A data transfer system has a PC as a host computer, a terminal unit such as a printer and a parallel interface cable through which data is transferred between the PC and the terminal unit. The PC transfers a strobe signal as a rate detection signal which contains points of change to the terminal unit. The terminal unit receives the strobe signal and calculates the data processing rate of the PC on the basis of the points of change of the strobe signal. The PC adjusts the data transfer rate of the PC on the basis of a result of comparison of the data processing rate of the PC calculated by the terminal unit and a processing rate of the terminal unit.

The present invention relates to a data transfer system having a host computer and a terminal unit connected together by, for example, a Centronics cable.
In a conventional data transfer system having a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a PC) as a host computer and a terminal unit which are connected together by a Centronics cable, when the data is transferred from the PC to the terminal unit, the data transfer rate is adjusted by the PC. In a parallel interface between the PC and the terminal unit of such data transfer system, a parallel port signal as defined in the IEEE 1284 standard is employed for the data transfer. The IEEE 1284 standard includes a compatibility mode (in forward direction) which is used to transfer the data from the PC to the terminal unit and a nibble mode (in reverse direction) which is used to transfer the data from the terminal unit to the PC.
During the data transfer from the PC to the terminal unit, if a data processing rate of the PC is above a data processing rate of the terminal unit, the data processing in the terminal unit cannot catch up with the data transfer from the PC. On the contrary, if the data transfer rate is lagging with respect to the receiving capacity of the terminal unit, a full utilization of the capacity of the terminal unit is prevented.
In the conventional data transfer system, the PC repeats trials of transmitting a signal to the terminal unit while changing a strobe interval in accordance with a program in the PC. The terminal unit judges whether or not the strobe interval is long enough to be able to receive the data transferred from the PC in a normal manner. If the terminal unit judges the strobe interval is long enough, the terminal unit transmits a notice of the proper data transfer rate to the PC, whereupon a proper strobe interval is established by the PC. On the contrary, if the terminal unit judges the strobe interval is too short, the strobe interval is changed by adding a given increment time, whereupon the PC repeats trials of transmitting a signal to the terminal unit.
However, the PC is not provided with a timer which is able to measure a sufficiently small increment time used for changing the strobe interval during the repetitive trials of transmitting the signal to the terminal unit. Therefore, the conventional data transfer system cannot use a proper increment time for changing the strobe interval.
If too small increment time is used for changing the strobe interval, the number of trials of transmitting the signal to the terminal unit must be increased, resulting in an increased length of time until the PC receives the notice of the proper data transfer rate. On the contrary, if too large increment time is used for changing the strobe interval, the long strobe interval, namely, a slow data transfer rate is established, resulting in a failure to take a full utilization of the capacity of the terminal unit.

Systems for adjusting a transfer rate between a host and a peripheral based on a calculation of the processing rate of the host


A method (300) and apparatus (200) for signaling uplink scheduling information is disclosed. The method may include determining (320) whether an enhanced general packet radio service 2-B mobile device and an enhanced general packet radio service non-2-B mobile device are assigned to a same uplink time slot. The method may also include limiting (330) downlink communications to Ap and B radio link control block families when sending packet data to the enhanced general packet radio service 2-B mobile device, if the enhanced general packet radio service 2-B mobile device and the enhanced general packet radio service non-2-B mobile device are assigned to the same uplink time slot.

1. Field
The present disclosure is directed to wireless communication devices. More particularly, the present disclosure is directed to a method and apparatus for signaling uplink scheduling information.
2. Introduction
Wireless communication devices used in today's society include mobile phones, personal digital assistants, portable computers, and various other electronic communication devices. New wireless technologies are continually being developed to support increasing demands for better reliability during voice calls, for improved throughput during Internet and other data connections, and for other desirable features. These new wireless technologies are often designed to accommodate older wireless technologies so users of older wireless communication devices can still use their devices on newer networks and, conversely, so that users of newer wireless communication devices can use their devices on older networks.
Unfortunately, such backward compatibility may hinder the full potential of new wireless technologies. For example, an older mobile phone using an older technology, such as Enhanced General Packet Radio Service (EGPRS), may operate on the same channel as a newer mobile phone using a newer variant of EGPRS technology, such as Enhanced General Packet Radio Service 2-B (EGPRS2-B). To ensure proper communications for the older EGPRS mobile phone, however, the newer EGPRS2-B mobile phone may be forced to use the older EGPRS technology for its communications and may accordingly experience reduced performance. Such is the case when both an EGPRS mobile device and an EGPRS2-B mobile device are assigned to a same uplink time slot by a base station serving both mobile devices.
Thus, there is a need for methods and apparatus for signaling uplink scheduling information that provides for increased performance when a newer, backward-compatible wireless device and an older, non-forward-compatible wireless device are assigned to a same uplink time slot by a base station serving both wireless devices.

Method and apparatus for signaling uplink scheduling information


A metal gate transistor may include a metal layer over a high dielectric constant dielectric layer. The dielectric layer abstracts electronegativity from said metal layer, altering its workfunction. The workfunction of the metal layer may be set to compensate for the dielectric layer abstraction.

The present invention relates to methods for making semiconductor devices, in particular, semiconductor devices that include metal gate electrodes.
MOS field-effect transistors with very thin gate dielectrics made from silicon dioxide may experience unacceptable gate leakage currents. Forming the gate dielectric from certain high dielectric constant (k) dielectric materials, instead of silicon dioxide, can reduce gate leakage. A high-k material has a dielectric constant greater than 10. Such a dielectric may not, however, be compatible with polysilicon. For that reason, it may be desirable to replace polysilicon based gate electrodes with metal gate electrodes for devices that include high-k gate dielectrics.
The optimal workfunction for a metal gate electrode will differ depending upon whether it is used to form an NMOS transistor or a PMOS transistor. When the same material is used to make metal gate electrodes for NMOS and PMOS transistors, the gate electrodes cannot demonstrate the desired workfunction for both types of devices. If a material is chosen to ensure an acceptable workfunction for an NMOS transistor's gate electrode, then the workfunction for the PMOS transistor's gate electrode will be unsatisfactory. Similarly, choosing a material that ensures an acceptable workfunction for the PMOS transistor's gate electrode will prevent the NMOS transistor's gate electrode from having a suitable workfunction. Selecting a midgap material (i.e., a material that gives the metal gate electrodes for NMOS and PMOS transistors an intermediate workfunction) will yield a suboptimal workfunction for both transistors.
It may be possible to address this problem by forming the NMOS transistor's metal gate electrode from a first material and the PMOS transistor's metal gate electrode from a second material. The first material may ensure an acceptable workfunction for the NMOS gate electrode, while the second material may ensure an acceptable workfunction for the PMOS gate electrode. Processes for forming such dual metal gate devices may, however, be complex and expensive.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved process for making a semiconductor device that includes a metal gate electrode.
Features shown in these figures are not intended to be drawn to scale.

Compensating the workfunction of a metal gate transistor for abstraction by the gate dielectric layer


A computer implemented method and system for customizing speech recognition for users with accents. A spoken language of a user is identified. An indicator of a speech accent language can be initiated by the user using a computer. The indicator identifies the speech accent language and defines an influence of the speech accent language on the spoken language. Speech recognition characteristics are set according to the spoken language and the indicator. An automatic speech recognition (ASR) conversion is adjusted based on the speech recognition characteristics.

The present disclosure relates to a method and system for managing speech recognition settings using an interface, and more particularly, managing speech recognition settings for users having one or more accents. A spoken language at a location in the world, for example, can be used by a person to communicate with other people, to give commands to a receiving device, or to be translated into text by a device. Devices can include speech interfaces to assist users with a local language they may not be familiar with. Currently technology recognition software applications can use model formulas which can be attained by various means. In one example, interfaces can be command driven, where users can speak a predefined set of commands. Other interfaces allow free form of speech and attempt to interpret it and perform a set of actions as a result of speech interpretation with improvements as the application learns the user's language usage. Manufacturers or providers of such devices typically pre-set one language as a default, but provide the user with the option to change the primary speaking language if needed. Any language option assumes that a speaker voice pattern is normalized or typical for the chosen language.
Known speech recognition engines may include an automatic speech recognition (ASR) engine which supports multiple language recognition capabilities with a predefined set of assumptions. Typical speech recognition engines include training time for training a user's vocabulary where the application is trained to recognize words spoken by the user, to reach a peak of associating hits of the natural language of the user to the translated words.

Customizable and individualized speech recognition settings interface for users with language accents

International Business Machines Corporation


The invention relates to a capsule for use in a device for preparing beverage said capsule being provided with a sealing element comprising a cavity. The invention also relates to an assembly of such a capsule and a device for preparing beverages. The invention further relates to a method for preparing beverages by making use of such an assembly.

Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a capsule for use in a device for preparing beverages. The invention also relates to an assembly of such a capsule and a device for preparing beverages. In addition, the invention relates to a perforation structure evidently intended for use in such a capsule according to the invention. The invention also relates to the use of such a capsule in a device for preparing beverages. The invention further relates to a sealing element for use in a capsule according to the invention.
Description of Related Art
Diverse capsules for use in a device for preparing beverages are known in the prior art. A known capsule as described for instance in EP 0512468 comprises a housing provided with a perforable supply side for injecting a liquid into the housing and with a discharge side located at a distance from the supply side and provided with an opening for the purpose of discharging liquid injected into the housing, a quantity of substance for extraction received in the housing, such as ground coffee beans, and a pierceable foil connected to the housing and sealing the opening located on the discharge side. This known capsule can be placed in a device for preparing a beverage. The capsule is placed for this purpose in a receiving space of a capsule holder of the device. The capsule is clampingly supported here in the receiving space by a support and a clamp. The supply side of a housing of the capsule is perforated by subsequently moving a liquid injector through the housing of the capsule, and a relatively hot liquid, in particular water, can be introduced into the housing under a relatively high pressure, generally of between 15 and 20 bar. The foil is perforated by moving a perforation plate forming part of the capsule holder and the capsule toward each other and the extracted liquid flows via the perforation plate into a beverage container. Because of the relatively high operating pressure a space between the capsule and capsule holder will generally be filled with a sealing element. In the case the sealing connection does not function in the correct manner and water flows outside the capsule, insufficient pressure will be developed inside the capsule to cause tearing of the foil or the pressure will not tear the foil completely, and this can impede the extraction process considerably. It is possible here to envisage providing the capsule holder with a sealing element in order to realize sealing. It is however generally more advantageous to provide the capsule with a sealing element, whereby the sealing element is used only once, whereby improved operation of the sealing element can be guaranteed. The European patent EP 1654966 describes a capsule which is provided on an outer side with a sealing element manufactured from a rubber-elastic material, in particular silicone rubber. Although the material properties of rubber-elastic materials are favourable for sealing engagement on the capsule holder, such rubber-elastic materials are found to be relatively difficult to produce, and it is moreover relatively difficult to attach the rubber-elastic sealing element to the capsule by means of welding. If the sealing element is insufficiently adhered to the capsule during welding, one or more leakages can occur between the sealing element and the capsule, which can result in leakage(s) during the extraction process. The sealing action of the capsule known from EP 1654966 is moreover greatly dependent on the shaping of the capsule holder and on possible damage to the rubber of the capsule.
An object of the invention is to provide an improved capsule with which at least one of the above stated drawbacks can be obviated.
A further object of the invention is to provide a capsule with an improved sealing element.

Capsule, device and method for preparing a beverage by extraction


A closure device for a vehicle tank filler neck, which has a shut-off valve (21) provided with an actuating device (22) and which terminates in a recessed area (8) of the vehicle body (9), which can be covered by means of a body flap (10), wherein the body flap (10) has a drive device (23) which is controlled by the actuating device (22) via a unidirectional control path.

Such a closure device is known from EP 0 342 679, and has a mechanical coupling acting in both directions between the shut-off valve and the body flap, i.e. it is possible to control the movement of the body flap by actuating the valve, for example from the interior of the vehicle, as well as to control the valve actuation by moving the body flap. This manner of functioning is very dangerous in case of a crash. The deceleration and thrust forces occurring in a crash can cause the unintended opening of the vehicle flap, through which the filler neck valve is also opened, so that highly flammable fuel can come out.

Closure device for a vehicle tank filler neck


A projection optical system of the present invention comprises a shaping optical system which is disposed in an optical path between a first surface and a second surface on which an image of the first surface is formed and has a refractive power in only one of two directions which are perpendicular to an optical axis of the projection optical system and orthogonal to each other. This shaping optical system comprises a first lens group which has a refractive power in only one of the two directions which are orthogonal to each other and a second lens group which has a refractive power only in the direction in which the first lens group has the refractive power. Also, the shaping optical system relatively magnifies or reduces the image in one of the two directions orthogonal to each other within the second surface with respect to the image in the other direction and making image-forming positions of the images in the two directions orthogonal to each other within the second surface substantially coincide with each other.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a projection optical system, an illumination apparatus provided with this projection optical system as an illumination optical system, and an exposure apparatus loaded with this illumination apparatus. In particular, the present invention relates to an optical system used for projecting an image of an object surface onto an image surface while magnifying or reducing it in its longitudinal and lateral directions with magnifications different from each other, an illumination apparatus provided with this optical system, and an exposure apparatus loaded with this illumination apparatus.
2. Related Background Art
In conventional exposure apparatuses provided with projection optical systems, excimer laser and the like have been used as their light source. Since a parallel beam of light emitted from the excimer laser or the like has a rectangular cross-sectional shape, it forms images at positions in longitudinal and lateral directions different from each other by way of a projection optical system. Also, since angular shifts are likely to occur in the laser beam emitted from the light source, axial astigmatism may be generated.
Here, a projection exposure apparatus for manufacturing semiconductor devices, liquid display devices, and the like is a considerably large apparatus as a whole, thereby necessitating a large floor space for its installation. As the light source in the projection exposure apparatus, in general, mercury lamp, laser light source, or the like is used. In particular, a laser light source such as excimer laser light source is a light-emitting apparatus which is much larger than a light source such as mercury lamp.
Accordingly, in particular, in a projection exposure apparatus using a laser light source such as excimer laser light source, it is necessary for the laser light source to be disposed separately from the main body of the projection exposure apparatus. As a result, the use of the laser light source increases the floor space needed for the projection exposure apparatus as a whole.
Therefore, in order to position the laser light source apparatus and the main body of the projection exposure apparatus as close as possible to each other, the beam of light should be drawn around as short as possible in the optical path between the laser light source and the main body of the projection exposure apparatus. Alternatively, a deflecting member such as a reflective mirror should be appropriately disposed in the above-mentioned optical path so as to repeatedly bend the beam of light in a skillful manner.
In general, the projection exposure apparatus uses an optical integrator in order to uniformly illuminate a mask in a superposing manner. Accordingly, this optical integrator must be illuminated efficiently. When the laser light source apparatus and the main body of the projection exposure apparatus are disposed separately as mentioned above, however, the optical path between the laser light source and the optical integrator tends to become very long.
Consequently, due to the initial positional deviation of the excimer laser light source, which is a huge light-emitting apparatus, or the positional deviation of optical members caused by vibration during exposure, for example, the optical integrator may not be illuminated efficiently.
In a configuration in which a relay lens system is disposed between the laser light source and the optical integrator, various kinds of optical members such as cylinder beam expander should be disposed between the laser light source and the relay lens system or between the relay lens system and the optical integrator. Accordingly, a deflecting member such as a reflective mirror should be disposed in the optical path on the converging side of the relay lens system so as to bend the beam of light. In this case, depending on the position at which the deflecting member is disposed, the energy density of the incident laser beam becomes so large that the deflecting member may be damaged.

Projection optical system, illumination apparatus, and exposure apparatus


Methods for manufacturing trench type semiconductor devices containing thermally unstable refill materials are provided. A disposable material is used to fill the trenches and is subsequently replaced by a thermally sensitive refill material after the high temperature processes are performed. Trench type semiconductor devices manufactured according to method embodiments are also provided.

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a semiconductor device and a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device. In particular, embodiments of the present invention relate to methods for manufacturing a trench type semiconductor device having a thermally sensitive refill material.
Since the invention of superjunction devices by Dr. Xingbi Chen, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,216,275, the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein, there have been many attempts to expand and improve on the superjunction effect of his invention. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,410,958, 6,300,171 and 6,307,246 are examples of such efforts and are incorporated herein by reference.
Trench type superjunction devices are expected to replace multi-epi superjunction device because of the potential lower process cost. To manufacture a trench type superjunction device, insulator material is required to refill one or more of the etched trenches. The refill material should be selected carefully because the material impacts the electrical characteristics and reliability of the superjunction device. Generally, thermally stable materials, such as epitaxy, Tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS), polysilicon, or semi-insulating polysilicon have been used as the refill material.
Organic materials, which have low thermal expansion and provide good coverage, such as polyimide, are desirable candidates for the refill material. The melted organic refill materials generally have lower viscosity. Thus, internal voids in the refill material are less likely to occur during the refill process as compared to the conventional inorganic refill materials. In addition, the trenches can be filled with an organic refill material using technically less demanding methods, such as surface reflow methods. Furthermore, devices having organic refill materials are expected to have more stable surface potential at the breakdown voltage. Despite these advantages, thermally sensitive organic materials have not traditionally been used as a refill material for a trench type superjunction device because they are thermally unstable at a temperature significantly lower than the temperature used in the semiconductor diffusion processes employed in a conventional manufacturing method.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a method for manufacturing a trench type semiconductor device having thermally sensitive refill materials and a trench type semiconductor device having thermally sensitive refill materials.

Methods for manufacturing a trench type semiconductor device having a thermally sensitive refill material


A method of exchanging navigation information between a terminal, an offboard vehicle navigation device in particular, and a control center is described, the navigation information including route information for at least one route between a starting point and a destination. The method involves the following steps: a) verifying a starting point reference ID and/or starting coordinates and verifying a destination reference ID and/or destination coordinates and b) calculating route data and transmitting to the terminal a route response containing at least parts of the route data, the route data corresponding to at least one complete route from the starting point to the destination or at least one partial route from the starting point to an intermediate point located between the starting point and the destination at least as a function of the length of the route from the starting point to the destination.

