Systems and methods for easily and at high speed re-encrypting data recorded on a magnetic recording medium when the data is encrypted using an encryption key and the encryption key is changed. A track where effective user data is not recorded is set as a first reserved track, then data is read out from the first updating source track and decrypted using a first encryption key KEY 1, which is reencrypted using a second encryption key KEY 2 and recorded in the first reserved track, next, the first updating source track is set as a second reserved track, and a second updating source track is set, and the encryption key is updated by repeating these steps until all tracks to be subjected to the key updating processing have been subjected to the key updating processing.

A hard disk device (HDD) is a magnetic recording device used for storing information. In general, information is recorded on concentric tracks present on any one of both surfaces of one or more magnetic recording disks. A disk is rotatably supported by a spindle motor. Writing information on the tracks and reading out information from the tracks are carried out by a recording/reproducing head equipped to an actuator arm. The actuator arm is rotated by a voice coil motor. The voice coil motor is excited by electric current, and causes an actuator to rotate, and the recording/reproducing head to move. The recording/reproducing head makes out information by sensing the change of a magnetic field from the surface of the disk. In order to record data on the tracks, electric current is supplied to the recording/reproducing head. The electric current supplied to the recording/reproducing head cause a magnetic field to occur, which magnetizes the surface of the disk.
In recent years, accompanied with a technological evolution of methods for attacking security by a hacker, security of an external storage medium such as a hard disk device has been improved. In a known hard disk device, the HDD password is supported by an advance technology attachment (ATA) security command, which contributes to protect data in the hard disk device. In some cases, however, the HDD password may be broken by a hacker's analysis of firmware of the hard disk device and large scale integrated circuit (LSI).
In order to address such a problem, in recent years, the Seagate company has been proposed a technology called Full Disk Encryption (hereinafter referred to as "FDE") (for example, http dot dot slash slash fde dot seagatestorage dot corn slash). FDE has a function to encrypt all of the data on the disk using an encryption key, thereby improving security of the data.
In such a FDE, unless the encryption key is known, even if the data on the disk is directly read out, the data cannot be decrypted. Moreover, FDE has an advantage in that, even if the HDD password is broken by means of operation of firmware and LSI, the data on the disk cannot be decrypted unless the encryption key is decrypted.
However, in FDE, since the encryption key is set in advance before a HDD or a system is shipped, there exists a problem that a user cannot change the encryption key. The user therefore has to use the encryption key set before the HDD is shipped and without changing it. As such, if the data in the HDD is stolen, the possibility exists the management of the HDD manufacturer responsible for the encryption key before shipping will be charged.
In view of the foregoing, a need has been recognized in connection with improving upon the shortcomings and difficulties of conventional efforts so that an encryption key may be changed easily and in a high speed when data recorded on a magnetic recording medium is encrypted using the encryption key.


The present invention relates to a composition containing polycarbonate and from 0.05 wt. % to 0.5 wt. % of a UV absorber and from 0.0001 wt. % to 0.03 wt. % 2-[2-hydroxy-4-(2-ethylhexyl)oxy]phenyl-4,6-di(4-phenyl)phenyl-1,3,5-triazine.

A variety of stabilisers for polymeric moulding compositions and moulding compositions provided therewith have been described in the literature. The stabilisers are intended to maintain the inherent positive properties of the polymeric moulding compositions at a continued high level even under external influences that may adversely affect the property profile of the polymers. Especially when polymers are used in the exterior sector, stabilisation against damage by light is an important aspect for long-term usability of the corresponding moulded bodies. Such moulded bodies can be, for example, sheets of thermoplastic plastics, such as, for example, polycarbonates, which are used inter alia in the form of solid sheets, multi-wall sheets, twin-wall sheets, corrugated sheets, profiles, corresponding multi-layer systems or further forms. However, not only is it important that the moulded bodies should continue to exhibit attractive optical properties even after weathering, the mechanical properties of the moulded bodies must at the same time be maintained at a high level in order that their structural integrity or stability can be ensured in the long term even in the case of adverse environmental conditions.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,218,450 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,352,783 describe in this connection specific copolyester blends with UV absorbers, which are used inter alia in the production of protective layers for thermoformed articles having good surface properties as well as good physical properties.
US 2002/0083641 discloses the stabilisation of thin polyolefin, polyester or polyamide layers against damage by light, oxygen, heat and aggressive chemicals using hydroxyphenyltriazines.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,632,864 describes thermoplastic polymers provided with UV absorbers of the benzotriazole type. The use of such polymers for the extrusion of sheets having good surface quality and good UV protection is additionally disclosed.
WO 02/34826 discloses thermoplastic plastics provided with UV absorbers of the benzotriazole and triazine type, as well as products made therefrom. When extruded, in particular in the case of prolonged continuous processing, the plastics exhibit a good surface quality and constant protection against UV radiation.
DE 19739797 describes mixtures of different triazine compounds for use as stabilisers for organic materials, in particular surface coatings, against damage by light, heat and oxygen.
EP-A-1 308 084 discloses mixtures of compounds of the 2,4-bis-(4-phenylphenyl)-6-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-1,3,5-triazine class with further selected UV absorbers for stabilising organic materials against damage by light, heat and oxygen.
It is also known to use 2-[2-hydroxy-4-(2-ethylhexyl)oxy]phenyl-4,6-di(4-phenyl)phenyl-1,3,5-triazine (CAS No. 204583-39-1) as a UV absorber, as is described in EP 1308084.

Polycarbonate composition containing UV absorber


A method produces hexachlorodisilane. Hexachlorodisilane is obtained by oxidative splitting of the chlorinated polysilane of the empirical formula SiClx (x=0,2-0,8) using chlorine gas. The hexachlorodisilane is selectively obtained with a high yield.

Hexachlorodisilane is ah important precursor for producing silicon and, for hydrogenation, derivatization, etc. Various methods are known for producing hexachlorodisilane.
There is a general problem with the known methods of production, however, in that hexachlorodisilane is only obtained in mixtures with further oligomers, so that additional extensive separating steps are required to recover the hexachlorodisilane.
EP 283 905 discloses producing mixtures of Si2Cl6 and Si3Cl8 with SiC4 by copper-catalyzed reaction of silicon at 140-300° C. The yield of oligosilanes reaches more than 40%, based on the amount of silicon used. The above-mentioned separating steps are required to recover hexachlorodisilane.
GB 702 349 discloses the reaction of gaseous SiCl4/Cl2 mixtures with silicon compounds or silicon alloys, for example CaSi2, at 90-250° C. to obtain mixtures of perchlorinated oligosilanes. Si2Cl6 is detected in the product mixture at 40-55% by weight. Again, the separation processes mentioned are required to effect isolation.
M. Schmeisser, P. Voss, Zeitschrift für anorganische und allgemeine Chemie 334 (1964) 50 discloses that perchlorinated polysilanes are degraded by chlorine gas at 60° C. to mixtures of perchlorinated oligosilanes SinCl2n+2 (n≧2). It is only at about 200° C. or higher that the oligosilanes undergo a further reaction to form SiCl4.
E. Bonitz reports in Chemische Berichte 94 (1961) 220 and Angewandte Chemie 78 (1976) 475 that, after CaSi2 has been ground in suitable solvents, Cl2 will convert the solid material at <60° C. initially into silicon and then into chlorinated products SiClx (x<1) up to SiCl. Higher temperatures then produce soluble products SiClx (1<x<2), until finally SinCl2n+2 compounds are obtained. The oxidation of SiCl is supported by finely divided transition metals, such as Fe, Cu or Ni.
DE 1079607 and DE 1132901 disclose that grinding silicon or silicon alloys (ferrosilicon for example) with catalytically active metals or metal compounds in liquid diluents leads to suspensions whose silicon content reacts quantitatively with chlorine gas to form SinCl2n+2 (n≧2). The oxidative cleavage of perchlorinated polysilanes with chlorine gas at temperatures that are not too high, therefore, is a suitable way to obtain mixtures of perchlorinated oligosilanes in high yields, based on the amount of silicon used. Although (Si2Cl6) is the main constituent in these mixtures, the mixtures however also contain the other oligosilanes in proportions of typically >25 wt. %, so that, as mentioned above, extensive separation processes are required to isolate the hexachlorodisilane.
The E. Bonitz approach presupposes an activation, viz., a technically laborious, intensive grinding of the silicon-containing starting materials with the addition of liquid diluents and, furthermore, the use of catalytically active metals or metal compounds.
In addition, the present disclosure provides a chimney tray having an array of chimneys, which enables a reactant to be uniformly and appropriately distributed to a catalyst bed.
It could therefore be helpful to provide a method for producing hexachlorodisilane in a particularly simple manner and a particularly high yield, based on the amount of silicon used.


