Reliability of crystalline TFTs is improved in a large area integrated circuit typified by an active matrix type liquid crystal display device. In TFTs having an LDD structure, a region whose LDD region overlaps with a gate electrode and a region not overlapping with the gate electrode are fabricated inside one TFT. To accomplish this structure, n-channel TFTs are fabricated in non-self-alignment whereas p-channel TFTs are fabricated in self-alignment.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a semiconductor device having a circuit constituted by thin film transistors on the substrate thereof having an insulation surface, and to a method of fabricating such a semiconductor device. More specifically, this invention relates to an electro-optical device typified by a liquid crystal display device and a construction of an electronic appliance having the electro-optical device mounted thereto.
The term "semiconductor device" used in this specification represents devices in general that function by utilizing semiconductor characteristics, and includes the electro-optical device and the electronic appliance having the electro-optical device mounted thereto, that are described above.
2. Description of the Related Art
Development of semiconductor devices having a large area integrated circuit comprising thin film transistors (hereinafter called the "TFTs") has made a steady progress, and an active matrix liquid crystal device and an adhesion type image sensor are typical examples of such semiconductor devices.
The TFTs can be classified in accordance with their structures and their fabrication methods. The TFTs using a semiconductor film having a crystal structure as an active layer (crystalline TFTs), in particular, can form a variety of functional circuits because their field effect mobility is high.
The term "semiconductor film having the crystal structure" used in this specification represents a single crystal semiconductor, a polycrystalline semiconductor and a micro-crystal semiconductor. Furthermore, the term includes the semiconductors that are described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. Hei 7-130652(1995), Hei 8-78329(1996), Hei 10-135468(1998) and Hei 10-135469(1998).
In the active matrix liquid crystal display device, a pixel matrix circuit (also called a "pixel area") comprising n-channel TFTs and an integrated circuit comprising a CMOS circuit as a basic circuit such as a shift register circuit, a level shifter circuit, a buffer circuit, a sampling circuit, and so forth, are formed for each functional block on one substrate.
In the adhesion type image sensor, on the other hand, integrated circuits such as a sample-and-hold circuit, a shift register circuit, a multiplexer circuit, and so forth, are formed using the TFTs.
Because the operating conditions of these circuits are not always the same, performance required for each TFT naturally varies to certain extents.
The pixel unit, for example, employs the construction that includes switching devices comprising an n-channel TFT and an auxiliary signal storage capacitance, and drives the liquid crystal by applying a voltage. The liquid crystal must be driven by an alternating current, and a system called "frame inversion driving" has been employed. Therefore, the TFTs must sufficiently reduce a leakage current as one the requisites imposed on them.
Because a high driving voltage is applied to the buffer circuit, a withstand voltage must be high. It is also necessary to sufficiently secure an ON current in order to improve current driving capacity.
However, the crystalline TFT involves the problem that its OFF current is likely to become high. From the aspect of reliability, the crystalline TFT is believed yet unequal to MOS transistors (the transistors that are fabricated on a single crystal semiconductor substrate) used for LSIs. For instance, a deterioration phenomenon such as the drop of the ON current has often been observed in the crystalline TFT. This problem results from the hot carrier effect. In other words, the hot carriers generated by a high electric field in the proximity of a drain are believed to cause this deterioration.
A lightly doped drain (LDD) structure is known as a structure of the TFT. In this structure, a low concentration impurity region is disposed between a channel region and a source or drain region into which an impurity is doped in a high concentration, and this low concentration impurity region is referred to as the "LDD" region.
The LDD structure can be further classified into a GOLD (Gate-drain Overlapped LDD) structure in which the LDD region overlaps with the gate electrode and the LDD structure in which it does not, depending on the positional relationship with the gate electrode. The GOLD structure mitigates the high electric field in the proximity of the drain, prevents the hot carrier effect and thus improves reliability. According to Mutsuko Hatano, Hajime Akimoto and Takeshi Sakai, "IEDM97 Technical Digest", p523-526, 1997, a GOLD structure having side walls formed of silicon has been confirmed to have by far more excellent reliability than TFTs having other structures.
Nonetheless, the GOLD structure is not free from the problem that the OFF current becomes greater than the ordinary LDD structure, and it has not always been preferable to fabricate all the TFTs of a large area integrated circuit by this GOLD structure. If the OFF current increases in the n-channel TFTs constituting the pixel unit, for example, power consumption increases and abnormality is likely to appear in image display. For this reason, it is not preferable to apply as such the crystalline TFTs having the GOLD structure.
Another problem of the LDD structure is that the ON current drops with the increase of the series resistance. The ON current can be freely designed by means of the channel width of the TFT, and an offset TFT is not always necessary to be provided to the TFTs that constitute the buffer circuit, for example.

Semiconductor device and method of fabricating the same

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


There is provided an imaging device including a semiconductor having a light-receiving portion that performs photoelectric conversion of incident light, electrically conductive wirings, and a contact group including contacts that have different sizes and connect the semiconductor and the electrically conductive wirings.

The present technology relates to an imaging device, an imaging apparatus, a production apparatus and method, and a semiconductor device. Specifically, the present technology relates to an imaging device, an imaging apparatus, a production apparatus and method, and a semiconductor device that are capable of appropriately and easily controlling a level of a dark signal.
In the past, there may have been caused an Optical Black (OPB) level difference which is a difference between a dark signal in an effective pixel and a dark signal in an Optical Black (OPB) pixel in an imaging device. In addition, even within an effective pixel region, the dark signal tends to vary pixel to pixel. For example, in a peripheral region of the effective pixel (a frame-shaped region), dark signal shading where the dark signal is gradually increased may be caused.
As a method of controlling or correcting such a dark signal, the following various methods have been considered.
For example, in order to control a dark signal, there has been a method of controlling the dark signal by adjusting conversion efficiencies through adjustment of a gate area of an amplifier transistor (see JP 3326940B, for example). This method may raise a concern of reduction of mutual conductance (gm) due to an increased gate area or occurrence of short channeling due to a reduced gate area, which lead to gain variability.
In addition, there is also a method of adjusting conversion efficiencies through adjustment of a wiring pattern or a diffusion layer, thereby to control the dark signal (see JP 2006-165006A, for example). However, there is a concern that changes of conversion efficiencies may lead to variations of image capturing characteristics at the time of a bright state, which may result in degraded image quality at the time of a bright state.
Moreover, there is also a method of changing sensor potentials, thereby to control the dark signal (see JP 2012-23319A, for example). In this method, a readout voltage, a saturation signal amount, and sensitivity are greatly affected, which may lead to degraded image quality at the time of a bright state.
Furthermore, there is also a method of controlling the dark signal through adjustment of an implantation layout around a pixel ground (GND) contact (see JP 2011-210837A, for example). In this method, because P+ ions are implanted at a relatively high concentration in the vicinity of an N-type region of a photodiode, occurrence of white dots or dark electric current may be concerned. In addition, because the high concentrated P+ region exists below element isolation, a depletion layer of the photodiode may be limited in a transverse direction, which may raise a concern of deterioration of saturation or sensitivity characteristics. Moreover, when donor impurities are doped at a relatively high concentration as countermeasures of such deterioration, the white points or dark electric current may become more problematic.
In addition, there is a method of reducing a degree of shading in the effective pixel by greatly enlarging a pixel extension region outside the effective pixel region in order to suppress an effect of the dark signal shading, which is typified by non-uniformity of dark electric currents in frame regions. In this method, a size of a chip may be increased by an amount of the pixel extension region, which may directly lead to decreased production yield and increased production costs.
Moreover, there is a method of correcting the OPB level difference and the dark signal shading by utilizing a pixel signal process. In this method, additional memories are necessary for the signal process, which may raise a concern of degraded image quality due to noises associated with the process.

Imaging device, imaging apparatus, production apparatus and method, and semiconductor device


Provided is a chromatic confocal sensor including: a light source section that emits a plurality of light beams having different wavelengths; an optical head that includes an objective lens that converges the plurality of light beams at different focal positions and selects, as measurement light, light reflected by an object to be measured at the focal position out of the plurality of light beams; a spectroscope including diffraction gratings that split the selected measurement light into a plurality of diffracted light beams and a sensor that receives two or more of the plurality of diffracted light beams; and a signal processing/control section that calculates a position of the object to be measured based on a difference between light reception positions of the two or more diffracted light beams received by the sensor.

