A power supply controlling system includes a receiving device, a power supply device, and a transmitting device connected to an information processing apparatus. The receiving device includes a transmitting portion that transmits a switch signal of a power supply switch used for on/off of the power supply device to the transmitting device via second signal lines used for the reception of a second video signal, which are different from first signal lines used for the reception of a first video signal. The transmitting device includes an acquiring portion that acquires the switch signal from the second signal lines on which the second video signal and the switch signal are mixed, and an outputting portion that outputs the switch signal to the power supply device. The receiving device and the transmitting device are connected with a single cable including the first and the second signal lines.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power supply controlling system having a receiving device, and a transmitting device connected to an information processing apparatus outputting a video signal and a power supply device supplying electric power to the information processing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been known a technique that superimposes a signal for power supply control other than a video signal on the video signal, and transmits the superimposed signal to a remote place (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication Nos. 07-203491, 05-83689, and 11-340974, for example).
In the technique, a controlling device is connected to a controlled device with a dedicated coaxial cable or a digital interface line.
Since in the technique of Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication Nos. 07-203491, 05-83689, and 11-340974, the controlling device is connected to the controlled device with the dedicated coaxial cable or the digital interface line, the connection between the controlling device and the controlled device suffices with one cable. However, when the controlling device is connected to the controlled device with a cable to which standards have been decided, the connection between the controlling device and the controlled device may be insufficient in one cable.
For example, when in the a power supply controlling system of FIG. 9, a local device is connected to a remote device with a Cat 5 (category 5) cable having a length of hundreds of meters, i.e., a LAN cable, the local device outputs RGB signals received from a personal computer as differential signals, and hence six signal lines are occupied by the RGB signals among eight signal lines included in one LAN cable. A serial signal from a mouse, a keyboard, or a printer is output from the remote device to the local device as differential signals, so that two signal lines are occupied by the serial signal among the eight signal lines. Therefore, an unused signal line is lost in the eight signal lines.
In this state, to transmit an ON/OFF signal of electric power from the remote device to a remote power supply via the local device, it is necessary to connect a new LAN cable between the local device and remote device.
As a result, the number of LAN cables connected between the local device and remote device increases, so that wiring work of the LAN cables is complicated, and cost performance deteriorates.


A portable aircraft storage system for storing aircraft. The portable aircraft storage system generally includes a container having an enclosed space therein. The container has several connected walls including a top wall, a bottom wall, a rear wall, a first side wall and a second side wall. A door is connected to the top wall by a hinge. The door rotates about the hinge between an open and a closed position. A front sliding section is coupled to the door. The front sliding section slides into and out of the enclosed space. A rear sliding section is coupled to the rear wall. The rear sliding section slides into and out of the enclosed space.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to buildings for storing airplanes and more specifically it relates to a portable aircraft storage system for storing aircraft.
Description of the Related Art
Any discussion of the related art throughout the specification should in no way be considered as an admission that such related art is widely known or forms part of common general knowledge in the field.
Various types of buildings such as airplane hangars have been used to provide shelter for airplanes and protection from vandalism, theft and weather. Traditional airplane hangars have been large fixed structures that are specifically designed for a certain size aircraft and are expensive to build. One problem with the prior art airplane hangars is that they are not portable. If a hangar is needed temporally in one location, there is no way to temporarily provide an airplane hangar. An airplane hangar cannot be moved from one location to another. Another problem with the prior art airplane hangars is that they are costly to construct. Because airplane hangars are constructed in low volumes, they are essentially a custom product and are not suitable for the cost reductions possible with high volume manufacturing.
Because of the inherent problems with the related art, there is a need for a new and improved portable aircraft storage system for storing aircraft.


A pot hanger for a vertically hanging pot with or without a drain saucer includes a series of flat sheet, generally inverted U-shaped spaced clips. A lower distal end of the clips seats on a downwardly-facing surface of the plant container or the saucer while an upper distal end seats against an inner surface of a pot container or saucer peripheral circular ridge. One or a pair of apertures are formed in a bight portion of each clip with a bottom chain link of a corresponding series of chains affixed therein. The tops of all of the chains are fixed into a common swivel, snap or S-type hook and the hook mounted on a provided support nail or screw hook. A tab is provided on each of the clips to facilitate removal of a clip from a pot container or saucer.

Heretofore various sized clay, ceramic, or plastic pots, such as plant pots and containers, have been hung from a nail, hook, horizontal beam or other support by two or three spaced wires with hooks extending through a pot aperture or by wires twisted therein, with an upper hook or twisted wire connection which can be dangled from the support. Various macrame hangers of various fibers have been utilized which form an open basket-like bottom into which a pot is placed with fiber strands angularly extending therefrom to an upper knot which can be fixed into a hook or nail forming the support. Welded iron rings and an iron bottom or wire clips have been employed for supporting pots with rod elements extending uniformly to a loop which hangs on a supporting hook nail or the like. Welded steel wires or chains extending from a bottom disc have also been employed. U.S. Pat. Nos. 941,448; 1,095,504; 1,334,199; 2,530,456; 2,967,691; 3,184,283; 4,235,407; 4,440,371; and 4,630,795 are representative of prior patented hangers. The above described and shown hangers generally and variably are relatively unattractive, can easily be bent out of shape, can be broken, are not durable, are limited to only one pot size, are limited in hanger diameter or must be hung at a fixed vertical height.


An optical mold including a spacer cavity portion, a lens cavity portion and a flow stop control portion for allowing optical lens material to flow between the spacer cavity portion and the lens cavity portion and an optical lens array formed therefrom. The optical mold may further include a pedestal located within the spacer cavity portion for supporting the mold during a puddle dispensing process. A method for using the optical mold including the spacer cavity portion, the lens cavity portion, and the flow cavity portion, and optionally the pedestal.

Design of wafer level optical lenses using a puddle dispensing process utilizes a mold to stamp down, or imprint, a puddle of optical lens material on a substrate thereby creating a lens within cavities of the mold. Prior technology utilizing the puddle dispensing process often creates air bubbles that cannot escape cavities within the mold. Such air bubbles are undesirable and greatly affect the quality of the lens design.
Furthermore, an edge of the mold associated with the maximum lens aperture typically has to press against the substrate such that the puddle of optical lens material can sufficiently disperse within the cavity defining the lens. However, many optical lenses are damaged during the imprinting process because the mold is in direct contact with the substrate.
To remedy the aforementioned problem, molds may not be imprinted the entire way to the substrate such that a base layer is formed between the substrate and mold edges. However, the base layer is typically of an undesired thickness. Furthermore, additional and unnecessary optical lens material is required to create the base layer, thereby increasing cost of manufacture.

Apparatus and method for molding optical lense during a puddle dispensing process


The invention relates to a hanger for mounting objects of various shapes and sizes on vertical, sloping or horizontal surfaces. The hanger comprises a frame formed by two opposing parts adapted to grip the object, and linked together by an adjustable length of cord so that the frame can be made to fit precisely the object to be hung. The disadvantages of the prior art hangers that rely on springs to provide for the adjustment needed for them to fit a range of sizes will be overcome.

This invention relates to a hanger for securely mounting objects of various shapes and sizes on vertical, horizontal or sloping surfaces. Hangers currently marketed for mounting objects, primarily circular plates on walls, rely on the use of springs to provide for the adjustment needed for them to fit a fixed diameter range of plate sizes. These hangers are difficult to assemble. If the plates are initially not securely gripped, the springs may retract with force and the users frequently suffer pinched fingers and the plate may be broken. The Inventor's Design Registration U.S. D534,004 illustrates a hanger in which a bungee cord has been substituted for the springs, which makes it a little easier to install, but the size of an object that can be mounted using any hanger of the prior art is limited by the maximum possible extension of the springs or bungee cord. In addition, when the springs or the bungee cord are extended to or near to their limits, significant pressure may be exerted on and may cause damage to the object being hung. Hangers of the present invention may be easily and safely assembled to fit precisely objects of a wider range of sizes and shapes than hangers of the prior art without the risk of exerting damaging pressure thereon.