An impingement plate is cooperable with a shroud assembly. The shroud assembly includes an outer shroud and plural inner shrouds with seals between the plural inner shrouds, respectively. The impingement plate includes a trailing edge portion, a leading edge portion and a mid portion between the trailing edge portion and the leading edge portion. A plurality of impingement holes are formed across an area of the impingement plate, and a cooling and damping section includes at least one channel that is shaped to accelerate cooling flow through the impingement plate.

The invention relates generally to an impingement plate in a turbine shroud assembly.
In industrial gas turbines, shroud segments are fixed to turbine shell hooks in an annular array about the turbine rotor axis to form an annular shroud radially outwardly of and adjacent the tips of buckets forming part of the turbine rotor. The inner wall of the shroud defines part of the gas path. Conventionally, the shroud segments are comprised of inner and outer shrouds provided with complimentary hooks and grooves adjacent to their leading (forward) and trailing (aft) edges for joining the inner and outer shrouds to one another. The outer shroud is, in turn, secured to the turbine shell or casing. Typically, each shroud segment has one outer shroud and two or three inner shrouds.
The shrouds prevent the turbine shell from being exposed to the hot gas path. The shrouds, especially in the first and second stages, are exposed to very high temperatures of the hot gas in the hot gas path and have heat transfer coefficients that are also very high due to the rotation of the turbine blades. Inner shrouds are made from high temperature resistant material and are exposed to the hot gas path. The inner shrouds may also have thermal boundary coatings. The outer shrouds are made from lower temperature resistant and lower cost materials compared to the inner shrouds. To cool the inner and outer shrouds, cold air from the compressor is used.
Different cooling and sealing methods are used. The most common method is impingement cooling to cool the radially outer side of the inner shroud. An impingement plate may be interposed between the inner and outer shrouds to distribute the cooling air.
Each outer shroud in the shroud assembly may include multiple inner shrouds with inter segment seals between them. The inter segment seals, however, are subject to HCF failures due to bucket pulsations. Additionally, the seals have a tendency to fail in the mid to leading edge span of the seal due to high oxidation damage. The damage results from hot gas ingestion that thereby raises the temperature of the seals. Existing designs have no dedicated cooling for the inter segment seals between the inner shrouds in a shroud assembly.

Impingement plate for damping and cooling shroud assembly inter segment seals


In an engine output control apparatus of a power train employing an engine and an automatic transmission, capable of executing engine output control for excessive torque input prevention engine torque limiting action and for a shift speed control of the transmission, at least two different kinds of engine output control systems having control characteristics differing from each other, are provided. A controller selectively uses these engine output control systems depending on a power-train operating condition, such that a first one of the engine output control systems having a superior transient response is used for the engine output control for shift response control during shifting, and that a second one of the engine output control systems having a superior steady-state stability is used for the engine output control for excessive torque input prevention engine torque limiting action during non-shifting.

An engine output control apparatus, which executes engine output control for preventing an excessive torque input exceeding an upper limit of transmittable torque transmitted through a power train, has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 2004-092522 (hereinafter is referred to as "JP2004-092522"). The engine output control device disclosed in JP2004-092522 is exemplified in a power train constructed by an engine and a belt-drive continuously variable transmission (CVT). For instance, in a high-engine-load high-engine-speed range (see the hatched area, in other words, the belt-slip-prevention input torque limiting area in a belt-drive CVT shift map illustrated in FIG. 10), there is a possibility that torque cannot be sufficiently transmitted through the power train owing to an undesirable slippage between the segmented steel belt (the drive belt) and primary and secondary pulleys. The undesirable slippage leads to the problem of a deterioration in durability of the belt-drive CVT. In order to prevent such a belt slip, engine power output is limited or restricted by way of a throttle-opening decrease control of an electronically-controlled throttle valve, in other words, a so-called engine torque-down control.

Engine output control apparatus of power train


A semiconductor light-emitting device which emits first light of a wavelength absorbed by a substance containing an OH group is sent toward a detection object. A semiconductor light-emitting device emits second visible light toward the detection object. A photoreceptor receives light from the detection object and acquires first and second received light-quantities derived from the respective ones of the first and second light. A processing system corrects the first photoreceiving quantity on the basis of the second photoreceiving quantity. The processing system determines the color of the detection object by the second photoreceiving quantity, and corrects the first photoreceiving quantity on the basis of this determination result. Further, it compares the corrected first photoreceiving quantity with a prescribed threshold value, detects whether or not water, which is the subject containing the OH group, is contained in the detection object, and outputs the same as an output signal.