The present invention relates to a chromatic confocal sensor and a measurement method that uses it.
From the past, the chromatic confocal technique has been used for measuring a height of an object to be measured and the like. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2011-39026 (hereinafter, referred to as Patent Document 1) discloses a chromatic confocal displacement meter (hereinafter, referred to as chromatic sensor) as shown in FIG. 1. In the chromatic sensor, a color to be focused on a work changes on a one-on-one basis according to a height (displacement) of the work. By extracting light of a color to be focused on the work and specifying the color (optical wavelength), the height of the work that is in a one-on-one relationship with the color is measured (paragraphs [0002], [0003], etc. in specification of Patent Document 1).
In the chromatic sensor disclosed in Patent Document 1, specification of an optical wavelength is performed using the fact that a phase difference (optical channel difference) corresponding to an optical wavelength is caused between mutually-perpendicular polarization components that pass through a wave plate constituted of a birefringent crystal and the like. Accordingly, it becomes possible to realize a measurement that satisfies a long operating distance, a fine measurement spot, a small error due to a tilt, high resolution, and high-speed responsiveness at the same time (paragraphs [0030], [0035], etc. in specification of Patent Document 1).

Chromatic confocal sensor and measurement method


A tool rack includes a body having a head portion and a board extending from the head portion, the board having two rails extending from two sides thereof so that a plurality of connectors are slidably mounted to the two rails. Each of the connectors has two plates and each of the plates has a recess defined therein so that a tool is received in the recesses of the two plates. A stop member is connected to the free end of the board and blocks the two rails to prevent the connectors from being removed from the rails. A limit member is mounted to the board so as to keep the tools on the connectors from being removed.

A conventional tool rack is shown in FIG. 6 and comprises a body 10 having a slot 100 defined in one of two ends thereof and two flanges 11 respectively extending from two sides thereof each of the two flanges 11 has a plurality of recesses 12 defined therein and each periphery defining the respective recess 12 has an opening defined by two protrusions 120, 121 so that a tool 20 such as a wrench is force-fit into the recess 12 by passing through the opening between the two protrusions 120, 121. Every two opposite recesses 12 on the two flanges 11 has a flexible plate 13 formed therebetween so that when the tool 20 is received in the two recesses 12, the flexible plate 13 is compressed by the tool 20 and provides an upward force against the tool 20 to securely hold the tool 20. However, such a tool rack has no suitable antitheft means so that when the tool rack is displayed in a hardware store, tools 20 on the rack could be taken from the rack directly so that the dealers tend to pack up the tool rack with the tools. Further cost is therefore incurred. In addition, the shapes of the recesses 12 are unchanged so that a tool with a circular cross-section cannot be used with the tool rack.
The present invention provides a tool rack which has two rails with a plurality of connectors slidably and changeably mounted therebetween, and a limit plate connected to the rack so that the tools on the rack cannot be taken away unless the limit plate is removed. The tool rack arose to mitigate and/or obviate the disadvantages of the conventional tool rack.


The present invention discloses a transformer structure. The transformer structure comprises a first primary winding, and a first secondary circuits. The first secondary circuits comprises a filtering capacitor, a conductive Cu windings and a rectifier configured onto the printed circuit board (PCB) forming the first secondary circuits PCB winding. The first primary winding and the secondary circuits are interleaved with each other.

As power source has developed towards high power density nowadays, besides circuit structure itself, suitable component choices and circuit parameters optimization, non-conventional electrical design including electrical mechanism, thermal design and adequate printed circuit board (PCB) arrangement are becoming more significant in the actual design of power source to achieve higher efficiency. In power source design, the design of magnetic core element is particularly important due to the high frequency caused by high power density. Moreover, the design for power transformer is also a crucial point, especially in high power and high frequency applications. For example, the whole structure of a conventional DC/DC converter is shown in FIG. 1. The secondary side of a transformer 1 includes secondary windings, output rectifiers 3 and an output filter 4, while the primary side of the transformer 1 includes primary windings and primary switches 2. The primary switches 2 connect to an input terminal 5, and the output filter 4 is connected to a load 6. Increasing the frequency of the circuits' switches can effectively reduce the volume of the magnetic core element; however, this higher frequency generates numerous issues in the winding design of a transformer. Skin depth effect and proximity effect of conducting wires in high frequency operation will cause additional power loss on transformer windings itself and there between, especially apparent in high current output. Further, the output side structure of a conventional transformer is shown in FIG. 2, and the windings of the transformer 1 are connected to the primary switches 2, the output rectifiers 3 and filter 4. The rectifiers 3 and filters 4 of the output side are configured on a PCB, and Zp indicates parasitic impedance on the wires. Such arrangement results in secondary side wires of the transformer 1 extend a larger distance to the output rectifier and longer alternative passage. As a result, tremendous loss will occur on the equivalent parasitic resistance of the wires in high frequency and large current applications, such that the switch elements cause more switching power loss to affect reliability and efficiency of the circuits. Similarly, terminal power loss of the output windings of the conventional large power transformer 1 will be increased substantially due to terminal effect.
Accordingly, it has become an important factor to design a better transformer windings structure and output side structure for improving circuit reliability and efficiency. Thus, for the drawbacks of the prior art and numerous unfavorable features from conventional transformers discussed above, the present invention provides a novel transformer structure which can effectively reduce the length of AC wires and transformer's power loss, and thereby enhance the efficiency of the whole circuits.


A ballast circuit operable to drive a high intensity discharge lamp in accordance with an embodiment of the present applications includes an energy conversion circuit operable to convert an input voltage into a bus voltage and to provide the bus voltage to a DC bus, a first half bridge connected across the DC bus and operable to control an output voltage supplied to the lamp, a control circuit operable to control the half bridge such that a desired output voltage is provided to the lamp, a series inductor connected in series between the half bridge and the lamp; and a parallel capacitor resistor connected across the lamp. The control circuit operates the half bridge at a high frequency for a set period of time such that a high voltage is built up across the parallel resistor, and then reduces the frequency of the half bridge until it approaches a resonance frequency which ignites the lamp.

High intensity discharge (HID) lamps are highly desirable for commercial markets due to their superior light efficiency in terms of lumens produced per watt and the variety of power ranges in which they are available. As HID lamp technology has developed, manufacturers and ballast designers have come to focus on reliability and efficiency in providing a robust and simple HID lighting system.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,078,870, which is assigned to the assignee of the present application, International Rectifier Corporation, discloses an example of a ballast circuit for use in driving an HID lamp. The entire contents of U.S. Pat. No. 7,078,870 are hereby incorporated by reference herein. The ballast system disclosed in this reference, however, fails to take into account the behavior of the HID lamp immediately after ignition and in the warm up phase. When high voltage is applied across an HID lamp, the lamp produces an arc which will initially draw a very large current, resulting in lamp voltage dropping as low as 20V or less. Immediately after ignition, most of the energy stored in the series capacitors C1, C2 to which the lamp is returned is discharged into the lamp. If the amount of energy is too small, or too great, the lamp will extinguish immediately after ignition such that the result is merely merely a flash.
Using the system described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,078,870, the capacitors C1, C2 would have to be very small in order to prevent too much energy from being discharged into the lamp. However, the lamp current immediately after ignition must be maintained at a sufficiently high level to keep the lamp lit. This would be impossible using such small capacitors.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide ballast circuit system that avoids these problems.


An asphalt binder is provided, comprising 85 to 97.5 parts by weight of a bitumen and 16 to 2.5 parts by weigh of a polymer composition, wherein the polymer composition comprises:    (i) from 2 to 8, preferably from 3 to 6 parts by weight of a styrenic block copolymer having at least two blocks of monovinylaromatic hydrocarbon (A) and at least one block of a conjugated diene (B), wherein the block copolymer composition has a vinyl content of at least 25% by weight, preferably from 25 to 40% by weight, based on the total diene content;    (ii) from 0 to 5, preferably from 1 to 3 parts by weight of a styrenic diblock copolymer having one block of monovinylaromatic hydrocarbon (A) and one block of a conjugated diene (B); and    (iii) from 0.5 to 3, preferably from 1 to 2.5 parts by weight of an ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer,wherein the weight ratio of (i)+(ii):(iii) is from 2:1 to 6:1, preferably from 3:1 to 4:1. In addition, an asphalt mix is provided comprising 2 to 8 parts by weight of the asphalt binder of the present invention and 98 to 92 parts by weight of gap-graded aggregate or open-graded aggregate material.

