Adjustable antenna structures may be used to compensate for manufacturing variations in electronic device antennas. An electronic device antenna may have an antenna feed and conductive structures such as portions of a peripheral conductive electronic device housing member and other conductive antenna structures. The adjustable antenna structures may have a movable dielectric support. Multiple conductive paths may be formed on the dielectric support. The movable dielectric support may be installed within an electronic device housing so that a selected one of the multiple conductive paths is coupled into use to convey antenna signals. Coupling the selected path into use adjusts the position of an antenna feed terminal for the antenna feed and compensates for manufacturing variations in the conductive antenna structures that could potentially lead to undesired variations in antenna performance.

This relates generally to electronic devices, and more particularly, to electronic devices that have antennas.
Electronic devices such as computers and handheld electronic devices are often provided with wireless communications capabilities. For example, electronic devices may use long-range wireless communications circuitry such as cellular telephone circuitry to communicate using cellular telephone bands. Electronic devices may use short-range wireless communications links to handle communications with nearby equipment. For example, electronic devices may communicate using the WiFi® (IEEE 802.11) bands at 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz and the Bluetooth® band at 2.4 GHz.
Antenna performance can be critical to proper device operation. Antennas that are inefficient or that are not tuned properly may result in dropped calls, low data rates, and other performance issues. There are limits, however, to how accurately conventional antenna structures can be manufactured.
Many manufacturing variations are difficult or impossible to avoid. For example, variations may arise in the size and shape of printed circuit board traces, variations may arise in the density and dielectric constant associated with printed circuit board substrates and plastic parts, and conductive structures such as metal housing parts and other metal pieces may be difficult or impossible to construct with completely repeatable dimensions. Some parts are too expensive to manufacture with precise tolerances and other parts may need to be obtained from multiple vendors, each of which may use a different manufacturing process to produce its parts.
Manufacturing variations such as these may result in undesirable variations in antenna performance. An antenna may, for example, exhibit an antenna resonance peak at a first frequency when assembled from a first set of parts, while exhibiting an antenna resonance peak at a second frequency when assembled from a second set of parts. If the resonance frequency of an antenna is significantly different than the desired resonance frequency for the antenna, a device may not function properly.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a way in which to address issues such as these so as to improve antenna manufacturability and performance.

Adjustable antenna structures for adjusting antenna performance in electronic devices


An assignment method executed by a given core of a multi-core processor includes identifying for each core, the number of storage areas to be used by a given thread and the number of storage areas used by threads already assigned; detecting for each core, a highest value from the number of storage areas used by the threads already assigned; determining whether a sum of a greater value of the detected highest value of a core selected as a candidate assignment destination and the number of storage areas to be used by the given thread, and the detected highest value of the cores excluding the selected core, is at most the number of storage areas of the shared resource; and assigning the given thread to the selected core, when the sum is at most the number of storage areas of the shared resource.

According to a conventional technique, cache hit ratios are measured in a multi-core processor system; and threads are scheduled such that the cache hit ratios of each thread increases (see, e.g., Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication Nos. 2006-285430 and H4-338837 and Published Japanese-Translation of PCT Application, Publication No. 2008-542925).
According to another technique, cache priority is set for each thread; and the amount of cache to be used by threads assigned to the same central processing unit (CPU) is determined according to the cache priority (see, e.g., Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H9-101916).
However, for example, when a thread whose cache hit ratio is low is concurrently executed by plural CPUs, the access of shared memory by the plural CPUs cause contention and therefore, a problem arises in that a wait period occurs for access of the shared memory.
Consequently, the execution of each thread does not advance and a problem arises in that the execution performance of the thread drops.

Assignment method and multi-core processor system


The invention relates to a particle filter device (1) comprising:                a fluid inlet (20),        a fluid outlet (21),        a first fluid flow circuit (31) comprising a first filter zone (2) having a first filter surface (S1),        a second fluid flow circuit (32) comprising a second filter zone (3) having a second filter surface (S2) and a constriction (4) having a constant hydraulic resistance so that, in operation, a first portion of the fluid flows through the first flow circuit (31) by passing through the first filter zone (2) and a second portion of the fluid flows through the second flow circuit (32) by passing through the second filter zone (3) and the constriction (4), and the first filter zone (2) reaches a predetermined clogging condition before the second filter zone (3).

It is known to filter a fluid by means of a particle filter device.
For this purpose, the filter device generally comprises a filter cartridge comprising one or several filter zone(s) formed by one or several medium/media having a porous structure for retaining the particles present in said fluid.
Over time, the filter zones(s) of the device become eventually clogged. These filter zones must be then cleaned or replaced.
Moreover, in order to be able to carry out the maintenance operations, it may be necessary to know the evolution of the clogging condition of the filter device.
When a particle filter device becomes clogged, the difference in the total pressures between the upstream and downstream ΔP of the filter device increases as the clogging progresses.
By measuring this pressure difference, or a parameter correlated thereto, as a variation in possibly corrected static pressures, of the dynamic pressure, it is possible to obtain an estimate of the clogging condition of the filter device.
Where appropriate, it is known to post-process the pressure difference measurement in order to take into account the effects of flow rate and temperature of the fluid, which affect the properties of the fluid, and therefore the pressure difference. Clogging models then make it possible to estimate the level of clogging of the filter device under reference conditions.
FIG. 1 represents an example of time evolution of this pressure difference for a conventional particle filter device, with assumptions of constant flow rate, temperature and particle concentration.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, the curve mainly comprises two clogging phases (P1 and P2).
In the first clogging phase P1, the increase of the pressure difference ΔP is low. In the second clogging phase P2, the increase of the pressure difference ΔP suddenly becomes very fast.
Because of this characteristic evolution, it turns out that the prediction of the level of clogging is made very difficult in the first phase. It appears indeed that there is little sensitivity of measurement of the pressure difference ΔP relative to the clogging condition, but also that, in some cases, the level of pressure difference ΔP can be too small compared to the noise of the measuring instruments. In the second phase, the rapid increase of the pressure difference ΔP greatly reduces the possible reaction time, especially for the triggering of a maintenance operation, for a replacement of the filter cartridge.
Devices are known including a cartridge which comprises several filter zones operating in parallel, the filter zones having filtration efficiencies that are different from each other. This characteristic makes it possible to increase the lifespan of the device. Indeed, a very efficient first filter zone becomes clogged quickly, whereas a second filter zone, less effective than the first filter zone, becomes clogged more slowly. Once the first filter zone is clogged, the device can still operate thanks to the second filter zone. However, once the first filter zone is clogged, the filter device operates with a degraded efficiency. Such devices therefore are not suitable for use in applications that need to ensure constant filtration efficiency throughout the lifespan of the device.
Other devices are also known including a cartridge which comprises several filter zones having identical filtration efficiencies. These devices generally comprise a valve for directing the fluid stream selectively through the first filter zone or through the second filter zone. In this way, the fluid is initially directed only towards the first filter zone until the latter becomes clogged. Once the first filter zone is clogged, the valve is actuated in order to direct the fluid only towards the second filter zone, which thus takes over from the first filter zone. Such a device makes it possible to maintain substantially constant filtration efficiency. However, it does not allow precise monitoring of the clogging condition of the device. Indeed, it is difficult to anticipate the clogging of the second filter zone for the reasons that have been exposed previously in relation to FIG. 1.
Therefore, the detection of clogging of the filter device is not optimal. There is therefore a need for a filter device of which clogging can be more easily anticipated, while ensuring the same quality of filtration throughout the operation of the filter device.

Filter device and system and clogging monitoring method


The invention is directed in a first aspect to electrolyte salt of the general formula Li+Z−, wherein Z− has the following chemical formula:

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are widely used in consumer electronics, such as laptop computers, camcorders, cameras, and cell phones, and are being increasingly considered for applications in electric vehicles and other high-power applications. With pressing worldwide environmental concerns, lithium-ion batteries are being particularly considered for use in electric vehicles (EVs), hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles (PHEVs).
The lithium-containing electrolyte has long been an indispensable part of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), as it plays a critical role in the battery performance. The lithium salt not only is the primary source of free conducting lithium ions, but it also mediates the electrochemical window of the electrolyte and the formation of solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) on the surface of electrodes (Xu, K., Chem. Rev., 2004. 104: p. 4303-4417). Stable lithium salts are even more important for the development of 5.0 V lithium-ion batteries, which are currently being actively pursued in order to increase the power and energy density of the cells. Thus far, LiPF6 has been the most common salt in carbonate mixtures for commercial LIBs, mainly due to its optimum combination of ionic conductivity, ion dissociation, electrochemical window, and electrode interfacial properties. However, LiPF6 is seldom outstanding with respect to any single parameter, and LiPF6 has raised safety concerns in large scale plug-in, hybrid, and all electric vehicles (EVs) because of its low chemical and thermal stability (Tarascon, J. M. and M. Armand, Nature, 2001. 414(6861): p. 359-367). Consequently, researchers have focused on synthesizing new lithium salts to replace LiPF6. Among the new lithium salts, the most favored ones are those containing fluorine atoms, such as lithium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI), lithium bis(perfluoroethylsulfonyl) (LiBETI), lithium tris(trifluoromethylsulfonyl) methide (lithium methide), and lithium pentafluoroethyltrifluoroborate (LiFAB), all of which have been extensively studied during the last two decades.
Lithium orthoborate as a distinct family of lithium salts has been intensively studied because of their thermal stability (e.g., Barthel, J. W., et al., J. of Electrochem. Soc., 1995, 142: p. 2527-31). One particular member is lithium bis(oxalato)borate (LiBOB), which shows significantly improved thermal stability over LiPF6 at an elevated temperature of 70° C. (e.g., Xu, K., et al., Electrochem. Solid-State Lett., 2002. 5: p. A259). Also, a unique feature of LiBOB is the participation in SEI formation by the BOB− anion, allowing the use of pure PC-based electrolyte in graphite electrode-based cells without causing solvent co-intercalation and graphite exfoliation (Xu, K., et al., Solid-State Lett., 2002. 5: p. A259). The reduction process of LiBOB at ca. 1.7 V vs. Li/Li+ is believed to be closely related to the oxalate moiety that affects the initial irreversible capacity (Xu, K., et al., Electrochem. Solid-State Lett., 2003. 6(6): p. A117-A120.). However, it is still difficult to determine whether the oxalate originated from the BOB anion or from an independent oxalate impurity in the LiBOB electrolyte. Furthermore, the SEI films from LiBOB-based electrolyte are more resistive than that from LiPF6-based electrolyte.
As compared to LiBOB, lithium bis(malonato)borate (LiBMB) has rarely been studied, mainly due to its insolubility in common carbonate solvents (Xu, W. and C. A. Angell, Electrochem. Solid-State Lett., 2001. 4(1): p. E1-E4). The first C-2 modified version of LiBMB, lithium bis(allylmalonato)borate (LiBAMB), was synthesized as an intermediate for polymeric single ion conductors, in which the allyl functional group of LiBAMB could be used for hydrosilylation reaction during the grafting step (Sun, X. G., et al., Macromolecules, 2004. 37(6): p. 2219-2227). Later, Schreiner et al reported the synthesis of lithium difluoro-mono(malonato)borate, Li[BF2Ma], however, no physical properties of this salt was reported (Schreiner, C., et al., Chemistry A European Journal, 2009, 15(10): p. 2270-2272.). Yang et al. have synthesized two C-2 modified lithium salts, lithium dimethylmalonatodifluoroborate (LiDMMDFB) and lithium bis(dimethylmalonato)borate (LiBDMMB), which showed lower ionic conductivity than those of LiBOB and lithium tetrafluoroborate (LiBF4) in ethylene carbonate and ethyl methyl carbonate mixture, which was attributed to the strong ion pairing effect resulting from the electron donating nature of the methyl group (Yang, L., et al., ECS Transactions, 2011. 33(39): p. 57-69). On the other hand, Driscoll et al. showed that both single ion and binary ion conductors based on lithium difluoro-mono(malonato)borate had larger interfacial impedance than that based on TFSI, due to undesirable side reactions of the acidic proton of the salt anion (Driscoll, P. F., et al., ECS Transactions, 2011. 33(23): p. 33-53).

Stable fluorinated alkylated lithium malonatoborate salts for lithium-ion battery applications

Abstract: wherein R1 is an alkyl group (R′) containing at least one and up to twelve carbon atoms, and R2 and R3 are independently selected from fluorine atom, hydrocarbon groups R, alkoxy groups (—OR), and ester groups —OC(O)R, wherein R2 and R3 can optionally interconnect via R functionalities to form a boron-containing ring. The invention is also directed to electrolyte compositions in which the above electrolyte salt is incorporated. The invention is further directed to lithium-ion batteries containing these electrolytes.


Disclosed is a method of manufacturing a rotor shaft including a rotor and a shaft having a groove formed on a periphery to open radially outwardly, the rotor being fixed to the shaft through a caulking plate disposed on the periphery of the shaft and adjacent the rotor in an axial direction thereof. This method comprises the step of caulking the caulking plate to fix the rotor to the shaft by applying a load to an end portion of the caulking plate from outside in a radial direction, opposite the groove, when the caulking plate is disposed in the predetermined place, causing a part of the caulking plate to be press-fitted into the groove. This caulking and fixing step includes pressing a punch against the caulking plate from outside in a radial direction of the shaft, thereby fixing the rotor to the shaft.

Japanese unexamined patent publication No. 2004-48925 discloses the following invention as a method of fixing a shaft and a rotor by caulking. FIGS. 20 and 21 illustrate Example 1 of a method for fixing a rotor 112 to a shaft 111 which method is disclosed in the publication '925. As shown in FIG. 20, the rotor 112 is disposed on a flange portion 111a of the shaft 111 and a fixing member 113 is disposed on the rotor 112. Further, a caulking jig 114 is disposed so as to be movable along a cutout portion 111d of a shaft portion 111c of the shaft 111. The inside diameter of a tip portion 114a is set larger than the outside diameter of the cutout portion 111d of the shaft 111 and smaller than the diameter of the shaft portion 111c of the shaft 111.
In such a construction, the caulking jig 114 is brought into abutment against a terminal end of the cutout portion 111d of the shaft 111, causing the caulking jig 114 and the shaft 111 to rotate relatively to each other. As a result, as shown in FIG. 21, a boundary portion between the shaft portion 111c of the shaft 111 and the cutout portion 111d is caulked by the caulking jig 11, whereby a protuberance 115 is formed. Consequently, the fixing member 113 is caulked fixedly to the shaft 111 by the protuberance 115.
FIGS. 22 and 23 illustrate Example 2 of the method for fixing a shaft and a rotor to each other by caulking which method is disclosed in the publication '925. As shown in FIG. 22, a rotor 112 is disposed on a flange portion 111a of a shaft 111 and a fixing member 113 is disposed on the rotor 112. Further, a caulking jig 116 is disposed so as to be movable along a shaft portion 111c of the shaft 111. The caulking jig 116 is formed with a tapered surface 116a.
In such a construction, a load is applied in the axial direction of the rotor 112 under rotation of the caulking jig 116. As a result, the fixing member 113 is compressed with a load induced by the tapered surface 116a of the caulking jig 116, causing an upper end portion 113a in the figure of the fixing member 113 to get into a groove 111b of the shaft, 111, whereby the fixing member 113 is caulked fixedly to the shaft 111.

Rotor shaft and method of manufacturing the same


A product shelf unit specially adapted for yogurt cups and the like, includes a metal base bracket that attaches to a horizontal rectangular bar. A plastic tray is slidably received on the base bracket which has two elongated walls which slide within the hollow interior of elongated walls in the tray. The base bracket includes lateral projections that engage stop members in the tray which keep the tray in a rearward position. The front end of the tray is lifted up, allowing it to slide forwardly for restocking.

In grocery stores, it is very important to carry as much product as possible in as small an area as possible. The product also must be apparent to the consumer and attractively displayed.
One way to increase product density is to place the product on shelving with only a minimal amount of space between the top of the product and the bottom of the next higher shelf. This presents difficulties with respect to the visual appeal, as well as in stocking the shelves. When restocking a shelf, the older product needs to be positioned at the front of the shelf. This is particularly an issue with perishable products, such as dairy products such as yogurt, and the like. The limited space between shelves makes it difficult for the store employees to restock the product.
There are shelving units that are supported on either side by rollers that allow the shelves to slide outwardly for restocking. This arrangement is not optimal for refrigerated display cases that support dairy products. Further, it is always desirable to minimize costs.