The present invention relates to a switching device utilizing photoelectric conversion used in an automation line of a factory or the like.
While various sensors are used in an automation line of a factory for process control or the like, a photoelectric switch providing a photoelectric sensor with a switching function is employed for various uses since the same has such an advantage that detection of an object can be performed in a non-contact manner.
A reflection type conventional photoelectric switch is adapted to project light from a projector toward a detecting position and detect presence/absence of reflected light from the detecting position by a photoreceptor, thereby recognizing whether or not a detection object is present on the detecting position. On the other hand, a transmission type switch oppositely arranges a projector and a photoreceptor and utilizes the fact that no light reaches the photoreceptor by shading by a detection object if the same is present in a space therebetween, and is formed as the so-called photointerruptor. In either case of these, it performs opening/closing of a required switch in response to a photoreceiving state of the photoreceptor, thereby serving a function as a photoelectric switch.
However, since such a conventional photoelectric switch is on condition of light reflectivity or shadingness of the object, as to a detection object which is poor in such an optical property, particularly a transparent or semitransparent liquid or solid (hereinafter xe2x80x9csubstance having transparencyxe2x80x9d) its detection is difficult. Namely, since the light from the projector is hardly reflected or shaded in case of such a substance having transparency, a photoreceiving output of the photoreceptor hardly changes by presence/absence of the detection object in the conventional photoelectric switch. Further, while a threshold level for discriminating the photoreceiving output of the photoreceptor must be set in the vicinity of a zero level in order to forcibly detect slight reflection or shading, it comes to that switching of ON/OFF takes place only by small disturbance such as noise when doing so, and this causes wrong information.
On the other hand, every substance is not completely transparent with respect to all wavelengths, but has light absorbance depending on the wavelength of light, as is generally known. In correspondence to this, there is proposed a technique of extracting a specific wavelength by passing light from a white light source through a filter, projecting it to an object, and performing presence/absence detection of the object or the like in response to the absorbance of the light passing through the object.
However, a transmission waveband readily available as a filter does not necessarily coincide with the light absorption waveband of the object to be detected in this case. Therefore, it often happens that detection sensitivity does not reach a necessary level in practice.
Further, an incandescent lamp used as the white light source has a large size, and hence an optical system for projecting this to the object also increases in size. Therefore, the size of the projector which must contain these components increases.
Under such circumstances, a light absorption utilization type photoelectric detector employing a white light source and a filter is limited in its use, and it is difficult to employ the same for an apparatus such as a photoelectric switch which is miniature and used generically.
Further, it is difficult to obtain a complete filter transmitting light of only a noted wavelength by such a technique, and light other than the wavelength is considerably transmitted through the filter in the actual situation. Therefore, it is difficult to project only light of a specific wavelength responsive to absorptivity of the object, and it often happens that a number of wavelengths are mixed in the detection. Thus, influence of absorption as to other than the noted wavelength is unavoidable, and there are some cases that detection of the object becomes incorrect.
Thus, detection of a detection object which is poor in optical property with light in a non-contact manner has various problems, while there is also a problem that a larger number of other sensors must be mounted in problem order to mount one sensor. In particular, photoelectric switches are utilized for various uses, and hence a number of similar photoelectric switches are arranged/disposed on a single automation line in the actual situation.
Even for a detecting operation of merely detecting the quantity of a liquid in a container, for example, it comes to that photoelectric switches performing two types of detection as to whether or not the container has reached an injecting position and whether or not the injection quantity is proper in the automation line.
Thus, a wide installation space is necessary for a number of photoelectric switches in the actual automation line, and much time is required for installing these many photoelectric switches in case of manufacturing the automation line itself.
Incidentally, the automation line of a factory is shifting to multi-type small-lot production in recent years, such that products having various shapes, colors and the like generally flow on the same line. In order to cope with such circumstances, it has become necessary to install a larger number of sensors responsive to conditions on the line with respect to products of various different conditions despite the same or similar objects. This is because the conventional photoelectric switch has been so designed that the same can perform only one type detection under one condition and hence various types of photoelectric switches responsive to various detection objects are required.
As hereinabove described, the photoelectric switch has such excellent utility value that the same can detect a detection object in a non-contact manner, and it can be said that enlargement of its use and convenience is important in future research and development.
 less than Object of the Invention greater than
The present invention has been proposed in consideration of such circumstances, and a first object is to provide a photoelectric switch which can detect substances having transparency, i.e., (1) a substance containing an OH group, and (2) a substance containing a CH2 group or a CH3 group as objects and performs detection thereof in excellent accuracy, is formed by elements easy to obtain, can be structured in miniature, and has high generality.
A second object is to provide a photoelectric switch capable of a plurality of types of detection on the same detecting position.
 less than Summary of the Invention greater than
The present invention is directed to a photoelectric switching device irradiating a detection object with light and receiving light from the detection object thereby generating a detection signal.
The present invention comprises a semiconductor light-emitting device generating light of a wavelength selected from a range of 1.40 xcexcm to 1.50 xcexcm applied to the said detection object, a semiconductor photoreceptor generating an output value responsive to a received light-quantity derived from the applied light in light from the detection object, and compare means comparing the output value with a prescribed threshold value for generating a detection signal.
Further, the present invention comprises a semiconductor light-emitting device generating light of a wavelength selected from a range of 1.60 xcexcm to 1.80 xcexcm applied to the said detection object, a semiconductor photoreceptor generating an output value responsive to a received light-quantity derived from the applied light in light from the detection object, and compare means comparing the output value with a prescribed threshold value for generating a detection signal.
According to the present invention, a readily obtainable semiconductor light-emitting device generating light of a wavelength responsive to a specific absorption waveband of a substance containing an OH group or a CH2 group and/or a CH3 group, is utilized. In this way a photoelectric switching device is realized which does not have to use a filter or a large optical system, and is capable of miniaturization and is high in generality. Further, the waveband width of the emission wavelength of the semiconductor light-emitting device is sufficiently narrow, whereby influence of a wavelength other than a required wavelength is small, and accuracy in detection of the object is high. Thus, a photoelectric switch is produced whose effectivity in an automation line of a factory or the like is particularly high.
Further, the present invention comprises light-emitting means generating light of a plurality of different wavelengths toward a detection object, photoreceiving means generating a plurality of output values responsive to received light-quantities derived from respective ones of the light of a plurality of different wavelengths in light from the detection object, and detection signal generation means generating a detection signal on the basis of the plurality of output values.
According to the present invention, a plurality of types of detection can be quickly correctly performed in an automation line of a factory or the like. Further, it is not necessary to install a plurality of photoelectric switching devices, the step of installation is reduced while delay processing of operation timing becomes unnecessary, and equipment design is simplified.
In one mode of the present invention, the light of the plurality of wavelengths is light of two different wavelengths, and it is rendered possible to precisely cope with types of diversified detection objects by correcting output values derived from the light of two different wavelengths in the detection signal generation means.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, water is detected as a typical substance containing an OH group. Further, alcohol or acrylic resin is detected as a typical substance containing a CH2 group or a CH3 group.
In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, colors of detection objects are determined, and then whether or not detection objects of different colors contain water is correctly detected.
In still another preferred embodiment, detection of presence of a detection object and a surface state of the detection object are implemented by a single photoelectric switching device without performing delay processing.
Other objects and features of the present invention are clarified in the following description.

Apparatus and method for detecting transparent substances


A pulse width modulation circuit comprises a multiphase clock generation section which generates multiphase clock signals based on a reference clock, and a pulse width modulation signal generation section which generates pulse width modulation signals based on input data and on multiphase clock signals generated by the multiphase clock generation section. The multiphase clock generation section has a phase-locked loop circuit and a clock selection circuit which selects an arbitrary clock signal from among the multiphase clock signals and outputs the selected clock signal to the phase-locked loop circuit as a feedback clock.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a pulse width modulation circuit which performs modulation of pulse widths based on input data. This invention also relates to a multiphase clock generation circuit which can be used in this pulse width modulation circuit.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, laser beam printers (LBPs) and digital copy equipment equipped with lasers have been widely adopted, due to their high resolution and their quiet and fast operation. The pulse width modulation (PWM) method is primarily used for control of printing grayscales in such equipment. Pulse width modulation method is a method in which the grayscale (that is, the density) of each printed dot is controlled through a pulse width.
Conventional pulse width modulation circuitry can be broadly divided into two types, which are counter types and delay types. A counter-type circuit is for example disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 56-69929. In this counter-type circuit, a reference clock is counted by a counter circuit, and the count value and a digital pulse data value, that is, input data, are compared by a comparator; when the result of comparison indicates coincidence, the pulse width modulation output, that is, the PWM output, is changed.
The delay method is for example disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 6-177723. In this delay method, a reference clock is input to a delay circuit, and from the plurality of delay signals output from the delay circuit, that signal corresponding to a digital pulse data value is selected, and the PWM output is changed.
However, there is the problem that in the cases of the counter method and delay method used in conventional pulse width modulation circuits, it is difficult to achieve fast and precise operation, and these methods are not suitable for lowering costs.
For example, consider a case in which PWM pulses are to be generated at 100 MHz with 8-bit resolution. In this case, time-conversion of the resolution yields 1 s/100 MHz/28=40 ps. In the counter method, this means that a counter circuit is necessary which operates with a clock period tCK=40 ps or less. In the delay method, this means that the delay time per cell stage in the delay circuit must be 40 ps or less. It is difficult to realize such performance using current CMOS technology.
On the other hand, by performing interleaving processing, the 40 ps constraint can be relaxed; but in this case the number of interleave divisions is large (16 to 32), so that such new problems as increased circuit scale and scattering among the phases of each stage arise.
Hence in order to resolve the above problems, in Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-196354, which is correspond to U.S. Patent Publication No. US-2006-0001467-A1, the applicant proposed a pulse width modulation circuit which utilizes multiphase clock signals. This pulse width modulation circuit is explained briefly below.
FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing an entire pulse width modulation circuit of the previous application. This pulse width modulation circuit comprises a multiphase clock generation circuit 2, synchronization position detection circuit 3, digital pulse data signal processing circuit 4, multiphase clock (CLK) selection circuit 5, and pulse width modulation signal generation circuit 6.
A reference clock signal is input to the multiphase clock generation circuit 2 from the input terminal 1. This multiphase clock generation circuit 2 generates multiphase clock signals based on the input reference clock, and outputs the signals to a synchronization position detection circuit 3 and multiphase clock selection circuit 5. The multiphase clock generation circuit 2 generates multiphase clock signals by phase interpolation of intermediate clock signals generated by a phase-locked loop circuit. The multiphase clock signals include clock signals with 256 (=28) phases in the case of 8-bit resolution.
The multiphase clock signals output from the multiphase clock generation circuit 2 and a horizontal sync signal which is a reference signal are input to the synchronization position detection circuit 3. The synchronization position detection circuit 3 detects the clock signal among the multiphase clock signals with which the horizontal sync signal is synchronized. A synchronization position detection signal indicating the result of synchronization position detection is output to the digital pulse data signal processing circuit 4 and to the multiphase clock selection circuit 5.
The digital pulse data which is the input data, and the synchronization position detection signal output from the synchronization position detection circuit 3, are input to the digital pulse data signal processing circuit 4. The digital pulse data signal processing circuit 4 converts the input digital pulse data into PWM pulse rising-edge and falling-edge information according to the synchronization position detection result, in order to synchronize the PWM pulses with the horizontal sync signal. Signals containing rising-edge and falling-edge information are output to the multiphase clock selection circuit 5.
The multiphase clock signals output from the multiphase clock generation circuit 2, the synchronization position detection signals output from the synchronization position detection circuit 3, and the signals containing rising-edge and falling-edge information output from the digital pulse data signal processing circuit 4, are input to the multiphase clock selection circuit 5. The multiphase clock selection circuit 5 selects arbitrary clock signals from among the multiphase clock signals, according to the rising-edge and falling-edge information. The selected clock, that is, the selection clock signal, is output to the pulse width modulation signal generation circuit 6.
The selection clock signal is input by the multiphase clock selection circuit 5 to the pulse width modulation signal generation circuit 6. The pulse width modulation signal generation circuit 6 generates pulse width modulation signals (PWM pulses) based on selection clock signals. These pulse width modulation signals are for example signals used to modulate laser output.
FIG. 15 shows an example of the specific circuit configuration of a multiphase clock generation circuit 2. In the multiphase clock generation circuit 2, a combination of a phase-locked loop (PLL) circuit and a phase interpolation circuit is used as the circuit which generates multiphase clock signals. In the previous application, when the oscillator of a PLL circuit alone is used to generate clock signals with 256 phases, it is difficult to achieve fast operation; and when a phase interpolation circuit alone is used to generate clock signals with 256 phases, there is an increase in error, and precision is degraded due to scattering in manufacturing processes. Hence a configuration was adopted in which both are used.
As shown in FIG. 15, the multiphase clock generation circuit 2 comprises a phase comparator 201, charge pump circuit 202, filter 203, VCO (Voltage Controlled Oscillator) circuit 204, phase interpolation circuit 205, output buffer 206, and delay circuit 207.
The phase comparator 201 receives as input the reference clock, performs processing for phase comparison of the rising waveform of the reference clock with the rising waveform of a feedback clock input via the delay circuit 207, and generates pulse information for the phase difference. The charge pump circuit 202 converts the phase different pulse information generated by the phase comparator 201 into current information.
The signal output from the charge pump circuit 202 is filtered by the filter 203 and output to the VCO circuit 204. The oscillation frequency of the VCO circuit 204 changes according to the input signal, to generate an intermediate clock signal. In this example, intermediate clock signals with 32 phases are generated. The VCO circuit 204 consists of a ring oscillator, in which 32 stages of differential amplifiers are connected in series, and the output of the final stage is inverted and input to the first stage. The outputs of each of the 32 stages of series-connected differential amplifiers become the intermediate clock signals with 32 phases. As the VCO circuit 204, the ring oscillator of Japanese Patent No. 3512676 can also be used.
The intermediate clock signals generated in the VCO circuit 204 are input to the phase interpolation circuit 205. The phase interpolation circuit 205 further increases the phases of the intermediate clock signals, to generate multiphase clock signals. In this example, the number of phases is increased in order from 32-phase intermediate clock signals to 64-phase clock signals, from 64-phase clock signals to 128-phase clock signals, and from 128-phase clock signals to 256-phase clock signals CLKIP[0] to CLKIP[255]. As the phase interpolation circuit 205, the timing difference division circuit described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-339280 can also be used.
Multiphase clock signals with the number of phases increased to 256 are output via the output buffer 206. Of these multiphase clock signals, the CLKIP[0] signal is fed back, is delayed a prescribed amount by the delay circuit 207, and is then input to the phase comparator 201.
By means of the above-described pulse width modulation circuit of the previous application, pulse width modulation can be performed rapidly and with high precision, and printing grayscales and other factors can be controlled appropriately when applied to laser beam printers. However, when used in laser beam printers employing a plurality of drums or in other cases, there may be causes in which fine adjustment of pulse frequencies is necessary in order to correct for scattering between drums.
In such a case, it is conceivable that by providing a variable frequency divider between the reference clock and the phase comparator 201, and between the delay circuit 207 and the phase comparator 201 in the previous application, and by controlling the division ratio, the frequencies of the multiphase clock signals output from the output buffer 206 can be adjusted.
However, if an attempt is made to fine-adjust the frequency using a frequency divider circuit, the switching unit is one cycle, and so it is anticipated that jitter may occur during phase comparison. For example, even if the switching unit is kept small in combination with the multiphase output, in order to fine-adjust the frequency an extremely high division ratio would be necessary, leading to a decline in the jitter cutoff characteristic due to the lowered phase comparison frequencies and worsening of PLL responsiveness due to the lowered loop band. Hence the characteristics are inappropriate as the reference frequency of high-precision PWM output.
For these reasons, there has been a need for a function for frequency fine-tuning in pulse-width modulation circuits and multiphase clock generation circuits from which high precision is demanded.

