A hypodermic syringe apparatus having a plunger with first and second sets of grooves, and a casing having first and second lock members, such that when the plunger is fully inserted or reinserted into the casing, the plunger is prevented from being withdrawn relative to the casing. The first and second sets of grooves of the plunger have stepped portions, such that the plunger can be withdrawn relative to the casing when the plunger is positioned (position A) in such a way that the first set of grooves interacts with the first lock member of the casing; and such that the plunger can be inserted or reinserted into the casing when the plunger is positioned (position B) in such a way that the second set of grooves interacts with the second lock member of the casing.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a hypodermic syringe apparatus and operation thereof which is to be used only at one time; i.e., to be used for preventing the use of a hypodermic syringe apparatus for more than one time. The one-time use hypodermic syringe of this invention includes a plunger inserted within a casing such that when the plunger is withdrawn, medicine is loaded within the casing, and when the plunger is inserted or reinserted into the casing for injecting the medicine contained therein into a patient, the plunger thereafter cannot be withdrawn relative to the casing. The plunger locked in a position, for preventing withdrawal thereof relative to the casing, thereby prevents another user from using the syringe apparatus of this invention.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
A conventional syringe apparatus is known having a plunger and a casing which permits the plunger to inject medicine contained in the casing through a needle portion thereof into a patient, whereby the conventional syringe apparatus allows the plunger to be repeatedly withdrawn relative to the casing even upon insertion thereof. In other words, the conventional syringe apparatus can be re-used numerous times.
However, a syringe apparatus which can be re-used numerous times increases the risk of infecting not only another user, but the same user, especially if the syringe apparatus is left in an environment which can contaminate the syringe apparatus which may subsequently infect the same user for the repeated use thereof. Also, if another patient reuses the syringe apparatus, the risk is increased in infecting that user with an infectious disease of a previous user. Accordingly, a need was therefore felt to provide a one-time use hypodermic syringe so as to reduce or eliminate the above-discussed risks of infecting a user or patient.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a one-time use hypodermic syringe.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a one-time use hypodermic syringe having a plunger and a casing, such that when the plunger has been fully inserted or reinserted into the casing, the plunger cannot thereafter be withdrawn relative to the casing.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a one-time use hypodermic syringe, whereby the plunger has a plurality of groove portions, and a casing having lock portions corresponding to the groove portions of the plunger, such that the plunger is prevented from being withdrawn after insertion or reinsertion thereof into the casing.
It is a more particular object of the present invention to provide a one-time use hypodermic syringe having a plunger, whereby the groove portions include a first set of grooves having stepped portions thereof facing toward a front portion of the plunger, and a second set of grooves having stepped portions thereof facing a back portion of the plunger.

One-time use hypodermic syringe apparatus and operation thereof


An emergency shut-off device for an air-compressing internal combustion engine is provided in the filter head of the engine fuel filter for the purpose of shutting off the fuel supply for shutting down the engine when the engine cannot be turned off by the ignition key.

The invention relates to an emergency shut-down arrangement for a diesel engine.
An emergency shut-off device of this kind is already known from German Patent Application D15468Ia/46b.sup.2 of Jul. 11, 1953.
As is known, diesel engines with mechanically governed injection pump are often shut off pneumatically when the ignition key is turned off. However if there is a fault in the vacuum system, the pneumatic shut-off function is no longer guaranteed. It is therefore customary to provide an emergency shut-off device in the engine compartment to allow the engine to be shut down despite a defect in the vacuum system.
According to the publication "Mercedes-Benz Manual 28.04.89, Type 200-300 D-Mechanical stopping of the engine", an emergency shut-off lever is mounted on the injection pump by which the control rod of the injection pump can be manually pulled back to a zero fuel delivery position.
This shut-off lever is located at a point in the engine compartment to which access is difficult so that it is virtually impossible to actuate the lever except by using an auxiliary means, e.g., a screwdriver.
It is the principal object of the present invention to provide an easily accessible emergency shut-down system for a diesel engine by which the engine can be shut down if the engine fails to stop when turned off.

Emergency shut-down arrangement for a diesel engine


A recording medium such as an optical disk has a write-once recording area in which information can be recorded once and cannot be rewritten. The write-once recording area is provided with a billing information recording area in which billing information is sequentially recorded a single time. With this arrangement, it is possible to effectively prevent the unauthorized use of the medium when carrying out off-line billing processing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording medium such as an optical disk or the like, a recording method using this recording medium and a recording apparatus using the same, and particularly to a technique using a recording medium which has a write-once recording area.
2. Description of the Related Art
Systems of billing transaction include on-line systems and off-line systems: on-line systems access a billing information management center by telephone or over a computer network, etc. to complete billing transactions, whereas off-line systems store billing information on a magnetic recording medium such as a telephone card or IC card, etc. to transact for billing off-line.
Off-line billing systems are already widespread as a prepaid card, etc. because they are simple in system structure and superior in mobility as compared with on-line systems.
Each of these off-line systems employs a rewritable recording medium to process for billing, so that there is some fear that the billing information may be falsified, causing considerable damage. For this reason, counter-measures have been proposed, such that the billing information recorded in the recording medium is enciphered, or a structure is incorporated that if anyone attempts to analyze recorded information by force the information is then destroyed. However, the actual situation is that no solution has been obtained because of problems of cost and convenience, and a vicious spiral between the security measures and rapid progress of deciphering techniques.
An object of the present invention is to prevent effectively the illegal use of off-line billing processing systems.
In order to achieve this object, the present invention employs for billing processing, a recording medium having the write-once recording area in which any information can be recorded, but the recorded information cannot be rewritten, and having a billing information recording area in which the billing information is sequentially recorded a single time in the write-once recording area.
The write-once recording area of the recording medium makes it impossible to erase any information that has been written into it. Therefore, providing the billing information recording area in the write-once recording area makes it difficult to wrongly (illegally or without authorization) use the billing information.

Recording medium, recording method and recording apparatus incorporating anti-tamper features involving writing billing information into a write-once area


A media cartridge is provided comprising a housing which incorporates a storage area in which media is stored, a receiving section configured to receive a body of a printer, an outlet arranged with respect to the storage area and receiving section so as to guide media from the storage area to the printer and a feed mechanism operable by a user to transfer media from the storage area to the printer via the outlet.

Microelectronic manufacturing techniques have led to the miniaturization of numerous devices. Mobile phones, personal digital assistant devices, and digital cameras are very common examples of the miniaturization trend.
One device that has not seen the advantage of microelectronic manufacturing techniques is the printer. Commercially available printers are large compared to many of the devices they could support. For instance, it is impractical to carry a color printer for the purpose of instantly printing photographs taken with known compact digital cameras.
A compact printhead has been described in co-pending United States Patent Applications filed simultaneously to the present application and hereby incorporated by cross reference:
U.S.DocketSer. No.No.Title09/575,152MJ62Fluidic seal for an ink jet nozzle assembly09/575,141IJ52Ink jet printhead having a moving nozzle with anexternally arranged actuator09/575,125IJM52Method of manufacture of an ink jet printheadhaving a moving nozzle with anexternally arranged actuator09/575,176MJ63Ink jet printhead nozzle array09/575,147MJ58Nozzle guard for an ink jet printhead
Some cameras have self-timers that allow a user time to move into frame before a photo is taken. Self-timers are only useful for capturing a single image. Some cameras also have the facility for taking multiple frames but this generally requires the user to maintain pressure on a 'take' button. In any event, the timers are built in to the camera and have fixed functionality.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Media cartridge having body which receives printer


At least two functions provided in an off-road operation of a vehicle are activated or deactivated by a single operation of a control device. The feedback regarding the activated overall functionality takes place via the display device, which may be provided as backlit symbol in the control device. The functions to be activated or deactivated are driver assistance on downhill grades in the form of a downhill driving restriction, flat accelerator pedal characteristic map, either power take-off function for a manual transmission or gear step preselection function for an automatic transmission, navigation display function, instrument cluster display function, driving light activation function, and automatic parking brake function.

A control device having a multi-functional control switch is described in German Published Patent Application No. 195 03 920. An operator can variably select controllable functional elements from among a totality of functional elements. In one specific embodiment, the control switch, which is realized in the form of a tunnel switch, can operate different functionalities, such as a window lifter, sliding roof, lower headlight beam, air recirculation operation, etc.
German Published Patent Application No. 102 38 126 describes a method for controlling a drive train of a vehicle for the purpose of operating a multi-assembly transmission in an off-road vehicle in a highly efficient manner. In the process, the transmission ratio in the range group is automatically varied in an operational or shifting strategy superposed to the actually activated shifting program, while an advantageous counter-shift takes place in the automatic transmission in order to minimize the difference in engine speeds between the range group and the automatic transmission.
German Published Patent Application No. 100 44 955 describes a commercial vehicle, which is operable as off-road vehicle and equipped with an electric auxiliary drive for one axle; in a low speed range, the electric drive can be connected as a power take-off aid, either manually via a switch or automatically via signals from the vehicle computer.
All mentioned documents provide the driver with technical solutions by which the driving characteristics of the vehicles are controlled via inputs with the aid of a control device to the effect that the comfort or the efficiency is increased or else additional traction support is applied. However, they do not actively assist the driver in the manifold and often difficult to accomplish driving tasks that confront the driver of an off-road vehicle during off-road driving.