It is known that for a route search, a connection between a starting point and a destination is searched according to specific criteria. To this end, it is necessary to enter route guidance information elements that define at least the starting point and destination. Such an entry may be made, for example, using a keyboard connected to a vehicle navigation device. If the vehicle navigation device includes a route guidance element database, it is possible to immediately verify the route guidance element data entered by comparing it with the entries of the route guidance element database. Novel vehicle navigation devices that are, for example, described as hybrid vehicle navigation devices or as offboard vehicle navigation devices, do not provide a complete route guidance element database within the navigation device. Moreover, in such vehicle navigation devices, the route search procedure is located outside the vehicle navigation device and is performed in a control center. There are known offboard navigation methods that transmit a route between a starting point and a destination. However, these known methods do not make it possible to enter a destination offline and are not capable of segmenting routes or updating the calculated route in an abbreviated procedure during the route guidance procedure.

Method of exchanging navigation information


In a hot and cold water distribution system wherein the hot water is delivered from a water heater to a distant hot water tap adjacent to a cold water tap, a hot water recirculation pump assembly purges the hot water line of any cooled-down water in order to assure instant hot water delivery when the hot water tap is opened. The volume of water drawn from the hot water line is, in a first embodiment of the invention, cooled down through a radiator before being recirculated through the cold water line faucet. In a second embodiment, the volume of cooled down water is flushed back through the hot water line by admission of an equal volume of cold water in that line. That volume of cold water is immediately pumped back into the cold water line, and automatically replaced by hot water drawn from the water heater. Each embodiments prevent any drawing of lukewarm water from the cold water tap. The pump assembly includes a pressure-sensitive check-valve in the pressure region of each pump.

Circulating systems are known in which the cooled down water content of the hot water distribution line is conveyed back into the hot water tank via a recirculation pipe as disclosed in our earlier U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,049. Subsequent retrofit of a recirculation system requires additional piping which may be difficult to install. A different type of hot water recovery system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,009,572 Imhoff et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,277,219 Lund, in which a recirculation pump is switched on if the hot water temperature near the faucet drops below a pre-determined level or as soon as a hot water faucet is opened. To economize the hot water usage the pump conveys the cooled-down content of the hot water distribution line back through the cold water distribution line into the water heater. Thus the faucets in the distribution line receive warm water when the cooled-down water content between the water heater and the faucets has been pumped into the cold water distribution line.
The aforesaid U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,009,572 Imhoff et al.; 5,143,049 Laing et al.; and 5,277,219 Lund are incorporated into this specification by this reference.
The prior art systems that recirculate the cooled-down portion of the hot water distribution line directly through the cold water distribution line have several drawbacks. The most serious is the fact that the cold water distribution line is first filled with lukewarm, if not hot water. If cold water is needed right after a recirculation cycle, the user must wait several seconds for that heated water to be purged from the cold water distribution line. Another drawback results from the use of various valves in association with the recirculation pump which can cause pressure waves to resound through the plumbing network.
The present invention avoids these drawbacks.


A support structure for supporting reflectors on a half rate carriage in an image reader has an angle between a reflecting surface of a second reflector and an optical path from a first reflector of a full rate carriage to the second reflector is greater than 45° and less than 90°, for example about 53°, and an angle between the reflecting surface of the second reflector and a reflector of a third reflector is 90°. Thus, the degree of overlaying of the full rate carriage with the half rate carriage is increased and the image reader is miniaturized.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stationary original type image reader and particularly to a support structure for supporting reflectors on a half rate carriage that moves by half of the moving distance of a light source lamp for keeping an optical path length constant from the image-formed surface of the original to an image-processing part of the image reader.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating the configuration of a conventional stationary original type image reader, such as one disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei. 9-331425 (1997), to read image data from an original on a platen glass. As shown in the figure, an image reader 1, such as a copying machine or a scanner, is provided to read image data of an original (e.g., a paper document) or the like placed on a platen glass 9 to subject the image data to various kinds of processing. The image reader 1 utilizes movable carriages 3 and 4 for scanning the original. Carriage 3 includes light source lamps 5 for irradiating the original with light beams and a reflector 10 mounted thereon. Carriage 4 includes reflectors 11 and 12 mounted thereon. These reflectors 10, 11, 12 form an optical path for guiding the desired image data from the original to an image-processing part 7 such as a CCD (Charge-Coupled Device). Therefore, the image formed on the original can be scanned by moving the carriages 3 and 4 along the original to pick up the image information from the original.
In other words, the optical path length from the image-formed surface of the original to the image-processing part 7 must be kept at a constant length even though each of the carriages 3 and 4 moves. Therefore, as described above, the image reader 1 has a combined structure of the full rate carriage 3 and the half rate carriage 4. Typically, the half rate carriage 4 is moveable by half of the moving distance of the full rate carriage 3. More specifically, as described above, the first reflector 10 for receiving the image from the original is mounted on the full rate carriage 3. The second reflector 12 for receiving the reflected image from the first reflector 10 and the third reflector 13 for receiving the reflected image from the second reflector 12 are mounted on the half rate carriage 4, respectively. The reflected image from the third reflector 13 is then incident on the image-processing element 7.
Each of the carriages 3 and 4 is arranged so as to move in parallel with the image-formed surface of the original. It means that an optical path 8 between the carriages 3 and 4 should be also in parallel with the image-formed surface of the original and in a direction along which each of the carriages 3 and 4 moves. Therefore, the first reflector 10 is arranged at an angle of 45° with respect to the platen glass 9.
As shown in FIG. 5, the reflected light beams from the first reflector 10 is transmitted to the second reflector 11 along the optical path 8. Then, the second reflector reflects the light beams to the third reflector 12. Subsequently, the reflected light beams from the third reflector 12 travels in the direction parallel to the optical path 8. In this case, furthermore, the support structure of each of the second and third reflectors 11 and 12 on the above half rate carriage 4 is constructed such that the second reflector 11 and the third reflector 12 form a right angle (i.e., 90°), while the second reflector 11 is arranged at an angle of 45° with respect to the optical path 8 of the reflected light beams from the first reflector 10.
Furthermore, each of the full rate and half rate carriages 3 and 4 moves as wire 14 (FIG. 4) moves. That is, carriages 3 and 4 are engaged on the wire 14 which is wound up around a pulley 15 by the driving force of a motor (not shown). The movement of such a wire 14 is guided with pulleys 16 and 18. As indicated by the double-dashed line in FIG. 5, carriages 3 and 4 are overlapped on one another in part when the full rate carriage 3 moves to the fullest extent in the direction toward the half rate carriage 4. In this case, the carriages 3 and 4 are able to come closer to one another as far as the first and second reflectors 10, 11 come into contact with one another.
However, it is difficult to sufficiently overlay the full rate carriage 3 and the half rate carriage 4 when these carriages 3 and 4 come into contact with one another. As described above, the reason is that the support structure of each reflector 11 and 12 on the above half rate carriage 4 is constructed such that the second and the third reflectors 11 and 12 are arranged at 90° with respect to one another and the second reflector 11 is arranged at an angle of 45° with respect to the optical path 8 of the reflected light beams from the first reflector 10. In other words, there is a comparatively large space under the first reflector 10 of the full rate carriage 3. When these carriages 3 and 4 come into contact with one another to bring the first and second mirrors 10 and 11 closer, such a space can be formed between the first reflector 10 of the full rate carriage 3 and the third reflector 12 of the half rate carriage 4.
It would be desirable to provide a support structure of each reflector on the half rate carriage that allows the full rate carriage 3 to slide into the half rate carriage 4 so as to make them closer by the distance of such a space.

Support structure for reflectors on half rate carriage


A valve plug in which excess metal has been removed, leaving only the necessary surfaces for providing sealing and a flow passage. The invention abandons the truncated cone shape of the prior art for a non-conical shape; the only portions of the plug which extend toward the surface of the valve body are those necessary to provide sealing contact. The plug uses a pipe-shaped flow conduit having a cross-sectional dimension to match the size of the valve body seat around the flow ports in the valve body. The flow conduit has walls of substantially uniform thickness, such that the exterior surface of the conduit is spaced from the interior surface of the valve body, except at the ends of the conduit. In two embodiments, arcuate plates extend laterally from the sides of the flow conduit; the plates prevent the passage of fluid through the valve body when rotated into position adjacent the flow ports. A cavity is defined between the plates and the exterior surface of the flow conduit. In another embodiment, pipe-like sealing extensions are affixed to the sides of the flow conduit. The ends of the extensions mate with the valve body seat around the flow port when the valve plug is in the closed position. In this embodiment, the exterior surface of the flow conduit and the interior surface of the sealing extensions form the sealing surfaces which prevent the passage of fluid through the valve body.