A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device includes a semiconductor substrate having a source region and a drain region, and a gate stack formed on the semiconductor substrate between and in contact with the source and drain regions. The gate stack includes, in sequential order from the substrate: a tunneling film; a first trapping material film doped with a first predetermined impurity, the first trapping material film having a higher dielectric constant than the nitride film (Si3N4); a first insulating film having a higher dielectric constant than a nitride film; and a gate electrode. Such a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device can effectively control the trap density according to the doping concentration, thereby increasing the write/erase speed of data at a low operating voltage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor memory device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device having a gate with a different film structure from a silicon-oxide/nitride/oxide-silicon (SONOS), and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of Related Art
Recent developments of portable data storage devices, such as memory sticks, that readily allow data sharing and exchange regardless of hardware type have led to increased demands regarding safe storage of large amounts of data. One possible solution is a flash memory device, i.e., a special type of an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), which can be erased or programmed in blocks of data and the contents of which are retained even when the power is turned off. The flash memory device generally has a multi-layer structure including a floating gate, where a charge is stored, a transistor gate, where data are stored, and a control gate that controls the floating gate, the gates being sequentially deposited. However, the flash memory has a low retention characteristic and data stored therein cannot be kept safely for a long period of time due to a leakage current.
To solve this problem, a silicon-oxide/nitride/oxide-silicon (SONOS) memory device having a reduced height has been introduced. The SONOS memory device uses stacked layers between a substrate and a control gate. That is, instead of the floating gate positioned between insulating layers in the flash memory, the SONOS memory device uses a stacked layer made by sequentially depositing an oxide film, a nitride film, and another oxide film (ONO). The SONOS memory device operates by shifting a threshold voltage when a charge is trapped in the nitride film. A detailed description of a SONOS memory device is disclosed in an article entitled "An Embedded 90 nm SONOS Nonvolatile Memory Utilizing Hot Electron Programming and Uniform Tunnel Erase," by C. T. Swift et al., which was published in the Technical Digest of International Electron Device Meeting (IEDM) December 2002, pp. 927-930.
FIG. 1 illustrates a cross-section of a basic structure of a conventional SONOS memory device.
Referring to FIG. 1, a first silicon oxide (SiO2) film 12 is formed on a channel region between a source region S and drain region D of a substrate 10. One end of the first silicon oxide film 12 contacts the source region S and another end of the first silicon oxide film 12 contacts the drain region D. The first silicon oxide film 12 is for tunneling a charge. A nitride (Si3N4) film 14 is formed on the first silicon oxide film 12. The nitride film 14, which is practically a material film for storing data, traps the charge tunneled through the first silicon oxide film 12. A second silicon oxide film 16 is formed as a barrier film for blocking the movement of the charge from the nitride film 14 upward through the nitride film 14. A gate electrode 18 is formed on the second silicon oxide film 16.
Although the conventional SONOS device depicted in FIG. 1 provides some advantages, it also has the following drawbacks.
In practical use, an operating voltage of the conventional SONOS device is very high. If a low operating voltage is applied to the conventional SONOS device, the speed of writing/erasing of data becomes much slower than a desired speed. Due to such voltage dependence characteristic, the control of a trap density of the nitride film 14 also becomes difficult. The retention time also is not sufficiently long.
These drawbacks arise due to the high thickness of the films required by the use of nitride and silicon oxide, which have low dielectric constants.
Recently, a paper by C. Lee et al., entitled "Novel Structure of SiO2/SiN/High-k dielectric, Al2O3 for a SONOS Type Flash Memory," published in Extended Abstract of 2002 International Conf. on Solid State Device and Materials, Nagoya, Japan, September 2002, pp. 162-163, reports that programming, erasing, and retention characteristic of the barrier film can be improved by using an aluminum oxide film (Al2O3) instead of an silicon oxide film as the upper oxide film. However, the applied voltage is still very high and it is still difficult to control the trap density of the silicon nitride film.

Nonvolatile semiconductor memory device having a gate stack and method of manufacturing the same


A detection circuit detects an abnormal current which flows through a first output transistor. In this event, the first output transistor is connected to an external power supply via a load resistor. The above detection circuit mainly includes a second transistor, a constant current supply, a third transistor, a fourth transistor, and a comparator circuit. The constant current supply supplies a constant current into the second transistor. Further, the third transistor is connected to the first output transistor and performs an ON-OFF operation in synchronism with the first output transistor. On the other hand, the fourth transistor is connected to the third transistor in serial and performs the ON-OFF operation opposite to the first output transistor. Moreover, the comparator circuit has a first input and a second input. In this event, a first connection point between the second transistor and the constant current supply is connected to the first input while a second connection point between the third transistor and the fourth transistor is connected to the second input.

This invention relates to a load drive circuit for use in driving a load which is to be connected to the load drive circuit and, in particular, to an abnormal current detection circuit which is used in the load drive circuit to detect an abnormal current which flows through an output transistor included in the load drive circuit to drive the load.
Conventionally, a load drive circuit of the type described is coupled to a load to drive the same. In this event, the load is turned on or off by the load drive circuit. Specifically, an output transistor which is included in the load drive circuit and which is connected to the load is turned off when an abnormal current is caused to flow through the output transistor. Otherwise, the output transistor is kept at an on-state.
In order to detect such an abnormal current, an abnormal current detection circuit is usually arranged in the load drive circuit to detect the abnormal current and to keep the output transistor at an off-state when the abnormal current is caused to flow through the output transistor. For this purpose, a comparator is used in the abnormal current detection circuit and coupled to a control circuit which controls the output transistor. With this structure, the control circuit turns off the output transistor when the abnormal current is detected by the comparator. In this case, the comparator compares a reference voltage with a comparison voltage which results from a current which is similar to that flowing through the output transistor and which is caused to flow through a resistor coupled to the comparator.
In the meanwhile, it is noted here that such a load drive circuit may be generally implemented by a semiconductor integrated circuit together with the resistor by the use of a semiconductor integration techniques. When the resistor is formed within a substrate by the integration technique, a variation of resistance inevitably takes place in the resistor and brings about a variation of the comparison voltage. In consequence, a level of the abnormal current is fluctuated from one to another in the abnormal current detection circuit which includes the resistor formed by the semiconductor integration technique.
On the other hand, consideration would be made about replacing the resistor by a transistor on manufacturing the abnormal current detection circuit by the semiconductor integration technique. In this event, switching transistors would be connected to the output transistor along with the transistor substituted for the resistor. This structure gives rise to an increase of the switching transistors together with the output transistor. Such an increase of the switching transistors would result in occurrence of a glitch or noise which lasts for a very short term at a transition of an input signal or a control signal.

Abnormal current detection circuit and load drive circuit including the same


Provided is a technology for improving the efficiency and the accuracy of data security. To this end, protection information provided to data is maintained correct even when it becomes necessary to change the necessity/non-necessity to protect the data depending on the content of a process performed on the data. More specifically, primitive data with protection attributes set thereon is read as the original data, and an operation is performed on the original data to generate derived data. Then, whether to make the derived data inherit the protection attributes of the original data is determined on the basis of a content of the operation performed on the original data.

In recent years, a technology for ensuring the security of a server system has become more important to prevent leakage of information, such as personal information and confidential information of enterprises, to outsiders. As such a technology, there has been proposed, as disclosed in Patent Literature 1, for example, a method of, when input data contains information that should be protected, providing a mark, which indicates that the information is the target to be protected, to the input data, and propagating the same mark for data that is newly generated as a result of processing the input data. Accordingly, it is possible to block output of the original data as well as the newly generated data to the outside.


An air bag (20) formed of a woven panel of material comprising a main panel portion (22) having straight parallel sides (42), a first neck portion (24) extending from a first end (26) of the main panel portion and a second neck portion (28) extending from an opposite or second end (30) of the main panel portion having straight edges, the air bag sewn together using only straight line sew patterns.

The present invention relates generally to inflatable restraint systems for automotive vehicles and more particularly to a passenger air bag that utilizes flat sewing seams.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,022,675 illustrates a passenger side air bag that is manufactured from a large main panel and two curved or arcuately shaped side panels. As can be appreciated, the side sew seams that connect the main panel to each of the side panels are also curved. In production, it is necessary to align the edges of the main panel and each side panel prior to their being sewn together. Thereafter, the aligned seams are typically twisted in one manner or another and laid flat and then sewn. The utilization of an air bag having the curved side panels creates a substantial amount of waste material from the larger sections of air bag material from which these panels are cut. In addition, the curved sew seams necessitate a more complicated and time consuming sewing process.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an air bag in which material utilization is improved and one that is capable of being sewn by automated sewing machines.
Accordingly, the invention comprises an air bag formed from a panel of woven material, the panel comprising a main panel having straight parallel sides, a first neck portion extending from a first end of the main panel portion and a second neck portion extending from an opposite or second end of the main panel portion, a first flap extending outwardly from the first neck portion and a second flap extending from the second next portion. The first neck portion and second neck portion are positioned in an overlapping, registered relationship and sewn together along mating first and second sides of the first neck portion and second neck portion. The respective first ends proximate respective ends of the main panel portion of the sewn together first and second neck portions are positioned along a predetermined line of the main panel portion forming a loop in the main panel with a first length of material of the main panel extending away from one side of the line and a second length of material extending away from the other side of the line with edges of the first and second lengths of material aligned and the sewn together neck portions laid flat on one of the first or the second length of material and the aligned edges sewn together.
Many other objects and purposes of the invention will be clear from the following detailed description of the drawings.


An arrangement including: a handheld suction unit in combination with an elongate suction wand to form a stick-vac cleaner, the arrangement further including a wall-mountable docking station for supporting the stick-vac cleaner on a wall in an upright, docked position when not in use. The arrangement provides for relatively stable storage of the stick-vac cleaner in the upright position, convenient for use.