Device and method for activating and/or deactivating functions of a vehicle


A method for fabricating an optical device includes providing a semiconductor substrate having an element region and a peripheral region. The element region has an element array comprised of semiconductor elements formed therein. The peripheral region has at least a bonding pad electrically connected to the element array. A dielectric layer with an opening exposing the bonding pad is formed over the semiconductor substrate. A filter array and a planarizing layer are sequentially formed on the dielectric layer, and an organic layer is filled into the opening. An inorganic layer is formed on the planarizing layer and covers the organic layer. A portion of the inorganic layer and the organic layer are sequentially removed until the bonding pad is exposed. The organic layer protects the bonding pad from corrosion during the step removing the inorganic layer, and thus the fabrication yield is improved.

1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to a method for fabricating an optical device and more particularly to a method for fabricating an optical device for improving the fabrication yield.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the continuous development and growth of electronic commodities such as cameras and scanners, the demand of image sensors is continuing to increase in the consumer market. Nowadays commonly used image sensors include charge coupled device (CCD) and CMOS image sensor (CIS). Since the CMOS image sensor has the advantages of low operating voltage, low power consumption, high operation efficiency and random access, it can be integrated with the current semiconductor technology for mass production, and therefore it is widely applied.
FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B are schematic cross-sectional views of a conventional CMOS image sensor illustrating process steps of a fabricating process. Referring to FIG. 1A, first, a dielectric layer 130, a filter array 150, a planarizing layer 160 and a micro-lens array 170 are sequentially formed over an element region 102 of a semiconductor substrate 100. The element region 102 of the semiconductor substrate 100 has a plurality of photosensitive elements 110 formed therein. A circuit pattern 120 and a bonding pad 140 electrically connected with the circuit pattern 120 are formed over a peripheral region 104 of the semiconductor substrate 100 has. The dielectric layer 130 has an opening 132 exposing the bonding pad 140.
Referring to FIG. 1B, a protective layer 180 is subsequently formed over the micro-lens array 170 for protecting the micro-lens array 170 from damage by particulates or other contamination sources. Since the protective layer 180 is also filled into the opening 132 and covers the bonding pad 140, an etching process is required to remove a portion of the protective layer 180 to expose the bonding pad 140 to facilitate the electrical connection of circuit pattern 120 with an external circuit in the subsequent process.
Generally speaking, the protective layer 180 is made of an inorganic material such as silicon oxide, silicon nitrogen or silicon oxynitride, and a dry etching using a fluorine-containing gas is performed to remove the portion of the protective layer 180 to expose the bonding pad 140. However, during the dry etching process, the fluorine-containing gas residues may adhere on the bonding pad 140, corrode the bonding pad 140, and result in the formation of indent or unevenness on the surface of the boning pad 140 leading to poor electrical connection between the bonding pad 140 and other element. Accordingly, it is necessary to use a cleaning process to remove the fluorine-containing gas residues on the bonding pad 140.
However, current chemical solvents used in the cleaning process for removing the fluorine-containing gas residues would cause peeling of the photo-resist material in the filter array 150, the planarizing layer 160 and the micro-lens array 170. Therefore, how to effectively remove the residual fluorine-containing gas residues on the bonding pad 140 without adversely influencing other elements or layers of the device is presently one of urgent issues that need to be resolved in the fabrication process of the CMOS image sensor.
Additionally, during the fabrication of conventional liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) display panel, the above-mentioned issue is also encountered.


A magnetic video and audio signals recording apparatus for simultaneously recording Y, PB, PR signals aa, bb, and cc and audio signals dd and ee in first and second track areas on a magnetic recording medium comprising a video signal recording device for recording the Y, PB, and PR signals aa, bb, and cc in the first track area using magnetic heads A1 and B2, a first audio signal recording device for recording an FM audio signal 9a to be recorded obtained by at least frequency-modulating the audio signals in a deep portion of the second track area using a magnetic head C1, and a second audio signal recording device for subsequently recording a PCM audio signal to be recorded 13a on a surface portion of the second track area using a magnetic head D1. A magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus for recording first and second input video signals aa and bb and first and second L and R channel input audio signals cc through ff associated with first and second programs wherein the video signals are recorded on video signal recording tracks TA1 through TB2 formed on a magnetic tape T and, after a first audio signal 9a to be recorded is recorded at a deep portion of an audio-exclusive track TC, a second recording audio signal 13a is recorded on a surface portion thereof at a time interval using magnetic heads C1 and C2.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic video and audio signal recording apparatus, a magnetic video and audio signal reproducing apparatus, a magnetic video and audio signal recording and reproducing apparatus, and a magnetic video and audio signal recording medium.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A segment system wherein an image screen is divided and signals corresponding to the divided screen are recorded and reproduced on a plurality of tracks has been known as a method of high density magnetic recording and reproducing. A VTR for recording HDTV (high-definition TV) signals was proposed in "A high-definition VTR for consumers" in ITEJ Technical Report, Vol. 15, No. 50. It was disclosed that this VTR separately recorded video signals and pulse-code-modulated (PCM) audio signals on different areas on a magnetic tape.
However, it is sometimes desirable to record frequency-modulated (FM) audio signals in addition to PCM audio signals. In such a case, there is a problem that when the PCM audio signals and the FM audio signals are frequency-multiplexed and are recorded on an area which is different from the area recorded with video signals, distortion of those signals due to cross modulation degrades the quality of the audio signals. On the other hand, bias recording may be contemplated as a means for suppressing the distortion due to cross modulation. However, a bias recording system can not be used because it has problems such as crosstalk between a bias signal and video signals on a rotary transformer, which degrades the quality of the video signals.
Further, a method for recording video signals on a magnetic tape associated with two programs has been known in the prior VTR art wherein video signals associated with two programs have been simultaneously recorded on two adjoining tracks formed using a rotary head (for example, Japanese laid-open patent publication 59-104703/1984).
However, it is sometimes desirable to record audio signals in high quality added to two kinds of video signals. Further, it is sometimes desirable to record each program of two kinds of video signals and audio signals with a time span between the two programs using a configuration as simple as possible. In this application, the term "a program" means a group of a plurality of signals originating from a common source of transmission or generation such as video signals and audio signals either related or not related each other in program contents being simultaneously transmitted from one broadcasting station.

Magnetic video and audio recording and/or reproducing apparatus and recording medium


The present invention is a thermal interface for coupling a heat source to a heat sink. One embodiment of the invention comprises a mesh and a liquid, e.g., a thermally conductive liquid, disposed in the mesh. The mesh and the thermally conductive liquid are adapted to contact both the heat source and the heat sink when disposed therebetween. In one embodiment, the mesh may comprise a metal or organic material compatible with the liquid. In one embodiment, the liquid may comprise liquid metal. For example, the liquid may comprise a gallium indium tin alloy. A gasket may optionally be used to seal the mesh and the liquid between the heat source and the heat sink. In one embodiment, the heat source is an integrated circuit chip.

The present invention relates generally to a thermal interface, and relates more particularly to the cooling of integrated circuit chips. Specifically, the present invention relates to a heterogeneous thermal interface for chip cooling.
Efficient cooling of integrated circuit (IC) devices is essential to prevent failure due to excessive heating. As the number of CMOS devices per chip and clock speeds have increased, such efficient cooling has become an even more prominent concern. Efficient cooling of the IC chips depends in large part on a good thermal interface between the chips and cooling blocks, or heat sinks, because a major part of the heat resistance budget is expended between the chip and the heat sink.
Conventionally, the thermal interface between a chip and a heat sink includes a thin layer of thermally conductive paste disposed between opposing surfaces of the chip and the heat sink unit. Typically, the layer of paste is approximately 100 microns thick and is mechanically compliant to conform to the sometimes irregular surfaces of the chip and heat sink.
Such conductive pastes have generally proven to be reliable in facilitating heat transfer. However, the thermal conductivity of conventional pastes is generally limited (e.g., typical pastes have a thermal conductivity of approximately 0.1 W/mK). Thus, limited chip cooling is achieved. Furthermore, heavy cycling may cause non-uniform behavior in a paste, or may cause a paste to fail to thermally bond the chip to the heat sink, resulting in thermal run-away and also limiting chip cooling. Moreover, the trend towards smaller, more powerful chips that generate even greater amounts of heat makes reliance on thermal pastes inadequate.
Thus, there is a need for a thermal interface that is capable of establishing reliable thermal contact, and of providing sufficient thermal conductivity and mechanical compliance between a chip and a heat sink.

Heterogeneous thermal interface for cooling

International Business Machines Corporation


A new and distinct Bougainvillea particularly distinguished from other Bougainvillea plants by its pale pink blush-colored flower bracts. The bracts having a trace of white on each side of a green midrib; its peduncles, pedicils and young stems are yellowish, with its young leaves exhibiting a definite variegation of light and dark green.

This invention relates to a new and distinct selection of Bougainvillea, a member of the Nyctaginaceae family, which was discovered by me as a sport occurring in a group of the Bougainvillea Hybrid cultivar Juanita Hatten (unpatented). This sport was discovered in the summer of 1989 in Mobile, Ala. in one of the commercial greenhouses of Hatten's Nursery, Inc. as a spontaneous bud sport growing on a potted specimen plant of the Bougainvillea Hybrid cv. Juanita Hatten. Because of the high quality growth habit, and the unusual coloration of the flower bracts of this plant, it was selected by me for propagation. Asexual reproduction of this plant by cutting at my nursery in Mobile, Ala. has continued from generation to generation and shows that its characteristics remain fixed and that its homogeneity can be assured.

