumer as they require some basic knowledge, or at least the ability to interpret data values associated with the WLAN parameters.
One system, described in U.S. National Stage application Ser. No. 10/516,327 based on International Application No. PCT/US03/16208, incorporated by reference herein, and commonly owned by the assignee of the present application, resolves many localized transmission and reception problems by providing a repeater which isolates receive and transmit channels using a frequency detection and translation method. The WLAN repeater described therein allows two WLAN units to communicate by translating packets associated with one device at a first frequency channel to a second device using a second frequency channel. Since the repeater operates as a physical layer device, the MAC address of the packets are not modified, as would be the case in a repeater configured as a layer 2 or higher device. The direction associated with the translation or conversion, such as from the first frequency channel associated with the first device to the second frequency channel associated with the second device, or from the second frequency channel to the first frequency channel, depends upon a real time configuration of the repeater and the WLAN environment. For example, the WLAN repeater may be configured to monitor both frequency channels for transmissions and, when a transmission is detected, translate the signal received on the first frequency channel to the other frequency channel, where it is transmitted to the destination. It is important to note that the frequency translating repeater described in application Ser. No. 10/516,327 acts in near real time to receive, boost and retransmit packets. While addressing many of the problems in the art, the frequency translating repeater described in application Ser. No. 10/516,327 lacks capabilities such as store and forward or higher layer intelligence or processing capability, including filtering traffic based on knowledge of network operating conditions. Such a repeater is the equivalent of, for example, a hub for a wireless LAN.
In general, repeaters will be used where the placement of a wired connection to a LAN, such as an Ethernet LAN connection or the like, is undesirable. Where several repeaters can be used to extend LAN ranges, it would be desirable for a physical layer (PHY) repeater that can address the consequences of delay and the like as described above without being prohibitively expensive. It would be further advantageous for a PHY repeater to be capable of treating packets differently based on characteristics of the packet such as a source or destination address or a priority associated with the packet while preserving packet and network security mechanisms.

Physical layer repeater with selective use of higher layer functions based on network operating conditions


An improved gas generator apparatus having a compressor, a combustor, and a turbine having a turbine rotor coupled by a rotor shaft to the compressor rotor of the compressor. The combustor is spiral shaped and positioned between the compressor and turbine which allows the direction of flow of air or working gas to remain substantially unchanged from the compressor to the turbine, while maintaining a compact configuration. In operation, air drawn into the compressor is swirled circumferentially and pressurized by the compressor, and then delivered into a combustion chamber while it is being swirled. Air is expanded in the combustion chamber as it is swirled in and along the spirally shaped expansion chamber tube and then flows as a working gas into the turbine in which the gas drives the turbine rotor while the gas is still being swirled in the same direction. The air or working gas, therefore, maintains a swirling flow in one direction from the compressor to the turbine. In one embodiment, the scrolls for the compressor and turbine a compactly located in a normally empty space surrounding the shroud for the rotors of the compressor and turbine. In another embodiment, the separate compressor shroud is eliminated by providing a casing surrounding the spiral combustion expansion tube for receiving compressed air directly into that casing.

The present invention relates to a gas generating apparatus applicable to a gas turbine, and more particularly to an improved gas generating apparatus comprising a compressor, a combustor, and a turbine having a turbine rotor coupled to the compressor rotor of the compressor.
Such a gas generating apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,837,760, wherein the gas generating apparatus includes an axial type compressor and a spiral type combustor. The spiral type combustor has a large combustion ability and is compact since a long expansion chamber tube can be housed in a small space. However, with the axial type compressor and the spiral combustor combined, when air compressed by the compressor flows into the combustor, the direction of air flow is abruptly changed which results in a large pressure loss.
One object of the present invention is to provide a gas generating apparatus which allows the direction of flow of air or a working gas to remain substantially unchanged from the compressor to the turbine, while maintaining a compact configuration.


