An article 100 and realted methods for reducing a microbial population on an article 168, wherein apparatus 100 includes a chamber in an article-holding basket 164 retains article 168 in an up-right position within the cahbmer an enclosing article 168. A heating system 172 introduces dry heat, moist heat, and, if desired, a combination of moist heat and dry heat into the chamber. A fluid supply system delivers a predetermine amount of fluid to a heating reservoir 174, which is disposed above heating system 172 to provide the moist heat.

It is known that personal hygiene articles, including oral hygiene instruments, such as toothbrushes, tongue scrapers, and the like, may have substantial microbial populations present on their surfaces. It is also known that such microbial populations can contribute to the spread of diseases, such as gum disease, tooth decay, bad breath, mouth sores, and other chronic illnesses and infectious diseases. Indeed, medical studies indicate that many illnesses, such as heart disease, and bacterial infections can be traced to microorganisms (e.g., germs, bacteria, viruses, pathogenic microorganisms, yeast, fungi, and the like) present on the surfaces of such personal hygiene articles, which microorganisms are transferred to soft human tissue, such as the gums or tongue or that otherwise may enter the bloodstream during use of the articles. Scientific research confirms that a wide spectrum of bacterial and viral agents can survive for substantial periods of time on unprotected toothbrushes. Such bacterial and viral agents include microbes such as influenza, Herpes Simplex virus, salmonella, E-coli, listeria, staphylococci, candida, gingivitis, gum disease causing bacteria, and viruses that can cause the common cold are debilitating, even potentially deadly, diseases. It is estimated that 75 percent of Americans suffer from some form of gum disease and 90 percent of all systemic diseases including kidney disease, diabetes, and heart disease have oral manifestations. Again, for economy of expression, such bacterial and viral agents, and microorganisms of all types are generally referred to as a "microbial population" or "Microbial populations", which expressions are interchangeably used herein.
Accordingly, it is also known that reducing the microbial population present on the surfaces of articles can reduce the spread of illnesses and infectious diseases transferred by use of such articles.
The present inventors recognized that reducing the microbial population present on the surfaces of personal hygiene articles, and maintaining such articles in their reduced-microbial population state between uses pose two, related challenges. First, during normal use, personal hygiene articles may routinely collect contaminants, such as, particles of food, germs, bacteria, viruses, and the like, which may be present in the user's mouth. Many of these contaminants are normally removed from the articles by rinsing such after use. However, it is highly probable that not all contaminants will be removed by rinsing the articles. Thus, at least some of these contaminants often remain on the articles after use and provide a fertile breeding habitat for microbial populations. Second, personal hygiene articles, even if no microbial population is present on the surfaces of the articles after use, typically are not stored in a contaminant-free environment between uses. Instead, these articles are often stored in drawers or on vanity countertops, such as cups, trays, holders, and the like, which may have an evolving microbial population on their surfaces, all of which subject even microbial population-free articles to contamination after use. Moreover, the residual moisture on the articles after use fosters the growth of microbial populations on the surfaces of the articles. In addition, the articles are subject to contamination from the surrounding environment, including the ambient air, which in a typical household bathroom is commonly replete with microbial populations.
Several conventional approaches for reducing the microbial population present on the surfaces of personal hygiene articles, and the like, are known. However, all known conventional apparatuses and methods have one or more disadvantages.
One conventional approach is to soak the articles in a chemical disinfectant. Unfortunately, chemical disinfectants often have difficulty reaching all of the surfaces of some articles such as the surfaces between tightly compacted bristles found in many toothbrushes, especially if the exposure of the articles to the chemical disinfectant is brief. Accordingly, use of chemical disinfectants is not entirely effective. In addition, such chemical disinfectants are relatively costly and must be frequently resupplied. Further, repeated use of chemical disinfectants over time may present health concerns in their own right, such as inflammation of soft human tissue and damage to the enamel of teeth.
Another conventional approach is to reduce the microbial population present on personal hygiene articles using microwave energy. So-called microwave disinfecting is problematic because of the electrical arcing that occurs at any metal components used in the articles, such as the metal cleats sometimes used to anchor the bristles in a toothbrush head. Microwaving also tends to deform the thermoplastic materials of which many personal hygiene articles are made, at least in part, resulting in articles that are unusable. Additionally, most households are not equipped with microwave apparatuses outside of the kitchen. Accordingly, use of this approach tends to be inconvenient for many household users.
Still another conventional approach to reduce the microbial population present on the surfaces of personal hygiene articles is to expose the articles to ultraviolet light. However, effective, ultraviolet light equipment tends to be expensive and tends to require regular maintenance by a skilled technician. Also, ultraviolet light cannot always reach all surfaces of the articles, such as between the tightly compacted bristles found in many toothbrushes. Further, ultraviolet light degrades some thermoplastic materials. Moreover, repeated exposure of a user to ultraviolet light may present safety concerns, such as, accidental vision damage.
Yet another conventional approach is to subject personal hygiene articles to a steam and pressure treatment in an apparatus, such as an autoclave. However, generating the steam and pressure requires special equipment, such as a heat source or a microwave source and a compressor and requires an inconvenient amount of time to start and complete the process. Moreover, such an apparatus tends to be bulky and expensive to buy and to maintain. Also, such an apparatus generally yields moist articles that are ripe for the growth of evolving microbial populations. Further, such an apparatus poses certain burn risks, such as scalding, because of the use of pressurized steam. Therefore, such an apparatus generally does not appeal to household users.
There are many types of methods and apparatus that attempt to overcome the aforesaid problems. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,919,416 (Auner) is directed to a sterilization process for thermoplastic appliances. In the apparatus of Auner, water contained in a reservoir of an uncovered sterilization tray is brought to, or near to, its boiling point by an initial exposure cycle to microwave energy. Thereafter, the appliance, i.e., a toothbrush, is placed in a sterilization tray in proximity to the microwave-preheated water. The sterilization tray is then covered and subjected to an additional (shorter) exposure cycle of microwave energy. The water in the reservoir boils, and steam fills the covered container and pressurizes it to about 10 psi. The steam and the microwave energy sterilize the toothbrush. However, Auner neither dries the sterilized toothbrush nor provides a satisfactory sanitary storage environment after a sterilization operation is performed. Further, the pressurized moist heat may present the above-noted burn risks.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,019,344 (Kutner, et al.) relates to a method for sterilizing articles, such as dental handpieces. Kutner, et al. discloses introducing the articles and a liquid sterilant solution into a collapsible pouch, sealing the pouch, and heating the sealed pouch to vaporize the liquid sterilant solution to produce an atmosphere of hot, sterilant vapor. The articles are sterilized under the combined effects of the chemical vapor and microwave irradiation. However, this method does not prevent deforming the thermoplastic material of the articles. Further, a user must open the pouch and handle the wet, sterilized articles, thereby subjecting the articles to contamination.
G.B. Patent Document No. 2,336,313 A (Lin) is directed to a toothbrush sterilizer consisting of a container for sterilizing the bristles of a toothbrush comprising a water vessel and a water heater to generate steam to sterilize the bristles of the toothbrushes held by racks, which are located inside a cylindrical body. Ventilation holes may be provided in the top of the cylindrical body. The water vessel is provided with a recess for holding water. Located over the water vessel is a perforated disc-like cover, having a plurality of pores. Located under the water vessel is a water heater. When a switch is turned on, the water contained in the water vessel is heated by the water heater to produce steam, which passes through the pores of the disc-like cover to sterilize the bristles of the toothbrush. The handles and heads of the toothbrushes are also sterilized. The Lin apparatus may be subject to the safety concerns relating to the use of a significant amount of steam to sterilize toothbrushes. Moreover, the Lin apparatus requires a certain amount of start-up time after switching on the toothbrush sterilizer, which is an inconvenience to the user.
U.S. Design Pat. No. 413,986 (Lin) discloses a container for sterilizing toothbrushes using steam.
As above-noted, conventional apparatuses and methods have one or more disadvantages, which make their use unappealing and/or disadvantageous to most household users. Accordingly, there is a need for a compact, inexpensive, safe, easy- and ready-to-use, and effective household apparatus that reduces the microbial population present on the surfaces of articles, including personal hygiene articles, such as toothbrushes, after each use by subjecting the articles to moist heat and, in particular, in turn to moist heat and then to dry heat.
Accordingly, there is a need for an apparatus that stores articles, after reducing the microbial population present on the surfaces of such articles, in a reduced microbial environment between uses without requiring user handling of the articles until their next use.
Even further, there is a need for a fluid-supply system for use in such an apparatus.
Yet further, there is a need for a safe and convenient heating system for use in such an apparatus.
In addition, there is a need for an article-holding basket adapted and configured for use in such an apparatus.