Hanger for mounting objects of various shapes and sizes


Analog image data a SEM are converted into digital data, and are processed by a spatial filtering processing, histogram processing, threshold value setting, three-valued image data processing, noise reduction and the like. Area of a pattern in the three-valued image data is calculated by a labelling and calculation processing, and a pattern is sequentially detected by comparing the area of the pattern with a reference area value. The comparison and detection of the same or similar patterns repeated in the SEM image are performed by using the area of the pattern, and are not performed by a shape of the pattern, thereby resulting a precise detection at high speed by using a microprocessor. Since it is possible to perform a pattern recognition from the area value even though the pattern does not have a characteristic, it is possible to precisely detect and recognize a pattern image in high speed.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for a pattern image processing with respect to image data which have been imaged by a scanning electron microscope (SEM), and more specifically to a pattern image processing apparatus and image processing method which are used for detecting a specified hole pattern within pattern images in which successive hole patterns are repeated on a very large scale integration circuit (VLSI) element and for simultaneously obtaining a diameter of the specified hole pattern.
The above-mentioned scanning electron microscope (SEM) is used for inspecting a hole pattern such as a contact hole which is formed on the VLSI element. This is to perform an image processing with respect to microscope image data which are imaged by the SEM, thereby to compare and detect as to whether or not the formed hole pattern is a desired shape by using a pattern recognition method.
There is a general method by a template matching method as a pattern recognition method in which a similar function is estimated to search the local maximum value and the global maximum value. In particular, there is well known a method for detecting a position at which a correlative coefficient becomes the maximum value by means of a fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm when the similar coefficient is a linear shape. In this method, a reference image (template) is previously registered, and the reference image and an object image are performed by two-dimensional FFT processing, respectively. A convolution between FFT processing images is performed, and then the convoluted processing images are performed by two dimensional inverse FFT processing to obtain an inverse FFT processing image. A pattern recognition is performed by detecting a position having the maximum value from values of respective position coordinates, namely correlative coefficients of the inverse FFT processing image.
In the case where a pattern recognition is performed by using an FFT algorithm, what pattern should be detected from repetitive patterns in the VLSI element depends on the objective image at that time. The problems occur with the above-mentioned condition as follows:
(1) The objective image has a pattern repetitively arranged as the same shape as the reference image, and a detected pattern depends on a condition for taking into the objective image because the correlative coefficient (a local maximum value) with each pattern has an extremely near value; PA1 (2) The pattern shape of the reference image does not necessarily have the sufficient features, thereby resulting in the case where a correlation failure occurs; PA1 (3) In the cases where the objective image has the convolution component, where the objective image has changes of scaling caused by the manufacturing step, and where the SEM image has a distortion, the correlation failure occurs; PA1 (4) Especially in an elliptic shape pattern, it is very rare for a revolution angle (for example, an angle formed by a beam scanning direction and a long diameter direction of the oval) of the images to coincide with between the reference image and the objective image, thereby reducing an accuracy of the pattern recognition because the local maximum value decreases; and PA1 (5) It is desired that a magnification of the image increases with a pattern finer because a size of the previously registered reference image has the optimum value by a shape and size of the pattern to be performed the pattern recognition. However, since the changes of the magnification corresponding to the pattern are unsuitable for a manufacturing process level, there is a problem that it is impossible to use a general processor.
Even though there is proposed a normalized correlation method as a method for solving the above problem, there is a problem that the general processor can not be used because the method has a huge calculation amount and is unsuitable for a processing time of the manufacturing process level except when the processor specified for the calculation is introduced.

Method and apparatus for processing pattern image data by SEM


A GC/MS includes a sample conduit 22 between a gas chromatographic column and an ionizing chamber 31 which is placed in a vacuum housing 35, and the heating mechanism for the sample conduit 22 and the ionizing chamber 31 includes: a heating unit 23 provided in contact with the sample conduit 22 for heating the sample conduit 22; a connecting bar 25 provided between the heating unit 23 and the ionizing chamber 31 for conducting heat from the heating unit 23 to the ionizing chamber 31 with a first thermal resistance; and a depressed cap 26 provided between the ionizing chamber 31 and the vacuum housing 35 for conducting heat from the ionizing chamber 31 to the vacuum housing 35 with a second thermal resistance. Since the sample conduit 22 is heated directly by the heating unit 23, the temperature of the sample conduit 22 is almost the same as that of the heating unit 23. Since the vacuum housing 35 has a large heat capacity and it is normally at room temperature, heat is conducted from the heating unit 23 to the ionizing chamber 31 via the connecting bar 25, and heat is conducted from the ionizing chamber 31 to the vacuum housing 35 via the depressed cap 26. At equilibrium, the temperature of the ionizing chamber 31 is at a value between those of the heating unit 23 and the vacuum housing 35, and the value can be determined by appropriately setting the ratio of the first and second thermal resistances of the thermal conducting members 25 and 26.

In a GC/MS, a sample is separated into a series of components of a column in the GC section, and the components are introduced through the interface section into the MS section, where the components are sequentially mass analyzed. As shown in FIG. 3, carrier gas flows at a constant rate through the gas chromatographic column 12 which is heated by the column oven 13 at an appropriate temperature in the GC section 10. When a sample is injected into the injector 11, the sample is vaporized and carried by the carrier gas to the column 12. While the sample passes through the column 12, the sample is separated into its constituent components with respect to the passing time, whereby the components are sequentially introduced through the interface section 20 into the ionizing chamber 31 of the MS section 30. The molecules of the components are ionized by electrons (in the case of electron impact ionization) in the ionizing chamber 31, and the ions are converged by the ion lens 32 and introduced into the quadrupole filter 33 (or other mass spectrometer). On the four rods of the quadrupole filter 33 is applied a combined voltage of a DC (direct current) voltage and an RF (radio frequency) voltage, and such ions having a certain mass number (i.e., the ratio of mass to electrical charge m/z of the ion) corresponding to the applied voltage can pass the quadrupole filter 33 and enter the ion detector 34.
The column 12 is set at a temperature in the range of 100-300.degree. C., where the temperature depends on the component to be analyzed or on other factors. In many cases, the temperature is set according to the boiling point of the component. If the temperature of the sample decreases at the end of the column 12, the flow of the sample decreases and the accuracy of the analysis deteriorates. That is why the interface section 20 is heated at about the same temperature as that of the column 12. The ionizing chamber 31 is heated at a temperature appropriate for the stable ionization of the molecules, which is normally tens of degree centigrade lower than that of the interface section 20.
The interface section 20 and the ionizing chamber 31 are thus heated separately, in conventional GC/MSs, and a heating unit is respectively provided and attached to each of the interface section 20 and the ionizing chamber 31. A primary disadvantage of the conventional configuration is that it raises the cost of the GC/MS. Another disadvantage is that the maintenance of the ionizing chamber 31 (e.g., cleaning) is troublesome since the ionizing chamber 31 is contained in a vacuum housing 35 made of stainless steel. First the lead wires are detached from the housing 35; the ionizing chamber 31 is drawn out of the housing 35; and then the heating unit is detached from the ionizing chamber 31.
FIG. 4 shows an improved interface section 20, in which a capillary tube 21 connected to the gas chromatographic column (not shown in FIG. 4) is inserted into and held by the interface line 22 made of stainless steel, and a heating unit 23 is attached to the interface line 22. At the end of the interface line 22 toward the MS section 30 is attached a connecting ring 24 having an appropriate thermal resistance. The connecting ring 24 thermally connects the interface line 22 and the ionizing chamber 31. Since, as described before, the temperature of the ionizing chamber 31 can be lower than that of the interface line 22, the interface line 22 is directly heated by the heating unit 23, and the ionizing chamber 31 is heated by the heat from the interface line 22 conducted through the connecting ring 24. This configuration requires only a single heating unit 23 and no heating unit is needed in the ionizing chamber 31, which reduces the cost and facilitates the maintenance of the ionizing chamber 31.
The GC/MS shown in FIG. 4 still has some drawbacks. Since the ionizing chamber 31 is heated by the heat from the interface line 22, the temperature of the ionizing chamber 31 is not stabilized until the temperature of the interface line 22 is stabilized. This requires a prolonged period of time before a proper sample analysis can be started. Another drawback is that the long interface line 22 inevitably invites non-uniformity in the temperature since a part of the interface line 22 is directly heated by the heating unit 23 while the other part is not heated but is deprived of the heat by the connecting ring 24. This deteriorates the accuracy of the analysis. Still another drawback is that precise temperature control of the ionizing chamber 31 is difficult because it is heated indirectly via the connecting ring 24.