Lift-type non-lubricated plug valves are well-known in the art and are used in a variety of industries, including petroleum refining, chemical process and pulp and paper mills. The plugs currently in use are typically in the shape of a truncated cone with a flow passage through the center, as shown in FIG. 1. While these plugs perform well, they suffer some disadvantages. Plug valves are manufactured in a wide range of sizes, typically from about 1/2" to about 36". For special applications, the valves are manufactured in even larger sizes. A steel valve plug for a 24" valve weighs about 5,300 pounds. The high weight of the larger plugs make them difficult to handle, both during the manufacturing process and after they are placed in service. The valves are typically opened and closed by lifting the plug from the valve body, rotating the plug, and re-seating it within the body. The weight of the plugs places a high demand on the equipment used to actuate the valve. Additionally, due to the varying thickness of the wall surrounding the flow channel, casting shrinkage problems occur during manufacturing. Also because of the thickness of the walls, the seating surface of the plug has no flexibility. Further, since any portion of the exterior surface of the plug may engage the valve body seat, the entire exterior surface of the plug must be precision machined to provide the tight tolerances required for efficient operation of the valve. Some applications, such as those involving high temperature corrosive steam and oil, require hard-surfacing of the seating surfaces on both the valve plug and the valve body. Hard-surfacing involves depositing a facing on the seating surfaces of the valve plug and the valve body, then precision machining the facing. The seating surfaces on the present plugs are not well-defined, therefore requiring hard-surfacing of a larger area of the plug surface to ensure that the seating surface is properly treated.


An apparatus and method for using a bandwidth (BW) allocation in a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) network. The method includes filling a buffer having a buffer length with a demand-inducing stream data until either the demand-inducing stream data is exhausted or the buffer length equals the BW allocation, determining a leftover BW as the BW allocation minus the buffer length after the filling, composing a leftover buffer when demand-deferring stream data is present, where the leftover buffer includes a transmission header (TH) and a transmission data (TD) includes a portion of a demand-deferring stream data, and transmitting the buffer and the leftover buffer in a time slot associated with the BW allocation. In the method, a length of the TH plus a length of the TD is less than or equal to the leftover BW.

In a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) network, multiple transmitters may share a transmission channel by dividing access to the channel into discrete time slots. Once a transmitter has accessed the network, for example, through a Random Access Channel (RACH), a dynamic bandwidth scheduler may provide a transmitter with bandwidth allocations on the shared channel, which allocations are non-overlapping in time for the shared channel. The allocated bandwidth may be based on numerous inputs, including but not limited to a permitted service rate of the transmitter, the amount of queued data at the transmitter, anticipated packet arrival rate at the transmitter, leftover bandwidth allocations for a given time epoch, and the like.
In practice, over the course of a transmitter's allocated bandwidth session, the transmitter may be provided with more bandwidth than it demanded. This may occur due to improved compression on the transmitter, improved link efficiency, changes in packet ingress rates at the transmitter, over-demanding by the transmitter, overallocation by the scheduler, or the like. When this occurs, the transmitter uses 'null byte' padding to fill out the bandwidth allocation. The receiver ignores and bypass the null byte padding when processing the transmitted/received frame.

Utilizing leftover return channel bandwidth in a satellite system


A cutting insert (1) for use in a milling cutter for a face milling has upper, lower and side surfaces and at least one pair of main and minor cutting edges (10, 11) formed by the intersection between the upper surface (5) and an adjacent side surface (7). The cutting edges (10, 11) merge via a cutting corner portion (12) of a relatively large radius, which is provided with a land (15) formed at the upper surface (5) of the insert. The land (15) is inclined to the insert lower surface at an inclination angle which continuously varies from a negative value at an area of the corner portion (12) adjacent the main cutting edge (10) to a positive value at an area of the corner portion (12) adjacent the minor cutting edge (11).

In face milling operations, in particular of engine blocks made of cast iron and having a width of their face surface less than the diameter of a face milling cutter, there exists a so-called `frittering` or `chipping` problem connected with the fact that an uncut portion of the workpiece adjacent the workpiece edge, which is continuously decreasing in size upon an operative cutting insert approaching the workpiece edge, is sheared off when the size thereof becomes so small that it can no longer resist cutting forces acting thereon. Thereby, the quality of the machined surface adjacent the workpiece edge is essentially deteriorated.
To reduce the above effect, there is provided a cutting insert having main and minor cutting edges which merge via a corner portion of a relatively large radius. As illustrated in FIGS. 1a and 1b, with the radius of the operative corner portion A being relatively large, a lead angle B at which the insert cutting edge C is inclined with respect to the workpiece face W is continuously reduced upon the cutting edge approaching the workpiece edge D. By virtue of this, cutting forces acting on the uncut portion E of the workpiece are reduced and the danger of `chipping` is decreased.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a new cutting insert enabling a further diminishing of the `chipping` effect and this without sacrificing the insert's service life.


Methods and systems for exchanging various forms of value, including coins, currency, credit, debit, and/or bank account funds, for prepaid cash cards, credit cards, phone cards, and the like. In one embodiment, a value exchange machine includes a coin input region, a coin sorting/counting apparatus, a card reader, and a communications facility configured to communicate with a remote computer network. In another embodiment, a value exchange system includes one or more of the value exchange machines connected to one or more remote computers via a communications link. A user wishing to purchase, for example, a prepaid cash card can visit one of the value exchange machines, select the desired transaction, and pay for the card with coins, currency, a credit card, a debit card, and/or bank account funds. After confirming payment, the value exchange machine dispenses the card to the user.

Various vending machines are configured to dispense selected products to users in exchange for exact amounts of money. Such machines include, for example, food dispensing machines, stamp dispensing machines, ticket dispensing machines, and the like. Other machines are configured to count arbitrary numbers and denominations of coins received from users. One such coin-counting machine is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,620,079 to Molbak ("the '079 Patent to Molbak"), which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. In one embodiment, the Molbak coin-counting machine can dispense a redeemable voucher to a user for an amount related to the value of coins received from the user. This redeemable voucher can be redeemed for cash or merchandise at, for example, a point-of-sale (POS) location in the retail outlet where the machine is located.
Machines also exist for dispensing prepaid telephone cards to users. Such machines typically dispense a selected phone card to a user after the user has deposited a requisite amount of money in the machine. In addition, prepaid long-distance accounts and wireless cell phone accounts also exist whereby a service carrier maintains an account of available minutes for each individual user. Such accounts are often rechargeable and are associated with individual personal identification numbers (PINs). To start an account, a user may initially purchase a phone card containing, for example, sixty minutes of long-distance telephone usage. The number of available minutes are depleted as the user makes phone calls via the account. Some accounts allow the user to add minutes to his/her account by paying for additional time with, for example, a credit card. In this way, the user is able to add minutes to his/her account as the need arises, or to fit their particular budget.
Other methods exist by which customers can purchase prepaid credit cards. In one such method, a customer gives a cashier at a POS sufficient funds to cover the value of a prepaid credit card and any additional service fees charged by the retail outlet. In return for the funds, the cashier provides the customer with a receipt that includes a unique identification number and the telephone number of a credit card issuer. The customer then calls the telephone number and provides the credit card issuer with the identification number from the receipt and certain other personal information. Such personal information can include the customer's mailing address and/or the customer's social security number. The credit card issuer then provides a credit card account number to the customer over the telephone. The customer can begin using this number for credit card purchases immediately by telephone, mail, or the Internet. The credit card issuer also mails an embossed credit card to the customer that the customer can begin using as soon as it arrives.