Apparatus for retaining and heat sanitizing articles


An image processing apparatus includes a first screen processing unit that performs first screen processing using a first screen angle on a line region of a character, a second screen processing unit that performs second screen processing using a second screen angle on at least an outline region out of the line region, the second screen angle being different from the first screen angle, and a composition unit that performs composition of a processing result of the first screen processing and a processing result of the second screen processing, on at least the outline region out of the line region.

Technical Field
The present invention relates to an image processing technique and in particular to an image processing technique involving screen processing.
Related Art
There are techniques for representing halftones by performing screen processing (dithering).
In the case of representing characters using such a technique, "jagged edges" (jaggies) may appear in character outlines if the directions in which the character outlines extend and the direction in which a screen is oriented (the direction corresponding to a predetermined screen angle) are close to parallel to each other.
As a technique for reducing such jagged edges, there is, for example, a technique disclosed in JP 2008-294609A.
JP 2008-294609A discloses that the font of a character is analyzed, and if a difference between a line segment angle of the font and the screen angle is less than or equal to a threshold value, it is determined that jaggies will appear, and every screen for each color is rotated by 90 degrees to generate an output image.
With the above-described technique disclosed in JP 2008-294609A, screen processing using a new screen angle obtained by rotating the original screen angle by 90 degrees is performed on each page. More specifically, an angle obtained by 90-degree rotation of a character angle that has the highest frequency of appearance on each page is determined as a new screen angle, and screen processing using the new screen angle is uniformly performed on all characters on that page.
Accordingly, the above technique does have the effect of reducing jaggies in line segments having a predetermined angle on each page (specifically, a character angle with the highest frequency of appearance on that page).
However, because there are line segments of various angles on each page, jaggies may not be reduced in other line segments whose angles are different from the above predetermined angle.

Image processing apparatus, image processing method and computer-readable storage medium with improved character display


A high breakdown voltage metal-insulator-metal capacitor for compound semiconductor integrated circuit comprises a substrate, an isolation layer, a first metal layer, a dielectric layer, an adhesion layer and a second metal layer. The dielectric layer is formed by alternately stacking plural HfO2 layers and plural SiO2 layers. The thickness of each layer of the plural HfO2 layers is between 30 Å to 100 Å so as to reduce the leakage current, enhance the breakdown voltage and increase the capacitance density of each layer of the plural HfO2 layers. And the total thickness of the dielectric layer is thicker than 500 Å such that the breakdown voltage of the capacitor is higher than 50 V.

A metal-insulator-metal capacitor is widely used. For different applications, the requirement to the breakdown voltage of the metal-insulator-metal capacitor is entirely different. For example, please refer to FIGS. 6, 6A and 6B (that are respectively the FIG. 5, FIG. 11 and FIG. 4 of "Berthelot, A.; Caillat, C.; Huard, V.; Barnola, S.; Boeck, B.; Del-Puppo, H.; Emonet, N. & Lalanne, F. (2006). Highly Reliable TiN/ZrO2/TiN 3D Stacked Capacitors for 45 nm Embedded DRAM Technologies, Proc. of ESSDERC 2006, pp. 343-346, Montreux, Switzerland, September 2006"), which shows that the requirement to the breakdown voltage of the conventional metal-insulator-metal capacitor for the application to the dynamic random access memory (DRAM) is usually lower than 6V.
Please refer to FIG. 6, which is the design of the metal-insulator-metal capacitor for the application of DRAM. The design comprises a TiN bottom metal layer, a ZrO2 dielectric layer and a TiN top metal layer. The dielectric layer may be made of HfO2 or Al2O3. Please also refer to FIGS. 6A and 6B. As an example the dielectric layer is made of Al2O3, when the thickness of the Al2O3 film is approaching 50 Å (the effective oxide (SiO2) thickness is about 20 Å), the breakdown voltage of the capacitor is about 5.5V. While in the case of HfO2 dielectric layer and ZrO2 dielectric layer, the breakdown voltage is even lower than 4V. However, on the application of mobile phone circuit, the requirement to the breakdown voltage of the metal-insulator-metal capacitor is up to 50V, which is far beyond the requirement on the application of DRAM.
Not only the gap difference on the requirement of the breakdown voltage, but also the requirement of the lifetime on the application of DRAM is quite different from the requirement on the application of the mobile phone. Time dependent dielectric breakdown lifetime test is the method often used in semiconductor industry to test the reliability of the integrated circuits devices. During testing the metal-insulator-metal capacitor, under high temperature environment and under applying a certain fixed stress voltage on the capacitor, measures the time interval when breakdown occurs. Estimate the lifetime of the capacitor by extrapolation to judge if it fits the requirement of the lifetime test. For DRAM application metal-insulator-metal capacitor, the required lifetime is usually greater than or equal to 10 years (3.1*108 sec) under applying 3V stress voltage; while for mobile phone application metal-insulator-metal capacitor, the required lifetime should be greater than or equal to 20 years (6.3*108 sec) under applying 20V stress voltage and at temperature 125° C. Obviously, the design of the metal-insulator-metal capacitor for DRAM application couldn't meet the requirement for mobile phone application no matter the requirement of lifetime or the breakdown voltage.
Please refer to FIG. 7, which is the sectional view of a prior art metal-insulator-metal capacitor for mobile phone application. On a GaAs substrate, in sequence an isolation layer, a first metal layer (Au), a Si3N4 dielectric layer, an adhesion layer (Ti) and a second metal layer (Au) are formed. When the thickness of the Si3N4 dielectric layer is 1000 Å, after the time dependent dielectric breakdown lifetime test under applying 20V stress voltage, the lifetime may be greater than or equal to 20 years (6.3*108 sec) and may reach the requirement. Its breakdown voltage is 81.5V, which also reaches the requirement for mobile phone application. However, its capacitance density is only 580 (pF/mm2) For dense integrated circuit design, it needs a new design of the metal-insulator-metal capacitor with higher capacitance density.
The design with higher capacitance density means the capacitor having a higher capacitance per unit area. In other words, when the circuit needs a certain fixed capacitance of capacitor, the higher capacitance density the metal-insulator-metal capacitor design has, the smaller area the capacitor needs. For example, when designing the mobile phone circuit, using metal-insulator-metal capacitor design with higher capacitance density will significantly shrink the area of the capacitor. Because a large portion of the area on the mobile phone circuit is occupied by the capacitor, a design of the metal-insulator-metal capacitor with high capacitance density will be able to largely reduce the costs and make the products more competitive.
Accordingly, the inventor develops a new design to overcome the drawback of the conventional metal-insulator-metal capacitor design. The new design of the metal-insulator-metal capacitor passes the time dependent dielectric breakdown lifetime test and has a high capacitance density. Under applying 20V the stress voltage, its lifetime is greater than or equal to 20 years (6.3*108 sec) and reach the requirement. In the meanwhile, its breakdown voltage is higher than 50V and reaches the requirement for mobile phone application.