A seal structure of separator for fuel cell comprising:

1. Filed of the Invention
The present invention concerns a seal structure for fuel cell separators, has the purpose of preventing fuel gas from leaking and would be used especially in the case of integration of the seal body in the separator.
2. Description of the Related Art
With a view to reduction of the number of manufacturing steps and cost, constitution of the cell of a fuel cell by integrating beforehand a seal rubber for preventing leakage of fuel gas in separators and sandwiching an electrolyte membrane 103 with two separators 101, 102 as shown in FIG. 5 has been conceived.
FIG. 6 shows two separators 101, 102 and the electrolyte membrane 103 composing a single cell, and both separators 101, 102 are shown on their side opposed to the electrolyte membrane 103 with integrally provided seal rubbers 104, 105.
In FIG. 6, the continuous seal rubber 104 sealing an area surrounding an electrode 106, passage grooves 107, 108 and manifolds 109, 110, and sealing independently holes 111, 112 is integrated with the separator 101. On the other hand, the continuous seal rubber 105 sealing an area surrounding an electrode 113, passage grooves 114, 115 and manifolds 115, 117 and sealing independently holes 118, 119 is integrated with the separator 102.
The cell for the fuel cell is composed by sandwiching the electrolyte membrane 103 of a size larger than the illustrated electrodes 106, 113 between these seal rubbers 104, 105 integrated respectively with two separators 101, 102, and arranging the faces of the separators 101, 102 integrated with the seal rubbers 104, 105 face to face with each other.
Here, as shown in FIG. 7 illustrating a cross section view of FIG. 6 B-B, where the electrolyte membrane 103 is sandwiched between the separators 101, 102, the sealing is realized by bringing a spacer 120 and the seal rubber 105 into contact with the electrolyte membrane 103, and by arranging the spacer 120 across the passage groove 107, which allows compression of the seal rubber 105 by the spacer 120 because there is no seal rubber 104 for the passage groove 107 portion connecting the electrode 106 and the manifold 109.
However, the spacer 120 cannot be arranged continuously with the seal rubber 104, a certain gap S is inevitably formed between the spacer 120 and the seal rubber 104. The presence of this gap S, as shown in FIG. 8, allows the electrolyte membrane 103 to enter the space S, and the seal rubber 105 and the electrolyte membrane 103 were separated from each other, so that sealing is not established, resulting in leakage of fuel gas.

Abstract: two separators disposed opposite to one another, which have electrode portions, manifold portions circulating fuel gas fed to said electrode portions, passage grooves feeding fuel gas between said electrode portion and said manifold portion, and hole portions opposite to the manifold portions of a facing separator;

Abstract: a seal body, which is provided integrally on the separators and has a first seal portion to seal an area surrounding the electrode, the passage groove and the manifold portion, and a second seal portion to independently seal the hole portion;

Abstract: an electrolyte membrane, sandwiched between the two separators, having a size enough to include the electrode portion, the manifold portion and the hole portion, and having a shape with a through-hole on the manifold portion and at a portion of the hole portion; and

Abstract: a gasket surrounding the manifold portion of the separators and straddling the passage groove to enable fuel gas to be distributed.


This invention provides a label forming apparatus including a release sheet having a release surface from which an adhered adhesive material is releasable, an adhesive material layer stacked on the release surface of the release sheet, a coat layer stacked on a surface of the adhesive material layer opposite to the release sheet, a label portion having a thermoplastic resin secured to a surface of the coat layer opposite to the adhesive material layer, and an edging portion provided on a surface of the coat layer opposite to the adhesive material layer and having a thermoplastic resin secured to a position spaced apart from the label portion so as to surround the label portion.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of label formation.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been known a label with an adhesive material provided on one surface of a printed matter. The label is previously releasably formed on a mount. There has also been known a method of label formation and a label forming apparatus, as used in label manufacturing.
Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication Nos. 2012-108300 and 2010-184470 propose a method of label formation including stacking an adhesive material layer and a coat layer, which prevents an adhesive material from coming off, on a release sheet, transferring toner on to the laminate, and performing hot pressing.
When the label is released from the mount, the coat layer and the adhesive material provided between the label and the release sheet are released together. At this time, since the coat layer is required to be released following the shape of the label, a material such as a polyester resin, which is easily split with a small force, is used.

