An inspection contactor is provided for inspecting electrical continuity of an inspected wafer by pushing probes against a predetermined location of the inspected wafer. The contactor may include a first silicon substrate provided on a main face thereof with the probes. A second silicon substrate may be located on another face of the first silicon substrate in which the another face is opposite to the main face of the first silicon substrate. A semiconductor circuit having a plurality of electrode pads may be located on the second silicon substrate. A third silicon substrate may be located on the second silicon substrate at a side opposite to the first silicon substrate. A plurality of outer terminals may be located on a face of the third silicon substrate in which the face is opposite to the second silicon substrate. The number of the outer terminals may be smaller than the number of the probes. Each of the plurality of electrode pads located in the semiconductor circuit may be electrically connected to the probes or the outer terminals.

The invention relates to a semiconductor device having an interconnection substrate and semiconductor integrated circuits located on the interconnection substrate, and an inspection contactor for inspecting the electrical continuity of a wafer to be inspected.
Hitherto, in order to realize with a low cost a semiconductor device or system LSI with high-degree, complicated functions by use of flip chip bonding in which a plurality of LSI chips are directly mounted on an interconnection substrate, a bump connection system using bumps formed of solder or metal is used as a mounting method for mounting, after independently producing chips each having a function such as micro-computer or memory etc., the produced chips on the interconnection substrate at a high density.
However, in the bump connection system using the bumps formed of the solder or metal, there is such a problem as thermal strain occurs in the bumps etc. due to difference in thermal expansion coefficient between the LSI chips and the interconnection substrate with the result that fatigue fracture occurs in the bumps etc.
As means for preventing this problem from occurring, there is a method in which a gap defined between the LSI chip and the interconnection substrate is filled with an epoxy type thermosetting resin in which fine particles (usually called xe2x80x9cfillerxe2x80x9d) such as glass particles etc. are included, so that thermal warp between the LSI chip and the interconnection substrate may be restrained, whereby thermal stress occurring in the metal bumps etc. are reduced to thereby improve the connection reliability of the metal bumps etc.
Further, a method disclosed in JP-A-10-270496 (a mounting method usually called xe2x80x9cunderfill structurexe2x80x9d) is known in which an anisotropic, conductive resin is used as the epoxy type thermosetting resin in which fine particles such as glass particles etc. are included. Or, as a method of realizing the system LSI, there is known a method comprising the steps of: arranging a plurality of chips, which are individually produced previously, on an identical plane; and then electrically connecting the chips to each other by use of thin film interconnection technique.
However, in the conventional methods explained above, there are such problems as a step of filling with resin is necessary after mounting the LSI chips on the interconnection substrate with the result that a production cost thereof becomes high, and as, in a case where troubles such as defective chip etc. are found in the reliability test etc. after the assembling thereof, the filled resin must be removed to exchange the defective LSI chip with the result that much labor is required.
Further, in a case where LSI chips are mounted at a high density, it becomes indispensable, due to the increase of generated-heat occurrence density of the whole of a device, to provide a heat-dissipating mechanism for improving the heat dissipation of the whole device, which impedes the small size design of the device.
In addition, in a case of using a bonding method other than the above method using the solder bumps, it is necessary to perform with high precision the alignment between a LSI chip and electrode pads located on an interconnection substrate, which has been an obstacle to the simplification of operations for mounting the LSI chip on the substrate.
The object of the invention is to obtain a semiconductor device and an inspection contactor both superior in heat dissipation in each of which a plurality of LSI chips are mounted on an interconnection substrate having substantially no difference in thermal expansion coefficient between the LSI chips and the substrate by use of means distinct from conventional bonding or connecting, whereby the exchange or mounting of the chips can be readily performed.
According to the first aspect of the invention, there is provided a semiconductor device comprising:
an inner cover made of a material containing silicon as the main constituent thereof in which inner cover LSI chips each provided with semiconductor integrated circuits are located;
an interconnection substrate made of a material containing silicon as the main constituent thereof and connected to the inner cover, the substrate being provided on the surface thereof with electrode terminals each formed to have a pyramid-like shape at a portion of a cantilever which electrode terminals are electrically in contact with the LSI chips, an interconnection layer connected to the electrode terminals, and electrodes for performing electrical connection to exterior portions which electrodes are connected to the interconnection layer, and