Bougainvillea hybrid cv. Blushing Beauty


Stents are coated with a polymer such that the polymeric coating binds the crossover points of the wires, or, in the case of a zig-zag stent, binds adjacent zig-zags of wires without occluding the interstices of the stent lattice. Suitable polymers include polyurethane, polycarbonate urethane, polyurethane urea, silicone rubber, polyisobutylene copolymer (with styrene, etc.), polyolefin, polyester, glycolated polyester, polyamide, amorphous polyamide, combinations of the above and the like. Biodegradable polymers such as polyisobuterate, polyvalerate, polylactic acid, polyglycolic acid and combinations of these are also suitable. The polymer can be reacted in place without a solvent, such as two component polyurethanes, or silicone rubbers, or the reacted polymer can be dissolved in an appropriate solvent, for example, dimethylacetamide for the polyurethanes, toluene for the polyolefins, or heptane for the silicone rubbers. In order to enhance bonding of the polymer to the stent wires, the metallic stent can be primed prior to coating. The hoop strength of a polymer coated stent is improved due to locking of the crossover points and preventing free motion of the stent wires relative to each other.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to self expanding stents and stent-grafts. More particularly, the invention relates to stents and stent-grafts with the stent having a polymeric coating which provides enhanced hoop strength as well as other benefits.
2. State of the Art
Transluminal prostheses are well known in the medical arts for implantation in blood vessels, biliary ducts, or other similar organs of the living body. These prostheses are commonly known as stents and are used to maintain, open, or dilate tubular structures or to support tubular structures that are being anastomosed. When biocompatible materials are used as a covering or lining for the stent, the prosthesis is called a stent-graft. If used specifically in blood vessels, the stent-graft is known as an endovascular graft. A stent or stent-graft may be introduced into the body by stretching it longitudinally or compressing it radially, until its diameter is reduced sufficiently so that it can be fed into a catheter. The stent-graft is delivered through the catheter to the site of deployment and then released from the catheter, whereupon it self-expands. Stent-grafts introduced in this manner are known as endoluminal stent-grafts.
A typical state of the art stent, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,771 to Wallsten or in U.K. Patent Number 1,205,743 to Didcott, is shown herein in prior art FIGS. 1, 1a, 2, and 2a. Didcott and Wallsten disclose a tubular body stent 10 composed of wire elements, e.g. 12, 13, each of which extends in a helical configuration with the centerline 14 of the stent 10 as a common axis. Half of the elements, e.g. 12, are wound in one direction while the other half, e.g. 13, are wound in an opposite direction. With this configuration, the diameter of the stent is changeable by axial movement of the ends 9, 11 of the stent. Typically, the crossing elements form a braid-like configuration and are arranged so that the diameter of the stent 10 is normally expanded as shown in FIGS. 1 and 1a. The diameter may be contracted by pulling the ends 9, 11 of the stent 10 away from each other as shown by the arrows 16, 18 in FIG. 2. When the ends of the body are released, the diameter of the stent 10 self-expands and draws the ends 9, 11 of the stent closer to each other. The contraction to stretching ratio and radial pressure of stents can usually be determined from basic braid equations. A thorough technical discussion of braid equations and the mechanical properties of stents is found in Jedweb, M. R. and Clerc, C. O., "A Study of the Geometrical and Mechanical Properties of a Self-Expanding Metallic Stent--Theory and Experiment", Journal of Applied Biomaterials; Vol. 4, pp. 77-85 (1993). In general, however, the contraction to stretching ratio is related to the axially directed angle .alpha. between the crossing elements 12, 13 in the expanded state as shown in FIG. 1. As explained in Didcott, the greater the magnitude of the angle .alpha., the greater the amount of axial extension will be required to contract the diameter of the stent.
The ability of a stent to withstand radial forces is known in the art as "hoop strength". The hoop strength of both the Wallsten and the Didcott stents is relatively low. The Wallsten stent provides an improvement in hoop strength over Didcott by virtue of the higher pitch angle (.alpha.>90.degree.). However, the higher pitch angle of the Wallsten stent renders the stent more difficult to place since substantial elongation is required to pull the stent down into a catheter introducer. Various designs have been advanced in efforts to increase stent hoop strength. These designs include the use of thicker wires, the use of more wires, and the use of paired wires. However, there are limitations to each of these designs. For example, if too many wires are used or if the wire diameter is too large, the stent will tend to demonstrate a taper on one end and a flare on the other end. This is detrimental to stent performance. Moreover, the use of numerous and/or thick wires often results in wire jamming when the stent is drawn down. This requires a larger introducer catheter which renders it more difficult to place in distal and tortuous vessels.
Apart from hoop strength, another problem with conventional stents is that the ends fray or become unbraided when they are cut. When this happens, it becomes difficult to load the stent into an introducer and it is possible for a stray wire end to penetrate the wall of the introducer. Similarly, an unbraided wire end can perforate the human vessel during or after placement.
Still another problem with the state of the art stents is that during normal use, even without cutting the stent, the ends of the stent tend to taper inward due to slippage of the wires and loss of braid structure. The tapered ends of a stent can perturb flow through the lumen of the stent and cause thrombosis. In addition, as the ends of an installed stent taper inward, the stent can become dislodged and may even be washed downstream through the vessel in which it was installed.
Yet, another problem with conventional Didcott or Wallsten stents is illustrated in prior art FIG. 3. When a stent 10 of this type is deployed in a vessel 20 having a bend 22, the pitch angle of the wired is increased in the portion of the stent 10 which traverses the bend 22. Hence, the diameter of the stent 10 at the center of the bend 22 is larger than the diameter of the stent 10 at its ends 9, 11, as the center of the stent stretches the vessel at the bend. This tends to alter the hemodynamics of the vessel.
Still another problem associated with these aforementioned stents is that the stent will flex continuously with each bolus of blood passing through the stent. The flexion continues until the stent is totally ingrown with biological tissue. During flexion, the wires undergo a scissors-like activity at the crossover points which can irritate tissue and adversely affect patency, especially in small diameter vessels such as the coronary arteries. Moreover, the points where the wires cross over each other are subject to abrasion when the stent is flexed in the vasculature. Severe abrasion manifests as wear in the wires which can ultimately lead to premature breakage of the wire components.
Another kind of (non-braided) stent is disclosed in European Patent Publication No. 0312852 to Wiktor. A Wiktor-type stent 30 is shown in prior art FIG. 4 in conjunction with a balloon catheter 31. The stent 30 is made of a single strand of zig-zag filament 32 which is helically wrapped around a mandril. While the filament 32 does not necessarily cross over itself, adjacent zig-zags, e.g. 34, 36, touch each other or come close to touching each other. One of the disadvantages of the Wiktor-type stent is that the zig-zag wire tends to expand non-uniformly when expanded in an artery by a balloon catheter. In addition, the non-braided stent can unfurl during maneuvering the balloon catheter in the vasculature which can cause placement problems as well as damage to the endothelium. In addition, the hoop strength of the Wiktor-type stent is relatively low.
Further disadvantages of conventional wire stents are that they are intrinsically thrombogenic and do not bind well to surface coatings due to the inertness of the metallic oxide layers on the wires.

Stents and stent grafts having enhanced hoop strength and methods of making the same


Technology is disclosed for allocating PCIe bus bandwidth to storage commands in a peer-to-peer environment. A non-volatile storage system has a peer-to-peer connection with a host system and a target device, such as a GPU. A memory controller in the storage system monitors latency of PCIe transactions that are performed over a PCIe bus in order to transfer data for NVMe commands. The PCIe transactions may involve direct memory access (DMA) of memory in the host system or target device. There could be a significant difference in transaction latency depending on what memory is being accessed and/or what communication link is used to access the memory. The memory controller allocates bandwidth on a PCIe bus to the NVMe commands based on the latencies of the PCIe transactions. In an aspect, the memory controller groups the PCIe addresses based on the latencies of the PCIe transactions.

The present technology relates to the operation of non-volatile memory systems.
One type of non-volatile storage is semiconductor memory. For example, non-volatile semiconductor memory is used in solid state drives, mobile computing devices, non-mobile computing devices and other memory systems. Typically, the memory system has a controller which controls data transfers between the memory system and a host system over a communication interface. The host system could be computer system, cellular telephone, server, etc. The memory system and host system may exchange data over, for example, a Peripheral Computer Interface Express (PCIe) bus. Non-volatile Memory Express (NVMe) is a logical device interface specification for accessing non-volatile storage attached via a PCIe bus. NVMe takes advantage of parallelism offered by semiconductor memory such as, but not limited to, solid state drives.
To execute an NVMe command, the memory system may perform a direct memory access (DMA) of memory in the host system. For example, for an NVMe write command the memory controller may access data from write data buffers in the host memory. For an NVMe read command the memory controller may store data to read data buffers in the host memory. The memory controller may also access other areas in the host memory for control information. For example, the memory controller may access NVMe commands from an I/O (Input/Output) submission queue in host memory.
In addition to the host system, the memory controller may access memory of another electronic device, such as a graphics processing unit (GPU), in order to complete an NVMe command. For example, it is possible that the data buffers are in GPU memory. Hence, the memory controller may directly access the GPU memory in order to complete an NVMe command.
The host system, the GPU, and the memory system may be connected to the same communication bus, such as a PCIe bus. Hence, the memory controller may issue, for example, PCIe transactions in order to access the host memory and the GPU memory. The latency for PCIe transactions destined for the GPU memory could be different from the latency for PCIe transactions destined for the host processor. When PCIe bus utilization is high, such differences in latency can result in poor utilization of the PCIe bus. Also, it is possible for bottlenecks to occur as a result of a mix of PCIe transactions to the host memory and GPU memory. For example, there could be collisions in data buffers of a PCIe root complex.

