A dielectric member 27 with a thickness of from 0.1xcex to 2xcex is disposed opposite to a patch plane 17 of a patch antenna 10A apart from the patch plane 17 by a distance of from 0.1xcex0 to 2xcex0, where xcex0 and xcex are the wavelengths of a radiated radio wave in free space and in the dielectric member, respectively. The dielectric constant of the dielectric member 27 may be lower in an outer portion thereof than a middle portion thereof. When the antenna is incorporated into the communication module, the dielectric member 27 is attached to the cover of the communication module.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a patch antenna with a dielectric separated from a patch plane, more particularly, to a patch antenna with a dielectric plate separated from a patch plane by an air gap to increase the gain of the antenna for a millimeter wave frequency range from 30 to 300 GHz and microwave frequencies near the millimeter wave frequencies.
2. Description of the Related Art
A patch antenna is thin and compact in shape, so the antenna is used in millimeter wave radio communication. Note that in the present specification, a patch antenna is defined as an antenna including a patch plane provided with high frequency power for radiating radio waves and a ground plane separated from the patch plane, wherein the patch plane and the ground plane are generally formed on opposed surfaces of a dielectric substrate. Since in millimeter waves, patch antennas have low gain, improvement has been performed on the gain by use of an array configuration or a dielectric lens.
However, an array antenna has a plurality of patch planes arranged on a dielectric substrate and there is a necessity for supplying power to respective patch planes with controlling the values and phases thereof and in addition, for distributing the power supply through a micro strip line along which power transfer loss is comparatively large in millimeter waves; therefore it is not easy that an actual practice coincides with its design. Further, when a dielectric substance which is low in power transfer loss is selected, it results in increase in cost of the antenna. Furthermore, since it is necessary to dispose patch planes spaced apart from each other by a distance equal to or more than 0.5xcex to xcex, where xcex is a wavelength, the area of an array antenna is large.
Whereas in order to improve the gain of a patch antenna using a dielectric lens, it is necessary for a lens to be larger than the angular aperture of the patch antenna, and on the other hand, since this angular aperture is generally wide, a large lens is necessary. Moreover, in order to obtain a high efficiency antenna, alignment precision between the patch antenna and the dielectric lens has to be high, which in turn requires high levels of techniques associated with assembly and inspection, leading to high cost.
In order to solve such problems with using a patch antenna, there is disclosed in JP 6-809715 A an antenna as shown in FIG. 10.
A patch antenna 10 is disposed between a reflection plate 11 and a dielectric block 12 with spacing from the reflection plate 11. A spacer 13 is placed between the reflection plate 11 and the dielectric block 12 and a micro strip line 14 is connected to the patch plane of the patch antenna 10.
The publication discloses that a gain can be increased by making multiple reflections, between the reflection plate 11 and the dielectric block 12, of radio waves radiated from the patch antenna 10 and aligning the phase planes of radio waves transmitted through the dielectric block 12 so as to increase the directivity of the antenna, and further by resonating the radio waves in the dielectric block.
In the antenna of FIG. 10, however, not only the dielectric block 12 but also the reflection plate 11 has to be added to the patch antenna 10, and moreover it is necessary to optimize a distance between the patch antenna 10 and the dielectric block 12, a thickness of the dielectric block 12, and further a distance between the patch antenna 10 and the reflection plate 11.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved patch antenna capable of increasing the gain with simpler configuration.
In a first aspect of an antenna according to the present invention, a dielectric member is disposed on the patch plane side of an patch antenna opposite to the patch plane with a distance of 0.1xcex0 to 2xcex0 from the patch plane, where xcex0 denotes a wavelength of a radio wave, in a free space, radiated from the antenna. A plane located opposite to the patch antenna on the opposite side to the dielectric member with respect to the patch antenna may be either a non-conductive plane or a conductive plane. In the case of the conductive plane, it is not necessary to adjust distances among the patch antenna, the dielectric member and the conductive plane so as to make phases of radiated radio wave coincident as in the above described prior art configuration. The conductive plane is separated from the dielectric member by such a distance that phases of the radio wave directly reached an incident surface of the dielectric member are substantially different from those indirectly reached the incident surface after having been reflected by the conductive plane.
According to the antenna of the present invention, by providing high frequency power to the patch antenna, a radio wave is radiated from the patch plane and passes through the dielectric member. The dielectric member is polarized by the electromagnetic wave and electromagnetic field is provided to the patch plane from the dielectric member to change the current distribution in the patch plane. By determining the distance between the dielectric member and the patch plane as described above, he current density grows larger mainly at a peripheral portion of the patch plane compared with a case where no dielectric member is employed. Thereby directivity arises in electromagnetic radiation pattern to increase the gain. A current distribution on the patch plane is controlled such that the directivity arises in the electromagnetic radiation pattern to increase the gain by operation of the dielectric member.
The principle of the present invention for achieving high gain is different from that of the known configuration employing the reflection plate 11 as shown in FIG. 10, and there is no need to employ the reflection plate 11 whose position is precisely adjusted; therefore the patch antenna of the first embodiment can increase the gain with a simpler configuration. That is, in this known configuration, strict positioning of the reflection plate 11 and others is required in order to make phases coincident between a radio wave directly transmitted through the dielectric member after having been radiated from the patch antenna and radio waves indirectly transmitted through the dielectric member after having been reflected by the reflection plate 11, whereas the present invention requires no such positioning even when the conductive plane is provided. It is a unique conception of the present invention to achieve high gain of the antenna with increasing current densities at a peripheral portion of the patch plane by the dielectric member.
In order to realize the present invention, it is only required that a dielectric member is disposed on the patch plane side of the patch antenna opposite to the patch plane with a distance of 0.1xcex0 to 2xcex0 from the patch plane, and a plane located opposite to the patch antenna on the opposite side to the dielectric member with respect to the patch antenna may be a non-conductive plane, that is, a nonreflective plane. In a case where the plane is a conductive plane, it is separated from the patch antenna or the dielectric member by such a distance that phases of the radio wave directly reached an incident surface of the dielectric member are substantially different from those indirectly reached the incident surface after having been reflected by the conductive plane. In order to realize the substantially different phases, it may be performed that the phase of the radio wave directly reached the incident surface of the dielectric member is determined, the phase of the radio wave indirectly reached the incident surface after having been reflected by the conductive plane is determined, and the both phases are made substantially different from each other, for example, opposite to each other. In design of the antenna, it may be performed that simulation of radiation pattern of is performed with taking into consideration dielectric constants of respective portions of the antenna according to the present invention and phase shifts of radio waves passing through the respective portions, and the phase condition is derived from the results of the simulation.
In a second aspect of an antenna according to the present invention, the dielectric member has a thickness of from 0.1xcex to 2xcex in the first aspect, where xcex is a wavelength of the radiated radio wave in the dielectric member.
According to this antenna, the electromagnetic field provided to the patch plane from the dielectric member is strengthened compared with a case where the thicknesses fall outside this range, and thereby the above effect is enhanced.
In a third aspect of an antenna according to the present invention, the dielectric member has a first dielectric in a middle portion thereof and a second dielectric disposed around the middle portion with a dielectric constant lower than that of the first dielectric in the first aspect.
According to this antenna, since the dielectric member also works as a dielectric lens, a directivity is increased more than in the first aspect, thereby increasing the gain of the antenna.
In one aspect of a communication module according to the present invention, since the dielectric member is attached to the cover of the communication module, high gain of the antenna can be achieved with substantially the same size as a prior art patch antenna.

Patch antenna with dielectric separated from patch plane to increase gain


A rotor for an electrical machine according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises a shaft defining an axis of rotation of the rotor, and first and second pole pieces affixed to the shaft for rotation therewith and together defining an interior cavity. The rotor additionally includes a slip ring affixed to the shaft for rotation therewith. Further, the rotor comprises a field-generating coil disposed within the interior cavity, the coil comprising a plurality of turns of electrical wire, the electrical wire further having a section extending to and electrically coupled to the slip ring. Also, the rotor has a retainer disposed exterior to the cavity and adjacent the first pole piece, the retainer comprising a radially-extending channel containing a portion of the section of electrical wire.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to rotors for electrical machines, and more specifically to routing of wire for field-generating coils of such rotors.
2. Description of the Related Art
In many electrical machines, a rotor includes an electromagnetic field generating coil which rotates with the rotor. In such machines, slip rings are typically provided as a part of the rotor assembly. The slip rings are means for connecting the field-generating coil to a source of electrical current.
Connection of the field generating coil to the slip rings can present reliability improvement opportunities in the design of a rotor for an electrical machine. For example, the two slip rings are typically manufactured as a single assembly, with two wires extending from the assembly. A first end of each wire is welded to a respective slip ring. A second end of each wire is welded to the wire which comprises the windings of the field-generating coil. The result is four interconnections between the field-generating coil and the slip rings. Although such designs have been honed to a relatively high degree of reliability, a reduction in the number of interconnections can improve reliability further.
An additional area of potential improvement in prior art designs is in the cost of the slip ring assembly. A typical slip ring assembly is manufactured by the aforementioned welding of wires to the copper slip rings, followed by insert-molding of this subassembly in plastic. The resulting slip ring assembly is a fairly expensive part, exhibiting considerable opportunity for cost reduction. An improved wire routing design from the field-generating coil to the slip rings may provide the ability to use more economical slip ring designs.
Therefore, wire routing designs for electrical machine rotors which can provide improved reliability and reduced cost can provide advantages over the prior art.