Pulse width modulation circuit and multiphase clock generation circuit


A method of using a pellet composed of an aggregate of distinct beads of a chromatography media. The pellet is coherent and capable of being rapidly hydrated on addition of water to form a gel wherein said beads are swollen and substantially uniformly dispersed in the water phase and a combination of the a ligand with the chromatography media.

Purification of substances by chromatography, particularly employing high throughput technologies, is increasingly popular in the area of life science research. Traditionally, purification has been performed using columns containing the chromatography media in gel (slurry) form consisting of discrete beads of the media uniformly dispersed in a selected aqueous buffer. Column-based techniques are desirable from the viewpoint of large binding capacity; however, limitations arise when high throughput is desired since only several columns can be accommodated simultaneously.
To increase throughput, microcentrifuge spin columns, using about 1 ml or less of gel volume, have been used. Speed is thereby increased as is the ability to perform multiple (˜12-24) separations at one time. To achieve higher throughput with similar gel volume, the use of gel dispersed in microtiter-filter plates, such as available from Whatman, Polyfiltronics, has become popular. Using these plates 96 or more purifications can be performed simultaneously.
Several problems, however, are encountered when using microtiter filter plates. The chromatography media tends to settle during dispensing of gel into the discrete wells, thus making it difficult to equalize the volume of media in all wells, particularly when dispensing is performed automatically, e.g., robotically. Also, because the gel is in the form of an aqueous slurry in the wells, it can leak out of the "drip director" or spillover the side walls of the wells, particularly if the gel is dispensed into the wells prior to arrival in the laboratory. A further problem centers on the lack of stability of many gel slurries, especially at room temperature. This results in the inability to store large batches of the gel for extended periods of time for sequent use in multiple purifications and assays.
One final drawback encountered with the use of currently available chromatography gels is that the gel usually must be first washed and then subsequently equilibrated in the aqueous medium (buffer) chosen for the desired application. This, of course, necessitates additional procedural steps for the end user and, accordingly, is time consuming.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


There is disclosed a percussion implement comprised of a bundle of a plurality of cylindrically-shaped rod members having outer rod members symmetrically positioned about a like-sized inner rod member held at one end in a close-packed relationship by a handle member and including a movable sleeve member positioned about the closely-packed bundle of rod members remote from the handle member and capable of manual axial movement thereabout to any position of the bundle of rod members to thereby achieve different sound quality and effects.

(a) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to musical implements and more particularly to a percussion implement for impacting a percussion instrument, such a a drum.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
Percussion instruments require the use of beaters to effect vibration of the head stretched over a generally cylindrically-shaped body constituting a drum or percussion instrument. Such beaters usually include paired unitary wooden members, brushes comprised of fine wire members, etc. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,527 to Pruit, there is disclosed a beater formed of a cluster of wooden rods secured together at one end and free of restraint at the other end to form a brush-like beater member to obviate certain disadvantages of fine wire brushes of the prior art. Such beater member employed rods of from 0.1 to 0.187 inches in diameter collected in a plastic handle member. While such beaters member provided a resonating sound as a function, inter alia, of rod length and sizes, etc., such beaters provided a specific sound effect.