Bandwidth allocation for storage system commands in peer-to-peer environment


A system for controlling a vehicle having an internal combustion engine and a variable geometry turbocharger includes a turbocharger sensor having an output indicative of a current turbocharger geometry. Turbocharger geometry is varied by a controllable actuator. Control logic determines a desired turbocharger geometry based on the current engine conditions. Control logic determines an error signal by comparing the current turbocharger geometry to the desired turbocharger geometry. The actuator is controlled based on the error signal to change the current turbocharger geometry so as to track the desired turbocharger geometry.

In the control of internal combustion engines, the conventional practice utilizes electronic control units having volatile and non-volatile memory, input and output driver circuitry, and a processor capable of executing a stored instruction set, to control the various functions of the engine and its associated systems. A particular electronic control unit communicates with numerous sensors, actuators, and other electronic control units to control various functions, which may include various aspects of fuel delivery, transmission control, turbocharger control, or many others.
A turbocharger consists of a turbine and a compressor. The pressure of the engine exhaust gases causes the turbine to spin. The turbine drives the compressor, which is typically mounted on the same shaft. The spinning compressor creates turbo boost pressure which develops increased power during combustion.
A variable geometry turbocharger has movable components in addition to the rotor group. These movable components can change the turbocharger geometry by changing the area or areas in the turbine stage through which exhaust gases from the engine flow, and/or changing the angle at which the exhaust gases enter or leave the turbine. Depending upon the turbocharger geometry, the turbocharger supplies varying amounts of turbo boost pressure to the engine. The variable geometry turbocharger may be electronically controlled to vary the amount of turbo boost pressure based on various operating conditions.
In a variable geometry turbocharger, the turbine housing is oversized for an engine, and the exhaust gas flow is choked down to the desired level. There are several designs for the variable geometry turbocharger. In one design, a variable inlet nozzle has a cascade of movable vanes which are pivotable to change the area and angle at which the exhaust gas flow enters the turbine wheel. In another design, the turbocharger has a movable side wall which varies the effective cross-sectional area of the turbine housing.
A conventional variable geometry turbocharger control system utilizes an electronic controller having a boost map stored therein. The boost map contains the optimum boost for an engine as a function of engine operating conditions. The controller monitors the engine operating conditions using sensors, and determines the desired boost from the boost map. Turbocharger geometry is incrementally adjusted based on the desired boost pressure obtained from the boost map.
A primary disadvantage associated with existing variable geometry turbocharger control systems is the fact that turbo boost pressure has a slow response time to incremental changes in turbocharger geometry. Because the optimum boost from the boost map varies continuously with varying engine operating conditions, the slow response time of the turbo boost pressure to the incremental changes in turbocharger geometry make is difficult to obtain precise control of the turbocharger. This slow response time renders many of the emissions and driveability benefits of the variable geometry turbocharger unachievable.

System for controlling a variable geometry turbocharger


A film sleever machine includes a first stepper motor for activating a sleeve delivery device which has a driving shaft and a roller shaft mounted parallelly for feeding a film wearing bag material. A film feeding device which has a film driving wheel and a pressure wheel is activated by a second stepper motor for feeding a roll of film to insert into a plurality of film wearing sleeve of the film wearing bag material. The first stepper motor also activates a film cutter device to cut off the film. The second stepper motor also activates a sleeve cutter device to cut off the film wearing bag material. Accordingly, the film sleever machine can be operated to feed the film, cut the film, feed the sleeves, and cut off the sleeves automatically.

The present invention relates to film sleeving, and more particularly to a multi-functional film sleever machine which can cut a roll of film to a plurality of film strips with predetermined length and pack the film with film wearing bags automatically. The film sleever machine is easy to operate and can pack the film rapidly and accurately without damaging the film and staining the film with fingerprints.
After developing a roll of film, the roll of film generally is cut to a plurality of film strips with predetermined length for packing with a film wearing bag for protection. As shown in FIG. 1, the film wearing bag 10 has an opened side 11 and is divided into several film chamber units 12, so that the film strips can be inserted into the film chamber units 12 through the opened side 11 respectively so as to avoid any staining or damaging of the film.
A conventional semi-automatic film packing tool 20, as shown in FIG. 2, is used to save the labor for packing the film. A roll of film wearing bag material 100 is pivotally mounted on the film packing tool 20 by a sleeving mounting spool assembly 21. The conventional film packing tool 20 merely provides a motor to drive a film driving roller (not shown in Figure) to rotate for driving the film wearing bag material 100 to deliver between the film driving roller and a pair of pressure rollers 22. However, the operator of the conventional film packing tool 20 still has to feed the roll of film by hand to insert into the respective film chamber unit 12 of the film wearing bag material 100 and cut the film by means of a film cutter 23 manually. Moreover, after the roll of film is cut into the plurality of film strips to insert into the respective film chamber units 12, the operator has to operate a rotary sleeving cutter 24 to cut off the portion of film wearing bag material 100 which is worn with the film strips manually. Accordingly, the conventional film packing tool 20, in fact, is only an automatic film wearing bag delivery tool and the operator still has to busy in operating the feeding of film, the cutting of film and the cutting of film wearing bag.
Besides, the conventional film packing tool 20 still has plenty of unsolved drawbacks as follows:
(1) The conventional film packing tool 20 does not provide any supporting frame to mount the parts such as the driving shaft of the film wearing bag driving roller, therefore constructional error may easily occurred that will affect the concentricity of the driving shaft and cause operating noise. PA1 (2) The feeding of the roll of film is assisted and guided by a pressure wheel 25. However, the pressure wheel is longitudinally rolling on the film surface that may leave unrecoverable tracks thereon. PA1 (3) Since the conventional film packing tool 20 requires the operator to cut the film manually, the operator has to carefully aim the film cutter 23 at the interval between two film units. It is time consuming and will decrease the efficiency. In fact, the operator's eyes will feel tiredness after a certain operating time. Sometimes, the operator may mistakenly cut on the film unit. PA1 (4) The conventional film packing tool 20 is designed for film having a width of 35 mm. For No. 110 film, its width is 16 mm, so that when the No. 110 film is fed to the conventional film packing tool 20, the No. 110 film can not be well guided and may swing left and right. It may render the feeding of the No. 110 film difficult. PA1 (5) The conventional film packing tool 20 requires the operator to remove the residual film tail manually. PA1 (6) The delivering of the film wearing bag material 100 of the conventional film packing tool 20 is controlled by a photo sensor blocking device 26. In order to equip with the photo sensor blocking device 26, as shown in FIG. 1, the film wearing bag material 100 must be printed with a plurality of blocking color signs 13 on the intervals between each two film chamber units 12 respectively, so that when the photo sensor blocking device 26 detects each blocking color sign 13, the driving roller will stop. Of course, it is a way to control the feeding stroke of the film wearing bag material 100, but all the film wearing bag material 100 must be made to have such blocking color signs printed thereon, that may increase the manufacturing steps and cost of the film wearing bag material 100. Since the blocking color signs must be accurately printed on the intervals between those film chamber units 12 with a predetermined darkness, generally about 23% to 28% of the film wearing bag material 100 will be printed with lightened color or misprinted on the film chamber units 12. PA1 a housing having a top wearing platform and a front delivery opening provided thereon; PA1 a front and a rear supporting frame affixed in the housing; PA1 a sleeving mounting spool assembly having a mounting spool pivotally mounted on the housing for rotatably supporting a roll of film wearing bag material which has a predetermined number of film wearing sleeves transversely and continuously connected with each other; PA1 a wearing bag delivery device which comprises a driving shaft pivotally mounted transversely on the rear supporting frame and a rolling shaft rotatably mounted in parallel and above the driving shaft; PA1 a first stepper motor mounted on the rear supporting frame for driving the driving shaft to rotate for a predetermined number of revolution, so that the rotating driving shaft drives the film wearing bag material to longitudinally feed between the driving shaft and the rolling shaft and deliver to the wearing platform of the housing, wherein the first stepper motor is controlled by a controlling system to drive the driving shaft to feed forward one film wearing sleeve per each forward activation of the first stepper motor; PA1 a sleeving guide installed on a side of the wearing platform for spreading an opened side of the film wearing bag material; PA1 a film delivery guiding assembly installed on the housing for guiding a roll of film, which has a predetermined number of continuous film units, to be delivered to the wearing platform of the housing; PA1 a film feeding device which comprises a film driving wheel pivotally mounted on a lateral side of the front supporting frame and a pressure wheel rotatably mounted on the film delivery guiding assembly and above the film driving wheel, wherein the pressure wheel is propped against the film driving wheel; PA1 a second stepper motor mounted on the front supporting frame for driving the film driving wheel to rotate for a predetermined number of revolution, so that, per each forward activation of the second stepper motor, the rotating film driving wheel drives a predetermined number of film units to feed between the film driving wheel and the pressure wheel and insert into a corresponding film wearing sleeve of the film wearing bag material, which is delivered from the sleeving mounting spool assembly to locate on the wearing platform, through the spread opened side thereof, wherein the second stepper motor is also controlled by the controlling system to drive the film driving wheel to feed forward a predetermined number of film units per each forward activation of the second stepper motor; PA1 a film cutter device mounted on the housing for cutting off the film units which are worn within the corresponding film wearing sleeve on the wearing platform from the roll of film; and PA1 a sleeve cutter device mounted transversely on the front supporting frame in the housing for cutting off a predetermined number of film wearing sleeves which worn with film units therein front the roll of film wearing bag material.