High breakdown voltage metal-insulator-metal capacitor


A low voltage supply circuit supplies an internal supply voltage in an integrated circuit, while consuming very little stand-by current, and providing substantial driving power to maintain the internal supply nodes at the desired voltage level. The low voltage supply circuit includes a first branch and a second branch. The first branch includes a pull-up circuit, a first transistor, a second transistor, and a reference circuit connected in series. The drain and the gate of the first transistor are connected to a first node. The pull-up circuit in the first branch is coupled between the first node and a power supply node. The drain and the gate of the second transistor are connected to a second node. The reference circuit is connected between the ground supply node of the integrated circuit and the second node, supplying a reference potential to the second node. The sources of the first and second transistors are coupled in common to a third node in the first branch. The second branch of the low voltage supply circuit includes a third transistor and a fourth transistor. The drain of the third transistor is coupled to a power supply node, the gate of the third transistor is connected to the first node in the first branch, and the source of the third transistor being connected to an output node for the low voltage supply circuit. The drain of the fourth transistor is coupled to the ground supply node, the gate of the fourth transistor is connected to the second node in the first branch, and the source of the fourth transistor is connected to the output node. Bias circuits induce a larger body effect in the fourth transistor than in the second transistor, so that the fourth transistor has a threshold voltage higher in absolute value than the second transistor. The bias circuits also induce a larger body effect in the third transistor than in the first transistor, so that the third transistor has a threshold voltage higher in absolute value than the first transistor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the generation of an internal supply voltage on integrated circuits; and more particularly to internal supply voltages having a lower potential than power supply potentials provided to the integrated circuit, and which consume very little stand-by power.
2. Description of Related Art
In the design of integrated circuits, a need often arises to provide a supply voltage on the integrated circuit which is lower than the voltage supplied by an external power supply. For example, in the design of flash memory devices, it is typical to provide an external supply voltage at about 5 volts, and at times, at about 12 volts. A number of other supply voltage levels are required for the complex procedures involved in a programming and erasing and reading the flash memory cells. The problems associated with various supply voltages in flash memory devices can be understood, for example, with reference to U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,113; entitled FLASH MEMORY SOURCE INHIBIT GENERATOR, invented by Dix, et al.
A circuit that supplies a supply voltage in an integrated circuit must be capable of sustaining substantial on demand current, in order to maintain the voltage potential at its output under varying load conditions. Prior art designs for generating internal supply voltages of this type, therefore have been relatively high power consumers. For example, in the Dix, et al. patent cited above, a low voltage supply circuit is described which is used for the so-called source inhibit function in a flash memory integrated circuit having the architecture described in Dix, et al. Although the supply circuits of Dix, et al. operate to provide a relatively stable internal supply voltage, they suffer the disadvantage that they consume substantial current even in the stand-by mode.
As the design of integrated circuits has evolved toward uses in which low current stand-by modes are important, a need has arisen to provide internal supply voltages with much less stand-by current consumption than has been available in the prior art.

Low voltage supply circuit for integrated circuit


An image forming device includes: a rasterizing section, a resolution converting section and a thinning section. The rasterizing section generates, by rasterization, image data having any one of standard resolution, resolution higher than the standard resolution and resolution lower than the standard resolution. The resolution converting section converts the resolution upon rasterization for the generated image data having the higher or lower resolution than the standard resolution into the standard resolution. The thinning section thins the image data having the standard resolution. When thinning the image data of which the resolution is converted higher than upon rasterization in the resolution converting section, the thinning section adjusts thinning strength to become larger upon thinning than when thinning the image data of which the resolution upon rasterization is kept as it is.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image processing device and an image processing method.
2. Description of Related Art
Data of a document and the like, created by a user using an application, is in a form of vector data. The vector data is converted into page description language (PDL) data upon printing, and the converted data is sent to a printer. The PDL data is then rasterized in the printer into image data of a bitmap format, and the image data is printed out.
The higher the resolution of the image data becomes upon rasterization, the higher the definition of the image becomes upon drawing. However, the amount of data increases as the resolution becomes higher, so there is a case in which resolution upon rasterization can be selected from a plurality of different values of resolution according to image processing power.
For example, when writing resolution for a printing device of a printer is 1200 dpi, and if image processing power of the device is sufficiently high, image data can be generated upon rasterization at the same resolution as that in printing, i.e. 1200 dpi. On the other hand, when the image data is generated at resolution of 600 dpi, which is lower than 1200 dpi, upon rasterization, and then the resolution of the image data is converted from 600 dpi to 1200 dpi, an amount of the image data can be reduced and hence processing time can be shortened.
In the meantime, a technique of thinning image data after rasterization is known (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2009-211376, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-341249, for example). According printing characteristics of a printer, an object such as a character tends to thicken after printing; however, the thickening of the object can be improved by the thinning process.
In the case described above, in which the resolution of the image data upon rasterization is different from that at printing, the resolution of the image data is converted into resolution at a time of printing, and then the thinning process is performed on the obtained image data thereafter.
However, when image data which has been rasterized with low resolution is converted into the one with high resolution, the image of an object becomes thicker than in a case of the image data being rasterized with original high resolution. Therefore, the size of the object after the thinning process varies depending on the resolution at which the image data is rasterized.
A user expects that an image designed using vector data to be reproduced as it is after rasterization, regardless of the resolution at which the image data is rasterized. Thus, reproduction of identical images is required regardless of the resolution at which the image data is rasterized.

Image processing device and image processing method


An improved hand-held implement is provided with a body having external surfaces that define contours which match and ergonomically engage the surfaces of a user's thumb and fingers when the user grasps the implement, so as to provide a large surface area of contact between the user's hand and the implement. The increased area of contact between the user's hand and the implement, compared to traditional designs, decreases the required level of applied unit area pressure, and also provides for greater control consequently facilitating manipulation of the implement. The exterior of the implement is sufficiently small so that, while in use, the body of the implement does not extend outside or beyond the hand of the user. The cartridge includes a coaxial retention ring device which readily fits into the body of the implement by the resilient engagement of the ring into the coaxial recessed groove in the implement body. The implement is further provided with a spring operated mechanism for extending and retracting the tip from the cartridge. The outer surfaces of the implement, having relatively smooth flat surface, are well-suited for application of art work, logos and graphics for advertising and promotional purposes.

In the past, traditional hand-held implements, such as those commonly used for writing, have generally been provided with a cylindrical shaft which is manipulated by the thumb and index finger of the user acting in conjunction with each other to control the tip of the device so as to accomplish a specified task. Additionally, the users of such traditional cylindrical shaft implements may often utilize the arch as a lever against the working thumb and index finger as a fulcrum, in order to manipulate the implement. Examples of such traditional single tip hand-held implements are writing instruments such as pens and pencils, cutting instruments such as knives and awls, tools such as soldering devices and scribes, painting instruments such as brushes, cosmetics application equipment and digitalizing contacting devices such as computer styluses. During their use, the surface of such traditional implements contacts a relatively small surface area of the user's skin.
Historically, improvements to such traditional hand-held implements concerned the mechanical aspects of the implements, such as new inks, ink flow mechanisms and delivery of the ink to the writing surface. A fundamental disadvantage of traditional implements is that they have only a single rigidly mounted working tip and the ubiquitous cylindrical shaft does not conform well to the surfaces of the user's fingers, palm or closed inner hand.
One of the least developed areas of hand-held implement design is the relationship between the grasping shape of the implement and the natural shape of the user's hand. This has a significant effect on the user's comfort and ability to control and manipulate the implement, particularly when the implement is to be used for a prolonged period of time. Conventional implements contact a relatively small proportion of the surface area of the user's fingers, leaving a large area of the thumb and fingers unused. Further, the bulk of the user's hand is not used to dissipate the physical stress that accompanies the use of the hand-held implement. This situation eventually leads to discomfort for the user over a period of use, as the rigid surfaces of the implement exert pressure (in the form of negative leverage) and friction on the user's fingers. Thus, it is advantageous that a larger percentage of the surface area of the hand and fingers which work with a hand-held implement should contribute to controlling the hand-held implement.
Prior attempts were made to modify hand-held implements to reduce discomfort and fatigue. For example, implements have been produced which have soft rubber coating materials. However, such materials tend to reduce the control of the implement in the hand and easily become soiled. Also, it has been proposed to provide hand-held implements with different concave surfaces. However, these concave surfaces have not overcome the basic problems arising from the basic idea of a cylindrical shaft oriented to extend in a direction between the thumb and index finger of the user and out away from the hand.
Rubin, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,785,443, described a handheld writing instrument with a similar body shape. However, Rubin's design lacks any mechanism for variably extending the implement tip from the main body and retracting the implement tip into the main body. This inability is a major disadvantage, for example, preventing a pen from being stored in a pocket without risking damage to clothing and preventing the inadvertent marking on surfaces other than the target area.