CASIO ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.


Portable, wearable or integrate-able devices may be used in detecting gestures or motions by operators of welding systems, and performing actions based thereon. The detection may be performed using sensors (e.g., MEMS or muscle sensors), which generate sensory data. The detected gestures or motions may be processed and translated into corresponding actions or commands, which may be handled directly or communicated to other devices in the welding systems. The actions or commands may comprise welding actions/commands, which are configured for controlling a particular component used during welding operations, and/or gesture-related actions/commands, which are configured for controlling gesture-related components and/or operations. Feedback is provided to the operator, such as to acknowledge or validate detection of the gestures, to identify the corresponding action or command, and to complete the identified action or command. The feedback may be non-visual feedback, such as haptic or audio feedback.

Welding is a process that has increasingly become ubiquitous in all industries. Welding can be performed in automated manner or in manual manner. In particular, while welding may be automated in certain contexts, a large number of applications continue to exist where manual welding operations are used (e.g., where a welding operator uses a welding gun or torch to perform the welding). In either mode (automated or manual), the success of welding operations relies heavily on proper use of the welding equipment, e.g., success of manual welding depends on proper use of a welding gun or torch by a welding operator. For instance, improper torch angle, contact-tip-to-work-distance, travel speed, and aim are parameters that may dictate the quality of a weld. Even experienced welding operators, however, often have difficulty weld monitoring and maintaining these important parameters throughout welding processes.

Armband based systems and methods for controlling welding equipment using gestures and like motions


A window comparator compares a level of an output signal with an attack reference level, and outputs an attack signal based upon an attack reference comparison result signal thus obtained, and compares the output signal level with a recovery reference level, and outputs a recovery signal based upon a recovery reference comparison result signal thus obtained. An attack timing signal generating unit outputs an attack timing signal at first predetermined time intervals. A recovery timing signal generating unit outputs a recovery timing signal at second time intervals which are longer than the first predetermined time interval. An action determining circuit generates a gain reduction signal and a gain increase signal. The amplification gain of the variable gain amplifier is reduced or increased based upon the gain reduction signal or the gain increase signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an amplifying apparatus (which will also be referred to as "amplifier" hereafter) with an automatic level controller (which will be referred to as "ALC" hereafter) for controlling the output level of an amplifier by controlling the gain of a variable gain amplifier included therein.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional automatic level controllers are well known, having a function for controlling the gain of a variable gain amplifier so as to output a constant-level output signal. These automatic level controllers work as follows. That is to say, the output signal level is compared with a reference level. In a case that the output signal level is higher than the reference level, the automatic level controller reduces the gain thereof. On the other hand, in a case that the output signal level is lower than the reference level, the automatic level controller increases the gain thereof. Such increase and reduction are performed at predetermined time intervals (frame period), thereby enabling stable gain control (see Patent document 1).
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-173211
With conventional automatic level controllers, the gain of an amplifier is adjusted in response to fluctuation of the output-signal level around a reference level. Data communication circuits and so forth operate without any problems as long as the signal level is maintained, regardless of how frequent the amplifier gain is adjusted. Accordingly, with the conventional automatic level controllers, the frame period is designed so as to prevent error due to noise or the like. Thus, the frame period is preferably set to as short a period as possible.
However, an amplifier with an ALC for automatic control of the output signal level of audio signals so as to be within a predetermined level has different problems. That is to say, with an arrangement in which the gain is controlled exactly in response to fluctuation of the output signal level around the reference level, the output signal level changes exactly in response to the change in gain, leading to a problem of unnatural-sounding audio signals from the perspective of auditory sensation.
Furthermore, an arrangement in which action for increasing the amplification gain (i.e., recovery action) and action for reducing the amplification gain (e.g., attack action) are performed at the same intervals (frame period) also has a problem of output of unnatural-sounding audio signals from the perspective of auditory sensation.
For example, let us consider a case of the attack action. In this case, with an arrangement in which gain control is performed at excessively long intervals, an audio signal input suddenly after a period of no audio signals is amplified with an excessively high gain, leading to a problem of an excessively high output-signal level. Furthermore, this leads to distortion of the output-signal waveform, and such distortion remains for a while. Thus, in a case of the attack action, the gain control is preferably performed with short intervals from the perspective of auditory sensation.
Next, let us consider a case of the recovery action. In this case, with an arrangement in which gain control is performed at excessively short intervals, gain is increased immediately in response to a stop of audio signals. This leads to amplification of noise, resulting in a problem of audio signals with extremely poor quality from the perspective of auditory sensation. Furthermore, in a case of the recovery action, with an arrangement in which gain control is performed at excessively long intervals, a small audio signal suddenly input after a period of large signals leads to a problem that such a small audio signal is amplifies with an excessively low amplification gain for a while, resulting in a situation in which such a small audio signal cannot be heard for a while. Thus, control of the recovery action is preferably performed with suitably-long intervals from the perspective of natural-sounding auditory sensation.