Broadly speaking, there are four types of vacuum cleaner: "upright" vacuum cleaners, "cylinder" cleaners (also referred to as "canister" cleaners), "handheld" vacuum cleaners and "stick" vacuum cleaners, the latter being popularly referred to as "stick-vac" cleaners, or simply "stick-vacs".
Upright cleaners and cylinder cleaners are well known. They tend to be mains-operated and are used for relatively heavy-duty cleaning applications.
Handheld vacuum cleaners are relatively small, highly portable vacuum cleaners, best suited to relatively low duty applications such as spot cleaning floors and upholstery in the home, interior cleaning of cars and boats etc. Unlike upright cleaners and cylinder cleaners, they are designed to be carried in the hand during use, and tend to be battery-operated.
Stick-vac cleaners essentially offer a lightweight, functional alternative to upright cleaners for relatively low duty floor-cleaning applications, such as cleaning up floor spills.
Broadly speaking, there are two types of stick-vacs. The first type is, in a sense, an ultra slim-line upright cleaner, though usually "cordless" rather than mains-operated. An example of this type of stick-vac cleaner is shown in UK Patent Application No. GB2377880A1, in this case additionally incorporating a removable, handheld vacuum-cleaning unit. Stick-vacs of this first type may be free-standing; otherwise, they tend to be stored simply by leaning the stick-vac against a wall when not in use (in the manner of a long-handle brush or broom).
The second type of stick-vac cleaner is a spin-off from the handheld vacuum cleaner, and comprises a handheld suction unit which is carried in the hand in the same way as a handheld vacuum cleaner, but in combination with a rigid, elongate suction wand which effectively reaches down to the floor so that the user may remain standing while cleaning a floor surface. A floor tool is typically attached to the end of the rigid, elongate suction wand, or alternatively may be integrated with the bottom end of the wand. Designs of this type of stick-vac cleaner are shown in U.S. D298875, U.S. D303173 and U.S. D280033. In each case, the handheld suction unit incorporates the motor, the fan and some sort of separating apparatus, which may be a bag or a cyclonic separation system.
Stick-vac cleaners of the second type are predominantly multi-mode, hybrid machines: in such cases, the wand is removable and the handheld suction unit may then be used independently as a handheld vacuum cleaner, as desired. However, this is not an essential feature of these types of stick-vac cleaners and it is conceivable that the wand may be permanently attached to the handheld suction unit.
A feature which distinguishes stick-vacs of the second type from stick-vacs of the first type is that the first type is "bottom heavy"—the motor is located low down in similar manner to a full-sized upright cleaner—whereas the second type is "top heavy"—the use of a handheld suction unit in combination with an elongate suction wand means that the motor (being inside the handheld suction unit) is located nearer the top end of the machine.
The "top heavy" distribution of weight in stick-vacs of the second type means that they are not particularly convenient to store in stick-vac mode. If the stick-vac cleaner is leaned against a wall in an upright position with the floor tool supported on the floor and the handheld suction unit resting against the wall, the relative weight of the handheld suction unit tends to make the stick-vac cleaner as a whole unstable. On the other hand, if the stick-vac cleaner is turned upside down and leaned against the wall with the relatively heavy handheld vacuum cleaner supported on the floor, the relatively dirty lower end of the cleaner will consequently rest against the wall, which is undesirable. Also, when the stick-vac cleaner is stored in an upside down position rather than an upright position, the natural inclination is to grasp the stick-vac cleaner in the region of the relatively dirty lower end of the stick-vac cleaner in order to turn the cleaner back round to the upright position for use.
Consequently, conventional stick-vac cleaners of the second type often tend to be stored on the floor or, where there is insufficient space to do so, tend to be partly disassembled for storage after use and then reassembled again when it is desired to use the machine in stick-vac mode. The need for disassembly and reassembly in particular discourages use of the machine in stick-vac mode.


There is provided an ink jet recording apparatus such as a bubble jet recording apparatus, comprising: an ink jet recording head in which a plurality of groups each consisting of a plurality of emission ports which are simultaneously driven are continuously arranged; a detector to detect an edge of an input image; and a second driver for sequentially changing the driving order of the groups or sequentially driving the groups which are not neighboring in accordance with the result of the edge detection by the detector. The recording head causes a volume change by an action of a heat energy which is generated from a recording element such as an electrothermal converting element or a thermal resistor element by supplying a pulse-shaped current thereto, thereby emitting an ink droplet from each opening. The recording apparatus uses a plurality of recording elements which are divided into a plurality of blocks and are driven at different timings for every block.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus and, more particularly, to an ink jet recording apparatus in which a plurality of recording elements are divided into blocks and are driven at different timings every block.
2. Related Background Art
The ink jet recording method is a recording method whereby emission liquid droplets of a recording liquid (hereinafter, referred to as an ink) are formed by various methods and are adhered onto a recording medium such as a recording paper or the like, thereby recording.
Among recording apparatuses using the above recording method, an ink jet recording apparatus of the type which uses heat as an energy to form emission liquid droplets can be mentioned as an apparatus suitable to construct a recording head by arranging a number of emission ports at a high density.
In the ink jet recording apparatus using the heat as an energy to emit the liquid droplets, generally, by heating the ink, a displacement accompanied with a sudden increase in volume is given into the ink and ink droplets are emitted from the emission ports in association with such a displacement. For this purpose, the apparatus has a recording head comprising: an electrothermal converting element for generating heat and heating the ink; an ink liquid path which is communicated with the emission port and allows the heat generated by the electrothermal converting element to act on the ink; and the like. In the case of a recording head having a plurality of emission ports, a plurality of electrothermal converting elements and the like are also provided in correspondence to the emission ports.
The conventional ink jet recording head having such electrothermal converting elements, particularly, the ink jet recording head in which a plurality of electrothermal converting elements R.sub.1 to R.sub.mn are arranged in accordance with a plurality of emission ports corresponding to a recording width of one line as shown in FIG. 9, uses a structure such that the electrothermal converting elements are divided into a plurality of blocks (m blocks in FIG. 9) and the electrothermal converting elements are driven every block.
For example, in the case of driving the electrothermal converting elements at timings as shown in FIG. 10 in the circuit as shown in FIG. 9, a group of electrothermal converting elements corresponding to each of driving ICs comprising flip-flops 35.sub.1 to 35.sub.m, AND gates 36.sub.1 to 36.sub.m and 37.sub.1 to 37.sub.m, latch circuits 38.sub.1 to 38.sub.m, and shift registers 39.sub.1 to 39.sub.m are sequentially driven as one block, respectively.
Electric power consumption to drive the ink jet recording head by the above method is remarkably smaller than that of an apparatus which does not drive the electrothermal converting elements on a block unit basis, so that the above block driving method is used hitherto.
However, the above block driving method has the following problems because the electrothermal converting elements are driven every block.
A size of a common liquid chamber is limited depending on the structure of the head. To realize high-speed recording, it is a fundamental manner to reduce the driving time of each driving block as short as possible and to also reduce the driving time difference among the blocks as small as possible and to reduce the time which is required to form an image of one line. It has been found out from experiments that if an image is formed under the above conditions, a variation in concentration corresponding to the driving block occurs. Such a variation extremely deteriorates the image quality and is not practical.

Recording apparatus in which pressure interference between closely-spaced ink jets is reduced


This invention relates to a data processing system and computer-based data processing method for managing an investment account structure. According to some of the preferred embodiments, the account structure is made up of one or more annuity contracts or life insurance contracts, each of the contracts being owned by one or more individual subscribers. Premiums are paid for the contracts being invested in one or more depository accounts, insured by deposit insurance, at one or more financial institutions. According to another preferred embodiment, annuity contracts are structured in one or more irrevocable trusts, with each subscriber's principal and/or income placed in a trust corpus of one of the irrevocable trusts. Each subscriber has a primary beneficiary (usually the subscriber) and a secondary beneficiary. When a subscriber dies, the trust income is distributed to the remaining primary beneficiaries. When the last subscriber dies, the entire trust is distributed proportionally to the secondary beneficiaries.

The present invention relates to a system and a method for electronically processing transactional data and monitoring funds invested in one or more of annuity contracts or life insurance contracts such that the invested funds are protected by depositor's insurance, such as FDIC insurance.
Certain banking institutions, banks and savings and loans pay premiums such that money on deposit in those banking institutions is insured. For example, in the United States, the premiums are paid to an agency of the federal government (the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC), and the institutions thus are federally insured. If the banking institution becomes insolvent for any reason, the FDIC pays the depositor for any losses up to an established insured limit. At present, deposits are insured up to $100,000.00. There is a regulation in the United States which provides that funds deposited by life insurance companies or a corporation solely to fund life insurance or annuity contracts will be insured up to the depositor's insurance limit ($100,000.00) per individual entitled to receive benefits under the contract. The persons entitled to receive benefits under an annuity contract or a life insurance are called herein contract "primary beneficiaries" whether those persons are classified as subscribers or customers (the individuals who invest in the contracts) or as other beneficiaries (other individuals).
An annuity contract is a contract that pays a primary beneficiary an amount at regular intervals or pays a primary beneficiary a lump sum at a predetermined time in the future. The annuity contract is funded or provided for by a subscriber. Essentially, the subscriber pays a certain amount of money to a company, the company invests that money, and the company at a certain time in the future or at regular intervals pays the primary beneficiary a prescribed amount as required under the annuity contract. Primary beneficiaries for annuity contracts are sometimes called "annuitants."
Similarly, a life insurance contract pays out a sum upon the death of a subscriber to primary beneficiaries.
If annuity contracts are structured as an irrevocable trust, the subscriber's principal and/or income is placed in a trust corpus. The total income of the trust corpus is distributed to all primary beneficiaries. Then as mortality reduces the number of primary beneficiaries, the trust income is distributed to fewer and fewer primary beneficiaries. When the last subscriber dies, the trust corpus is distributed to "secondary beneficiaries."

Increasing income trust computer transaction system and insured investment account system


A computer implemented method is performed in a device. One or more first game objects is displayed. In response to user input one or more collectable game objects, are accumulated. It is determined if a number of accumulated collectable game objects has reached a predetermined value, and if not, a further set of first game objects is displayed only if a game level has been played.

