A transparent thermosensitive recording material compriser: (1) transparent substrate, (2) a thermosensitive coloring layer which is formed on one side of the transparent substrate, (3) a protective layer which is formed on the thermosensitive coloring layer and has almost the same refractive index as that of the thermosensitive coloring layer, and (4) an antistatic layer, formed on the protective layer and/or on the backside of the substrate, wherein the surface resistivity and the ten-point mean roughness of the antistatic layer are respectively smaller than 10.sup.10 .OMEGA./.quadrature. and greater than 0.2 .mu.m, and the coefficient of dynamic friction of the backside is greater than 0.2.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thermosensitive recording material which utilizes the color which forms as a result of the chemical reaction of a coloring agent, such as an electron donor, with a coloring developer, such as an electron acceptor, and more particularly to an improved transparent thermosensitive recording material, having excellent transparency and printing qualities which is used, for example, as a block copy sheet in gravure printing, offset printing and screen printing, as a transparent document sheet for OHP (over head projection), and as a transparent print output sheet for CAD (computer aided design).
2. Discussion of the Background
A thermosensitive recording material is well known in which a colored image is formed by the chemical reaction of a coloring agent, such as an electron donor, with a coloring developer, such as an electron acceptor, wherein color formation is induced when the coloring agent is subjected to heat and/or pressure, or the like.
The thermosensitive recording material has the following advantages over other conventional recording media;
(1) color images can be rapidly recorded by a relatively simple apparatus without the use of such complicated steps as development and fixing;
(2) color images can be recorded without producing noise and environmental pollution;
(3) various color images, for example, red, blue, violet and black, can be easily obtained;
(4) image density and background whiteness are high; and
(5) the manufacturing cost is low.
Because of these advantages, the above described type of thermosensitive recording material can be widely used, not only as a recording material for price labels in stores, but also for copying documents and as print outputs for computers, facsimiles, automatic vending machines of labels and tickets, video printers and measuring instruments.
Recently, as the demand for thermosensitive recording materials continues to grow, thermosensitive recording materials are required to be useful for the document sheets for OHP, original sheets for diazo process reprography, print output sheets for CAD, and block copy sheets for gravure printing, offset printing and screen printing. In order to be useful in these areas, an improved thermosensitive recording material is desirable which has excellent transparency and print quality, which includes dimensional accuracy of a printed image. Japanese Laid-Open Pat. Applications Nos. 61-121875, 1-99873 and 64-90788 disclose transparent thermosensitive recording materials.
However, the known transparent thermosensitive recording materials have several shortcomings which include:
(1) the transparency of the materials is not sufficient to permit checking of several superimposed drawings printed on sheets of the transparent thermosensitive recording material; and
(2) production costs are relatively expensive because of the complicated production process required in which a coating liquid for a thermosensitive coloring layer is prepared by emulsifying a microencapsuled coloring agent and a coloring developer which is dissolved in a water-insoluble or a hardly water-soluble organic solvent, and coated on a transparent substrate.
In attempting to improve these shortcomings, Japanese Laid-Open Pat. Application No. 5-104859 proposes an improved thermosensitive recording material which has excellent transparency and which is manufactured easily. However, the transparent thermosensitive recording material has shortcomings such as:
(1) the dimensional accuracy of a printed image is not satisfactory because of the slip between the thermosensitive recording material and feeding rollers during printing;
(2) mis-feeding, such as no-feeding or undesirable irregular feeding, of a transparent thermosensitive recording material occurs during printing by a thermal printer using a thermal printhead, because the transparent thermosensitive recording material is electrically charged, for example, by contact with feeding rollers in the thermal printer; and
(3) an undesirable white spot image appears in the printed image, because the transparent thermosensitive recording material, which is charged, attracts dust thereon, and the heat for printing, which is applied by a thermal printhead, cannot be transferred to the thermosensitive coloring layer under or near the dust.
Japanese Laid-open Pat. Application No. 64-90788 discloses a transparent thermosensitive recording material including an antistatic layer. However, the transparent thermosensitive recording material cannot prevent charging of the material, particularly in a low humidity environment.
Because of these reasons, a need exists for a transparent thermosensitive recording material having excellent image quality such as high dimensional accuracy of the printed image, excellent transparency which permits checking of several superimposed drawings printed on the sheets of the transparent thermosensitive recording material, and excellent ability to prevent the charging which causes mis-feeding of sheets during printing and an undesirable which spot in a printed image.

Transparent thermosensitive recording material


The invention relates to a high-resolution imaging system for recording images of the same scene, that are sampled in a complementary manner. To this end, an image filter (2) is arranged in an intermediate focusing plane (PI), and a matrix (3) of microlenses is arranged at a distance from the image filter, with each microlens that is associated with an opening (O2) of the image filter. An image detection matrix (9) is then optically conjugated with the microlens matrix. The system also comprises a device for moving an intermediate image in relation to the image filter (2). Such an imaging system is especially suitable for recording high-resolution infrared images.

Numerous observation applications require high-resolution images to be obtained, in order to identify details with small dimensions in a scene which is observed. Now, the resolution of an image which is captured with an imaging system depends on the magnification of the image forming optical system which is used, and the dimension of the photosensitive elements of the image sensor.
Using an image forming optical system which has a significant magnification has the drawback, generally, of reducing the entrance field of the system. In other words, the images which are formed and captured are each limited to a restricted portion of the scene observed. Conversely, the image of each detail of the scene is very small when an optical system with a large entrance field is used. Moreover, when the image of the detail becomes smaller than a photosensitive element of the image sensor which is used, this detail is no longer visible in the image captured.
This difficulty in obtaining high-resolution images with an entrance optical field which is not too small is even more significant for an observation in the infrared range, relative to an observation in the visible range. Indeed, the individual dimension of the photosensitive elements of an infrared image sensor is currently of the order of 12 to 15 μm (micrometer), while sensors are available for the visible light range with photosensitive elements which have individual dimensions of the order of 2 to 3 μm. For example, the capture of an image with an angular aperture of the entrance optical field of 90° (degree) and an angular resolution of 200 μrad (microradian) is directly possible with visible light with a sensor of 8000×8000 photosensitive elements. But these imaging features are not directly achievable for infrared radiation in the wavelength band of 8 to 12 μm.


A piezoelectric/electrostrictive film-type device is provided which includes a ceramic substrate having a thin diaphragm portion and a peripheral thick portion, a lower electrode, an auxiliary electrode, a piezoelectric/electrostrictive film, and an upper electrode. The lower electrode, the auxiliary electrode, the piezoelectric/electrostrictive film, and the upper electrode are layered in that order on the ceramic substrate. The upper electrode has a length of 30 to 70% relative to the length of the thin diaphragm portion, and preferably has a width of 70% or more relative to the width of the thin diaphragm portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a piezoelectric/electrostrictive film-type device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a piezoelectric/electrostrictive film-type device used for an actuator utilizing bending displacement such as a microphone or sensors for sensing fluid properties, sound pressure, microgravity, acceleration, or the like, such as a viscosity sensor.
2. Description of Related Art
Piezoelectric/electrostrictive film-type devices have been conventionally used as an actuator or a sensor. A piezoelectric/electrostrictive film-type device used as a sensor is utilized for measuring fluid properties such as density, concentration, or viscosity, as disclosed in JP-A-8-201265, for example. This type of device is used as a sensor by utilizing the correlation between the amplitude of a piezoelectric vibrator and the viscous resistance of a fluid which comes in contact with the vibrator.
In general, the vibration mode in a mechanical system such the as vibration of a vibrator, may be replaced with an equivalent circuit in an electrical system. A piezoelectric/electrostrictive film-type vibrator is caused to vibrate in a fluid, and the vibrator is subjected to mechanical resistance based on the viscous resistance of the fluid. This allows the detection of a change in the electrical constant of the equivalent circuit of a piezoelectric which makes up the vibrator, whereby fluid properties such as viscosity, density, or concentration can be measured. A measurable fluid refers to liquid and gas, and not only includes a single-component liquid such as water, alcohol, and oil, but also includes a liquid, slurry, and paste in which a medium soluble or insoluble in a liquid such as mentioned above is mixed or suspended therein.
As the detection target electrical constant, a loss factor, phase, resistance, reactance, conductance, susceptance, inductance, capacitance, and the like can be given. In particular, a loss factor or phase having one maximum or minimum change point near the resonance frequency of the equivalent circuit is preferably used. Not only fluid viscosity, but also density or concentration can be measured thereby. For example, the sulfuric acid concentration in a sulfuric acid aqueous solution can be measured. As the index for detecting a change in the vibration mode, a change in the resonance frequency may be used instead of the electrical constant if acceptable from the viewpoint of measurement accuracy and durability.
In this type of piezoelectric/electrostrictive film-type device, as disclosed in JP-A-2002-26 1347, an auxiliary electrode 8 is formed at a position independent of a lower electrode 4 layered on a ceramic substrate 1 including a thin diaphragm portion 3 and a peripheral thick portion 2 as shown in FIG. 1 so that a part of the auxiliary electrode is positioned under a part of a piezoelectric/electrostrictive film 5. This configuration enables an upper electrode 6 to be continuously formed on the auxiliary electrode 8 and the piezoelectric/electrostrictive film 5 without breaking, whereby connection reliability of the upper electrode 6 is improved. In FIG. 1, a measurement target fluid is introduced into a cavity portion 10 through a through-hole 9. Stable device characteristics and a device which can be applied under any use conditions can be obtained by continuously forming the auxiliary electrode 8 from the thin diaphragm portion 3 to the thick portion 3.