Amplifying apparatus with automatic level controller


A structure and methods for reinforcing a semiconductor device to prevent cracking is provided. The device may take the form of a semiconductor chip or a semiconductor chip package. When a semiconductor chip is provided, an adhesion layer is applied over its top surface, followed by the application of a reinforcing layer over the adhesion layer. When a semiconductor chip package is provided, the package first undergoes a cleaning process, followed by the application of an adhesion layer over its top surface and, lastly, the application of a reinforcing layer over the adhesion layer.

1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to a structure and method for reinforcing a semiconductor device, and more particularly, to a structure and method for preventing the cracking of a semiconductor device during thermal cycling or mechanical loading.
2. Background Art
In the production of integrated circuitry, a semiconductor device is often affixed to an organic substrate, such as an organic chip carrier having distinct material properties. For example, under present technology, the semiconductor device can be formed from silicon, gallium, arsenide, or the like, whereas the organic substrate can be made from epoxy, cyanate ester or other similar base. This difference in materials comprising the components often leads to problems during fabrication and use when a semiconductor device is subject to thermal cycling. Specifically, the different materials have distinct coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) which, upon thermal cycling, cause the bottom surface (commonly referred to as the xe2x80x9cfrontxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cmetalizationxe2x80x9d surface) of the semiconductor device to expand and contract at a different rate than its top surface (commonly referred to as the xe2x80x9cbackxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cfreexe2x80x9d surface). When this occurs, the flexibility of the substrate will cause the more rigid semiconductor to bend and crack resulting in failure or significant decrease in performance of the semiconductor device.
Thus, the ability of a semiconductor device to withstand the thermal cycling process is important in ensuring optimal performance of integrated circuitry.
Heretofore, many manufacturers have applied a metallic liner to a semiconductor device before mounting the device on a substrate. One such example of this is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,866,505 to Roberts et al., hereby incorporated by reference. Recognizing the problems associated with differing coefficients of thermal expansion, Roberts et al. teaches coating the underside of the semiconductor device with a metallic liner prior to bonding the device to the substrate. The purpose of this is to increase the area of the device that contacts the substrate as the two are bonded together. While such an embodiment may result in enhanced bonding of the device to the substrate, it will not aid in the prevention of cracking on the surface of the device and, accordingly, device performance will continue to suffer.
Therefore, there exists the need for a reinforced semiconductor device that will not crack or otherwise become defective upon thermal cycling.
The present invention overcomes the deficiencies of the prior art by including a structure and method for preventing cracking of a semiconductor device due to warping or other effects that occur during thermal cycling or mechanical loading by reinforcing the device""s top surface.
According to one aspect of the invention, a method of reinforcing a semiconductor chip to prevent cracking is provided comprising the steps of: 1) providing a semiconductor chip having a top and a bottom surface; 2) applying an adhesion layer over the top surface of the semiconductor chip; and 3) by applying a reinforcing layer over the adhesion layer to prevent cracking of the chip.
According to a second aspect of the invention, a method for preventing cracking of a semiconductor chip package is provided and comprises the steps of: 1) providing a semiconductor chip package having a top and a bottom surface; 2) cleaning the chip package; 3) applying an adhesion layer over the top surface of the chip package; and 4) applying a reinforcing layer over the adhesion layer to prevent cracking of the chip package.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, a reinforced semiconductor device is provided which comprises a semiconductor device having a top and a bottom surface and a reinforcing layer overlying the top surface. The device can comprise either a semiconductor chip or a semiconductor chip package.
It is therefore a further advantage of the present invention to provide a structure and methods for reinforcing a semiconductor device to prevent cracking during thermal cycling.
It is therefore an advantage of the present invention to provide a structure and methods for maintaining optimal performance of a semiconductor device irrespective of thermal cycling.