A seal assembly is configured to seal a tile gap between a pair of tiles. Each of the tiles may include a tile side surface. At least one of the tiles may include a groove which may be formed along a length of the tile side surface. The seal assembly may comprise a gasket assembly including first and second bulb portions which may be interconnected by a web. A spacer rope may be positionable along the web. The gasket assembly may define a folded configuration for mounting within the tile gap when the web is wrapped around the spacer rope such that the second bulb portion is positioned between the spacer rope and the first bulb portion. The second bulb portion may be receivable within the groove.

Thermal protection systems are employed in a wide variety of applications including, but not limited to, interior surfaces of jet and rocket engines and exterior surfaces of vehicles for protection against hot, convective flow passing over the vehicle. For example, a thermal protection system (TPS) may be applied to hypersonic vehicles and reusable launch vehicles to provide a thermal shield against extreme temperatures to which the vehicle is subjected. As applied to reusable launch vehicles, a TPS must be capable of protecting the vehicle substructure against temperature extremes ranging from −300° F. on orbit to 3000° F. during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. In this regard, a TPS must be capable of maintaining the temperature of the vehicle's metallic and/or composite substructure below the temperatures at which the mechanical properties of the substructure begin to degrade.
As applied to vehicles such as the Space Shuttle, a TPS may comprise a large number of insulative elements that may be mounted on the substructure for protection against high-temperature convective flow. For example, the TPS may comprise a plurality of ceramic foam tiles which may be configured as passive thermal tiles or as actively-cooled tiles. Actively-cooled tiles may include channels through which coolant may be circulated in order to draw excess heat from the tiles and/or substructure.
In addition to protecting substructure against temperature extremes, a TPS must also accommodate relative movement of the substructure under static and dynamic loading conditions. For example, a TPS must be capable of accommodating flight-induced deflections of a vehicle substructure. Tile gaps may be provided between tiles in order to accommodate such relative movement of the substructure. In addition, tile gaps may be provided between tiles to accommodate differences in the thermal expansion properties of the tiles relative to the thermal expansion properties of the substructure to which the tiles are mounted. For example, during orbital maneuvers of a reusable launch vehicle, temperatures can vary by several hundred degrees Fahrenheit causing differences in thermal expansion of the tiles relative to the airframe substructure. The tile gaps must be sized in order to accommodate such differences in thermal growth.
However, tile gaps must also be sealed to minimize heating of the substructure at the bottom of the tile gap by high temperature convective flow passing over the tile exterior surfaces. In addition, it is desirable to seal the tile gaps in order to maintain the aerodynamics or continuity of flow over the tile exterior surfaces which may comprise an outer mold line of a vehicle. In this regard, the tile gaps must be sealed to minimize aerodynamic pressure losses otherwise associated with open tile gaps. Due to the relatively large number of thermal tiles employed in a given application (e.g., tens of thousands on a single Space Shuttle), it is desirable that seals for the tile gaps are relatively easy to install and are securely maintained in position within the tile gap to prevent extraction by high speed flow passing over the tile exterior surfaces.
Included in the prior art are several seal assembly configurations for sealing tile gaps. One prior art configuration comprises thermal padding or filler bar which may be force-fitted into the tile gaps. Following force-fitting into the tile gaps, the thermal padding or filler bar may be coated with a high-temperature hardening compound to provide a smooth surface over the tile gap that is continuous with the tile exterior surfaces. Another prior art seal assembly configuration includes the use of adhesives for bonding insulating materials to tile side surfaces of opposing thermal tiles.
Another prior art sealing assembly configuration includes the use of flaps that are mechanically secured in position by sandwiching the flaps between the thermal tiles and the substructure. A further prior art configuration includes the use of an insulating material which is clamped in position beneath a bracket mounted to the substructure. The insulating material forms a liner on the opposing tile side surfaces and extends upwardly to the tile exterior surface in order to maintain continuity of the outer mold line across the tile gap.
While the above described prior art sealing assembly configurations are generally suitable for their intended purposes, they possess several drawbacks which detract from their overall utility. For example, the hardening compound that is applied over filler bar complicates removal, repair and/or replacement of the tiles. Likewise, seal assemblies which are adhesively bonded within the tile gaps present difficulties in repairing and/or replacing the seal assembly or the tiles to which the seal assembly is bonded. Seal assemblies such as the above-mentioned flaps which are mechanically attached to the tile gaps by sandwiching between the tile and substructure may be costly to manufacture and time-consuming to install.
As can be seen, there exists a need in the art for a seal assembly for sealing tile gaps between tiles which forms a low-thermal conductivity seal to prevent overheating of the underlying substructure. Additionally, there exists a need in the art for a seal assembly which maintains continuity of the outer mold line of the tile exterior surfaces while accommodating differences in thermal expansion of the tiles relative to the substructure. Furthermore, there exists a need in the art for a seal assembly which obviates the need for adhesive bonding or mechanical attachment of the seal assembly to the tile. Finally, there exists a need in the art for a seal assembly for sealing tile gaps which is simple in construction, low in cost and which is easily insertable into the tile gap and securely maintainable in position but which is also easily removable and replaceable in the field.


A method of adjusting a leveled height of the sprung mass of a vehicle that is in approximate alignment with a predetermined datum is disclosed. The method includes approximately aligning the sprung mass with the predetermined datum, receiving an input from an operator for changing the height of the sprung mass and adjusting the height of the sprung mass while maintaining approximate alignment with the predetermined datum. A system for performing the method is also discussed.

The present invention broadly relates to air suspension systems and, more particularly, to an electronically controlled air suspension system for use in association with a stationary vehicle that adjusts the air springs of the stationary vehicle to vary the leveled height of the vehicle chassis while maintaining approximate alignment of the vehicle chassis with an artificial horizon or other predetermined datum.
The present invention finds particular application in association with the use of larger mobile vehicles, such as recreational vehicles (RVs), travel trailers and over-the-road truck trailers, for example, and will be described herein with particular reference thereto. However, it is to be understood that such vehicles are simply exemplary structures and that the present invention is capable of broader application in association with the alignment of a wide variety of structures and vehicles. Further examples of such structures and vehicles include gun platforms, military and civilian personnel transport vehicles, and ambulances.
Many larger vehicles, such as RVs, travel trailers, over-the-road truck trailers and the like, have an air suspension system for regulating the height of the vehicle chassis relative to the supporting axles, in a manner that is dependent upon the load placed in the vehicle, to adjust the height of the chassis in response to the ride conditions experienced by the vehicle. These suspension systems usually consist of a plurality of fluid suspension members, such as air springs, which support the vehicle chassis above the axles. The height of the air springs is controlled by the ingress and egress of pressurized fluid from a suitable source mounted on the vehicle, such as a compressor. One or more intervening valves are traditionally used to facilitate the ingress and egress of pressurized fluid respectively into and out of the air springs, thus adjusting the height of the air springs and correspondingly the position of the vehicle chassis relative to the vehicle axles. Such systems also enable the vehicle chassis to be maintained in an orientation substantially aligned with the axles while the vehicle is stationary. This is accomplished by individually regulating the heights of the air springs that support the vehicle chassis on the axles. One disadvantage of such systems, though, is that the chassis can only be positioned relative to the axles. So, if the axles are disposed in an undesirable orientation, the chassis, though level with the axles, will also be disposed in an undesirable orientation.
As an alternative, many of these vehicles, such as RVs, will also use a plurality of hydraulic jacks, which are lowered in order to level the floor of the RV when in a stationary, parked condition. However, in certain situations, the use of hydraulic jacks is not permitted, such as when the RV is parked on an asphalt parking lot since the jacks could damage the asphalt. Thus, leveling of the vehicle cannot be accomplished under these circumstances. Another disadvantage is the cost associated with these systems, as few of the standard components of the vehicle are utilized therein. That is, the hydraulic jacks, the control valves, the hydraulic lines, the electronic control unit, and the user interface, as well as other components, must be installed on the vehicle, over and above all of the standard components that are already installed. Thus, these extra components increase the cost of the vehicle in order to obtain the leveling feature.
Also, some RVs may use the existing suspension air springs to adjust the floor height and to level the floor by the use of mercury switches, or other controls which will raise and lower certain of the air springs to regulate the height of the floor with respect to the vehicle axles until a level condition is reached. Some examples of such fluid actuated leveling systems for trailers, RVs, etc., are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,228,704, 5,465,209, 5,180,024, 5,499,845, 6,431,557, and 6,428,026. However, it will be appreciated that these systems may be useful in situations where weight distribution changes in a parked or otherwise stationary vehicle. However, these systems remain ineffective for leveling a vehicle chassis when the axles of the vehicle are not themselves in a level orientation.
The above-listed patents disclose numerous leveling and suspension control systems for air springs in vehicles, some of which are operational while the vehicle is moving, while others are actuated when the vehicle is stationary. Most of these systems use the air springs to regulate the height of the vehicle chassis with respect to the axles or the wheel supporting structure in order to achieve a level condition. Also, many of these systems require separate control systems which are in addition to the existing suspension components and pneumatic ride control system of the vehicle.
Another issue that can arise with known leveling and suspension control systems involves the leveled height at which the sprung mass of the vehicle is stationed above the ground. Once a the chassis or body of a vehicle has been leveled, known leveling and suspension control systems are not typically provided with the capability to alter the leveled height of the chassis or body while maintaining the leveled orientation of the same. That is, known systems are normally unable to raise or lower the sprung mass of the vehicle without undesirably altering the leveled condition of the vehicle.
As an example, where the suspension system of an RV has been adjusted such that the sprung mass of the RV is in a leveled condition, it may be desirable to raise or lower the leveled height of the sprung mass of the RV. Such a situation might exist where the folding stairs of the RV will not fully extend because the body of the RV is stationed too low to the ground. Alternately, a situation might exist in which the folding stairs of the RV are spaced too far from the ground even when fully extended. In either case, it may be desirable to raise or lower the body of the RV.
To adjust the height of a leveled body or chassis of a vehicle that is outfitted with a known leveling or suspension control system, such as may be provided on an existing RV, for example, an operator could individually adjust each of the suspension members of the suspension system in an attempt to achieve a leveled condition at the desired or target height. Due to the manual operation of such known systems, however, further adjustment of the suspension system to re-level the body or chassis of the vehicle to a leveled orientation might be required. Unfortunately, this further adjustment may undesirably alter the leveled height from the previously desired or targeted height. As such, adjusting the height of known leveling and suspension control systems can be an iterative process that is challenging and somewhat time consuming.
For at least these reasons, it is considered desirable to develop an air suspension system that overcomes these as well as other disadvantages.