Bitumen is used as a binder in road asphalt mixtures, and has developed continually to meet ever increasing performance demands from road building constructors. In general bitumen performs well in road asphalt, but increasingly heavy traffic loads have led to the premature wear of many roads through rutting, ravelling (e.g., loss of aggregate material) and cracking of the surface. Asphalt binders nowadays often comprise a mixture of bitumen and polymer. Of these polymers, the thermoplastic rubbers forming a continuous network are the most commonly used polymers and have led to various papers on the subject matter.
For instance, in WO 97/44397 an asphalt binder is described comprising a bitumen component, a thermoplastic rubber in an amount of less than 8 wt. % and an ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer in an amount of less than 5 wt. %, both based on total bitumen composition, wherein the ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer has a vinyl content in the range of from 20 to 35 wt. %, based on copolymer. This application also describes a process for preparing the binder; and the use of the binder in asphalt mixes for road applications. This combination was specifically designed to improve the fuel resistance.
In EP 337282 A the asphalt binder comprises a combination of a linear styrene-butadiene-styrene block copolymer (SBS) having a styrene content of from 25 to 40% by weight and a melt flow index of from 1 to 15, and an ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) having a vinyl acetate content of from 40 to 50% by weight and a melt flow index of from 2 to 15, the SBS:EVA weight ratio being from 2:1 to 6:1. The product that has been used in this reference is Cariflex™ 1102, an SBS having an ordinary vinyl content (i.e., below 12 mol %, based on the total amount of butadiene in the midblock).
In EP 340210 A a composition for road surfaces and the like is disclosed that comprises from 85 to 97% by weight of bitumen and from 3 to 15% by weight of an additive component comprising 1) ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers having a melt flow index of from 0.3 to 33 and a vinyl acetate content of from 15 to 45, ethylene polyacrylates, and 2) styrene-butadiene-styrene graft polymers having a styrene content of from 20 to 60% by weight, atactic polypropylene, rubber powder or mixtures thereof. The composition is characterised by a content of internal plasticizer/solvent from the group comprising ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers having a melt flow index of from 33 to 500 and a vinyl acetate content of from 15 to 45, ethylene polyacrylates and/or naphthene-basic oils containing at least 55% of naphthenes, determined by the IR method, and having a maximum viscosity of 300 at 40 DEG C. A typical composition is given on page 5 of said reference, wherein 90% wt bitumen is combined with 2% wt SBS, 3% wt EVA 13-004, 1% wt EVA 18-150 and 4% wt plasticizing oil. Although both references EP 337282 and EP 340210 teach a combination of EVA and SBS, thus combining the advantages of both bitumen additives, further improvement remains desirable.
In MCKAY, et al. The Influence of Styrene-Butadiene Diblock Copolymer on Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene Triblock Copolymer Viscoelastic Properties and Product Performance. J. appl. polym. sci. (1995) May 23, vol. 56, no. 8, p. 947-958. the influence of a diblock on the properties of a triblock copolymer in an adhesive composition is described. This reference contains an evaluation of an SBS/SB blend in an Exxon Baytown AC-10 asphalt. According to the synopsis, the SB diblock copolymer quantitatively lowered the microphase separation temperature (MST) of the SBS triblock copolymer. These changes in linear viscoelastic behaviour manifest themselves into a reduction in the efficiency and performance of the SBS triblock copolymer in asphalt pavement binders and hot-melt adhesives. This reference hence clearly teaches away from using SB diblock copolymers. Also, no information is provided on asphalt binders with improved resistance to premature wear.
In WO 97/10304 an asphalt binder is described comprising a bituminous component and from 1 to 10% wt, based on the total bituminous composition of a block copolymer composition. The block copolymer composition comprises at least one of the group consisting of linear triblock copolymers, multi-armed block copolymers and diblock copolymers, which block copolymers comprise at least one block of monovinylaromatic hydrocarbon (A) and at least one block of a conjugated diene (B), wherein the block copolymer composition has a vinyl content of at least 25% by weight, based on the total diene content.
In the past, asphalt mixes were dense and often had a continuous grading of aggregate to reduce the voids volume. Nowadays, however, open asphalt and porous asphalt are increasingly used for pavements. Porous pavement is a special type of pavement that allows rain and snowmelt to pass through it, thereby reducing the runoff from a site and surrounding areas, but also reducing splash and spray from passing cars. Noise reduction is another highly desirable property of porous pavements. However, with their more open structure porous pavements have an even greater tendency of ravelling.
The present inventors therefore set out to find an asphalt binder that result in porous pavements with improved resistance to premature wear, and that may be applied in other asphalt mixes that require high durability and/or resistance to ravelling as well.

Abstract: Furthermore, a porous pavement is claimed, produced from the open or gap-graded mixes, by compacting the asphalt mix mentioned above.


A forced air furnace circulation fan controller adjusts the speed of the circulation fan according to the incidence of air delivery restrictions. Upon detecting insufficient air delivery as a function of the temperature of the furnace heat exchanger, the control system increases the circulation fan speed to increase the air delivery within the heating system. The controller utilizes fuzzy logic techniques to determine a speed adjustment for the furnace fan motor, based on the value of the furnace heat exchanger temperature. The use of fuzzy logic control allows the circulation fan controller to provide a highly adaptive response to changes in air delivery. The resulting balanced air delivery provides for efficient furnace operation and superior occupant comfort.

A forced air furnace forces heated air into a home using a circulation fan which delivers air over the furnace's heat exchanger and into the duct distribution system. The air is then returned to the furnace through intake vents for re-circulation through the heating system. In order for a forced air furnace to run most efficiently, the air delivery of the heating system should remain relatively constant at a certain fixed value of cubic feet of air per minute. The air delivery of a heating system is a function of the air pressure produced by the circulation fan and air delivery restrictions in the heating system. The static pressure present within a heating system is indicative of the air delivery for a fixed circulation fan speed. Static pressure is the steady state pressure that exists within a system for a fixed fan speed and is commonly measured in units of inches of water.
Typically, installers of forced air furnaces are responsible for determining and implementing the correct fan speed for each installation. Static pressure and other heating characteristics must be measured to determine an efficient air delivery rate for the particular air duct restrictions and characteristics of a heating system. After a forced air furnace is installed, further changes in air delivery restrictions requires further air delivery speed adjustments. However, air delivery installation testing and adjusting is rarely done in practice and post-installation air delivery adjustments are not likely to be made by the dwelling occupants.
Air delivery restrictions can be caused by duct blockages such as dirty air filters, dust and dirt build up, and other restrictions in the vents. Factors relating to the specific configuration of the vent system also affect air delivery, such as the width and length of the ducts used and the number of elbows in a duct passage. The opening and closing of individual warm air registers or cold air return vents also significantly affect the air delivery rate of a given installation. The presence of air delivery resistance produces a decrease in the air delivery of a furnace and reduces heating system efficiency.
Furnace efficiency is related to a balanced air delivery at a particular heat rise. Heat rise is the difference between the temperature of the warm air being produced by the furnace and that of the cold intake air. For efficient furnace operation, it is known that the heat rise should remain constant at a value of approximately 70.degree. F. When air delivery restrictions are present in a heating system, the rate of air delivery is reduced and heat rise is increased. Furnace efficiency is decreased due a slower stream of air passing through the heat exchanger at a comparable temperature to that of the heat exchanger. This results in a significant amount of heat not being transferred from the heat exchanger to the air being delivered over the heat exchanger. This heat is then lost through the combustion flue. This inefficiency also results in hotter vented combustion products and may present problems for plastic vent materials.
One solution is to install a manual fan speed control device which allows a home owner to manually adjust circulation fan speed. However, these systems are commonly set and left for long periods of time at high speed settings in order that as much heat as possible is efficiently extracted from the heat exchanger. Air moving at higher velocities results in the cooling of human skin due to increased evaporation of moisture on the skin's surface and causes discomfort to the occupants. In addition, increased air velocities result in increased noise within the building. While this solution is relatively inexpensive, it is inefficient and unreliable as a long term solution as such manual adjustments can be made in error or not at all due to the device's inability to automatically adapt to changing air delivery resistances.
Other fan speed control systems control circulation fan speed to delay the execution of safety shut-down procedures when the system reaches dangerous operating levels. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,705,881 and 4,792,089 to Ballard, both disclose a furnace control system which increases the speed of an air blower by alternately engaging higher motor speed windings when the temperature of air to be heated exceeds a pre-determined temperature. When high-limit conditions are detected, the control system advances the speed of the circulation fan in association with higher motor windings, typically over two or three motor speeds. The controller stops increasing fan speed if the temperature drops below the pre-determined temperature. However, if the top fan speed is reached and the temperature remains above the predetermined temperature then shut down procedures are initiated. While this control system varies the circulation fan speed in response to detected air delivery resistance, it does not allow the circulation fan speed to be adaptively increased or decreased during the normal course of operation in response to varying air delivery resistances.
More sophisticated attempts to address changes in air delivery due to air delivery restrictions have involved attempts to control the fan motor speed in response to changes in motor load characteristics during normal operating conditions. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,556 to Rowlette et al. discloses a fan motor controller which detects changes in parameters such as motor torque and motor speed and makes corrections to the fan motor to maintain constant air delivery despite changes in air delivery resistances. Corrections are made using a microprocessor which reads motor speed and torque and then computes desired speed based on a torque-speed characteristic stored in memory. However, such reactive control techniques typically result in fan speed changes of more than 15% which causes undesirable wind chill effects. Thus, while circulation fan speed is being adjusted during the course of normal operation, this solution is only partially effective due to its crudely reactive nature and associated construction and installation costs.
Accordingly, there is a long-standing need to improve the efficiency of forced air furnaces, to improve the level of occupant comfort, and to eliminate the need for air delivery calibration as part of the furnace installation procedure, using a control system which provides a highly adaptive response to changes in air delivery and which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture and install.