Wire routing design for a rotor of an electrical machine


The front portion of a roof panel has left-hand and right-hand roof opening sections, each roof opening section being wide open without a roof side rail on its transversely outer side. A movable roof member is mounted on the roof opening sections so as to be movable longitudinally through a base frame fixed to the body of a vehicle, thereby opening the roof opening sections when the movable roof member is moved in its rear position and closing it when it is moved in its front position. The base frame contains a front section to be mounted to a front header of the body, a rear section to be mounted to a front edge portion of a rear roof panel section, a middle section for connecting middle portions of the front section and the rear section, and a guide section extending rearward from a transversely outer side portion of the rear section. The base frame is fixed to the body in such a state that the portions of the base frame or the body where the alignment position is likely to deviate from its normal position are aligned with an aligning jig or the movable roof member. Further, an alignment section or member is formed each on the body side and the base frame side so as to assume a normal positional relationship.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a structure of a sun roof of an automotive vehicle and a method of the assembly thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is an increasing demand of an automobile with an opening formed in a roof panel and for the roof opening structured so as to be opened and closed with a movable roof member.
The opening to be formed in the roof panel of the automobile may be structured in such a manner that, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication (kokai) No. 2-306,821, a pair of left-hand and right-hand front roof opening sections are provided in the front portion of the roof panel. Each of the left-hand and right-hand roof opening sections is open to its entire length at its transversely outer portions, that is, at its left-hand and right-hand outer side ends, respectively. It is closed at its front and rear edge portions and a transversely inner edge portion extending longitudinally (from front to back) so as to connect its front edge portion to its rear edge portion. The left-hand and right-hand front roof opening sections are configured each in a fashion such that a front edge portion of the roof opening section is composed of a front header, a rear edge portion thereof is composed of the front edge portion of a rear roof panel section, and a transversely inner edge .portion extending longitudinally is composed of a connecting middle section that connects the front header with the rear roof panel section. This type of the roof opening may be called a T-bar roof, and it can provide the .passenger with an open feeling that resembles the feeling given by an open car because the left-hand and right-hand outer side ends of the roof panel can be opened.
The left-hand and right-hand front roof opening sections are opened or closed with detachable left-hand and right-hand roof sections, respectively, in many occasions. They are also designed to be opened or closed simultaneously with one sheet of a movable roof member that has a size substantially large enough to cover a pair of the left-hand and right-hand front roof opening sections and that is structured so as to be movable in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle, i.e. in forward and rearward directions.
In the latter case, that is, when .the left-hand and right-hand front roof opening sections are to be opened or closed simultaneously with one sheet of the movable roof member, the movable roof member should be guided in the forward or rearward direction. At this end, a base frame may be fixed to a body of the vehicle and a guide mechanism may be disposed in a position between the base frame and the movable roof member.
Although the base frame may assume a variety of forms, it is desired from the point of view of ensuring a strength of mounting and the like that the base frame comprises a front base frame section extending over the substantially entire length along and parallel to the front header, a rear base frame section extending over the substantially entire length along and parallel to the rear edge portion of the rear roof panel section, and a middle base frame section extending longitudinally and connecting a middle portion of the front base frame section with a middle portion of the rear base frame section. The arrangement for this structure is preferred in terms of ensuring a wide area for mounting the base frame to the body of the vehicle and ensuring a large number of positions for fixing the base frame to the body thereof because the base frame can be fixed tightly to the body. For this structure, the guide mechanism for the movable roof member may be configured by taking advantage of the middle portion of the base frame.
On the other hand, when the guide mechanism for the movable roof member is to be disposed on the rear side of the body of the vehicle, the base frame may be structured in such a shape as having a pair of left-hand and right-hand guide sections, each extending from a transversely outer end portion of the rear base frame section toward the rear.
From the description as have been described hereinabove, the base frame may be configured in such a manner that it comprises the front base frame section, the rear base frame section, and the middle base frame section, or the front base frame section, the rear base frame section, the middle base frame section, and the left-hand and right-hand guide sections.
The automotive vehicle having a pair of left-hand and right-hand roof opening sections is provided with no roof side rail at their transversely outer edge portions. This leads to the fact that the transversely outer end portions of the front header, that is, an upper end portion of a front pillar, may deviate from its normal position.
On the other hand, since the front base frame section of the base frame is of such a cantilever type as being free at the transversely outer end portions, the transversely outer end portions of the front base frame section are likely to deviate from their normal positions.
Likewise, the left-hand and right-hand guide sections of the base frame are likely to deviate from their normal positions.
As have been described hereinabove, the deviation in the positions is likely to occur on the side of the body of the vehicle as well as on the side of the base frame, so that the mere fixing of the base frame to the body may deviate from their normal positions, thereby failing to guide the movable roof member smoothly. Further, if the movable roof member would be closed in a deviated state, a problem with sealing may arise.

Method for the assembly of a sun roof of an automotive vehicle


The subject of the invention is a suction draw off device which permits a drawing off by suction of secretion, blood or the like and a closure of a wound by means of vacuum. Thereby, the suction draw off device has a container (1) closable by means of a lid (2), a bag (3) with a tube (4) which can be placed in the container (1), a passage for the tube in the upper part of the container wall or in the lid for drawing of the secretion or the like into the bag (3) and an opening in the container wall or in the lid for generating a vacuum in the container (3). Thereby, the suction draw off device is so configured that it is closed in a vacuum-tight manner in the closed condition of the container (1), so that the secretion suction draw off device is operable independently of a vacuum pump unit after a vacuum has once been generated in the container (1). For the case of the drawing off of blood during an operation, the bag (3) advantageously has a membrane (28) by means of which air drawn into the bag (3) in the container (1) can be released.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for the closure of wounds by vacuum and/or for the drawing off by suction of secretions or the like, which is in particular suitable for use in fields of surgery in hospitals and in the medical services.
Devices for drawing off by suction of secretion, blood or the like and devices used for the closure of wounds after redon drainage are in use in many fields of medical treatment and health care. All systems to date are based upon the principle that an under-pressure is generated in a container, mostly a glass or plastics bottle, preferably transparent, by means of a vacuum. After Redon drainage an under-pressure is generated by means of a drain placed in the area of the wound in the zone of operation, which presses the wound surfaces against one another whereby hollow spaces--e.g. in the case of surgical removals--are avoided. Associated therewith at the same time is the transporting away (drawing off) of secretion. Upon drawing off by suction, secretion, e.g. from a freshly operated wound, is drawn off through a drain in the zone of operation into the container by means of the under-pressure. Continuous drawing off accelerates the healing process. With the use of suction draw off devices in the course of an operation, blood is drawn off into the container which blood is intended to be used after subsequent preparation for the purpose of self transfusion. Thus, the patient's own blood can be returned to the patient during or after an operation, which removes the danger of the transfer of an infectious agent, such as for example hepatitis viruses, HIV etc. Thereby, the disadvantage is that the tubes and the entire container for receiving the drawn off secretion or blood must be cleaned and newly sterilized after each use or must be completely disposed off as a disposable product.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In order to avoid this great outlay, there is proposed in DE-OS-25 36 746 the employment of disposable bags, e.g. of plastics, which are placed in the container. After placement of the bag in the container, the container is closed by means of a lid. A tube, usually connected in one piece with the bag, leads through a passage in the lid to the drain, i.e. to the zone of operation. A further opening in the base of the container is constantly connected with a vacuum pump. This vacuum pump generates in the container, through the continuous pumping off of air, a permanent under-pressure. In case of failure of the vacuum pump provision is made for switch over to or automatic response of a central suction facility of the hospital. This under-pressure has the effect that the bag in the container inflates to a certain extent. This inflation of the bag has, due to the increase in volume of the bag, in turn the consequence that an under-pressure is provided in the interior of the bag, so that the secretion is drawn off into the bag through the tube. When the bag is full the used tube and the full bag are simply removed and disposed of, and a new, sterile bag, and a new, sterile tube placed in the container. By these means first, even during storage, much space is saved since the bags take up less space than the rigid and non-collapsible containers. Secondly, the necessity to constantly clean and sterilize the containers is avoided.
The disadvantage with this prior art is that the vacuum pump generating the under-pressure in the container must be in constant operation, since otherwise the under-pressure in the container and thus the suction effect in the bag cannot be maintain. The need to connect this suction draw off device constantly to a continuously operated vacuum pump has many disadvantages. Thus, for example, for each suction draw off device there is needed a vacuum pump or a connection to a central suction facility. As an alternative thereto, there have already been proposed rigid containers, pre-evacuated by the manufacture, of glass or plastics, to be used as disposable containers, in particular for redon drainage applications. Here, storage, and also disposal, are extremely problematic and costly. Conventional devices for the closure of wounds by vacuum and/or for the drawing off of secretion are thus not usable, or of only very limited use, for ambulant treatment applications.
There is thus an acute need for a universally employable, easily manipulable device for the generation of an under-pressure in the region of a wound, suitable for ambulant treatment use, i.e. usable in any location.