Ergonomic hand held implement with retractable tip


One example system for displaying immersive scenes includes a processor and at least one memory device. The memory device includes instructions that are executable by the processor to cause the processor to receive a collection of metadata associated with an immersive scene, identify each of a plurality of properties of the immersive scene based on the collection of metadata, receive a dynamic immersive background, receive a plurality of video streams associated with a video conference, and display each of the plurality of video streams in the immersive scene based at least in part of the plurality of properties of the immersive scene and on the dynamic immersive background.

Videoconferencing has become a common way for people to meet as a group, but without being at the same physical location. Participants can be invited to a videoconference meeting, join from their personal computers or telephones, and are able to see and hear each other and converse largely as they would during an in-person group meeting or video conference. The advent of user-friendly videoconferencing software has enabled teams to work collaboratively despite being dispersed around the country or the world. It has also enabled families and friends to engage with each other in more meaningful ways, despite being physically distant from each other.

Systems and methods for immersive scenes


An antenna configured to an RF shielding, comprising: an RF shielding having a feed-in signal open terminal; an antenna coupled to the RF shielding, and the RF shielding and the antenna are integrated, and the antenna comprising: a ground connection terminal coupled to the RF shielding; an impedance matching block coupled to the ground connection terminal; an radiation body coupled to the ground connection terminal, and the radiation body having a feed-in signal terminal corresponding to the feed-in signal open terminal, and expanding forward to the feed-in signal open terminal; and a radiation body expended terminal coupled to the radiation body.

With the increasing popularity of radio communication systems, there are a variety of radio communication devices that are vastly available today, which includes cellular phones, wireless phones, wireless communication PC cards, small radio apparatuses and mobile radio devices. Consequently, the technique for forming an antenna inside the shell of those radio communication devices can be very important, especially for small radio apparatuses. Moreover, for achieving smaller, lighter and thinner radio communication devices, a technology for forming printed antennas on circuitboard had been developed.
In addition, for preventing electro magnetic interfere, it is common to form a shielding on a circuitboard for insulating the circuitboard from being adversely affected by magnetic waves so that the performance of the circuitboard can be ensured and enhanced. However, the shielding can also have an adverse effect upon the radiation intensity of the antenna.
Therefore, it is in need of an innovated and improved antenna structure configured to RF shieldings that can perform at high efficiency without being affected by electro magnetic interfere.

Antenna structure configured to RF shieldings


Techniques discussed herein monitoring for and identifying failures in a cloud-computing environment. Proxy devices can be communicatively disposed between services of the cloud-computing environment. The proxy devices can capture call stack data corresponding to function calls between services. A directional graph can be generated based on that call stack data that represents the communication paths between cloud-computing resources (e.g., the services). Ingress paths to a service can be evaluated by calculating various metrics for each path. Using these metrics, failures can be isolated to a particular communication path and/or a particular, and potentially relatively distant, upstream service.

Cloud-based platforms have become increasingly common. Cloud data centers are challenged to provide high performance and quality service. Cloud-based services may have interdependencies on each other, where a single request can be processed by multiple services within a given cloud-computing environment. When a failure occurs, it can be difficult to ascertain which cloud service may be at fault. Conventional techniques for failure detection often include various human administrators communicating with one another through various means to troubleshoot an existing failure. Conventional techniques lack accuracy in some use cases with respect to identifying which particular cloud service is the cause of the existing failure.

Failure detection in cloud-computing systems


A device and method for joining fitting parts provided with a passage opening on hollow profiles through partial expansion of the hollow profiles at the location of the fitting parts is provided. The fitting parts are slid on with the passage openings and are held in position by-means of fluid high internal pressure expansion of the hollow profile. The device includes an expanding lance, which can be slid into the hollow profile and exhibits an axial borehole for the purpose of guiding the pressure fluid. The axial borehole is connected to a fluid high pressure generating system and exhibits a cross channel with an outlet for the pressure fluid in the direction of the hollow profile location to be expanded. The shell surface of the expanding lance exhibits sealing elements that are spaced apart and that define the outlet so as to seal axially on both sides against high pressure. To a reliable joining of the fitting parts on hollow profiles even when the hollow profiles exhibit small outer diameters, it is proposed that the expanding lance comprises two separate, aligned oblong components, of which at least one bears the axial borehole which empties freely on an end face near the outlet. The facing ends of the lance components form the cross channel for the axial borehole of the expanding lance. Furthermore, the device includes a drive unit operable to drive the two lance components into respective hollow profile ends, and are supported on an end side during the expansion phase.

This application claims the priority of German Patent Document 199 57 508.8, filed in Germany, Nov. 30, 1999, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to a device and process for joining fitting parts on hollow profiles fluid high internal pressure.
A device of this general type is known from German Patent Document 37 16 986 A1 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,756). The hollow profile is expanded plastically at the joining location by means of fluid high internal pressure. The more solid fitting part is expanded simultaneously within the elastic limits. Following high pressure release, the fitting part springs back at the internal diameter of its passage opening, whereas the hollow profile remains in its plasticized state. These physical features make it possible to achieve a very high, virtually undetachable press-fit joint between the fitting part and the hollow profile. In operation, i.e., at an existing high internal pressure, the expanding lance, which is used for this purpose and described there, is highly subjected to extreme tensile stress so that constructive measures, such as for example an increase in the ratio of the lance diameter to the diameter of the axial borehole, which runs in the expanding lance and guides the pressure fluid, must be taken in order to prevent the expanding lance from tearing and to guarantee in this manner a reliable process for joining the fitting parts on the hollow profiles. Nevertheless, the lance is subject to relatively high wear due to the high tensile stress or the mechanical stress alternating between stress and relief in the course of the operating life of the expanding lance. For this reason after a specific period of use it is necessary to repair the lance or make an expensive replacement with an identical new lance. Furthermore, hollow profiles with a small outer diameter, i.e., less than 16 mm, cannot be reliably joined by the customary method, since in the course of the process the use of correspondingly thin (less than 10 mm outer diameter) expanding lances results in the lance snapping after just a few expansion operations (called xe2x80x9cshotsxe2x80x9d in the technical jargon due to their speed). This state in turn results inevitably in a production standstill and a rejected part.
An object of the invention is to improve a device of this class to the effect that the joining of fitting parts on hollow profiles by means of partial high internal pressure deformation is also possible and reliable with an expanding lance even when the hollow profiles exhibit small outer diameters.
This object is achieved by the invention by providing a device for joining fitting parts, provided with a device for joining fitting parts, provided with a passage opening, on a hollow profile through partial expansion of the hollow profile at a location of the fitting parts, slid on with the passage opening, by means of fluid high internal pressure, said device comprising an expanding lance, which can be slid into the hollow profile and exhibits an axial borehole for the purpose of guiding the pressure fluid, said axial borehole being connected, first of all, to a fluid high pressure generating system and secondly exhibiting a cross channel with an outlet for the pressure fluid in a direction of the hollow profile location to be expanded, whereby the shell surface of the expanding lance exhibits sealing elements that are spaced apart and that define an outlet so as to seal axially on both sides against high pressure, wherein the expanding lance comprises two separate, aligned components, of which at least one bears the axial borehole, which axial borehole empties freely on an end face near an outlet of said at least one component, end faces of the oblong components that face each other forming a cross channel for the axial borehole of the expanding lance, and wherein the device includes a drive unit, operable to drive the two components into the hollow profile end, facing the respective component, and are supported on the end side during the expansion phase.
Thanks to the invention, tensile stress of the expanding lance is avoided. The two components of the lance are subjected only to pressure so that the lance is prevented from tearing. Since the stability of the lance with respect to an adequately strong xe2x80x9cwall thicknessxe2x80x9d is no longer important due to the solution of the invention, the outer diameter of the expanding lance and the axial borehole can be dimensioned very small and, nevertheless, work reliably. In this manner fitting parts can also be joined in the desired manner on hollow profiles with small outer diameter by means of partial high internal pressure deformation with the pressure fluid-guiding expanding lance.
With the device of the invention, joining is done preferably sequentially. This means that each individual joint along the hollow profile is approached in succession by displacing the expanding lance inside the hollow profile. For few fitting parts this type of joining does exhibit negligibly higher timing than the joining of parts in a shot. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated to be advantageous for the process if owing to the small volume of fluid, required for sequential joining, the time for building up the high fluid pressure is also very short. Furthermore, the assembly of the expanding lance is significantly simplified over the conventional one.
Hence, it is not necessary to have a leakage borehole for draining the fluid volume from the hollow profile in the direction of the outside. Said volume of fluid creeps past the sealing arrangement, sealing both sides of the expansion point in the axial direction, and into the pressure-free, adjoining annular slit. Or when the previous seal fails, there is the risk of an expansion between the fitting parts, since in the case of a leak, the pressure fluidxe2x80x94when the seal carrier for passage of an adequately large quantity of fluid volume has been suitably designedxe2x80x94can flow out unimpeded.
In addition, objects achieved in this respect by means of the invention are that the design of the high pressure unit can be simpler, since it is no longer necessary that it automatically recognize a drop in pressure. In addition, there is no need for spacer sleeves and positioning stops. Furthermore, it is significantly simpler to compensate for the manufacturing-induced concentricity error at the internal diameter of the hollow profile with the design of the expanding lance, since only the single expansion area of the expanding lance must be designed in accordance with the error tolerance. This feature contributes to the simplified design of the expanding lance and to the use of less precisely machined and, therefore, less expensive hollow profiles.
Another important advantage of the expanding lance having two parts is that the two components can be spaced axially apart at variable distances so that with only one sealing arrangement at the hollow profile, expansions of varying length can be formed. Furthermore, there is the possibility of tailoring individually the fluid pressure height to the diverse expansion points and their desired final shape.
It is also contemplated by the invention to provide one or both components of the lance with other cross boreholes so that several points on the hollow profile can be expandedxe2x80x94as usualxe2x80x94simultaneously in one shot. In so doing, the customary lance head can be dispensed with. However, the aforementioned advantages of sequential joining also drop away.
Advantageous designs of the invention are disclosed below and in the claims.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Device and process for joining fitting parts on hollow profiles by means of fluid high internal pressure