Automatic control of air delivery in forced air furnaces


A quick fastener for mounting a hydraulic cylinder to a casing, whereby the hydraulic cylinder has a fastening device, and the casing has mounting structures in the casing wall. The mounting structures act in concert with the fastening device so that the hydraulic cylinder can be mounted to the casing wall without using tools. The fastening device includes primarily a fastening nose and a catch spring with a catch nose, as well as, a stop collar or groove. The mounting structures include at least one opening in the casing wall that have contours into which the fastening nose as well as the catch spring with the catch nose can be inserted. The advantage of this quick fastener lies in the simple sealing of the chambers on both sides of the casing wall, with a simple assembly, by inserting, in the direction of the axle of the hydraulic cylinder, and the swinging or positioning, as desired, of the hydraulic cylinder into the mounting position. The quick fastener can also be secured, also manageable without tools, by supporting the catch spring through appropriate securing elements.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a quick fastener for mounting a pressure means cylinder to a casing, including a pressure means cylinder with a cylinder casing, a piston, and a tappet with a fastening device for fastening the pressure means cylinder to a casing or housing wall, essentially without tools. Whereby, the casing wall shows mounting structures into which the pressure means cylinder can be inserted.
2. Background Information
U.S. Pat. No. 4,640,478 discloses a mounting structure for attaching a pressure means cylinder to a casing, consisting of a bayonet fastener with a back cut, whereby over the spring force of an auxiliary spring, the pressure means cylinder is held in its position. For this reason, the pressure means cylinder shows division ribs or lugs that run on the circumference which can be inserted into recesses of projections that are placed in the casing wall and which must be designed therein a prominent manner. The assembly is executed by simple movements that are possible to perform without tools, namely by pushing the pressure means cylinder into the casing wall to a stop, followed by an approximately 45.degree. turn, and finally by inserting the auxiliary spring for fastening the pressure means cylinder with its circumferential wedge ribs or lugs into the notches in the bayonet fastener provided on the casing wall.
Although it is relatively easy to build the pressure means cylinder with its partially circumferential ribs, the fastening process in the casing wall, however, requires more effort because a mounting plate must be constructed that connects to the casing wall. This mounting plate shows the accommodation structures of the bayonet fastener, and has to be built separately.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,488,701 discloses another way of fastening a pressure means cylinder to a casing wall without tools. With the mounting of the pressure means cylinder in the casing wall, a bayonet fastener is closed by a 45.degree. turn of the pressure means cylinder. A ring seal keeps, through its tension, the bayonet fastener in a no-play state, and an auxiliary spring secures the connection by hooking into a notch device so that the pressure means cylinder will not turn back or fall out of the casing wall. It is not always possible to turn pressure means cylinders in the assembled state by 45.degree., especially in the narrowly calculated spaces of automobiles, and especially when attaching parts are placed on the pressure means cylinder perpendicular to its axle.

Motor vehicle an hydraulic cylinder, such as to actuate a clutch, having a quick fastener for mounting the hydraulic cylinder to a housing


An energy-absorbing trailer hitch assembly is provided that includes a receiver tube and an insertion tube. The receiver tube is typically fixedly attached to a motor vehicle and has a set of apertures that affords for a pin to pass therethrough. The tube also has a set of slots adjacent to the apertures, with protrusions between each aperture and its adjacent slot. The insertion tube serves as a trailer hitch and has a set of apertures that align with the set of apertures in the receiver tube. Placement of the insertion tube within the receiver tube affords for a pin to pass through and be held within said apertures. In this manner a trailer may be attached to the trailer hitch and pulled by the motor vehicle. When the trailer is impacted, for example by a rear-end collision, deformation of the pin and/or the protrusions of the receiver tube allow the pin to travel in a forward direction, thereby absorbing energy from the collision. A second embodiment of the invention provides for an energy-absorbing trailer hitch assembly wherein the apertures, slots and protrusions therebetween are located within the insertion tube instead of the receiver tube.

In order to assist a user of a motor vehicle in transporting equipment, tools, supplies and other various items, a motor vehicle may have an attached trailer hitch assembly for the purpose of pulling a trailer. A typical trailer hitch assembly consists of a trailer hitch receiver tube and a trailer hitch tube inserted and locked therein. By inserting and locking the trailer hitch tube within the trailer hitch receiver tube, a trailer can be attached to the trailer hitch and used to transport various items, for example those mentioned above.
Unlike the energy-dampening capabilities of rear bumpers produced today, a trailer hitch assembly (and the frame it is attached to) must absorb the energy of a rear-end collision experienced by a trailer being pulled by a motor vehicle. Without the capability of the trailer hitch assembly to absorb energy from the rear-end collision, significant damage to the motor vehicle can occur. Thus there is a need for a trailer hitch assembly that absorbs the energy from an impact to the rear of a trailer attached to a motor vehicle.

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.


In one approach for processing a data packet, in at least one stage of a plurality of stages of a pipeline circuit, a respective packet field value is extracted from the data packet. In each stage of the plurality of stages, a respective tuple field value is inserted into a respective tuple register of the stage at a respective offset. The respective tuple field value in the at least one stage is based on the respective packet field value. In each stage of the plurality of stages except a last one of the stages, the contents of the respective tuple register of the stage are provided as input to a next one of the stages.

In some implementations, a network packet processor inputs a stream of network packets, manipulates the contents of the network packets, and outputs another stream of modified network packets. The manipulations may implement a protocol for processing network packets. For example, the network packet processor may implement a protocol layer of a communication protocol, and for a high-level packet received from a higher protocol layer and delivered to a lower protocol layer for eventual transmission on the communication media, the manipulations may encapsulate the high-level packet within a low-level packet of the lower protocol layer.
A common task in processing packets is to form a compact data tuple based on certain fields of a packet. The data tuple makes processing of the assembled data convenient. For example, in a packet classification task, certain address fields and/or type fields are extracted from a packet and then used together as a lookup key to determine the class of the packet. The particular fields and positions of the fields in the packet may vary depending on processing functions and protocols.
The data rate at which packets are transmitted presents challenges for processing the packets at a rate sufficient to keep pace with the data transmission rate. In packet processing applications, packets are streamed word-wise, for example using words that are 512-bits wide and achieving a 100 Gbps data rate. Each packet may be comprised of multiple 512-bit words. The fields of a packet that are used in constructing a tuple are generally located in different areas of the packet. Thus, the fields of a packet will be available at different discrete times. The times at which the fields become available is not necessarily static since packet structures can vary from packet to packet, such as with variable field sizes.


The image processing apparatus has a timer transmission function to execute a transmission job for transmitting image data to another apparatus at a designated transmission time of day. The image processing apparatus comprises a setting unit configured to set a restraint period of time indicating a period of time that the execution of the transmission job has to be restrained based on charge information for respective periods of time including unit prices of electricity charges for respective periods of time; and a reservation unit configured to present the restraint period of time, accept the designation of the transmission time of day, and store the designated transmission time of day as reservation information in a storage unit; and a notifying unit configured to perform notification to a user in a case where the designated transmission time of day is included in the restraint period of time.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, a control method of the image processing apparatus, and a program to be used in the control method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, various kinds of communication apparatuses such as a facsimile apparatus which transmits/receives image information to/from an apparatus of a communication partner through a communication line such as a telephone line or an Internet line, and the like have been widely used. In these communication apparatuses, there is the communication apparatus of a type having a timer transmission function. Here, the timer transmission function is the function by which, in a case where a user has previously reserved a transmission date and hour so as to transmit data in the middle of the night or the early morning during which the communication charges are fixed or in a period of time or a time of day which is convenient to the communication partner, a transmission process is automatically performed at the reserved date and hour.
During recent years, in order to achieve leveling of power demand, contracts respectively based on electricity charges for respective periods of time in which the electricity charge varies for each period of time according to a season, a day of the week or the like and real-time electricity charges in which the electricity charge varies every day according to a temperature or the like have been concluded. More specifically, in case of using the electricity charges for respective periods of time, charge information of the electricity charges for the respective periods of time is provided by an electric power company, and power consumption of the apparatus is controlled based on the provided charge information.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-142753, a table of electricity charges in which periods of time have been respectively associated with electricity charges is acquired from a management server, and a reduction period of time in which power consumption of household electrical appliances has to be reduced is determined based on the acquired table of electricity charges. Then, a control command for reducing the power consumption of an apparatus in the determined reduction period of time is generated, and the generated control command is actually transmitted to the apparatus.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-203720, the electricity charge necessary for watching and/or recording a TV (television) program is displayed in a TV (television) program guide, and, when a TV program is selected, the electricity charge of the same TV program provided in another period of time is displayed together with the electricity charge of the selected TV program. By such displays, it is possible to reserve watching and recording of a TV program at the low electricity charge.
However, in the above conventional image processing apparatus transmits/receives the image information, when timer transmission is reserved, it is impossible for a user to grasp whether or not the unit price of the electricity charge at the reserved transmission date and hour corresponds to the unit price of the electricity charge at which the administrator of the apparatus requires the user to restrain from transmitting the image information. For this reason, there is a problem that the user transmits the image information in the period of time of the high electricity charge without restraint.
More specifically, in the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-142753, since the control does not change at the time when the user reserves the timer transmission, there is a problem that the user cannot know the electricity charge at the reserved transmission date and hour.
Moreover, in the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-203720, although the electricity charge is displayed for each TV program, there is a problem that the user cannot know whether or not the displayed electricity charge is based on the unit price of the electricity charge by which watching and recording of the TV program have to be restrained. Moreover, there is a problem that the timer transmission is probably performed at the high electricity charge in a case where the electricity charge at the transmission date and hour is not determined at the time when the user reserves the timer transmission or in a case where the electricity charge of the transmission date and hour is changed after the reservation.
The present invention has been completed in order to solve the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a mechanism which controls the electric power costs by causing the user to designate the timer transmission in the period of time of relatively low unit price of the electricity charges.

