The present invention relates to a switching device for selecting a voltage between an a.c. voltage and a d.c. voltage using the ground as a reference, meant to be controlled by a two-state signal, using the ground as a reference and of the same sign as the d.c. voltage, including means for adjusting the turn-on time of a switch in the selection of the d.c. voltage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a switch for closing a discharge path of a storage capacitor of a rectified power supply. It more specifically applies to the implementation of a switch meant to be controlled by a two-state signal that fluctuates between a reference potential, e.g., ground, and a high state (which has the same sign as the rectified power supply).
However, although the present invention is described hereafter in the context of this particular application, it should be noted that the present invention also provides a switch for selecting a voltage from between an a.c. voltage and a d.c. voltage (using the ground as a reference), which is meant to be controlled by a two-state signal also using the ground as a reference and having a high state that is the same sign as the d.c. voltage.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
FIG. 1 shows an example of a rectifier associated with a storage capacitor, for example, for a power converter such as a switch-mode supply system.
The rectifier generally includes a diode bridge 1 connected to an a.c. power supply (terminals E1, E2), for example, the mains a.c. voltage. A storage capacitor C is positioned between output terminals S1 and S2, respectively, of the rectifier to provide a rectified d.c. supply Vout. In the example shown in FIG. 1, capacitor C is associated with separate charge and discharge paths. The charge path is comprised of a diode D connected between a first terminal of the capacitor and terminal S2 (generally the ground). The discharge path is comprised of a thyristor Th mounted between the first terminal of the capacitor and the ground. Thyristor Th is a thyristor with its anode gate connected to a circuit 2 issuing a two-state control signal, using the ground as a reference.
FIG. 2 illustrates the operation of the rectifier as shown in FIG. 1. This drawing shows, in the form of timing diagrams, the course of voltage Vout according to a control signal Vg of thyristor Th, the on-periods of thyristor Th being illustrated in a third timing diagram.
It is assumed that at a time t0, capacitor C is charged and the voltage Vin issued by the rectifier is at its maximum Vm. Voltage Vout is also at its maximum Vm and thyristor Th is blocked. Voltage Vin starts to decrease in the second half of the halfwave and, at a time t1, block 2 sends a positive pulse (Vcc) for controlling thyristor Th. At this time, the thyristor turns on and voltage Vout abruptly jumps to the maximum charge level of capacitor C corresponding, for example, to the maximum amplitude Vm of voltage Vin. Assuming that a load is connected to terminals S1 and S2, capacitor C discharges until voltage Vin becomes once again higher than the voltage across the capacitor (time t2), that is, during the following halfwave. At that time, the thyristor blocks and capacitor C recharges via diode D1. This operation is repeated at each halfwave of the rectified a.c. voltage.
In some applications, the abrupt voltage jump at time t1 (i.e., at the turning-on of thyristor Th) raises problems. Such problems arise, for example, if voltage Vout is meant for a circuit synchronized on the mains, for example, a system for improving the power factor in a television receiver where signal Vout is used as a basis for the horizontal scanning of the screen.
In this type of application, the turning-on of thyristor Th might be seen on the image, the abrupt voltage jump creating interference at the mains frequency.
More generally, this problem appears in the switching between two voltage sources, i.e. a.c. and d.c sources.

Device for switching between an A.C. voltage and a D.C. voltage


This image generating apparatus comprises a control portion printing a print image by predicting an ambient temperature in an apparatus body substantially reaching a constant level after continuously printing the same print image from the data quantity of the print image and adding a heat quantity corresponding to the difference between the predicted ambient temperature in the apparatus body and a printing-time ambient temperature in the apparatus body detected by a second temperature sensor to a heat quantity of a thermal head decided in response to a printing-time temperature of the thermal head detected by a first temperature sensor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image generating apparatus, and more particularly, it relates to an image generating apparatus comprising a thermal head.
2. Description of the Background Art
An image generating apparatus comprising a thermal head is known in general. This conventional image generating apparatus prints images on a paper or the like by applying energy to a heating element so that the heating element generates heat. In general, the aforementioned image generating apparatus controls a thermal head by detecting the temperature thereof or the ambient temperature around the thermal head. For example, Japanese Patent Laying-Open Nos. 5-155059 (1993), 6-297748 (1994), 6-238939 (1994) and 10-217529 (1998) disclose such image generating apparatuses.
Thermal head control means described in the aforementioned Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 5-155059 is so formed as to detect the ambient temperature of the image generating apparatus with a thermistor (temperature sensor) for controlling an electrification type for a thermal head.
Thermal head control means described in the aforementioned Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 6-297748 receives temperature information from a head temperature detecting portion and a printing ambient temperature (ambient temperature) detecting portion and controls a pulse width of a thermal head with a fuzzy inference portion on the basis of a fuzzy inference, in order to keep a printing concentration constant. The fuzzy inference portion is so formed as to control the pulse width to three levels by reducing the pulse width if the temperature of the thermal head is higher than a prescribed thermal head temperature, setting the pulse width to an intermediate level if the temperature of the thermal head is substantially identical to the prescribed thermal head temperature and increasing the pulse width if the temperature of the thermal head is lower than the prescribed thermal head temperature. Further, the fuzzy inference portion is so formed as to control the pulse width to two levels by slightly reducing the pulse width if the printing ambient temperature is higher than a prescribed printing ambient temperature (ambient temperature) and slightly increasing the pulse width if the printing ambient temperature is lower than the prescribed printing ambient temperature. The fuzzy inference portion can suppress dispersion of the printing concentration by selecting any of the five pulse width levels in response to the temperature of the thermal head and the printing ambient temperature (ambient temperature).
Thermal head control means described in the aforementioned Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 6-238939 reduces influence exerted by the ambient temperature by detecting the ambient temperature with ambient temperature detection means and controlling an applied voltage and/or an electrification time to three printing conditions by applying a prescribed voltage for a prescribed electrification time if the ambient temperature is within a previously set reference temperature range, reducing the applied voltage below the voltage applied when the ambient temperature is within the reference temperature range if the ambient temperature is higher than the reference temperature range and increasing the electrification time from that employed when the ambient temperature is within the reference temperature range if the ambient temperature is lower than the reference temperature range.
Thermal head control means described in the aforementioned Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 10-217529 is provided with a temperature measuring apparatus for acquiring the temperature of a thermal head, for determining unprintableness if the temperature of the thermal head exceeds a reference value and interrupting printing until the temperature of the thermal head is reduced to a printing start temperature allowing printing initiation. According to Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 10-217529, the printing start temperature allowing printing initiation, calculated on the basis of the quantity of printing, is increased if the quantity of printing is small, so that the printing can be returned in an early stage.
However, the thermal head control means described in the aforementioned Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 5-155059 controls the electrification time in consideration of only the ambient temperature of the image generating apparatus, regardless of temperature rise resulting from continuous service of the thermal head. When the thermal head is continuously used for continuously printing the same image, therefore, it is difficult to supply a proper heat quantity to the thermal head. Therefore, printing quality is disadvantageously remarkably dispersed in an initial stage of continuously printing the same image and after printing this image on a constant number of papers.
In the thermal head control means described in the aforementioned Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 6-297748 controlling the printing concentration by selecting the pulse width from the two levels in relation to the printing ambient temperature (ambient temperature), the printing concentration cannot be correctly controlled to levels beyond the two levels if the ambient temperature fluctuates. If the ambient temperature fluctuates when the image generating apparatus continuously prints the same image, therefore, it is disadvantageously difficult to sufficiently reduce dispersion of the printing quality between an initial stage of continuously printing the same image and after printing this image on a constant number of papers.
In the thermal head control means described in the aforementioned Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 6-238939 controlling the applied voltage and/or the electrification time to the three printing conditions on the basis of comparison between the ambient temperature and the reference temperature range, the applied voltage and/or the electrification time cannot be correctly controlled to printing conditions beyond the three conditions. If the ambient temperature fluctuates when the image generating apparatus continuously prints the same image, therefore, it is disadvantageously difficult to sufficiently reduce dispersion of the printing quality between an initial stage of continuously printing the same image and after printing this image on a constant number of papers.
The aforementioned Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 10-217529, disclosing the thermal head control means calculating the printing start temperature allowing printing initiation from the quantity of printing, discloses no technique of correcting the printing concentration on the basis of the ambient temperature or the like. If the ambient temperature fluctuates when the image generating apparatus continuously prints the same image, therefore, the printing quality is disadvantageously increased between an initial stage of continuously printing the same image and after printing this image on a constant number of papers.


One disclosed embodiment may comprise a system that includes a data capture system that stores a set of data from an associated data source in response to a store signal while enabled based on a control signal. A control system provides the control signal based on a number of store cycles relative to an event to define the set of data, the number of store cycles varying based on the store signal.

As higher levels of circuit integration are achieved on a single integrated circuit chip or a chipset, there tends to be an increased complexity associated with internal operation of a chip or associated with internal operation of the chipset. Various types of systems, internal and external, have been developed to facilitate monitoring and/or analyzing operation of a chip or a chipset. As an example, a logic analyzer is one device that can assist some aspects of monitoring and analyzing operation.