an outer cover made of a metal other than silicon or a macromolecular material which outer cover covers the inner cover and the interconnection substrate.
Preferably, in the first aspect of the invention, the interconnection substrate and the inner cover are connected to each other through fitting portions.
According to the second aspect of the invention, there is provided a semiconductor device comprising:
a first inner cover made of a material containing silicon as the main constituent thereof in which is located at least one LSI chip provided with semiconductor integrated circuits;
a second inner cover made of a material containing silicon as the main constituent thereof in which is located at least one LSI chip provided with semiconductor integrated circuits;
an interconnection substrate made of a material containing silicon as the main constituent thereof, the substrate being provided on one face thereof with electrode terminals each formed to have a pyramid-like shape in a portion of a cantilever which electrode terminals are in electrical contact with the LSI chip located in the first inner cover, a first interconnection layer connected to the electrode terminals, and electrodes connected to the first interconnection layer which electrodes perform electric connection to exterior portions, the substrate being further provided on the other face thereof with electrode terminals each formed to have a pyramid-like shape in a portion of a cantilever which electrode terminals are in electrical contact with the LSI chip located in the second inner cover, a second interconnection layer connected to the electrode terminals formed on the other face of the substrate, and a third interconnection layer for connecting the first interconnection layer to the second interconnection layer, the one face of the interconnection substrate being connected to the first inner cover, the other face of the interconnection substrate being connected to the second inner cover; and
an outer cover made of a metal different from silicon or a macromolecular material which outer cover covers the first inner cover, the second inner cover and the interconnection substrate.
Preferably, in the second aspect of the invention, the interconnection substrate, the first inner cover and the second inner cover are connected to each other through fitting portions.
According to the third aspect of the invention, there is provided a semiconductor device comprising:
a first inner cover made of a material containing silicon as the main constituent thereof in which is located at least one LSI chip provided with semiconductor integrated circuits;
a second inner cover made of a material containing silicon as the main constituent thereof in which is located at least one LSI chip provided with semiconductor integrated circuits;
a silicon cover with an interconnection substrate, the substrate being provided on one face thereof with electrode pads, electrode terminals each formed to have a pyramid-like shape in a portion of a cantilever which electrode terminals are in electrical contact with the electrode pads, and at least one LSI chip having semiconductor integrated circuits, the substrate being further provided on the other face thereof with electrode terminals each formed to have a pyramid-like shape in a portion of a cantilever which electrode terminals are in electrical contact with the LSI chip located in the second inner cover, an interconnection layer connected to the electrode terminals, another interconnection layer for connecting the electrode pads located on the one face of the substrate to the interconnection layer located on the other face thereof, the other face being connected to the second inner cover;
an interconnection substrate made of a material containing silicon as the main constituent thereof, the substrate being provided on one face thereof with electrode terminals each formed to have a pyramid-like shape in a portion of a cantilever which electrode terminals are in electrical contact with the LSI chip located in the first inner cover, a first interconnection layer connected to the electrode terminals, and electrodes connected to the first interconnection layer which electrodes perform electric connection to exterior portions, the substrate being further provided on the other face thereof with electrode terminals each formed to have a pyramid-like shape in a portion of a cantilever which electrode terminals are in electrical contact with the LSI chip located in the silicon cover, a second interconnection layer connected to the electrode terminals formed on the other face of the substrate which second interconnection layer is also connected to the electrode terminals formed on the one face of the silicon cover, and a third interconnection layer for connecting the first interconnection layer to the second interconnection layer, the one face of the interconnection substrate being connected to the first inner cover, the other face of the interconnection substrate being connected to the silicon cover having the interconnection layer; and
an outer cover made of a metal different from silicon or a macromolecular material which outer cover covers the first inner cover, the second inner cover and the interconnection substrate.
Preferably, in the third aspect of the invention, each of the pairs of the interconnection substrate and the first inner cover; the interconnection substrate and the silicon cover having the interconnection layer; and the silicon cover and the second inner cover is connected to each other through fitting portions.