Unlabeled samples are added to existing samples. Candidate samples for new support vectors are extracted from the added unlabeled samples using a plurality of existing support vectors. The new support vectors are selected from the candidate samples using the plurality of existing support vectors.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to machine learning and pattern recognition, and in particular, relates to a method and a device for learning of a classifier.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of object detection and tracking, a one-class classification method was extensively employed in last few decades. As described in Moya, M. and Hush, D. (1996). "Network constraints and multi-objective optimization for one-class classification". Neural Networks, 9(3):463-474. doi: 10.1016/0893-6080(95)00120-4, in the one-class classification method, it tries to distinguish one class of objects from all other possible objects, by learning from a training set containing only the objects of that class.
The support vector data description (SVDD) method is a powerful kernel method for the one-class classification. As described in D. Tax and R. Duin, "Support vector domain description". Pattern Recognit. Lett., vol. 20, pp. 1191-1199, November, 1999, the SVDD method aims at finding a minimum-volume sphere (also referred to as a minimum sphere), such that all or most of the target training samples are enclosed by the sphere. FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of the SVDD method. The points on the minimum sphere are referred to as support vectors, which characterize the minimum sphere for enclosing the training samples.
Because of the good learning capacity and the generalization performance of the SVDD method, success of SVDD has recently been shown in various applications. The performance and the accuracy of the SVDD method rely on the availability of a representative dataset of training samples. However, in some online applications such as video surveillance and image retrieval, the SVDD method may fail because there are not enough training samples in the initial state.
In order to address above issues, online learning techniques are introduced to the art. In the online learning techniques, a classifier is learned by one or few sample(s) firstly, and then updated along with the procedure of system executing. The online learning techniques achieve a great success because of the excellent adaptivity thereof and the limited memory requirement thereof. An Online SVDD method and an Incremental SVDD method are the techniques which are widely used in real-time object detection currently, both of which are the online learning methods based on the support vector methods.
In D. M. J. Tax and P. Laskov, "Online SVM learning: from classification to data description and back," In C. et al. Molina, editor, Proc. NNSP, 2003, pp. 499-508, the Online SVDD method is described. FIG. 2A shows a simplified flowchart of the Online SVDD method. Firstly, an original classifier based on SVDD and newly added labeled samples (i.e. positive samples) are obtained. The so-called positive samples are the samples which have been determine to belong to a target category. Then, the relatedness of every sample is calculated with the classifier. Next, the most irrelevant samples are selected from the previously training sample set for the original classifier. Then, new samples are added and the most irrelevant samples are removed based on the newly added positive samples. Lastly, the classifier is relearned using remained samples and new added samples.
FIG. 2B shows a schematic diagram of the Online SVDD method. As shown in FIG. 2B, in the updating process of the classifier, the samples in the original sample set are replaced by the newly added samples, and the hypersphere of the classifier is increasingly enlarged in the updating process.
In Xiaopeng Hua, Shifei Ding, "Incremental Learning Algorithm for Support Vector Data Description", JOURNAL OF SOFTWARE, VOL. 6, NO. 7, July 2011, the Incremental SVDD method is described, in which the SVDD incremental learning is performed by analyzing the possible changes of support vector set (SVs) after new samples are added to training sample set. FIG. 3A shows a simplified flowchart of the Incremental SVDD method. Firstly, an original classifier based on SVDD and newly added labeled samples are obtained. Then the previously training set is partitioned into support vector set and non support vector set. Next, whether there are new added samples outside the hypersphere of the original classifier is verified; if there are, these samples will be added into training sample set. Then, the samples which are most likely to be new support vectors are found in the non support vector set. Lastly, the classifier is relearned using the samples outside the hypersphere of the original classifier, the samples which are most likely to be new support vectors in the non support vector set and the support vector set.
FIG. 3B shows a schematic diagram of the Incremental SVDD method. As shown in FIG. 3B, in the updating process of the classifier, the classifier is updated based on the samples outside the hypersphere of the original classifier, the samples which are most likely to be new support vectors in the non support vector set and the original support vector set, and the hypersphere of the classifier is increasingly enlarged in the updating process.
As can be learned from FIGS. 2B and 3B, when the diversity of training samples is small, the learned hypersphere is small, that is, when the classifier is trained by a small set of training samples, the threshold of the learned classifier is small. When the diversity of training samples is enlarged, the learned hypersphere is enlarged too, that is, when the new samples are added, the threshold of learned classifier is increased.
That is, the hypersphere will be enlarged when the number of training samples increases, so the performance of learned classifier will be unstable. In addition, if some newly added samples are falsely labeled (it always happens in determination by classifier automatically), the performance of the learned classifier will become worse and worse. So the Online SVDD method and the Incremental SVDD method require the samples being labeled correctly (as positive or negative) in advance, in order to keep the classifier's performance to be stable over long running time.
Accordingly, there is a need for a novel technique to address any problem in the prior art.

Method and device for learning of a classifier, and processing apparatus


Handheld CD (compact disc) players are described. In one instance, a handheld CD player includes a CD drive to receive a CD and to determine a CD identification from the CD and a media slot to receive a portable memory card having a database. The handheld CD player also includes an attributes access module configured to retrieve music attributes from the database associated with the CD identification and to store the CD identification in the database if the CD identification is not already in the database.

Personal computers (PCs) typically include a software media player that permits a user to play back various forms of multimedia file formats such as, for example, DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), CDDA (Compact Disc-Digital Audio), MPEG (Motion Pictures (Coding) Experts Group) video, MP3 (MPEG-1/2 Audio Layer III), WMA (Windows® Media Audio 8), WAV (Windows® Wave), WMV (Windows® Media Video) and the like. Examples of such software media players include RealNetwork's Real One player, Apple Computer's QuickTime and Microsoft's Windows Media Player.
In addition to playing back different media formats on a PC, media players often perform other functions including, for example, copying CD tracks onto the PC hard disc in various file formats (e.g., WAV, WMA, MP3) and organizing the files into a desired playback order, copying music to a portable device, burning an audio or data CD, and retrieving and displaying various media information or attributes about the music that a user plays on the PC. Music attributes can include information such as, for example, CD titles, album art, composers, artists, biographies, discographies, musical genre, album recording date, reviews, related news, related artists, track titles, and the like.
Music attribute information for many CDs is available online through various Internet database services. Thus, media players executing on PC's or other computers that have Internet access can readily obtain music attributes for a wide range of CD music. For example, when a media player plays a CD or rips a CD track and encodes it as a WMA or MP3 file, the media player might also access an Internet database service and download music attributes for the entire CD or the ripped CD track. Music attributes for ripped CD tracks can be encoded into WMA and MP3 files as metadata tags. Therefore, the music attributes travel with the encoded files and are available for display on a PC and various other remote devices to which the files can be transferred.
Media players on PCs can also store the music attributes retrieved from an Internet database service in a media library/database on the PC. In general, music attributes stored on an Internet database or in a media library/database on a PC are identifiable or associated with a particular CD through a CD identifier called a table of contents (TOC). The TOC is not stored on the CD, but is instead a calculation of start and stop times for the music tracks on the CD. The start and stop times for music tracks on a CD are measured to within 1/77th of a second when a CD is inserted into a CD player. Thus, virtually all CDs are uniquely identifiable by their TOC. The TOC identifier can be used to associate music attributes for a CD in various environments, such as an Internet database or a PC media library/database. Thus, a media player on a PC can maintain a media library that includes music attributes for various CDs associated by CD TOCs. When a CD is played on the PC, the media player can display music attributes from the media library that are associated through the CD TOC. If the CD TOC is not available in the media library, the media player can access an Internet database service and make a request to have the music attributes downloaded based on the CD TOC.
Various remote and/or portable CD-capable devices (e.g., car stereos, hand-held portable CD players) can play conventional CD, CD-R (CD recordable), and CD-RW (CD rewritable) discs, as well as MP3 and WMA-encoded music files stored on CD-R/RWs or other storage media such as SD cards, compact flash cards, and PCMCIA flash cards. Such remote CD-capable devices are also generally able to display music attributes stored as metadata tags in MP3 and WMA-encoded music files. Therefore music attributes are available for display on remote CD devices if CD tracks have been ripped to MP3 or WMA files. However, music attributes are not available for display on remote CD devices if CD tracks are played directly from a CD. This is because music attributes are not stored on the CDs themselves and because remote CD-capable devices do not maintain updated media libraries containing CD TOCs and associated music attributes.
Accordingly, a need exists for a way to provide music attributes for CD tracks when CDs are played on remote CD-capable devices.