Image processing apparatus, control method of image processing apparatus, and program


A digital synthesizer for producing a digital frequency signal includes a phase accumulator for repeatedly accumulating a phase value to generate samples of a digital sawtooth signal and a look-up table of digital samples for converting the digital sawtooth signal to a digital waveshape signal. In order to reduce the effect of the quantization of the digital samples, the synthesizer also includes a randomizer for applying a randomizing factor to output digital samples for forming the digital frequency signal. The randomizer includes a randomizing factor generator connected to receive P bits of each digital sample for generating at least one randomizing bit and an summer for summing the remaining N bits of the digital sample and the at least one randomizing bit to generate a digital waveshape sample of the digital frequency signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to digital frequency synthesizers, and in particular to the reduction of noise in such synthesizers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Direct Digital Frequency Synthesis (DDFS or DDS) is a technique for generating digital frequency signals. FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a frequency synthesizer for implementing the technique.
In FIG. 1 a phase accumulator 12 repeatedly accumulates a phase value 14 (a phase increment is often called a constant frequency word (FW) or delta-phase word) to generate samples 16 of a digital sawtooth signal, and a look-up table 18 of digital samples for converting the digital sawtooth signal to a digital waveshape for the digital frequency signal 20. The digital samples stored in the look-up table 18 are typically either sine or cosine values for generating a sine wave as the digital frequency signal. A clock 22, which can be external or internal, provides a clock signal CK at a frequency C which allows the digital frequency synthesizer to generate any frequency between 0 and approximately 0.4C.
The generated frequency f is related to the constant frequency word (FW) and the accumulator length L by: f=C * FW/2.sup.L.
The frequency resolution is C/2.sup.L.For example, with a reference clock at 100 MHZ and a 32-bit accumulator, the resolution is 0.023Hz.
FIGS. 2A-2D illustrate the steps in this process as performed by the apparatus of FIG. 1. As illustrated in FIG. 2A, by adding a constant frequency word 14 on every clock signal CK of the clock 22 to an accumulator 12, and arranging for this to operate in a cyclic fashion, it is possible to generate a sawtooth waveform SW. The sawtooth waveform is sampled by reading out the accumulated values at 16once per clock signal CK. For a given clock frequency and accumulator resolution, the larger the value of the constant frequency word, the higher the frequency of the sawtooth waveform.
As illustrated in FIG. 2B, the sawtooth waveform samples are used to address the digital waveform samples in the look-up table 18. Typically, the address resolution of the look-up table 18 is less than the resolution of the accumulator 12. Accordingly, the sawtooth waveform samples are truncated in order to generate the look-up table addresses 17.
The digital frequency signal 20 is output as a series of digital waveform samples, with a digital waveshape sample being generated for each clock signal CK. FIG. 2C is a schematic representation of a smooth waveform (typically, in practice, a sine wave) and FIG. 2D is a schematic representation of the resulting digital waveshape of the digital frequency signal, which is quantized and therefore does not exactly correspond to the smooth waveform.
Synthesizers of this type are particularly effective as a technique for generating frequency signals where rapid frequency switching is required because the frequency switching time is much less than comparable analog frequency synthesizers that may be used as modulators.
Accordingly, this technique is widely used in the design of digital modulators, for example quadrature amplitude modulators and phase switched keying modulators (M-QAM, M-PSK), and for frequency hopping modems and the like.
However, conventional digital frequency synthesizers suffer from noise problems due to the presence of spurious spectral lines in the frequency signals they generate.
It has been determined that the spectral lines arise from a number of sources as follows:
1) Although the interval between the phase accumulator overflows is not strictly constant, the overflow is a periodic signal, with a period equal to the lowest common multiplier of the constant frequency word and 2.sup.N.
2) The sawtooth signal is truncated before addressing the look-up table, which creates quantization noise, which is also periodic, with a period equal to the sawtooth signal, that is equal to the lowest common multiplier of the constant frequency word and 2.sup.N.
3) The look-up table contains quantized digital samples of the waveshape (typically sine or cosine) values which adds to the quantization error.
4) If a Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) is used to convert the sine samples to an analog signal, its non-linearity also introduces a periodic noise source.
All of these signals generate discrete spurious spectral lines which can be as high as -40 dBc from the main signal as represented in FIG. 3. Conventionally, to reduce the effects of the spurious spectral lines, a very large look-up table is used. In particular many address bits are used to minimize the effects of phase truncation (the second noise source in the above list) and a large look-up table word size is used to minimize the sample quantization noise (the third word noise source in the above list).

Randomized digital waveshape samples from a look up table


A lining is attached on a front surface of a back plate and a protrusion for the engagement with a caliper is formed on a back surface of the back plate, and a recess is formed at a tip end of the protrusion and the cross-sectional view of the protrusion is H-shaped.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a friction pad for a disc brake and more particularly to an improvement for a friction pad used for a disc brake in which a braking torque generated on an outer pad is supported by a stationary portion of the vehicle via a caliper.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As the conventional disc brake, there has been known such a disc brake that a braking torque generated on an outer pad is supported by a stationary portion of the vehicle via a caliper and a braking torque generated on an inner pad is supported by a support member (for example, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Sho. 62-130233). In this disc brake, the caliper straddling a rotor is movably supported by a support member which is attached to the vehicle body in such a manner that the caliper is movable in an axial direction of the rotor axis via a pair of guide pins, and the inner pad is brought into pressure contact with the rotor by a hydraulic pressure cylinder device disposed on the inner side of the caliper. By the reaction force, the caliper is moved, so that a caliper pawl on the outer side brings the outer pad into pressure contact with the rotor. In this case, the outer pad is fitted to the caliper pawl via a concave and convex fitting structure and the braking torque generated on the outer pad is transmitted to the caliper pawl.
In the aforementioned disc brake, the braking torque generated on the inner pad is supported by the support member, and the braking torque generated on the outer pad is transmitted to a rotor run-in side guide pin via the caliper pawl so as to be supported by the vehicle body. Accordingly, a protrusion which engages with a torque transmission hole formed in the caliper pawl is formed in a back plate of the outer pad in the conventional brake.
The aforementioned protrusion is formed by press-drawing. For example, as disclosed in the above Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Sho. 62-130233, a recess is worked on a front surface on which a lining is attached of the back plate, thereby the protrusion is formed on a back surface of the back plate, and the back plate is attached to the caliper via the back surface.
However, when the protrusion is formed on the back plate, the press-drawing is performed from the side of the front surface on which a lining is attached. Therefore, a problem occurs in that the thickness of the back plate at a base portion of the protrusion is decreased because it is necessary to secure enough height for the protrusion that the pad is supported securely. So the height of the protrusion has been limited in view of the thickness of the base portion of the back plate. Accordingly, it has been necessary to reinforce the engagement of the outer pad with the torque transmission hole by a clip provided separately. For this reason, problems such as encreased of parts and complicated structure of the back plate have been encountered.


A toilet adapter which allows a user to lift the lid, the seat, and flush the toilet using three dedicated pedals and their respective actuating mechanisms. The lid pedal and the seat pedal utilize a crankshaft connection to rotate adapters that grasp the lid and the seat, raising the lid and seat as the pedal is pressed. The flush pedal uses a double pivot connection to pull down on an adapter that is secured to a toilet handle. The seat pedal and the flush pedal can be lifted to activate sub assemblies. A bidet assembly and a dryer assembly are operated by lifting the seat pedal and the flush pedal, respectively, with a brace provided so that the regular functions can still be accessed by pressing down. A variation can be implemented for urinals, in which the lid and seat components are unnecessary and left out.