Methods and systems for exchanging/transferring gift cards


An image forming apparatus includes a guide member configured to guide a sheet to a nip section between a heating roller and a pressing roller disposed close to the upstream side of the rollers and on the pressing roller side. A downstream end of the guide member is disposed on the heating roller side with respect to the nip surface between the rollers so that a header of the sheet to be printed is in contact with the heating roller first, and a downstream end of the fixing device introduction guide member is concavely curved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an image forming apparatus such as a printer and a copier. More particularly, the present invention relates to an image forming apparatus including a photosensitive body, a transferring device, and a fixing device, the transferring device being configured to transfer a toner image developed on the photosensitive body onto an image recording member, and the fixing device being configured to fix the toner image transferred onto the image recording member by heating and pressing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in a fixing device configured to heat and fix a toner image on the image recording member, a thermal roller method is generally employed. FIG. 1 schematically shows a general configuration of a fixing device 9 and a feeding mechanism nearby the fixing device 9 for feeding an image recording member in a conventional electrophotographic type image forming apparatus.
As shown in FIG. 1, the fixing device 9 includes a heating roller 9a and a pressing roller 9b. The heating roller 9a includes heating means (not shown) such as a halogen lamp within the heating roller 9a. The heating roller 9a generally includes a core bar having a cylindrical shape and a fluorine resin layer or a silicon rubber layer coated on the core bar for improving the releasing characteristics of toner. As the fluorine resin, PFA tubing may be used or PFA may be applied and baked. The pressing roller 9b generally includes a core bar, a heat-resistant silicon rubber layer formed on the core bar as an elastic body layer, and a PFA tubing layer having excellent releasing characteristics wound on the surface of the elastic body layer.
The heating roller 9a and the pressing roller 9b constituting a fixing roller pair are pressed to each other by pressing means (not shown) using a spring, so that the contacting surface between the heating roller 9a and the pressing roller 9b forms a surface due to deformation of the elastic body layer of the pressing roller 9b. Herein, this contacting surface is called a nip section. While the nip section (contacting surface) is being formed, the heating roller 9a and the pressing roller 9b are driven to rotate in a predetermined direction by fixing roller pair driving means and roller driving control means.
By conducting a known electrophotographic process, a toner image visualized on a photosensitive drum 6 is transferred onto a sheet (herein may be referred to as an image recording member) 22 by a transferring device 8. Then, the sheet 22 is fed through a sheet feeding path 12 to the nip section between the heating roller 9a and the pressing roller 9b. The fixing device 9 further includes a fixing device introduction guide member 16 configured to guide the sheet 22 to the nip section. The fixing device introduction guide member 16 is formed so that a downstream end of the fixing device introduction guide member 16 is formed in a straight line on the same plane. By following a series of processes as described above, the toner image formed on the sheet 22 is heated and pressed by the heating roller 9a and the pressing roller 9b so that the toner image is fixed onto the sheet 22.
Unfortunately, in such a fixing device using the thermal roller method, when a thin image recording member (sheet) having high moisture content is used to be printed, the moisture in the image recording member may evaporate because the image recording member is rapidly heated. As a result, the image recording member thermally shrinks, thereby causing a deformation of the image recording member, which may result in developing wrinkles. To overcome the problem, there has been generally adopted a method of preventing wrinkles in which the shape of the heating roller is modified to have a so-called reverse-crown shape so that the center portion of the heating roller becomes thinner than the end portions of the heating roller. By configuring this way, the distortion of the pressing roller at end portions of the image recording member in the width direction (orthogonal to the feeding direction of the image recording member) becomes greater than that at the center portion of the image recording member. Therefore, in the nip section, the image recording member is pushed toward the end portions in the width direction to prevent wrinkles.
Further, Patent Document 1 proposes a technique in which the guide member for guiding the image recording member to the nip section is configured so that the center portion of the guide member is higher than both end portions in the width direction, and accordingly, the center portion of the guide member is closer to the heating roller than the both end portions. By configuring the guide member in this manner, it becomes possible to prevent the both side ends of the image recording member from approaching the center portion of the image recording member. Further, because of the configuration of the guide member, the image recording member is in contact first with the heating roller before being fed into the nip section. As a result, the image recording member is bent in a short curve by the guide member and the heating roller, and a downstream end section in the feeding direction of the image recording member becomes rigid, which helps to maintain a flatness of the image recording member and prevent wrinkles.
Further, Patent Document 2 proposes a technique in which, the shape of the downstream end of the guide member in the height direction is configured to correspond to the shape of an entrance portion of the nip section between the heating roller and the pressing roller. In other words, the center portion of the downstream end of the guide member is higher than end portions of the guide member in the width direction so that the shape of the downstream end of the guide member in the height direction is substantially equal to the reverse-crown shape which is the shape of the entrance portion of the nip section. By configuring this way, the image recording member may be uniformly fed into the nip section to prevent wrinkles.
Further, Patent Document 3 discloses a technique in which the guide member is configured so that the downstream end portion of the guide member includes a lower plane part in the center section and higher plane parts on both sides of the lower plane part in the width direction. The fixing device is provided as a film heating and fixing device including a heating roller and a pressing roller. The heating roller includes a heater and a heat-resistant endless film. The pressing roller includes an elastic body layer made of silicon rubber or the like. In the above documents, by making the shape of the image recording member correspond to the concave shape in the height direction, the end sections of the image recording member in the width direction enter first into the nip section. Therefore, the image recording member is pushed toward the end portions in the width direction, which may effectively prevent wrinkles caused due to a folded portion in the center portion of the image recording member. In the techniques proposed in this document, as described above, the end portions of the image recording member in the width direction are higher than the center portion of the image recording member so that the ends portion of the image recording member enter into the nip section first. To achieve this, from a geometric point of view, the downstream end of the guide member should be lower than a plane including the nip section (nip plane). This configuration of Patent Document 3 is upside-down compared to the configuration of Patent Document 1 where the center portion of the guide member for guiding the image recording member into the nip section is higher than the ends portion of the guide member in the width direction. Therefore, the technique disclosed in Patent Document 3 as a wrinkle prevention technique may be regarded as an extension of the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1.
According to the descriptions disclosed in Patent Documents 1 through 3, wrinkles of the image recording member may be prevented by optimizing the shape of the downstream end of the image recording member when the image recording member is to be fed into the nip portion. However, in electrophotographic type image forming apparatuses, there are many cases where so-called cut sheets are used as the image recording member; in most of these cases, the image recording members are obliquely fed (skew-fed) into the fixing device. Therefore, even if the image forming apparatus employs any of the techniques described above, the downstream end of the image recording member is not always fed into the nip section as it is assumed in the descriptions. On the other hand, when the image recording members are "skew-fed" into the nip section, there is a quite high probability of wrinkles occurring. Therefore, any technique described above alone may not be enough to reduce the wrinkles. To reduce wrinkles of the image recording member, the fixing roller is required to have the reverse-crown shape. However, when the angle of the reverse-crown shape is too large, the image recording member may be excessively pushed toward the end portions in the width direction in the nip section. In this case, the downstream side of the image recording member may be deformed, which may cause waves of the image recording member in the direction orthogonal to the plane of the image recording member on the surface of the image recording member. When the wavy image recording member is fed into the nip section, due to misaligned contact with the fixing roller, the toner image transferred onto the image recording member may be disturbed, thereby causing image disturbance.
It is known from prior art that even when the downstream end of the guide member is in a straight line having a constant height and the image recording member is somewhat skew-fed, by setting a diameter size of the reverse-crown of the heating roller to be about 200 μm, setting the width of the nip section equal to or more than 10 mm without becoming narrower in the sheet feeding direction, and setting the downstream end of the guide member higher than the nip plane so that the guide member becomes closer to the heating roller with respect to the nip plane, wrinkles may be reduced in most cases. Further, by configuring this way, even when a wide-size sheet such as an A3 size sheet and a longer-sized sheet such as a ledger sheet are used, the disturbance of an image due to the reverse-crown of the heating roller may be reduced.
On the other hand, recently, more and more so-called thick coat papers and preprint papers have been widely used as the image recording member in electrophotographic type image forming apparatuses in such as direct mail (DM) marketing due to increasing Print On Demand. Further, there is also a growing demand for using image recording members (sheets) having a larger size and a lower weight due to increasing Book On Demand in publishing markets. For example, in Japan, when an A5 size book is produced, an extended size of sheet larger than a thin A3 size sheet and having a basis weight of 60 g/m2 may be used so that four pages of document content are printed on each of both sides of the sheet, i.e., in total, eight pages of document content are printed on the single sheet. In some areas outside Japan, when manuals of products are produced, four pages of document content are printed on each of both sides of a sheet having a basis weight of 75 g/m2 and size 14 inches (355.6 mm)×18 inches (457.2 mm). In such a case where a thin and large sheet is to be printed, the rigidness of the sheet may become lower and also the influence of the distortion of the nip portion may become larger. Therefore, the image distribution due to the reverse-crown is more likely to be remarkable in appearance. This phenomenon may be reduced by reducing the amount of reverse-crown, but if the amount of reverse-crown is reduced, the margin against the wrinkles may be relatively reduced.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No.: S56-130954    Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Publication No.: H6-95542    Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Application Publication No.: 2006-91448