Device for the closure of wounds and suctioning of secretions therefrom


Improved yarns the properties of which can be altered by heat treatment for various products are disclosed, as well as product made therewith and processes thereof. The yarns of the invention comprise a multifilamentary core of a comparatively lower melting point material, such as polypropylene or polyethylene, which is wrapped in both S and Z directions (that is, both clockwise and counterclockwise) by multifilamentary strands of a higher melting point material, such as polyester. For providing cut and abrasion resistance to webbing and products made therefrom, such as cargo lifting slings and the like, on the order of 8-12 such yarns are woven into the edges of webbing material, such that they contact one another. Upon heat treatment, the material of the multifilamentary core melts to the extent that it wicks into and “wets out” the material of the multifilamentary wrappers; upon cooling, the filaments of the wrapper are disposed in a solidified matrix of the core material, forming a comparatively hard, tough material, and the adjacent yarns are bonded to one another to some degree.

Woven fabric webbing is used to make a wide variety of products, including cargo lifting slings, safety harnesses of various types, and the like. In applications where abrasion resistance is particularly required, such as for cargo lifting slings, it is known to weave yarns of cut- and abrasion-resistant material into the edges of the flat woven webbing to protect it in use.
For example, Kelen et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,167,263 shows weaving a polyamid yarn or monofilament into the edges of webbing for similar purposes. Hammersla U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,837 shows a yarn made up of strands comprising a core, e.g., a polyester cord, covered by a continuous sheath of a cut-resistant resin such as "Hytrel" thermoplastic polyester elastomer. A number of such yarns are woven into the opposed edges of the flat webbing and used without performance of any treatment intended to alter the properties of either the core or the sheath.
Golz U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,219,636 and 5,419,951 show a yarn for similar use comprising a number of filaments, each filament in turn comprising a monofilamentary core of a first material, typically polyester, covered by a continuous, solid sheath of a second material; the material of the sheath is to have a lower melting point than the material of the core. Exemplary sheath materials are nylon-6, polypropylene, or polyethylene. After these yarns are woven into the webbing, the assembly is heat treated to a temperature such that the material of the sheath melts, whereupon the sheaths of the several filaments adhere to one another, forming a solid mass with the core members embedded therein upon cooling.
While webbing made according to the teachings of both the Hammersla and Golz patents has been commercially successful, further improvement is always to be sought.

Yarns for cut-resistant webbing and other products


An apparatus for holding a fragile item which includes a support frame and a support panel mounted within the support frame. The support frame includes at least one elongated, longitudinal channel on an exterior surface thereof to provide an area of attachment to the support frame. A fastener is provided to attach accessory components to the support frame. The fastener is preferably a spring nut and bolt arrangement, although any suitable fastener may be used. Such accessory components include substantially clear panels for displaying the items, shelf brackets, pipes and pipe fittings, covers, and elongated extensions to create a cavity box formed from at least two spaced apart support frames. The apparatus can be used to store, transport or display fragile items such as paintings, sculptures and tapestries.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems for holding items and more particularly, relates to systems for holding fragile items such as artwork and historical objects for storage, display and/or transporting among museums.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known that the safe handling of fragile items such as works of art, e.g., paintings, tapestries and sculptures, etc., during transport to and from studios and/or exhibits is a major concern of the owners of such pieces of artwork. Similar concern exists among owners of historical objects which must, at times, also be transported between various locations. Due to the fragile nature of thee items and, in most cases, the high value associated with them, much time and money is expended in providing systems that are intended to sufficiently protect the items during shipping and handling.
For instance, several methods and systems for transporting paintings have been employed in the prior art. One approach involves constructing a custom shipping frame and custom transport crate for each individual painting from a material such as wood. Each frame is typically handmade and sized to fit the single painting which will reside therein during shipping. The shipping frame is attached to a painting frame (e.g., canvas stretcher upon which the painting, itself, is mounted) via mounting hardware such as nuts and bolts. However, while such an approach attempts to ensure a properly fitted shipping container for the valuable item, the approach has several disadvantages. For instance, it is known that during unpacking of the painting from the custom frame, the loose mounting hardware may be accidentally dropped on the painting causing damage to the painting. Further, the time to construct a custom shipping frame and transport crate becomes severely prohibitive when a large number of paintings are to be transported. The time necessary to attach each object to its respective shipping frame is prohibitive and not cost effective. Because each custom shipping frame is constructed for one particular object, the reuse of such a shipping frame and crate is severely limited; modification and adjustments for reuse by other objects is not time or cost effective.
Since construction of the frame is wood, this natural resource is depleted and only minimally recyclable. Furthermore, a wood frame creates off-gassing, which prevents objects from being permanently stored therein. Also, the weight of the wood shipping frame adds substantially to the overall freight costs, especially for large exhibitions. In addition, the wood shipping frame transfers all shock and vibration directly to the object when said object is being handled in storage or being prepared for shipment or display. Again, while the preservation of the artwork is of paramount concern, the high cost and lengthy time associated with constructing multiple custom shipping frames for each painting is prohibitive.
Another approach which attempts to address the issue of reusability of shipping containers for artwork is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,285,902 to Tabuenca Garcia. Particularly, the '902 patent discloses a packaging system for paintings and other works of art which includes a metal tubular frame with a series of belts attached thereto. The belts are tensioned between buckles such that each belt forms a flat ring inside which a painting is accommodated. The painting is fastened by a series of half-clamps which are mounted on the belts and which attach to the sides of the painting with the belts criss-crossing over the surface of the painting. The metal tubular frame, with the painting supported therein, is then placed in matching receptacles within a custom transport vehicle on vibration-insulating supports. This approach allows for reuse of the packaging system each time the painting is transported and also permits varying sized paintings to be accommodated by adjusting the belts and clamps. However, the packaging system is flawed in that the belts tend to loosen and then rub against the artwork causing damage. Also, the artwork is subjected to stress and shaking when the belts are being initially tightened around it during packing. Still further, while the belt fastening approach may conserve time as compared to the custom frame approach, the time to properly position the painting within the frame and adjust all the belts is severely prohibitive when dealing with a large number of artwork pieces. The tightening and adjustment of the belts requires experienced personnel to direct these activities. The tubular frame and belts is limited to only square framed objects; odd shaped objects require having an additional shipping frame built (from wood), so the belts can be positioned therein. Because the tubular frame must travel within a matching metal transport crate, the weight of the combination frame and crate is more than a conventional wood crate, so the shipping cost is greater, and can be prohibitive with large exhibitions.

Fragile article transportation, display and storage system


Documents are indexed in accordance with a process that separates the filtering and word breaking portions of the process so that they are performed under a restricted security setting. When a document is requested by an indexer, the document is retrieved and then passed to the higher security process. The document is then filtered one or more filters and tokenized by one or more wordbreakers under the restricted security setting before being passed to the indexer. The restricted security setting prevents security vulnerabilities from being exploited during the filtering and word breaking processes.

Searches among networks and file systems for content have been provided in many forms but most commonly by a variant of a search engine. A search engine is a program that searches documents on a network for specified keywords and returns a list of the documents where the keywords were found. Often, the documents on the network are first identified by "crawling" the network.
For retrieving documents in a crawl, an operation for each document on the network is executed to get the document and populate the index with records for the documents. Security vulnerabilities exist in such a search system. Often, documents coming from the Internet should not be trusted as they may be malicious or specially crafted to expose one of the vulnerabilities. Certain parts of the search and indexing process may have security flaws that expose different risks ranging from private information disclosure to complete takeover of a user's machine.

System and method for secure full-text indexing


Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method, an apparatus, and a terminal for service transmission. The method includes determining which service is allowed to be transmitted on configured grant resource, according to a first indication information. By determining the service allowed to be transmitted on the configured grant resource, the mapping relationship between service types and uplink grant types is specified.