Structure for reinforcing a semiconductor device to prevent cracking

International Business Machines Corporation


Method and assembly for producing shear-resistant attachment between a prefabricated top plate having a plurality of preformed bolt passage holes and a support member having a corresponding plurality of bolt-receiving holes which may be slightly out of alignment with the bolt passage holes in the top plate. The bolt passage holes are oversize and have conical walls, and the bolts have a rounded undersurface which makes line contact with the conical wall when each bolt is tightened into a nut or floating nut plate aligned and/or attached at the undersurface of the support member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improvements in replacement mechanical subassemblies and electronic enclosure units or panels such as prefabricated with bolt passage holes and designed to be bolted to a supporting structure having bolt receiving bores in predetermined fixed locations. The bolts may be threaded into floating nut plates attached to the support structure or into standard plain nuts. The aviation industry requires total interchangeability of such replacement units or line replaceable units (LRU's) of mechanical subassemblies and electronic enclosures for planes, space ships and other bodies. Such requirement presents alignment problems because the bolt receiving bores in the supporting structure and the bolt passage holes in the LRU's cannot be so precisely and immutably located, relative to each other, to provide exact registration or alignment with respect to all LRU's and all supporting structures. Center-to-center variations of up to about 0.03 inch are unavoidable and must be compensated.
One method for correcting for misalignment of bolt passage holes and bolt-receiving bores is to drill or re-drill and enlarge the bolt passage holes in the LRU on site for each assembly. Such a procedure is time-consuming and expensive and does not satisfy contractual requirements that line replacement units be prefabricated as interchangeable units.
Another method for compensating for small amounts of misalignment, up to about 0.03 inch, is to provide enlarged bolt passage holes or slots in the line replacement units so that although the bolt passage holes and the mounting structure bores are not concentric, the attachment bolts can be fastened into the bores and tightened to produce clamping frictional engagement between the LRU and the supporting structure.
However such frictional engagement does not provide protection against loosening and wear as a result of shear forces, such as is common in installations or assemblies subjected to vibration loads, as in the case of aircraft components. Vibrations produces shear forces, parallel to the mating surfaces of the LRU and the supporting structure, which can cause loosening of the bolts and relative slippage movement of the LRU and the supporting structure and enlargement or coining of the bolt passage holes and reduced reliability and life of the assembly. For these reasons the use of enlarged or slotted bolt passage holes, or any other system which does not provide shear force protection, is not permitted in critical assemblies which are subjected to high shear forces, such as assemblies subjected to substantial vibration forces.
Ideally, the shank of the attachment bolts will contact both the wall of the bolt passage holes in the LRU and the bolt passage holes in the support structure when the bolts are tightened into the threaded nut plates attached to the supporting structure so as to provide resistance to shear forces independent of frictional clamping engagement. Such engagement resists up to about fifteen times as much force as compared to assemblies using oversize bolt passage holes, the walls of which do not contact the shank of the tightened attachment bolts. As mentioned, the use of small or close tolerance bolt passage holes provides the desired bolt hole passage wall engagement but results in the misalignment problems discussed supra.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 3,006,443 which discloses an assembly for compensating for or correcting misalignment of the bolt passage holes in two sheets or plates being fastened together by means of bolts and nuts. Such assemblies are only useful for installations providing interior access for the attachment of bolt engaging nuts. Moreover such assemblies require the production, placement and manual positioning and orientation of bolt hole passage members in each of the sheets or plates being fastened together so that the bolted assemblies provide resistance against shear forces. Thus, the objectives and results of the invention of U.S. Pat. No. 3,006,443 are similar to those of the present invention but the means for producing said results differ substantially from those of the present invention.
Reference is also made to U.S. Pat. No. 3,382,630 which discloses nut-and-bolt assemblies for providing tiltable motion or self-adjusting connections between transparent windshield panels and supporting structure on an aircraft windscreen. Shear resistance is not provided since the connecting bolts do not maintain contact with the walls of the hole passages. Reference is also made to U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,145,362 and 4,860,513 which disclose fastening bolts having heads with rounded or tapered undersurfaces for engaging mating concave or tapered surfaces on a panel designed to be fastened to a supporting surface. The functions of these assemblies do not involve misalignment compensation or shear force resistance.