Dynamic mobile CD music attributes database


Process for manufacturing micromechanical components having a part made of diamond, consisting of at least one tip (3a), in which a substrate (8a) is prepared, in order to form an impression (13a) of the shape desired for the part made of diamond; the part made of diamond is produced by chemical vapor deposition of diamond in the impression and is then separated from the substrate. In order to produce the part made of diamond, a primary film of fine diamond particles, of diameter less than 10 nm, suitable to act as seeds for growth of the diamond are deposited on the substrate, on the surface of the impression (13a), before chemical vapor deposition; the diamond film is then grown by vapor deposition; and the substrate (8a) is then at least partly removed.

The invention relates to a process for manufacturing miciromechanical components having a part made of diamond consisting of at least one tip, this process being of the kind in which:
a substrate, generally a silicon substrate, is prepared by micromachining using suitable lithographic and/or wet or dry anisotropic etching techniques, so as to form an impression of the desired shape for the part made of diamond, PA1 the part made of diamond is produced by chemical vapor deposition of diamond in the impression and is then separated from the substrate. PA1 a primary film of fine diamond particles suitable to act as seeds for growth of the diamond are deposited on the substrate, on the surface of the impression, before chemical vapor deposition, PA1 the diamond film is then grown by vapor deposition, PA1 and the substrate is then at least partly removed.
The invention relates more particularly, but not exclusively, to such a process for the manufacture of a micromechanical detector for an atomic force microscope or the like.

Process for manufacturing micromechanical components having a part made of diamond consisting of at least one tip, and micromechanical components comprising at least one diamond tip

CSEM-Centre Suisse'd Electronique et de Microtechnique S.A.


This invention is directed to methods and compositions for diagnosis, prognosis and for determining methods of treatment. The physiological status of cells present in a sample (e.g. clinical sample) can be used in diagnosis or prognosis of a condition (e.g. Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia), in patient selection for therapy, to monitor treatment and to modify or optimize therapeutic regimens. The physiological status of a cell can be determined by comparing the intracellular status of one or more activation elements (e.g. the phosphorylation status of a signaling molecule) in a cell (e.g. a cancer cell) to that of another cell (e.g. a normal cell). The physiological status of a cell can be further classified by adding one or more modulators (e.g. an inhibitor or activator) to the cell in question. In some embodiments, the invention is directed to methods of determining a phenotypic profile of a population of cells.

Many conditions are characterized by disruptions in cellular pathways that lead, for example, to aberrant control of cellular processes, or to uncontrolled growth and proliferation of cells. These disruptions are often caused by changes in the activity of molecules participating in cellular pathways. For example, specific signaling pathway alterations have been described for many cancers. Despite the increasing evidence that disruption in cellular pathways mediate the detrimental transformation, the precise molecular events underlying these transformations have not been elucidated. As a result, therapeutics may not be effective in treating conditions involving cellular pathways that are not well understood. Thus, the successful diagnosis of a condition and use of therapies will require knowledge of the cellular events that are responsible for the condition pathology.
In addition, patients suffering from different conditions follow heterogeneous clinical courses. For instance, tremendous clinical variability among remissions is also observed in cancer patients, even those that occur after one course of therapy. Some leukemia patients survive for prolonged periods without definitive therapy, while others die rapidly despite aggressive treatment. Patients who are resistant to therapy have very short survival times, regardless of when the resistance occurs. While various staging systems have been developed to address this clinical heterogeneity, they cannot accurately predict whether an early or intermediate stage patient will experience an indolent or aggressive course of disease.
Accordingly, there is a need for a reliable indicator of an individual predicted disease course to help clinicians to identify those patients that will respond to treatment, patients that progress to a more advanced state of the disease and patients with emerging resistance to treatment.

Methods for diagnosis, prognosis and methods of treatment


An approach is provided for depositing a material onto a printed circuit board layer. The approach includes steps of treating surface of a base film, forming a tie layer on the base film, forming a metal conductive layer on the tie layer, and depositing a metal on the metal conductive layer by radiating electronic beams to form a metal plated layer thereon. The above steps are continuously performed in a vacuum chamber. The approach also includes an unwinding roller, film guide rollers, a surface treating part, tie layer and copper conductive layer, a vacuum depositing part for depositing a metal plated layer on the metal conductive layer by radiating electronic beams, and a winding roller, all of which are provided in a vacuum chamber.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for manufacturing a laminate for a flexible printed circuit board (FPCB), and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for forming a metal plated layer in manufacturing a laminate for an FPCB.
2.Description of the Related Art
With reference to FIG. 2, a conventional method of manufacturing a laminate for an FPCB is described. FIG. 2 is a view showing a conventional apparatus for manufacturing a laminate for an FPCB.
The conventional apparatus for manufacturing a laminate for an FPCB comprises a transferring system including an unwinding roller 2, a main drum 3 and a winding roller 4, all of which are provided in a vacuum chamber. In addition, an infrared heater 5 for pre-heating a polyimide film 1 and film guide rollers 7, 8, 9 and 10 are provided. In addition, a tie layer sputtering cathode 6a and a copper conductive layer sputtering cathode 6b are provided, so that a tie layer and a copper conductive layer are sequentially formed when the polyimide film 1 is in contact with the main drum 3.
In the manufacturing method using the apparatus for manufacturing a laminate for an FPCB, the polyimide film 1 is unwound from the unwinding roller 2 at a predetermined unwinding tension. Then, the polyimide film 1 is heated using the infrared heater 5 between the film guide rollers 7 and 8. The heated polyimide film 1 is guided around the roller 8. While the polyimide film 1 is in contact with the main drum 3, the tie layer is first formed on the polyimide film 1 using the tie layer sputtering cathode 6a, after which the copper conductive layer is formed on the tie layer by the copper conductive layer sputtering cathode 6b. Thereafter, the polyimide film 1 having the copper conductive layer formed thereon is guided around the rollers 9 and 10 and then wound on the winding roller 4 at a predetermined winding tension.
Subsequently, the polyimide film processed in the vacuum chamber is exposed to external air and undergoes a process of forming a copper plated layer by wet plating using an aqueous copper sulfate solution, which is not shown in the drawing.
However, the conventional method of manufacturing a laminate for an FPCB has the following problems. That is, since the polyimide film is exposed to external air to form the copper plated layer thereon, the polyimide film having the copper conductive layer thereon may be easily oxidized by external air, which negatively affects the subsequent processes. In addition, the polyimide film having the copper conductive layer thereon may be contaminated by dust present in the external air.
Further, when the copper plated layer is formed by a wet plating process, a chemical such as an aqueous copper sulfate solution for wet plating is used, resulting in environmental contamination.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for providing a deposition in vacuum for laminating a circuit board


A cable element and a method of making the same, in which the cable element has a central strength member, a plurality of buffer tubes are disposed on the central strength member, each of the plurality of buffer tubes encloses at least one signal transmission element, and a layer of pressure sensitive adhesive is provided on the central strength member. The pressure sensitive adhesive is a repositionable adhesive and releasably couples the plurality of buffer tubes to the central strength member such that the plurality of buffer tubes can be coupled and uncoupled repeatedly from the central strength member.

Currently, a need exists to reduce the amount of packaging of optical cable elements and to develop optical cable elements with finger accessible buffer tubes that can be accessed easily in the field by a field technician. In the related art, buffer tubes are stranded (for example, helically or reverse helically) around a central strength member to form a stranded core. The thin walled buffer tubes are bound to the central strength member using a binder, yarn, or thread. In addition, each of the buffer tubes house an optical unit, such as one or more optical fibers or an optical fiber ribbon having a plurality of optical fibers that are held together in a planar array.
To reduce the amount of packaging and to develop a finger accessible buffer tube, thinner buffer tube walls have been used. However, the related art optical cable elements have several disadvantages. For example, the fibers inside the smaller buffer tubes, which may be less than 2 mm in diameter and have a wall thickness from 0.05 to 1 mm, can become stressed from mechanical forces from the interior of the cable. This is because polymeric buffer tube walls are compliant at such a thin wall thickness. Thus, the cable elements of related art have the adverse effect of exposing the optical fibers to radial stresses that are applied during further manufacturing steps. These stresses can originate from components such as the binders, the water swellable material, or the interior of the jacket.
Additionally, in the related art, the optical cable elements are formed by binding a thin walled buffer tube to a central strength member using a binder, yarn, or thread. However, to access the thin walled buffer tubes, it is necessary for a field technician to cut and remove the binding material prior to accessing the buffer tubes. Thus, the buffer tubes of the related art can be difficult to access in the field. Further, the binders or other similar stranding materials induce undesirable stresses on the buffer tubes.

Cable element having repositionable pressure sensitive adhesive to couple buffer tubes to a central strength member


A support wall (16) has a predetermined thickness (18) between opposite surfaces and an inwardly extending periphery defining a pocket (20). A fitting (21) defining an annular groove (22) and the periphery of the pocket (20) is disposed in the groove (22) whereby the support wall (16) supports the fitting (21). First and second projections (38) are disposed on the support wall (16). A U-shaped retainer clip (24) has legs (26) extending from a base (28) and terminating in distal ends (30) with the base (28) and the legs (26) disposed in the groove (22). The distal ends (30) extend out of the groove (22) and engage the projections (38) for retaining the fitting (21) in the pocket (20).