A display for a handheld computing device includes a display panel; a circuit board carrying display electronics for the display panel; a cover assembly securing the display panel to the circuit board; and a resilient layer adhered to the circuit board for securing the display to the computing device.

The conventional handheld computing device, such as a PDA, or a wireless telephone, includes a keyboard/keypad, a display assembly and a system motherboard (not shown) contained within a common housing. The display assembly is typically provided as a reflective, transmissive or transreflective LCD display panel.
To limit power losses and the effects of noise on image quality, the LCD display electronics must be disposed in close proximity to the LCD display panel. Accordingly, the LCD display electronics are provided on a printed circuit board that is housed within a plastic or metal support frame, together with the LCD display panel. Typically, the display electronics and the LCD display panel are press-fitted within the frame, and the frame is secured to the motherboard with permanent adhesive or screws.
The LCD display panel is prone to damage resulting from shock loading due to impact. Since the LCD display panel is fixed within the support frame, and the support frame is secured to the motherboard, the LCD display panel can sustain shock impact damage if the handheld computing device is struck or dropped.
Further, in view of the method by which the LCD display panel and the LCD display electronics are assembled together, typically the entire display assembly must be discarded if the LCD display panel becomes damaged. As a result, repairs cost are often excessively high.
Therefore, there is a need for a configuration for a handheld computing device that reduces the sensitivity of the LCD display panel to jarring impact damage. Further, there is a need for a configuration for a handheld computing device that reduces the repair costs of the display assembly.

Handheld computing device having drop-resistant LCD display


A winding machine and method of operating the same in which prearranged packages of yarn are formed during spinning by inserting the yarn end through the upper cavity of a yarn tube by a package arranging device and the prearranged packages are conveyed in a vertical or substantially vertical position to a package carrier wherein the package carrier is maintained fully loaded with the prearranged packages.

The winding process is much faster than the spinning process and therefore a small number of winding stations is able to wind or rewind the yarn produced in a much higher number of spinning stations. This results in the production of a large number of wound yarn packages which are then combined into a smaller number of larger-size bobbins which represent the final product of the spinning-winding machine. For the winding stage the packages produced in the spinning station must be presented to the winding stations with a yarn end in a predetermined position, this being generally a vertical position with the yarn end inserted through the upper aperture of the tube which forms the core of the package.
The winding machine is thus able to automatically grasp the yarn end and commence its rewinding to form the bobbin.
Currently available spinning-winding machines are characterised by a large number of spinning stations of up to one thousand or more, but only a small number of winding stations of the order of some tens, between which the empty tubes recycled from the winding machine for receiving the new wound packages and the yarn-wound packages to be rewound are conveyed. In order to reduce the work load this conveying together with the prearranging of the packages is handled in recently designed spinning-winding machines by automatic conveyor devices of various designs which limit the work of the operators to mere supervision and intervention in the case of possible machine malfunction.
The winding stage generally has a higher capacity than the spinning stage to allow the winding machine to handle the yarn production without any build-up during its operation. The problem of conveying the packages and tubes was dealt with up to a few years ago by interposing truck-mounted bins between the two stages to randomly receive the full packages or empty tubes, and from which they were withdrawn by loading and arranging devices or more simply by the operators themselves.
The winding machine discharges not only tubes completely empty of yarn for recycling to the spinning machine, but also a small but not negligible number of tubes not completely empty of yarn, from which the automatic winding machine is unable to take up further yarn because the end is no longer recoverable by the devices with which each station is equipped.
These irregular packages from which part of the yarn cannot be unwound arise because of imperfect package winding during the spinning operation, resulting in successive yarn turns becoming engaged under slack turns which have been previously wound. So that when these turns are unwound in the winding machine they become blocked with the result that the yarn breaks at a point prior to the path through which the yarn is under the control of the winding members, and along which yarn continuity can be automatically restored by splicing.
These tubes have to be selected, recovered and fed to the package arranging device in order to use up the yarn still wound on them by finding its end and then refeeding them to the winding machine.
The known art comprises a large number of spinning-winding machine arrangements.
According to German patent No. 3235442 of Murata Kikai, the packages and tubes are conveyed between the spinning and winding machines with the aid of disc supports provided with a tube engagement peg, the discs being placed on conveyor belts.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,941,323 of Savio describes a device for preparing wound packages for rewinding, including searching for, preparing and retaining the yarn end. U.S. Pat. No. 4,432,198 of the same proprietor describes a device for conveying packages between the two stages.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,931 of Schlafhorst describes a transfer device between the spinning and winding machines which acts as a buffer store between the two machines and feeds the packages to the winding machine when requested by the winding stations. This device also allows for prearranging of the packages. The proposed methods include a large variety of conveyor systems, namely smooth conveyor belts on which the packages are either laid on their sides or supported by said discs, conveyor belts provided with fixed vertical pegs for engaging the tubes and packages in a vertical position, sector elevators and conveyors, and gripper devices, generally combined with each other.

Winding machine with an in-line package preparer, and an improved spinning-winding method


Disclosed herewith a prefabricated bathroom and a construction method and an installation method thereof. The prefabricated bathroom includes a bottom unit (11), multiple wall units (12) and a top plate unit (13). One of the wall units (12) is a structural wall (14), which is provided with a recessed top region (141) reserved for later pouring, a middle full-prefabricated structural wall body (142), and a recessed bottom region (143) reserved for later pouring. Top exposed reserve bars (144) of the prefabricated bathroom of a floor are inserted into the recessed bottom region (143) of the prefabricated bathroom of a next floor, and connected with bottom exposed reserve bars (146) thereof, so that the prefabricated bathroom of said floor can be connected with that of said next floor through pouring concrete in the recessed top region (141) and the recessed bottom region (143).