There are many technical challenges and technical considerations facing the designer of computer games executed on devices having a user interface, such as designing a controllable user interface in the context of available computer devices and resources, which may be limited.
These problems can be particularly marked in the context of computer games, where a screen may have to display many different game components for active engagement by a player.
Many games are downloaded from a remote server over the internet and then stored on a user device. A technical challenge in the context of computer games can involve enabling a game to be fun, accessible and compelling even when there is limited bandwidth available. This may especially be the case when a high speed internet connection is not available such as when a game is being played on a smartphone or tablet without Wi-Fi access. Another significant challenge is that of user engagement. Engagement involves designing gameplay to be engaging and rewarding to players. This typically requires games to be easily understood at their simplest or introductory levels, providing rewarding gameplay with simple to complex game mechanics, and becoming progressively more challenging so that players are not bored, but remain engaged and develop rewarding skills.
The contemporary online environment presents to game developers a large number of input parameters that may be used to determine game functions and control the behaviour of objects displayed on a user interface. For example, social networking websites, such as Facebook, allow game apps to automatically retrieve information about players and other users of the social network to automatically alter the gameplay characteristics on the basis of this retrieved information. How to translate this sea of available information into useful input parameters to develop engaging games is a further technical challenge.
There are therefore many technical challenges when designing computer implemented games, particularly in providing a challenge to a user or player that is engaging and rewarding so as to provoke repeat play. This may, but not exclusively, apply to "casual games".

Computer system managing multi-user rewards


This invention is a system and method for assisting the performance of incremental copying of data in a data storage environment and includes a tracking mechanism. In one embodiment, the tracking mechanism is implemented in such a way that it is able to track changes while allowing access to production data by carrying out unique methodology. In other embodiments, implementations include a system, a computer program product, or an apparatus, wherein each embodiment is configured for carrying out the steps involved in the methodology.

Computer systems may include different resources used by one or more host processors. Resources and host processors in a computer system may be interconnected by one or more communication connections. These resources may include, for example, data storage systems, such as the Symmetrix™ or Clariion™ family of data storage systems manufactured by EMC Corporation. These data storage systems may be coupled to one or more host processors and provide storage services to each host processor. An example data storage system may include one or more data storage devices, such as those of the Symmetrix™ family, that are connected together and may be used to provide common data storage for one or more host processors in a computer system.
A host processor may perform a variety of data processing tasks and operations using the data storage system. For example, a host processor may perform basic system I/O operations in connection with data requests such as data read and write operations. Host processor systems may store and retrieve data using a storage device containing a plurality of host interface units, disk drives, and disk interface units. Such storage devices are provided, for example, by EMC Corporation of Hopkinton, Mass. and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,206,939 to Yanai et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,778,394 to Galtzur et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,845,147 to Vishlitzky et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,857,208 to Ofek. The host systems access the storage device through a plurality of channels provided therewith. Host systems provide data and access control information through the channels to the storage device and storage device provides data to the host systems also through the channels. The host systems do not address the disk drives of the storage device directly, but rather, access what appears to the host systems as a plurality of logical disk units. The logical disk units neither may or may nor correspond to the actual disk drives. Allowing multiple host systems to access the single storage device unit allows the host systems to share data stored therein.
It is desirable to copy or replicate data for a variety of different reasons, such as, for example, database-related data may be critical to a business so it is important to make sure is not lost due to problems with the computer systems, such as for example, loss of electrical power. However, there are costs associated with backing up or otherwise copying or replicating data. Such costs include the data being unavailable to an application that may require access to it. For example, in a normal business operation, not as a production environment, data may be needed for an update or in relation to a transaction on a close to full-time (i.e. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week) basis. On the other hand an attempt to keep production data available may involve significant overhead to keep track of what has changed with data made available between the time that data is begun to be copied and/or replicated and that process ends. Typically changes are tracked and the copied data is synchronized to compensate for any changes that may have taken place due to transactions or other updates. Some systems only copy, replicate, or back up data that has changed since the last such operation and this is known as incremental copying, replicating, or backup. Again computer processing overhead is needed to keep up with changes and make comparisons for such incremental operations. It would be advantageous and an advancement in the computer arts if such incremental copying, replication, or backup could be performed while also reducing it's impact on computer processing overhead to track such changes.

System and method for tracking changes associated with incremental copying


A mobile computing device hosts an operating system and mobile applications. A provisioning application communicates with a secure element and near field communication (NFC) subsystem. It causes display of an interface for users to enter personal attributes for storage in the secure element. Users discriminately select items from their personal attributes for transmission to a third party recipient so only attributes relative to the third party are sent. Software, interfaces, methods, and apparatus typify the embodiments.

Modern society requires users to provide personal information to enroll in various processes. Examples include admission to hospitals, registering at hotels, applying for bank loans/mortgages, appointments with physicians, checking-in for flights, and the like. Users are commonly asked to provide basic information such as name, address, phone number, etc. Users are also asked to provide specific information relevant to the recipient's process, such as social security number, driver's license number/state, automobile license plate number, insurance group/policy number, checking and savings account numbers, frequent flyer number, etc. The specific information is also typically private or sensitive in nature.
Recipients manually key in information received verbally from users. They also capture it with semi-automated techniques (computer scan) that read entries submitted on paper forms/questionnaires. The former is tedious, time consuming, subject to memory failures of the recipient, keystroke errors, etc. The latter requires movement of personnel back and forth to scanning equipment and sometimes requires waiting for equipment to become available. Both are also insecure as others can overhear verbal information and catch sight of forms. Users sometimes become annoyed at the processes as they are often asked for the same exact information from the same recipients, sometimes in a same day. A need exists to conveniently and securely convey information from users to third parties, especially basic information.
In mobile computing devices, manufacturers are outfitting smart phones with NFC devices to securely transfer information from one device to another in very close proximity. A prominent use of the technology, known as electronic wallets or "eWallets," enables smart phones to pay for goods/services instead of cash or swipes of credit cards. During times of payment, phones transfer to near field communication (NFC) terminals the details of a user's credit card, e.g., credit card number, expiration date, three digit card security code, etc. The phone pulls the information from a secure area of memory known as the "secure element." As users often store more than one credit card, the secure element facilitates logical partitions between different cards and their information. Phones equipped with NFC, however, are presently inflexible. By design, users cannot adjust financial information so monetary transactions between phones and terminals occur according to a very rigid and tightly orchestrated protocol. A further need exists, therefore, to facilitate robustness in smart phones to leverage NFC and secure elements. Additional benefits and alternatives are also sought when devising solutions.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Provisioning user attributes for use with mobile computing device


The disclosed technology can be used in the development and operation of multistatic probes that can characterize substances and relationships between substances. A multistatic probe can include transmitting and receiving conductive elements that are electrically distinct and which are capable of conveying electromagnetic energy to/from a substance of interest. The transmitting and receiving conductive elements can be arranged to be in contact with at least one dielectric mismatch boundary between substances of interest, whereby an electromagnetic signal transmitted on the transmitting conductive element causes a corresponding electromagnetic signal to be coupled to the receiving conductive element in response to the transmitted signal being in proximity to the dielectric mismatch boundary. Attributes of the received electromagnetic signal can be evaluated relative to the transmitted electromagnetic signal to determine one or more characteristics associated with at least one of the substances forming the dielectric mismatch boundary.

Detecting the presence and characteristics of particular substances and/or combinations of substances that are difficult to inspect can provide entities interested in the control and monitoring of such substances with information critical to those entities' operations. Technology capable of such detection and characterization finds applicability in many areas, such as in, linear displacement measurement devices, position measurement, pressure analysis, land mine detection, fluid/soil contamination, fluid/gas level detection, substance composition analysis, geological mapping/imaging, and in a myriad of storage, monitoring, and processing applications.
The technologies that have been developed and applied to such detection and characterization are as diverse as their applications and include, for example, mechanical/electromechanical sensors (e.g., floats), sonic/ultrasonic sensors, radar (e.g., ground penetrating radar), time domain reflectometry sensors ("TDR"), x-ray sensors, capacitive level sensors, etc. These technologies can exhibit shortcomings that mitigate their usefulness such as, for example, floats that can be unreliable particularly in multi-fluid and/or corrosive environments; sonic/ultrasonic sensors whose acoustic signals may reflect off of foamy material or container walls and fail to capture fluidic surfaces and boundaries; radar sensors may be expensive, complex, bulky, and/or may exhibit limited resolution; TDR sensors may exhibit excessive ringing and thereby limit short range detection and may require different designs when used with different dielectric substances due to changes in reflection amplitude; x-ray sensors may fail to differentiate between similar substances; and capacitive level sensors may not operate accurately due to nonlinear dielectric properties of a substance and may fail to provide desirable information about a particular mixture. Accordingly, entities interested in residential, commercial, industrial, medical, scientific, military, and/or other applications of substance characterization technology have a continuing interest in further developing these technologies to more accurately and flexibly meet their control and monitoring objectives.