Toilets are a cornerstone of human civilization. The toilet allows humans to dispose of bodily waste in a way that is both efficient and sanitary, thus, allowing much higher populations of people to live healthily in a much smaller area than was possible before the advent of the toilet. Although the toilet has greatly improved the sanitation of people relieving themselves, it remains relatively unsanitary by nature of the toilet's intended function; to receive and transport human waste into a septic tank or a sewer system. The presence of a higher concentration of certain bacteria and pathogens, or germs as they are often collectively called, has been a source of some distress for some people. During the course of using a toilet, the user may need to lift either the lid, the seat or both in order to relieve themselves. This situation may be extremely uncomfortable for those people who are concerned about coming into contact with the various bacteria and other pathogens that have a higher saturation in close proximity to toilets. Another major driving factor for a person to lift the seat of the toilet is the common courtesy that the seat should be lifted if a male user intends to urinate in the toilet from the widely used standing position. Although lifting the toilet seat to urinate from a standing position is a widely known and accepted courtesy, some people are too squeamish to touch the toilet seat or in other cases simply too lazy lift to bend down and the seat. In such cases the toilet seat may be subjected to urine coming into contact with the seat; this is a highly undesirable situation as the seat is now contaminated with urine. The contaminated seat is rendered unusable until cleaned thus preventing people from performing bowel movements or other waste disposal activities which require the use of the seat.
It is an object of the present invention to create a device which eliminates the need for a person to touch the lid and the seat of the toilet in order to open them. It is a further object of the present invention to increase the convenience of lifting the lid and the seat of the toilet thus helping to prevent unnecessary contamination of the seat by lazy users who do not take the time to lift the seat. The present invention also may help to prevent the user from having a waste accident as the present invention increases the ease and speed with which the user may open the lid and or seat of the toilet to allow the waste disposal action to be carried out by the user.


A surgical operating table particularly adapted for shoulder arthroscopy includes a central seat support, a leg support, and a back support modified to include detachable modular shoulder cutouts to gain access to the posterior aspect of the shoulder. The leg support and back support are hingedly connected to the seat support for positioning the patient in a sitting posture by operating mechanical crank arms. The patient is first supported in a supine position, anesthetized, secured to the table, and the table is thereafter configured to a sitting position. One of the modular shoulder cutouts is then removed to provide access to the shoulder upon which arthroscopy is to be performed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to apparatus and methods for performing arthroscopic shoulder surgery, and more particularly to a surgical operating table and method for performing shoulder arthroscopy with a patient in a sitting position.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of shoulder arthroscopy as a therapeutic and diagnostic tool has dramatically increased over the past decade. Patient recovery time is much shorter when arthroscopy is used as compared with open surgery, and shoulder arthroscopy has become particularly popular for sports-related shoulder injuries. Unfortunately, progress in shoulder arthroscopy has been hampered because of difficulty in positioning and stabilizing the patient's shoulder, while still allowing full exposure to all aspects of the shoulder and free movement of the arm.
Shoulder arthroscopy is usually performed with the patient under general anesthesia, lying in the lateral decubitus position, with the arm in traction to distend the shoulder joint. Such positioning and the application of such traction are generally shown in Pitman, et al., "The Use of Somatosensory Evoked Potentials for Detection of Neuropraxia During Shoulder Arthroscopy", Arthroscopy, Vol 4, No. 4, 1988, pages 250-255, and in Klein, et al., "Measurement of Brachial Plexus Strain in Arthroscopy of the Shoulder", Arthroscopy, Vol. 3, No. 1, 1987, pages 45-52. The lateral decubitus position requires that the operating table be essentially flat and horizontal. The patient is rolled on one side with the affected shoulder being uppermost, with the patient's back essentially perpendicular to the table, and with the lower leg flexed at the thigh and knee to stabilize the pelvis. Although the lateral decubitus position provides good access to the shoulder including the posterior aspect, the traction apparatus interferes with manipulation of the arm. The traction force causes distortion of the capsular anatomy, compromising arthroscopic visualization and impeding surgical technique, especially capsuloplasty. Also, the traction usually has to be adjusted intraoperatively to visualize the subacromial space, a cumbersome task. Finally, mechanical arm traction can cause neurological compromise and complications.
Shoulder arthroscopy can be performed with the patient in the semirecumbent position. For example, in Skyhar, et al., "Shoulder Arthroscopy with the Patient in the Beach-Chair Position", Arthroscopy, Vol. 4, No. 4, 1988, pages 256-259, the authors report on the use of a so-called "beach-chair sitting position" for shoulder arthroscopy. This position uses gravity assist for distraction of the joint and allows for gentle precise manipulation of the joint. However, to gain adequate access to the posterior aspect of the joint, the patient's torso must be pulled over the edge of the table and then rotated upward and supported in this awkward position with various supports such as beanbags, sandbags, blanket rolls, arm boards, or other outriggers. This position is precarious at best, and during the course of the operative procedure, the patient usually derotates with resultant loss of posterior exposure of the shoulder. Furthermore, with the patient in this position, the acromion is inclined posteriorly resulting in upward angulation of the arthroscope especially when performing a bursascopy. This position allows escaping saline to run down the arthroscope, not only fogging the lenses of the arthroscope and television camera, but also draining onto the surgeon's legs and feet and onto the floor.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for performing shoulder arthroscopy which positively positions the patient in a stable manner without the need for sandbags, beanbags, blanket rolls or the like, and without the interference of ropes, pulleys, or other mechanical arm traction devices.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such an apparatus and method which provide ready access to the posterior aspect of the shoulder, while permitting convenient manipulation of the patient's arm.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide such an apparatus and method which do not require that the patient be pulled or rolled over the edge of a surgical table in order to gain access to the affected shoulder.
A further object of the present invention is to provide such an apparatus and method which permit for conversion to an open surgical procedure without the necessity of changing patient position, and without the necessity for reprepping and draping of the patient.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a surgical table particularly facilitating arthroscopic shoulder surgery while still permitting other types of surgery to be performed thereon.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide such an apparatus and method wherein the positioning of the patient upon the surgical table is fast, simple, and performed mechanically rather than by direct manual manipulation of the patient.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide such an apparatus and method which facilitates anesthesia of the patient.
Another object of the present invention is to provide such an apparatus and method which place the patient's acromion in a near horizontal plane for allowing the arthroscope to remain in a horizontal position.
These and other objects of the present invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the art as the description of the present invention proceeds.

Stabilization device and method for shoulder arthroscopy


A power conversion device includes a first inverter connected to first ends of windings of each phase of a motor, a second inverter connected to second ends of the windings of each phase, a phase separation relay circuit to switch between connection and disconnection between the first ends of the windings of each phase and the first inverter, a neutral point relay circuit connected to the first ends of the windings of each phase and to switch between connection and disconnection between the first ends of the windings of each phase, a first switching element to switch between connection and disconnection between the second inverter and a power supply, and a second switching element to switch between connection and disconnection between the second inverter and a ground.

Electric motors such as brushless direct current (DC) motors and alternating current (AC) synchronous motors (hereinafter simply referred to as "motors") are generally driven by a three-phase current. Complex control techniques such as vector control are used to accurately control a three-phase current waveform. Such control techniques require a high degree of mathematical operation, and a digital operation circuit such as a microcontroller (microcomputer) is used. Vector control technology is utilized in fields where motor load variation is large, e.g., washing machines, electrically-assisted bicycles, electric scooters, electric power steering devices, electric vehicles, industrial equipment, and the like. Meanwhile, for a motor with a relatively small output, a different motor control method, such as a pulse width modulation (PWM) method, is adopted.
In the in-vehicle field, an electrical control unit (ECU) for automobiles is used for a vehicle. The ECU includes a microcontroller, a power supply, an input/output circuit, an analog-digital (AD) convertor, a load drive circuit, a read only memory (ROM), and the like. An electronic control system is built around the ECU. For example, the ECU processes a signal from a sensor to control an actuator such as a motor. Specifically, the ECU controls an inverter in a power conversion device while monitoring a rotational speed or torque of a motor. Under control of the ECU, the power conversion device converts drive power supplied to the motor.
In recent years, a mechanically and electrically integrated motor in which a motor, a power conversion device, and an ECU are integrated has been developed. Particularly, in the in-vehicle field, high quality assurance is required from the viewpoint of safety. For that reason, a redundant design has been adopted in which a safe operation can be continued even in the case in which a part of a component fails. As an example of redundant design, providing two power conversion devices for a single motor has been considered. As another example, providing a backup microcontroller in a main microcontroller has been taken into consideration.
Each of two inverters is connected to a power supply and a ground (hereinafter referred to as "GND"). One inverter is connected to one end of a three-phase winding of the motor, and the other inverter is connected to the other end of the three-phase winding. Each inverter includes a bridge circuit formed of three legs, each of which includes a high side switching element and a low side switching element. In the case in which a failure of a switching element in the two inverters is detected, the controller switches motor control from control at a normal time to control at an abnormal time. In the present specification, "abnormal" mainly means a failure of a switching element. Also, "control at a normal time" means control in a state in which all of the switching elements are normal, and "control at an abnormal time" means control in a state in which a failure has occurred in a certain switching element.
In the control at the abnormal time, in an inverter including a failed switching element (hereinafter referred to as a "failed inverter) of the two inverters, a neutral point of windings is configured by turning the switching elements on or off according to a predetermined rule. According to the rule, for example, in the case of an open failure in which a high side switching element is turned off at all times, in the bridge circuit of the inverter, switching elements other than the failed switching element are turned off among the three high side switching elements, and the three low side switching elements are turned on. In that case, the neural point is configured on the low side.
Alternatively, in the case of a short failure in which a high side switching element is turned on at all times, in the bridge circuit of the inverter, switching elements other than the failed switching element are turned on among the three high side switching elements, and the three low side switching elements are turned off. In that case, the neutral point is configured on the high side.