The present invention provides novel antidipsotropic compounds. The invention further provides methods of inhibiting ALDH-2 using the compounds described herein. Methods for modulating alcohol consumption, alcohol dependence and/or alcohol abuse by administering the compounds of the invention to an individual are also provided. The present invention further provides a rationale for designing additional novel antidipsotropic compounds.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to compounds and methods for modulating alcohol consumption, alcohol dependence and/or alcohol abuse.
2. Description of the Related Art
Excessive alcohol consumption, alcohol dependence and alcohol abuse are among the most serious drug problems of Western societies. In the United States, it is estimated that up to 10% of the population abuse alcohol. The economic cost to the nation is estimated at more than $185 billion per year. Excessive alcohol consumption also brings with it social and psychological damages such as children born with fetal alcohol syndrome, alcohol related accidents, marital disharmony, spousal or child abuse, and the like. Accordingly, safe and effective treatments for limiting and/or preventing alcohol consumption are needed.
Success in the development of pharmacotherapies for addictive disorders, including nicotine and opioid addiction, and a more widespread recognition that alcohol dependence and abuse is a medical rather than moral problem have harnessed growing support in the search for and development of pharmaceutical agents for this medical condition. However, as alcoholism is a complex disease promoted by a wide range of factors, it has been difficult to develop effective modulators of alcohol consumption.
The compound daidzin has been shown to selectively suppress ethanol intake in ethanol-preferring Syrian golden hamsters as well as in other ethanol-drinking animal models such as rats (Keung et al. (1993) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90:10008; Keung et al (1994) EXS 71:371; Overstreet et al. (1996) Alcohol. Clin. Exp. Res. 20:659; Lin et al. (1996) Alcohol. Clin. Exp. Res. 20:1083-1087). However, daidzin administered orally does not affect hamster ethanol intake.
Daidzin inhibits the conversion of monoamines such as serotonin (5-HT) and dopamine (DA) into their respective acid metabolites, 5-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid (5-HIAA) and 3,4, -dihydrozyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC), in isolated hamster and rat liver mitochondria (Keung et al. (1998) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95:2198). Recent data indicates that the antidipsotropic activity of daidzin is not mediated by the monoamines but rather by their respective metabolic aldehyde intermediates, 5-hydroxyindoleacetaldehyde (5-HIAL) and/or 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetaldehyde (DOPAL), which accumulate in the presence of daidzin.
Several recent patents and a pending patent application address the use of daidzin and daidzin analogs useful for the inhibition of aldehyde dehydrogenase and/or alcohol consumption. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,204,369, 5,624,910 and 5,885,028 disclose methods of inhibiting the mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH-2) or treating alcohol consumption using daidzin and specific daidzin analogs. U.S. Pat. No. 6,121,010 discloses screening assays used to identify compounds for reducing alcohol consumption. U.S. Pat. No. 6,255,497 provides compounds which are daidzin analogs. U.S. Utility application Ser. No. 09/616,718 is directed to methods for inhibiting ALDH-2 and reducing alcohol consumption in a human using daidzin analogs. Each issued patent and patent application is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Despite the development of compounds such as daidzin and daidzin analogs, there remains a need to develop antidipsotropic compounds having improved efficacy and enhanced pharmacological properties.

Compounds useful for the inhibition of ALDH

The Endowment for Research in Human Biology, Inc.


A method for driving a device that enables using a device without using a conventional device driver that is dependent on the operating system of the computer. The method has a binary data conversion step which receives a mark-up language document written in a mark-up language and converts the mark-up language document to binary data composed of commands and data that can be processed by the device. The method also includes a binary data output step in which the converted binary data is output to the device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device driver processing method, a computer, and a processing system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Printers, scanners, and other types of devices are commonly used with a computer. Device drivers for controlling each type of device must be installed to use each device. The device driver is generally installed on the computer to which the device is connected. See, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Appl. Pub. JP-A-2002-251347.
Such device drivers are typically specific to the operating system of the computer on which the device driver is installed. The user must install the device driver that matches the computer operating system. However, in addition to being difficult and confusing for users that are not familiar with computers, installing software also requires knowing the type and version of the operating system in order to ensure that the matching device driver is installed. This can be a burden for the user. Replacing one computer with another computer also requires reinstalling the device driver on the new computer, which requires repeating the same troublesome installation process. The device manufacturer must also provide multiple versions of the same device driver in order to enable using their products on different computer systems.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method, computer, and system for an operating system independent device driver


A memory system (10) utilizes miss caching by incorporating a small fully-associative miss cache (42) between a cache (18 or 20) and second-level cache (26). Misses in the cache (18 or 20) that hit in the miss cache have only a one cycle miss penalty, as opposed to a many cycle miss penalty without the miss cache (42). Victim caching is an improvement to miss caching that loads a small, fully associative cache (52) with the victim of a miss and not the requested line. Small victim caches (52) of 1 to 4 entries are even more effective at removing conflict misses than miss caching. Stream buffers (62) prefetch cache lines starting at a cache miss address. The prefetched data is placed in the buffer (62) and not in the cache (18 or 20). Stream buffers (62) are useful in removing capacity and compulsory cache misses, as well as some instruction cache misses. Stream buffers (62) are more effective than previously investigated prefetch techniques when the next slower level in the memory hierarchy is pipelined. An extension to the basic stream buffer, called multi-way stream buffers (62), is useful for prefetching along multiple intertwined data reference streams.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a system and method for improving performance of a memory hierarchy in data processing. More particularly, it relates to such a system and method which improves system performance of a cache memory. Most especially, the invention relates to such a system and method which substantially reduces miss penalties for cache memory accesses.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Cache performance is becoming increasingly important since it has a dramatic effect on the performance of advanced processors. Table 1 lists some cache miss times and the effect of a miss on machine performance. Over the last decade, cycle time has been decreasing much faster than main memory access time. The average number of machine cycles per instruction has also been decreasing dramatically, especially when the transition from complex instruction set computer (CISC) machines to reduced instruction set computer (RISC) machines is included. These two effects are multiplicative and result in tremendous increases in miss cost. For example, a cache miss on a VAX 11/780 only costs 60% of the average instruction execution. Thus, even if every instruction had a cache miss, the machine performance would slow down by only 60%. However, if a RISC machine like the WRL Titan has a miss, the cost is almost ten instruction times. Moreover, these trends seem to be continuing, especially the increasing ratio of memory access time to machine cycle time. In the future, a cache miss all the way to main memory on a superscalar machine executing two instructions per cycle could cost well over 100 instruction times. Even with careful application of well-known cache design techniques, machines with main memory latencies of over 100 instruction times can easily lose over half of their potential performance to the memory hierarchy. This makes both hardware and software research on advanced memory hierarchies increasingly important.
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ cycles cycle mem miss miss per time time cost cost Machine instr (ns) (ns) (cycles) (instr) ______________________________________ VAX 11/780 10.0 200 1200 6 .6 WRL Titan 1.4 45 540 12 8.6 ? 0.5 4 280 70 140.0 ______________________________________

Data processing system and method with prefetch buffers


An endoscope apparatus includes an endoscope having a distal end, a port at the distal end, and a channel extending through the endoscope to the distal end and communicating with the port; and a bending insertion instrument extensible through the channel and the port. The bending insertion instrument includes angle wires provided at a distal end portion of the bending insertion instrument, and shape memory alloy wires connected to proximal end portions of the angle wires, the angle wires having a lower electrical resistance than an electrical resistance of the shape memory alloy wires. The bending insertion instrument is inserted through the channel of the endoscope such that a portion of the bending insertion instrument, which includes the shape memory alloy wires is located in the channel of the endoscope, and a bending portion of the bending insertion instrument which includes the angle wire is located at the distal end portion of the bending insertion instrument and is projected through the port of the endoscope.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bending operation apparatus for a tubular insertion member, which is designed to bend the insertion portion of, e.g., an endoscope, or a tubular insertion member such as a catheter in arbitrary directions.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional bending operation apparatus, a bending portion, which can be bent/deformed, is formed at the insertion portion of, e.g., an endoscope or at the distal end side of a flexible tube such as a catheter. The apparatus allows an operator to remotely control a bending operation of the bending portion through an operating portion at hand.
A bending operation apparatus of this type has been developed, which is designed such that small actuators constituted by shape memory alloy (SMA) members, pneumatic type artificial rubber muscles, and the like are arranged at the insertion portion of an endoscope, i.e., the distal end side of a flexible tube, and a bending operation of the bending portion is performed by the small actuators through angle wires.
In this case, a plurality of bending pieces are arranged in the bending portion along its axial direction and are pivotally coupled to each other. One end of each angle wire is fixed to the distal end of the bending portion. Each of the above-mentioned small actuators is fixed to the other end of a corresponding one of the angle wires.
When the small actuators are operated, two or four angle wires are pulled, thus freely bending the bending portion in two or four directions through the respective bending pieces.
If the apparatus is designed such that four angle wires are independently pulled to allow bending operations in four directions, the bending portion of the endoscope can be aimed in an arbitrary direction within a range of 360.times. by combining bending operations performed through a plurality of angle wires.
In the conventional bending operation apparatus having the above-described arrangement, however, small actuators, equal in number to the bending directions of the bending portion, must be independently arranged at the distal end side of the flexible tube. For example, if four angle wires are used to bend the bending portion in four directions, four small actuators need to be independently arranged at the distal end side of the flexible tube. This interferes with a reduction in the diameter of the flexible tube.

Bending insertion instrument to be inserted into a body cavity through an endoscope


An applique is intended to be affixed to a timepiece dial, and includes at least one foot portion having a first end attached to the applique and a second, free end, the foot portion being arranged to be capable of insertion into a hole provided in the dial. The foot portion includes, on the side of the free end thereof, a plastically deformable area arranged to form, after deformation, once the foot portion is inserted into the hole in the dial, at least one locking area of the foot portion on the dial.