A conventional layout of power supply protective element cannot sufficiently protect an internal circuit against a surge current that flows into a narrow branch line that branches off from a thick main wiring line. A semiconductor device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a power supply protective element connected around a terminal; a main wiring line connected with a VCC pad or a GND pad; a branch line that branches off from the main wiring line and applies a power supply potential or a ground potential to a functional block of the semiconductor device; a branching portion at which the branch line branches off from the main wiring line; and an internal power supply protective element connected with the branch line.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device. In particular, the invention relates to a semiconductor device capable of preventing electrostatic breakdown with an internal power supply protective element connected with a branch line.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, semiconductor integrated circuits have made a progress toward miniaturizing elements to improve a function and performance of a device. However, a semiconductor device composed of miniaturized elements has a problem that the device is easily broken when being subjected to electrostatic discharge (ESD). If an element is subject to the ESD, a surge (for example, abnormal voltage and current) is applied to the element. The breakdown of a semiconductor element due to the surge implies ESD breakdown. A semiconductor integrated circuit device is thus required to withstand the ESD breakdown. The principle of the ESD breakdown of the element is disclosed in IEEE Transactions on electron devices, vol. 35, No. 12, 1998, pp. 2133-2139, CHARVAKA DUVVURY et al. 'Internal Chip ESD Phenomena Beyond the Protection Circuit'.
As disclosed in IEEE Transactions on electron devices, vol. 35, No. 12, 1998, pp. 2133-2139, CHARVAKA DUVVURY et al. 'Internal Chip ESD Phenomena Beyond the Protection Circuit', even though a surge current is prevented from flowing into an internal circuit by use of a power supply protective element connected between a power supply and a ground terminal to suppress a voltage applied to the internal circuit, elements of the internal circuit cannot be protected from breakdown. That is, even if the power supply protective element prevents a surge current from flowing into the internal circuit, short-circuiting occurs between a gate and a drain of a MOSFET unless a surge current flows through an expected path. FIG. 10 shows a surge current path in the case where a surge current is supplied from a power supply terminal to flow into a ground terminal by way of an internal circuit. In the illustrated example of FIG. 10, an internal circuit 1001 breaks down. FIG. 11 shows a surge current path where a surge current is supplied from an input/output terminal of a semiconductor device to flow into a power supply terminal by way of an internal circuit. Also in the illustrated example of FIG. 11, the internal circuit 1101 breaks down.
To that end, many input protective elements and circuits, output protective elements and circuits, and power supply protective elements and circuits have been proposed for increasing an ESD breakdown voltage. A diode, a gg-NMOS (grounded gate-NMOS), and an SCR (silicon controlled rectifier) have been generally used as the power supply protective elements. These power supply protective elements function to discharge a surge current to paths outside the internal circuit to suppress a voltage applied to the internal circuit when a surge is applied to a device. Further, as a countermeasure against a surge applied during the device operation, an active power supply protective element that discharges a surge current to paths outside the internal circuit to prevent a voltage increase of the internal circuit upon the device operation is used in some cases.
However, there is a problem that the protective element cannot exert a protective function sufficiently depending on the layout of the power supply protective elements. FIGS. 12A to 12F schematically show a conventional layout of protective elements. FIG. 13 shows a schematic two-dimensional layout of conventional protective elements. The conventional power supply protective elements dispose typically a portion near the semiconductor device terminal and main wiring thereof.
Based on the above, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H02-307258 discloses a technique of dispose power supply protective elements at both of a portion near a terminal and a portion near an internal circuit if wiring lines of the semiconductor device have impedance. However, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H02-307258 discloses no specific layout of the protective elements, so the layout depends on designer's know-how. Further, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. H03-72666 and H04-48773 disclose a technique of connecting not only between a power supply terminal and a ground terminal but other terminals using the power supply protective elements. However, even the technique disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. H03-72666 and H04-48773 has a problem in that the internal circuit cannot be reliably protected since the power supply protective elements are arranged merely around the terminals of the semiconductor device. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. H03-27566 and H11-297939 disclose a technique of connecting between a power supply line and a ground line using plural power supply protective elements to reduce an apparent impedance of the power supply protective elements. However, even the techniques disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. H03-27566 and H11-297939 face a problem that it is difficult to protect the device from a surge current flowing through a narrow branch line that branches off from a thick main wiring line directly connected with a semiconductor device power supply terminal and a ground terminal thereof.
As a result of verifying the above problems by experiment using a circuit of FIG. 14, in the case of applying a surge between VCC1 pad and GND1 pad by use of a TLP (transmission line pulse) device, an internal inverter group 1401 does not break. However, in the case of applying a surge between VCC2 pad and GND2 pad, the ESD breakdown voltage drops down to 55% of that obtained by applying the surge between VCC1 pad and GND1 pad. In order to obtain a uniform breakdown voltage whichever terminal is used to apply a surge, a gate oxide film should be formed with a large thickness.
Further, in a CDM (charged device model) test for changing a device and then releasing charges from the device, charges are accumulated in an internal element, so a discharge path of the charges is hardly predicted. In the ESD applying test such as a CDM test, a discharge path of charges accumulated in the element includes other elements than the power supply protective elements around the terminal. Thus, even with the above related art, the elements cannot be sufficiently protected.


A medicament delivery device having a reservoir for holding a medicament, a pressurizing system that dispenses the medicament from the reservoir when operating, a hollow cannula for insertion into a patient, and a fluid delivery path disposed between the pressurizing system and the hollow cannula and communicating the medicament therebetween. The medicament delivery device also has a pressure sensor external to the pressurizing system, sensing a back pressure in the fluid delivery path, and providing an indication when the back pressure drops below a predetermined threshold after the pressurizing system ceases operation.

After a medicament pressurizing system of a medicament delivery device ceases operation, pressure in the fluid delivery path of the device does not immediately drop to zero. Until the pressure in the fluid delivery path drops below a certain threshold, medicament delivery continues. For example, during insulin infusion when using a pump 14 (FIG. 1), residual pressure within the system may build up and be present after the pump 14 stops operating. Premature removal or disconnection (see FIG. 1) of an insulin infusion set or fluid connector 10 from a base or infusion site 80 inserted in a patient may lead to insulin evacuating the fluid connector 10 (see FIG. 2) after removal of the set. In such a situation, therefore the user will not receive all of the intended dosage.
Pressure required to deliver 1 unit of insulin is roughly equal to 0.7 psi. Therefore a low residual pressure in the infusion set post removal or disconnection could mean significant loss in therapy. For example, a 1-unit loss out of a 10-unit bolus results in delivery of only 90% of intended insulin dose. Improvements are desirable.

Pressure indicator for medicament delivery device


A modular message center consisting of at least two multifunctional modules can be assembled with the modules in at least two different relative positions. The modules incorporate a plurality of messaging and informational functions, such as cork board, dry-erase, adhesive notes, calendar, and magnetic message board. The main module is, preferably, square so that the supplemental modules can be attached to either side, top or bottom, with equal facility. The modules can be arrayed in horizontal, vertical, extended horizontal or extended vertical formats. The message center may be, for example, hung on a wall or magnetically affixed to a metallic surface, such as a refrigerator. The frame around one or more of the modules can be fitted to permit storage of felt tip markers or other writing implements along the length of frame member.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the modular configuration of a board for the posting of messages in a plurality of formats.
2. Brief Description of the Background Art
There is a broad patent literature concerning bulletin boards of various types. Some patents disclose single function board surfaces, such as dry-erase (U.S. Pat. No. D.377,948, issued Feb. 11, 1997) or tack board (U.S. Pat. No. 4,133,123, issued Jan. 9, 1979), with various appended devices. U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,342, issued Mar. 23, 1994, discloses a composite board material that will accept both tack mounted notes and magnet mounted notes. U.S. Pat. No. D.371,806, issued Jul. 16, 1996, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,527,568, issued Jun. 18, 1996, each show a bulletin board with both a cork-board surface and a dry-erase surface. More complex devices offering various combinations of functionality are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. D.390,263, issued Feb. 3, 1998, U.S. Pat. No. D.268,118, issued Mar. 1, 1983. All of these devices represent a continuing attempt to meet the needs of various prospective users.


A ceiling-mounted luminaire having a bent lens that has a horizontal portion for directing light downward, and a bent or diagonal portion for directing diagonally light toward an adjacent wall. The luminaire improves the flooding of light onto the wall. An auxiliary reflector plate can be inserted within the main reflector to direct more of the source light toward the diagonal portion of the lens to improve the wall lighting.

The present invention relates to a ceiling-mounted luminaire.
Providing lighting onto a vertical wall is often done with a flood or reflector lamp that is positioned a distance from the wall and is directed at the wall to flood the wall with light. Typically such wall-flooding lights are ceiling mounted or suspended. One type of ceiling-mounted light uses a lens to improve the photometrics of the light source, typically by orienting a planar lens at an angle that projects the light diagonally toward the wall onto which the luminaire is attached. Wall-mounted lighting has also been used to provide lighting onto the wall surface, as well as to provide the surrounding floor area with light. Nevertheless, there remains a need to improve the lighting onto a sidewall, as well as to the surrounding floor area.


A thermal carrier and method control a temperature of an LCOS display panel. The temperature of the LCOS display panel is determined. Electrical power to a heating element within a thermal carrier carrying the LCOS display panel is increased when the temperature of the LCOS display panel is below a first temperature threshold and electrical power to the heating element is decreased when the temperature of the LCOS display panel is above a second temperature threshold.

Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCOS) is a technology commonly used to generate projected images, wherein liquid crystals within a LCOS display panel are controlled to affect reflectivity of lighted impinging onto a pixelated area, such that the reflected light forms a desired image. LCOS devices are becoming popular for use in projection televisions, for example. However, when the temperature is below a predefined temperature (e.g., seventy degrees Celsius), the liquid crystals are slow to respond to electrical changes, and performance (e.g., color rendering) of the LCOS display panel is not optimal. Incorporated herein by reference is a paper titled "854×600 Pixel LCOS Microdisplay with 5.4 uM Pixel Pitch for Pico-Projectors" by K. Guttag, J. Lund, and C. Waller of Syndiant Inc. 18325 Waterview Parkway, Dallas, Tex. 75252, USA which details the problems of LCOS based projection.
US Patent Application Publication Number 2010/0001943, titled "Heating System For Display Panel And Display Panel Using The Same", filed Jul. 7, 2008, incorporated herein by reference, describes a prior art method of heating an LCOS panel wherein a heating element is incorporated into a substrate of the LCOS panel itself. However, positioning the heating element within the silicon substrate of the LCOS panel limits the voltage and power that may be applied to the heating element. For example, using high voltage/current and/or high heat dissipation within the silicon substrate of the LCOS panel may result in electrical interference with display operation and/or thermal damage to the silicon substrate. Thus, the temperature regulation achieved by this design is poor.