In each of the first to third aspects of the invention, it is preferred that electric parts such as capacitors and/or resistors and/or transistors are mounted in the first inner cover. In addition, in each of the first to third aspect of the invention and the preferred aspects, it is preferred that the first inner cover is provided with concave portions each formed to receive at least the LSI chip, and that at the bottom of each of the concave portions is provided a height variation-reducing layer having high thermal conductivity and superior flexibility.
According to the fourth aspect of the invention, there is provided an inspection contactor for performing the inspection of electrical continuity of a wafer to be inspected, by forcing probes onto a predetermined location of this wafer through a pushing substrate, the inspection contactor comprising:
a first silicon substrate (, i.e., a silicon cover 38) having the probes (, i.e., electrode terminals) formed on a main face of the first silicon substrate;
a second silicon substrate (, i.e., LSI chip 37) provided on the other face opposite to the main face of the first silicon substrate;
a semiconductor circuit: having a plurality of electrode pads formed on the second silicon substrate;
a third silicon substrate (, i.e., interconnection substrate 6a) provided at a side of the second silicon substrate which side is opposed to the first silicon substrate; and
a plurality of external terminals formed on the face of the third silicon substrate which face is opposed to the second silicon substrate,
the number of the external terminals being smaller than the number of the probes,
each of the electrode pads formed in the semiconductor circuit being electrically connected to the probes or the external terminals.
In the fourth aspect of the invention, it is preferred that a concave portion is formed in a face opposite to the main face of the first substrate, and that, in the concave portion, the second silicon substrate is positioned.
Further, in the fourth aspect of the invention, it is preferred that the first silicon substrate or the third silicon substrate is provided with electrode terminals each formed to have a pyramid-like shape at a portion of a cantilever, and that electrode pads formed in the semiconductor circuit are electrically connected to the probes or to the external terminals by means of the electrode terminals.
Preferably, in the fourth aspect of the invention, the semiconductor circuit is a multiplex circuit.
The contactor of the invention comprises the inner cover in which the LSI chips are mounted, the electrode terminals each formed to have a pyramid-like shape at a portion of a cantilever, an interconnection layer electrically connecting the electrode terminals, and electrode pads and another interconnection layer both for performing external electrical connection.
The LSI chips are electrically mounted directly by the contacting thereof through the electrode terminals, without using any bumps used in the conventional bonding or connecting. The cantilever structure is adopted for readily bringing about compressive force at the contacting portions between the electrode terminals and the chip, whereby the electrical connection can be stabilized. In this case, since the compressive force is regulated by the structure of the lever and the amount of the deflection thereof, it is possible to prevent excessive force from being applied to the contacting portions. By use of this connecting method, the exchanging of the chip etc. can be readily performed. Further, since the interconnection substrate is made of silicon, the difference in thermal expansion coefficient between the substrate and the LSI chip becomes very small, so that reinforcing resin used in conventional technique becomes unnecessary, and it is effective to reduce the production cost.
Further, the LSI chips are covered by the inner cover made of the material containing silicon as the main constituent thereof, and both of the interconnection substrate and the inner cover of silicon are connected to each other through the fitting portions. In the cover, the concave portions for positioning the LSI chips are formed previously. As regards all of these concave portions and the cantilever etc. provided on the interconnection substrate, it is possible to perform micro-working by conventional LSI-producing technique or micro-machining technique.
In addition, by using the connecting structure in which the cover and the interconnection substrate are connected to each other by the fitting of them, the positioning between the cover and the interconnection substrate can be performed readily. Thus, by the steps of inserting the LSI chips into the cover and overlapping the interconnection substrate with the cover by the fitting, the positioning of the LSI chips and the interconnection substrate and the mounting of the LSI chips can be performed readily. In this case, by use of the cover formed of silicon, the heat occurring in the LSI chips can be readily dissipated, so that the heat dissipation characteristic of the whole of the semiconductor device is enhanced.
Further, by adopting such structure as the whole structure covered by the inner cover is further covered by the outer cover made of a metal other than silicon or macromolecular material which outer cover is provided with external electrode terminals, it becomes easy to perform the handling thereof and to enhance the mechanical reliability thereof.