Method and system for adjusting a vehicle aligned with an artificial horizon


Chewing gum products containing palatinose oligosaccharide and methods of making such gum products are disclosed. In one embodiment, aspartame is used to sweeten the gum composition, and palatinose oligosaccharide is provided in an amount effective to stabilize the aspartame such that after eight weeks of storage at 85.degree. F., at least 5% less aspartame decomposes than would have decomposed if the palatinose oligosaccharide were not included.

The present invention relates to improved compositions of chewing gum. More particularly, the invention relates to improving chewing gum by the use of specific bulking agents in sugar and non-sugar chewing gum products to give improved texture, moisture absorption properties, and improved shelf-life properties, including aspartame stability. The improved chewing gum compositions may also be used in a variety of chewing gum products, such as confectionery coated chewing gum products.
In recent years, efforts have been devoted to replace sugar and sugar syrups normally found in chewing gum with other carbohydrates and non-carbohydrates. Non-sugar or sugar-free chewing gum, which is growing in popularity, uses sugar alcohols or polyols to replace sugar and sugar syrups. The most popular polyols are sorbitol, mannitol and xylitol. New polyols are being developed using new technology to replace these polyols. New polyols have various unique properties which can improve the taste, texture, and shelf-life properties of chewing gum for consumers.
The non-sugar polyols have the advantage of not contributing to dental caries of consumers, as well as being able to be consumed by diabetics. However, all polyols have the disadvantage of causing gastrointestinal disturbances if consumed in too great of a quantity. Therefore it would be a great advantage to be able to use a carbohydrate or carbohydrate-like food ingredient for chewing gum that would act as a bulking agent, but not contribute to dental caries nor cause gastrointestinal disturbances.
One such bulking agent is called palatinose (or isomaltulose). This bulking agent or bulk sweetener, which is not approved for use in food products or in chewing gum in the U.S., is being considered by the US-FDA for GRAS Affirmation. The bulk sweetener is approved for use in Japan and is being used in chewing gum. Although a sugar, palatinose does not contribute to dental caries, nor does it cause gastrointestinal disturbances. Palatinose has also been polymerized to yield another similar bulking agent ingredient, called palatinose oligosaccharide (POS).
The manufacture of palatinose is disclosed in UK Patent No. 2 063 268, U.S. Pat. No. 4,359,531, and EPO Patent Publication No. 0 483 755.
U.S. Patent No. 4,587,119 and UK Patent No. 2 066 639 disclose the replacement of sucrose with palatinose in various food type products, including chewing gum.
Combinations of palatinose with high-potency sweeteners are disclosed in EPO Patent Publication No. 0 390 438 (using sucralose) and Japanese Patent Disclosures Nos. 83-138355 (using aspartame) and 1991-240463.
Results of cariogenic studies of palatinose are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,556,429 and 4,695,326 palatinose inhibits the formation of insoluble glucan from sucrose and thus reduces dental plaque.
The use of palatinose in chewing gum is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,976,972, UK Patent No. 2 223 944 and Japanese Patent Publications Nos. 82-86246, 85-248137, 89-19860, 1991-240463 and 1991-39100.
Hydrogenated isomaltulos is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,865,957 and 4,233,439 and in Japanese Patent Publication No. 87-148496. Chewing gums using hydrogenated isomaltulose are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,792,435 and 4,961,935.
Palatinose oligosaccharide (POS) is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 85-09466.
More information on palatinose can be found in Progress in Sweeteners, edited by T. H. Grenby, published by Elsevier Science Publishers Ltd., England in 1989, Chapter 6, pages 143-167.

Chewing gum containing aspartame and palatinose oligosaccharide


Disclosed is a communication vocoder. An encoder and a decoder in a first format, and a decoder in a second format are formed in the communication vocoder. The encoder in the first format encodes voice signals into voice packets in the first format, and the decoder in the first format decodes the voice packets in the first format into voice signals. When voice packets in the second format are input to the communication vocoder, the decoder in the second format decodes the voice packets in the second format into voice signals. The decoders in the first and second formats are formed as subroutines in the communication vocoder.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication vocoder (voice coder). More specifically, the present invention relates to a tandemless vocoder.
2. Description of the Related Art
As development of digital mobile communication systems has significantly accelerated, vocoders suitable for respective mobile communication systems have also been developed. RPE-LTP (regular pulse excited long term prediction) vocoders developed for European GSM digital mobile communication systems were replaced by EFR (enhancement full rate) GSM vocoders, which were subsequently replaced by AMR (adaptive multi rate) vocoders for varying the data rates according to characteristics of wireless transmission intervals. In particular, the AMR vocoders have been adopted for the 3rd generation mobile communication system, that is, the European (asynchronous) IMT-2000 system, because of their excellent voice quality and performance.
QCELP (Qualcomm code excited linear prediction) vocoders using the CDMA method were developed for the North American digital mobile communication system, 13 kbps QCELP vocoders with 13 kbps data rates were subsequently developed, and EVRC (enhancement variable rate codec) vocoders were finally developed. The North American (synchronous) IMT-2000 system standardization committee has completed the SMV (selectable mode vocoder) standardization of the AMR vocoders.
In general, communication between vocoders using different methods is executed by decoding voice packets with one method into voice signals, encoding the voice signals through another method, and decoding the encoded voice signals, which is referred to as the tandem method.
FIGS. 1 and 2 show block diagrams of conventional tandem vocoders. As shown in FIG. 1, the tandem communication method from an A-type vocoder 10 to a B-type vocoder 20 is performed by a secondary encode/decode module 30. That is, the voice packets encoded by an encoder 11 of the A-type vocoder 10 are decoded into voice signals in the PCM (pulse coded modulation) format by an A-type decoder 31, the voice signals are encoded again by a B-type encoder 32, and the encoded voice signals are transmitted to a decoder 21 of the B-type vocoder 20. Because the encoding/decoding processes are performed twice, the tandem communication method lowers communication quality, increases delay time, and needs secondary encode/decode modules 31, 32, 33, and 34 in the intermediate communication area.
To solve the problems, a method shown in FIG. 2 has been proposed. As shown, packet converters 41 and 42 are provided between the A- and B-type vocoders 10 and 20. The packet converter 41 mathematically analyzes a bit sequence of the packet encoded by the encoder 11 of the A-type vocoder 10, converts the same into a bit sequence for the B-type vocoder 20, and transmits the bit sequence to the decoder 21 of the B-type vocoder 20. In a like manner, the packet converter 42 converts a bit sequence of the packet encoded by the encoder 22 of the B-type vocoder 20 into a bit sequence for the A-type vocoder 10. However, even though the mathematical analysis is very accurate, its voice quality is worse than that generated by the encode/decode process of the encode/decode module, and it additionally requires an analyzer, thereby generating a delay time.

Vocoder and communication method using the same

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


A method and apparatus to provide security for data in a database system includes providing a secure user-defined data type (UDT) that has security features. The secure UDT defines security information, which in one arrangement is in the form of a list of identifiers of authorized users or other entities. Each data instance according to the secure UDT stored in tables of the database system is associated with such an access list. Thus, in response to a query, the security information is accessed to determine whether the user or other entity that issued the query has rights to access the data. Access is then allowed or denied based on the security information.