The invention provides a multiple stacked-chip packaging structure, including: at least one lower layer chip located on a substrate, wherein a plurality of wires are electrically connected to the bonding pads on the lower layer chip and to the substrate; at least one carrier cap provided on the lower layer chip to provide an accommodating space to the bonding pads and the wires on the lower layer chip; at least one upper layer chip provided on the carrier cap, wherein a plurality of wires are electrically connected to the bonding pads on the upper layer chip and to the substrate; and finally, a Molding Compound used to wrap up the foregoing components. The advantages of the invention are that the invention is not limited by the layout patterns of bonding pads on the chip, that the needed chips can be placed on either the upper layer or the lower layer structure according to the requirement, and that the degree of coplanar can be ensured when performing wire bonding on the upper layer chip so as to facilitate the wire bonding process.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a multiple stacked-chip packaging structure and, more particularly, to a multiple stacked-chip packaging structure that is not subject to the layout patterns of bonding pads on the chip and is capable of protecting the lower chip and wires.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown from FIG. 1A to FIG. 1C, the layout patterns of bonding pads 12, 16 & 20 on chips 10, 14 & 18 respectively are generally divided into three categories: peripheral type, middle type, and mixed type. When the wire bonding of multiple stacked-chip packaging is performed, it is quite impossible to place the middle type or mixed type chip on the lower layer with the conventional wire bonding technique because the upper layer chip will result in wire damage on the lower layer chip. Or, worse still, an open or short circuit of the wire can be resulted in, which eventually will fail the whole packaging body.
There have been many solutions proposed to solve the problem caused by protecting wire bonding on the lower structure of middle type or mixed type chip. As shown in FIG. 2, a middle-type chip 32 is located on a substrate 30 that has a groove in the middle of it, and a bonding pad (not shown) is located inside the groove facing downwards. In addition, a plurality of wires 34 are electrically connected to the bonding pads on the middle-type chip 32 and to the substrate 30, whereas another chip 36 is located on the middle-type chip 32, and a plurality of wires 38 are electrically connected to the bonding pads on the chip 36 and to the substrate 30. Finally, a molding compound 40 is used to seal up all the components. However, when the above method is in practice, a problem may occur; that is, a technique that is able to perform wire bonding at one side and not to impair wires at the other side is required during the operation. Unfortunately, the conventional processing technique is hard to achieve the required technique. Therefore, the method is problematic in real practice.
Next, another solution is to employ a nonconductive adhesive layer with strong adhesive to cover the wires of lower layer chip, and a height that is taller than the height of nonconductive adhesive layer of the wires on the lower layer chip has to be maintained. Also, as shown in FIG. 3, a lower layer chip 44 is located on the substrate 42, and a plurality of wires 46 are connected to the bonding pads (not shown) and to the substrate 42. Then, a nonconductive adhesive layer 48 is used to cover the lower layer chip 44 and the wires 46. After that, an upper layer chip 50 is provided on the nonconductive adhesive layer 48, and a plurality of wires 52 are electrically connected to the bonding pads (not shown) of the upper layer chip 50 and to the substrate 42. Finally, a molding compound 54 is used to seal up all the components. However, the degree of coplanar of a thicker nonconductive adhesive layer 48 is not easy to be controlled. Therefore, the wire bonding process of the upper layer chip 50 will be difficult. Consequently, the nonconductive adhesive layer 48 has to rely on the elements of the filler to maintain its own thickness. Yet, another problem may follow; that is, the lower layer wires may be impaired and therefore an open or short circuit problem may be resulted in since the nonconductive adhesive layer 48 will be softened and flattened during a subsequent high-temperature processing such as a reflow. Therefore, the method is not easy to be implemented, either.
In viewing the above-mentioned problems, the invention provides a multiple stacked-chip packaging structure to cope with the conventional shortcomings.

Multiple stacked-chip packaging structure

Global Advanced Packaging Technology H.K. Limited


A bidirectional power converter that can be used in an electric vehicle to perform AC to DC power conversion to charge the electric vehicle's battery and to perform DC to AC power conversion to export power to run external electrical loads is described. The bidirectional power converter may include an AC interface coupled to a cyclo-inverter circuit, and a DC interface coupled to a H-bridge circuit. The cyclo-inverter can be electrically coupled to the H-bridge circuit through a transformer. The bidirectional power converter may include a neutral terminal on the AC interface that is coupled to the transformer through a filtering inductor.

Power converters operating at low line frequencies typically require the use of a bulk energy storage element to provide a stable power output. The bulk energy storage elements are typically large and expensive inductors and/or capacitors, making such bulk energy storage elements unsuitable for vehicle applications because of the material costs and physical size. Conventional power converters are also susceptible to harmonic current content that can degrade the performance of the power converter.
Embodiments of the invention address these and other problems, individually and collectively.

Bidirectional power converter having a charger and export modes of operation


Bacteria accumulations on the interior walls of a fluid conduit are detected by placing a bacterial target substrate in the conduit. The substrate is structured to allow bacteria to colonize it at at least the rate of accumulation expected on the conduit walls or at an accelerated rate in order to preempt normal bacteria accumulation on the walls. A bacteria getter may be used to accelerate bacterial colonization of the substrate. An excitation signal interrogating the substrate causes autofluorescence in the presence of bacteria, specifically from NADH and/or NADPH present. The autofluorescent emission is transmitted to a detector and processor. In one system when the presence of bacteria at a preset level is detected there is initiated a diversion of the fluid into an auxiliary subsystem during which the primary subsystem is remediated. In one configuration, a wall portion is transparent and the biofilm target substrate is integral with the transparent wall portion and the sensor head is attached to the outside of the transparent wall portion. It can be made as a removable and/or disposable cell in which the transparent wall portion is a glass plug that fits into a hole in the conduit. The biofilm target substrate can be a getter affinity surface formed on the inside surface of the glass plug. Various means are used for obtaining accelerated biofilm growth.

There is a wide range of situations where biofilm growth is a problem. A biofilm detection instrument will have numerous applications. Conventional procedures, where samples must be taken from a possibly colonized area and analyzed by trained personnel are slow and expensive.
Water lines frequently accumulate bacteria on the interior walls of the line. When used in medical and/or dental or other hygienic related application the accumulation of bacteria on surfaces often leads to user infections and, for remediation, equipment down time.
The problem is particularly noticeable, for example, in dental offices where water lines are used in oral irrigation systems. Bacteria freely moving in the water can be removed by filters and cause no problem. But, the problem arises when some of the bacteria starts to accumulate as biofilm at some point along the interior wall of the line.
Typically bacterial accumulation tends to occur first at an obstruction such as a bend or discontinuity in the line or a change in the geometry of the line as might be introduced by a clamp, joint or some connection to the line.
Also fluid line used in hemodialysis, similar serious problems exist.
Also, the presence of bacteria in food processing equipment also causes biofilm deposits at critical points such as pumps, valves, bends, and heat exchangers.
There are numerous other cases where bacteria in fluid lines creates risk of passing bacteria downstream to end users caused by biofilm.
There is a need for technology to avoid the growth of excessive biofilm and to remediate it in fluid systems. A real time, on-line system and d method has not been available.
The present invention in one aspect provides an apparatus and method for detecting the growth and presence of biofilm and for on-line remediation.
Previous methods of biofilm detection have required physical access to the interior of subject conduits in order to detect, analyze and measure biofilm in conduits. Such methods are inconvenient at best and often require that the system be shut down. Further since the level of biofilm on system conduits that is regarded as intolerable cannot be determined with accuracy, remediation is often scheduled sufficiently in advance as to ensure that the intolerable level has not been reached. This of course means that the cycle of remediation must take place well before it may actually be necessary, or worse that it may be put off beyond the tolerable level of biofilm growth.
Consequently systems and methods are desirable that can remotely and continuously detect, monitor and evaluate the level and the rate of biofilm growth in conduits. Further in such systems it is desirable to be able to anticipate the time that remediation is required by detecting an accelerated growth of biofilm at a monitoring location.


A semiconductor substrate structure includes: a substrate; and an epitaxial growth layer bonded to the substrate, wherein the substrate and the epitaxial growth layer are bonded by a room-temperature bonding or a diffusion bonding.

Recently, silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductors that can realize high withstand voltage, large current, low on resistance, high efficiency, low power consumption, high-speed switching, or the like are attracting attention because they have a wider band gap energy and higher electric field withstand voltage performance than Si semiconductors and GaAs semiconductors. Since SiC can reduce the generation of carbon dioxide gas (CO2) due to its low power consumption performance, it is also attracting attention in terms of environmental protection.
In recent years, the SiC devices have been applied to, for example, various application fields such as air conditioners, solar power generation systems, automobile systems, train/vehicle systems, and the like.
Methods of forming an SiC wafer include, for example, a method of forming an SiC epitaxial growth layer on an SiC single crystalline substrate by a sublimation method using a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method, a method of bonding an SiC single crystalline substrate by a sublimation method onto a CVD polycrystalline substrate of SiC and forming an SiC epitaxial growth layer on the SiC single crystalline substrate by the CVD method, and the like.
Heretofore, it was necessary to sequentially fabricate a semiconductor device using SiC because the epitaxial growth layer was formed on the substrate.
Since the SiC epitaxial growth layer takes over the crystal structure of the underlying SiC single crystalline substrate, the SiC single crystalline substrate of good crystal quality is desirable. As a result, there are characteristics required for substrates to be epitaxially grown, such as close lattice constants and close thermal expansion coefficients, and high quality substrates such as the single crystalline substrate have been required.