A high velocity actuator, which may be used as a blast simulator, is provided with an actuator cylinder tube having an opening at first and second cylinder ends, and an actuator piston rod slidably mounted within the actuator cylinder tube and extending through the opening in the first cylinder end. A control valve concentric to the actuator cylinder tube is configured to be coupled to a source of pressurized fluid and controls admittance of the fluid under pressure to the actuator cylinder at the second cylinder end to act on the actuator piston rod to extend the actuator piston rod towards the first cylinder end.

High velocity actuators have been employed in a wide number of areas. For example, high rate (velocity) actuators have been used to perform tensile rate dependency tests on metals and plastics, and for performing compression tests to determine properties related to forging of materials. High velocity actuators have been made to impact the muzzle of an artillery weapon to test the recoil mechanism without actually firing a projectile. In other uses, a sled or table has been accelerated to a high velocity. The sled or table with an installed test article impacts a spring, damper, or mass to subject the test article to a controlled shock test. Actuators have also been used to accelerate simulated heads to a desired velocity to test the properties of helmets, padded dashboards, and other objects designed to protect people in crashes. Actuators have been used to accelerate a mass to a controlled velocity and allowed it to impact a hydraulic cylinder to produce extremely high pressures in an artillery gun breech chamber to perform a fatigue test on the breech without firing the gun. Controlled actuators have been used to produce accelerations duplicating the acceleration of the passenger compartment of a car in a crash.
Such applications, described above, have involved the use of only a single actuator. Various methods were used for controlling the actuators, and included the use of a face seal, with the actuator piston acting as a valve. After a triggered release, the actuator piston allowed free flow of fluid from an accumulator into the actuator. Another method was the use of a high flow servo valve to control the flow from an accumulator to a small area actuator to provide high velocities. Fast opening solenoid valves have also been used, to provide uncontrolled flow from an accumulator into an actuator. Also employed have been servo controlled poppet valves. These are similar to the servo valve, but exhibit higher flow capability.
Another system, used to simulate the effect of a terrorist bomb on structural components of civil structures, employs multiple actuators to accelerate masses to a velocity for simultaneous impact on a structural element such as a reinforced concrete column. The impact velocity and mass of the impactors transfers an impulse (momentum) to the structure to duplicate the impulse measured from actual explosions. Control of the actuators was by servo-controlled poppet valves. This allowed starting all actuators simultaneously and provided the ability to adjust the command to the individual valves to achieve desired velocities and near simultaneous impact on all actuators.
Impact momentum is mass times velocity. The impulse and energy transferred to a specimen is a function of the ratio of the impact mass to the specimen mass and the losses in the impact spring. The best efficiency of energy transfer to the specimen during the impulse occurs when the two masses are close to equal.
In order to evaluate higher strength terrorist targets where the explosive might be set off very close to the structure, it is necessary to provide higher impact velocity. Doubling of the velocity is required to achieve four times the energy. However, previous blast generators have been limited to a velocity of about 30 meters/second. To increase the velocity to double, increasing the actuator stroke length is not an option due to piston rod weight and piston rod buckling considerations. To provide double the velocity in the same acceleration distance requires doubling the acceleration. The piston area must be doubled, requiring four times the flow at maximum velocity. Increasing the hydraulic pressure is possible, but hydraulic valves and fittings are not practical, since they are very expensive for pressures beyond normal working pressures for commercial hydraulic equipment.

Blast simulator with high velocity actuator


A portable robotic device (PRD) as well as related devices and methods are described herein. The PRD includes a 3-D imaging sensor configured to acquire corresponding intensity data frames and range data frames of the environment. An imaging processing module configured to identify a matched feature in the intensity data frames, obtain sets of 3-D coordinates representing the matched feature in the range data frames, and determine a pose change of the PRD based on the 3-D coordinates; and perform 3-D data segmentation of the range data frames to extract planar surfaces.