System and method to control data capture

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A system that enables a user to simulate the reloading of a magazine fed hand operated device used in a simulation. The user may eject the physical magazine using the magazine ejection button on the hand operated device, and then engage that same magazine which has been stopped from being fully ejected from the hand operated device's magazine housing by a magazine retention mechanism. An internal magazine engagement sensor registers with the simulation that the magazine has been ejected by the user and then has been re-engaged when the magazine is fed back into the housing and locked in by the hand operated device's locking mechanism.

When simulating the reloading of a weapon or tool for computer driven software simulations using a physical hand operated device in a simulated environment, the user will have the option of pressing a button to indicate a reload has happened or having the software simulation automatically perform a reload with no user action on the physical hand operated device.
This is far removed from the real-life experiencing the reloading of a hand operated device where the user must eject a magazine using the mechanical magazine eject button, and then engage a new, loaded, magazine into the magazine housing of the hand operated device.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a user with an apparatus or system that provides a more realistic experience when using a magazine reloadable hand operated device in a simulated environment

System for simulating the reloading of a magazine in a magazine fed hand operated device for a simulation


A method and apparatus for generating a reference signal for use in an alternating projection loop which is part of demodulation in a base station of a wireless communication system, the reference signal relaxed to minimize the effects of frequency offset and amplitude variations, the base station including an array of antennas. The alternating projection loop demodulates in the presence of co-channel interference and includes correction for time alignment and/or frequency offset.

A. Field of the Invention
The field of the present invention is wireless (radio) communications. In particular, the field is using antenna arrays and spatial signal processing in wireless communications systems to perform demodulation, including correction for frequency offset and alignment, in the presence of co-channel interference.
B. Background
Spatial processing
Users of a wireless communications system typically access the system using remote terminals such as cellular telephones and data modems equipped with radio transceivers. Such systems generally have one or more radio base stations, each of which provides coverage to a geographic area known as a cell. The remote terminals and base stations have protocols for initiating calls, receiving calls, and general transfer of information.
In such a system, an allocated portion of the spectrum is divided up into communication channels which may be distinguished by frequency, by time, by code, or by some combination of the above. Each of these communication channels will be referred to herein as a conventional channel. To provide full-duplex communication links, typically some of the communication channels are used for communication from base stations to users' remote terminals (the downlink), and others are used for communication from users' remote terminals to base stations (the uplink). Within its cell, a radio base station can communicate simultaneously with many remote terminals by using different conventional communication channels for each remote terminal.
We have previously disclosed spatial processing with antenna arrays to increase the spectrum efficiency of such systems. See U.S. patent applications: Ser. No. 07/806,695 filed Dec. 12, 1991, entitled Multiple Access Wireless Communications Systems (also U.S. Pat. No. 5,515,378 issued May 7, 1996); Ser. No. 08/234,747, filed Apr. 28, 1994, entitled Method and Apparatus for Calibrating Antenna Arrays (now U.S. Pat. No. 5,546,909 issued Aug. 13, 1996); Ser. No. 08/283,470, filed Aug. 1, 1994, entitled Spectrally Efficient and High Capacity Acknowledgment Radio Paging System now U.S. Pat. No. 5,625,880; and Ser. No. 08/375,848, filed Jan. 20, 1995, entitled Spectrally Efficient High Capacity Wireless Communications Systems now U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,490 (collectively, "Our Co-Pending Patent Applications"). The general idea is to increase the quality of communication by using an antenna array rather than a single antenna, together with processing of the signals received at the antennas. The antenna array also can be used to increase spectrum efficiency by adding spatial multiplexing to conventional channels so that several users can communicate simultaneously on the same conventional channel. We call this SDMA for spatial division multiple access. Thus, taking frequency division multiplexing (FDMA) as an example, with SDMA, several remote terminals may communicate with one or more base stations on a single cell on the same frequency channel, that is, on the same conventional channel. Similarly, with time division multiplexing (TDMA) and SDMA, several remote terminals may communicate with one or more base stations on a single cell on the same frequency channel and the same time slot, that is, on the same conventional channel. SDMA likewise also can be used with code division multiple access (CDMA).
The general problem addressed by the present invention is to design a wireless communication system to be able to successfully receive and demodulate a particular signal or signals from a particular source in the presence of interfering signals from one or more interfering sources. In many situations, in particular in the case of cellular communications systems, the interfering signals are actually from other sources in the same communications system and so have the same modulation format. Such interference is one of a variety of possible interference from other signals on the same channel, so is called co-channel interference. The present invention addresses demodulating a signal in the presence of such co-channel interference as well as other interference and noise. A figure of merit by which one can evaluate such a system is how well one can pick up the desired signal, compared to the strength of the interference sources.
As in Our Co-Pending Applications, the present invention augments a wireless communication system with multiple antennas, thereby introducing multiple versions of each signal, each of these versions comprising the composite of all the co-channel signals together with interference and noise. With multiple antennas, the relationship in both amplitude and phase of a signal of interest to the interfering co-channel signals will be different in each of the antenna signals (each of the m signals in an m antenna system) due to geometric considerations, both because the antennas are separated by some distance, and, in some cases, because the different sources also are separated. In application to cellular communication systems, the use of multiple receiving antennas is predicated upon the fact that the various base stations' antennas are not co-located, nor are the sources.
Spatial processing of the (complex valued) m signals at the m antennas comprises for each signal of interest determining a weighted sum of the antenna signals. The complex valued weights can be represented by a vector called herein a weight vector. The more general situation is that the received antenna signals need also to be temporally equalized, and in that situation, rather than a weighted sum, for each signal of interest, a sum of convolutions of the antenna signals is determined. That is, the weight vector is generalized, for the linear time invariant equalization situation, to a vector of complex valued impulse responses. For the purposes of this invention, the term weight vector shall apply either to a vector of complex weights or to a vector of impulse responses, depending on whether temporal equalization is included.
Several techniques, including some of the techniques described in Our Co-Pending Patent Applications, have been proposed for receiving signals in the presence of co-channel interference using antenna arrays and using available or estimated spatial information. The method of the present invention does not require prior spatial knowledge, but exploits temporal information, in particular the modulation format of the incoming signal. Exploiting the modulation format in the presence of interfering signals of other modulation formats is relatively easy and there are many known methods that do this. The method of the present invention exploits the fact that the signal of interest has a particular modulation format, and works not only in the presence of such interfering, but also in the presence of interfering signals which have the same modulation format. That is, when there is also co-channel interference.
Prior art techniques do exist that separate and demodulate signals in the presence of co-channel interference and that exploit the fact that one has a particular modulation format. They have been proposed in published papers, for example: A. van der Veen and A. Paulraj, "A constant modulus factorization technique for smart antenna applications in mobile communications," in Proc. SPIE, "Advances Signal Processing Algorithms, Architectures, and Implementations V" (F. Luk, ed.), vol. 2296, (San Diego, Calif.), pp. 230-241, July 1994; S. Talwar and A. Paulraj, "Recursive algorithms for estimating multiple co-channel digital signals received at an antenna array," in Proc. Fifth Annual IEEE Dual Use Technologies and Applications Conference, May 1995; S. Talwar, M. Viberg and A. Paulraj, "Blind estimation of multiple co-channel digital signals arriving at an antenna array," in Proc. 27th Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems and Computers, volume I, pp. 349-342, 1993; and A. L. Swindlehurst, S. Daas and J. Yang, "Analysis of a decision directed beamformer," IEEE Transaction on Signal Processing, vol. 43, no. 12, pp. 2920-2927, December 1995. As will be described more fully below, these published techniques may not work in practice because of implementation problems. That is, they do not tend to take into consideration the "real world" properties of signals.
These prior art techniques sometimes are called property restoral techniques because they force any estimates of signals of interest to have certain modulation formats or other structural properties that the actual signals are known to possess. For example, constant modulus techniques are known that use modulation schemes that have constant amplitude, and exploit that property. In addition to the implementation problems stated above, constant modulus techniques are not applicable to common modulation schemes that are not constant modulus, such as quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM).
The method and apparatus of the present invention also is property restoral, and is applicable to a very wide class of modulation schemes--those that have "finite alphabet." These are modulation formats in which the amplitude and phase of the signal at particular periods of time occupy one of some finite set of options. Many digital modulation techniques have this property. All the uncertainty in such a signal's value at any time is due only to synchronization and which symbol of the finite alphabet was transmitted. The preferred embodiment uses .pi./4 differential quaternary (or quadrature) phase shift keying (.pi./4 DQPSK), but the invention is applicable to any finite alphabet modulation.
A prior-art property restoral technique using an array of m antennas to give m received antenna signals from p original signals transmitted with a known digital modulation scheme is to recursively carry out the following steps to separate and demodulate a particular signal of interest:
a) Starting from some demultiplexing weight vector for the signal, form a new estimate of the signal of interest from the arriving antenna data; PA1 b) demodulate the new estimate of the signal to obtain an estimate of the transmitted symbols; PA1 c) from the estimate of the symbols transmitted, form a reference signal which is the closest estimate of the signal that was actually transmitted (that is the signal that has the known modulation format); and PA1 d) once one has a reference signal, determine the necessary spatial demultiplexing weight vector for the signal, that is, solve for that combination of the received signals at the antennas which most closely resembles the reference signal (step 1 again).
In this way, starting from some initial point, one recurses until one obtains a "very good" set of transmitted symbols and a "very good" set of spatial demultiplexing weights to apply to the antenna outputs to produce a "very good" estimate of the reference signal.
Prior art techniques that perform these steps include those of the references listed above. The recursion sometimes is called alternating projections in the literature because if one considers the set of demultiplexing weights as a complex valued vector w.sub.r, the recursion can be described as: starting with an estimate for w.sub.r, project this into reference signal space to get a better estimate of the reference signal, and project the better estimate of the reference signal into w.sub.r -space to get a better estimate of w.sub.r, and iterate back and forth between w.sub.r -space and reference signal-space until one obtains a "very good" w.sub.r that produces a "very good" estimate of the reference signal.
The starting value, either in w.sub.r space or in reference-signal space, first needs to be determined. As would be clear to one of ordinary skill in the art, either value is sufficient, because if one has a good guess at a reference signal, one can get a next better guess at w.sub.r, and conversely, if one has a good guess at a w.sub.r, one can generate a better guess at a reference signal. The prior art literature on alternate projection methods suggests that one could start with some estimate using such prior art methods as ESPRIT or MUSIC, and use this estimate as a starting point to the general recursion. There are other known ways to obtain a starting w.sub.r. For example, one can use well-known maximum ratio combining to get a starting w.sub.r, or well-known principal component copy techniques to get a starting w.sub.r. Using such techniques gives a starting w.sub.r that usually causes convergence upon the strongest signal. Thus, if the goal is to always pick out the strongest signal from a set of interferers, then such techniques work fine. However, such prior art techniques do not in general work well when one has a low carrier to interference ratio (C/I) as is the case when one has strong co-channel interference.
Our Parameter Estimation Invention discloses a technique for finding a starting w.sub.r estimate that extracts a signal that is not necessarily the strongest signal and that works well in the presence of strong co-channel interference.
In addition, prior art techniques for using a starting w.sub.r and then carrying out the alternating projections require, in order to work properly, that one first correct for any frequency offset and that one first align (synchronize) in time.
The frequency offset problem can be described as follows. In a typical radio-frequency (RF) receiver, the original RF signal is mixed down using local frequency references, typically produced by crystal oscillators and/or frequency synthesizers, to produce a baseband signal whose phase and amplitude changes around in a predictable pattern determined by the modulation format. Ideally, the signal has no residual frequency offset component, such an offset due for example to frequencies of the local oscillators differing slightly from the frequency of the oscillators used in sending the signals. In the case of mobile communications transmitting from a handset to a base station, the frequency of the radio signal is produced by a local oscillator in the hand set, while the frequency references used for down-converting the signal are produced by different local oscillators in the base station. Although the base station local oscillators typically are very good, there still typically is frequency offset in the residual signal.
The alignment problem is to synchronize exactly the initial timing of the symbols in the signals sent and the signals received in the base station. There are a number of techniques in the prior art for performing the alignment. Such techniques often use known training sequences that are incorporated in the burst of interest. These training sequences are chosen to have particular correlation (or convolution) properties. A correlation (or convolution) operation can then be used to determine timing offset, as is known in the art. The problem with such techniques is that they do not perform well in the presence of high co-channel interference.
Our Parameter Estimation Invention discloses technique for finding the starting time alignment and starting frequency offset that works well in the presence of strong co-channel interference.
In addition to the starting weight vector determining problem and initial alignment and frequency offset problem, prior art alternating projection methods also suffer from time alignment (synchronization) problems and frequency offset problems on an ongoing basis. First, the step of going from a reference signal to a next guess at w.sub.r is very sensitive to having the reference signal and the received signals at the antennas lined up correctly in time. If they are lined up incorrectly, then the w.sub.r one estimates may not be useful. In addition, in the step of projecting from a reference signal into a next better guess at a w.sub.r vector, there typically is a small frequency difference between the reference signal that one uses in the projections, and the frequency of the actual signals one is solving for. Such an offset can completely throw off the w.sub.r estimate. In the phase space, such small frequency differences gradually accumulate over time, so that after only a few symbols are transmitted, a large fraction of a cycle may be accumulated. Thus, the complex-valued solution for what phase one should apply to a particular signal gets totally thrown off. Thus, the straightforward solution of generating a new w.sub.r from a current reference signal is very sensitive to small frequency offsets.
Thus there is a need in the art for demodulation and signal separation techniques that are insensitive to the frequency offset and time alignment problems, and that work well in the presence of high level of co-channel interference. There is also a need in the art of improving alternating projection techniques by including time alignment and frequency offset estimation on an ongoing basis, such estimation working well in the presence of strong co-channel interference. Thus there is also a need in the art for improving the step of generating a reference signal (projecting onto signal reference space) in such alternating projections method, such improvement reducing the frequency offset and alignment problems in such reference signals.
Frequency offset is primarily a problem in finite alphabet modulation formats that include a phase difference between the symbols in the alphabet. This includes all phase shift keying (PSK) systems and many QAM systems. There are also modulation formats, including AM and QAM systems, which are sensitive to amplitude errors. In the alternating projections step for such systems, amplitude error creep may become a problem. That is, erroneous results may occur if one does not take into account the amplitude errors between a reference signal and the actual signal. Thus there is also a need in the art for improving the step of generating a reference signal (projecting onto signal reference space) in such alternating projections method, such improvement reducing the amplitude offset in such reference signals.
The method and apparatus of the present invention does not suffer from these problems. Our method includes projecting signals close to the actual, not ideal signals, in the presence the above described problems. The method is applicable to all finite alphabet modulation formats.
Producing better reference signals which are insensitive to frequency offset, time alignment and/or amplitude offset errors is applicable not only to alternating projection methods used in demodulation, but also to all processing of signals which require producing a reference signal, such as many adaptive filter processing, decision feedback equalization systems, etc.