1) Technical Field
This invention relates to a motion transmitting remote control assembly which is normally operated to control a device by transmitting tension or compression in a curved path by means of a flexible motion transmitting core element, and, more specifically, to a fitting for mounting the conduit to a support structure.
2) Description of the Prior Art
Motion transmitting remote control assemblies of the type that utilize a flexible conduit having a slidable inner core require attachment to a support structure for holding the conduit stationary while the inner core is moved axially. A typical support structure is a wall having an aperture through which the conduit must be threaded during assembly. Holding the conduit stationary relative to the support structure has required a fitting affixed to the conduit and having a snap fit feature whereby the fitting locks into the aperture. This attachment design makes the conduit difficult to remove from the support structure causing the fitting to break frequently during repair operations. An example of such an assembly is disclosed by the U.S. Pat. No. 4,458,552 to Spease. Spease discloses a substantially U-shaped retaining member removably slidably mounted on a conduit fitting and having a pair of stubs for engaging an opposite surface of a support structure through an aperture. An alternate design is disclosed by the U.S. Pat. No. 4,339,213 to Gilmore, who teaches a support structure having a U-shaped slot into which a conduit fitting having an annular groove is slidably inserted. The fitting is affixed by a coil spring surrounding the conduit and having a tip which engages an aperture in the support structure. The Spease ""552 patent does not facilitate a quick release of the fitting from the support structure, while the Gilmore ""213 patent does not provide axial support for the conduit.
A motion transmitting remote control assembly of the type for transmitting forces along a curved path by a motion transmitting core element includes a guide means and a motion transmitting core element moveably supported by the guide means. A support wall for supporting the guide means has a predetermined thickness between opposite surfaces and an inwardly extending periphery defining a pocket. The guide means includes a fitting defining an annular groove. The groove has a predetermined diameter and a predetermined width perpendicular to the diameter. The periphery of the pocket is disposed in the groove whereby the support wall supports the fitting. First and second abutments are disposed on the support wall. A U-shaped retainer clip has legs extending from a base and terminating in distal ends with the base and the legs disposed in the groove. The distal ends extend out of the groove and engage the abutments for retaining the fitting in the pocket.
The subject invention provides the ability for quick release of the conduit from the support wall via the catches. In addition, a more stable engagement between the fitting and the support wall is provided by the axial undulation in the clip which provides axial bias between the wall and the fitting. These features provide a superior motion transmitting remote control assembly over the prior art.

Spring for attaching cable end fitting to bracket


A drive mechanism is interposed between two members to make the members move relatively with respect to each other. At least one of the two members is guided to move linearly. The drive mechanism comprises: cam followers that are rotatably supported on one of the two members, that are arranged in the linear moving direction, and that are spaced from each other; and a cam that is rotatably supported on the other one of the two members and that is provided in its circumference with a cam groove in which the cam followers engage, the rotation axis of the cam being arranged in the direction of the linear moving direction. The two members are made to move relatively with respect to each other by driving the cam to rotate and making the cam followers engage successively in the cam groove and move in the direction of the rotation axis.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drive mechanism interposed between two member guides for linear movement relative to each other to move the two members relative to each other, and a movable table unit provided with the drive mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
A movable table unit applied to a machine tool, such as a machining center, will be described with reference to FIGS. 20 and 21. FIG. 20 is a front elevation of a movable table unit 7 used in a machine tool, and FIG. 21 is a sectional view taken on line XXI-XXI in FIG. 20. The movable table unit 7 includes a table 3 that is for supporting a workpiece and that is mounted on a base 1 fixedly installed on the floor, and linear guide members 5 extended on the base 1 to guide the table 3 for linear movement on the base 1. Generally, a drive mechanism including a rack 101 and a pinion 103 or a drive mechanism using a ball screw is used for moving the table 3.
Referring to FIGS. 20 and 21, a drive mechanism includes a rack 101 fixed to the top surface of the base 1, and a pinion 103 rotatably supported on the table 3 and engaged with the rack 101. The pinion 103 is driven to rotate by a motor 105 and the like, and the teeth provided on the circumference of the pinion 103 are meshed with the linear teeth of the rack 101. According to this structure, the table 3 is made to move linearly. (Refer to, for example, "Kikai Kogaku Binran, New Edition", The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers, B1-108, May 15, 1988.) The drive mechanism transmits force through the engagement of the teeth of the rack and the pinion. Therefore, a stress path, i.e., a path of force transmission from the table 3 to the base 1, is short and, hence the rigidity of the drive mechanism is high; that is, the force transmission path does not extend over the entire length of the rack 1, and the drive mechanism has high-rigidity.
Another drive mechanism will be described with reference to FIGS. 22 and 23.
FIG. 22 is a side elevation of a drive mechanism including a ball screw, and FIG. 23 is a partly cutaway perspective view of the drive mechanism shown in FIG. 22.
The drive mechanism includes a threaded rod 111 having axially opposite end journals 111a and 111b supported by bearings on a base 1, and a threaded nut 113 fastened to a table 3 and engaged with the threaded rod 111. The threaded nut 113 moves together with the table 3 along the threaded rod 111 when the threaded rod 111 rotates. As shown in FIG. 23, the threaded rod 111 is linked to the nut 113 by a plurality of balls 115 constrained in the space formed by helical grooves formed in the peripheral surface of the threaded rod 111 and the inner peripheral surface of the threaded nut 113. When the threaded rod 111 is driven for rotation, the balls 115 roll while bearing axial load, and the nut 113 is moved axially to move the table 3 linearly relative to the base 1. (Refer to, for example, "Kikai Kogaku Binran, New Edition", The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers, B2-173, Sep. 30, 1991.) In this drive mechanism, backlash between the threaded rod 111 and the threaded nut 113 can be reduced by axially pressurizing the balls 115 in advance to prevent play between the threaded rod 111 and the threaded nut 113. Therefore, the drive mechanism is able to position the table 3 accurately.
Those known drive mechanisms, however, have the following common problems.
(1) The stroke of the drive mechanism for the table 3 cannot easily be changed. The stroke for the table 3 moved by the former drive mechanism is dependent on the length of the rack 101, and that of the stroke for the table 3 moved by the latter drive mechanism is dependent on the length of the threaded rod 111. Thus, the stroke of the table 3 cannot easily be changed after the installation of the drive mechanism.
(2) The rack 101 needs to be replaced with a new one when a part of the teeth of the rack 101 is broken, and the threaded shaft 111 needs to be replaced with a new one when part of the thread of the threaded rod 111 is broken. Therefore, these drive mechanisms are poor in maintainability.
Further, those known drive mechanisms have the following individual problems.
(1) Although the former drive mechanism is satisfactory in rigidity, there is a backlash between the mating teeth of the rack 101 and the pinion 103. Inevitably, the backlash causes play between the rack 101 and the pinion 103, and hence the former drive mechanism is inferior to the latter drive mechanism in accuracy of positioning the table 3. Since the teeth of the rack 101 and the pinion 103 are in sliding contact and not in rolling contact, the teeth are liable to be abraded. Therefore, the drive mechanism is unsatisfactory in durability, and is also unable to operate quietly at high operating speeds.
(2) Although the latter drive mechanism is superior to the former in positioning accuracy, the stress path from the table 3 to the base 1 changes according to the stroke of the table 3. As shown in FIG. 22, force is transmitted from the table 3 to the base 1 through the threaded nut 113, the threaded rod 111 in engagement with the threaded nut 113, and the end journals 111a and 111b. Thus, the length of the stress path is dependent on the length of the threaded rod 111. Therefore, if the drive mechanism has a long stroke, the stress path is long and the rigidity of the drive mechanism is very low.

Drive mechanism and movable table unit provided with the same


Techniques are disclosed for implementing custom object-in-memory formats in a data grid network appliance. The techniques include maintaining a record of format definitions on a client device of the data grid and a corresponding record of format definitions on a server device of the data grid. Each format definition may indicate one or more attributes of an object class and data types and byte ranges of the attributes. The client device may serialize one or more objects for storage in the data grid based on respective format definitions associated with the one or more objects and retrieved from the record of format definitions maintained on the client device. Further, the server device may perform one or more data grid operations using format definitions retrieved from the record of format definitions maintained on the server device.

Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to data grid network appliances, and, more specifically, to techniques for storing and using objects having custom object-in-memory formats in data grid network appliances.
Description of Related Art
Object serialization, also called "deflating" or "marshalling" an object, converts the object into a serial sequence of bytes (i.e., a binary byte buffer, also referred to herein as a "binary object"). A serializer may, for example, translate field and reference values, but not additional object overhead, of the object to a binary byte buffer. The byte buffer may later be de-serialized, also called "inflating" or "de-marshalling" the object, to create an object having an identical internal state as the original. In particular, the byte buffer may be translated back into field and reference values and inserted into a new object to create the object having an identical state.
In-memory data grids have been used to store application data in memory across a grid of processing elements. In network appliances which provide data grid services to client applications, client objects (e.g., Java® or .NET® objects) may be serialized to byte buffers and stored as such in the data grid. By serializing objects to byte buffers, fewer memory allocations may be required, and the objects may consume less storage, because, for example, object overhead may be absent from the byte buffers. Further, because code need not be stored in raw byte buffers, the byte buffers may be language neutral.
One approach for storing serialized objects on network appliances uses a portable object format (POF) that strictly defines data representations. That is, the POF mandates a format for binary representations of objects. As a result, the POF may be inefficient where, for example, the native, application-level format of the object must be converted to the mandated format. Further, because the format is mandated, objects cannot be serialized using custom formats (e.g., compressed or encrypted formats), which may be more desired and/or more efficient than the mandated format.

Custom object-in-memory format in data grid network appliance

International Business Machines Corporation


A web containing comprising side-by-side or eccentric core/shell conjugate short fibers A, which contain two kinds of polyester different from each other in intrinsic viscosity, and elastic conjugate fibers B, which contain a thermoplastic elastomer having a melting point lower by 40° C. or more than the two kinds of polyester, and a nonelastic polyester, with at least the thermoplastic elastomer being exposed on a surface of the fibers, is subjected to a heat treatment at a temperature equal to or higher than the melting point of the thermoplastic elastomer, so as to obtain a polyester elastic fiber structure, and then polyester woven or knitted fabrics are laminated adhered on both surfaces of the polyester elastic fiber structure with a polyester adhesive, followed by heat molding into a curved shape by a molding process depending on necessity, so as to obtain a composite fiber structure.

Clothes for women having cups formed of a composite fiber structure for covering breasts have been in widespread use, such as an underwear, e.g., a brassiere, a long-line brassiere, a bodysuit, a three-in-one, a brateddy, a bracamisole, a braslip and a bustier, and an outerwear, e.g., a leotard, a swimsuit, an evening dress and a bustier type wear. As the composite fiber structure, the following products have been produced and brought to market.
As the most popular product, a composite fiber structure having elasticity formed of polyurethane has been well known. The composite fiber structure is produced as a curved composite fiber structure having an integral structure through such steps as slicing and machining from a large urethane block. However, the composite fiber structure has problems inherent to urethane, such as yellowing, deterioration in light resistance, and durability to dry cleaning. It furthermore has a problem in stuffy feeling due to absence in air permeability. Among these problems, the problem of yellowing is a serious one, and upon using a urethane cup, it is necessary in use that the urethane cup is covered with cloth in layers to hide the yellowing from the exterior.
In recent years, various kinds of clothing and fibers are recovered and recycled. In general, general clothing containing various kinds of materials is often recycled for use as industrial rags and work gloves. However, a cup formed mainly of a urethane pad cannot be recycled and should be burnt out or landfilled. The burnout process brings about a problem of generation of a toxic gas, such as cyan gas. The landfill process brings about a problem in oppressing industrial waste disposal plants. These processes are harmful to the global environment.
It has been known that another composite fiber structure for cups is produced by accumulating plural thin nonwoven cloth sheets to 4 to 8 layers to form a curved shape, and adhering the sheets with an adhesive and simultaneously molding with heat, and still another one is produced by accumulating card webs through mixing binder fibers with cotton, and melting the binder fibers for hot-adhering upon molding with heat. However, these composite fiber structures suffer large shape change upon washing to provide a problem in shape maintenance property.
Patent Documents 1 and 2 propose to obtain a composite fiber structure for cups by using an elastic fiber structure containing nonelastic polyester crimped short fibers as a matrix having dispersed and mixed therein elastic conjugate fibers containing a thermoplastic elastomer exposed on the surface of the fibers. However, the composite fiber structure is still insufficient in softness and elasticity, and proposal of such a composite fiber structure is being demanded that is further improved in softness and elasticity.
Moreover, as a composite fiber structure improved in cushioning property, such a structure is proposed that is obtained by adhering a cloth to a fiber structure containing fibers oriented in the thickness direction (for example, in Patent Document 3), but it is inferior in appearance due to an irregular surface.
As a fiber structure containing fibers oriented in the thickness direction, a structure obtained by slicing the surface to form a cut surface (for example, in Patent Document 4).
[Patent Document 1] JP-A-5-195397
[Patent Document 2] International Publication 03/011063
[Patent Document 3] JP-A-8-318066
[Patent Document 4] JP-A-5-263345