Characterizing substances with multistatic probes


In an optical navigation sensor used in a navigation system on a spinning spacecraft, a single CCD is positioned on an optical axis of an optical lens system at an image forming plane on which images of stars are formed by the lens system. The exposed surface of the CCD is divided into a first and a second region, the first region for dark images of stars, the second region for a bright image of a candidate planet. The second region of the CCD is implemented with a light shading film with a slit so that the second region is exposed by the bright image but with a light exposure reduced to an adequate level for the CCD. Alternatively, the second region may be provided with a light attenuation filter film. The CCD is driven by a single driver with a charge shift clock signal synchronous with the spinning rate of the spacecraft. The charges induced by the dark and bright images are time delayed and integrated to form an electronic signal of the images.

The present invention relates to a navigation system on a spacecraft and, in particular, to an optical navigation sensor for use in such a navigation system.
The optical navigation sensor is used to take pictures of celestial objects such as the moon or a particular planet and particular two or more stars so as to obtain the information of the direction of the particular planet or the moon viewed from the spacecraft in an inertial space. The information obtained is used to improve the spacecraft's orbit determination accuracy.
In the paper entitled "EXPERIMENTAL OPTICAL NAVIGATION AND GUIDANCE FOR MUSES-A", 39th congress of the INTERNATIONAL ASTRONAUTICAL FEDERATION, Oct. 8-15, 1988, Bangalore, India, T. Nishimura et al disclose an optical navigation sensor which comprises a hood for preventing the sunlight from getting into an optics of the sensor, the optics for taking images of the moon and stars, and an electronics to convert the image data into serial digital signals.
The optics includes a Gaussian type lens system, two two-dimensional charge-coupled devices (CCDs) and a part of the electronics.
The two CCDs of the same type are assembled on a focal plane, one for the moon and the other for the star detection. As the moon is much brighter than stars, a light attenuation filter and a slit are implemented to reduce the moon's light to an adequate intensity level for the CCD.
The moon and star lights collected by the lens system are focused on the CCDs. Photo electrons are induced in each CCD pixel by the moon and star lights and are time-delayed and integrated (TDI) synchronously with the spacecraft spinning to prevent the images from smearing due to the images translation motion on the CCDs. The TDI clock (charge shift clock) can be tuned accurately to the spacecraft spin-rate from the ground.
One of the two CCDs' output signals is selected by an external command to the electronics. After a dark-current subtraction, image signals are A/D converted into digital signals and then stored into a memory. The data stored in the memory is reproduced and transmitted to the ground station.
To achieve the determination accuracy of the moon's direction viewed from the spacecraft in an inertial frame, the sensor also detects stars and determines the moon's direction by using the stars detected by the sensor itself as celestial references, and thus avoid the degradation in the accuracy due to the spacecraft wobble and the sensor misalignment with respect to the attitude sensors such as a spin type sun sensor, an earth sensor, and a star scanner.
In the known optical navigation sensor, since two CCDs are used for the moon and the stars, two CCD drivers must be used and a selection switch must be provided for selecting one of the two CCDs' outputs. This results in the electronics which is complex in structure, large in size and power consumption, and expensive in cost.
Further, two dimensional CCDs are positioned not on the optical axis but at both sides of the optical axis. Accordingly, the lens system is required to have a large aperture sufficient to make images on the two CCDs positioned adjacent to each other at the focal plane. Further, the lens system is required so that the images are made on the CCDs without distortion. This makes the lens system complex and large in structure, and expensive in cost.

Optical navigation sensor with single two-dimensional CCD


A method for controlling a light source associated with an environment includes: receiving, over a wireless mesh network and by a control node corresponding to the light source, a first light intensity value for the environment from a first sensor node; calculating, by the control node, a resulting light intensity (RLI) value based on the first intensity value; determining, by the control node, that the RLI value exceeds a light intensity threshold; and modifying, by the control node and in response to determining the RLI value exceeds the light intensity threshold, an output of the first light source.

Many lighting systems (e.g., street lights, decorative lights) are controlled by light sensors (e.g., photocells) that detect ambient light in an environment (e.g., sunlight, daylight) in which the lighting systems are placed. For example, street lights can be turned on when the ambient light decreases below a threshold value and turned off when the ambient light increases above the threshold value. Light sensors can be expensive and/or cumbersome to install and maintain on every light source (e.g., individual street light) and therefore a system is needed to reduce the number of light sensors required in a lighting system.

Distributing light intensity readings in a wireless mesh


The invention provides a gunstock for BB bullet gun, comprising a gunstock body, a battery compartment provided in the gunstock body for holding a rechargeable battery, and a rear cover arranged at the rear end of the body, wherein the battery compartment is provided at the front end thereof with a fast locking conductive device; the rear cover is provided with a charging coil for charging the rechargeable battery; the charging coil contacts the rechargeable battery via a conductive elastic plate. The charging mode is changed because the rechargeable battery in the art is replaced by a wireless rechargeable battery. The battery does not need to be dismantled and taken out when charging, so that the charging becomes simple and easy to be operated. In addition, the fast locking conductive device arranged at the front end of the battery compartment and the conductive elastic plate arranged on the rear cover overcome the defects of space occupation and disorder caused by a relatively long wire needed in the art. Therefore, the invention has advantages of simple and convenient operation of charging, and compact structure.

The power supply of a BB bullet gun depends on a rechargeable battery mounted in a battery compartment which is on the top of the gunstock. A wire connected with power supply wire of the rechargeable battery is provided in the battery compartment, and the wire is connected with the battery compartment by a pluggable connector. The disadvantage in this manner is that the connector needs to be pulled out when charging. In use, the wire in the battery compartment needs to be pulled out, and then the battery is inserted into the battery compartment after a socket on the power supply wire of the rechargeable battery is connected with a plug on the wire thereof. So the operation is rather troublesome and inefficient. In addition, the wire in the battery compartment is relatively long, which occupies space and results in a relatively big structure.


A high-frequency semiconductor device, wherein on one surface of a semiconductor substrate, a first insulating layer, an undoped epitaxial polysilicon layer in a state of column crystal, a second insulating layer, and a semiconductor layer are formed in order from a side of the one surface, and a high-frequency transistor is formed in a location of the semiconductor layer facing the undoped epitaxial polysilicon layer with the second insulating layer in between.

High-frequency transistors have been widely used for the purpose of, for example, high-frequency signal processing such as signal transmission, signal reception, and switching received signals and the like of wireless communication apparatuses such as a mobile phone and a wireless LAN.
For such a high-frequency transistor, a small coupling capacitance (a small parasitic capacitance) with respect to a substrate is demanded in order to perform high-speed operation.
Therefore, as a high-frequency transistor, an FET (field-effect transistor) of a compound semiconductor such as GaAs with low electric power consumption capable of simply forming a complicated circuit has been often used for a long time.
However, in a compound semiconductor-based device such as a GaAs-based device, the material cost is higher than that of a silicon-based device due to the material of a substrate and difficulty in increasing a diameter of a substrate. Further, in response to request of achieving small-sized wireless communication apparatuses and system-on-chip, it is increasingly demanded to form such a device integrally with peripheral circuits formed of silicon-based devices.
For example, taking an antenna switch as an example, in the case where a high-frequency transistor for an antenna switch is formed of a compound semiconductor-based FET, it may be desirable that a CMOS decoder for RF switch control, an IPD (an integrated passive device), or the like as a peripheral circuit be formed on a different chip. In general, a high-frequency transistor for an antenna switch and a peripheral circuit are desirably built in as a module. In the case where both the high-frequency transistor for an antenna switch and the peripheral circuit are formed on chips different from each other, the manufacturing cost is increased.
Therefore, in recent years, an antenna switch device that uses an SOI (silicon on insulator) substrate allowing a CMOS decoder circuit as a silicon-based device used as a peripheral circuit to be mounted as well has been actively promoted.
Since the SOI substrate has an advantage that a parasitic capacitance is allowed to be decreased, a high-performance antenna switch device equal to the compound-based semiconductor device is achievable thereby.
However, lowered electric characteristics resulting from self-heating of the high-frequency transistor occurs.
Such self-heating occurs due to impact ionization in the vicinity of a drain end of a channel region. In particular, in the high-frequency transistor formed on the SOI substrate, a support substrate and a silicon layer are separated, for example, by silicon oxide that is a material having heat conductivity lower double digits or more than that of silicon. While heat conductivity of silicon is 144 [W/(m·k)], heat conductivity of silicon oxide is 1.1 [W/(m·k)] that is extraordinarily small.
Therefore, heat generated in the channel region is less likely to be released to a region directly under the channel. Therefore, in the SOI-type device, temperature of the device itself becomes high and electric characteristics are lowered, compared to in a bulk-type device (a device without a silicon oxide film for substrate separation between a substrate and a channel region).
With regard to an MOS transistor, a heat release structure of an SOI-type transistor such as a structure disclosed in the following Patent Literature 1 has been known. In the heat release structure, a through-hole is formed in a portion of the rear surface of the transistor of a support substrate in an SOI substrate, and a heat conductive layer made of metal is formed from the rear surface of the support substrate to the internal wall surface and the internal bottom surface of the through-hole.
With regard to a bipolar transistor, a semiconductor device having another heat release structure of an SOI-type transistor such as a structure disclosed in the following Patent Literature 2 has been known.
In the semiconductor device, on a support substrate (a first semiconductor layer) on which a substrate separation insulating layer (a first insulating layer) is formed, a second semiconductor layer (an N-type semiconductor layer, specifically, an N-type silicon layer 3 and a second oxide film 4 are formed from the substrate separation insulating layer side. Further, on the second oxide film 4, a third semiconductor layer (an N-type epitaxial layer 5) having a separation structure of an SOI-type substrate on which a device is formed is formed.
In the N-type epitaxial layer 5, an element separation insulating film is formed around a region where a transistor is formed. In the element separation insulating film, a groove that penetrates in a thickness direction to reach the N-type silicon layer 3 is formed. Undoped multicrystal silicon films 7a and 7b are buried into the groove, and thereby, a heat release-use trench 14 is formed.
With regard to improvement of high-frequency distortion characteristics, for example, a structure disclosed in the following Non-Patent Literature 1 has been known.
In the disclosed technology, with respect to an SOI substrate on which a high-frequency switch element is formed, a trench penetrating to a semiconductor substrate 101 is formed in the periphery of the foregoing element. For example, by injecting argon by an ion implantation technology, a damage layer is formed on the semiconductor substrate 101.
By allowing the damage layer to trap a carrier generated in the semiconductor substrate at the time of applying high frequency, a change in a capacity of the substrate is prevented. Further, by fixing an electric potential of the substrate at an electrode penetrating through the semiconductor substrate shown in the trench, effects of preventing the change in the capacity of the substrate is enhanced.
With regard to improvement of high-frequency distortion characteristics, a technology using a polysilicon layer as described in the following Non-Patent Literature 2 has been known.
In the technology, an SOI substrate in which a polysilicon layer is provided on a semiconductor substrate is used.
Therefore, the technology has effects of allowing undoped polysilicon to trap a carrier generated in the semiconductor substrate at the time of applying high frequency.