Appliques or applied chapters are the hour numerals or symbols cut out of sheet metal and then bonded or riveted to the dial. Appliques are provided with feet portions which are mounted on the dial in pre-formed drilled holes. Once in place, the foot portion is lapped and riveted, welded or glued inside the drilled hole. Riveting consists in pressing the free end of the foot portion inside the drilled hole, forcing it to enter the drilled hole to obtain a bonded joint. Riveting requires the application of a certain amount of force on the foot portion in order to deform the material, so this technique cannot be used for fragile dials. Further, riveting requires the application of an axial riveting force which tends to push the applique out of the dial.
To affix appliques by welding requires the selection of suitable materials, which limits the possible materials that can be used to make the appliques and the dial. For example, it is not possible to weld gold appliques onto a ceramic dial.
Moreover, if the assembly is unsatisfactory, it is not then possible, when the appliques are affixed by welding or adhesive bonding, to remove improperly positioned appliques or to make adjustments without damaging the dial.
Finally, known techniques for assembling appliques on a dial, such as riveting, welding or adhesive bonding, all have the drawback of not allowing inspection of the hold of the appliques on all the assembled pieces. Indeed, once the applique is assembled to the dial, the quality of its fastening cannot be reliably tested in a non-destructive manner. Quality control cannot therefore be applied to the entire product. Further, it is not possible to make an automated visual inspection simply by taking a photograph of the exterior of the assembly. Indeed, the deformations of the foot portion obtained by riveting are too different from each other, making automated interpretation of the results very complex.

The Swatch Group Research and Development Ltd


The invention relates to the field of operating, monitoring and controlling mills of the mining industry. It specifically relates to a system and a method for in-line determination of the characteristics of worn balls and pieces thereof, which have been ejected from a semi-autogenous mineral grinding (SAG) mill to the external classifiers.

A SAG Mill (SAG Mill) (1) is an equipment, which basically is made up of a horizontal rotating drum, with a charge end (6) where ore to be grinded gets in and a discharge end (7) of grinded ore that has reached the desired size, on the other side. At the charge end (6) some other metal grinding media are also added, generally these are rounded balls, named as grinding balls. In case of wet grinding, water is also added. In this way, the internal charge of the SAG Mill is made up of grinding balls, ore and water (8) all of them rolling constantly inside the Milling Chamber (2) while the SAG Mill is spinning. FIGS. 1 to 3 show the internal charge (8) of the SAG Mill (1) is made up of ore (10), balls (9) and water, in case of wet grinding. Both the ore and the balls of the internal charge (8) inside the Milling Chamber (2) reduce their size, due to the constant spinning of the SAG Mill (1), as the ore (10) and the balls (9) when tumbling are hit among each other thus causing grinding of the ore (10) and also abrasion, due to the constant relative friction among the different materials, apart from the attrition when the ore particles (10) are simultaneously subject to friction and compression forces, because of the tumbling charge. When the ore (10) contained in the charge (8) reaches its set size, it passes through the slots (5) of a screen (4) from the Milling Chamber (2) to the Discharge Chamber (3), and then comes out of the SAG Mill (1) through the discharge end (7).
One of the most important components of a SAG Mill when milling ore is the internal grating (4), which has several slots (5) with a determined size, so that the ore (10) reaching such size comes out of the SAG Mill (1). The balls (9) used as grinding components in the SAG Mill (1), when added to the SAG Mill have a size higher than that of the slot (5).
As the process continues, the balls (9) become worn out due to abrasion and their diameter is getting smaller, thus becoming smaller balls (11) reaching the slot size (5) and, therefore, also passing through the Discharge Chamber (3) and then leaving the discharge end (7) thus coming out of the SAG Mill (1). Likewise, during the milling process, balls (9) get broken. These broken balls (12) also reach a size which is enough to pass through the slot (5), just as shown in FIG. 3. According to the foregoing, the grinded ore (10) the worn out balls (11) the pieces of broken balls (12) come out of the SAG Mill (1) and also water when dealing with wet grinding.
During the operation of the SAG Mill, the grating (4) can also get cracked in one of the sections, just as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. In this way, the opening covers two linked slots (5), thus causing a bigger opening (13), through which ore (10) and bigger size balls (9) may pass through, which should remain inside the Milling Chamber (2). This problem can be seen in FIG. 5 of the Prior Art. Cracks on the gratings may also happen elsewhere in other areas, such as for example, at a corner, thus generating bigger openings, just as shown in FIG. 7. Just as the foregoing, there is a possibility that cracks have various shapes.
When the SAG Mill rotates the kinetic energy generated on the internal charge passes through several stages during the process. This is the main energy the internal charge (8), ore, water and grinding components have. Part of it becomes heat energy transferred to the water, ore (10) and the balls (9). Mainly the latter two as they remain a longer time inside the Milling Chamber (2), until their size is reduced enough to leave the SAG Mill (1). Out of these two, grinding components (9) remain in the Milling Chamber (2) a much longer time than the ore (10), reaching to periods of 20 a 40 days or longer, depending on process conditions, size of replenished ball and size of the opening in the screen. That is why grinding components have a higher increase in heat energy.
Likewise, under certain conditions, the energy generated when balls (9) crash is high enough as to fracture or break them, so they can come out of the Milling Chamber (2) of the SAG Mill (1) as broken balls (12), just as shown in FIGS. 3 and 6.
Regarding effectiveness of the milling process, it is important to keep a constant amount of balls (9) in the Milling Chamber (2); therefore, non controlled loss of balls (9) due to balls wearing out and/or breaking or because the screen (13) is broken are situations to be detected ASAP in order to take control actions. It is important to highlight that the high costs of the milling process are allocated on power consumption used to rotate the SAG Mill and purchase of grinding components.
That is why it is necessary to know—as accurately as possible—the amount of grinding components coming out from the SAG Mill, in order to replenish the necessary amount of balls and keep their constant flow inside the Milling Chamber. It is also important to know if the balls come out as worn out balls or cracked balls, thus allowing to take actions on the milling process and/or on the quality of the balls.
In the state of the Art there have been some attempts to solve part of this problem. For instance, the document WO 2016/000024 mentions a Monitoring Device, i.e. a case-protected camera which is fixed to a structure at the discharge end of the feeding duct and connected to a flange coming out of the outlet structure. The flange is also compatible with a light embedded in a protecting case. The feeding duct feeds the ore in the mill. The cases of the camera and the light have a sight glass cleaned by using water blasting. The sight glass is protected by a shade which can be opened for internal inspection of the mill. The arrangement allows to classify the charge inside the mill while the mill is still under operations.
The document WO 2013/067651 mentions a direct Visual Monitoring System capable of scanning inside the rotating mill. This device is made up of a Monitoring Unit, one Main Control Unit and one Operation & Management Unit. The Monitoring Unit is positioned inside the Feeding chute and is adjusted, according to the physical features of such feeding chute and the dimensions of the mill, in order to have a direct view from inside the mill. The operating method is to install a set of sensors to measure temperature inside the mill; to determine the acceleration at the vertical axis, the side horizontal axis and the front horizontal axis, according to time; to take bidimensional images on geometric conditions/thermal bidimensional images inside the mill; and perform remote detection in one or more plans.
The document WO 2007/124528 mentions a Monitoring Method for a SAG Mill or an AG Mill. The Monitoring Method of the mill deals with taking real time images of the charge arrangement inside the mill when it is spinning. The method also includes using a processor to take pictures of the charge inside the mill, while the charge is tumbling, in order to determine what portion is in contact with the inner wall of the drum of the mill in the areas that are detected.
In the Prior Art there are some components aimed to determine internal charge arrangement, based on temperature changes captured by infrared-spectrum scanning cameras, as the charge modifies the thermal radiation or emissivity. However, none of these components can scan outside the mill, at the discharge end, not to mention the surface of the external screen or the conveyor belt that removes ore particles and balls exceeding the slot of the external screen. Identification and featuring of the worn out balls or balls pieces coming out from the mill are not considered either.
That is why, one of the goals of this invention is to implement a system aimed to detect worn out balls and balls pieces passing through the screen of the SAG Mill which are stuck on the surface of the mill external screen, whether this is a screen or a trommel. If it is not possible to physically perform detection at the screen, this is performed on the surface of the conveyor belt removing the material stuck on the surface of the screen.
A second goal of this invention is to quantify the worn out balls and balls pieces passing through the screen of a SAG Mill which get stuck on the surface of the mill external screen, whether it is a screen or a trommel or on the conveyor belt. Apart from determining the amount of worn out balls and balls pieces their shape and size shall also be determined.
A third goal of this invention is to indirectly detect the damages on the internal grating of the SAG Mill, by identifying the balls and ore with a bigger size than that of the slot size of the screen. If oversize material comes out from the SAG Mill, an alarm shall be triggered to be used for process control.
A fourth goal this invention, is to send an alarm for the Process Control System when feature parameters of the ore and/or balls coming out from the SAG Mill are out of range, for instance, excess of broken balls and/or change of the geometric features of the pieces coming out, for instance, change of shape from rounded to irregular shape, broken, etc.
A fifth goal of this invention is to determine the slot size at the internal grating, by determining the maximum size of the balls and/or ore coming out from the SAG Mill, thus avoiding to stop the SAG Mill to take some direct measurements.
A sixth goal of this invention is to calculate an online approximation of the steel inventory trend inside the mill (level of volumetric filling of the balls), when the mill ball-feeding information is entered in the system.