Method and apparatus for decision directed demodulation using antenna arrays and spatial processing


A method for user training for a scanning microscope makes possible rapid setting of a scanning microscope with little specimen impact. It is possible to acquire an entire spectrum of a specimen. This specimen can be retrieved from the memory of the computer system for training purposes. The user can then make changes in the setting capabilities displayed to him on the user interface and assess the result thereof, also on the user interface. This can be done without time pressure until the user is satisfied with the result displayed on the user interface.

Microscopes, in particular scanning microscopes, use specimens for training purposes that are not usable for further examinations due to radiation stress (e.g., bleaching, thermal damage, etc.). Optimum setting (parameter setting) of a scanning microscope is often time-consuming for an unpracticed user. A specimen can rapidly be destroyed or become unusable if the wrong parameters are selected. Since the production of specimens for microscopic examination requires a large expenditure of both time and money, the disadvantage of existing systems is that specimens are also used up in user training, without thereby obtaining experimental results or data. The parameters include e.g., the intensity of the individual laser lines irradiated onto the specimen, and also the regions of an acquired spectrum to be employed for analysis and image generation. In addition, in cases where an acousto-optical beam splitter (AOBS) is used, parameters of the AOBS corresponding to the selected wavelength must also be set.
German Patent Application DE 199 44 355.6 discloses an optical arrangement in the beam path of a laser scanning microscope. A spectrally selective element is provided which couples excitation light of the light source, of at least one wavelength, into the microscope. The excitation light scattered and reflected out of the detected beam path at a specimen is blocked, and the detected light coming from the specimen is not. The spectrally selective element can be an acousto-optical tunable filter (AOTF), an acousto-optical modulator (AOM), or an acousto-optical beam splitter (AOBS).
German Patent Application DE 100 06 800.6, which corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 6,483,103 discloses an apparatus for selection and detection of at least one spectral region of a spectrally spread light beam (SP module). Selection means that are embodied as sliders are provided in the spread light beam in order thereby to direct portions of the spread light beam to different detectors. The signals of the detectors are then used for image generation. The quality of the image here depends in particular on the position of the slider. For an inexperienced user, it is time-consuming to find and set the best position.
Neither of the two documents cited discloses a training concept that trains a user in terms of setting the various parameters quickly and without being dependent on the microscope itself

Method for user training for a scanning microscope, scanning microscope, and software program for user training for a scanning microscope


A continuous coalescence process for preparing a sustainable toner is described which features toner with lowered melt properties and higher toner surface carbon to oxygen (C/O) ratios than previously described sustainable resins coalesced in a batch reactor.

The vast majority of polymeric materials are based on the extraction and processing of fossil fuels, a limited resource, and potentially resulting in accumulation of non-degradable materials in the environment. Recently, the USDA proposed that all toners/inks have a biocontent (or sustainable content) of at least 20%. Bio-derived resins are being developed but integration of such reagents into toner and ink remains to be resolved. (The terms, "bio-derived resin," "bio-based resin," and, "sustainable resin," and grammatic forms thereof are used interchangeably herein and are meant to indicate that the resin or polyester resin is derived from or is obtained from materials or reagents that are obtained through natural sources, and is readily biodegradable, in contrast to materials or monomers obtained from petrochemicals or petroleum-based sources.)
Preparation of a sustainable EA toner made in a continuous or semicontinuous process with lower melt properties, higher toner surface carbon-to-oxygen (C/O) ratio and/or lower crystalline polyester resin (CPE) levels would be beneficial.
Those goals were attained in a continuous coalescence process for making toner using bio-based toner reagents.