Bathroom is an essential part of residential or commercial buildings. Currently, there are two ways for constructing the bathroom. One is to use cast-in-situ concrete frame at a construction site directly, and then build the bathroom one plate by one plate. This is the most conventional bathroom constructing method widely used, which, however, takes a long construction period with a high construction cost. Moreover, since the building materials used may be out of standard, quality of the bathroom thus built cannot be satisfactorily ensured. The other way is to prefabricate a whole-set bathroom at factories, and then deliver it to the construction site for installation.
Chinese Utility Model Patent No. 201520298272.4 discloses a prefabricated bathroom, wherein four walls of the prefabricated bathroom include at least one wall, or part of at least one wall, that is a semi-prefabricated structural wall, which has a relatively small thickness. An outer surface of the semi-prefabricated structural wall is provided, along a normal direction thereof, with a plurality of protruding columns, each top surface thereof being provided with a bolt for accurately positioning and installing a cast-in-situ wall template. Therefore, the bolt, which is used for fixing the prefabricated bathroom, can pass through the protruding column, which is used for fixing the cast-in-situ wall template. The above construction method has the following disadvantages. Specifically, the installation is inconvenient and the procedure thereof is complicated; a large amount of construction materials have to be delivered, so that the cost is significant; the construction is inconvenient and time consuming; and the prefabricated bathroom is not equipped with bathtub and bathroom, so that the facility is not complete.

Prefabricated bathroom and methods for constructing and installing the same

Yau Lee Wah Construction Materials (Huizhou) Company Limited


A medicament for prevention and remedy of diseases of pancreas and others is disclosed, which is characterized by containing as an effective ingredient thereof a nonapeptide having the following amino acid configuration: EQU pGlu-Ala-Lys-Ser-Gln-Gly-Gly-Ser-Asn. or an ester and amide at the carboxyl group of the C-terminal of the asparagine or a pharmacologically acceptable salt thereof.

In Europe, America and Japan, the age of the population is now being older so that the number of patients suffering from adult diseases is increased. Diabetes is known as one of such adult diseases, which is classified into insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (referred to hereinafter as IDDM) and non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (referred to hereinafter as NIDDM).
It is known that IDDM chiefly attacks people of younger ages and that people of 18 years old are attacked by IDDM in Europe and America at a rate as high as 1/300-500 persons. The majority of diabetes patients are compelled to receive injection of insulin over their life span, thus raising many problems personally and socially.
Diabetes incurs various metabolic disordered based on the metabolic disorder of insulin and sugar and causes disorder in blood vessels and nervous system, thus being regarded as a terrible sickness attacking almost all organs in living body. Accordingly, an effective method for the remedy of diabetes is rapidly demanded.
At present, an insulin treatment or oral anti-diabetes drugs such as sulfonylurea preparations and biguanide preparations are used widely as a means for the remedy of diabetes. However, all of these preparations only serves to reduce the level of blood sugar allopathically but fail to become medicaments for completely curing diabetes.
In connection with the cause and factor of diabetes, there are a number of unsolved problems, but hereditary background and environmental factor are also regarded to be important. The infection of virus and some chemical substances are known as the environmental factor. A detailed contract mechanism of these is not yet known but autoimmunity mechanism to Langerhans islands is thought to be a cause of the attack.
Pancreatitis involving acute and chronic pancreatitis accompanying necrosis is a disease which may incur death if left without any treatment. In recent years, gabexate mesylate preparations are applied to this disease.
The present inventors have contemplated to develop a new type medicament which can be expected to be effective for complete remedy of diabetes and acute pancreatitis and for reducing these symptoms.

Medicament for prevention and remedy of diseases of the pancreas and others


A compact, high-sensitivity acceleration sensor that is prevented from being affected by factors other than acceleration, such as a change in temperature, has a bimorph acceleration-sensor element including first and second resonators attached to opposite sides of a base plate with respect to a direction in which acceleration is applied. One longitudinal end of the acceleration-sensor element is fixed such that the first and second resonators bend in the same direction in response to the acceleration. Changes in frequency or changes in impedance in the first and second resonators caused by the bending of the acceleration-sensor element are differentially detected in order to detect the acceleration. The acceleration-sensor element is bendable about a central bending plane in response to the acceleration, the central bending plane being positioned at a central portion of the base plate with respect to the application direction of acceleration. A vibrating section of each of the first and second resonators is disposed close to the fixed end of the acceleration-sensor element.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to acceleration sensors, and particularly, to an acceleration sensor including a piezoelectric material.
2. Description of the Related Art
A known acceleration sensor including piezoelectric ceramics is, for example, disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2780594, hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 1. Such an acceleration sensor is provided with a bimorph sensor element including a pair of piezoelectric units which are composed of piezoelectric ceramics and are integrally joined to each other in an opposing manner. The sensor element is held inside a casing in a double-supported fashion. When acceleration is applied to the acceleration sensor, the sensor element bends, thus generating stress in the piezoelectric units. The electric charge or voltage generated due to the piezoelectric effect is then detected in order to determine the acceleration. Acceleration sensors of this type are advantageous in view of their compactness and their capability of being formed easily into surface-mounted units (chip units).
In an acceleration sensor based on the above-described principle, a bias current flowing from a circuit is stored in a capacitor C of the piezoelectric material. In order to prevent the circuit from becoming saturated, a resistor R is required for allowing the bias current to be released. However, since the resistor R and the capacitor C define a high pass filter, the acceleration in the frequencies below the cut-off level, such as DC and low frequency, cannot be detected.
On the other hand, an acceleration sensor disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-107372, hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 2, particularly, the acceleration sensor shown in FIG. 8 in Patent Document 2, includes a single base plate whose opposite sides respectively have first and second resonators formed of a piezoelectric material attached thereto so as to form an acceleration-sensor element, each of the first and second resonators having electrodes on opposite sides thereof. One longitudinal end or both longitudinal ends of the acceleration-sensor element is/are fixed such that the first and second resonators are bendable in their opposing direction in response to acceleration. When the acceleration-sensor element bends in response to the acceleration, changes in frequency or changes in impedance in the first and second resonators caused by the bending of the acceleration-sensor element are differentially detected in order to detect the acceleration.
In this case, the acceleration in a DC or low-frequency level can be detected. Moreover, the changes in frequency or the changes in impedance in the two resonators are differentially detected instead of being detected in a separate manner. This counterbalances the stress (for example, a stress caused by a change in temperature) applied to both resonators. Thus, a high-sensitivity acceleration sensor, which is unaffected by, for example, a change in temperature, is achieved. Furthermore, because the central bending plane (i.e., a plane where stress is 0) is set in the base plate, a large degree of tensile stress and compressive stress can be generated in the resonators disposed on the opposite sides of the base plate. Accordingly, this improves the sensitivity of the sensor.
Generally, in view of sensitivity, an acceleration sensor having one longitudinal end of the acceleration-sensor element fixed in a cantilever manner is advantageous to an acceleration sensor having both longitudinal ends fixed in a double-supported manner. However, in these acceleration sensors, the vibrating section in each of the first and second resonators is positioned at the central portion of the resonator with respect to the longitudinal direction thereof. For this reason, signals generated in the first and second resonators in response to the acceleration cannot always be detected efficiently, thus inhibiting higher sensitivity (S/N ratio) of the sensor.


A toy construction set comprising a first toy construction element configured to resemble a toy construction element and toy construction elements which contains electronic units controllable from said first element, wherein the elements form an integrated toy structure when incorporated therein. The first toy construction element has means, integrated within it, for programming the element by means of a user interface and for storing a program to provide controlled actions of the structure within which it is incorporated. Additionally, the first toy construction element is configured to transmit the program as a download program to a second construction toy.

The present invention relates to a remote controlled toy element for remote control by means of signals from a remote control unit, said toy element comprising a sensor which can detect the signals, and at least one unit which is controlled by a microprocessor in response to a program which is executed by the microprocessor, said program comprising program steps.
Such toy elements are widely used and are known e. g. from the product ROBOTICS INVENTION SYSTEM from LEGO MINDSTORMS, which is a toy that can be programmed by means of a computer to perform conditional as well as unconditional actions.
Such toy elements are unique in that programs or other forms of instructions are transferred to the toy by means of a form of communications protocol. Typically, the communications protocol will be adapted to transfer data to the toy in the fastest possible and simultaneously most error-free manner to achieve a good and fast response.
It is a problem with such a toy, however, that the full play potential is not utilized fully.
Accordingly, an object is to provide new play possibilities with an electronic toy.