System and a process to determine online the characteristics of expended balls and the stitches of the same, which have been expulsed from a semiautogen mineral grinding mill


Examples of the present disclosure provide devices and methods for processing a memory cell. A method embodiment includes removing a key-hole shaped column from a material, to define a profile for the memory cell. The method also includes partially filling the key-hole shaped column with a first number of materials. The method further includes filling the remaining portion of the key-hole shaped column with a second number of materials.

Memory devices are typically provided as internal, semiconductor, integrated circuits in computers or other electronic devices. There are many different types of memory including random-access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), resistive random access memory (RRAM), phase change random access memory (PCRAM), magnetic random access memory (MRAM), and flash memory, among others.
Uses for flash memory include memory for solid state drives (SSDs), personal computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), digital cameras, cellular telephones, portable music players (e.g., MP3 players), and movie players, among various other electronic apparatuses. Flash memory cells can be organized in an array architecture (e.g., a NAND or NOR architecture) and can be programmed to a target (e.g., desired) data state. For instance, electric charge can be placed on or removed from a charge storage structure (e.g., a floating gate or a charge trap) of a memory cell to program the cell into one of two data states, such as to represent one of two binary digits (e.g., 1 or 0).
Flash memory cells can also be programmed to one of more than two data states, such as to represent one of, for example, 1111, 0111, 0011, 1011, 1001, 0001, 0101, 1101, 1100, 0100, 0000, 1000, 1010, 0010, 0110, and 1110. Such cells may be referred to as multi state memory cells, multiunit cells, or multilevel cells (MLCs). MLCs can allow the manufacture of higher density memories without increasing the number of memory cells since each cell can represent more than one digit (e.g., more than one bit). One of the data states can be an erased state.
Another technique for allowing the manufacture of higher density memories may include stacking memory cells in a vertical arrangement (creating a "3D" architecture). As the memory cells are scaled down in size and densities of such devices increase, manufacture and functionality of such devices may introduce challenges.


An automated electronic invoicing and payment consolidation system for providing remote customer review of customer account information from at least two invoicers. In the preferred embodiment, the system includes three primary components: a consolidated invoicer interface; a remote customer interface for accessing the consolidated invoicer interface; and a payment engine. In the preferred embodiment, the consolidated invoicer interface provides at least one access point to each of the invoicers; sets the access point of each of the invoicers for at least one customer; authenticates each of the customers; and automatically requests account information for the customers directly from each of the invoicers. Also, in the preferred embodiment, the payment engine sends the customer payment instructions from the customer directly to each of the invoicers.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to automated billing systems and, more particularly, to an automated electronic invoicing and payment consolidation system for providing remote customer review of billing information from at least two invoicers.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Invoicing and payment collection has always been a very labor intensive and paper intensive process. Typically, the process has involved an invoicer, usually a business, who prepares an invoice detailing the goods and services provided and the charges therefor. The invoice is mailed to a customer who verifies the correctness of the invoice and returns a payment coupon of some type along with a paper check to the invoicer. The invoicer then submits the paper check to its bank for payment through; for example, the Automated Clearing House (ACH) network. Other similar payment systems include writing a credit card number, endorsing and preauthorization to draft an account on a monthly basis up to preset limits, such as regularly paying utility bills from a checking account.
With the advent of the Internet, invoicers have expressed the desire for the time-honored process of paper billing and payment to be automated. One approach that is somewhat popular is electronic bill payment services. In this approach, customers receive an invoice that is presented by paper and a separate payment service, often branded by a bank, allows payment to be pushed to the invoicer. The customer takes their paper bill and logs on to an Internet-based service that receives payment instructions resulting in either an electronic payment or, more often, a paper draft that is mailed on behalf of the customer.
This service, while in some ways convenient to the customer, can result in errors, as payment is often received with data irregularities that prevent accurate posting. Further, the customer must still handle the bills in much the same way as before and must actually give instructions to pay earlier, since 3-5 days may be required to perform the payment process. Checkfree is the largest provider of this type of service.
Most industry observers have noted that a more reliable and efficient processing for invoicing is for the customer to receive an electronic version of the invoice with an opportunity to make an electronic payment or dispute individual line items in the same session. To this end, a number of different approaches are known.
One approach is direct invoice presentment and payment as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,044,362 and co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/535,334. This invention established a direct link between customer and invoicer for the presentation and payment of electronic invoices. This technique is preferable to most invoicers in that it provides the strongest branding, flexibility, clarity in support operations, lowest cost and allows the invoicer to maintain current banking relations. However, one disadvantage of this approach is that the customer must access multiple accounts, each with different password and sign up requirements.
Another approach is consolidated bill presentment, whereby invoicers send their raw billing data to a central service that consolidates the data into a list of bills to display to customers of the companies participating with the service. Companies send their data to the consolidating service in a "Push Model." This is also referred to as "thick consolidation," as a large database is created, which combines data from many billers into a central service. Such electronic systems are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,383,113, issued to Kight et al.; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,649,117 and 5,956,700 issued to Landry; U.S. Pat. No. 5,283,829, issued to Anderson et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,220,501, issued to Lawlor et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,465,206, issued to Hilt et al., the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.
In these electronic billing and payment consolidation systems, the third party's website is the central point of access as customers login to access bills. Often, the third party consolidation service may allow, for a fee, a different organization to brand the page that the invoicers' customers might access. For example, Company A could send its raw billing data to a third party consolidation service and when the customers of Company A's access their invoices, the page would be branded by a bank or an Internet portal. While the invoice presented to the customer would still include Company A's logo, branding of the overall service, enrollment, banner ads, and the service relationship would be controlled by the third party consolidation service and its licensees.
This type of service offers some advantages to invoicers and customers alike. For invoicers, this approach is easy to adopt for a pilot as the service is outsourced and the invoicer need only provide raw billing files to start the process. Also, for the customers, enrollment and password management is simplified and bill review operations can be more efficient, as customers can access one website to see multiple invoices. Although these systems appear to streamline the process, they, in fact, may add a great deal of complexity and no small amount of expense to the process:                First, there are many consolidation services and customers will have distinct preferences in some cases. However, many invoicers feel they are compelled by the marketplace to work with multiple consolidation services to get their bills out to as many places as possible for added customer convenience. Since raw billing data and other reference information must be sent or pushed to different services, extensive operational investments must be made. Specifically, data formats are often different and the invoicer's internal support team must understand the nuances of each service. Also, different banking interfaces and payment posting routines can cause complexity in supporting multiple consolidators. Thus, the potential for cost savings of electronic presentment and payment can often be lost in the complexity.        Second, the service fees charged per invoice by consolidation service providers are often high and, once again, the potential for cost savings can be lost.        Third, branding is often no longer controlled by the invoicer, but is controlled by the third party consolidation service or by whomever purchases the right to re-brand from the third party consolidation service.        Fourth, the invoicer often looses control as to which parties are able to present the invoicer's invoices. In fact, a company that is deemed competitive by the invoicer might facilitate a bill consolidation service that includes bills of the invoicer by virtue of a business relationship with the third party consolidation service. As an example, a mortgage bill from a private financing company might be reviewed by a customer at a third party site re-branded by a competitor bank that also offers mortgage re-financing online through the bank. The banner ads presented on the bank's behalf might result in a loss of the private financing company's customer visiting that third party site.        Fifth, data sent to the third party is time sensitive. Subsequent changes of customer data at the invoicer are not reflected or updated in the electronic invoice presented. The electronic bill consolidation service can quickly become unsynchronized with data at the invoicer causing customer confusion that can lead to expensive user support.        Sixth, customer care is difficult in this environment since relationships may be confused for troubleshooting and support. Problems might result from reformatting or biller and there will be confusion as to the cause and remedy of the problem        Seventh, there is no workable approach to "consolidate consolidators." That is, it is unlikely that a single third party consolidation service will acquire data from every invoicer of a specific individual service customer. The competitive nature of the market makes it almost certain that an individual will need to log on to more than a single, third party site to review all of their invoices since no single third party consolidator is likely to have enrolled all of a specific individual service customer's invoicers.
Still another technique for electronic bill presentment and payment is "thin consolidation." In this model, only summary data is sent or pushed to the central consolidation service. As customers login to see a list of bills and payment options, they can select a navigation option that links them to detailed information located at the invoicer during sessions managed and controlled by the central, third party service. While this approach provides more control to the invoicer over important customer operations, it also has significant drawbacks:                First, the central service largely limits the processing and usage options at the invoicer. For example, registration or enrollment in the service starts with the central service and invoicers do not always get full disclosure of what information was supplied at registration. Requiring enrollment at the consolidation service in many ways passes "ownership" of the customer to the third party consolidation service, rather than the invoicer.        Second, business relationships for payment are dictated by the central service in these models—not at the invoicer. Payment is required through the third party consolidation service.        Third, disputes regarding payment are accomplished at the third party consolidator, creating a difficult process of communication, customer care and reconciliation for the invoicer.        Fourth, invoicers lose branding opportunities and cannot control whom the third party consolidation service can allow to re-brand the service. The consolidated nature of the data in the service makes it difficult to provide an environment whereby its invoice summary could not be displayed by a re-branding portal that may advertise a competitor.        Fifth, thin consolidation, as currently practiced, does not allow the customer to login to see invoice detail directly at the biller, but must always start with the consolidation service.
An invoicing system should allow invoicers to maintain their direct relationship with customers, yet allows the convenience of simplifying access across multiple sites. Also, customers should be able to easily see a list of summary data from invoices and link to invoicers' sites without the biller giving up control over the process. There also needs to be a simple approach whereby an invoicer can "write once" for multiple publication by alternate access sites. Such a process would allow the invoicer to put summary data for inclusion in a list of bills, and then allow secondary presentment points to retrieve the data (Pull Model) from the invoicer's site for presentment. Invoicers should have means to make their summary data available for the consolidators to retrieve dynamically, rather than the current "push" consolidation technique, to ensure the most current data.
This requires consolidation techniques that preserve the branding of the biller, the customer care relationship, the choice of financial partners and the marketing opportunities of the invoicer. Such a system should not require that the provider of valuable content—in this case invoicers providing bill summary or fall, electronic billing data—to have to pay a third party to take the valuable content—only for that party to sell to additional parties down the line. The system should allow indexing across multiple direct sites that provides convenience to customers without removing important operations and control considerations from invoicers. Invoicers should also be able to select which sites could present bill and payment summaries, purchase orders, shipping documents, etc. Data should be provided in number of techniques to simplify retrieval and inclusion into other bill lists. The preferred embodiment includes provision of graphic images that are retrieved by the customer's browser as well as XML strings that are passed to secondary presentment partners.
Thus, there exists a need for a simple, straight forward system and method of automated electronic invoicing and payment that directly involves the invoicer and the customer while, at the same time, would allow customers to visit a invoicer's website through a single portal or bank site and review a summary of all of their bills and then visit invoicers' Web sites. Such a system would permit presentation of truly current data to the customer while, at the same time, provide timely payment to the invoicer. Also, since there is no need for a third party payment engine, the invoicer gains both lower cost per transaction and can control "branding" at the URL or portal rather than having to show the banner ads of a third party provider.