Composite fiber structure and method for producing the same


There is provided a state detecting method adopted to an insulation resistance detector including the steps of: calculating a difference between the output of the filter when a pulse signal having a first pulse width is applied to the series circuit, and the output of the filter when a pulse signal having a second pulse width shorter than the first pulse width is applied to the series circuit; and detecting the state of the insulation resistance detector based on the calculated difference.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a state detecting method and an insulation resistance detector, in particular to a state detecting method for detecting a degradation of the insulation resistance between a ground and a direct current power supply, and a detector using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, an insulation resistance detector using the above described state detecting method is known, for example, Japanese Patent Application Document No. 2005-114496. As shown in FIG. 1, the insulation resistance detector 50 includes a detecting resistor Rd connected in series to an insulating resistor Ri between a battery as the direct current power supply and a vehicle body, and a coupling capacitor mounted in between the insulating resistor Ri and the detecting resistor Rd for cutting off the direct current. The insulation resistance detector 50 further includes a pulse oscillation circuit 51 (pulse signal supplying member) for supplying a rectangular wave pulse signal P1 having a specific peak value with a series circuit consisting of the insulating resistor Ri, the coupling capacitor Co, and the detecting resistor Rd. Here, the peak value means the highest voltage in a pulse signal.
The pulse oscillation circuit 51, for example, includes a constant amplitude pulse generating circuit. When a control circuit 52 inputs a frequency signal S1 for the rectangular pulse signal P1 into the constant amplitude pulse generating circuit, a frequency of the rectangular wave pulse outputted from the constant amplitude pulse generating circuit is changed.
Further, a connection voltage Vx between the coupling capacitor Co-detecting resistor Rd is expressed by a formula (1) in which the peak voltage of the rectangular pulse signal P1 is divided by the detecting resistor Rd and the insulating resistor Ri.Vx=Vp*Ri/(Rd+Ri)  (1)
Where, Vp is a peak voltage of the rectangular pulse signal P1.
Accordingly, when the insulating resistor Ri is larger than the detecting resistor Rd as normal, the connection voltage Vx is nearly the same peak voltage as the rectangular pulse signal P1. On the other hand, when the insulating resistor Ri is reduced and the insulating resistor Ri is smaller than the detecting resistor Rd, the connection voltage Vx is reduced.
The insulation resistance detector 50 further includes a low pass filter 53 for outputting the connection voltage Vx after eliminating signals more than specific frequency. This low pass filter 53 is composed of a resistor Rf and a capacitor Cf and aimed for eliminating high frequency noises superimposed on the connection voltage Vx. An output of the low pass filter 53 is shaped at the waveform shaping circuit 54, then supplied to a control circuit 52. This control circuit 52 is composed of such as a microcomputer.
Next, a detecting principle of insulation resistance detector will be explained with reference to FIG. 5. In FIG. 5, L1 is a graph of frequency of the rectangular pulse signal P1 versus pulse peak value outputted from the low pass filter 53 indicating a normal state where the insulating resistor Ri is not reduced, and the insulation resistance detector 50 is not malfunctioning.
As shown in FIG. 5, in normal, when the frequency supplied from the pulse oscillation circuit 51 is less than 2.5 Hz, the output peak voltage of the low pass filter 53 is substantially equal to the peak voltage of the rectangular pulse signal P1 outputted from the pulse oscillation circuit 51. When the frequency supplied from the pulse oscillation circuit 51 is more than 2.5 Hz, as the frequency increases, the output peak voltage of the low pass filter 53 decreases.
This is because normally, when a time constant of the low pass filter 53 is large, when the frequency of the rectangular pulse signal P1 increases over the 2.5 Hz, the time between the rising time of the rectangular pulse signal P1 and the time for the output of the low pass filter 53 to reach 5 V as the peak value of the rectangular pulse signal P1 is shorter than the pulse width of the rectangular pulse signal P1. Namely, when the pulse width decreases corresponding to the increase of the frequency, before the output of the low pass filter 53 reaches 5 V as the peak voltage of the rectangular pulse signal P1, the supply of the rectangular pulse signal P1 is cut off, and the peak value is less than 5 V. When supplying the higher frequency of the rectangular pulse signal P1, the rectangular pulse signal P1 having the shorter pulse width is supplied, and the peak value of the low pass filter 53 is further reduced.
L2 in FIG. 5 shows a graph of the frequency of the rectangular pulse signal P1 versus the output peak voltage of the low pass filter 53, when the insulation resistance detector 50 is malfunctioning, for example, coupling capacitor Co or capacitor Cf is open.
As shown in FIG. 5, at the malfunction, even when the frequency increases, namely, when reducing the pulse width, the output peak voltage of the low pass filter 53 is substantially constant. This is because when the coupling capacitor or the capacitor Cf is open, the time constant of the low pass filter 53 decreases, and the rising time of the output of the low pass filter 53 is shorter than the normal state.
According to the above, when the coupling capacitor Co is open, namely, the connection between the insulation resistance detector 50 and the insulating resistor Ri is broken, the output peak voltage of the low pass filter 53 is constantly equal to the peak voltage of the rectangular pulse signal P1. Therefore, even when the insulating resistor Ri is reduced, the output of the low pass filter 53 is not reduced, and the reduction of the insulating resistor Ri cannot be detected.
Further, when the capacitor Cf of the low pass filter 53 is open, the noise elimination at the low pass filter 53 cannot be achieved, and the noise superimposed signal is inputted into the control circuit 52. In this case also, the reduction of the insulating resistor Ri cannot be detected correctly.
L3 in FIG. 5 shows a graph of the frequency of the rectangular pulse signal P1 versus the output peak voltage of the low pass filter 53, when the insulation resistance detector 50 is malfunctioning, for example, coupling capacitor Co or capacitor Cf is short.
As described above, when the coupling capacitor Co or capacitor Cf is short, then even applying the rectangular pulse signal P1, the output of the low pass filter 53 does not rise. Therefore, even when the frequency increases, namely, the pulse width decreases, the output voltage is constantly about 0.2 V.
As described above, when the coupling capacitor Co or capacitor Cf is short, the output of the low pass filter 53 is constantly low. Therefore, even when the insulating resistor Ri is not reduced, the output of the low pass filter 53 is reduced so that the reduction of the insulating resistor Ri cannot be detected.
Therefore, in a conventional detecting method, as shown in FIG. 5, when applying the rectangular pulse signal P1 of 2.5 Hz, and the output peak value of the low pass filter 53 is more than a threshold value X1, and when applying the rectangular pulse signal P1 of 5.5 Hz, and the output peak value of the low pass filter 53 is less than a threshold value X2, the insulation resistance detector 50 is judged as a normal state.
On the other hand, when the rectangular pulse signal P1 of 2.5 Hz and 5.5 Hz are applied, and the outputs of the low pass filter 53 are more than the threshold voltage X1, the insulation resistance detector 50 is judged as an open state.
Further, when the rectangular pulse signal P1 of 2.5 Hz and 5.5 Hz are applied, and the outputs of the low pass filter 53 are less than the threshold voltage X3, the insulation resistance detector 50 is judged as a short state.
Further, in Japanese Patent Application Document 2005-114496, the pulse width of the rectangular pulse signal P1 is changed by changing the frequency of the rectangular pulse signal P1. In Japanese Patent Application Document 2005-114497, a duty ratio of the rectangular pulse signal P1 is changed for changing the pulse width of the rectangular pulse signal P1.
Incidentally, in the insulation resistance detector 50, the output of the low pass filter 53 in response to the same frequency of the rectangular pulse signal P1 is different in each product. This is because a circuit constant of the insulation resistance detector 50, the voltage source, and circuit characteristics of the low pass filter 53 are varied in each product.
Namely, as shown by an alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 6A, there is a product of which output peak voltage of the low pass filter 53 is shifted up in response to the frequency of the rectangular pulse signal P1 against the other product shown in a solid line. As shown by an alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 6B, there is a product of which output peak voltage of the low pass filter 53 is shifted down in response to the frequency of the rectangular pulse signal P1 against the other product shown in a solid line.
However, according to the conventional state detecting method, on an assumption that the output peak voltage of the low pass filter 53 is constant in each product, and by comparing the output of the low pass filter 53 with the threshold voltages X1, X2, X3, normal, open, short states are detected.
Therefore, as shown by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 6A, when the output peak voltage of the low pass filter 53 is shifted up, even when the insulation resistance detector 50 is normal, the output peak voltage of the low pass filter 53 may be more than X2 in response to the 5.5 Hz rectangular pulse signal P1. Therefore, even when the insulation resistance detector 50 is normal, the output peak voltage of the low pass filter 53 may be more than X1 in response to 2.5 Hz rectangular pulse signal P1, and the output peak voltage of the low pass filter 53 may be less than X2 in response to 5.5 Hz rectangular pulse signal P1. Thus, the normal state of the insulation resistance detector 50 cannot be detected.
Further, as shown by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 6B, when the output peak voltage of the low pass filter 53 is shifted down, even when the insulation resistance detector 50 is open, the output peak voltage of the low pass filter 53 may be less than X1 in response to the 5.5 Hz rectangular pulse signal P1. Therefore, even when the insulation resistance detector 50 is open, the output peak voltage of the low pass filter 53 may be less than X1 in response to 2.5 Hz and 5.5 Hz rectangular pulse signal P1, and the open state of the insulation resistance detector 50 cannot be detected.
It is difficult to correctly detect the state of the insulation resistance detector 50 according to the comparison of the output peak voltage of the low pass filter 53 and the threshold voltages, because there is a shift up or shift down of the output peak voltage of the low pass filter 53. Namely, using the comparison of the output peak voltage of the low pass filter 53 with the threshold voltages X1, X2, X3 cannot correctly detect the state of the insulation resistance detector 50.
Further, according to the above, if the insulation resistance detector 50 is normal in response to the 2.5 Hz rectangular pulse signal P1, and then a short is occurred before the rectangular pulse signal P1 outputs 5.5 Hz pulse, the short state of the insulation resistance detector 50 cannot be detected. Namely, in a rare short that the short is intermittently occurred, a possibility of detecting the short state decreases.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a state detecting method to detect a reduction of an insulating resistor correctly and easily, and to provide an insulation resistance detector using the state detecting method.

State detecting method and insulation resistance detector


A data communications network in which a first information-containing radio frequency signal input is applied to a modulation circuit for modulating a carrier wave with the signal input, and a second information-containing radio frequency signal is applied to at the modulation circuit for modulating least one of the constellation points of the first modulation.

This disclosure relates to a data communications system for analog or digital signals, and in particular to systems using quadrature amplitude signal modulation. More particularly, the disclosure relates to the encoding of more than one information-containing signal source or channel with one source using a QAM modulation technique and the transmission of both encoded channels substantially simultaneously over the same communications link.
Although high throughput telecommunications networks do not constrain the size of the optical transceiver, optical transceivers for data center applications that use the Ethernet data communications protocol generally conform to IEEE 802.3 standard specifications and MSA form factors. Ethernet (the IEEE 802.3 standard) is the most popular data link network protocol. The Gigabit Ethernet Standard (IEEE 802.3) was released in 1998 and included both optical fiber and twisted pair cable implementations.
The 10 Gb/sec Ethernet standard (IEEE 802.3 ae) was released in 2002 with both optical fiber and twisted pair cabling. The 10 Gigabit Ethernet Standard specifications are set forth in the IEEE 802.3 ae supplement to the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet Standard are currently the highest data rate that has been standardized under the IEEE 802.3 framework. The supplement extends the IEEE 802.3 protocol and MAC specification therein to an operating speed of 10 Gb/s. Several Physical Coding Sublayers known as 100GBASE-X, 10GBASE-R and 10-GBASE-W are specified, as well as a 10 Gigabit Media Independent Interface (XGMII), a 10 Gigabit Attachment Unit Interface (XAUI) and a 10 Gigabit Sixteen-Bit Interface (XSBI) and management
Regardless of whether the system provides for one optical channel, or a WDM system with multiple optical channels, there is interest in increasing the information carrying capacity of an optical channel. Although various techniques such as PAM and QAM are known in the prior art, prior to the parent applications, it has not been known to utilize the jitter or inherent chirp associated with the transmitter to carry an additional information channel or bit.

Communication system with QAM modulation


An input receiver is provided with a pass transistor that is controlled to pass an input signal to an inverter only while a first binary state for the input signal equals a low voltage. The input receiver also includes a source follower transistor configured to pass a threshold-voltage-reduced version of the input signal while the first binary state of the input signal equals a high voltage greater than the low voltage.

Extending battery life by reducing power consumption in mobile devices is a challenging task as the processing power for their integrated circuits such as a system-on-a-chip (SOC) continues to increase. To provide reduced power consumption in the dynamic random access memory (DRAM) devices for the mobile market, various low power double data rate (LPDDR) DRAM standards have evolved in which the DRAM may vary the signaling voltage used to transmit data to the receiving SOC. In a low voltage mode, the DRAM uses a lower signaling voltage such as 0.5 V whereas in a high voltage mode the DRAM may use a higher signaling voltage such as 0.9V or 1.1V. In contrast, the receiver power supply voltage (VDDIO) used by the receiver in the SOC to receive the data from the external DRAM is independent of the DRAM signaling voltage but VDDIO may also vary widely such as from 0.5 to 1.1V depending upon the mode of operation within the SOC.
The independent variation between the DRAM signaling voltage and power supply voltage VDDIO in the receiver makes low power operation challenging. For example, it is convenient to receive the data from the DRAM by driving the gates of a serially-stacked PMOS and NMOS transistor pair in an inverter with the received data signal. If the power supply voltage VDDIO is relatively high (e.g., 1.1V) whereas the DRAM signaling voltage is relatively low, the PMOS transistor in the receiver's inverter will still be weakly on despite receiving a binary high signal because the received 0.5 volt signal acts as a weak zero to the PMOS since its source is tied to the 1.1 volt power supply voltage. The inverter will thus undesirably conduct current since the PMOS transistor is not fully off. Moreover, it is a challenge to construct a receiver that is tolerant to the higher voltage ranges for the input signal yet regains enough input amplification to work with the lower input voltage swings.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for improved low power receivers with wide input voltage ranges.