Continuous coalescence process for sustainable toner


An intramedullary rod and system for introducing it into a longitudinally extending bore in the bone of a patient is disclosed. The system includes a guide tube, a cutter assembly and the intramedullary rod. The guide tube has a central passageway and a plurality of longitudinally extending slots and is arranged to be located within the bore in the bone. The cutter assembly includes a body member having a plurality of blades extending outward therefrom and is arranged to be moved along the central passageway of the guide tube so that the blades extend outward through the slots to produce a respective grooves in the bore of the bone of the patient. The intramedullary rod is an elongated linear member having a plurality of longitudinally extending ribs projecting outward therefrom and is arranged to be disposed within the central passageway in the guide tube whereupon its ribs extend through respective ones of the slots in the guide tube for disposition within respective ones of the longitudinal grooves in the bore of the bone of the patient to thereby fix the intramedullary rod therein.

As is known, intramedullary rods (also referred to as intramedullary nails) are used in orthopedics to align and stabilize fractures. Such rods are typically inserted into the bone marrow canal or bore in the center of the long bones of the extremities (e.g., the femur or tibia). One of the significant advantages of such rods over other methods of fixation is that they share the load with the bone, rather that entirely support the bone. Because of this, patients are able to use the extremity more quickly. Typically such rods are fixed in position via the use of transversely extending locking screws. While generally effective for its purpose, transversely extending screw-based fixation techniques have drawbacks, namely, placement and fixation is relatively difficult and time consuming and as a result the patient will be exposed to larger doses of radiation resulting from the imaging procedure during the rod's placement and fixation. Moreover, the use of transversely extending locking screws places unnecessary stress at the screw contact points.
Accordingly, a need exists for an intramedullary device that overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art.
The subject invention addresses that need by providing an intramedullary device which obviates the need for transversely extending locking screws and their attendant problems. Thus, the device of this invention enables its placement and fixation to be accomplished in a shorter period of time than with prior art devices. Moreover, due to its biomechanical properties the device of this invention exhibits a more even distribution of stress along its length, thereby facilitating faster healing. Further still, dynamization (i.e., the promotion of bone healing in fractures by allowing some movement or compressive loading) begins to occur from the first day of fixation to thereby further enhance the rate of healing and callus formation and without scarring of the skin as has characterized the to prior art.


A method of calibrating a bonding station involves placing a first surface of calibration tool in contact with a fixed surface of a movable assembly. The position of an adjustable surface of the movable assembly is then changed so that the adjustable surface contacts a second surface of the calibration tool. In addition, a calibration tool for calibrating the bonding station is provided.

In optical, magneto-optical and magnetic disc drives used for data storage, an actuator arm positions read or write heads over the disc to acquire information from the disc or store information to the disc. Movement of the actuator arm is typically controlled by a magnetic motor that includes a conductive coil position between a magnetic assembly. Typically, the magnetic assembly consists of two magnetic pieces bonded to two respective backirons that are maintained a fixed distance apart so that the conductive coil can move between the magnets.
To ensure consistent and predictable actuator arm movement, each magnetic assembly must be constructed with extreme precision so that variations between magnetic assemblies are minimized. In particular, the magnets must be precisely positioned relative to their respective backirons so that the position of the conductive coil relative to the magnet is consistent in each disc drive.
This type of accuracy and consistency cannot be achieved without the use of bonding stations that clamp the backiron and the magnet in a desired spatial relationship during bonding.
Typically, bonding stations achieve the proper alignment between the magnetic assembly and the backiron by using a lateral actuator and a staggered back assembly. The lateral actuator carries a movable front assembly that engages the magnet and the backiron as it moves toward the staggered back assembly and thereby presses the magnet and the backiron toward the staggered back assembly.
The staggered surfaces of the back assembly produce the desired spatial relationship between the magnet and the backiron. In particular, the magnet and the backiron contact two separate surfaces on the back assembly. These two surfaces are staggered relative to one another such that the surface contacting the magnet is closer to the front assembly than the surface contacting the backiron.
The front assembly also includes two separate portions that individually contact the magnet and the backiron respectively. In particular a nylon pusher on the front assembly contacts and presses the magnet and two locating pins contact the backiron and force the backiron toward the back assembly.
In order to properly position the magnet on the backiron, it is important that the end of the nylon pusher that contacts the magnet is the proper lateral distance from the locating pins.
In prior art bonding stations, this distance is determined by measuring the distance between a surface of the front assembly facing away from the back assembly and a housing of the lateral actuator. The measurements are typically performed using "go" and "no-go" blocks. The "go" block must fit between the lateral actuator housing and the back surface of the front assembly while the "no-go" block must not fit in this space. To achieve the proper distance between the front assembly and the back assembly, the position of the front assembly on the lateral actuator arm was adjusted until the proper distance was achieved.
However, measuring the proper position for the front assembly based on the distance from the back surface of the front assembly to the housing of the actuator is undesirable since it does not directly measure the distance from the nylon pusher to the back assembly or the distance from the locating pins to the back assembly. By measuring the distance from the back surface of the front assembly to the actuator housing, the prior art does not take into account numerous tolerasce errors that occur because of variations in the size of the font assembly, and variations in the location of the actuator housing relative to the back assembly. As such, prior art calibration tools do not properly calibrate existing bonding stations.
The present invention provides a solution to this and other problems, and offers other advantages over the prior art.

Method and apparatus for calibrating magnet/backiron bonding station


A storage rack system comprises free standing modular units which are releasably joined and secured together. Each modular unit has identical parallel end frames separated by at least two parallel support tubes fitted into sockets in the front face of the frames. End frames of the units may be joined in a back to back relationship to extend the storage rack system lengthwise end to end to occupy available horizontal space and may also be releasably engaged bottom to top to occupy available vertical space. Holes for joining the frames together are within each of the sockets. The support tubes may be telescoping to assist in occupying the available horizontal space. The modular units may be optionally joined in a vertically offset relationship. The modular units of the storage rack system may be separated and rejoined in another configuration without unloading the items stored on the individual units.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a storage rack system and more particularly for a storage rack system for shoes, boots, slippers, flat soled shoes, optical discs, video cartridges, computer and audio compact discs and/or storage boxes for any of the above.
2. Prior Art Statement
It is known to provide a single shoe rack having one pair of support tubes apparently supported on tube supports formed in mirror image side frames. For instance, see U.S. Design Pat. No. 341,500, issued on Nov. 23, 1993 to Richard B. Klein, et al.
Also, in the art it is known to provide a telescoping shoe rack having one or more braces extending between the upright legs of inverted "U" shaped end members having an inwardly directed loop formed in each end of each brace to clampingly support tubular rods therein. For instance, see the U.S. Pat. No. 2,276,141 issued on Mar. 10, 1942 to Truman L. Atkinson.
Is It is also known to provide a modular shoe rack or a storage rack for optical discs having a pair of support tubes supported on tube supports formed in identical side frames and adapted to be extended vertically and horizontally by additional frames and support tubes wherein a longitudinal multiple shoe rack comprises n+1 side frames. For instance, see the U.S. Pat. No. 5,172,816 issued on Dec. 22, 1992 or the U.S. Pat. No. 5,415,297 issued on May 16, 1995 both to Richard B. Klein, et al.
It is further known to provide a compact disc storage rack having multiple support tubes apparently supported in mirror image side frames. For instance, see U.S. Design Pat. No. 309,998 issued on Aug. 21, 1990 to K. Drew Sumrell, et al.
Additionally, it is known to provide a display sample trunk having multiple supports for displaying shoes which are supported on rods or tube screwed into sockets riveted to the side sections of the trunk. For instance, see the U.S. Pat. No. 790,669 issued on May 23, 1905 to S. E. Winship.
It is further known to provide multi-tier shoe case supported on the floor of a closet storage arrangement. The shoe case is mounted transverse to the closet with each tier of the shoe case being provided with three unitary horizontal shoe support members mounted to extend from the back to the front of the closet. For instance, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,697,713 issued on Oct. 6, 1987 to Nicholas Pryor.
Finally, it is known to provide a stand for the storage of shoes comprising a pair of I-shaped shoe stand supports which are provided with a plurality of sockets arranged in a quadrilateral grid and when assembled, the sockets in one support are aligned with corresponding sockets in the other support and are adapted to receive the ends of telescopic crossties for supporting shoes thereon. For instance, see the U.S. Pat. No. 3,888,353 issued on Jun. 10, 1975 to Gunter Leifheit.

Storage rack system comprising modular units joined in back to back relationship


A Commode Ventilation System which comprises a toilet seat having a resilient gasket manifold attached to an under surface of the toilet seat and includes a number of rigid spacer members and a number of passage ways therein forming the manifold which passage ways are in connection with a number of intake orifices positioned on an interior perimeter surfaces of the manifold in a manner such that in use the resilient manifold gasket seals the gap between the toilet seat and the commode bowl top rim. The manifold chambers in communication with a vent that is used to draw air from the commode bowl through the intake orifices to the manifold and out to a desired disposal area.