Methods, program products, and systems for reducing a location search space are described. A mobile device, when arriving at a venue, can determine a location of the mobile device using signals from one or more signal sources associated with the venue. The mobile device can use a coarse location estimator to estimate a coarse location of the mobile device at the venue. The mobile device can request, from a server, detailed location data associated with the coarse location. The detailed location data can include location fingerprint data associated with a portion of the venue that includes the coarse location. The mobile device can determine an estimated location that has finer granularity than the coarse location using the location fingerprint data.

Some mobile devices have features for determining a geographic location. For example, a mobile device can include a receiver for receiving signals from a global satellite system (e.g., global positioning system or GPS). The mobile device can determine a geographic location, including latitude and longitude, using the received GPS signals. In many places, GPS signals can be non-existent, weak, or subject to interference, such that it is not possible to accurately determine a location using the GPS functions of the mobile device. In addition, the mobile device may not be able to determine its location using other conventional technologies (e.g., dead reckoning). For example, a mobile device may have been turned off and have traveled a long distance while turned off (e.g., in an airplane). As a result, the mobile device may not have a starting point for dead reckoning. When the mobile device is turned back on again (e.g., when the mobile device leaves the airplane and enters an airport building), satellite signals may be unavailable. Lacking GPS signals and a starting location, the mobile device can use neither GPS functions nor dead reckoning to determine a location when in the airport building. Meanwhile, a user of the mobile device may wish to know where in the airport building the user is located. The user may wish to know the location as quickly as possible, using the mobile device.


An electrophysiology catheter has a distal electrode section having a generally-cylindrical, hollow housing body, a lumen and an opening in a sidewall. A flex circuit has a first portion supported on the outer surface the housing body, and a second portion that extends into the lumen via the opening for connection to cables and/or wires in the lumen. The flex circuit has a first and second magnetic field sensing coil traces generally perpendicular to each other and a magnetic field sensing coil wire generally perpendicular thereto is wound around the housing body to form an x/y/z position sensor. One or more ring electrodes are carried on the housing body, separated by ring spacers. A force sensor is mounted on a distal end of the housing body, with strain gauges electrically connected to the flex circuit. The housing is configured to provide a distal anchor for a puller tensile.

Electrode catheters have been in common use in medical practice for many years. Diagnosis and treatment of cardiac arrythmias by means of electrode catheters include mapping the electrical properties of heart tissue and selectively ablating cardiac tissue by application of energy. Such ablation can cease or modify the propagation of unwanted electrical signals from one portion of the heart to another. The ablation process destroys the unwanted electrical pathways by formation of non-conducting lesions. Various energy delivery modalities have been disclosed for forming lesions, and include use of microwave, laser and more commonly, radiofrequency energies to create conduction blocks along the cardiac tissue wall.
In a two-step procedure-mapping followed by ablation-electrical activity at locations within the heart is typically sensed and measured by advancing a catheter containing one or more electrical sensors (or electrodes) into the heart, and acquiring data at a multiplicity of locations. These data are then utilized to select the tissue target areas at which ablation is to be performed.
In use, the electrode catheter is inserted into a major vein or artery, e.g., the femoral artery, and then guided into the chamber of the heart which is of concern. A reference electrode is provided, generally taped to the patient's skin or provided on the ablation catheter or another catheter. Radio frequency (RF) current is applied to the ablation electrode of the catheter, and flows through the surrounding media, i.e., blood and tissue, toward the reference electrode. The distribution of current depends on the amount of electrode surface in contact with the tissue, as compared to blood which has a higher conductivity than the tissue.
The distal electrode section of conventional irrigated catheters is a location of multiple functions and purposes. The location may include anchors for distal ends of puller wires or tensile members. The location may also house an electromagnetic position sensor. A force sensor may also be included in that location. One or more ring electrodes may also be present at that location. Consequently, the distal electrode section is often cramped with components criss-crossing and overlapping each other, making assembly a challenge and the distal electrode section an area where damage and defects can occur.
Accordingly, there is a desire for a catheter whose distal electrode section has a more simplified structure and arrangement, with improved integration of multiple different components. There is also a desire to use flex circuits for integration of electrical conductors because flex circuits are more adaptable and reduce clutter and can be electrically connected with the use of electrical traces.

Catheter with multifunctional microinjection—molded housing


A method for bonding semiconductor structures together is described. The technique includes providing a bonding surface on each of two semiconductor structures, brushing a bonding surface of at least one of the structures to remove contaminants and to activate hydroxyl groups on the bonding surface to enhance hydrophilicity and to facilitate molecular bonding of the structures, and joining the bonding surfaces together by molecular bonding to form a composite structure.

This invention relates to methods for bonding two semiconductor structures together in order to make structures for microelectronics, optics or optoelectronics. In particular, the invention relates to preparing bonding surfaces of the structures.
Wafer surfaces have to be cleaned before bonding in order to obtain good bonding results. For example, it is known to subject wafer surfaces to one or more chemical treatments, such as an RCA treatment, to remove isolated particles and metallic and organic contaminants. Another known chemical surface treatment utilizes dry ozone to clean, wherein the dry ozone is obtained by transforming atmospheric oxygen into ozone under the action of TV rays. The dry ozone reacts with hydrocarbon surface contaminants and eliminates them by creating volatile species.
Other techniques for preparing wafer surfaces for bonding are of the mechanical type. Friction forces can be applied to the surface of the wafers to remove isolated particles. For example, lightweight polishing or brushing may be used.
If there is no particulate, no organic residue and no surface defects, the bonding quality between wafers depends on the adhesive technique used to bond the wafers. For example, two wafers can be bonded together by molecular bonding, at least initially. Specific preliminary treatments can advantageously be used to improve the molecular bonding (and therefore the bonding quality) between two wafers. The improvement in the bond usually corresponds to an increase in the mechanical strength and/or an increase in the quality of the bonding interface. Thus, an increase in the mechanical strength of the bond between the wafers can be achieved if the hydrophilic properties of the surfaces to be bonded are improved (to learn more, one can refer to, for example, the document entitled "Influence of Surface Characteristics on Direct Wafer Bonding" by O. Rayssac et al. "Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Materials for Microelectronics", IOM Communications, p. 183, 1998).
For example, it is known to prepare wafers before bonding by using chemical solutions, such as a solution containing ozone or a solution containing a mix of sulphuric acid and oxygenated water (also called an SPM—"Sulfuric Peroxide Mixture") solution. Use of such solutions facilitate the removal of hydrocarbon contaminants and also improves the wettability of the surface of the wafers by improving the hydrophilic properties, and therefore increases the bonding energy.
In general, RCA type solutions are used for cleaning purposes, and to increase the hydrophilic properties of surfaces to be bonded by molecular bonding. After a chemical treatment, at least one of the surfaces to be bonded may also be exposed to a plasma treatment in order to increase the forces that will bind the two wafers together when they are brought into contact. The surfaces may be brought into contact and possibly accompanied or followed by a heat treatment to reinforce the bonding. Further information may be found in the article, for example, by T. Suni et al., Journal of Electromechanical Society 149, G348, 2002 "Effects of plasma activation on hydrophilic bonding of Si and SiO2".
A mechanical chemical polishing process, such as Chemical Mechanical Planarization (CMP), may be used to activate bonding surfaces if it is used in a specific chemical environment. Thus, for example, a CMP in a basic medium on silicon or silicon-oxide surfaces can activate such surfaces to reinforce their molecular bonding characteristics. Such operation is described in an article by R. Stengl, T. Tang and U. Gosële entitled "A Model for the Silicon Wafer Bonding Process" (Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, 28, p. 1735, 1989). A brushing step may then optionally be applied in order to eliminate particles resulting from the polishing. However, even slight polishing is abrasive, and this can thus affect the quality of the treated material. Thus, the previously discussed treatments are not always sufficient. In particular, such treatments are insufficient if followed by other treatments that reduce the surface quality and/or activate properties that adversely affect the surface quality, or if a long duration separates the treatments from the bonding step, because a waiting period allows contaminants and gaseous residues in the atmosphere to adhere to the surface.