Thermal carrier for an LCOS display panel and associated methods


A hand-held power tool, such as an angular grinder, includes a housing having a main handle, and a support member for supporting a side handle in different positions relative thereto and pivotable relative to the housing about two support points, which may be on opposite side surfaces of the housing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hand-held power tool and, in particular, an angular grinder including a housing having a main handle, a side handle, and a support member pivotable relative to the housing and supporting the side handle in different positions of the side handle relative to the support member.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the power tools of the type described above, the position of the side handle relative to the main handle can be changed to adapt the arrangement of the handles to different applications and to provide for a good holding for each application. In addition, such hand-held power tools can be adapted without any problems to the use by both left-hander and right-hander.
German Publication DE-197 45 306 discloses an angular grinder with a support provided on the grinder housing. The support has two receptacles for alternatively securing a side handle. Moreover, the support can be secured relative to the housing in different pivotal positions, whereby simultaneously the positions of the receptacles relative to the housing also change.
The drawback of the known solution consists in that the connection of the support and the housing should withstand large forces and, at the same time, should insure variable positions of the support. This involves relatively large manufacturing costs. In addition, with so supported side handles, during the operation, relatively strong vibrations are transmitted to the hand of the operator, which leads to a poor handling of the tool and to a rapid fatigue of the operator. Further in some applications, e.g., grinding, because of a sidewise projecting support, no optimal gripping or holding of the tool is achieved that would have permitted to comfortably apply high press-on forces.
Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to provide a hand-held tool with an auxiliary handle in which the above-mentioned drawbacks of such tools are eliminated.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a hand-held tool with an auxiliary handle of the type discussed above that would insure a comfortable holding for each type of applications.

Hand-held power tool with an auxiliary handle


This document discusses, among other things, a method of manufacture including a mold having at least one pin, and surrounding the pin with a hardenable material to form a first guide layer. The mold and pin are removed from the resulting first guide layer, to define a substantially untapered first instrument passage that corresponds to the geometry of the pin. Optionally, the first instrument passage includes at least five substantially untapered channels including a central channel. The first instrument passage is aligned with a substantially untapered second instrument passage of a stacked second guide layer. In a further example, the first and second guide layers are coupled to a guide coupler that cooperatively aligns the first and second instrument passages. The guide layers can be used with a trajectory guide for image guided surgery.

Neurosurgery sometimes involves inserting an instrument through a burr hole or other entry portal into a subject's brain toward a target region of the brain. Because of the precision needed to reach the target, while avoiding nearby structures that are often critical to brain function, precise guidance devices and techniques are needed. In one such technique a multi-lumen instrument guide is included within a trajectory guide mounted to the skull. An instrument is inserted through a guide lumen of the instrument guide, which steers it toward the target.


A compact machine for automatically loading racks with bottled water containers, includes an in feed conveyor for delivering upright bottles, a pin wheel mechanism with spaced apart spokes for receiving each individual bottle from the in feed conveyor that is operable through its rotation to convert a bottle's vertical orientation to a horizontal orientation, a bottle loading magazine operable to transfer bottles from the pin wheel mechanism to a elevator magazine, a bottle elevator in the loading magazine operable to raise bottles loaded therein in a vertically stacked relationship, and a ram operable to push the bottles stacked in the elevator magazine into a rack positioned next to the elevator magazine, plus controls for sequencing these operations.

Due to less than satisfactory water quality in many cities in the United States, and elsewhere, individuals often purchase bottled drinking water which comes from a wide variety of sources. Often such customers buy spring water which is bottled in five gallon plastic containers that are mounted in dispensing units in offices and homes, whereby the water in bottles can be dispensed into cups or the like placed under the spigot of the dispensing unit, commonly called the "water cooler."
Since a customer has to lift the bottles and invert them on the water cooler, after the cap is removed, to replenish the water in the cooler, the five gallon size for the bottles is preferred, if not mandated. Not counting the weight of the bottles, the water contained in these bottles weighs approximately forty-four (44) pounds, not an insubstantial amount to lift and guide into the top opening of the water cooler. For this reason the plastic bottles used for such water handling are light weight, weighing only a few pounds, which dictates the thin walled plastic bottles conventionally used to distribute bottled water.
Due to the thin wall of the plastic bottles coupled with the weight of the water, these bottles are somewhat fragile and must be handled with care to avoid rupturing the bottles and/or disrupting the seal of the cap. The above characteristics relating to the bottles and the weight of the water poses problems in the initial distribution phases of providing such bottled water to customers.
The delivery process for such bottled water involves filling the plastic bottles with spring water, or the like, capping the bottles with plastic caps and loading them into racks for delivery to customers. Typically the rack (two of which are illustrated in the drawings, FIGS. 1 and 2, described infra,) hold 24 bottles of water (sometimes more depending on the rack size), with each bottle supported by rails in an individual compartment holding two bottles. These racks are typically equipped with spaced apart tunnels or feet at the bottom of the rack for a fork lift by which the racks are loaded on the sides of a delivery truck with a slight inward incline. As a result the delivery driver may access the two bottles in each compartment from the side of the delivery truck. Empty bottles are stored in the racks for return to the bottling plant when full bottles are exchanged for empty bottles at a customer's location.
Small bottled water producers often load the racks by hand with a crew receiving the filled bottles from a filling line, lifting the bottles and guiding them into the compartments in the racks and then pushing them back along the rails so that two bottles can be placed in each compartment. When the racks have compartments four high, the crew must lift the roughly fifty pound bottles four plus feet in the air to place them in the racks. Such manual loading requires considerable physical exertion to load a single rack containing twenty-four water filled bottles. Since the bottles are somewhat fragile, the crew must not "bang" the bottles against the rack or its rails, lest the bottles rupture or the hydraulic action of the water within the bottle breaks or disturbs the cap seal, leading to leakage of the water from the bottle.
Obviously the labor intensive loading of these bottles in racks manually, places the crew at risk for on the job injury from the difficult and repetitive lifting involved. Larger bottled water producers therefore have resorted to large machines for automatically loading water filled bottles of the type described into racks, some machines costing in the range of $250,000. Such machines often consume significant floor space and require high vertical clearances for the machine, e.g., vertical clearances of two stories or more. One such prior art machine is disclosed in U.S. Letters Pat. No. 4,929,140 issued to Baker and another is disclosed in U.S. Letters Pat. No. 5,244,330 issued to Tonjes.
This invention is related to a machine for automatically loading the water filled bottles into the delivery racks mentioned above which is far less expensive than the machines disclosed in the patents mentioned.
Thus, an object of this invention is to provide a bottle water loading machine which has a small horizontal and vertical footprint which is affordable for small bottled water producers.
Further, another object of this invention is to provide a special mechanism which orients the water filled bottles gently from a vertical orientation to a horizontal position in order to avoid rupture of the bottles and/or creating cap "leakers" during an automatic loading process.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a machine which costs only about a third of the price of the machines now available in the market place.
A very important feature of the novel machine is its open architecture which allows for easy maintenance and repair.
Other advantages and objects of the invention will be appreciated by referring to the accompanying drawings and the following specification describing the invention, including a feature allowing the machine to accommodate different rack configurations when desired by the operator.


A protocol-configurable isometric hand grip recording dynamometer with user guidance. The apparatus employs a grip within which is mounted a load cell. The load cell, in turn, is coupled to a rigid printed circuit board which is compressively squeezed during an exercise regimen. A readout is integrally formed with the battery operated system to provide aural and visual cuing at an angle facilitating the user's reading of a display. Visual cues are provided at the display throughout an exercise regimen prompting the user as to which hand to use and the amount of compressive squeezing force to be applied. The system and method includes a technique for scoring the efforts of the user. The microprocessor-driven device includes archival memory and a data communications port such that may be employed interactively with a trainer or physician.