There have been numerous systems disclosed for removing noxious odors from commodes and bathroom spaces. Such systems usually involve a vent located in the bathroom and either mounted on the bathroom ceiling or wall, while ventilation systems have also been designed and used in conjunction with a commode. The disadvantages and drawbacks of the prior art is that the typical system is not positioned in close proximity to the odor source, namely the commode bowl. Accordingly, the prior art devices require the removal of large volumes of air in order to accomplish the goal of removing odors from the bathroom. Furthermore, the prior art devices which are installed adjacent to the commode bowl do not provide a perimeter air withdraw manifold as the present invention and these prior art devices do not effectively capture all noxious odors emanating from the commode bowl.
The prior art patents are as follows:
Ross, U.S. Pat. No. 5,105,479 discloses a simple low cost means for venting a water closet. This device has a single ventilation housing opening for receiving gases positioned between the toilet lid and seat. The Ross device does not provide a perimeter air removal system as the present invention and accordingly does not effectively collect all odors emanating from the toilet bowl as the present invention.
Ricard, U.S. Pat. No. 5,136,729 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,179,737 discloses an odor remover device which includes a single inlet opening mounted to the conventional hinge posts of the toilet bowl lid. This device, similarly to the Ross invention, includes only a single evacuation port for odors emanating from the toilet bowl. The present invention includes numerous air inlet ports positioned around the perimeter of the toilet bowl which more efficiently removes odors from the toilet bowl.
Antepenko, U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,111 discloses a toilet odor removing apparatus with exhaust fixtures mounted to the flat upper surface of a conventional toilet bowl behind the conventional toilet seat. This ventilation system is useful for its stated purposes however it does not provide for complete removal of odors emanating from a toilet bowl as the present invention which has numerous odor exhaust ports positioned around the perimeter of the toilet bowl.
Slawinski, U.S. Pat. No. 5,253,371 discloses a device for exhausting fowl odor from a toilet with a single intake hose positioned on the rim of the toilet bowl below the toilet seat. This device, as the others mentioned above, includes only one odor exhaust port and accordingly does not provide an odor removal system as the present which has numerous exhaust removal ports positioned around a perimeter of the toilet bowl.
Gastesi, U.S. Pat. No. 5,321,856 discloses a flush toilet exhaust system which draws air from a plurality of openings disposed about the toilet bowl rim which openings are in communication with the commodes water tank through the overflow pipe in the toilet water tank. This invention, like the present provides a method for withdrawing odors around a perimeter of the toilet bowl. Accordingly is a very effective for removing odors from the toilet bowl, however the Gastesi device withdraws air through the passage ways which must be used to allow water to run from the commode tank to the toilet bowl. Accordingly, the Gastesi device is unable to withdraw air while the commode is being flushed and since the exhaust fan operates while the commode is being flushed, water flow interrupts air flow through the passage ways thereby interfering with the normal function of the commode and or the exhaust system. The present invention provides a solution to the flushing and air flow interruptions by providing a perimeter manifold positioned between the toilet lid bottom surface and toilet bowl top rim perimeter with numerous inlets positioned on an inside edge between the toilet lid and the bowl top edge so that air is continuously withdrawn from the toilet bowl thereby removing all odors emanating from the toilet bowl.
As can be seen the present invention provides a useful device which is provided as an attachment for an existing toilet lid or provided as a new toilet lid with the unique feature attached and which is extremely useful for removing odors which are emanating from a toilet bowl while the commode ventilation system comprises a toilet seat having a resilient gasket attached to the under surface thereof and which includes a number of rigid spacer members and a manifold formed therewith in connection with a number of intake orifices formed on interior side surfaces thereof in a manner such that in use the resilient gasket seals the gap between the seat and the commode bowl. The manifold chamber is in connection with a common vent that is used to draw air from the commode bowl through the intake orifices to the manifold and out to a desired disposal area.


A method for managing a flash memory is provided wherein logical addresses of data recorded in a data region of the flash memory are recorded in a corresponding spare region. An address mapping table is produced by scanning information recorded in the spare region. As a result, the flash memory can be embodied more effectively. In addition, it is possible to restore a mapping table even though the power is suddenly cut-off.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to flash memory, and more particularly, to a method for managing flash memory in a system based on flash memory.
2. Description of the Related Art
A flash memory is a non-volatile memory device for electrically deleting or rewriting data. A storage device based on a flash memory has lower power consumption and is smaller than a storage device based on magnetic disk memory. Thus, the flash memory has been researched as an alternative of the magnetic disk memory. More importantly, the flash memory is expected to be used as a storage device for mobile computing devices, such as a digital camera, a mobile phone, and a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA).
However, unlike magnetic disk memory which is capable of data overwriting, the flash memory cannot overwrite data. In order to overwrite data stored in the flash memory, existing data must be deleted first. In other words, memory cells should be returned to an initial writable state. Generally, deleting takes much longer time than writing. Furthermore, deleting is performed in a much larger block than that of writing, possibly causing the deletion of a portion of the existing data where writing is not requested to be deleted. Since a portion of the existing data that has been unintentionally deleted should be restored by rewriting, a request for writing data may require one deletion and rewriting some of the deleted portion. Writing capability remains considerably behind compared to the reading capability due to discordance) of the units for performing a deletion and writing. Further, writing capability is lower than that of a storage device based on a magnetic disk accompanying necessary delays due to mechanical operations.
Generally, a re-mapping method is used in managing the flash memory due to the above mentioned characteristics. The re-mapping method refers to a method of writing data to be corrected in empty addresses and updating mapping information of a mapping table, in other words, to a method of changing a physical address indicated by a requested logical address to a physical address to be recorded by corrected data. Accordingly, applications and application systems can access corrected data using one logical address.
FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a method for managing a conventional flash memory. Referring to FIG. 1, a logical address requested to read or write is changed into a physical address with reference to a mapping table and read/write data in corresponding addresses in the flash memory.
Here, there are various management methods depending on the locations of the existing mapping table and the method for referring to them. When the mapping table is positioned in a particular position of a flash memory, data can be maintained even though power is suddenly cut-off. As a result, there is no need to search for a method for restoring a mapping table. However, it is not easy to correct the mapping table. In other words, as described above, in the case of deleting, correcting, or rewriting data in performing operations in predetermined applications, large amounts of overhead calculations are required in order to update the mapping table.
In a case where the mapping table is positioned in a main memory (generally DRAM), it does not require a long period of time to access the main memory and it is easy to restore it, but data is lost, if the power is suddenly cut-off. In order to restore the mapping table, much time is required in performing complicated overhead calculations.
As described above, if re-mapping is adopted, space and time for storing and managing not only data but also mapping information are required. Accordingly, it is important to develop a method for handling a process of reading or writing data more efficiently. Furthermore, flash memory is limited in the number of partial writes in which the order of recording data, information, etc. has an effect on improving the capabilities of a system.


A method of reproducing an interactive recording medium in a reproducing apparatus, comprising the steps of: checking attribute information for auxiliary contents data of A/V data recorded on the interactive recording medium; and determining a presentation method for the auxiliary contents data based on the attribute information and presenting the auxiliary contents data accordingly.

In marketing, many things have been long recognized as aiding success, such as increasing customer satisfaction through such devices as providing personalized service, fast service, access to related or updated information, etc. Traditional marketing has made use such things as notice of promotional offers for related products such as providing coupons, etc. Additionally, some studies have shown that simple repeated brand exposure, such as by advertisement, increases recognition and sales.
One of the largest marketing industries today is the entertainment industry and related industries. To date, digital versatile disks (DVDs) are poised to encompass consumer sales of home entertainment, business and home computer industry, and business information market with a single digital format, eventually replacing audio CDs, videotapes, laserdiscs, CD-ROMs, and video game cartridges. To this end, DVD has widespread support from all major electronics companies, all major computer hardware companies, and all major movie and music studios.
Currently, the fastest growing marketing and informational access avenue is the Internet. The share of households with Internet access in the U.S. soared by 58% in two years, rising from 26.2% in December, 1998 to 41.5% in August, 2000 (Source: Falling Through the Net: Toward Digital Inclusion@ by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, October 2000).
Some initial efforts have been made to integrate the success of optical disks, such as the DVD, with the speed and accessibility of the Internet. Programs such as music players currently are able to access the internet to obtain artist information, order music, etc. for inserted disks. However, in the DVD-video arena, little has been done to utilize the vast power for up-to-date, new, and promotional information accessibility to further the aims of improving marketability and customer satisfaction.
Accordingly, it is evident that improvements are possible in the way that entertainment, computing, and academic disks have been supported.