The present disclosure relates to the field of wireless communication technologies, and more particularly, to a method, an apparatus, and a terminal for service transmission.
In the access network of the fifth generation of mobile communication systems (5G), the transmission resource for uplink service/traffic data between the base station and the terminal device includes two types: dynamic grant resource with dynamic scheduling and configured grant resource without dynamic scheduling.
As to the dynamic grant resource, the base station can dynamically allocate resources to terminal devices via the C-RNTI (Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier) on PDCCH(s) (Physical Downlink Control Channel). A terminal device always monitors the PDCCH(s) in order to find possible grants for uplink transmission.
In addition, with configured grant resources, the base station can allocate uplink resources to terminal devices. There are two types of uplink configured grant resources: Type 1 and Type 2. With type 1, RRC (Radio Resource Control) signaling(s) directly provides the configured grant (including the periodicity); with type 2, RRC signaling(s) provides the periodicity of the configured grant resource while PDCCH addressed to CS-RNTI (Configured Scheduling RNTI) can either signal and activate the configured grant, or deactivate it; i.e., a PDCCH addressed to CS-RNTI indicates that the uplink grant can be implicitly reused according to the periodicity defined by RRC until deactivated.
In the existing protocols, the dynamically allocated uplink transmission (the dynamic grant) overrides the configured grant in the same serving cell, if they overlap in time. Otherwise, an uplink transmission according to the configured grant is assumed if activated. However, there are no clear rules on which service/traffic data can use configured grant resource and which service/traffic data can use dynamic resources. As a result, when the configured grant conflicts with the dynamic grant, the dynamic grant may not meet the QoS of the services with strict delay requirements. In addition, the configured grant resource also may not meet the QoS of some services because the base station is unclear about the requirements of the services to be transmitted in the terminal device.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the disclosure, and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Method, apparatus and terminal for service transmission

GUANGDONG OPPO MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORP., LTD.


Systems and methods for remote device configuration is provided. In one embodiment, a method comprises outputting, from a computer, to a first computing device, configuration options for a second computing device; receiving, at the computer, from the first computing device, configuration data associated with the configuration options for the second computing device; associating a first security identifier with the configuration data for the second computing device; and in response to a request for the configuration data for the second computing device, outputting, from the computer, to the second computing device, the configuration data for the second computing device.

Network service providers provide various wireless or wireline network services such as Internet access to their subscribers. Further, network service providers typically provide the infrastructure equipment such as base stations, routers or access points to allow their subscribers to use computing devices such as cellular phones, laptops or tablets to access and use their networks. In a typical business model, a network service provider purchases computing equipment from multiple manufacturers and then sells the computing equipment directly to consumers. Once purchased by a subscriber, the network service provider will provision the computing equipment to allow the subscriber to operate the equipment on its network.
Furthermore, the subscriber has to configure the computing device, which typically varies based on the manufacturer or the type of computing device. A subscriber may configure the computing device by, for instance, configuring Internet connectivity, adding a user account, establishing backup capability, adding applications, providing payment details, personalizing the device and the like. While "set-up wizards" may have reduced some of the complexity of performing these tasks, these tasks continue to be a technical challenge to a lay user, difficult to perform on smaller devices, and time consuming. Further, once the computing device is configured, the configuration data is typically stored locally and not re-usable. Accordingly, there is a need for techniques to allow for remote device configuration to, for instance, reduce the complexity and duration of performing the configuration tasks while allowing for remote storage and re-use of the device's configuration. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present disclosure will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying figures and the foregoing technical field and background.


A printing apparatus may include a heating element with at least one of a contact fuser, a radiant fuser, a substrate preheater, an image bearing member heater, and a transfuser, the heating element including a lattice of filaments wherein the filaments are separated from each other by a spacing and the spacing is such that an energy input into the heating element is radiantly output in a specific frequency band. A method of using a printing apparatus may include providing a heating element that is part of the printing device and that includes a lattice of filaments wherein the filaments are separated from each other by a spacing and the spacing is such that an energy input into the lattice is radiantly output in a specific frequency band, and performing at least one printing operation.

The vast majority of heating elements in xerographic fusers, substrate pre-heaters, and solid-ink transfuse systems are conventional tungsten/halogen bulb devices, which have approximately a 3000 K color temperature.
Photonic crystals have already been developed as indicated in, for example, Reference 1 ("Revolutionary tungsten photonic crystal may provide more power for electrical devices," Sandia National Laboratories, Jul. 7, 2003 (http://www.sandia.gov/news_center/news_releases/2003/other/plank-Lin.html)), which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. These photonic crystals have properties interesting and valuable to heating in the xerographic and solid-ink devices mentioned above.
For example, when heated with an electric current, they emit very intense radiation within a narrow band of Infrared (IR) wavelengths. The wavelengths may be tuned by altering the size of the rods and the spacing between them. The larger the dimensions, the longer the wavelength. The emissions in these tuned bands are ten times more intense in the IR than expected by traditional physics (black body radiation), and light emitters made from these photonic crystals may radiate at a 60% efficiency (conversion of electrical energy to IR radiation) compared to 8% efficiency for ordinary light bulbs and 25% for (low intensity) LEDs.
Finally, these photonic crystals may absorb broadband thermal radiation and reemit the energy in narrow bands, and the devices appear to violate Plank's blackbody radiation law.