Low power receiver with wide input voltage range


The removable hard disk housing assembly includes a housing substrate, a hard disk supporting frame, a rotatable handle, a supporting piece, two plates-liked elements and two springs. The hard disk supporting frame is connected with the housing substrate to support a hard disk. The rotatable handle is positioned at the front side of the housing substrate. The supporting piece is rotatably positioned at the housing substrate. The plates-liked elements are movably positioned within the housing substrate and are pulled by supporting piece and protrude and retract in respond to movement of the supporting piece. Two springs are positioned between the plate-liked elements and the housing substrate and are used to bias the plate-liked elements. It prevents the hard disk from falling off when the assembly is subjected to external forces. The assembly is fixed by two extension portions so that force used to fix the assembly is well distributed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a removable hard disk housing assembly, and in particular to a hard disk housing assembly that is suited to desktop computers, servers and storage servers and is easy to remove.
2. Description of Related Art
Electronic appliances such as conventional desktop computers, servers and storage servers usually include hard disks used to store the required data. The hard disks are usually installed at hard disk cradles of the electronic appliances.
There is a conventional removable hard disk housing which has a bezel assembled on its front surface. A rotatable and adjustable handle is positioned at the bezel of the removable hard disk housing (hard disk tray), and a hook is positioned at the handle and used to hook a pin of the bezel. Thus, the handle is secured to touch a power switch when the handle is in folded state.
However, there is no effective mechanism in the conventional hard disk tray to secure the hard disk in so that the hard disk tray is easily to fall off when the hard disk tray is subjected to impact during delivery. Thus, the hard disk may be damaged.
In addition, the hook is usually positioned at one side of the hard disk tray so that force used to secure the hard disk cannot be equally distributed. It is likely for the hard disk to be rotated when the hard disk tray is subjected to external force. Thus, connectors of the hard disk may be damaged or quality of data transfer of the hard disk is not good.

Universal Scientific Industrial Co., Ltd.


In FIG. 5, a rotor (22.sup.1) has a sealing face (24.sup.1) provided with a plurality of grooves (33.sup.1) in which a sealing fluid can be held by counter-balanced centrifugal and pressure differential forces as the rotor (22.sup.1) rotates to form a seal across the sealing face (24.sup.1). In alternative embodiments the grooves (33) can be of constant width and/or not radially disposed. In a specific use, the sealing arrangement seals a vacuum in a milk concentrator.

The present invention relates to seal arrangements and particularly but not exclusively, to seal arrangements for use in liquid concentrators.
A liquid concentrator is an apparatus in which an evaporation process can result in a more concentrated liquid. In an agricultural based economy such as New Zealand, such apparatus has particular application in the concentration of milk.
The benefits to be derived from milk volume reduction are numerous and of tremendous commercial importance. It will be appreciated that by removing a substantial amount of the water contained in the milk in its natural state, the cost of collection, transporting and processing the milk can be substantially reduced.
In apparatus such as concentrators, various rotary and/or static seals are required to ensure that the prescribed pressures and/or vacuums are maintained and that there is no cross contamination of the fluid flows across the various parts of the apparatus.
In developing its concentrator technology, the applicant has developed the present invention for use in apparatus such as concentrators. To the present time, various sealing arrangements have been proposed to particular type of apparatus. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,902,197 (Rhodes et al), a seal arrangement for a centrifugal type of pump prevents fluid such as steam, pressurised by the pump, from escaping from the pump housing. The sealing arrangement consists of a continuous liquid seal extending circumferentially around an axial section of the shaft assembly of the pump, the liquid being held in place by the centrifugal action of the pump rotor and by the positive pressure gradient existing between the interior of the pump housing and its exterior.
While the present invention will be described hereinafter in its various embodiments with particular reference to a liquid concentrator, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the engineering arts that the sealing arrangements of the present invention may find application wherever an appropriate seal is required to be provided.


Disclosed embodiments relate to instructions for vector operations with immediate values. In one example, a system includes a memory and a processor that includes fetch circuitry to fetch the instruction from a code storage, the instruction including an opcode, a destination identifier to specify a destination vector register, a first immediate, and a write mask identifier to specify a write mask register, the write mask register including at least one bit corresponding to each destination vector register element, the at least one bit to specify whether the destination vector register element is masked or unmasked, decode circuitry to decode the fetched instruction, and execution circuitry to execute the decoded instruction, to, use the write mask register to determine unmasked elements of the destination vector register, and, when the opcode specifies to broadcast, broadcast the first immediate to one or more unmasked vector elements of the destination vector register.

For applications that use vector operations for computation at runtime, the compiler or assembly programmer must try to allocate the required vector registers for the vector operations in a loop. Failing to allocate registers to all vector operations may result in vector register spillage causing performance degradation and inefficient power consumption.
In graphics applications, for example, a translation transformation is the movement of a graphical object to a new location by adding a constant value to each coordinate point. The more graphical objects exist in an image, the more vector registers will be used to move them. And if different graphical objects are to be translated by different amounts, the more registers will be used to store the different constants.

Instructions for vector operations with constant values


A heated humidifier for an infant incubator wherein the water in the water reservoir is heated by an active heater located above the surface of the water and a heat exchanger that transfers heat from the active heater and which extends downwardly to a point beneath the water surface to heat the water. In the preferred embodiment, the heat exchanger is an extruded member in the shape of an I-beam to transfer the heat from an electric heater above the surface of the water to heat the volume of water in the reservoir to create water vapor.

This invention relates to infant incubators and, more specifically, to a heated humidifier for humidifying the air delivered to the infant compartment within which the infant is positioned.
Generally it is advantageous to humidify the heated air that is delivered to an infant compartment in caring for that infant and current incubators provide various methods of carrying out that humidification.
One type of humidifier currently in use with infant incubators utilizes a passive water supply that is not heated and the warm air is passed over the surface to pick up the water vapor. This type of humidifier is, however, not extremely efficient since the lack of active heating of the water in the humidifier limits considerably the amount of water vapor that is available to be picked up by the stream of air delivered to the infant compartment. In addition, such humidifiers are also very dependent upon the particular setting of the incubator, the ambient temperature and the humidity of the nursery within which the incubator is located.
Another type of humidifier for humidifying such air is shown and described in Air Shields U.S. Pat. No. 5,242,375 and which includes a flat heater positioned beneath an evaporation tray to heat the water to enhance the release of vapor for introduction into the air stream delivered to the infant. It is quite typical to utilize such heaters positioned beneath the volume of water to heat the water and where the heated stream of air to the patient is first passed over the upper surface of the heated water where it picks up the water vapor to deliver the humidified air to the infant.
Again, however, there are shortcomings of the beneath the water reservoir arrangement. First, the water reservoir must be a fairly substantial volume to avoid the continual depletion of the water and thus the need for attending personnel to continuously refill the reservoir. Due to the large volume of water, therefore, the entire volume must be heated from the bottom, thus a considerable amount of energy is required and the response time to changes desired in the degree of humidification is fairly long. The control loop is relatively long and overshoots in humidity are common.
Additionally, with the heater located beneath the reservoir, the container for holding the quantity of water must be a specialized container since the bottom of the container must be of a good heat conductive material. The preferable material for reservoir containers is plastic that is relatively transparent so that the user can visually ascertain the level of the water. Also, of course, a molded single piece plastic container is inexpensive to produce.
A problem is, therefore, that the plastic containers cannot be directly heated through a plastic bottom and therefore such containers require a heat conductive material such as metal to actually transmit the heat into the water. Such containers, therefore, must be made of different materia, that is, plastic sides with a metallic bottom, and the juncture between the metal material and the plastic material is a potential source of leaks and causes problems in removal for cleaning. Also, obviously, the addition of a special material at the bottom of the reservoirs creates additional expense over that of producing the entire reservoir container from a single, transparent, moldable plastic material.
Accordingly, apart from the inefficiencies of providing heat to the very bottom of the large volume of water where the water vapor is being generated and removed from the upper surface only of the reservoir, the construction of the reservoir container is fairly costly and specialized, requiring a heat conductive bottom to allow the flow of heat into the water.


A method for providing timing security in a time sensitive network (TSN), includes monitoring TSN times in timing synchronization packets exchanged between TSN network nodes. The method further includes monitoring TSN timing values calculated by TSN network nodes. The method further includes determining, using TSN times and TSN timing values, whether a timing attack is indicated. The method further includes, in response to determining that a timing attack is indicated, performing a timing attack effects mitigation action.