Method for compensating for bolt hole misalignment and bolt assemblies therefor


A cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) color filter substrate for reflective liquid crystal display devices comprises an alignment layer on a black substrate, a cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) color filter on the alignment layer, the cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) color filter including sub-color-filters red (R), green (G), and blue (B), and black matrices on boundaries of each of the sub-color filters R, G, and B. In addition, a cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) color filter substrate for a reflective liquid crystal display devices comprises an alignment layer on a black substrate, a cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) color filter on the alignment layer, the cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) color filter including sub-color-filters R, G, and B, and boundaries of the sub-color filter R, G and B that reflect incident light having a long wavelength.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display (LCD) device and more particularly to a cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) display device.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Generally, liquid crystal display devices can be classified as either a transmissive liquid crystal display device or a reflective liquid crystal display device. In the transmissive liquid crystal display device, either black or white is displayed by irradiating light from a light source disposed behind a liquid crystal panel to a liquid crystal layer and thus absorbing or transmitting the light depending on an alignment of liquid crystal molecules. Whereas the transmissive liquid crystal display devices require high power consumption because they use an artificial light source behind the liquid crystal panel, the reflective liquid crystal display devices depend on ambient light or an external artificial light source for their light source. Accordingly, the reflective liquid crystal display devices require lower power consumption as compared to the transmissive liquid crystal display devices. Therefore, the need for reflective liquid crystal display devices has been acknowledged.
In reflective liquid crystal display devices, incident light first passes through the liquid crystal panel, then is reflected in the liquid crystal panel, and finally the reflected light passes through the color filter to display a color image. As a result, the utilization ratio of the light is poor in these devices. In addition, the devices require a color filter that has sub-color filters arranged in a regularly repeated order of red (R), green (G), and blue (B). The sub-color-filters red (R), green (G), and blue (B) can be made through processes such as a pigment coating process, a light exposing process, and a patterning process. The manufacturing process for making these color filters is complex and therefore the costs of the color filters is high.
Therefore, a cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) color filter that uses a cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) as a color filter has been suggested to overcome the deficiencies described above. The cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) has a layered structure. The liquid crystal molecules in every layer have similar properties to that of nematic liquid crystals. The alignment of the liquid crystal molecules of each layer can rotate in clockwise or counter clockwise directions enabling a difference in reflectance between the layers. Accordingly, a color can be displayed by the reflection and interference of light that is caused by the difference of the reflectance between layers. The rotations of the cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) molecules form a helical structure.
A cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) having a right-handed helical structure reflects a right circular polarization component and transmits a left circular polarization component of the incident light. The incident light consists of right circular polarization and the left circular polarization. If a cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) has a left-handed helical structure, the cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) reflects the left circular polarization component and transmits the right circular polarization component of the incident light.