High-frequency semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same


An optical fiber socket includes a hollow insulative housing, two openings in a bottom face of the insulative housing for receiving two optical fiber plugs and two illuminating elements accommodated inside the insulative housing for connection with the optical fiber plugs. The insulative housing has a first baffle and a second baffle to divide the insulative housing into a first receiving space for receiving therein one illuminating element, a second receiving space for receiving therein the other illuminating element. Terminals are provided to engage with the illuminating element in the first receiving space and have elongated ends extending out of the insulative housing thereof such that two optical fiber plugs in connection to the insulative housing are able to complete information input/output.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical socket, and more particularly to an optical fiber socket having two openings defined in a side face of the socket to allow two optical fiber plugs to insert into the tow openings to complete signal input and output with the optical fiber socket.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Following the advancement of the modern technology, what matters to information transmission is speed. Speed controls almost everything in our daily lives. That is, if someone has the speed advantage, he/she takes the lead and will keep on leading the others until the advantage is lost. Therefore, speed is everything in the modern society. To cope with the requirements, a concept of using an optical fiber filament as the signal carrier is introduced to the market. The optical fiber filament has the advantages of fast signal transmission speed, clear signal and less signal loss. Due to the advantages, the optical fiber filament is becoming more popular each day.
In order to complete signal transmission between two optical fibers, an optical fiber connector is invented. This type of optical fiber connector is made of plastic and used mainly in short range signal transmission in only one direction. That is to say, the conventional optical fiber connector can only allow signal to go from one point to the other point and not vice versa. As the vast need of mass information transmission, an optical fiber connector allowing two-way signal transmission is invented to facilitate the signal transmission speed. However, this type of optical fiber connector which allows signal to be transmitted both ways is actually composed of two individual optical fiber connectors with a fixture interconnecting the two optical fiber connectors. With the fixture to interconnect the two individual optical fiber connectors, the overall dimension of the optical fiber connector is enormous, and the manufacture cost is high. Bulky dimension of the optical fiber connector can never be an option for the user in that there will be no room in the appliance to receive such a dimension. Secondly, increasing manufacture cost will be a nightmare for the manufacturers because the profit will be decreased in such a competitive market.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention tends to provide an improved optical fiber socket to mitigate the aforementioned problems.


A retroreflective article 10 has a body portion 14 and a multitude of cube-corner elements 12 that project from a rear side 20 of the body portion 14. The body portion 14 includes a body layer 18 that contains a light-transmissible polymeric material having an elastic modulus less than 7.times.10.sup.8 pascals. The cube-corner elements 12 contain a light transmissible polymeric material having an elastic modulus greater than 16.times.10.sup.8 pascals. A retroreflective article of this construction can be highly flexed while maintaining good retroreflective performance.

Retroreflective sheetings have the ability to redirect incident light towards its originating source. This unique ability has led to the wide-spread use of retroreflective sheetings on a variety of articles. Very often the retroreflective sheetings are used on flat inflexible articles, for example, road signs and barricades; however, situations frequently arise which require the sheetings to be used on irregular or flexible surfaces. For example, a retroreflective sheeting may be adhered to the side of a truck trailer, which requires the sheeting to pass over corrugations and protruding rivets, or the sheeting may be adhered to a flexible substrate such as a road worker's safety vest. In situations where the underlying surface is irregular or flexible, the retroreflective sheeting desirably possesses good conformability and flexibility but not at the expense of sacrificing retroreflective performance.
There are essentially two types of retroreflective sheeting: beaded sheeting and cube-corner sheeting. Beaded sheeting employs a multitude of glass or ceramic microspheres to retroreflect incident light. The microspheres are separate from each other and therefore do not severely impose on the sheeting's ability to be flexed. Cube-corner sheeting, on the other hand, typically employs a multitude of rigid, interconnected, cube-corner elements to retroreflect incident light. Due in part to its interconnected structure, the shape of the sheeting's cube-corner elements can become distorted during flexing, resulting in a loss of retroreflectivity. The construction of cube-corner sheeting, therefore, places limits on the degree to which the sheeting can be conformed or flexed and still maintain satisfactory retroreflectivity. In the attempt to expand or remove these limits, investigators have taken many different approaches to produce a cube-corner sheeting that demonstrates good retroreflectivity after being flexed or conformed. Examples of these different approaches have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,684,348, 3,924,929, 3,992,080, 4,555,161, 4,576,850, 4,668,558, 4,582,885, 5,177,304, 5,189,553 and U.K. Patent GB 2,245,219 A.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,684,348 a retroreflective sheeting is disclosed that has a multitude of cube-corner formations projecting from a body portion. The cube-corner formations and the body portion are separately formed from essentially transparent synthetic plastic resin and are bonded together as a composite structure. To facilitate mounting on and shaping to surfaces of various configurations, it is disclosed that the body portion can be flexible.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,924,929 discloses a cube-corner retroreflective sheeting that contains a multiplicity of trihedral prismatic retroreflective units separated into cells by interconnected septa. A multiplicity of retroreflective sheeting units may be bonded to a flexible backing such as a polyester or polyvinylchloride web. The retroreflective sheeting units are positioned on the backing in a manner that allows the flexible article to be rolled or folded in either direction along two adjacent edges.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,992,080 discloses a retroreflective sheeting that provides good retroreflection when stretched. The sheeting comprises a first strip of transparent flexible synthetic resin having a multiplicity of minute cube-corner formations on one surface thereof. The cube-corner formations are bonded to a second strip of flexible backing material of lesser length than the first strip when in a relaxed condition. The first strip is bonded to the second strip with the cube-corner formations disposed adjacent to the second strip. This composite retroreflective sheet material is puckered in the relaxed state and is stretchable on a support surface with the elimination of the puckered condition. It is disclosed that this construction allows the sheeting to be stretched while avoiding distortion of the cube-corner formations.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,555,161 discloses a retroreflective sheeting that provides a high degree of flexibility to permit the sheeting to be tailored to a wide range of applications. The retroreflective sheeting comprises a base sheet that includes a flexible synthetic plastic sheet material; a cover sheet that includes a coextensive length of flexible transparent synthetic plastic; and a multiplicity of retroreflective film pieces disposed between the base sheet and the cover sheet. The film pieces are arranged as an array in a predetermined pattern, and the sheets are bonded to one another in areas between and about the film pieces to provide a multiplicity of discrete cells in which the film pieces are seated. A portion of each of the film pieces defines a multiplicity of minor cube-corner formations that provide the retroreflective properties to the sheeting.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,576,850, 4,582,885, and 4,668,558 disclose a retroreflective cube-corner sheeting that possesses good flexibility and dimensional stability. The retroreflective sheeting is made from a cross-linked polymer composed of (1) a plurality of hard segments of mono- or polyvalent moieties containing one or more carbocyclic and/or heterocyclic groups and (2) a plurality of soft segments of mono- or polyvalent moieties. The moieties of the hard segments have a major transition temperature above 250.degree. K, and the moieties of the soft segments have a glass transition temperature below 250.degree. K and have an average molecular weight of about 500 to 5,000.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,117,304 discloses a flexible retroreflective sheeting based upon an optically clear, aliphatic polyurethane polymer. The retroreflective sheeting comprises a land and an array of elements on the land. The flexibility is imparted to the sheeting by use of an aliphatic polyurethane polymer in the retroreflective elements which has a plurality of hard chain segments of the formula .paren open-st.(C(O)N(H)--C.sub.6 H.sub.10 --N(H)C(O)).paren close-st..
U.S. Pat. No. 5,189,553 discloses retroreflective cube-corner sheeting that is suitable for bending applications. The sheet has an outer surface that is designed for tension during sheet bending and an inner surface design for compression during sheet bending. A sheet neutral bending access region is located relative to the outer and inner surfaces so that a neutral bending access exists which is substantially free of stress and deformation during sheet bending. The sheet also has a plurality of reflective cube-corner elements with surfaces purposefully located proximate to the neutral bending access. It is disclosed that this sheeting provides enhanced retroreflective performance for a given radius of curvature.
U.K. Patent Application GB 2,245,219 A discloses a flexible retroreflective sheet material comprising relatively flexible body member of a transparent synthetic resin. The flexible body member has first and second faces, where the first face is planar, and the second face has closely-spaced retroreflective microprisms located thereover. The body member has a thickness from the first face to the base of the microspheres of 5.08 to 25.4 micrometers. The microprisms have a height of 25.4 to 254 micrometers. An adhesive coating is disposed on the second face over some of the microprisms, and a flexible backing member extends over the second face and is bonded to the microprisms by the adhesive coating.
Although the above-discussed patents disclose a variety of different constructions for providing flexible, retroreflective, cube-corner sheeting, some of the disclosed constructions are relatively complicated in construction. Others, while being no more complicated than a typical retroreflective sheeting, use relatively expensive polymeric materials or provide limited retroreflectance when highly flexed or conformed, or simply fail to fully teach how good retroreflectivity is achieved after the sheeting has been flexed or conformed.