Sonic Solutions, a California corporation


A resin frame member of a resin frame equipped membrane electrode assembly includes a recess where adhesive is provided. An inner protrusion on an inner side of the recess abuts against an electrode catalyst layer protruding outward beyond a gas diffusion layer of a membrane electrode assembly. An outer protrusion on an outer side of the recess abuts against the outermost portion of a gas diffusion layer of the membrane electrode assembly such that a solid polymer electrolyte membrane is interposed between the outer protrusion and the gas diffusion layer.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel cell resin frame equipped membrane electrode assembly including a stepped MEA and a resin frame member. The MEA includes a first electrode, a second electrode, and a solid polymer electrolyte membrane interposed between the first electrode and the second electrode. The resin frame member is provided around an outer circumference of the MEA.
Description of the Related Art
In general, a solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell employs a solid polymer electrolyte membrane. The solid polymer electrolyte membrane is a solid polymer ion exchange membrane. The fuel cell includes a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) where an anode and a cathode are provided respectively on both sides of the solid polymer electrolyte membrane. Each of the anode and the cathode includes a catalyst layer (electrode catalyst layer) and a gas diffusion layer (porous carbon). In the fuel cell, the membrane electrode assembly is sandwiched between separators (bipolar plates). In use, a predetermined number of fuel cells are stacked together to form a fuel cell stack. For example, the fuel cell stack is mounted in a fuel cell electric vehicle as an in-vehicle fuel cell stack.
In some cases, the membrane electrode assembly has structure where components of the MEA (stepped MEA) have different sizes, i.e., the planar size of one of the gas diffusion layers is smaller than the planar size of the solid polymer electrolyte membrane, and the planar size of the other of the gas diffusion layers is the same as the planar size of the solid polymer electrolyte membrane. In this regard, in order to reduce the amount of relatively expensive material used for the solid polymer electrolyte membrane, and protect the thin solid polymer electrolyte membrane having insufficient strength, for example, a frame equipped MEA including a resin frame member has been adopted as a protection member.
As this type of frame equipped MEA, for example, a membrane electrode assembly disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2007-066766 is known. As shown in FIG. 7, the membrane electrode assembly includes a membrane 1, an anode catalyst layer 2a provided on one side of the membrane 1, and a cathode catalyst layer 3a provided on the other side of the membrane 1. A GDL (gas diffusion layer) 2b and a GDL 3b are provided on both surfaces of the membrane 1, respectively. The planar size of the GDL 2b on the anode side is larger than the planar size of the GDL 3b on the cathode side.
A gasket structural body 4 is provided in an edge area of the MEA. The gasket structural body 4 is formed by combining gasket layers on the cathode side and the anode side positioned at least in part of an area around the ends of the anode catalyst layer 2a and the cathode catalyst layer 3a (preferably, positioned over the entire area around the ends of the anode catalyst layer 2a and the cathode catalyst layer 3a). At least the outer portion of the membrane 1 on the side (GDL 3b side) where the GDL surface area is smaller is joined to the gasket structural body 4 through an adhesive layer 5.

Fuel cell resin frame equipped membrane electrode assembly


A system and method for adaptive enhanced post write reads (EPWRs) is provided. An error rate of a block of solid state memory may be determined. Foldings may be performed more times between two consecutive enhanced post write reads on the block when the determined error rate of the block is a lower value than when the determined error rate is a higher value. The foldings may be performed by folding data into the block of the solid state memory.

1. Technical Field
This application relates to solid state memory and, in particular, to Enhanced Post Write Reads (EPWRs) performed on solid state memory.
2. Related Art
Solid state memory may have individually erasable segments, such as pages or blocks. Each of the erasable segments may be put through a limited number of erase cycles before becoming unreliable. Wear leveling attempts to address the limitation on the number of erase cycles by arranging data so that erasures and re-writes are distributed substantially even across the memory.

Adaptive EPWR (enhanced post write read) scheduling


A dental polymerizable composition includes: a first component containing a (meth)acrylate, a pentavalent vanadium compound, and a thiourea derivative; and a second component containing a (meth)acrylate and an organic peroxide.

Patent Document 1 discloses a polymerizable composition including, for example, a first component containing a (meth)acrylate, a thiourea derivative, a vanadium compound, and a second component containing a (meth)acrylate and an organic peroxide, wherein the polymerizable composition can be used under wet conditions, such as in an oral cavity, in a dental treatment.


A household refrigeration appliance has a receiving compartment for food and a planar lighting module for lighting the receiving compartment. The lighting module has a first lighting sub-module with a first plate-shaped light guide and a separate, second lighting sub-module directly adjoining the first sub-module and having a second plate-shaped light guide. The first light guide has a first edge and the second light guide has a first edge. The first edges are arranged facing one another and in a direction at right angles to a plane defined by the lighting module, an offset is formed between the first edges, so that in this direction the first edges are arranged at a distance from one another perpendicular to the plane.

One aspect of the invention relates to a household refrigeration appliance with a receiving compartment for food. The household refrigeration appliance moreover has a plate-like lighting module for lighting the receiving compartment. This plate-like lighting module has a support apparatus, on which at least one light source module and one plate-shaped light guide are arranged.
Plate-like lighting modules are known for illuminating a receiving compartment of this type in as uniform and homogenous a manner as possible. In this regard, U.S. Pat. No. 10,895,416 B2 and its counterpart German published patent application DE 10 2018 205 757 A1 disclose a household refrigeration appliance with interior lighting, for instance. The structure of the plate-like lighting module there provides for a support plate to be arranged on the rear, which support plate cross-sectionally has a groove which opens to the front at the edge, on which a printed circuit board with a light source is arranged. A plate-shaped, or planar, light guide is arranged in front of the support plate when viewed toward the receiving compartment. The light of the light source is injected laterally herein. In this regard, the manufacture of this embodiment is relatively difficult. The rearward, that is, back support, plate is of a relatively complex shape.
Moreover, with prior art conventional plate-shaped lighting modules, a complex adhesion process is required in order to be able to connect individual components to one another. In this process adhesive can then also reach between those components of the lighting module. As a result, the lighting function of the lighting module can be affected.

Household refrigeration appliance with two plate-shaped light guides of a lighting module arranged partially offset from one another


An acoustic transducer has two separate elements which are driven by separate signal generators to produce two acoustic beams that focus at the same target location. The two acoustic beams interact at the target location to produce a beat force. The target location is moved to scan a subject by mechanically moving the acoustic transducer, or the two intersecting acoustic beams can be steered electronically to move the target location.

The field of the invention is the detection and imaging of objects using acoustic beams.
In the field of medical imaging there are a number of modes in which ultrasound can be used to produce images of objects within a patient. The ultrasound transmitter may be placed on one side of the object and the sound transmitted through the object to the ultrasound receiver placed on the other side ("transmission" mode). With transmission mode methods, an image may be produced in which the brightness of each image pixel is a function of the amplitude of the ultrasound that reaches the receiver ("attenuation mode"), or the brightness of each pixel is a function of the time required for the sound to reach the receiver ("time-of-flight" or "speed of sound" mode). In the alternative, the receiver may be positioned on the same side of the object as the transmitter and an image may be produced in which the brightness of each pixel is a function of the amplitude of the ultrasound reflected from the object back to the receiver ("reflection", "backscatter" or "echo" mode). In another mode of operation ("Doppler" mode) the movement of the object is detected and imaged by measuring the phase of the ultrasound reflected from the object back to the receiver. In all of these medical imaging applications ultrasonic waves are transmitted and ultrasonic waves are received. The higher sonic frequencies enable precise beams to be formed in both the transmit and receive modes.
Ultrasonic transducers for medical applications are constructed from one or more piezoelectric elements sandwiched between a pair of electrodes. Such piezoelectric elements are typically constructed of lead zirconate titanate (PZT), polyvinylidene diflouride (PVDF), or PZT ceramic/polymer composite. The electrodes are connected to a voltage source, and when a voltage waveform is applied, the piezoelectric elements change in size at a frequency corresponding to that of the applied voltage. When a voltage waveform is applied, the piezoelectric elements emits an ultrasonic wave into the media to which it is coupled at the frequencies contained in the excitation waveform. Conversely, when an ultrasonic wave strikes the piezoelectric element, the element produces a corresponding voltage across its electrodes. A number of such ultrasonic transducer constructions are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,217,684; 4,425,525; 4,441,503; 4,470,305 and 4,569,231.
When used for ultrasonic imaging, the transducer typically has a number of piezoelectric elements arranged in an array and driven with separate voltages (apodizing). By controlling the time delay (or phase) and amplitude of the applied voltages, the ultrasonic waves produced by the piezoelectric elements (transmission mode) combine to produce a net ultrasonic wave that travels along a preferred beam direction and is focused at a selected point along the beam. By controlling the time delay and amplitude of the applied voltages, the beam with its focal point can be moved in a plane to scan the subject. A number of such ultrasonic imaging systems are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,155,258; 4,155,260; 4,154,113; 4,155,259; 4,180,790; 4,470,303; 4,662,223; 4,669,314; 4,809,184; 5,081,995 and 5,492,121.
The acoustic radiation force exerted by an acoustic wave on an object in its path is a universal phenomenon common to all forms of radiated energy. When a beam of light is absorbed or reflected by a surface, a small force is exerted on that surface. The same is true for electromagnetic waves, transverse waves on an elastic string, and surface waves on a liquid. This force is produced by a "radiated pressure" and a complete disclosure of this phenomenon is set forth by G.R. Torr, "The Acoustic Radiation Force", Am. J. Phys. 52(5), May 1984.
It is generally accepted that the radiation force F exerted on a totally absorbing target by an ultrasonic beam of power P is given by the equation EQU F=P/c.sub.1
where c is the speed of sound in the medium surrounding the target. For normal incidence on a plane reflecting surface the radiation force has twice this value. The speed of sound in water is 1500m/s, thus the radiation force on an absorbing target in water is about 6.67.times.10.sup.-4 newtons/watt.
This sonic radiation force has found application in medicine in the field of extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy. By applying a set of powerful acoustic shock waves at the surface of the patient such that their energies focus on a target inside the patient, objects such as renal or gall-stones can be fragmented. Such lithotripsy systems are described, for example, in Goldstein, A., "Sources of Ultrasonic Exposure," Ultrasonic Exposimetry, eds. M. C. Ziskin and P. A. Lewin, CRC Press, Boca Raton, 1993.
Another application which employs an ultrasonic radiation force produced by a transducer is disclosed by Sugimoto et al, "Tissue Hardness Measurement Using The Radiation Force Of Focused Ultrasound", IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium, pp. 1377-80, 1990. In this experiment, a pulse of focused ultrasonic radiation is applied to deform the object which is positioned at the focal point of the transducer.

Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research


A process for making a metal wall enclosure of a package for housing an electronic element. An elongated strip, to be formed as the metal sidewall of the enclosure, and a bottom plate, for closing an open end of the metal sidewall, are formed from a sheet of metal stock. At least one aperture is selectively provided in at least one of the bottom plate and the planar metal strip. The strip is prepared for folding, such as by transverse grooves formed in the strip along predetermined fold lines corresponding to corners of the metal sidewall, to facilitate folding of the strip into the desired configuration of the metal sidewall and with the opposite ends of the strip, as folded to form the metal sidewall, in abutting relationship. The abutting ends of the metal strip, as folded to form the metal sidewall, are affixed and hermetically sealed together and the lower edge of the metal sidewall, as formed from the folded strip, is affixed and hermetically sealed to the bottom plate to complete the metal wall enclosure. The at least one aperture is at a predetermined position in the metal wall enclosure and of a size for receiving a connector for providing a connection therethrough, and thus from the exterior of the package and through the enclosure, to the electronic element housed within the package.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process for making a metal wall enclosure of a package to be used for accommodating electronic elements, such as a semiconductor chip or the like.
2. Prior Art
A metal package having a circumferential wall formed of metal has been conventionally known in the prior art, for use as a package for accommodating electronic elements. Such a metal package can be made by a first or a second process as mentioned below.
The first process comprises a step for mechanically machining a metal block to form an integral metal wall.
The second process comprises a step for cutting a cylindrical hollow tube having a rectangular cross-section into a ring-like shape having a sidewall of a predetermined axial height, forming an aperture in the hollow tube sidewall used for installing therein a ceramic terminal frame or the like, and thus forming the metal side wall of the enclosure. A metal bottom wall is hermetically attached to the bottom edge of the side wall, thereby to close the bottom, open end of the sidewall, as formed from the hollow tube.
However, according to the first process, a large amount of laborious work and time are required, since a metal block must be machined to form an integral metal wall.
According to the second process, a hole (i.e., an aperture in a pre-formed wall) which is used for installing a ceramic terminal frame or the like must be formed by an electric spark process, not by a punching process. Thus, a large amount of laborious work and time are also required.

Process for making a metal wall of a package used for accommodating electronic elements


A strawberry plant producing nearly conical fruit of even red coloration and having inflorescence above the foliage.

The new variety of strawberry was created in a breeding program by my crossing two parents from among a group of seedlings which were obtained from a free pollenization of 32 different varieties and seedlings; in particular, by crossing as seed parent a variety designated 86-184 and as pollen parent a variety designated 86-175. Both parents are unpatented, proprietary varieties which have not been commercialized.
The resulting seedling of the new variety was grown and asexually propagated by stolens in Seria, Spain. Clones of the new variety were further asexually propagated and extensively tested. This propagation and testing has demonstrated that the combination of traits disclosed herein which characterize the new variety are fixed and retained true to type through successive generations of asexual reproduction.


An integrated circuit structure comprises one or more backend-of-line (BEOL) interconnects formed over a first ILD layer. An etch stop layer is over the one or more BEOL interconnects, the etch stop layer having a plurality of vias that are in contact with the one or more BEOL interconnects. An array of BEOL thin-film-transistors (TFTs) is over the etch stop layer, wherein adjacent ones of the BEOL TFTs are separated by isolation trench regions. The TFTs are aligned with at least one of the plurality of vias to connect to the one or more BEOL interconnects, wherein each of the BEOL TFTs comprise a bottom gate electrode, a gate dielectric layer over the bottom gate electrode, and an oxide-based semiconductor channel layer over the bottom gate electrode having source and drain regions therein. Contacts are formed over the source and drain regions of each of BEOL TFTs, wherein the contacts have a critical dimension of 35 nm or less, and wherein the BEOL TFTs have an absence of diluted hydro-fluoride (DHF).

For the past several decades, the scaling of features in integrated circuits has been a driving force behind an ever-growing semiconductor industry. Scaling to smaller and smaller features enables increased densities of functional units on the limited real estate of semiconductor chips. For example, shrinking transistor size allows for the incorporation of an increased number of memory or logic devices on a chip, lending to the fabrication of products with increased capacity. The drive for ever-more capacity, however, is not without issue. The necessity to optimize the performance of each device becomes increasingly significant.
Integrated circuits commonly include electrically conductive microelectronic structures, which are known in the arts as contacts and vias, to electrically connect metal lines or structures. Contacts and vias are typically formed by a lithographic process. Representatively, a photoresist layer may be spin coated over a dielectric layer, the photoresist layer may be exposed to patterned actinic radiation through a patterned mask, and then the exposed layer may be developed in order to form an opening in the photoresist layer. Next, an opening for the contact/via may be etched in the dielectric layer by using the opening in the photoresist layer as an etch mask. The opening may be then filled with one or more metals or other conductive materials to form the contact and/or via.
In the past, the sizes and the spacing of contacts has progressively decreased, and it is expected that in the future the sizes and the spacing of the contacts will continue to progressively decrease, for at least some types of integrated circuits (e.g., advanced microprocessors, chipset components, graphics chips, etc.). One measure of the size of the contacts is the critical dimension of the contact opening. One measure of the spacing of the contacts is the contact pitch, representing the center-to-center distance between the closest adjacent contact.
When patterning extremely small contacts with extremely small pitches by such lithographic processes, several challenges present themselves, especially when the pitches are around 70 nanometers (nm) or less and/or when the critical dimensions of the contact openings are around 35 nm or less. One such challenge is that the critical dimensions of the contact openings generally tend to scale faster than the resolution capabilities of the lithographic scanners. Shrink technologies exist to shrink the critical dimensions of the contact openings. However, the shrink amount tends to be limited by the minimum contact pitch, as well as by the ability of the shrink process to be sufficiently optical proximity correction (OPC) neutral, and to not significantly compromise critical dimension uniformity (CDU).
Consequently, fabrication of the functional components needed for future technology nodes may require the introduction of new methodologies or the integration of new technologies in current fabrication processes or in place of current fabrication processes.

Method of contact patterning of thin film transistors for embedded DRAM using a multi-layer hardmask


An inhibitor switch having a construction that facilitates fabrication by disposing a bearing surface made of a metal plate so as to be exposed at a bottom surface of a shaft hole to which a shaft of a movable plate is pivotably fitted, and having fixed contact plates formed in a pole plate by insertion molding. The movable plate has movable contacts, which are brought into contact with the fixed contact plates. A movable arm is secured to the movable plate. A case supports pivotably the movable plate together with the pole plate. The bearing surface made of a metal plate is disposed so as to be exposed at the bottom surface of the shaft hole to which the shaft of the movable plate is pivotably fitted. The bearing surface can be integral with one of the fixed contact plates.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the construction of an inhibitor switch, in which contacts are changed depending on the position of a transmission operating member in an automatic transmission for an automobile and, in particular, to an improvement of the construction of a bearing portion for a movable plate in the inhibitor switch.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional inhibitor switch is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. JP-A-Hei 7-25537. This conventional inhibitor switch includes a movable plate and a movable arm which are welded in one body by ultrasonic welding. A case and a pole plate of the inhibitor switch are fixed together by means of screws and so forth.
The conventional inhibitor switch described above is assembled in the following order. In a first step, a shaft of the movable arm is inserted into an O-ring and the case of the switch. In a second step, the movable plate is mounted on the shaft of the movable arm, and a joint portion therebetween is welded by ultrasonic welding. In a third step, contact springs and movable contacts are mounted on the movable plate. In a fourth step, the case is covered by the pole plate, and these two parts are secured to each other by means of screws and so forth.
However, the conventional inhibitor switch described above has a problem in that the mounting assembly is difficult because the ultrasonic welding is effected in a state where the case is put between the movable plate and the movable arm.
Further, the inhibitor switch has a problem in that the ultrasonic welding cannot be effected all around the case because the movable arm interrupts a horn of an ultrasonic welding machine when it is tried to further join the case and the pole plate by ultrasonic welding.
In addition, there is another problem in that the shaft of the movable arm can be inadvertently welded to the pole plate by ultrasonic welding. This is caused when the movable arm and the movable plate are joined by ultrasonic welding in a state where the movable plate is put pivotably between the case and the pole plate.