Semiconductor substrate structure and power semiconductor device


An adjustable lighting device having a main body, a light generation device inserted into a receptacle, a movable lens, a base electrically connected to the light generation device, and an adjustor cover rotatably mounted to and covering the outside of the main body so that rotation of the adjustor cover causes the lens to extend/retract within the receptacle so that the extension/retraction of the lens can be controlled by the rotation of the adjustor cover for realizing focus adjustment.

Lighting can be classified as regular lighting and spot lighting. The former is for a wide lighting of a large area, while the latter is for concentrated lighting in a small, spot-like area.
For example, the wide lighting for a large area includes street lamps, post lamps in for example a park, or ceiling mounted pendant lighting. The purpose of the wide lighting is to illuminate the whole area with the least number of lighting devices.
Contrary to the regular lighting, the spot lighting is to condense light beam onto a specific spot or article to distinguish the spot or the article. For example, firstly, an exhibition lamp that is provided for the purposes of exhibition must condense the light spot on an exhibited article to distinguishably show the article. Secondly, spot lighting can be used for interior decoration for the modern interior decoration, except the aspect of hardware decoration, include an aspect of visual impression that is presented by lighting inside the house, of which the most commonly known measure is to condense and project light on for example a wall, an ornamentation or a dinning table so as to provide excellent visual and lighting effect with the combination of hardware decoration and the lighting.
However, some of the conventional lighting devices are not provided with the function of light condensation and/or focusing and most of the conventional lighting devices are not of the feature of focus adjustability. The former drawback make the use of the lighting device inconvenience or even impractical, while the latter drawback causes a situation of out of focusing of the projecting light on an irradiated article for the distance between the light source and the irradiated article can be various and cannot be accommodated by the lighting if no focus adjustability can be available.
Thus, the present invention is aimed to overcome the above discussed drawbacks.


Disclosed is a self plugging blind rivet for securing together apertured members, the rivet comprising a tubular shell having a tail end face at one end and a preformed radially enlarged bead at the other end, and a stem that extends through the shell and has a stem head adjacent the tail end face of the shell and a breakneck located away from the stem head, in which the region of the stem shank on the stem head side of the breakneck has a plurality of depressions formed therein extending to the breakneck, the corresponding region of the shell substantially filling the depressions in a region adjacent the stem head and progressively less towards the breakneck whereby, in use and under axial compression loading of the shell, the shell preferentially buckles in the region adjacent the member remote from the preformed head to form a blind head in contact with the member so as to clamp together the apertured members. Also disclosed is a method of assembling the above-described rivet comprising inserting the shell in a die, the first part of which closely fits the outside diameter of the shell, a second part being formed as a taper and which progressively increases in diameter until it intersects a third pan of the die into which the tail end of the shell protrudes, supporting the head of the shell with an abutment inserting a punch which has a first diameter closely fitting the bore of the rivet shell and a second diameter which closely fits the third pan of the die, applying a compressive force between the punch and the abutment so as to compress the rivet shell to fill both the taper and the larger diameter of the die, removing the abutment and punch, inserting a stem and ejecting the assembled shell and stem through the die, whereby, during ejection, the material of the shell is forced into the depression in the stem to substantially fill the depressions at least at the tall end of the shell and progressively towards the breakneck.

The invention relates to a blind rivet. A blind rivet is one that can be inserted and set by access to one side only of aperture members to be riveted together.
More particularly, the invention relates to a self plugging blind rivet comprising a tubular shell having a preformed radial head at one end, and a stem extending through the tubular shell and having a stem head adjacent the tail end of the shell. In use, the rivet is inserted, shell tail end first, through the apertures in the members to be riveted until the shell head contacts the nearer member and the shell tail protrudes beyond the further member. In order to set the rivet, the shell head is supported by an abutment and the stem is then pulled so that the stem head compresses the shell against the abutment and causes axial contraction of the shell and radial expression of at least part thereof to form a blind head which, together with preformed head, clamps the members together. At least part of the stem adjacent to its head is retained within the shell to plug the latter after the rivet has been set. The remainder of the stem (i.e. the tail end remoted from the head thereof) is preferably broken off to avoid protrusion from the shell head. This is generally effected by providing a breakneck at an appropriate position in the shank of the stem.
A rivet of this type is described in WO 98/23872 and features that are important in the performance of such a rivet are described in that application. The application also describes how a rivet can be constructed in which the portion of the river stem retained in the rivet after placing fully plugs the bore of the river and breaks flush with the head of the rivet under all working conditions of sheet thickness. To this end the pintail has reduced diameter relative to the stem shank and the breakneck is formed at the junction of the stem shank and the pintail.
In a first aspect the present invention provides a self plugging blind rivet for securing together apertured members, the rivet comprising a tubular shell having a tail end face at one end and a preformed radially enlarged head at the other end, and a stem that extends through the shell and has a stem head adjacent the tail end face of the shell and a breakneck located away from the stem head, in which the region of the stem shank on the stem head side of the breakneck has a plurality of depressions formed therein extending to the breakneck, the corresponding region of the shell substantially filling the depressions in a region adjacent the stem head and progressively less towards the breakneck whereby, in use and under axial compression loading of the shell, the shell preferentially buckles in the region adjacent the member remote from the preformed head to form a blind head in contact with said member so as to clamp together the apertured members.
The depressions are preferable axial grooves but may also be spiral or even annular. Especially where the depressions are axial or spiral, the stem shank and the shell may be provided with mutually-cooperating means to lock them together. Such means may comprise an annular groove formed around the stem shank, preferably immediately below the stem head, the groove containing shell material to retain the stem within the shell so that, before placing, the assembly of stem and shell is locked together and the part of the stem retained in the shell after placing is also locked to the shell. The groove may have an axial length of approximately one half of its diameter.
Preferably, the region of the stem shank having formed therein the depressions generally has a major diameter which is greater than the diameter of the region remote from the breakneck, whereby the end adjacent the breakneck comprises one or more radially-protruding shoulders which in use with a placing tool engage the nose of the placing tool so that the retained part of the stem breaks substantially flush with the rivet head throughout the working range of thickness of the members being riveted.
Preferably, the cross sectional area and strength of the stem in the region adjacent the stem head is substantially equal to that of the cylindrical part of the stem. The number of axial depressions may vary from a minimum of four depending on the method of manufacture. Preferably the distance across the mouth of the depressions is less than the circumferential width of the land areas between.
Preferably, the depressions are produced by a forming process so that material displaced from the depressions is contained in the lands between the depressions resulting in the increased diameter.
According to a further aspect of the invention a method is provided of assembling a rivet comprising a tubular rivet shell having a preformed radially enlarged heat at one end and a stem comprising a head and a shank which carries a breakneck remoted from the stem head, the region between the stem head and breakneck being formed with a plurality of depressions which extend to the breakneck, the method comprising inserting the shell in a die, a first part of which closely fits the outside diameter of the shell, a second part is formed as a taper and which progressively increases in diameter until it intersects a third part of the die into which the tail end of the shell protrudes, supporting the head of the shell with an abutment, inserting a punch which has a first diameter closely fitting the bore of the rivet shell and a second diameter which closely fits the third part of the die, applying a compressive force between the punch and the abutment so as to compress the rivet shell to fill both the taper and the larger diameter of the die, removing the abutment and punch, inserting a stem and ejecting the assembled shell and stem through the die whereby, during ejection, the material of the shell is forced into the depression in the stem to substantially fill the depressions at the tail end of the shell and progressively less towards the breakneck.
Preferably, the external diameter of the shell in the assembled rivet is equal to the diameter of the stem head. To this end the first die bore should have the same diameter as the stem head, although this may be difficult to arrange in practice. Consequently it is preferable that the stem head before assembly of the rivet is slightly larger than the first die bore so that, when the assembly is ejected, the stem head is sized to the diameter of the first die bore and hence to the diameter of the shell.
As an alternative to using a separate punch to form the rivet shell to the shape of the die, it is possible to approximate to this by using the stem in place of the punch to compress the shell against the abutment, thereby substantially filling the die, removing the abutment and ejecting the assembled stem and shell through the die.
Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Blind rivet and method of making the same


The present invention relates to antibodies and antibody fragments thereof that bind to and activate an erythropoietin receptor. The present invention also relates to methods of modulating the endogenous activity of an erythropoietin receptor in a mammal using said antibodies as well as pharmaceutical compositions containing said antibodies.