An information recording method is provided, which comprises the steps of (a) determining a power level of a pulse sequence, (b) generating the pulse sequence based on the power level determined, and (c) irradiating an information recording medium with light corresponding to the pulse sequence generated to record information represented by at least either a recording mark or a space onto the information recording medium. The pulse sequence comprises a multi-pulse chain for forming the recording mark. The multi-pulse chain comprises a plurality of pulses having a peak power level. In the step (a), a bottom power level is determined between the peak power level and an erase power level which is lower than the peak power level while keeping an interpulse spacing constant.

Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-222819 discloses a technique for irradiating an information recording medium with light pulses having multi-pulse modulated waveforms to be recorded, thereby recording marks onto the information recording medium with a high transfer rate and a high density (see paragraphs [0012] and [0013], FIG. 2). In this technique, the duty ratio of a recording pulse sequence is increased with an increase in the transfer rate of data so as to form recording marks having an appropriate shape and width.
However, the high transfer rate waveform modulation is limited by the modulation driving rate of a laser diode used for recording. Therefore, even if the duty ratio of a recording pulse sequence is increased with an increase in the recording transfer rate, it is not possible to form recording marks having an appropriate shape or width.
FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining the formation of an inappropriate recording mark.
FIG. 10(a) shows a channel clock having a cycle T.
FIG. 10(b) shows a recording pulse sequence including a multi-pulse chain having a duty ratio of 50%. A plurality of pulses included in the multi-pulse chain each have a pulse width (Tmp) of 0.5T.
FIG. 10(c) shows a recording light emission waveform which is modulated and driven between a recording peak power level Pp and an erase power level Pe. If the sum of the rising time and falling time of the recording light emission waveform is sufficiently smaller than the pulse width (Tmp=0.5T), the bottom power level Pe′ of the multi-pulse chain can be designed to be substantially equal to the erase power level Pe (Pe=Pe′).
However, when information is recorded at a high transfer rate, the multi-pulse chain, which is used to form a substantially middle portion of the recording mark, lacks heat energy even if the duty ratio of the multi-pulse chain is 50%. This is because the influence of properties of the recording medium (e.g., the heat conduction of the recording medium, the heat storage of the recording medium, etc.) is increased with an increase in the transfer rate.
FIG. 10(d) shows the shape of a recording mark whose middle portion has a narrower mark width than that of the opposite ends. This recording mark is formed by irradiating a recording medium with a recording pulse sequence shown in FIG. 10(b).
FIG. 10(e) shows the amplitude of a reproduced signal which is obtained by reproducing information from the recording mark shown in FIG. 10(d). A reproduced signal corresponding to the middle portion of the recording mark has a reduced level of amplitude.
FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining the formation of a recording mark using a technique disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-222819.
FIG. 11(a) shows a channel clock having a cycle T.
FIG. 11(b) shows a recording pulse sequence including a multi-pulse chain having a duty ratio of 70%. A plurality of pulses included in the multi-pulse chain each have a pulse width (Tmp) of 0.7T. An interpulse spacing (Tmp′) included in the multi-pulse chain is 0.3T.
In the technique of FIG. 10, when information is recorded at a high transfer rate, the multi-pulse chain, which is used to form a substantially middle portion of the recording mark, lacks heat energy even if the duty ratio of the multi-pulse chain is 50%. To solve such a problem, in the technique of FIG. 11, the pulse width Tmp of each pulse included in the multi-pulse chain is broadened, while the interpulse spacing Tmp′ is shortened.
FIG. 11(c) shows a recording light emission waveform which is modulated and driven between a recording peak power level Pp and an erase power level Pe.
When information is recorded at a high transfer rate, the sum of the rising time and falling time of the recording light emission waveform is equal to or greater than the interpulse spacing Tmp′(=0.3T). Therefore, the bottom power level Pe′ of the multi-pulse chain is higher than the erase power level Pe (Pe<Pe′). Thus, the bottom power level Pe′ of the multi-pulse chain cannot be substantially equal to the erase power level Pe (Pe=Pe′). In this manner, the bottom power level Pe′ of the multi-pulse chain varies depending on the pulse width Tmp. For this reason, if information recording is performed at a high transfer rate which makes it difficult to control the pulse width Tmp, the bottom power level Pe′ cannot be controlled. As a result, it is not possible to form recording marks having an appropriate shape or width.

Information recording method, information recording apparatus and information recording medium

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Query models for document sets (such as XML documents or records in a relational database) typically involve a schema defining the structure of the documents. However, rigidly defined schemas often raise difficulties with document validation with even inconsequential structural variations. Additionally, queries developed against schema-constrained documents are often sensitive to structural details and variations that are not inconsequential to the query, resulting in inaccurate results and development complications, and that may break upon schema changes. Instead, query models for hierarchically structured documents that enable “twig” queries specifying only the structural details of document nodes that are relevant to the query (e.g., students in a student database having a sibling named “Lee” and a teacher named “Smith,” irrespective of unrelated structural details of the document). Such “twig” query models may enable a more natural query development, and continued accuracy of queries in the event of unrelated schema variations and changes.

Within the field of computing, many scenarios involve the storage of a document set comprising one or more documents, such as records in one or more relational tables of a relational database or a set of extensible markup language (XML) or JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) documents, wherein respective documents comprise a set of fields having field names and one or more field values. In many such scenarios, the documents are stored in a structured manner, such as according to a relational schema of a database or a logical schema specified by an XML schema. Often, the schema is enforced to ensure that the documents of the document set comply with the schema.
In such scenarios, a query may be provided by an application or a user as a request to identify the documents of the document set satisfying the criteria of the query. For document sets that are constrained by a defined structure, the query may specify a selection of documents according to various details of the structure (e.g., for database records in a relational database, the query may specify a request for the selection of records from a particular table having fields with values matching a particular query criterion, and may identify the fields according to the names identified in the relational schema). For document sets that are not constrained by a defined structure, the query may specify more general queries, such as generalized text matching against the textual contents of the documents.

Scalable, schemaless document query model


The combination of a closure (110) and an in-bore fitment (201) is provided for a container. The closure (110) comprises a generally plain crown (120) with a tubular skirt (130) depending from its periphery. The tubular skirt (130) has a first weakened zone (140) defining a first tamperevident portion (150); the first weakened zone (140) is adapted to break on first opening of the container. The tubular skirt (150) has a second weakened zone (190) defining a second tamperevident portion (150). The second weakened zone (190) is protected from breakage on first opening of the container but is arranged to break if an attempt is made to remove the in-bore fitment (201) from the container.