Printing device heating element and method of use thereof


The present invention provides a baseball batting stance training assembly. The assembly essentially comprises a stance training mat for placement upon a baseball field or similar other playing field and at least one rearward foot-receiving cuff for removable or breakaway attachment to the stance training mat. The stance training mat essentially comprises at least three distinct zones, namely, left and right mat zones and a home plate zone. The left mat zone and the right mat zone are aligned laterally opposite the home plate zone, which home plate zone comprises a home plate marker or virtual home plate. The left and right mat zones each comprise a plurality of foot print indicia. The cuff is removably attached adjacent select rearward foot print indicia and is designed for breakaway from the stance training mat in the event of a net cuff-removing force.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a training device for improving a baseball player's skills. More particularly, the present invention relates to a training mat for improving a baseball player's batting stance while positioned within a so-called, "batter's box." The present invention thus provides users with means to improve upon a baseball player's batting skills by developing proper batting stance technique.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The key to being successful as an offensive baseball player is the ability to successfully hit or make proper contact with pitched or positioned baseballs. The ability to successfully hit a baseball begins with proper balance at home plate and thus it is critical that baseball players learn the basic batting stance. Once the basic batting stance is mastered, the baseball player typically improves upon the basic batting stance in a manner unique to the player as he or she gains batting experience. It is thus noted that there are many stances from which to choose, but the consensus from most hitting coaches is that the basic parallel stance will provide a novice hitter with the best opportunity to hit the ball.
Typically, the baseball player or hitter should take a parallel stance with the feet shoulder width apart in the middle of the appropriate batter's box adjacent home plate. The hitter should not position himself too close to the plate but close enough so that the head of the bat is able to cover the outside corner. The hitter's weight should be on the balls of his or her feet. As a hitter starts a swing, the hitter typically shifts the hitter's weight to the hitter's back leg turning the hitter's hips rearward. During the swinging action, the hitter typically transfers the hitter's center of gravity in a forward direction, shifting the hitter's weight to the hitter's front or forward leg. As the hitter transfers the hitter's weight, the hitter twists the hitter's hips, torso, and knees while also swinging the bat. It is noted that the described hip action is often considered to be the most important factor, since a significant amount of hitting power will come from the hitter's hips. In order to properly twist a hitter's hips, the hitter should rotate the balls of the hitter's feet. Thus, as the hitter sees the ball approaching him, he shifts the weight from his back leg to his front leg as he "steps into the pitch." He then twists his body, transferring considerable energy to the bat. The hand and the bat initially travel at about 40 mph, but at the point when the bat meets the ball, the hand and the bat will travel in excess of 70 mph. Since the bat is swung at such a high speed, it has been calculated that even 0.01 seconds may make a difference between a home run and a pop out.
It is further noted that parents and coaches are often involved in the process of teaching younger players how to best practice various baseball skills, including batting stance technique. It is also noted, however, that younger baseball players often practice unsupervised. Thus, in an effort to provide players with a means to develop proper batting stance technique, whether supervised or unsupervised, a number of inventors have developed training aids or devices to assist the novice hitter in developing proper batting technique as well as to assist the novice hitter in developing proper batting stance technique. It is thus noted that a variety of different types of batting stance training devices have been developed as a means to aid baseball players in the development of a proper batting stance. Some of the more pertinent prior art relating to batting stance training devices and the like is described hereinafter.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,342,487 ('487 Patent), which issued to David, discloses a Baseball Stance and Stride Practice Plate. The '487 Patent teaches baseball batting stance and stride practice plate comprising a flat plate with raised ridges forming batter foot guides. One ridge is disposed along the width of the plate and the batter's back foot is disposed against this ridge which is provided with an opening to allow the back foot to swivel during the stride. Two other ridges are disposed across the full width of the plate in laterally spaced apart diagonal direction against which the forward foot of the batter is disposed both before and after he takes his batting stride.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,350,096 ('096 Patent), which issued to Kile et al., discloses a Batter's Front Foot Guide. The '096 Patent teaches a guide for restricting movement of a batter's foot relative to a batter's box during batting practice comprising track means extending longitudinally of the batter's box, a movable foot piece, means for attaching one of the batter's feet to the foot piece, and resilient connecting means interposed between the foot piece and the track means.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,372,930 ('930 Patent), which issued to Sertich, discloses a Foot Trainer with Adjustable Rotation and Friction Means. The '930 Patent teaches a trainer for sportsmen which is designed to restrict, while guiding, the rotational movement of one of the sportsman's feet. By varying the degree of rotation of the foot and varying the force required to rotate the foot, the trainer adjustably controls the foot of the sportsman during the movement of his body as in striking a golf ball or tennis ball or baseball.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,979,116 ('116 Patent), which issued to Matchick, discloses a Stride-Box. The Patent teaches a batter's training device comprising a sheet material which defines a first pivot foot opening and a second stride foot opening. Means are provided in the stride foot opening for adjusting the distance of the stride foot opening from the pivot foot opening and for adjusting the length of the stride foot opening.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,580 ('580 Patent), which issued to Lang, discloses a Foot Position Teaching Apparatus for Batting Practice. The '580 Patent teaches a foot positioning apparatus, which is flat, flexible, and easy for anyone to use. A first member and a second member are telescopically attached to each other and the first member is pivotally attached to home plate. A third member is pivotally attached to the second member and the second member has foot alignment devices on each end thereof which are pivotally attached to the third member whereby the entire device can be adjustably pivoted around home plate to accommodate both a left hand and a right hand batter and the batter can be adjusted additionally as to foot and leg positions and distance from home plate.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,536,004 ('004 Patent), which issued to Wiseman et al., discloses a Batting Training Device. The '004 Patent teaches a mat marked with first indicia designating home plate and a plurality of second indicia showing sequential segments for the batter to place his or her feet. The Mt may be used alone to achieve a proper batting stance and proper foot positioning in relation to home plate or with at least one measuring means for measuring a point located in the strike zone of the batter identifying the height of a level swing of the bat. This measured specific distance correlates to a proper distance from home plate the batter should distance himself or herself to hit the ball with the "power zone" of the bat with a full arm extension of the leading arm. See also U.S. Pat. No. 5,642,880 ('880 Patent), which also issued to Wiseman et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,432,001 ('001 Patent), which issued to Pierce, discloses a Foot Position Trainer Apparatus. The '001 Patent teaches a foot positioning training apparatus comprising a foot support member formed in the shape of the sole of a shoe. A toe portion is attached to a front edge of the support member and extends upwardly and rearwardly therefrom and defines a space for receiving the toes of a batter's foot and, more particularly, for receiving the toe portion of a batter's shoe. The toe portion restricts vertical movement of a batter's foot when batting a baseball. The apparatus further includes an upstanding wall extending along an outer edge of the support surface between the toe portion and a rear edge for restricting outward lateral movement of a batter's foot when batting a baseball. See also U.S. patent application No. 2002/0091020, published by Pierce.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0130072, authored by Barth et al., discloses a Baseball Batting Stride Device and System, and Method of Using Same. This publication teaches an apparatus for modifying the stride of a baseball batter's swing motion, including means of capturing a lower portion of a baseball batter's foot and means of elastomerically tethering the capturing means to substratum, wherein the batter's leading toes are allowed to stride in any direction essentially free of substantial distal destabilizing hindrance.
From a review of these publications and other prior art generally known in the relevant art, it will be seen that the prior art does not teach a baseball batting stance training system or a baseball batting stance training assembly for use in combination with the home plate region of a baseball field, wherein the baseball batting stance system comprises, in combination, a baseball field, a substantially planar stance training mat for placement upon the home plate region of the baseball field, and at least one rearward foot-receiving cuff for removable or breakaway attachment to the stance training mat. It will be further seen that the prior art patents do not teach a stance training mat that is substantially rectangular and planar in design and constructed from a compliant, low memory material that comprises a superior mat surface, an inferior mat surface, and at least three distinct zones. In this last regard, it will be seen that the prior art does not teach a stance training mat comprising three distinct zones defined by a left mat zone, a right mat zone, and a home plate zone wherein the home plate zone comprises home plate marker means or a virtual home plate and the left and right mat zones each comprise foot print indicia.
Still further it will be seen that the prior art does not teach foot print indicia wherein the same are defined by forward foot markers and rearward foot markers, the rearward foot markers comprising structure for receiving a breakaway foot-receiving cuff. The prior art also does not teach a foot-receiving cuff that is designed to properly position the rearward foot, but which cuff may be detached from the stance training mat in a breakaway manner given a sufficient cuff-removing force so as to prevent unfortunate injury to the user.
The prior art thus perceives a need for a baseball batting stance system comprising, in combination, a baseball field, a substantially planar stance training mat for placement upon the home plate region of the baseball field, and at least one rearward foot-receiving cuff for removable or breakaway attachment to the stance training mat. Further, the prior art perceives a need for a stance training mat that is substantially rectangular and planar in design and constructed from a compliant, low memory material comprising a superior mat surface, an inferior mat surface, and at least three distinct zones. In this last regard, it will be seen that the prior art perceives a need for a stance training mat comprising three distinct zones defined by a left mat zone, a right mat zone, and a home plate zone so that users thereof may selectively learn or develop proper batting stance technique on either side of a home plate zone.
Further, the prior art perceives a need for left and right mat zones aligned laterally opposite a home plate zone wherein the left and right mat zones each comprise foot print indicia defined by forward foot markers and rearward foot markers. The prior art perceives a further need for rearward foot markers that comprise structure for receiving a breakaway foot-receiving cuff. The prior art thus further perceives a need for a foot-receiving cuff designed to properly position the rearward foot, while providing breakaway attachment means for detaching the cuff from the stance raining mat in a breakaway manner given sufficient cuff-removing forces so as to prevent unfortunate injury to the user.

Baseball batting stance training assembly


A magnetic particle separator for a motor vehicle drive axle includes a slot in a wall of the drive axle and a magnet in the slot. The slot is located such that one side thereof defines a window open to a gear chamber of the drive axle. The slot has dovetail edges which define abutments for preventing dislodgement of the magnet into the gear chamber through the window. A cover of the drive axle closes and open side of the gear chamber and an open end of the slot to prevent dislodgement of the magnet through the open end. Ferromagnetic particles entrained in fluid lubricant circulating in the gear chamber are attracted by the magnet through the window and thereby separated from the lubricant.

Motor vehicle drive axles for front wheel drive and rear wheel drive typically include a housing having a gear chamber for a differential gear set of the drive axle. Tiny steel particles dislodged from the meshing gears of the differential gear set during normal operation become entrained in the lubricating fluid circulating in the gear chamber. To maximize the durability of the differential, magnets for capturing the dislodged particles have been mounted on fill/drain plugs in the drive axle housing, which plugs may or may not be located for maximum particle collection. Alternatively, magnets have been glued or otherwise adhesively affixed to a side of the gear chamber. Such adhesively affixed magnets may be prone to dislodgement and the adhesives may be difficult to handle and apply. A magnetic particle separator according to this invention is an improvement over the aforesaid plug and adhesive mount magnetic particle separators.


A procedure for a reasonability check of the signal of a temperature sensor that is arranged in a reducing tank, in particular a HWL-tank, is thereby characterized, in that the tank level is detected by a tank level sensor that is arranged almost at the same filling level position as the temperature sensor, in that the tank level sensor signal is compared to the temperature sensor signal and then, if default tank level sensor signals correlate within default limits with default temperature sensor signal values, a functioning temperature sensor and/or a functioning tank level sensor are indicated.

The exhaust gases of combustion engines, which are operated with an air ratio of lambda=1, also Otto combustion engines are effectively purified with the aid of so-called three-way catalytic converters. Thereby in particular nitrous gases, hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide are removed from the exhaust gas. The exhaust gases of combustion engines, which work with an air ratio of lambda >1, thus for example Diesel combustion engines or Otto combustion engines in lean operation, can be purified only partially with such catalyzers. Hereby only the hydrocarbons and the carbon monoxide are mostly degraded, while nitrous gases cannot be noticeably reduced due to the high oxygen content in the exhaust gas.
To enable also a purification of nitrous gases in exhaust gases of such combustion engines the so-called selective catalytic reduction is known (SCR-procedure). Hereby ammoniac is often used as the reducing agent, which is created at the SCR-procedure by a urea-hydrolysis. The urea that is carried along in a watery solution serves as ammoniac carrier and is converted to ammoniac with the aid of a metering system by hydrolysis-catalyzer, which then reduces nitrous gases in the SCR-catalyzer. The watery urea-solution, subsequently called "reducing agent", is stored in a tank, subsequently also termed as HWL tank.
A procedure and a device for metering a corresponding reagent or reducing agent for purifying the exhaust gas of combustion engines is for example known from DE 10 2004 021 372 A1.
The watery urea-water solution, which is stored in the HWL-tank, freezes there at a temperature of −11° C. In that case the system start and therefore the NOx-reduction is delayed depending on the exact tank temperature according to the maximum melting time that is set by the environmental authorities in order to melt a minimum amount HWL in this time. In order to determine the temperature in the HWL tank, a temperature sensor is built into the HWL tank. This tank temperature sensor has to be controlled as exhaust gas relevant component according to the regulations of the On-Board diagnosis II (OBD II). The OBD II requires that exhaust gas relevant components fulfill the following requirements:                SCR-signal range check: continuous electric control of exhaust gas relevant components;        rationality faults: function for a reasonability check, in order to detect, whether the sensor value is moving in a reasonable range and whether it provides a reasonable behavior;        manipulation detection: a simple manipulation of the exhaust gas relevant components has to be detectable.
In order to realize this function at a temperature sensor, which is built into a HWL tank, which means in order to undertake a reliable reasonability check of a temperature sensor, a second temperature sensor has to be provided for example, with whose aid the first temperature sensor is checked. But the construction of a second temperature sensor is very costly.
The task of the invention is therefore to provide a procedure for a reasonability check of the signal of a temperature sensor that is arranged in a HWL tank, which works without a second temperature sensor and can therefore be technically simply and affordably realized.