Power conversion device, motor drive unit, and electric power steering device


A method for transmitting/receiving a broadcasting signal and a broadcasting signal receiver are disclosed. An identifier of a burst period is obtained from program table information of the broadcasting signal including mobile data and only the burst period in which a broadcasting program desired by a user is transmitted is received. Accordingly, when the broadcasting signal is received, only a desired burst period is received such that power consumption of the broadcasting signal receiver can be reduced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for transmitting/receiving a broadcasting signal and a broadcasting signal receiver.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
When a broadcasting signal receiver receives a broadcasting signal while moving, the broadcasting signal receiver should be downsized so as to be conveniently used by a user. Accordingly, in order to downsize the broadcasting signal receiver, it is preferable that the size of a power supply for supplying power to the broadcasting signal receiver is reduced. However, a broadcasting signal reception environment varies according to a mobile reception status. In order to cope with the variation in environment, the supplied power is increased in the case where the broadcasting signal is continuously received. Thus, the size of the power supply is increased. For example, in the case where main service data for fixed reception and mobile service data for mobile reception are multiplexed and the broadcasting signal receiver for mobile reception receives every multiplexed broadcasting signal, power consumption is increased. If only a partial period of the broadcasting signal is received in order to reduce power consumption, a period in which a desired broadcasting program is received may not be received.

Method for transmitting/receiving broadcasting signal and broadcasting signal receiver


A certain embodiment of the invention provides a video media server (10) for implementing a video intercommunication gateway function and a video intercommunication method, the video media server (10) including: a video access control system module (11), which is configured to apply to the video media server (10) for a first video port supporting first coding and a second video port supporting second coding, complete media negotiation between the first video port and a call center (13), and complete media negotiation between the second video port and a video access network; a code converting module, which is configured to realize code conversion between the first video port and the second video port. The function of a video intercommunication gateway device is realized using a video media server (10) supporting the second coding multiplexing and demultiplexing function.

A call center, such as 1860 for telecom sector, 95555 for finance sector, also known as a customer service system, is an information system used to provide for customers a plurality of access approaches such as phone, fax, email and so on and mainly used to deal with requests, doubts, complains, propositions and questions proposed to an enterprise by the users. The core function of a call center is to implement various call operations (such as holding, consulting, meeting, single-step turn and other operations) to fulfill different kinds of demands for a customer to complete communication with an operator successfully. Presently, the call center only involves voice call, and all the communications between a user and an operator are through voice. Along with the progressive development of 3G (3rd Generation), the demand of video communication between a user and an operator becomes more and more urgent.
During the building of a 3G network, compatibility between all kinds of network elements and previous devices and protocols needs to be taken into consideration, which will be a long-time process, and it is difficult to obtain a desirable perfect video solution in a short time. For example, a call center uses RTP (Real-time Transport Protocol) to call media stream codes, but a video access network uses 324 M media stream codes (3G-324M is a frame protocol, which is adapted for wireless, mobile industries, and able to provide communication of sufficiently high quality for all kinds of applications sensitive to time delay, and able to realize real-time multimedia service in a wireless circuit exchange network such that video, audio, control signals and others are transmitted in the same 64 K physical link). It is well known that 324 M is not for media stream switch. After a video call accesses a call center, a request for media stream switch is bound to be made towards the video access network due to the special call flow and operation of the call center.
To solve the above problem, the most common method presently used in the industry is to add a device VIG (Video Intercommunication Gateway) to realize the intercommunication between a call center and a 3G network. Since a new network element is added in the network, associated problems such as maintenance cost, input cost, network complexity and so on will be brought along.
Accordingly, how to make a slight improvement based on the related art and realize a video intercommunication gateway with a video media server to thereby reduce network complexity becomes a problem to be considered by those skilled in the art.

Video media server for realizing video intercommunication gateway function and video intercommunication method


A method and system for automatically determining the differences in a mobile device user interface throughout a development cycle. A test automation is run to exercise a target device's user interface. While the user interface is exercised, an extension is activated that takes snapshots of the user interface output at selected intervals of an automation execution. The snapshots are stored and uploaded to a server where snapshots of different automation executions are then compared on a pixel-by-pixel basis. The differences between snapshots are output in a visual format where the pixels that are different between snapshots are highlighted. The visual format of the differences between snapshots provides the user with a method to readily determine if errors exist in the user interface of the target device.

Complexity of mobile devices such as cellular phones, personal data assistants (PDAs), handheld computers, and others, continues to increase. The market for such devices is steadily becoming a worldwide market, requiring the devices to provide content in a number of different languages and on a number of different platforms. Each different platform may further include a variety of options that result in different user interface outputs depending on the options selected.
The user interface of the device provides the mechanism through which the content of an application on the device is displayed to a user. A user interface provides a set of commands or menus through which a user communicates with a program. A command-driven interface is one in which you enter commands. A menu-driven interface is one in which you select command choices from various menus displayed on the screen.
The user interface is one of the most important parts of any program because it determines how easily you can make the program do what you want. A powerful program with a poorly designed user interface has little value. Graphical user interfaces (GUIs) that use windows, icons, and pop-up menus have become standard on personal computers. Accordingly, for the variety of languages that exist, the user interface is adapted to provide the content and commands in the language required. In addition, a matrix of other differences may exist between user interfaces. For example, a user interface may be displayed in portrait or landscape, in different resolutions, with or without a software input panel (SIP), and with a host of other variables. What is needed is a method for automatically verifying that a user interface is consistent in its display of content despite a change in the language, platform, or other display variables that may be present for a particular user interface output.

Method and system for automatically determining differences in a user interface throughout a development cycle


The present invention relates generally to a method of purifying proteins. More specifically, the present inventions relates to a method of purifying haptoglobin and hemopexin from the same starting material, and uses thereof.

Haemolysis is characterized by the destruction of red blood cells and is a hall-mark of anaemic disorders associated with red blood cell abnormalities, such as enzyme defects, haemoglobinopathies, hereditary spherocytosis, paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria and spur cell anaemia, as well as extrinsic factors such as splenomegaly, autoimmune disorders (e.g., Hemolytic disease of the newborn), genetic disorders (e.g., Sickle-cell disease or G6PD deficiency), microangiopathic haemolysis, Gram-positive bacterial infection (e.g., Streptococcus, Enterococcus and Staphylococcus), parasite infection (e.g., Plasmodium), toxins and trauma (e.g., burns). Haemolysis is also a common disorder of blood transfusions, particularly massive blood transfusions and in patients using an extracorporeal cardio-pulmonary support.
The adverse effects seen in patients with conditions associated with haemolysis are largely attributed to the release of iron and iron-containing compounds, such as haemoglobin (Hb) and heme, from red blood cells. Under physiological conditions, released haemoglobin is bound by soluble proteins such as haptoglobin and transported to macrophages and hepatocytes. However, where the incidence of haemolysis is accelerated and becomes pathological in nature, the buffering capacity of haptoglobin is overwhelmed. As a result, haemoglobin is quickly oxidised to ferri-haemoglobin, which in turn releases free heme (comprising protoporphyrin IX and iron). Whilst heme plays a critical role in several biological processes (e.g., as part of essential proteins such as haemoglobin and myoglobin), free heme is highly toxic. Free heme is a source of redox-active iron, which produces highly toxic reactive oxygen species (ROS) that damages lipid membranes, proteins and nucleic acids. Heme toxicity is further exacerbated by its ability to intercalate into lipid membranes, where is causes oxidation of membrane components and promotes cell lysis and death.
The evolutionary pressure of continuous low-level extracellular Hb/heme exposure has led to compensatory mechanisms that control the adverse effects of free Hb/heme under physiological steady-state conditions and during mild haemolysis. These systems include the release of a group of plasma proteins that bind Hb or heme, including the Hb scavenger haptoglobin (Hp) and the heme scavenger proteins hemopexin (Hx) and α1-microglobulin. However, whilst endogenous Hp and Hx control the adverse effects of free Hb/heme under physiological steady-state conditions, they have little effect in maintaining steady-state Hb/heme levels under pathophysiogical conditions, such as those associated with haemolysis.
The present invention provides a method of purifying Hp and Hx from the same starting material. The purified proteins can be used in compositions for treating conditions associated with haemolysis and aberrant Hb/heme levels.