The present invention relates generally to a closure for a container, and particularly to a closure of the type comprising a generally plain crown with a tubular skirt depending from the periphery thereof. An example of this type of closure is a metal (such as aluminium) shell, most commonly used as a closure for bottles containing spirits.
In general the tubular skirt of this type of closure has a circumferential line of weakening which defines a break band. The break band is in some way secured to the bottle, for example by rolling part of it under the bottle transfer bead, so that when the closure is first opened it is split along the line of weakening. The uppermost part of the closure then serves as a cap for reclosing the bottle and the break band is retained on the bottle. The top cap and lower break band are irreversibly separated and this provides visual evidence that the bottle has been opened.
An example of such a closure is shown in FIG. 1. The closure (10) comprises a generally plain crown (20) with a tubular skirt (30) depending from the periphery thereof. The tubular skirt (30) has a circumferential line of weakening (40) which divides the closure into an upper top cap (45) and a lower tamperevident break band (50).
In many cases, and particularly in bottles for spirits, an in-bore fitment such as a non-return fitment is provided. The non-return fitment (not shown) can be secured within the closure (10) by four circumferentially
spaced retaining dimples (80) which extend into a retaining channel of the fitment. The fitment may be held in a bottle by turning the free end (31) of the closure skirt (30) under the transfer bead of the bottle neck and/or by retaining fins present on the fitment which jam it into the bottle neck. As such, when the top cap (40) is rotated to open the bottle, the skirt (30) breaks along the line of weakening (40) so that the cap (40) is removed. The lower break band (50) remains in place on the bottle neck, held by its connection to the fitment and by the turned under free end (31). If the fitment is removed, which may be the case if unwanted refilling of the bottle is attempted, the lower break band is generally unaffected.
Whether or not the lower break band is removed with the non-return fitment there is no visible evidence that the fitment has been removed, other than perhaps the presence or absence of the break band. The present invention seeks to address the lack of such a secondary tamperevident feature.
Document DE 3906164 describes a plastic closure with an upper tear band and a lower break band. The tear band must be removed before a top cap can be unscrewed. The break band breaks if a lower cap, which retains a pouring fitment, is removed.


In order to provide an Al/Ti layered interconnection which comprises a Ti (titanium) layer and an Al layer composed of Al (aluminum) or an Al alloy both formed over a base in this order and is capable of retarding a reaction between Ti and Al and preventing pinholes from occurring, the present invention is characterized as follows: The Al layer contains Si (silicon) in a portion adjacent to the Ti layer in a concentration capable of retarding an interface reaction between Ti and Al. Further, the concentration of Si in an Al layer portion on the side above the adjacent portion is set to a concentration lower than a concentration for allowing the upper Al layer portion to produce pinholes even at the maximum.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a structure of an Al/Ti layered interconnection heavily used as an interconnection or the like for a semiconductor device and a method of forming the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
An Al/Ti stacked or layered interconnection has been known as an interconnection for providing excellent resistance to electromigration (EM). Since Al formed over Ti (normally oriented to a (0002) surface or plane) is firmly oriented onto a (111) plane and an interconnection in which a small amount of Ti has entered an Al layer, is enhanced, the EM resistance has been considered to improve. It is however known that when a structure formed by simply stacking a Ti layer and an Al layer on each other is used, both layers undergo a chemical reaction at an interface between the layers by a heat treatment (corresponding to heat treatment often used during a manufacturing process of a semiconductor device) at a temperature of 400.degree. C. or above thereby to increase wiring resistances. This has been disclosed in, for example, a reference I: Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 23, No. 2, 15, p.99 (1973) and a reference II: J. Appl. Phys., 69(7), p.3907 (1991). Therefore, an Al layer containing Si has been used as the Al layer in the Al/Ti layered interconnection. This is because the reaction between Ti and Al can be retarded owing to the containing of Si in the Al layer. This has been described in, for example, a reference III proposed by inventors of this application, "Extended Abstracts of the 1994 International Conference on Solid State Devices and Materials, Yokohama), 1994, pp.952-954.

Al/Ti layered interconnection and method of forming same


In the present invention, a first terminal device is provided with an address request means that makes a request to a second terminal device for a unique address allocated to the second terminal device that belongs to a prescribed network segment. The second terminal device is provided with an address notification means that notifies the first terminal device of the unique address requested by the address request means. Also, the first terminal device is provided with a first unique ID generation means that generates a first unique ID on the basis of the unique address notified by the second terminal device. Also, the second terminal device is provided with a second unique ID generation means that generates a second unique ID on the basis of the own unique address of the second unique ID generation means. The first terminal device and the second terminal device establish a mutual wireless communication connection in a case where the first unique ID and the second unique ID match.

A back monitoring system with a monitor installed in a tractor and a camera installed in a trailer, so that a rearview image behind the trailer captured by the camera is displayed on the monitor in the tractor, is known. In the back monitoring system of this type, if the monitor and the camera are in wired connection with each other, when the trailer is coupled to or decoupled from the tractor, complicated work for physically connecting or disconnecting the wiring cables needs to be done. Therefore, it is preferable that the back monitoring system is configured such that the monitor and the camera are wirelessly connectable to communicate.
Infrastructure mode may be considered as a mode to be employed for connecting two terminal devices (the monitor and the camera) to communicate wirelessly. In infrastructure mode, a terminal device may communicate wirelessly with another terminal device through a predetermined access point. However, when wireless communication connection is established in the back monitoring system in infrastructure mode, it is necessary that a list of IP (Internet Protocol) addresses allocated to each one of all cameras having been shipped is managed and updated by necessity on the monitor side. Moreover, in infrastructure mode, it is necessary that the wireless communication connection is established through an access point; therefore, while the access point intervenes in the communication, displaying the rearview image on a screen of the monitor may be lagged. In these reasons, it is considered to be preferable that a monitor and a camera in a back monitoring system are connected in ad-hoc mode so that they communicate each other directly.
In ad-hoc mode, the terminal devices are enabled to wirelessly communicate each other directly without intervention by an access point. In ad-hoc mode, by eliminating the access point, easy establishment of an ad-hoc network is provided. Meanwhile, however, in ad-hoc mode in general, in compensation for the easy establishment of the ad-hoc network, defects may be found in, for example, a lower security level in device authentication.
As a wireless communication technique to cover this type of defect, a technique to apply WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup), which is prescribed for infrastructure mode, to ad-hoc mode is disclosed in, for example, patent document 1 (Japanese translation of PCT international application No. 2010-500817A), patent document 2 (Japanese translation of PCT international application No. 2010-507282A), and patent document 3 (Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 2010-251895A). Moreover, recently, Wi-Fi Direct (registered trademark) which introduces a device authorization process in ad-hoc mode has been suggested and practically used.
However, applying ad-hoc mode in these manners to the wireless communication system for the back monitoring system may not always be preferable. For example, in Wi-Fi Direct (registered trademark), similarly to conventional ad-hoc mode, terminal devices are allowed to wirelessly communicate with each other without intervention by an access point. However, in practical use, the terminal devices enabled for Wi-Fi-Direct (registered trademark) are equipped with an access point function so that one of the P2P-connected terminal devices serves as an access point. Therefore, in the case of Wi-Fi Direct (registered trademark), it is necessary to activate the access point function prior to performing the device authentication process, and it may take time to establish the connection. Thus, the inventor provides a wireless communication system, in which connection in ad-hoc mode between terminal devices can be established easily and securely, and a terminal device constituting the wireless communication system.

Two terminal wireless communication system


A device for reading a bar code applied to a semiconductor wafer includes a laser source producing a coherent diverging light beam along a first optical path. An optical transmit/receive (T/R) unit has a first focal point on the first optical path upstream of the optical T/R unit for producing collimated light downstream thereof. The coherent diverging light beam is focussed into the first focal point of the optical T/R unit so that a parallel light beam having a planar wavefront is created downstream of the optical T/R unit for scanning the bar code. A beam divider mirror is disposed optically between the optical T/R unit and the first focal point for allowing the light beam from the laser source to pass through the T/R unit and for allowing light reflected from the semiconductor surface through the T/R unit to pass into a second focal point of the T/R unit on a second optical path and on to an image plane of the T/R unit on the second optical path for imaging the bar code. Diffracted light from the bar code creates a local frequency spectrum having its zero order diffraction component in the focal plane of a first aperture at the second focal point. A second aperture is disposed in the image plane of the bar code spatially in front of a photosensitive light receiver.