Procedure for a reasonability check of a temperature sensor


A helmet that can include a helmet body comprising an energy absorption layer and an outer shell. A first opening can be formed through the outer shell and extend into the energy absorbing layer, the first opening including a perimeter. A first sleeve can be disposed at least partially within the first opening, the first sleeve including a first end including a first flange coupled to the outer shell and extending beyond the perimeter of the first opening, and a second end opposite the first end including a base disposed over the energy absorption layer. A camera can be coupled to the first sleeve and exposed through the first opening. The helmet can further include the first sleeve including a depth greater than a width or a length. The first flange can be directly coupled to an outer surface or an inner of the outer shell.

A physical impact to the head of a person may cause serious injury or death. To reduce the probability of such consequences, protective gear, such as a helmet, is often used in activities that are associated with an increased level of risk for a head injury. Examples of such activities include, but are not limited to, skiing, snowboarding, sledding, ice skating, bicycling, rollerblading, rock climbing, skate boarding, motorcycling, and other motorsports. In general, a helmet is designed to maintain its structural integrity and stay secured to the head of a wearer during an impact.
With increasing frequency, users are capturing "on board" footage of their activities by attaching video cameras to helmets and other equipment. Typically such cameras are attached by first attaching a bracket to the helmet using adhesive, suction cups, or other methods, and then attaching the camera to the bracket. Such installations can be problematic because the camera and the bracket typically project awkwardly from the helmet. As a result, the camera is highly susceptible to damage from impacts, may cause unwanted aerodynamic drag, and may reduce the stability of the helmet by locating a relatively large mass a relatively large distance from the center of rotation of the helmet.

Helmet with integrated electronic components


Methods of determining an amount and/or a thickness of residual material in a via based on LL-BSE images of the material are disclosed. Embodiments include etching a plurality of vias through at least one material layer on a wafer; loading the wafer with predetermined measurement parameters in a CD-SEM; acquiring an image of each via of interest using LL-BSE imaging; quantifying grey level values of the images; characterizing residuals of the at least one material layer in each via based on the grey level values; determining an etching success rate based on the characterizing of the residuals; adjusting the etching based on the determining of the etching success rate; and repeating the steps of acquiring, quantifying, characterizing, determining, and adjusting until a desired etching success rate is achieved.

The CD-SEM is often used for inline process control. Measurements are extracted from top-down images based on secondary electron collection while scanning the specimen. However, with regular CD-SEM imaging, material dependent differentiation and quantification is not possible, as grey level variation on an area of interest, e.g., a pad area, is limited.
Further, known approaches for inline monitoring often involve optical techniques such as reflectometry, for example. However, to execute such measurements, a dedicated test pattern size of approximately 70 micrometers (μm)×70 μm, for example, needs to be placed in a sacrificial area of the chip, e.g., spot size of measurement system is 30 μm to 50 μm. These test structures are generally non-electrical patterns. As a result, correlation to electrical parameters is difficult. In addition, due to the topographical effects and density variations across a chip, the measurement does not always represent what happened in the chip and to the pads/vias with much smaller areas. Currently, the wafer has to be brought to an analytical lab for cross sectioning and verified with destructive physical analysis, e.g., transmission electron microscopy (TEM) or cross-section scanning electron microscope (X-SEM) imaging. Consequently, the wafer is lost and the turnaround time is quite high, e.g., in the range of a week, and several thousands of wafers can be at risk as a result.
Therefore, for process monitoring and device reliability insurance for thin layers or thin films it is important to have feedback information as to whether via pads in upper back-end-of-line (BEOL) layers are opened, partially opened, or closed post etching. However, due to the particularly small size of the via pads, e.g., 9 μm2 to 1600 μm2, alternate measurement approaches using energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) may not yield required sensitivity as high voltages of 5 kilovolts (kV) and up are required. Moreover, thin residual layers of a few nanometers, e.g., 1 nm to 10 nm, are not easy to dissolve as the penetration depth for electrons is too high, and the main EDX signal comes from the lower layer. Further, optical film measurements also may not be an option since the pads are often too small, e.g., a minimum of 2500 μm2 is generally required for optical approaches.
In addition, during typical via etch steps (excluding trench first via last (TVFL)), the etch stops in tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and/or BLOK layers. However, sometimes the etching depth target is not optimally reached so that excess residual TEOS and/or BLOK remains. As a result, at the final etch step, the via remains unopened, and at the fill step, contact cannot be made. Consequently, a number of wafers in progress (WIP) may be affected until the issue has been detected. Ideally, at a via-etch CD measurement step, an inspection of residual layer thickness would be desired to estimate the successful via etch process down to target depth. Moreover, depth measurement by atomic force microscopy (AFM) is not possible due to the dimensions of the vias.
A need therefore exists for methodology enabling inline determination of an amount of residual material on a via pad and a thickness of a residual layer in a via after via etch.

Inline residual layer detection and characterization post via post etch using CD-SEM


In an image forming apparatus, a first electric pathway connects a charging portion and a power supply unit, a second electric pathway is formed in the photoconductor unit and connects the first electric pathway and the photoconductor. An electrical component is disposed on the second electric pathway and has predetermined electrical property in accordance with the type of the photoconductor unit. A current detection portion is configured to detect current flowing through the second electric pathway when a detection voltage is applied on the first electric pathway. A determination processing portion is configured to determine the type of the photoconductor unit and existence of usage of the photoconductor unit, based on a current value detected by the current detection portion. The blocking portion is configured to block the second electric pathway after determination by the determination processing portion.

The present disclosure relates to an image forming apparatus configured to form an image on a sheet member through electrophotographic method.
In an electrophotographic type image forming apparatus, a photoconductor unit including a photoconductor drum is detachably disposed. In this type of an image forming apparatus, property information is read from a storage portion provided to the photoconductor unit, and initial setting of a charging condition of the photoconductor drum is set in some cases. In addition, in order to set the initial setting only when usage of the photoconductor unit has started, the photoconductor unit is determined whether or not to be never used in some cases.

Image forming apparatus comprising determination processing portion for detecting property information of photoconductor


In one embodiment, an integrated phase shifter includes: a plurality of stages, wherein each stage comprises: a transistor amplifier configured to amplify a voltage signal received at an input node into an amplified voltage signal at an output node according to a gain, wherein the transistor amplifier is configured such that the gain is proportional to a bias signal; an integrated inductor loading the output node, wherein the gain of the transistor amplifier is also proportional to an inductance of the integrated inductor; and a varactor diode loading the output node, wherein the varactor diode has a variable capacitance responsive to a control voltage.

Conventional beam forming systems are often cumbersome to manufacture. In particular, conventional beam forming antenna arrays require complicated feed structures and phase-shifters that are impractical to be implemented in a semiconductor-based design due to its cost, power consumption and deficiency in electrical characteristics such as insertion loss and quantization noise levels. In addition, such beam forming arrays make digital signal processing techniques cumbersome as the operating frequency is increased. In addition, at the higher data rates enabled by high frequency operation, multipath fading and cross-interference becomes a serious issue. Adaptive beam forming techniques are known to combat these problems. But adaptive beam forming for transmission at 10 GHz or higher frequencies requires massively parallel utilization of A/D and D/A converters.
A key element of beamforming systems is the design of the phase shifter, which is conventionally implemented using a monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC). However, MMICs are costly and introduce a relatively high insertion loss. As a result, Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS)-based phase shifters have been developed. However, MEMS-based phase shifters are not compatible with conventional semiconductor processes and integration with advanced RF and mixed-signal processing in a monolithic substrate.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for improved phase shifters that are compatible with semiconductor manufacturing processes.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A system for providing a catalyst to a first flow of gas. The first flow of gas has an operating pressure. A pipe carries the first flow of gas from a compressor of a turbocharger to a combustion chamber. The operating pressure of the first flow of gas varies in accordance with an operation of the compressor. The system includes an enclosure, a pump, and an atomizer. The enclosure receives a portion of the first flow of gas at the operating pressure. The pump is positioned in the enclosure. The pump receives from within the enclosure the portion of the first flow of gas. The pump provides the portion of the first flow of gas at a second pressure. Any gas that exits the enclosure is provided by the pump at the second pressure. The atomizer receives a solution having the catalyst and provides a vapor having the catalyst. The portion of the first flow of gas at the second pressure carries the vapor out of the system and into the first flow of gas for delivery to the combustion chamber. A magnitude of the second pressure comprises a magnitude of the operating pressure plus a magnitude of a pressure increase provided by the pump.