Erythropoietin ("EPO") is a glycoprotein that is the primary regulator of erythropoiesis. Specifically, EPO is responsible for promoting the growth, differentiation and survival of erythroid progenitors, which give rise to mature red blood cells. In response to changes in the level of oxygen in the blood and tissues, erythropoietin appears to stimulate both proliferation and differentiation of immature erythroblasts. It also functions as a growth factor, stimulating the mitotic activity of erythroid progenitor cells, such as erythrocyte burst forming and colony-forming units. It also acts as a differentiation factor, triggering transformation of an erythrocyte colony-forming-unit into a proerythroblast (See Erslev, A., New Eng. J. Med., 316:101-103 (1987)).
EPO has a molecular weight of about 34,000 daltons and can occur in three forms—alpha, beta and asialo. During mid- to late gestation, EPO is synthesized in the fetal liver. Subsequently, EPO is synthesized in the kidney, circulates in the plasma and is excreted in the urine.
Human urinary EPO has been isolated and purified (See, Miyake et al., J. Biol. Chem., 252:5558 (1977)). Moreover, methods for identifying, cloning and expressing genes encoding EPO (See U.S. Pat. No. 4,703,008) as well as purifying recombinant EPO from a cell medium (See U.S. Pat. No. 4,667,016) are known in the art.
The activity of EPO is mediated through the binding and activation of a cell surface receptor referred to as the erythropoietin receptor. The EPO receptor belongs to the cytokine receptor superfamily and is believed to contain at least two distinct polypeptides, a 55-72 kDa species and a 85-100 kDa species (See U.S. Pat. No. 6,319,499, Mayeux et al., J. Biol. Chem, 266:23380 (1991), McCaffery et al., J. Biol. Chem., 264:10507 (1991)). Other studies have revealed other polypeptide complexes of EPO receptor having molecular weights such as 110, 130 and 145 kDa (See U.S. Pat. No. 6,319,499).
Both the murine and human EPO receptors have been cloned and expressed (See D'Andrea et al., Cell, 57:277 (1989); Jones et al., Blood, 76:31 (1990); Winkelmann et al., Blood, 76:24 (1990); WO 90/08822/U.S. Pat. No. 5,278,065). The full length human EPO receptor is a 483 amino acid transmembrane protein with an approximately 25 amino acid signal peptide (See U.S. Pat. No. 6,319,499). The human receptor demonstrates about a 82% amino acid sequence homology with the murine receptor. Id.
In the absence of ligand the EPO receptor exists in a preformed dimer. The binding of EPO to its receptor causes a conformational change such that the cytoplasmic domains are placed in close proximity. While not completely understood, it is believed that this "dimerization" plays a role in the activation of the receptor. The activation of the EPO receptor results in a number of biological effects. Some of these activities include stimulation of proliferation, stimulation of differentiation and inhibition of apoptosis (See U.S. Pat. No. 6,319,499, Liboi et al., PNAS USA, 90:11351 (1993), Koury, Science, 248:378 (1990)).
It is the relationship between the EPO receptor dimerization and activation that can be used to identify compounds (i.e. such as antibodies) other than EPO that are capable of: (1) dimerizing the EPO receptor; and (2) activating the receptor. These compounds would be useful in treating mammals suffering from anemia and in identifying mammals having a dysfunctional EPO receptor.

Erythropoietin receptor binding antibodies


Techniques for bandwidth management and flow control on a resilient packet ring (RPR) network is described. The RPR requires allocation and guarantee of a bandwidth for each channel between two nodes on the ring. The bandwidth is managed by shaping traffic on a channel at the source by using a bandwidth allocation factor calculated at each node. The bandwidth allocation factor, which is communicated to other nodes, is calculated by using a recursive nonlinear function of the transit buffer size.