Method for bonding semiconductor structures together

S.O.I.Tec Silicon on Insulator Technologies


A multi-piece wheel, which is assembled with multiple pieces of pre-made structural members, including an outer wheel ring, a central hub and multiple spokes. The outer wheel ring is comprised of a circular wall for affixing a tire on its inner surface and connecting spokes on its outer surface. The spokes are the wheel intermediate members which at their respective first and second end are connected to the respective outer wheel ring and the central hub. The central hub is a circular structure including a central bore and front circular arcuate surface, wherein multiple pockets are placed on the front surface for connecting the spoke second ends to the central hub. Various structural variations of the central hub and spokes regarding their connection are also disclosed, which results in various embodiments of the present invention.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a vehicle wheel, and more particularly to a multi-piece wheel, which is assembled with multiple pieces of pre-made structural members, including an outer wheel ring, a central hub and multiple spokes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The following 13 patents and published patent applications are the closest prior art references which are related to the present invention.
1. U.S. Pat. No. 5,938,291 issued to Donald Pankhurst et al. and assigned to GKN Sankey Limited on Aug. 17, 1999 for "Wheels" (hereafter the "Pankhurst Patent");
2. U.S. Pat. No. 6,517,168 issued to Garry Van Houten and assigned to Lacks Industries, Inc. on Feb. 11, 2003 for "Wheel Cover Having Interchangeable Turbine Pocket Inserts" (hereafter the "Van Houten Patent");
3. U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2004/0070259 issued to Ya-Wen Chuang on Apr. 15, 2004 for "Vehicle Wheel Assembly" (hereafter the "Chuang Published Patent Application");
4. U.S. Pat. No. 6,805,413 issued to Kevin Fitzgerald and assigned to KMC Wheel Company on Oct. 19, 2004 for "E.X.O. Rimwear" (hereafter the "'413 Fitzgerald Patent");
5. U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2005/0073191 issued to Phillip O. Gerard on Apr. 7, 2005 for "Wheel Clad Assembly" (hereafter the "Gerard Published Patent Application");
6. U.S. Pat. No. 6,921,138 issued to Larry C. Smyth on Jul. 26, 2005 for "Multi-Piece Vehicle Wheel Assembly" (hereafter the "Smyth Patent");
7. U.S. Pat. No. 6,955,405 issued to Scott A. Hogan et al. and assigned to McKechnie Vehicle Components on Oct. 18, 2005 for "Inserts For Vehicle Wheel Assemblies" (hereafter the "Hogan Patent");
8. U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2005/0242656 issued to Scott A. Hogan on Nov. 3, 2005 for "Plated Covers For Vehicle Wheel Assemblies" (hereafter the "Hogan Published Patent Application");
9. U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2005/0269864 issued to Derek Tai Tong on Dec. 8, 2005 for "Wheel And Rim Bumper" (hereafter the "Tong Published Patent Application");
10. U.S. Design Pat. No. D518,766 issued to Garry Burns on Apr. 11, 2006 for "Wheel Design" (hereafter the "Burns Design Patent");
11. U.S. Design Pat. No. D520,436 issued to Marco Muzzarelli and assigned to Claus Ettensberger Corp. on May 9, 2006 for "Front Face Of A Vehicle Wheel" (hereafter the "Muzzarelli Design Patent");
12. U.S. Pat. No. 7,055,915 issued to Kevin Fitzgerald and assigned to ZZYYXX Corp. on Jun. 6, 2006 for "Wheel With Interchangeable Cover Elements" (hereafter the "'915 Fitzgerald Patent").
The Pankurst Patent is a design for a wheel to include a wheel disc which can be attached to the wheel. The innovation is that there is a tolerance in the attachment connection so that the disc can be attached in the field.
The Van Houten Patent includes the concept of a wheel cover assembly having an array of pocket inserts which are disposed within an array of turbine pockets of a wheel cover so that the inserts can be put in the turbine pockets.
The Chuang Published Patent Application has an apparent unique feature which is a protective cover on the outer portion of the wheel. The protective cover is shown in greater detail in FIG. 3. Specifically, this is a fairly conventional wheel design having essential hub 11, plurality of spokes 12 extending radially outward from the central hub 11 and a rim 13 having a front portion 15, a rear portion 16 and an intermediate recess portion 14. The inner wall 141 of the intermediate recess portion 14 of the rim 13 includes a plurality of spaced holes 142 in which a plurality of decorative bulbs 143 are inserted.
The '413 Fitzgerald Patent discloses an innovation for changing the appearance of the wheel. Specifically, the wheel has a multiplicity of spokes which can be in any orientation and has various openings to accommodate what is referred to as a decorative skin such as 54 shown in FIG. 3A and 102 shown in FIG. 7A which is mounted to the spokes so that the physical outward appearance of the wheel can be changed.
The Gerard Published Patent Application discloses a composite wheel that includes the wheel having an outer surface with a plurality of exposed apertures formed in a circular pattern in a central hub region of the wheel and centrally located aperture extending through the wheel. The composite wheel includes a wheel cladding which is the innovative feature of this invention having a body conforming to the outer surface of the wheel and exposed outer surface of an inner surface facing the wheel when the wheel cladding is attached to the wheel.
The Smyth Patent discloses a multi-piece wheel assembly. The innovation is the inside major surface of the rim having an inwardly extending annual shoulder and a plurality of circumferentially spaced rim bosses formed in the annual shoulder and adopted for engaging the outer margins of the wheel center. A plurality of circumferentially spaced fastener holes are formed along the outer margins of the wheel center and are adopted for aligning with the rim bosses formed in the rim.
The '405 Hogan Patent discloses a concept of inserts for a vehicle wheel assemblies. Essentially the concept, referring to FIG. 2, is to have a wheel 2 and a wheel cover 3 which is affixed to the outer surface of the wheel cover. The concern that this patent deals with is there are gaps between the wheel cover and the wheel and which the existence of the gaps is believed to be a problem. As a result, the problem is solved by including inserts 20 within these gaps.
The Hogan Published Patent Application deals with plated covers for vehicle wheel assemblies. It involves a method of fabricating decorative wheel covers which involves forming decorative wheel covers that have sharp edges such as edges along break vent windows or openings. The shape edges are dull by subjecting the wheel covers to a plating process that plates both sides of the wheel covers. The plating process rounds off or dulls the sharp edges of the wheel covers. The ability to dull the sharp edges of the wheel covers allows for the design and fabrication of metal wheel covers having profiles that push the limits on formability of metals such as stainless steel. Therefore, it is this plating process that is the innovation of this invention.
The Tong Published Patent Application is focused on the wheel and rim bumper which is an attachable accessory to a wheel for purposes of protecting the decoration of the wheel. It provides a bumper to protect the wheel so that the wheel will not be scratched during parking.
The Burns Patent is a design patent which protects the decorative appearance of the wheel.
The Muzzarelli Patent is also a design patent and again protects the decoration of the front face of a vehicle wheel.
The '915 Fitzgerald Patent is a continuation of the previously discussed '413 Fitzgerald Patent. This has a similar disclosure to the previously discussed patent and again deals with the concept of having the decorative skins attached to the spokes of the wheel to give the wheel a unique and attractive appearance.
There is a significant need to provide a multi-piece wheels which can be assembled with multiple pieces of pre-made structural members, to significantly improve wheel styling potential, and to reduce the cost to manufacture the stylish wheels.


A method includes receiving, in a first device, an access request. The method further includes measuring a motion of the first device to determine a first motion value, performing a pairing protocol with a second device, and granting the access request responsive to a successful pairing in accordance with the pairing protocol. The pairing protocol comprises a cryptographic commitment process. The successful pairing is based at least in part on a determination that a second motion value supplied by the second device substantially matches the first motion value. The cryptographic commitment process comprises sending a committed first motion value to the second device prior to receiving the second motion value from the second device.

Users are increasingly likely to carry multiple devices on or near their persons on a regular basis. For example, as wearable computing devices such as fitness monitors, augmented-reality headsets and smartwatches grow in popularity, many users will have continuous access to two or more devices. Each of the devices can act as a "something-you-have" authentication factor and thus multiple devices may be used for multi-factor authentication processes.

Device pairing using a cryptographic commitment process involving measured motion values