A database is a collection of stored data that is logically related and that is accessible by one or more users. A popular type of database system is the relational database management, which includes relational tables made up of rows (or tuples) and columns (or attributes). Each row represents an occurrence of an entity defined by the table, with an entity being a person, place, or thing about which the table contains information. Each column represents an attribute of the entity.
A traditional relational database management system (RDBMS) provides for relatively simple data types, such as integers, real numbers, character strings, and so forth. Object relational database systems provide for more complex data types, such as data types used to represent maps, audio data, video data, image data, multimedia data, and so forth.
In many conventional relational database management systems, security of data stored in the database system is usually implemented with a combination of techniques. For example, security is provided in some systems by restricting access to an entire database, restricting access to specific tables, or restricting access to specific "views." A "view" is a predefined subset of one or more tables. A view can be considered a window that accesses selected portions of the database. A view can be used to hide certain rows or columns of a table from a user.
Restricting access rights at the database level, table level, or view level is rather coarse, and typically does not provide for the ability to provide finer access control of portions of a database.


A light emitting element has: a light emitting layer of semiconductor; and a diffusion layer that has a refractive index equal to or greater than that of the light emitting layer and that diffuses light emitted from the light emitting layer to increase the external radiation efficiency of the light emitting element. The light emitting layer has a refractive index equal to or greater than that of any layers formed between the light emitting layer and the diffusion layer.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a light emitting element and a light emitting device using the same, and particularly relates to a light emitting element and a light emitting device that are provided with an improved external radiation efficiency in light radiated from the semiconductor layer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, light emitting devices are known that an LED (light emitting diode) element is mounted on a substrate with a lead frame or a wiring pattern formed thereon. For such light emitting devices, it is important to increase the external radiation efficiency by reducing light confined in the LED element to offer high brightness and output.
The LED element used for the light emitting device includes a face-up type LED element. The face-up type LED element is structured such that p-type and n-type semiconductor layers including a light emitting layer are grown on a substrate such as a sapphire (Al2O3) substrate by vapor phase growth method, a passivation film for protecting the semiconductor layer or electrode is formed thereon so as to enhance the reliability, and the semiconductor layers side is used as the light radiation surface (light extraction surface).
Japanese patent application laid-open No. 6-291366 (prior art 1) discloses a face-up type LED element that has a passivation film of SnO2 to increase the external radiation efficiency. In prior art 1, the LED element is composed of a sapphire substrate and GaN-based compound semiconductor layers (with refractive index n=2.4) formed on the sapphire substrate, and its electrodes are disposed on the light radiation surface. The light radiation surface except for the electrodes is provided with SnO2 film (n=1.9) as a transparent electrode formed thereon, and the entire LED element is covered with a seal member of epoxy resin (n=1.5) to form a lamp type LED (FIG. 1 in prior art 1).
Further, the LED element used for the light emitting device includes a flip-chip type LED element. The flip-chip type LED element is structured such that semiconductor layers are formed on a transparent substrate such as a sapphire substrate and the transparent substrate side is used as the light radiation surface.
Japanese patent application laid-open No. 2002-219708 (prior art 2) discloses a flip-chip type LED element (LED chip) that an uneven face is provided on the light extraction surface side of substrate to reduce the light loss.
FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view showing an LED element disclosed in prior art 2. In the LED element 200, nitride semiconductor layers composed of a GaN buffer layer 202, an n-type semiconductor layer 203 and a p-type semiconductor layer 204 are formed on a sapphire substrate 201, a p-type electrode 205 is formed on the p-type semiconductor layer 204, and an n-type electrode 206 is formed on the n-type semiconductor layer 203. The LED element 200 is flip-chip bonded through bumps 230a, 230b onto a mount board 210. On the opposite face of sapphire substrate 201 to the surface thereof with the nitride semiconductor layers formed, uneven surfaces 201a, 201b of 1 μm or so are formed by polishing the opposite face while adjusting the grain size of an abrasive (paragraphs [0022]-[0024] and FIG. 2 in prior art 2).
However, the conventional LED elements have the next problems.
(1) If the optical distance (the product of optical path length and medium refractive index) of film thickness is ¼ or [(2m+1)/4; m is an integer] times of emission wavelength, of light coming from the GaN-based compound semiconductor layer to the SnO2 film, perpendicular incident light has an phase difference to light reflected at the interface of epoxy resin and SnO2 film that causes to reduce the interface reflection light and to increase the interface transmission light in light coming from the GaN-based compound semiconductor layer to the SnO2 film. Therefore, the external light extraction efficiency can be enhanced. In like manner, light with such an incident angle that the optical distance in the SnO2 film (the optical distance of light entered into the SnO2 film from the GaN-based compound semiconductor layer, reflected at the interface of epoxy resin and SnO2 film, returned to the SnO2 film and the GaN-based compound semiconductor layer) becomes ¼ or [(2m+1)/4; m is an integer] times of emission wavelength has such an phase difference that causes to reduce the interface reflection light and to increase the interface transmission light. However, if the thin film does not have a large value of m, such light entered to this specific direction from the interface only occupies a small part of all light emitted from the light emitting layer.
On the other hand, in the case of light subjected to total reflection when being entered at an angle greater than its critical angle to the SnO2 interface from the GaN-based compound semiconductor layer, the abovementioned effect of SnO2 film is not obtained because return light as interference light to this light is not generated at the interface of the SnO2 film and the epoxy resin. Provided that light emitted from the light emitting layer is regarded as perfect diffusion light and is externally emitted only from the upper surface, light from the GaN-based semiconductor layer to be subjected to total reflection at the SnO2 film interface occupies about 65% of all light.
(2) In practical use, the LED element disclosed in prior art 2 is generally sealed with epoxy resin with a refractive index of 1.5. In this case, the light extraction efficiency (external radiation efficiency) can be little improved even when the surface of sapphire substrate with a refractive index of 1.7 is roughened. Thus, most of light will be confined in the semiconductor layers and therefore the light emitting device will not offer a high brightness.

Light emitting element and light emitting device


Described is an ultrasonic device for sealing material (1) in strips, comprising: a generator (9) of electrical power signals; a converter (9a) for converting the electrical power signals into mechanical vibrations; a sonotrode (2) rotating about a first axis (X2); an anvil (4) rotating about a second axis (X4) parallel to the first axis (X2); the sonotrode (2) having a circular groove (6) and the anvil (4) having a protruding element (7) which is annular in shape; the protruding element (7) is configured to operate in conjunction with the groove (6) along directions parallel to the first axis (X2) and to the second axis (X4) in such a way as to seal the sheet or strip of material (1) moved along a direction (A) transversal to the first (X2) and second (X4) axis of rotation and passing between the sonotrode (2) and the anvil (4) engaging the groove (6) and the protruding element (7).

In the technical field of sealing devices, the prior art teaches the use of ultrasonic sealing devices, as this type of technology allows a precise and "cold" processing of the materials, such as, for example, the sealing of edges on thermoplastic films.
An ultrasonic sealing device comprises:                a generator of electrical power signals with frequencies generally between 20 and 50 kHz;        a converter which converts the electrical power signals into mechanical vibrations of equal frequency and defined amplitude;        an amplifier (optional) or booster, which increases the amplitude of the mechanical vibrations,        a sonotrode which transmits the mechanical vibrations to the material to be sealed; and        a anvil which operates as a contact element for the material to be sealed and the sonotrode.
In practice, the heat sonotrode transmits energy by contact to the material to be sealed, which, by melting, is sealed.
There are two prior art types of sealing devices: the so-called "heat-sinking" devices, in which the sonotrode is movable in an alternating fashion along a single direction towards, and away from, the material to be sealed, and the anvil is stationary, or rotary; and the rotary sealing devices in which both the sonotrode and the anvil rotate, generally continuously about mutually parallel axes of rotation.
An example of sealing devices of the heat-sinking type is shown in patent WO 2004/091894.
An example of sealing devices of the rotary type is shown in patent US 2012/0012258.
In the heat-sinking sealing devices, the material to be sealed is generally moved intermittently, that is, it is positioned stationary between anvil and sonotrode during the sealing, and away from anvil and sonotrode once the sealing has been completed. The productivity of these sealing devices is generally limited.
Alternatively, the material to be sealed can also be moved continuously, thus increasing the productivity, but the high level of friction between the material and the sonotrode and the anvil has an adverse affect on the quality of the sealing, creating creases on the material and dissipating considerable quantities of energy.
The rotary sealing devices overcome the problems of friction of the heat-sinking sealers, but they have further drawbacks of an energy nature, because only a minimum part of the energy supplied to the sonotrode is actually used for sealing.
In effect, in the rotary sealing devices, the sonotrode vibrates axially along the respective axis of rotation and radially along radial directions perpendicular to the axis of rotation.
Only the radial vibrations, which correspond to approximately a quarter of the total energy supplied to the sonotrode, are used for sealing. The axial vibrations of the sonotrode are not used and, consequently, the corresponding energy (equal to approximately three-quarters of the total energy supplied to the sonotrode) is lost.

I.M.A. INDUSTRIA MACCHINE AUTOMATICHE S.P.A.