The present invention relates to a device for reading bar codes on semiconductor surfaces in which a laser beam is reflected off the semiconductor surface with the bar code and received by a receiving system including a photodiode.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,585,931 discloses a device for reading bar codes on semiconductor surfaces by means of an optical transmit/receive system having transmitting and receiving optical axes which enclose an angle of 180.degree.-2.THETA., with the angle .THETA. being formed between the semiconductor surface and the respective optical axis. The angle .THETA. is selectable over a range from approximately 30.degree. to 60.degree. . A light source, which is not identified in detail in the patent, beams a bundle of light onto the semiconductor surface at the angle .THETA.. This bundle of light is reflected at the angle .THETA. at the polished semiconductor surface or, more precisely, in the region of the gaps between the bar codes, and travels through a lens and an aperture system onto a photodetector. The photocurrent generated in the photodetector charges an amplifier whose output signal is fed to a decoder. The result of the decoding process is indicated on a display.
By rotation of the semiconductor disc, the bar code is moved past and underneath the transmit/receive system. The transmitted light is temporarily scattered at the micro-roughnesses of the bars.
The drawback is here that the aperture system including the lens at the receiving end has only a small aperture. Therefore, no or only a little light reaches the photodetector in the region of the micro-roughnesses. Moreover, the light source radiates incoherent light so that optical filtering of the light in order to raise contrast is not possible. Additionally, slopes in the semiconductor surface adversely affect the intensity of the received signal.

Device for reading bar codes on semiconductor surfaces


A heart valve assembly has a leaflet support structure and a leaflet assembly. The leaflet support structure has a wire frame that supports the leaflet assembly. The leaflet assembly has first and second separate leaflets, each of which is comprised of a skirt section and a sinus leaflet section. Each skirt section has a flange portion and a body portion that has a smaller diameter than the flange portion, with the body portion having opposing side edges, and a curved opening defined by a first stitching edge at about the central portion of the body portion. Each sinus leaflet section has an outflow edge, and a curved second stitching edge, with the sinus leaflet section stitched to the skirt section along the first and second stitching edges. The opposing side edges of the body portion of the first leaflet are stitched to the corresponding side edges of the body portion of the second leaflet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to methods, systems, and apparatus for safely replacing or repairing native heart valves with prosthetic heart valves.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prosthetic heart valves have been used for many years to treat cardiac valvular disorders. The native heart valves (such as the aortic, pulmonary, and mitral valves) serve critical functions in assuring the forward flow of an adequate supply of blood through the cardiovascular system. These heart valves can be rendered less effective by congenital, inflammatory, or infectious conditions. Such conditions can eventually lead to serious cardiovascular compromise or death. For many years the definitive treatment for such disorders was the surgical repair or replacement of the valve during open heart surgery, but such surgeries are dangerous and prone to complication.
More recently a transvascular technique has been developed for introducing and implanting a prosthetic heart valve using a flexible catheter in a manner that is less invasive than open heart surgery. In this technique, a prosthetic valve is mounted in a crimped state on the end portion of a flexible catheter and advanced through a blood vessel of the patient until the valve reaches the implantation site. The valve at the catheter tip is then expanded to its functional size at the site of the defective native valve, such as by inflating a balloon on which the valve is mounted. Alternatively, the valve can have a resilient, self-expanding stent or frame that expands the valve to its functional size when it is advanced from a delivery sheath at the distal end of the catheter.
Unlike the aortic valve, however, the mitral valve annulus does not provide a good landmark for positioning a replacement mitral valve. In patients needing a replacement aortic valve, the height and width of the aortic annulus are generally increased in the presence of degenerative disease associated with calcium formation. These changes in tissue make it easier to properly secure a replacement aortic valve in place due to the reduced cross-sectional area of the aortic annulus. The degenerative changes typically found in aortic valves are not, however, present in mitral valves experiencing regurgitation, and a mitral valve annulus is therefore generally thinner than the annulus of a diseased aortic valve. The thinner mitral valve annulus makes it relatively more difficult to properly seat a replacement mitral valve in the native mitral valve annulus. The general anatomy of the mitral valve annulus also makes it more difficult to properly anchor a replacement mitral valve in place. The mitral valve annulus provides for a smoother transition from the left atrium to the left ventricle than the transition that the aortic valve annulus provides from the aorta to the left ventricle. The aortic annulus is anatomically more pronounced, providing a larger "bump" to which a replacement aortic valve can more easily be secured in place.
Thus, the larger mitral valve annulus makes it difficult to securely implant current percutaneously delivered valves in the native mitral position. Some attempts have been made to deliver and implant a one-piece replacement mitral valve, but it is difficult to provide a device that can be collapsed down to have a sufficiently small delivery profile and still be able to be expanded and secured in place within the mitral valve via a vascular access site.
As a result, there remains a need for a replacement mitral valve that has a valve support structure or anchoring device that can be positioned near or within the native mitral valve.


A clamping bracket for clamping an object to a structure includes a bracket having height (H), an opening for receiving the object, two sides, and an end, said two sides having a cutout provided therein for receiving the structure; and, an adjustable gripping member attached to the sides for adjustably protruding into the cutouts so that the object is clamped between the end and the structure and the gripping member clamps the structure to the bracket.

It is frequently necessary to mount or hold objects in place at or near the edge of a table or other structure having a protruding edge. An example of this includes the need to secure an umbrella shaft to the edge of a table or bannister so that the umbrella provides shade for persons at or near the structure. Another example includes the need to firmly hold an article, such as a piece of wood, to the edge of a table so that the article may be worked on or with.
C-clamp type clamping brackets are a type of bracket that is well known and traditionally used in such situations to provide the retention function. A C-clamp bracket is a bracket having a shape like the letter C, with an extensible urging member for changing the width of the slot of the C. C-clamps are useful because they provide firm gripping forces and are easy to take on and off. One drawback to C-clamp type brackets, however, is that they provide only a single point gripping force. That is, the clamping force of the C-clamp is provided at a single point. Large objects, or objects having a curved surface, such as an umbrella pole, are therefore difficult to hold with a C-clamp. In such situations, a plurality of distributed C-clamps must be employed to provide an adequate clamping function. Having to apply multiple clamps, however, defeats the convenience, purpose and utility of the clamp itself.
Efforts to improve such systems have led to continuing developments to improve their versatility, practicality and efficiency.


A digital measuring head in a measuring apparatus measures a work by making a contact element abut to the work. The digital measuring head includes an arm supported rotatably around a support point arranged on a base; a finger having the contact element at a tip end and mounted to a tip end portion of the arm; and a scale and a read head, one of which is provided at a rear end portion of the arm and the other of which is arranged on the base. Displacement of the contact element which contacts with the work is measured with the scale and the read head. Thereby, the measuring head can perform measurement in a wide range and becomes excellent in the actuation property and the temperature property, and masters for calibration of an indicated dimension are only used at an initial adjustment time.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a measuring head, and particularly to a seesaw type measuring head which is used in a machine control gauge, a surface roughness, and contour shape measuring apparatus, or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
A linear voltage differential transducer (LVDT) is conventionally used for a sensor for measuring displacement of a contact element in a seesaw type measuring head used in a machine control gauge, a surface roughness and contour shape measuring apparatus, or the like.
FIG. 22 is a schematic diagram of this conventional measuring head. A measuring head 110 shown in FIG. 22 is a measuring head for measuring an outer diameter, in which two seesaw mechanisms are combined. In the conventional measuring head 110, a moving amount of a contact element 114 supported rotatably around a support point member 111 is measured as a change in voltage in an LVDT 115 provided in a side opposite from the support point member 111. The measurement value of the LVDT 115 is processed in a control unit 140, and obtained as the moving amount.
However, since the conventional measuring head 110 uses the LVDT for the sensor, the following problems exist. Namely, since the linear range of the LVDT is narrow the measuring range is narrow (generally, about 1 mm) and measurement in a wide range cannot be performed.
Moreover, two of a large master and a small master for calibration are necessary for calibration of indicated dimensions. For example, when a work having a diameter of 30±0.01 mm is measured, a master having a diameter of 30.01 mm (large master) and a master having a diameter of 29.99 mm (small master) are used to adjust sensitivity of the measuring head.
Especially in the case of the measuring head having a size shift function of making it possible to respond to a several kinds of work diameters with one measuring head, the large and small masters are necessary for each dimension to be measured. For example, in the case of the measuring head corresponding to the diameter difference of 20 mm, the zero point can be set at anywhere within the range of 20 mm, but the measurement range is about 1 mm, and therefore when three kinds of works are to be measured, the total of six large and small masters are needed. This is because the linearity of the LVDT differs according to the locations.
Further, setting for measurement takes time due to change of arrangement and a calibration operation by the masters and the like. Since the measuring head is unfavorable in the temperature property and adjustment and inspection for correction thereof take much time, and it takes time until the measuring head is stabilized after the power is turned on, it is unfavorable in actuation property. These are the problems.
In order to solve these problems, a digital measuring head adopting an optical digital mechanism, which moves linearly, is proposed in Japanese Utility Model Application No. 62-078462. However, with the content disclosed therein, a mechanism for converting a moving amount of a contact element supported rotatably around a support point member into a moving amount of linear movement needs to be provided.
However, there exists the problem that the mechanism for converting the rotational movement into the linear movement has a complicated structure, which leads to raise the cost and deteriorates the response frequency due to increase in the mass of a moving portion and friction of the link support point, and therefore it is not applicable to the surface roughness measuring head which is required for high-speed response frequency property.