An input device for an electrical device includes a base which can be attached to the electrical device and has at least one light source for producing a measurement beam, and at least one sensor for detecting the reflected measurement beam. An input actuator is movable in relation to the base and includes a plurality of reflection bodies for deflecting the measurement beam onto the sensor. Each reflection body has an entry area for entry of the measurement beam into the reflection body, at least one reflection surface for reflecting the measurement beam, and an outlet area for outlet of the measurement beam from the reflection body.

The invention relates to an input device for an electrical device.
Input devices are required on electrical devices to specify target conditions of the device. For a cooking appliance the target conditions include the temperature of the cooking compartment, the selection of cooking conditions, such as heat from above, heat from below, use of the fan and the like and for a hob the selection of cooking zones and their temperature.
Traditionally, switches with a rotatable shaft are used for electrical devices, wherein an actuator is fastened at the end of the shaft and the device interprets the rotation of the actuator as an input instruction. Also known is an optical rotary encoder, like in DE 43 11 496 DE, which operates according to the reflection and/or light barrier principle and in which a magnetic detent is obtained. An optical input device is known from DE 10 2006 062 071 B4, which refractively redirects the light emanating from a light source several times and reads out the input of a hand movement on an operating area.
It is the object of the present invention to improve the known embodiments of the input devices. A system which is designed as simply as possible should be provided which can be cleaned easily and which is tolerant to contamination. Furthermore, the user should receive feedback via an input which has been made.


An enclosure includes a chamber holding a driver with an end at a first opening in a housing and a rear end nearby a first terminal end of a passageway having a second terminal end at a second opening in the housing. The driver projects sound waves into a listening area directly through the first opening and simultaneously projects sound waves along the passageway and out the second opening into the listening area. The passageway comprises expansion and compression zones of different cross-sectional areas.

With high-end audio test equipment, an original audio signal can be compared to a secondary, corresponding audio output signal that has passed through various types of audio components. If the "timber" of both these audio signals is substantially identical, there is no perceived "coloration" of these two signals. In other words, their sound quality is essentially the same: poor quality original signal, poor quality secondary signal; high quality original signal, high quality secondary signal. For example, a sound recording is played on audio equipment that provides an electronic signal corresponding to the sound recording. This electronic signal operates a driver within an enclosure. The driver includes a conical member that undulates in response to the electronic signal to produce a sound wave. The sound wave propagates through the enclosure from an input end to an output end. An audio analysis of the original audio signal from the driver near the input end and the secondary audio signal at the output end will detect any "coloration." Avoiding or minimizing "coloration" between the original audio signal and the secondary audio signal may be advantageous in many situations.


A strap is secured across the passenger compartment of an automobile at a position behind the front seat backs and close to the top of the front seat backs. The strap is secured around the doorposts of a 4-door car to prevent the seat backs from collapsing backward due to impact on the car from the rear.

The safety of those persons riding in an automobile has been enhanced by the use of seat belts and air bags. These safety devices help restrain the person from moving forward in the vehicle when the vehicle is impacted at the front. However, in rear-end collisions, when the automobile is impacted from the rear, it is the seat back which keeps the driver and front seat passenger from flying into the back of the car. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration reports data that, in the calendar year 1990, more than 1,100 people were killed when the car in which they were riding was hit from behind. In addition, about 1,600 persons sustained life-threatening injuries like brain damage, loss of limb, burns or paralysis when the car in which they were riding was impacted from the rear. In such accidents, upon impact, the front seat back breaks and falls to a position where its top lies on the rear seat bottom cushion. The seat belt provides little restraint in this position, and the person slides back and collides into the back of the back seat. As the person in the front seat slides back under the seat belt, his head is forced into the rear seat back cushion with possible head injury and possible damage to the spine. In addition to these bodily risks, when the driver is thrown to this horizontal position, he can no longer reach the vehicle controls. This loss of control may lead to a second and otherwise avoidable accident. It is desirable to provide the conventional seat back with a supplemental restraint system to avoid or minimize the problems resulting from seat back failure.


A transformer is disclosed which has a primary and a secondary winding disposed concentrically around a core via a flanged bobbin. Each winding has a conductor wire which is doubly or, preferably, triply sheathed with insulating tapes of different widths. The first or inmost insulating tape is wound overlappingly in a first direction around the conductor wire without being bonded thereto. The second or intermediate insulating tape, less in width than the first, is wound overlappingly in a second direction, opposite to the first direction, over the first insulating tape and bonded thereto via a preformed adhesive layer on the second insulating tape. The third or outmost insulating tape, still less in width than the second, is wound overlappingly in the first direction over the second insulating tape and bonded thereto via a preformed adhesive layer on the third insulating tape. The ratio of the overlap of each tape to the tape width becomes progressively less from the inmost toward the outmost tape. With the conductor wires of the two concentric windings thus individually insulated, no additional insulations are required for the transformer.

Our invention relates generally to electric coil devices having a coil or coils wound around a core, and particularly to those suitable for use as transformers of switching regulators. However, we do not wish out invention to be limited to this particular application as the coil devices constructed according to our invention lend themselves to use as chokes and to additional applications.
Conventionally, in a typical small size transformer, the primary and the secondary windings have been arranged concentrically around a flanged bobbin sleeved upon a core. The primary and the secondary windings have been insulated from each other with three or more sheets or layers of special paper. Insulating spacers, known as barriers, have been placed next to the bobbin flanges. Insulating tubes have also been sleeved upon the leads of the primary winding.
We object to the use of the insulating paper, barriers and tubes as they make difficult and troublesome the assemblage of the transformer. Moreover, the insulating paper and barriers add considerably to the size of the transformer. It is also a disadvantage that the three or more sheets or layers of insulating paper increases the distance between the primary and the secondary windings, with a consequent decrease in electromagnetic coupling therebetween.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 62-293705 represents a solution to this problem. It teaches to dispense with the insulating paper, barriers and tubes by use of insulated conductors for the primary and the secondary windings.
We object to this known solution, too. It has been very difficult to enclose conductor wires in coverings that are sufficiently thin but can well perform the functions for which they are intended. Consequently, the transformers made with such insulated conductors have not been reduced so much in size, or have not been so favorable in performance characteristics, as could be desired. The insulated conductors have also offered the disadvantage that parts of the insulating coverings have had to be removed to expose the corresponding parts of the conductors for connection to terminals. Such removal of the insulating coverings has represented a substantial impediment to the ease of manufacture of the transformers.

Electric coil device for use as a transformer or the like


A computerized method for adapting a baseline language model, comprising obtaining a textual corpus of documents that comprise textual expressions, incorporating in the baseline language model textual expressions from documents which are determined as relevant to a provided target text based on a plurality of different relevancy determinations between the documents and the provided target text, thereby adapting the baseline language model to form an adapted language model for recognizing terms of a context of the provided target text, wherein the method is automatically performed on an at least one computerized apparatus configured to perform the method.

The present disclosure generally relates to language models for speech recognition, and more specifically to enhancing a language model according to contents of a textual corpus.
Certain approaches for adapting or enhancing language models are known in the art. Some related publications are listed below.
Koehn, Philipp, and Josh Schroeder, "Experiments in domain adaptation for statistical machine translation", Proceedings of the Second Workshop on Statistical Machine Translation, Association for Computational Linguistics, 2007;
Zhao, Bing, Matthias Eck, and Stephan Vogel, "Language model adaptation for statistical machine translation with structured query models", Proceedings of the 20th international conference on Computational Linguistics, Association for Computational Linguistics, 2004;
U.S. Pat. No. 7,584,092; or US application publication 2013/0262106.

Language model adaptation for specific texts


A plurality of containers related to one or more containerized applications are managed by monitoring an execution of the one or more containers; determining that a given one of the one or more containers exhibits anomalous behavior; and in response to the determining, adjusting a retention time of the given container, wherein the retention time of the given container determines when the given container is one or more of terminated and changes role to a honeypot container. The anomalous behavior comprises, for example, the given container exhibiting behavior that is different than a learned baseline model of the given container or including program code consistent with malicious activity. An alert notification of the anomalous behavior is optionally generated. The retention time of the given container can be adjusted for example, to an interval between deployment of the given container and the time the anomalous behavior is detected.

The static nature of existing computing systems strengthens the susceptibility of the computing systems to malicious attacks and/or unauthorized access. The United States Department of Homeland Security defines Moving Target Defense (MTD) as "the concept of controlling change across multiple system dimensions in order to increase uncertainty and apparent complexity for attackers, reduce their window of opportunity and increase the costs of their probing and attack efforts."
MTD techniques aim to dynamically change the network configuration of virtual machines and containers, in order to make it harder for a malicious attacker to map the network topology.
A need exists for improved MTD techniques.

Container life cycle management with retention rate adjustment based on detected anomalies