A catalyst may modify a combustion reaction to provide a more desirable reaction (e.g., more complete, fewer waste byproducts). A catalyst may be provided to a combustion chamber (e.g., furnace, cylinder of an internal combustion engine) via a flow of gas. Catalyst delivery may benefit from a system that provides the catalyst via a flow of gas (e.g., air) that varies in pressure.

Systems and methods for providing a catalyst


A system for use in down hole operations, the system comprising a wellhead; a BOP ram package connected at one end to the wellhead and having an axial bore extending from the wellhead to the other end; a device above the other end of the BOP ram package for isolating the pressure of the wellhead; a fluid take off between the pressure containing means and the BOP ram package; a separator in communication with the fluid take of such that, in use, a multi-phase medium obtained from the well can be separated into its constituent phases; and a pressure control device on each of one or more outlets from the separator for allowing the system to be operated at different wellhead pressures.

This invention relates to a system for use in creating and carry out subsequent operations in a well and, in particular, to a system which allows access to a well bore, either subsea or at the surface, whilst ensuring that the well pressure at the wellhead is controlled.
When drilling a well, the single mechanical safety barrier is the BOP stack connected to the wellhead. The BOP ram package contains the high pressure rams and usually the medium pressure annular. For subsea the BOP lower riser package, connected to the upper end of the BOP ram package is arranged to be disconnected from the BOP ram package, for example, in the event of an emergency to release the riser and vessel.
The need to drill at either a "low pressure" or for kick control is required when entering a permeable low pressure formation which requires to be drilled with a specific mud. Most top sections of a hole can be drilled with a standard mud and in a method which follows conventional practices.
Currently, wells are drilled from the surface with mud columns and the necessary monitoring is carried out from, or at, the drill floor. When drilling a well, the mud weight is a critical factor for three main reasons. Firstly, the pressure differential on the kick/fracture gradient which gives a drilling pressure margin between the pore and fracture pressures is critical. Secondly, the formation pressure versus the mud pressure (hydrostatic head and circulation pressure) affects the rate of penetration. Finally, the kick control pressures need to be controlled in order to manage a well kick and to maintain the ability to circulate the gas out of the well within the well design limits.
Drilling a production well with a balanced or overbalanced mud weight can clog open formations causing severe permanent permeability damage, i.e. the hydrocarbon flow rate from the well is drastically reduced. A solution is to drill the formation with a mud column which has a lower hydrostatic head pressure than the reservoir pressure. This is generally known as under balanced drilling. Muds that can achieve this could be water based, oil based, foam gas or a combination.
For surface BOP operations, the use of certain preferred muds could result in the mud pressure in the BOP being above atmospheric pressure.
A means of sealing around the drilling string, whilst at the same time allowing the tubular equipment to move in or out of the well is necessary. In known configurations, downstream of a surface BOP, the well annulus flow has to be choked back prior to entering a low pressure separator in order to remove any entrained gas in the return mud flow. The mud at atmospheric pressure then passes over shale shakers to remove the cuttings prior to entering the mud pumps. For subsea BOP operations, the density of the mud column means it is necessary to operate through the surface BOP with the wellhead pressure being less than the mud hydrostatic head to the surface.
Typically, underbalanced drilling has been limited to coil tubing drilling because of its simplicity, i.e. the coil tubing is not rotated, has no tool joints and coil tubing BOP's are designed for tubing to be stripped in and out of the hole under pressure. An important criteria for an underbalanced well is that, at no time in its life, must the formation be subjected to over pressure. As the formation has no protection from excessive pressure, considerable damage will occur very quickly. This applies in all aspects of accessing the well, for example, during drilling the well, casing operations, running the completion, testing and workovers.
One of the prime advantages of underbalanced drilling is that production from the open and free formations can be up to 50% higher than if the well had been drilled in a conventional manner. Typically, under balanced drilling is only performed on land wells, as opposed to subsea wells, due to the complexity of the operation and the considerable size of the hardware required. For example, it is necessary to have access to the BOP, the chokes, the separators, the pumps, and it must be possible to control the system carefully.
In deep water (i.e. 1000 metres or more), some reservoirs are not subjected to the overburden pressure of the ground above, which would be experienced on land or shallow water location wells. This means these reservoirs have a low overburden pressure relative to the hydrostatic head of water. Therefore, a small increase in pressure can result in fracturing the formation, causing an underground blow out. A small decrease in mud pressure will result in a well kick. Accordingly, there is a narrow operating pressure margin in between the formation pore and fracture pressures which limits the distances which can be drilled in one stage especially in a horizontal section. In order to drain a reservoir fully, it is typically necessary for more wells to be provided and these wells need to be evenly spaced across the field to ensure that all regions of the field are accessed. Accordingly, developments of this sort are extremely costly.
When drilling in deeper waters, the operator of a well must remain within the safe drilling limits in order to control the well completely and so that it is possible to handle unplanned scenarios which include well kick operations such as kick detection relative to the large mud circulating volume, movement of a floating vessel that alters the mud circulation volume, the gelling effect of muds which increases the friction and therefore the circulating pressure, the friction caused by the limited size and length of the choke and kill lines, operating in the narrow mud weight window, and then attempting to control a kick on the surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,276,455 shows a horizontal subsea separation system which is piped off the base of the riser unit to a sea bed gravity separation unit, and with an independent riser for mud returns. The system operates at the ambient water pressure and therefore would not support any mud in the drilling riser bore.


A chip arrangement is provided, the chip arrangement, including: a carrier; at least one chip including at least one contact pad disposed over the carrier; an encapsulation material at least partially surrounding the at least one chip and the carrier; and at least one low temperature co-fired ceramic sheet disposed over a side of the carrier.

FIG. 1A shows an illustration of heatsink-isolation based on molding. A chip package, e.g. a transistor outline TO chip package, may include a back side isolation, e.g. an encapsulation material formed over a back side of a leadframe 102 as indicated by 108. Back side isolations, having typical thicknesses, may result in a worse heat dissipation performance than a TO chip package without a back side isolation. FIG. 1B shows the thermal resistance 119 (K/W) with respect to chip area 121 (mm2) of a chip package with different back side isolation thicknesses: no back side isolation 111; about 500 μm thick back side isolation 113; about 600 μm thick back side isolation 115; and about 800 μm thick back side isolation 117. Typical encapsulation thicknesses of the back side isolation, which are normally around 500 μm, e.g. as shown by 113, suffer from a much larger thermal resistance than chip packages without back side isolation, e.g. as shown by 111, and therefore exhibit poorer heat dissipation than without back side isolation.
Low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) technology may combine the benefits of HTCC (High Temperature Co-fired Ceramics) and thick-film technology which may have traditionally been used in conventional printed circuit board (PCB) technology. Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramics may be used for multi-sheet/multi-layer circuit arrangements. Components such as capacitors, resistors and inductors may be produced using single layer or multi layer LTCC sheets, e.g. by printing, e.g. by screen printing and/or photochemical processes. LTCC sheets may be suitable for imprinting with resistors and/or other electronic components. For example, with a screen printing process, conductive pastes may be printed on the LTCC surface, which generate the resistors and/or electronic components necessary for the circuits. Such electronic components may differ from all of their nominal values (±25%) and may therefore be too large print. With the laser trimming and using different cutting styles, resistors and/or electronic components may be trimmed until they reach their exact resistance values (±1%). LTCC sheets may also be used in the field of microfluidics, wherein instead of glass substrates, three-dimensional structures may be constructed.
LTCC sheets may have a relatively poor thermal conductivity compared to aluminum oxide (thick-film technology), and are therefore often used with thermal vias. LTCC sheets may be used in applications such as high-frequency wireless, satellite, microwave systems and medical technology and the automotive industry (steering).

Chip arrangement with low temperature co-fired ceramic and a method for forming a chip arrangement with low temperature co-fired ceramic


Representation-neutral dialogue systems and methods (“RNDS”) are described that include multi-application, multi-device spoken-language dialogue systems based on the information-state update approach. The RNDS includes representation-neutral core components of a dialogue system that provide scripted domain-specific extensions to routines such as dialogue move modeling and reference resolution, easy substitution of specific semantic representations and associated routines, and clean interfaces to external components for language-understanding (i.e., speech-recognition and parsing) and language-generation, and to domain-specific knowledge sources. The RNDS also allows seamless interaction with a community of devices.