The present invention relates to the field of blood pressure and more particularly to an apparatus and method for safely reducing the resting blood pressure (both systolic and diastolic pressures) of humans and especially for those humans who are hypertensive.
Buck, et al., "Isometric Occupational Exercise and the Incidence of Hypertension", J. Occup. Med., 27:370-372, 1985, show a practical application of the principle of isometric exercise influencing blood pressure. The incidence of hypertension was lower in individuals engaged in occupations that had higher components of isometric efforts. A subtle, but significant, feature of this paper is that the original hypothesis was that, since blood pressure rises during an isometric effort, a job that required repeated isometric efforts might have an accumulative effect and contribute to a sustained elevation of blood pressure. However, the investigation reported showed just the opposite result.
Choquette, et al., "Blood Pressure Reduction in `Borderline` Hypertensives Following Physical Training", Can. Med. Assoc. J., 1108:699-703, 1973, show a comparison between rhythmic and isometric exercise. While these authors showed an effect of exercise on lowering resting blood pressure, the present invention which utilizes isometric exercise lowers the blood pressure even more. Further, it has been well documented that compliance (staying with the treatment) is rather poor for rhythmic exercise. A greater percentage of people who run, jog, cycle, swim, or the like, to achieve fitness, simply quit.
Clarke, et al., "The Duration of Sustained Contractions of the Human Forearm at Different Muscle Temperatures", J. Physiol., 143:454-473, 1958, show an early hand grip dynamometer which is used by patients whose arms are immersed in water for measuring the duration of sustained contractions of the human form at different muscle temperatures.
Gilders, et al., "Endurance Training and Blood Pressure in Normotensive and Hypertensive Adults", Med. Sci. Sports. Exerc., 21:629-636, 1989, report a study that indicates that endurance training of the rhythmic or aerobic type does not have the benefit of lowering blood pressure, for either subjects starting with normal or with hypertensive blood pressures.
Hagberg, et al., "Effective Weight Training on Blood Pressure and Hemodynarnics in Hypertensive Adolescents", J. Pediatr., 1104:147-151, 1984, show that weightlifting, which has a major isometric component, although not a "pure" isometric effort, can keep blood pressure down after it was lowered by rhythmic training.
Harris, et al., "Physiological Response to Circuit Weight Training in Borderline Hypertensive Subjects", Med. Sci. Spots Exerc., 19:246-252, 1987, and Hurley, et al., "Resistive Training Can Induce Coronary Risk Factors Without Altering VO.sub.2mx or Percent Body Fat", Med. Sci. Sports Exerc., 20:150-154, 1988, both deal with resistive training similar to the Hagberg, et al., publication in which there is movement, hence rhythmic effort, but where much weight is being moved, hence, "resistive" effort. This is interpreted to mean that in such a "mixed" effort, with both rhythmic and isometric components, that the isometric component is providing the real benefit in lowering resting blood pressure. In both of these papers, VO.sub.2max does not change. The measure of change of VO.sub.2max is one associated with improvement of endurance seen with rhythmic exercise. The point, then, supports contentions about isometric exercise in that resistive efforts which have a major isometric component, do not show the kind of change in VO.sub.2max seen typically with rhythmic or endurance exercise, yet do show the kind of lowering of resting blood pressure, though not as much, as can be obtained with only isometric exercise.
It has been reported that a reduction in blood pressure reduces the incidence of mortality in the report, Hypertension Detection and Follow-up Program Cooperative Group, "The Effect of Treatment on Mortality in `Mild` Hypertension", N. Engl. J. Med., 307:976-980, 1982. In an early paper, Kiveloff, et al., "Brief Maximal Isometric Exercise in Hypertension", J. Am. Geriatr. Soc., 9:1006-1012, 1971, suggest that isometric exercise can lower blood pressure in humans. No device was used in which to perform the isometric effort, rather subjects just stood and contracted muscles of the body. No quantitative measure of the amount of isometric effort is reported. Merideth, et al., "Exercise Training Lowers Resting Renal but not Cardiac Sympathetic Activity in Humans", Hypertension, 18:575-582, 1991, present evidence that rhythmic exercise results in a reduction of peripheral resistance, i.e., a "relaxation" of blood vessels in the body, which would result in the lowering of blood pressure within them.
Seals and Hagberg, "The Effect of Exercise Training on Human Hypertension: A Review", Med. Sci. Sports Exerc., 16:207-215, 1984, reviews 12 earlier investigations of rhythmic exercise studies.
Tipton, "Exercise, Training and Hypertension: An Update", Exerc. Sport Sci., Rev., vol. 19, Ch. 13, 1991, pp 447-505, is one of the most comprehensive recent reviews of the state of the art on the effect of exercise on blood pressure. At page 473, Tipton refers to a study which included "circuit training" which has a significant isometric component and which showed a lowering of blood pressure. The author also refers to one of his own studies with rats which were made to perform a type of isometric exercise in which the rats "unexpectedly" did not experience an increase in blood pressure as the authors had predicted would happen.
Thus, the art makes clear that a lowering of resting blood pressure is beneficial to humans in general and is particularly important to those humans who are hypertensive. While isometric and rhythmic (or dynamic) exercise is beneficial to humans in general, the isometric component of exercise, according to the foregoing art, appears to contribute more significantly to the lowering of resting blood pressure. This speculation was confirmed by studies optimizing an isometric regimen to be performed by patients. See in this regard, Wiley, et al. "Isometric Exercise Training Lowers Resting Blood Pressure", Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 24(7):749-754, 1992. Such procedure and apparatus for carrying it out are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,398,696, entitled "Isometric Exercise Method for Lowering Resting Blood Pressure and Grip Dynamometer Useful Therefor" by Wiley, issued Mar. 21, 1995, assigned in common herewith, and incorporated herein by reference.
With the establishment of this basic isometric-based technology, investigators have observed a need for developing a corresponding apparatus and system which will encourage the patient to carry out a specified isometric regimen with consistency over extended periods of time. Such instrumentation must, therefore, be small, conveniently portable, and highly reliable. Because the regimen requires the application of hand-grip forces corresponding with the maximum capability of the user, the necessarily diminutive instrument additionally is called upon to sustain the application of substantial pressures. Of further importance, it is necessary that grip forces be measured with substantial accuracy. To promote patient use, necessary data inputting as well as the computation of target force values and the carrying out of prescribed timing requires computer-based automation. Visual and aural prompts as well as perceptible feedback representing the quality of performance by the user is called for, as well as a capability for the archiving or logging of performance data. Of further importance, the instrument should be capable of interactive communication not only with the user but with the attending physician or trainer, thus calling for a downloading and programming feature for patient management and/or training evaluation.

Apparatus, system, and method for carrying out protocol-based isometric exercise regimens


Polyolefins stabilized against oxidation phenomena are obtained by using a process comprising the polymerization of monomers by way of a catalyst prepared by reacting an aluminum alkyl compound, and optionally an electron donor compound, with a solid component comprising a Ti compound and an electron-donor compound supported on magnesium chloride, the polymerization being carried out in the presence of one or more phenolic stabilizers and using, as electron-donor compound in the solid catalyst component, a compound selected from particular classes of ethers.

A very widely used method in the art for the stabilization of olefin polymers consists of mixing the polymers with the stabilizers and extruding the mixtures thus obtained. In this manner one obtains pellets in which the stabilizers are dispersed relatively homogeneously, providing a good stability to the pellets which in turn can be transformed directly into finished products.
The above mentioned techniques for pelletizing by way of extrusion are particularly advantageous in the case of polymers obtained in the form of irregular particles and with low flowability, which consequently must be granulated in order to obtain a commercial product. Ziegler-Natta catalysts supported on magnesium chloride, and polymerization processes based on the use of such catalysts, are establishing themselves in the field of olefin polymerization. Such catalysts are capable of producing polymer particles that because of their high flowability, high bulk density, and absence of extremely fine particles, can be commercialized directly, without having to be transformed into extruded granules. There is a definite need, therefore, for a process that allows one to stabilize the above mentioned particles directly, without requiring subsequent extrusion. It is of particular interest to obtain a stabilizing effect against oxidating phenomena which occur during polymer storage.
One of the solutions proposed in the known art to reach the above mentioned objective consists of adding one or more stabilizers during the polymerization process. This solution is particularly interesting because it would mean that no treatment of any kind would be needed downstream from the polymerization plant. According to U.S. Pat. No. 3,477,991, in order to obtain a stabilized polymer, alkenylphenols are added in an .alpha.-olefins polymerization process carried out with a TiCl.sub.3 based catalyst. However, as shown in published European patent application EP-A-0192987, adding phenol compounds to Ziegler-Natta catalysts supported on magnesium chloride causes unacceptable decreases in stereospecificity, or a yellowing of the polymer. In order to overcome those limitations, the European patent application suggests the addition of HALS (hindered amine light stabilizers) during the polymerization phase. In this manner one can obtain a stabilizing effect against thermal oxidation.
According to published European patent application EP-A-0254 348, one can obtain good polyolefin stabilization, particularly against degradation phenomena which occur during the handling of polyolefins in the molten state by adding phosphites and phosphonites during polymerization. Moreover according to published European patent applications 350444 and 351360, various combinations of HALS, phosphorous esters, and phenols are also added during polymerization in order to obtain a stabilizing effect against thermal oxidation.
The above mentioned documents show that the addition of HALS and phosphorus esters does not interfere much with the activity of the Ziegler-Natta catalysts supported on magnesium chloride, and allows one to obtain polymers with no yellowing effects.
Moreover, the above mentioned published European patent application 351 360 shows that, thanks to the addition of the phosphorus compound, one can also add moderate quantities of phenolic stabilizers without yellowing of the polymer.
However, it must be pointed out that all the above mentioned solutions do not solve the problem of eliminating the damaging effects caused by the addition of phenolic stabilizers in a polymerization carried out with supported catalysts, but require the use of other stabilizers, partially or totally substituting the phenolic stabilizers.
On the other hand, it is well known that in practice, the phenolic stabilizers are the only stabilizers capable of conferring to the polyolefins a high resistance to thermal oxidation phenomena, and to oxidation and discoloration phenomena which occur during the storing of the polymer.
Moreover, by adding to the polyolefins HALS (typical stabilizers against light induced oxidation), phosphorus esters (typical process stabilizers used to avoid polymer degradation during its handling in the molten state), and phenolic stabilizers, one limits the final use of the polyolefins, since the user does not have the possibility of choosing a stabilizing formulation aimed at a specific end-use both in qualitative and quantitative terms.

Process for the preparation of stabilized polyolefins and products obtained therefrom