A closure tab is provided and includes a first substrate. A second substrate is adhesively attached to the first substrate. The second substrate has mechanical closure material formed thereon. A compression bond pattern is applied to the first substrate and the second substrate. The compression bond pattern includes at least one outwardly extending protrusion. The compression bond pattern may include, for example, circular bond points, stripes, or a decorative element. A method is also provided wherein the second substrate is compressed onto the first substrate by a patterned roller. The second substrate may be compressed onto the first substrate by a plurality of pins spaced in alternating offset rows.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to closure tabs for use on absorbent articles, and more particularly, to mechanical closure systems having greater integrity by the application of compression bonding.
2. Background of the Related Art
Absorbent articles such as, for example, disposable diapers, adult incontinent pads, sanitary napkins, pantiliners, incontinent garments, etc. are generally worn, in cooperation with garments and disposed against a body surface, etc., by infants or adult incontinent individuals. The absorbent article is employed to collect, absorb, etc. body fluid discharge, such as, for example, blood, menses, urine, aqueous body fluids, mucus, cellular debris, etc. For example, the absorbent article may be disposed between the legs of an individual adjacent a crotch area. The absorbent article is positioned with a garment and drawn into engagement with a body surface of the crotch area to collect fluid discharge.
As is known, absorbent articles typically include a fluid permeable coverstock for engaging the body surface, a fluid impermeable back sheet and an absorbent core supported therebetween. The backsheet serves as a moisture barrier to prevent fluid leakage to the garment. The absorbent core usually includes a liquid retention material that faces the body surface. The absorbent core can include loosely formed cellulosic fibers, such as wood pulp, for acquiring and storing fluid discharge.
Fastening of the absorbent articles with an individual requires the use of closure tabs or other closure systems employing fastening members. For example, in typical diaper-type garments, the garment is affixed to a wearer by attaching one or more closure tabs that extend across the wearer's hips to hold the back and front halves of the garment to one another. These closure systems typically include a fastening member or "tab material," and mechanical closure material (such as hook and loop material) attached to the tab material. This composite of tab material and the mechanical closure material is fixed or secured to the absorbent article. Generally, such securing to the absorbent article is accomplished by adhesive, ultrasonic bonding, stitching and the like.
The securing of the mechanical closure material to the fastening members of absorbent articles, however, may suffer from occasional separation and dislodging. These separations cause the closure system to fail, thereby preventing attachment of the absorbent article to an individual and rendering such absorbent article ineffective. Failure can also occur, for example, because wearers typically move their bodies while the fasteners are attached, sometimes causing the closure tabs to become loose, uncomfortable or even unfastened. Yet another factor complicating the task of fastener tab design is the fact that the caregivers applying the tabs do so in a variety of ways that may or may not be suitable to properly affix tabs of the particular design being applied. Moreover, these drawbacks can disadvantageously result in wasted product and unpleasant product experience for the consumer.
Despite these and other efforts by absorbent garment manufacturers and others to provide suitable closure tabs for absorbent garments, there is still a need to provide a more comfortable, better fitting, and easily applied tab. These are just a few of the disadvantages of the prior art that the preferred embodiments seek to address. It would therefore be desirable to overcome the disadvantages and drawbacks of the prior art by providing a closure tab that contains hook and loop material that is securely and permanently attached thereto. It would also be desirable if the secure attachment of the hook and loop material to the tab material is easily and more efficiently manufactured.


An information search system enabling an information searcher to easily surely judge whether each piece of search target information searched is important to the searcher himself or herself. The information search system implements a function of calculating, when searching for property information on a real estate property that satisfies a search condition specified by a certain user, a degree of fitness indicating how much each piece of property information satisfies the search condition on the basis of a degree-of-fitness calculation function for that user, and a function of enabling each user to change a configuration of the degree-of-fitness calculation function for the user himself or herself.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information search system and an information search method for searching one or more pieces of search target information that satisfies a certain search condition from plural pieces of search target information, a program for making a computer function as the information search system of the present invention, and a program for making the computer execute the information search method of the present invention. The present disclosure also relates to subject matter contained in Japanese Patent application No. 2001-184281 (filed on Jun. 19, 2001), which is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
2. Description of the Related Art
With a spread of the Internet over the recent years, various categories of information can be obtained via the Internet, and there are developed a variety of search engines for searching a desired item of information from the Internet or from a certain Web site. Further, there exist some of the search engines, wherein a result of the search is presented to a searcher in the form of a list in which pieces of information searched are sorted out in the order corresponding to a matching degree (numerical data showing, e.g., how frequently keywords appear) between a search condition and the searched information.
In the case of presenting the result of the search as the list, the user usually can find out the information necessary to the user himself or herself simply by referring to some pieces of information at the head of the list.
The matching degree calculated by the search engine is not, however, invariably coincident with a user's matching degree between the search condition and the searched information. Hence, practically, the information more suited to the user might exist at the end of the list presented. It is therefore required that if searching the information extremely important to the user by making use of the conventional search engine, the search condition be set comparatively broad and all pieces of information searched be examined in detail.
Such an examination requires a long period of time, and hence, if, for example, a house to be purchased is determined based on the information opened to the public on the Internet, it happens that the same house has already been sold just when making a decision of buying this house.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an information search system and an information search method enabling an information searcher to easily surely judge whether each piece of search target information searched is important to the searcher himself or herself.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a program for making a computer execute the information search method of the present invention, and a program for making the computer function as the information search system of the present invention.

Information search system, method and program for user specification of result ranking calculation


A lightweight corrosivity sensor is provided which is thin enough to be edded between the layers of a composite structure or placed on a surface beneath a coating. It comprises a thin non-conductive base and two electrically isolated conductive elements fixed to the surface thereof. Each conductive element comprises a bus bar and a plurality of strips extending from the bus bar and interdigitated with the strips of the other conductive element. The corrosivity sensor is connectable to a current measuring means for measuring the current across the two conductive elements as an indicator of the presence of a corrosive environment. A masking method of manufacturing such a sensor is also provided.

This invention relates generally to a corrosivity sensor and a method for its manufacture, and more particularly to a corrosivity sensor which is light enough for aircraft applications and thin enough for use in laminated composites and under coatings, and which is manufactured using masking techniques.
The destructive effects of corrosion are well known and efforts to minimize those effects are ongoing. The non-nuclear naval aircraft-carrier environment is a particularly corrosive one, with sulfur from aircraft-carrier stack gases combining with sea spray to provide a hostile environment which undermines the structural integrity of naval aircraft. Sensors for early detection of the presence of corrosive elements beneath coatings and between the layers of laminated composites would prompt early aircraft maintenance and repair and prevent disaster as well as save time and money.
Galvanic cell-type corrosion probes are currently used to determine the corrosivity of a surrounding medium. One such probe is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,994,159 to Agarwala et al. This kind of probe has been used on naval aircraft carriers to monitor the corrosivity of the sea environment due to moisture and salt. In operation, a thin film of water from the environment in question, usually in the form of sea spray, contacts the surface of the probe, acting as an electrolyte to complete the galvanic cell formed by two dissimilar metals exposed at the surface. In other words, this film of water acts as a pathway for current flow between the surfaces of the dissimilar metals. The probe is made by embedding within a matrix of insulating material a plurality of plates of alternately anodic and cathodic material, and then exposing the edges of the plates to form the surface. The probe's large size and heavy weight limit its usefulness in applications where space and weight are critical issues, such as on aircraft, and, in particular, within the composite layers of aircraft or on aircraft surfaces to be painted. The large size of this probe also limits its sensitivity because it will only detect the presence of electrolytic films which are large enough in area to bridge the gap between the exposed metals. Additionally, since this probe is made by exposing the edges of flat plates of anodic and cathodic material, the surface pattern thus formed is limited to straight-line strips. The probe is therefore not sensitive to the presence of a film spreading along the insulating surface between strips and parallel thereto.
Masking techniques have been used to manufacture printed circuit boards, but have not been applied to the formation of corrosivity sensors.

The United States of america as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


A color imaging system and method, the method comprising, for a plurality of predetermined wavelength bands of illumination, calculating weight coefficients representing the contribution of each of the wavelength bands to a specific color space, individually controlling illumination intervals of each of a plurality of illumination sources, wherein each of the illumination sources is configured to provide illumination via a waveguide in a different predetermined narrow band of wavelengths, controlling an image sensor to capture a set of monochromatic image frames synchronously with the illumination intervals, receiving a set of the captured monochromatic image frames, and generating color image data by calculating a combination of the set of image frames, each weighted by the corresponding coefficient.

Color images are commonly captured using natural broadband light ("white light") and a set of three filters applied over the imaging sensor. A color image usually contains three different color layers (Red, Green, and Blue) mimicking the spectral sensitivities of the human eye cone cell. The different color layers are combined to create a color image were each pixel in color image is represented by those three values or one of their derivatives. Some known endoscopy methods use a light source and a plurality of filters for separation of colors, thus losing a major portion of the light intensity. This requires extended exposure time of the image sensors and/or utilization of very strong and cumbersome illumination sources in the input of the endoscope.
Additionally, some imaging methods aim to record spectral information, for example multi spectral or hyper spectral information, and/or use a large amount of spectral channels for generation of a high quality color image. Some methods use large sets of images of a known spectrum to estimate the reflectance spectra out of color images in order to enhance hard to see features in the image.

Color imaging by discrete narrow-band synchronized illumination