The pitch is an important characteristic in the helical structure of the cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC). The pitch can be understood as a distance between the first cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) layer and the last cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) layer when the cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) molecules in the first cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) layer rotate 360 degrees. The pitch is a parameter that controls a hue of the cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC). For example, if the pitch is the same with a wavelength of red color (650 nm) then the cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) reflects the red color observed in a front direction. The pitch of the helical structure of the cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) can be controlled to selectively reflect or transmit the incident light with a wavelength in a particular range.
The cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) color filter using the cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) may be formed by mixing the cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) with a photo-alignment polymer. Then the mixed solution of the cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) and the photo-alignment polymer is heated to control the pitch and thereby the cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) may reflect only the light in a particular wavelength range. The mixed solution of the cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) is subsequently exposed to ultraviolet light to fix the photo related characteristics of the cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC).
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) color filter substrate. As shown in this figure an absorption layer 34 is formed on a substrate 32 to manufacture a cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) color filter substrate 30. An alignment layer 36 is then formed on the absorption layer 34. A cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) color filter 38 is subsequently formed on the alignment layer 36. The cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) color filter 38 includes sub-color filters red (R) 38a, green (G) 38b, and blue (B) 38c. The sub-color filters 38a, 38b and 38c are formed by controlling the pitch of CLC helix to reflect an incident light having a wavelength in a range corresponding to the desired displaying color of each of the sub-color filters red (R) 38a, green (G) 38b, and blue (B) 38c.
FIGS. 2A and 2B are cross-sectional views illustrating a fabrication process of the cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) color filter according to the related art. As shown in these figures an absorption layer 34 is formed on a substrate 32 by forming a black resin. An alignment layer 36 is then formed on the absorption layer 34. A cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) layer 37 is subsequently formed on the alignment layer 36. The cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) layer 37 is a mixture of the cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) and a photo-alignment polymer. A plurality of regions are defined in the cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) layer 37 and each of these regions will become a sub-color-filters red (R), green (G), and blue (B) by controlling the pitch of CLC helix to reflect the incident light having a wavelength in a range corresponding to a desired displaying color of each of the sub-color-filters R 38a, G 38b, and B 38c.
The pitch of the CLC helix can be controlled in two ways. First, the pitch of the CLC helix can be controlled by varying the temperature, and then exposing the region for sub-color filter R in the cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) layer 37 to ultraviolet rays using a mask 40 to fix the controlled pitch. Second, the pitch of the CLC helix can be controlled by irradiating ultraviolet rays that have a first wavelength range and then fixing the controlled pitch by irradiating ultraviolet rays that have a second wavelength range. The sub-color filter R for red color can be formed using either of the methods described above. In addition, other sub-color filters, for example, green color and blue color, can be formed through the same process as that of the sub-color filter R. The cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) color filter 38 can be manufactured by repeating the above-described process for each sub-color-filter R, G, and B. Finally, a passivation layer 42 is formed on the cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) color filter 38.
If the helical structure of the sub-color-filter R is left-handed, the left circular polarization component of the incident light that is in the wavelength range of the red color is reflected, and other components of the incident light transmits the cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) color filter and then are absorbed to the absorption layer. Accordingly, an observer can see the red color.

Cholesteric liquid crystal color filter substrate and method for fabricating the same