Dialog includes language of a conversation between participants as well as a shared central context constructed by the participants to a conversation (e.g., references later in a conversation to "it" refer to something described earlier in the conversation). The participants of the conversation may be human, machine, or any combination of humans and machines. Dialog Management includes interpretation of speaker utterances with respect to the shared context, as well as techniques and strategies for managing the interaction between the dialog participants. Activity-oriented dialogue systems have been in development for applications such as multimodal control of robotic devices, speech-enabled tutoring systems, and conversational interaction with in-car devices. The typical dialogue system architecture includes various components like speech-recognizers, language parsers, language generators, speech-synthesizers, and Dialogue Managers ("DM"). This dialogue system can also include connections to external application-specific components such as ontologies or knowledge bases ("KB"), as well as dialogue-enabled devices. See the following for examples of Dialog Systems: (i) Lemon, O., A. Gruenstein, S. Peters (2002), "Collaborative activities and multi-tasking in dialogue systems", Traitement Automatique des Langues (TAL), 43(2); (ii) Clark, B., J. Fry, M. Ginzton, S. Peters, H. Pon-Barry, Z. Thomsen-Grey (2001), "Automated tutoring dialogues for training in shipboard damage control", SIGdial; and (iii) Weng, F., L. Cavedon, B. Raghunathan, D. Mirkovic, H. Cheng, H. Schmidt, H, Bratt, R. Mishra, S. Peters, L. Zhao, S. Upson, L. Shriberg, C. Bergmann (2004), "A conversational dialogue system for cognitively overloaded users (poster)", INTERSPEECH.
The DM of a dialogue system is an oversight module that facilitates the interaction between dialogue participants. The dialogue system using Activity Models is specific to a type of dialogue, referred to as "activity-oriented dialogue", which is dialogue about activities being jointly) carried out by a user and a machine, computer, and/or robot. In a user- or speaker-initiated system, the DM directs the processing of an input utterance from one component to another through interpretation and back-end system response. In the process, the DM detects and handles information inputs of an input utterance, and generates system output, for example. The DM may be used with different parsers and language-generation components. Interaction with external devices is mediated by Activity Models ("AMs"), i.e. declarative specifications of device capabilities and their relationships to linguistic processes. However, customization to new domains has generally required some significant programming effort, due to variations in dialogue move requirements across applications, representation variation in interface to the language parser and other components, as well as certain processes (e.g. reference resolution) having domain-specific aspects to them.
The conventional dialogue management systems range from the commercially widely-used yet more constrained dialogue-modeling mechanisms based on voice extensible markup language ("VXML"), to semantic models based on the TrindiKit approach to information-state update. While many dialogue systems are designed and implemented for specific domains, these systems require significant engineering to apply to new domains. Conversely, a dialogue management infrastructure based on VXML allows flexible implementation of speech-based dialogue systems for new domains, but provides only shallow solutions to many issues in dialogue modeling.


A process for removal and recovery of arsenic from a gas comprising contacting a supported sorbent with an arsenic-containing gas, adsorbing the arsenic with the supported sorbent, desorbing the arsenic from the supported sorbent, and collecting the desorbed arsenic.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process for removing and recovering arsenic-containing compounds from gases. In particular, this invention relates to a process for removing and recovering organoarsines from gases, in particular, natural gas.
Arsenic-containing compounds in the form of gases have recently been found in natural gas pipelines and in natural gas fields. These compounds have been identified as predominately trimethylarsine (TMA), ethyldimethylarsine, diethylmethylarsine and triethylarsine. Reported concentrations of total arsenic varies from a few ug/m.sup.3 to two mg/m.sup.3. Because of operational problems caused by the formation of corresponding trialkylarsine sulfide residues on many pressure and flow regulation devices in the natural gas distribution system as well as the environmental significance of arsenic, a process for efficient removal of arsenic to reduce the concentration of these types of constituents in natural gas to a level that is acceptable on the basis of present process and toxicological knowledge is required.
2. Description of Prior Art
At the present time, known processes for removal of arsenic from gas streams are costly and/or generally ineffective. One such process is the Parker copper oxide/zinc oxide catalytic process which was originally developed to remove arsenic, in particular inorganic arsine, from the gas stream at high temperature. This process requires that the gas to be treated be preprocessed to remove water and sulfur species because the catalyst is reactive to water at the processing temperature and is also somewhat specific for sulfur resulting in competitive binding of sulfur for the arsenic sites resulting in a probable reduction in catalyst life. Furthermore, the arsenic deposited on the exhausted catalyst cannot be recovered easily, posing an environmental disposal problem.
In addition, several methods for analyzing the amount of arsenic in gas are known. One such method is the use of nitric acid to extract arsenic from natural gas and atomic spectroscopic techniques to determine the concentration of arsenic in the extract. This method provides a means for determining total arsenic in natural gas but is not a suitable field technique because it uses fragile glassware and concentrated nitric acid, the latter being a potential hazard to test personnel.
A second known method for determining the amount of total arsenic in gas is the NIOSH-approved air sampling method which utilizes coconut charcoal tubes to collect arsenic compounds from natural gas and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) techniques to determine the amount of arsenic on the charcoal. However, this method is known to produce inconsistent results due to the fact that the efficiency of the charcoal tubes for collection of arsenic compounds from natural gas is substantially reduced due to much higher adsorption affinity of some natural gas components, such as heavier hydrocarbons, to the charcoal surfaces than the arsenic compounds. As a result, the arsenic content of the gas is not fully captured by the charcoal as it passes through the charcoal tubes, resulting in a significant loss of sample. Thus, it is apparent that this method also is not suitable for use in removing and recovering arsenic from gases.
Another known method for determining total arsenic in gas is the peroxydisulfate method for determining total trimethylarsine in which a saturated solution of potassium peroxydisulfate is used to extract the arsenic-containing compounds from a gas containing such compounds. The arsenic can be extracted by static or dynamic methods. The static batch extraction method recovers arsenic quantitatively from the gas by shaking a fixed volume of gas collected at atmospheric pressure with 10 ml. of extractant in a gas collection vessel for more than one hour. The dynamic method uses liquid extraction vessels through which the gas is bubbled through an extraction liquid. However, this method of arsenic recovery is not effective because the recovery of arsenic depends too much on the pH of the extraction liquid and the rate of sparging.

Supported sorbents for removal and recovery of arsenic from gases


A discharge lamp lighting controller that detects the voltage applied to a discharge lamp used by a vehicle, for example, and stops power supply to the discharge lamp if the voltage goes out of an estimated rated voltage range in a design stage. Circuit components are protected from possible impairment due to excessive current that may flow depending on the state of the discharge lamp under the constant power control of the discharge lamp.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a discharge lamp lighting controller and a discharge lamp socket used for a discharge lamp that emits light by the discharge accompanying gas breakdown, and particularly to those preferably applied to discharge lamps used as headlights of a vehicle such as an automobile.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, halogen lamps, in which halogenated gas is filled between electrodes, are widely used as headlights of a vehicle. The halogen lamps have an advantage of being able to emit higher density luminous flux more effectively than filament lamps. Recently, attempts have been made to use as headlights of a vehicle instead of the halogen lamps discharge lamps such as high-voltage sodium-vapor lamps and metal halide lamps which have been used as streetlights because discharge lamps can emit even higher density luminous flux than the halogen lamps when driven at a fixed amount of power.
FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing a conventional discharge lamp lighting controller and its peripheral circuits disclosed in Japanese patent application laid-open No. 4-26002. In FIG. 16, the reference numeral 1 designates a DC power supply such as a battery mounted on a vehicle; 2 designates a DC-DC converter for multiplying a power supply voltage from the DC power supply 1 to output a high voltage; 3 designates a DC-AC inverter for converting the high voltage to an AC voltage; 4 designates a discharge lamp to which the AC voltage is applied; 5 designates an igniter circuit provided between the DC-AC inverter 3 and discharge lamp 4 for generating a very high voltage by further boosting the high voltage for firing the discharge lamp 4; 6 designates a control circuit for controlling the DC-DC converter 2 to supply the discharge lamp 4 with a fixed amount of power; and 7 designates a headlight switch connected between the DC power supply 1 and the DC-DC converter 2.
Next, the operation of the conventional system will be described.
When the headlight switch 7 is turned on, the power supply voltage is fed to the DC-DC converter 2. The DC-DC converter 2 multiplies it to the high voltage which passes through the DC-AC inverter 3 which is initially at rest. The igniter circuit 5 further boosts the high voltage and applies it to the discharge lamp 4. This causes breakdown between the electrodes of the discharge lamp 4, thus emitting light involved in arc discharges.
Once the breakdown has occurred, the igniter circuit 5 stops and the DC-AC inverter 3 starts its operation so that the discharge lamp 4, which is supplied with high AC power, continues its emission of light. In this steady state, the control circuit 6 regulates the lamp current supplied from the DC-DC converter 2 to the discharge lamp 4 such that it emits light at a fixed amount of power. This is carried out in the expectation that its life will be prolonged.
The conventional discharge lamp lighting controller with such an arrangement has a problem in that a lamp current more than a rated current which was estimated at the design stage can flow through the DC-DC converter 2 and DC-AC inverter 3.
This is because there are sometimes more than estimated variations in the amount of gas filled in the tube of the discharge lamp 4, and in addition the gas can be gradually discharged from the tube. If the lamp voltage of the discharge lamp 4 reduces owing to these factors, a current more than the rated current will flow. Leaving the discharge lamp 4 in this state will cause an excessive current to continue flowing through the discharge lamp lighting controller, and this will cause secondary problems such as impairment of circuit components.
Reversely, if an increasing lamp voltage is applied to the discharge lamp 4 in association with its life, secondary problems can arise such as explosion of the discharge lamp 4 due to the high voltage.

Discharge lamp lighting controller and discharge lamp socket applied to the same