In the field of computer network security, data security is often provided using authentication of the data source, detecting changes to in-flight data, preventing an unauthorized recipient from reading data by encrypting the data, and detecting missing data using packet sequence numbers. However, while these methods are suitable for detecting changes in data and preventing unauthorized access to data, they do not detect changes to packet timings. In time sensitive networks, such as IEEE 1588 compatible networks, the timing of packets is critical to applications. For example, a machine in a factory may be instructed to take a certain action at a specified time that corresponds to a part being present at the machine. If the time used by the machine is not synchronized with the time of the controller sending the instruction, the machine may act too early or too late, and damage to the part and/or injury to humans operating the machine can result. Time sensitive network standards such as IEEE 1588 ensure time synchronization between computing platforms so that actions can be coordinated.
Time sensitive networks rely on calculations of packet transit time to achieve synchronization. To alter the time synchronization, a hacker can change the timing of the packets, e.g., using a man in the middle attack, where an IEEE 1588 packet is received and delayed before being forwarded to the destination. Using this technique, a hacker can cause a phase shift, which will move time forward or backward by amount equal to the amount of delay in the packets. A hacker can also create jitter by adding random delays in packets that affect the accuracy of time. The use of interpolation to determine a future time in the IEEE 802.1AS standard can amplify this effect. Because the timing of the packet is affected, and the data of the packet is not changed, conventional security mechanisms, such as error detection codes, will not detect such timing attacks.
In IEEE 1588, a master node transmits time values in the precision protocol (PTP) domain maintained by the master node to a slave node. The slave node uses the time values along with an estimate of propagation delay between the master and slave nodes to calculate frequency and phase offsets between the PTP time maintained by the master node and the clock domain of the slave. Once the frequency and phase offsets are determined, the slave node adjusts its clock using the frequency and phase offsets to match the PTP time of the master node. If an attacker delays packets transmitted between the master node and the slave node, the slave node's version of PTP time (i.e., the adjusted time of the slave that is derived from the PTP time of the master, which will be affected by the attacker's actions) will be incorrect. In the factory example described above, a machine or a part can be damaged if its controls and/or feedback loops miscalculate data or operate asynchronously due to timing errors. In another example, transactions on a stock exchange can be invalid due to being executed at an incorrect time.
Accordingly, there exists a need for methods, systems, and computer readable media for detecting and mitigating effects of timing attacks in time sensitive networks.

Methods, systems, and computer readable media for detecting and mitigating effects of timing attacks in time sensitive networks


Various techniques permit more thorough development of digital systems and devices by designers while protecting the proprietary interests of the owners of the intellectual property incorporated in such systems and devices. More specifically, the present invention provides to an end customer IP hardware which is suitable for prototype testing, but unusable for production purposes. One method limits the physical or electrical mode of operation of a hardware platform used for prototype testing of intellectual property (such as limiting the number of electrical contacts between the hardware and an external electrical device or limiting the data format(s) usable in the hardware during prototype testing). Another method limits the temporal operation of a hardware platform using an internal counter within the software provided by the intellectual property owner. Once a clock count limit is reached, the software disables the hardware in one or more prescribed ways, such as a reset of one or more registers, a global tri-state of the hardware IO, or a random failure of some type. Suitable hardware fabrication and/or augmentation also may be used to differentiate between the prototype and production manners of operation.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to methods, machine readable media and apparatus for protecting intellectual property ("IP"). More specifically, this invention relates to a technique for providing controlled use of IP.
2. Description of Related Art
Electronic design automation ("EDA") is becoming increasingly complicated and time consuming, due in part to the greatly increasing size and complexity of the electronic devices designed by EDA tools. Such devices include general purpose microprocessors as well as custom logic devices including programmable logic devices. The design of even the simplest of these devices typically involves generation of a high level design, logic simulation, generation of a network, timing simulation, etc.
A programmable logic device ("PLD") is a programmable integrated circuit that allows the user of the circuit, using software control, to program the PLD to perform particular logic functions. A wide variety of these devices are manufactured by Altera Corporation of San Jose, Calif. A more complete description of these types of devices and their uses can be found at "www.altera.com" and in various materials published by Altera, but the basic structure and operation of PLDs are well known to those of ordinary skill in the art. Logic functions performed by small, medium, and large-scale integration integrated circuits can instead be performed by programmable logic devices. When an integrated circuit manufacturer supplies a typical programmable logic device, it is not yet capable of performing any specific function. The user, in conjunction with software supplied by the manufacturer or created by the user or an affiliated source, can program the PLD to perform a particular function or functions required by the user's application. The PLD then can function in a larger system designed by the user just as though dedicated logic chips were employed.
One such improvement is the development of so-called "megafunctions" by companies such as Altera Corporation. A more complete description of these megafunctions and their uses can be found at "www.altera.com" and in various materials published by Altera. Briefly, megafunctions are ready made, pre-tested functional blocks that complement and augment existing design methodologies. When implementing complex system architectures, these megafunctions significantly enhance the design process. By using megafunctions, designers can focus more time and energy on improving and differentiating their system-level product, rather than re-designing common, off the shelf functions.
Megafunctions are pre-verified design files for complex system-level functions which reduce the design task to creating the custom logic surrounding such commonly used system-level functions, dramatically shortening the design cycle and leveraging existing IP. Typically, an IP owner provides all of the files necessary to design with the megafunctions. Current practice allows designers to instantiate, compile and simulate a function to verify its size and performance. However, programming files and output files for EDA tool simulation can be generated only with an authorization code provided when the megafunction is licensed. Test vectors and a post-synthesis design file (a fully minimized and optimized netlist that can be used without risk of changes during processing) are supplied for simulation in appropriate software (such as Altera's MAX+PLUS II and QUARTUS software products).
A typical design cycle (using, for example, Altera's OpenCore technology) is shown in FIG. 1. A designer creates an initial block diagram 110 and subsequently identifies any megafunctions available for use in the anticipated system 120. The designer then can identify and evaluate one or more specific megafunctions 130 in terms of functionality and the range of parameterization available. After finding the appropriate megafunction(s), the designer installs the megafunction(s) 140 and, using software, simulates performance 150 within the anticipated circuitry and system.
However, software simulations of these megafunctions in complex IP frequently are limited in a number of respects. For example, many hours of software simulation of a circuit used in a voice over technology might translate into only a few seconds of equivalent simulated circuit activity on a hardware platform. As a further example, components of devices may be able to achieve an extremely high number of states, all of which the designer may need to test. However, due to the relatively slow speed of some software simulations, only a limited number of states might be testable by such software simulation. Because a hardware platform may run at much higher speeds than software simulations, a designer may need to test the design on a hardware platform as well. With regard to PLDs, software simulation for several hours (representing a few seconds of PLD hardware operation) might represent appropriate sample testing for a design. Yet, to thoroughly validate the core of a PLD used in such an application, the system must run for a minute or more, thus making thorough software simulation testing impractical. Therefore, complex IP (for example, in video applications or voice over IP) should be evaluated and validated on a hardware platform before being purchased. In such applications, in order to fully validate and complete the system's design, as called for in step 160, the system frequently operates on a hardware prototype platform for a longer period of time than is practical for software simulation. A hardware prototype platform is substantially identical to the production version of the hardware a designer intends to create. The hardware prototype can be a PLD or other device, or a system or subsystem of the total design to be created. As will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art, the particulars of a hardware prototype are dependent upon the needs and circumstances of the project being undertaken by a designer and will vary widely. In the context of this disclosure, the term "hardware prototype" will mean any hardware platform suitable for testing the hardware and available software for the system being designed. The term "production hardware" means the desired final configuration of any hardware that the designer intends to achieve.
Once this prototype validation is completed, the IP used can be incorporated into specific devices 170 and be put into production use. This prior design process has allowed IP owners to control use of their IP up through design simulation (step 150 in FIG. 1). After software simulation and synthesis, the IP owner provides a temporary license file to a customer, which authorizes the customer to generate a programming object file (a "POF" file) of the design containing the IP and to establish the hardware prototype.
To date, IP owners have had to rely on legal contracts and/or other, unverifiable means to limit and control use of their IP on hardware platforms during prototype testing (step 150 of FIG. 1) and during production use (step 170 of FIG. 1). Customers have been able to generate a POF file that could be used both for prototype testing as well as in production. Unauthorized use in production deprives the IP owner of compensation for use of its IP and inhibits the owner's control of its property. Attempts at technical measures to prevent unauthorized use of IP also have been only modestly effective. For example, there have been attempts to send an entire prototype "package" (a PLD with the system installed and with its own power supply) to a customer for limited testing. Such a pre-packaged system was intended to allow hardware testing, without unauthorized production use. However, the delicate nature of these systems and the need for the IP owner to incur significant costs in this method make it unattractive and ineffective.
Techniques that permit more thorough development of digital systems and devices by designers while protecting the proprietary interests of the owners of the intellectual property incorporated in such systems and devices would represent a significant advancement in the art. Moreover, these techniques can be extended to allow an IP owner to limit or prevent unauthorized use of its IP in other settings and contexts.