A variety of network architectures are available for designing and implementing a telecommunications network. The ring topology is found very frequently in network architectures. The dual ring topology, in particular, offers numerous advantages over a single ring topology, such as reliability and bandwidth flexibility to name a few. A telecommunications network in the dual ring topology uses two physically separated rings, one for each traffic direction, clockwise (CW) and counter-clockwise (CCW).
A new IEEE protocol is in the process of being defined (802.17) for a flexible and resilient dual ring topology which is called Resilient Packet Ring (RPR for short). RPR is a MAC layer protocol dedicated to dual ring architectures but it is a "plug and play" design without a software based station management transfer (SMT) protocol or ring master negotiation as seen in other ring based MAC protocols. RPR provides a scalable LAN/MAN/RAN/WAN architecture with shared access method, spatial reuse, and resiliency through fault protection method. Among many other features, RPR supports multiple classes of services; e.g., low-delay guaranteed rate, bounded delay committed rate, and best effort service classes. It also proposes an efficient use of bandwidth by ring capacity reuse downstream of unicast destination (called spatial reuse or reclamation). By spatial reuse, the destination station strips packets addressed to it, thus allowing reclamation of unused committed capacity further downstream. RPR also provides flow control per service class to regulate traffic introduced by clients and point-of-congestion aware flow control (allowing per destination queuing in client). Furthermore it performs weighted fairness access among stations using the ring, i.e., each station is assigned a proportion of the ring's available bandwidth.
The dual rings are made up of clockwise and counter-clockwise ringlets as shown in FIG. 1. As an example, four stations, A, B, C and D (also called nodes) are connected in the dual ring configuration. The RPR protocol operates by sending data traffic in one direction (known as "downstream") on one ringlet (one of the two rings) and its corresponding control information in the opposite direction (known as "upstream") on the opposite ringlet. The stations are able to send data on either ringlet. Generally the shorter of the two possible paths to a given destination is used, based on the node discovery scheme, but this is not required, due for instance to congestion or malfunction on one of the links. Referring to FIG. 1, node A has an ingress ring attachment 10 and an egress ring attachment 12 on each ringlet. Traffic arriving on ingress is destined to transit the node via egress ring attachment 12, or is dropped off the ring at link 14. Traffic is inserted (or added) on the ring via link 16.
Bandwidth management features are important aspects of the RPR protocol. In RPR systems, nodes cooperate to maximize traffic on the rings. They advertise information about current loads so that other nodes may determine how much traffic they can send through that node. Furthermore, since the ring is a shared media, some sort of access control is necessary to ensure fairness and to bound latency. Access control can be broken into two types which can operate in tandem:
Global access control—controls access so that everyone gets a fair share of the global bandwidth of the ring.
Local access control (spatial reuse)—grants additional access beyond that allocated globally to take advantage of segments of the ring that are less than fully utilized.
FIG. 2 includes six nodes in a ring and shows an example of a case where both global and local accesses are required. In the figure, node B is sending data to node C as shown by 20 while node A is sending data to node D, as shown by 22. The both connections share the bandwidth on the span between nodes B and C. Meanwhile node E is sending data to node F as shown by 24. In this case, nodes A and B are given ½ of the bandwidth each. Node E, however, will also get a fair share of ½ of the bandwidth on a global allocation basis. But from a local perspective, node E should be able to get all of the bandwidth since its bandwidth does not interfere with the fair shares of nodes A and B. The spatial reuse will ensure that all the unicast traffic will be stripped at its destination, freeing the bandwidth for reclamation by nodes downstream.
In the RPR networks, a ring channel is defined to be a logical path from a given source node on the ring to a given destination node on the ring, where the source and destination nodes are not necessarily adjacent. A given channel between two nodes on the ring uses a single ring. For sake of description, we describe the flow control algorithm assuming that all channels use the clockwise ring.
The RPR protocol requires that the system should be able to allocate and guarantee bandwidth to each channel on the ring. Furthermore, it has been proposed to provide lossless delivery of traffic over a channel so as to avoid complex traffic management functions in the ring MAC layers where the transit buffer is located.
The prior art is described within presentations to the IEEE 802.17 working group. Conexant proposes a solution which is illustrated in FIG. 3. The traffic flow and queuing architecture is described on node A shown in FIG. 1. The proposed solution describes a flow control mechanism whereby at each node the rate of the insert (or add) traffic, which is transmitted into the ring, is measured. The rate of the insert traffic is communicated in a flow control message to the other nodes in the ring if the transit buffer 30 on the node is congested. The service of each add queue 32 is limited by the shaper 34 to be equal to the minimum insert rate of all congested nodes on the ring. The result is that each node on the ring is permitted to insert an equal amount of traffic into the ring.
The Conexant solution is inadequate for two reasons. First, it requires that every node receive an equal share of the available ring bandwidth at the most congested point in the network. Second, and most importantly, the solution is blocking in that traffic which does not traverse the most congested point in the network, is blocked from entering the network potentially unnecessarily.
Lantern Communications proposes a flow control algorithm which is illustrated in FIG. 4. The Lantern solution defines a weight for each channel (i.e. source to destination flow) that traverses the node. Therefore, there is a separate add queue 40 for each flow (also called channel). A queue for a flow from node A to node B, a queue for a flow from node A to node C and so on. These queues may be virtual queues, i.e., a partitioned storage medium. The algorithm then calculates the shaping rate, fi, for each flow according to the following formula.
      fi    =          ri      +                        wi                                    ∑              active                                                                                wi                          ×                  (                      C            -                                          ∑                active                                                                                ri                                )                      ,where wi is the weight for flow i, flow i transiting the node, and ri is the reserved (i.e. minimum) rate. C is the capacity of the egress link. Shaper 42 enforces the shaping rate by rate limiting weighted fair queue. The equation can be described by describing each of the three terms. The first term is the reserved rate and so the shaping rate cannot drop below the reserved rate. The third term is the available bandwidth at the node. It is equal to any unreserved bandwidth plus the bandwidth reserved but not being used by inactive flows. The second term represents the weighted share of the bandwidth that can be used by the flow.
The Lantern solution achieves this flow control by extracting the terms in the equation which are known locally to the node which generates the flow control message. That is, it defines the term, bandwidth allocation factor (BAF), by
      BAF    =                  C        -                              ∑            active                                                                                ri                                      ∑          active                                                                                wi              ,and propagates the BAF term to each node in the ring. Each node collects the BAF terms from all other nodes on the network, and then calculates the shaping rate for a given flow using the minimum BAF from all nodes which the flow transits, as follows:fm=rm+wm×min(BAFj),where the index, m, pertains to the flows which originate at the local node, and the index, j, pertains to the nodes which are traversed by flow, m and BAFj is the BAF for the egress ring link of node j. The Lantern solution is inadequate for two reasons. First, the equation which calculates the available bandwidth sums the reserved rates of all active channels. However, simply because a channel is active, it does not mean that it is utilizing its full reserved rate. It may be using less. The Lantern solution does not take this into account. Second, the equation that calculates the available bandwidth does not take into account whether a flow which is allocated its fair share of the available bandwidth actually uses all of it. Any available bandwidth which is unused by the flow can be redistributed to other flows. As a result of these two problems, the Lantern solution results in underutilization of the network.
AuroraNetics proposes to improve upon the Conexant solution by assigning a weight to each node in the ring. In this case, the rate at which a node can insert traffic to a ring is given by
      f    =                  w        wc            ×      rate        ,where w is the weight of the node for which we are calculating f, and wc is the weight of the congested node. The term, rate, is the rate of "add" traffic at the congested node.
The AuroraNetics solution is inadequate because it does not solve the blocking problem which is present in the Conexant solution.
The problems with each prior art solution are described in the preceding section. In summary, none of the prior art solutions provide full network utilization under all traffic scenarios.
The inventor realized that the RPR flow control problem is similar to the ATM ABR flow control problem and the ABR flow control algorithms can be used in the RPR application.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,385,168 May 7, 2002 Davis et al describes in detail the flow control problem and proposed solutions for the ABR service of ATM network. In the ATM, there are a several classes of service categories, some being committed rate services and others being available rate services. Available Bit Rate (ABR) service is one of the available rate services. The flow control of ABR is achieved by the source sending special resource management (RM) cells through the network. Each switch in the network indicates its congestion status by optionally writing into the RM cell and forwarding the cell into the next switch in the data path. Finally, the destination turns the RM cell back towards the source and the switches in the backward data path mark congestion information into the RM cell which is ultimately received by the source. The source then adjusts its sending rate in response to the information contained in the RM cell. Referring to FIG. 5, ABR queue 50 represent the aggregate count of all ABR cells queued. QD indicates the total queue depth utilized by all ABR connections. Line T is a configurable threshold which represents a pre-selected target for the queue depth. The output cell flow contains both high (committed) priority and ABR traffic. Periodically the ABR queue generates the function g(QD, T) and passes the result to the ER Algorithm 52. The ER Algorithm calculates the offered bandwidth, OBW(k), k being iterated measurements, according to the formula;OBW(k)=g(QD, T)*OBW(k−1),where g(QD, T) is given in one embodiment by either:
                              g                                (                          QD              ,              T                        )                          =                                              1            -                          x                                                                                if                                                                                QD                                >                      T                                                                          or                                                  =                                              1            +                          x                                                                                if                                                                                QD                                <=                      T            .                              The parameter T is a configurable threshold, and x is a small real number in the range of [0,1]. The function g(QD, T) is only dependent on global queue congestion and threshold. In an alternative embodiment, g(QD, T1, T2) could take a form of:
                              g                                (                          QD              ,                              T                                                                                1                            ,                              T                                                                                2                                      )                          =                                              1            -                          x                                                                                if                                                                                QD                                >                      T                                                                          1                                                  =                                              1                                                                          if                                                                          T                                                                          1                    >=          QD          >                      T                                                                          2                                                  =                                              1            +                          x                                                                                if                                                                                QD                                <=                      T                                                                          2                              where T1 and T2 are configurable thresholds and x is a small real number in the range of [0,1]. This second form employs a dead band in which the offered bandwidth is neither increased or decreased. In general terms the number of bands in the queue depth may be increased such that the update to OBW(k) may assume an arbitrary function in the variable.
An applicant's pending application Ser. No. 09/295,821 filed on Apr. 21, 1999, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Providing Data Flow Control of a Transmission Port" describes yet another alternative for calculating a generic OBW for ABR traffic. In the pending application, generic OBW(k) is given by:OBW(k)=OBW(k−1)*ζ, where ζ=1+κΔQ,where ζ represents the OBW correctional variable, ΔQ represents a difference term derived from an input data rate and an output data rate of a transmission port and κ is a constant. A specific OBW(k) for each connection, i, supported by the node is obtained as follows:OBWi(k)=(OBW(k)/# of connections)*weighting factor,The weighting factor prioritizes the connections based on system rules user options, etc.
As mentioned earlier, these algorithms have been designed for flow control of the ABR traffic in the ATM systems. The present inventor realized that these algorithms can be applied equally to ring network, particularly RPR systems in which available bandwidth is distributed among the nodes on the ring under the principles of weighted fair queue and spatial reuse of the bandwidth.

Bandwidth management of resilient packet ring network


HEMA-compatible siloxane monomers are described that can be used to manufacture contact lenses that combine the attributes of HEMA-based contact lenses with the high oxygen permeability of silicone hydrogel lenses. Optically clear silicone hydrogel contact lens can be manufactured that comprise a polymeric lens body that is the reaction product of a polymerizable composition comprising: a) at least 25 wt. % of at least one hydroxyalkyl methacrylate; and b) at least 20 wt. % of at least one HEMA-compatible polysiloxane.

The field of the disclosure is contact lenses formed from copolymerization of a hydroxyalkyl methacrylate with a HEMA-compatible bifunctional polysiloxane.
2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) is a biocompatible, polymerizable monomer that has been used for over the past forty years to make soft hydrogel contact lenses. HEMA-based hydrogel contact lenses are much more comfortable to wear than their rigid predecessors. However, a drawback of the HEMA-based hydrogel lenses is that they have low oxygen permeability. It was recognized that materials that provide higher oxygen permeability would be healthier for the cornea. In the late 1990s silicone hydrogel contact lenses, which have significantly higher oxygen permeability than HEMA-based hydrogel lenses, were introduced to the market. However, the siloxane monomers used to make silicone hydrogels are typically much more expensive than HEMA. In addition, the methods used to make silicone hydrogel contact lenses are substantially more complex and labor-intensive than for HEMA-based hydrogel contact lenses. It would be desirable to combine the benefits of HEMA with the oxygen permeability attributes of silicone hydrogels, however HEMA is very hydrophilic and is generally not miscible with silicone monomers.
Background publications include U.S. Pat. No. 8,053,544, U.S. Pat. No. 8,129,442, U.S. Pat. No. 4,259,467, U.S. Pat. No. 4,260,725, U.S. Pat. Publ. No. 2011/0181833, U.S. Pat. Publ. No. 20060063852, and U.S. Pat. Publ. No. 2011/0140292.

Contact lenses made with HEMA-compatible polysiloxane macromers

CooperVision International Holding Company, LP