Inhibitor switch having an improved bearing portion


The motor that drives a reverse unit, and a CPU configured to switch an image formation mode between a full color mode for forming an image using image forming stations and a black and white mode for forming an image using the image forming station are provided. If the image is formed on a first recording material supplied by a sheet feeding roller pair and subsequently an image is formed on a second recording material supplied by a sheet refeeding unit, the motor continuously drives the reverse unit. If the image formation mode for the first recording material is different from the image formation mode for the second recording material, the CPU switches the image formation mode to the full color mode, and forms the images on the first recording material and the second recording material.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image forming apparatuses, such as a copier and a laser printer, and in particular to printing mode switching control for double-sided printing in a color image forming apparatus.
Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, an electrophotographic color image forming apparatus has a mode capable of multi-color image forming (e.g., full color mode) and a mode capable of single color image forming (e.g., black and white mode). The two modes are configured to be switchable. Switching the mode every time when a user designates a color image forming apparatus to print a job mixedly including a full color image and a black and white image reduces productivity owing to downtime for mode switching. If all images including black and white images are printed in the full color mode, the operating lives of consumable items other than of black are unnecessarily reduced. Thus, an image forming apparatus has been proposed that optimizes mode switching timing according to the total number of sheets for a job and the number of black and white image sheets included in the job.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-116906 discloses a method of determining mode switching timing based on the total number of pages for a job, the number of printed pages, and a mode switching threshold stored in an image forming apparatus, for processing a job mixedly including a black and white image and a full color image. According to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-116906, the image forming apparatus is switched from the full color mode to the black and white mode if the number of remaining pages for a job exceeds the switching threshold, and printing is performed, thereby reducing the number of times for switching to the black and white mode and optimizing the total print time period. Likewise, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-262999 also discloses a method of determining mode switching timing for a job mixedly including a black and white image and a full color image. According to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-262999, mode switching from the full color mode to the black and white mode is executed if images of a job designated by a user indicate that a predetermined number of black and white images are consecutively arranged, and the black and white images are formed. On the contrary, if the number of black and white images is less than the number of predetermined sheets, the black and white images are formed, with the mode being left in the full color mode without mode switching. Thus, the frequency of execution of mode switching is optimized. That is, the productivity and the operating lives of consumable items are optimized.
In recent years, in view of savings in resources and energy, image forming apparatuses standardly having an automatic double-sided printing function have increasingly been installed. Meanwhile, both requirements of reduction in costs of image forming apparatuses and improvement in productivity of double-sided printing have been required to be met. For example, to achieve reduction in cost, there is a configuration that includes a driving source for a reverse mechanism embedded in an image forming apparatus to revert the front and back of a recording sheet, the driving source being shared with a fixing device, and omits a clutch for transmitting a driving force to the reverse mechanism. If this configuration executes a job of double-sided printing mixedly including a black and white image and a full color image, the mode cannot be switched according to an order in some cases. That is, situations occur where a recording sheet cannot be temporarily under stand-by in the reverse mechanism due to mode switching. To temporarily cause a recording sheet to stand by in the reverse mechanism, all operations related to the fixing device are also required to be temporarily stopped. Typically, returning operations related to the fixing device require a certain period after transmission of a driving force. Consequently, during the returning operations, the driving force is transmitted also to the reverse mechanism that shares the same driving source with the fixing device because the clutch is omitted. The recording sheet standing by in the reverse mechanism is thus conveyed to the reverse path, and collides with another recording sheet standing by on the reverse path, thereby causing printing failure.
If the image forming apparatus having the above configuration executes a job mixedly including a black and white image and a full color image entirely in the full color mode, no mode switching is required. Consequently, no printing failure occurs. However, if image forming is continued in the full color mode even for the black and white image, the operating lives of consumable items that are other than items for black and are not originally used for this image forming are reduced. This reduction is unfavorable for the user. It is thus an object to allow the image forming apparatus including the aforementioned cost-reduced reverse mechanism to execute mode switching at an appropriate timing in execution of a job mixedly including the black and white mode and the full color mode, without causing printing failure.

Image forming apparatus controlling timing of switching between image formation modes


In order to improve the soft error resistance of a memory cell of an SRAM without increasing its chip size in deep through-holes formed by perforating a silicon oxide film, there is a silicon nitride film and a silicon oxide film, a capacitor element having a TIN film serving as a lower electrode. This capacitor element is connected between a storage node and a supply voltage line, between a storage node and a reference voltage line, or between storage nodes of the memory cell of the SRAM.

An SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) is a type of RAM which allows writing and reading operations at any time without a refreshing operation when the electricity is on; and, it has a flip flop circuit that is capable of storing 1 bit of information and two information transfer MISFETs (Metal Insulator Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors). The flip flop circuit has, for example, a pair of drive MISFETs and a pair of load MISFETS.
In such a memory cell, soft errors due to, for example, α rays become a problem. This phenomenon occurs when α rays contained in the cosmic rays from outer space or alpha rays emitted from a radioactive atom contained in the packaging material of an LSI damage the information stored in the memory cell. Addition of a capacitance to the information storage portion (input/output portions of the flip flop circuit) in the memory cell to increase the capacitance of the information storage portion is under investigation as a countermeasure against this α ray problem.
There is a potential danger that, as scaling-down of the memory cell proceeds and the operating voltage lowers, the capacitance which the memory cell itself possesses decreases and soft errors which damage the information tend to occur.
For example, there is a technique (refer to, for example, the below-listed Patent Document 1) of forming a capacitor between two interconnects for cross-coupling input/output terminals of a flip flop circuit for storing information, by adding two metal film layers, which will constitute capacitor electrodes, and a thin insulating film interposed therebetween, to increase the capacitance of a storage node of the memory cell, thereby preventing lowering of the soft error resistance. Patent Document: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 36252/1997

Semiconductor integrated circuit device and a method of manufacturing the same


A degradation diagnosis method for simply performing degradation diagnosis of a gas sensor such as a hydrogen sensor. The hydrogen sensor has a reference detector member and common detector member, with each detector member respectively constituted of a detector element and temperature compensating element that form a pair. Power is normally supplied to the common detector member, which performs concentration detection of the hydrogen gas. When performing degradation diagnosis of this common detector member, concentration detection is performed simultaneously by each detector member for the gas of the prescribed hydrogen concentration by supplying power to both the common detector member and reference detector member and comparing the output value of the common detector member and the output value of the reference detector member.

A solid polymer membrane fuel cell, for instance, has a stack comprised by stacking a plurality of cells formed by sandwiching a solid polymer electrolyte membrane from both sides by an anode and a cathode, with hydrogen fed to the anode as fuel, and air fed to the cathode as an oxidant. Hydrogen ions generated at the anode by a catalytic reaction move through the solid polymer electrolyte membrane to the cathode, where they cause an electrochemical reaction with oxygen to generate electricity.
In fuel cells such as this kind of solid polymer membrane fuel cell, unreacted air discharged from the cathode (referred to as air off-gas) is normally discharged out of the system, in which case the hydrogen gas concentration in the air off-gas must be confirmed.
Systems have been developed in the past for confirming the concentration of hydrogen gas in air off-gas by, for example, installing a hydrogen detector in the discharge system of the cathode side of the fuel cell (see, for example, Japanese Examined Patent Application, Second Publication No. H06-52662).
A protective device is also known that shuts off the fuel supply when hydrogen at the fuel electrode side is detected to have leaked through the solid polymer electrolyte membrane to the oxygen electrode side by means of, for example, a gas sensor for detecting hydrogen gas provided in the discharge system of the oxygen electrode side of the fuel cell (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. H06-223850).
Use of a gas contact combustion-type gas detector is being considered in these hydrogen detectors. This gas contact combustion-type gas sensor comprises a detector element to which a catalyst is attached and a temperature compensating element to which a catalyst is not attached. Utilizing the heat of combustion when the detected gas (hydrogen in the case of a hydrogen detector) contacts the catalyst, it detects the gas concentration of the detected gas from the difference in electrical resistance between the detector element and the temperature compensating element.
Meanwhile, silicon in materials such as sealant used in a fuel cell can mix with the air off-gas, and when the hydrogen detector is exposed to this silicon during the catalytic reaction, the catalyst is poisoned. As a result, the hydrogen detector is degraded, and the detection accuracy drops. In addition, along with this silicon poisoning, degradation such as a drop in sensitivity due to sulfur poisoning and water absorption and the like may occur. Depending on the extent of degradation, replacement of the hydrogen detector may be required.
Accordingly, degradation diagnosis for hydrogen detectors is extremely important, and a method to easily diagnose whether a hydrogen detector is degraded or not is anxiously awaited.

Method and device for diagnosing gas sensor degradation