Flexible cube-corner retroreflective sheeting


A penile prosthesis is provided, which includes at least one cylinder, a reservoir, and a pump including a pump housing, at least one reservoir channel fluidly coupling the pump housing to the reservoir, at least one cylinder tube fluidly connecting the pump housing to the cylinders, and a fluid passageway fluidly coupled to the cylinder tube and a transfer chamber. The pump further includes a first poppet and a second poppet, each of which is biased toward its respective valve seat within the fluid passageway. A bypass chamber is fluidly connected to the fluid passageway by a bypass input channel and a bypass output channel. The bypass chamber comprises a bypass check valve biased toward a closed position. The pump also includes a pump bulb fluidly connected to the fluid passageway between the bypass input channel and bypass output channel along the length of the fluid passageway.

One common treatment for male erectile dysfunction includes the implantation of a penile implant device. One type of penile implant device includes a pair of cylindrical prostheses that are implanted into the corpus cavernosae of the penis. Typically, the cylindrical prostheses or cylinders are inflatable and are connected to a fluid-filled reservoir through a pump and valve assembly. With one such type of system, one tube extends from each of the two cylindrical prostheses and connects to the pump, and one tube connects the pump to the reservoir. The pump is typically surgically implanted into the scrotum of the patient and the reservoir is implanted in the abdomen, with the tubes fluidly connecting the components. To activate the penile implant device, the patient actuates the pump using one of a variety of methods that cause fluid to be transferred from the reservoir through the pump and into the cylindrical prostheses. This results in the inflation of the prostheses and produces rigidity for a normal erection. Then, when the patient desires to deflate the prostheses, a valve assembly within the pump is actuated in a manner such that the fluid in the prostheses is released back into the reservoir. This deflation returns the penis to a flaccid state.
In three-piece systems such as those described above, the reservoir can sometimes be unintentionally compressed by bending or other pressure in the abdomen, which can lead to an inadvertent and undesirable spontaneous inflation of the cylinders. This can occur because many pump designs are not intended to prevent movement of fluid from the reservoir to the cylinders when the pump is subjected to pressurized fluid from a compressed reservoir. For one example, a pump that includes various poppets, springs, and valve seats can provide for fluid-tight seals for prevention of certain fluid movement under normal reservoir pressures. However, these same fluid-tight seals may be broken or opened when subjected to increased external pressure from the reservoir, thereby allowing fluid to move to and inflate the cylinders. This cylinder inflation can be embarrassing and uncomfortable for the user.
With a three-piece system, the implantation of the three distinct parts of the system (i.e., reservoir, pump, and cylinders) in different parts of the body is typically more invasive to the patient than a system that requires accessing fewer areas of the body. Another system that may be used that typically requires less invasive surgical access can be referred to as a two-piece system. A two-piece system typically differs from a three-piece system in that it does not include a reservoir that is separate from the pump. One such type of system is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,651,721; 4,895,139; 5,010,882; 5,048,510; and 5,263,981, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. In these types of systems, the pump itself stores the fluid of the system, thereby also functioning as a reservoir. The pump of this type of system is typically implanted in the scrotum and directly connected to cylinders implanted in the corpus cavernosae of the penis. These systems often involve steps such as manipulating a pump body to activate the pump, then repeatedly squeezing and releasing the pump to transfer fluid to the cylinders. The pump can be squeezed as many times as necessary to achieve the desired firmness of the cylinders. Depending on the system, this can take a significant period of time and may require more repetitive squeezing and releasing cycles than is desirable or convenient for the user.
With both two-piece and three-piece systems, due to the positioning of the pieces of each system relative to each other and the type of pumping mechanism provided with the system, some systems require relatively significant manipulation by the user to transfer fluid to and from the cylindrical prostheses. Such manipulation may be either time-consuming or difficult, particularly for users who have problems with dexterity or complicated instructions. Thus, it is desirable to provide an inflatable prosthetic penile device or system that is easy to activate for cylinder inflation and deflation, and that minimizes or eliminates the chances of spontaneous cylinder inflation.


A sensor/actuator network configured with a number of electrically-interconnected elements. More specifically, the sensors/actuators are each placed in electrical communication with the same transmission line. Various embodiments of such networks employ sensors/actuators connected in electrical series and in electrical parallel. Networks having these configurations, when placed upon a structure, are capable of detecting and/or transmitting stress waves within the structure so as to detect the presence of an impact, or actively query the structure. Advantageously, as these networks employ a single transmission line, they utilize fewer wires than current sensor/actuator networks, thus making them easier to install and maintain. They can also be configured as flexible layers, allowing for further ease of installation and maintenance.

The diagnostics and monitoring of structures, such as that carried out in the structural health monitoring field, are often accomplished by employing arrays of sensing elements and/or actuators. However, such arrays often suffer from certain drawbacks. For example, each sensor or actuator is often connected to multiple wires or electrical leads. Large arrays thus often employ an excessive number of wires, resulting in difficulty in installing and maintaining these arrays.
It is therefore desirable to develop sensor/actuator arrays that minimize the number of wires or electrical transmission lines employed. In this manner, sensor/actuator arrays can be made easier to install and use.

Single-wire sensor/actuator network for structure health monitoring


An inflatable mattress has a body and a coverlet. The body is hollow, is inflatable and has a top, a sidewall and at least one first engaging member attached to the sidewall of the body. The coverlet is mounted detachably on and covers the body and has at least one second engaging member attached to the coverlet and corresponding respectively to and detachably engaged respectively with the at least one first engaging member on the body. The coverlet is mounted tightly on the body and would not be shifted by persons' movement on the inflatable mattress.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mattress, and more particularly to an inflatable mattress that has a body and a coverlet tightly and flatly mounted detachably on the body without any wrinkles so that the coverlet on the body looks tidy and would not be shifted inadvertently by persons' movement on the inflatable mattress.
2. Description of Related Art
Inflatable mattresses are used generally in travels and camping because of their compressibility and portability.
However, people lying on the inflatable mattress feel less comfortable than they feel when lying on a traditional bed because of no sufficient soft cushion such as cotton fill put in the inflatable mattress.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,007,329 disclosed a conventional inflatable mattress with a pillow top. The pillow top is mounted on a top of a mattress body. However, the pillow top has no cushion function so that people lying on the pillow top on the mattress body would still feel more uncomfortable as compared with conventional beds. Furthermore, the conventional inflatable mattress has a second fastener portion attached to the edge weld of the inflatable mattress. The attachment prevents the pillow top to be secured tightly to the surface of the inflatable mattress and would appear to be "loose" across the surface of the inflatable mattress.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides an inflatable mattress with a coverlet to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.


A wheel rim polishing tool simplifies the process of polishing tractor trailer wheel rims. The tool also reduces polishing time by polishing more surface area of the wheel rim per rotation as compared to what can be accomplished by hand or by means of a drill adapted with a polishing head. The tool further keeps the cost of polishing the wheel rims low by making a trip to a metal specialty shop no longer necessary. The wheel rim polishing tool is a portable device that allows the tractor trailer owner to polish their wheel rims quickly and easily.

The present invention relates to truck accessories and, more particularly, to a wheel rim polishing tool.
Currently, it is a very time consuming and laborious process to polish tractor trailer wheel rims. It usually entails hours of polishing by hand or using a drill adapted with a polishing head. The only other method currently available entails spending time and money at a metal specialty shop where they remove the tires in order to polish the wheel rims.
As can be seen, there is a need for an improved device for simplifying the wheel rim polishing process while reducing polishing time and keeping polishing costs under control.