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Independent mobility is an important requirement for a person's daily life. Reduction in mobility due to visual impairment leads to severe deterioration in the quality of a person's life. Despite the substantial advances in computer vision and robotics, it is still extremely difficult for the visually impaired to move around independently in a 3D space. Up to date, white cane remains as the most efficient navigational tool to the visually impaired due to its powerful haptic feedback from the local environment and its low cost. However, a white cane has limitations in handling obstacle avoidance and wayfinding of pedestrian mobility. Obstacle avoidance deals with local problems in taking steps safely without bumping into anything, tripping, or falling. Wayfinding refers to global problems of planning and following routes from one point to another while maintaining awareness of current position and heading. A white cane is a low resolution device, i.e., one haptic "datum" per contact point. For obstacle detection and avoidance, it is difficult and time-consuming for the visually impaired to obtain the full picture of an obstacle by assembling haptic data from multiple locations. Also, it may miss an overhung obstacle. With respect to wayfinding, a white cane has a very limited range and it is too nearsighted for path planning. For instance, it may be difficult for the visually impaired to locate a distant doorway/stairway that may be used as a waypoint of a navigational task. A conventional white cane does not have wayfinding function unless the blind traveler uses a GPS. However, GPS does not work or work well in an indoor environment.
The computer vision and robotic technologies can be used to build a Robotic Navigational Device (RND) that replaces or enhances a white cane. The main challenge is that the portability requirement of an RND limits its size, computing power and power supply. These constraints exclude the possibility of adopting the approach of multiple sensors and high-end computers in military robots C[1]. As a result, an RNDs currently only offers very limited navigational aid to the visually impaired.
The RNDs can be classified into three categories: Robotic Wheelchair (RW) C[1, 2, 3], Robotic Guide-Dog (RGD) C[1, 2] and Electronic White Cane (EWC) C[1, 2, 3, 4]. A Portable Robotic Device (PRD) is referred to an RND that can be carried or worn by a person with visual impairment. Much research effort has been devoted to the RW approach in the past several decades. A RW is well suited for a blind person who loses the ability to move. However, a RW gives its user an unpleasant sense of being controlled. Given the reality that the current robotic assistive technology is inadequate for navigation in an unstructured environment, safety concerns will keep the visually impaired away from using RWs for their mobility needs. A RGD is a robotic device that indicates a traversable direction to a visually impaired person and guides him/her to the destination. In this case, the user needs to use his/her ability to move. A RGD can be passive or active. A passive RGD C[5] generates the travel direction to the user by steering its wheel, and the user needs to push the RGD forward. A passive RG gives its users a sense of safety that they are controlling the device, but it brings extra workload to users that may cause fatigue. An active RGD C[6], however, generates an additional forward movement that drags the user to the destination. In this way, the RGD can even take on a certain payload without requiring the user to push and thus it does not result in fatigue to the user. However, the robot-centric movement may create uncomfortable feelings in users as they may be dragged around at an uncomfortable pace. An EWC is a handheld/wearable device that detects the obstacle distance in its immediate surrounding. The Nottingham obstacle detector C[7] and the Navbelt C[10] use sonar for obstacle detection. The C-5 laser cane C[8] triangulates the range information using three laser diode transmitters and three photo-diode receivers. The "virtual white cane" C[9] senses range by a baseline triangulation system using a point laser and a miniaturized camera. The user receives multiple range measurements by swinging the device around. In spite of the advantage of portability, this kind of devices usually provides quite limited information to the user due to the limited sensing capability. It is generally impossible for them to perform efficient wayfinding function in a 3D space. Also, a handheld EWC may limit or deny the use of a traditional white cane.
A 3D pose (position and orientation) estimation method for the visually impaired is introduced in C[1] where a sensor package, comprising an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and a 2D laser scanner, is mounted on a white cane to track its pose. The white cane's pose is estimated by integrating the IMU measurements over time and updated by the extended Kalman filter using the straight-line features extracted from the laser scans. The method requires a known map of the indoor environment to compute the intersection of the laser-scan plane and the structural planes of the environment. The use of a 2D laser scanner is still not sufficient for providing details and dimension of environment.
Therefore, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the art to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS


The described technology is generally directed towards a surf mode of operation for streaming content such as video content, in which different content is arranged as different channels though which a user can surf by changing the streaming channels. The starting times of the different content can be staggered. Aspects comprise streaming first content corresponding to a first interactively selectable streaming channel to an output device, receiving a change request to change to a second interactively selectable streaming channel, and in response to the receiving the change request, streaming second content corresponding to the second interactively selectable streaming channel to the output device.

The current model for discovering available content on streaming services is based on users searching for and/or discovering content (e.g., a program such as a movie or television show) within a static catalog of imagery and titles presented in a grid. Once a program is found and selected, the program is played from its beginning.
To encourage more immediate consumption of video, streaming services have been attempting to introduce ways to reduce the amount of time user spend searching and evaluating the typically large amount of content offerings within these large grids. As one example, some services present users with a preview clip of an automatically played video loop or the like that corresponds to the program that is currently focused in the grid, to entice users to begin watching that program.


A system and method are provided for automatically creating a desktop icon for access to a remote resource. A text drop event in a desktop area of a user interface is identified, and the associated dropped text is analyzed. It is determined whether the dropped text is a recognized format for a path name to a remote resource. If the dropped text is a recognized format, a desktop icon is created for access to the remote resource based upon the recognized format and the dropped text.

Computer system users often obtain path names for remote resources, such as an http URL identifying a web resource or a path name for a remote file, in textual form in e-mail messages or in other textual forms. Typically, the interactive process of using that textual path name to access the associated remote resource involves retyping or moving text among multiple windows and applications and can be time consuming and frustrating for users. It is desirable to provide users with a less complicated way to convert a textual path name into a convenient means for accessing the remote resource. One means for accessing a remote resource comprises using a separately executed application to create a jumpsite desktop icon, as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/580,742, entitled "Graphical Method and System for Accessing Information on a Communications Network", that accesses a designated web page when opened.

System and method for automatically creating a desktop icon for access to a remote resource


Improving performance of a computer program is disclosed. A first set of escape data is gathered. A first compiled program is provided using the first set of escape data. A second set of escape data is gathered based on the first compiled program. A second compiled program is provided using the second set of escape data. The second compiled program is more optimized than the first compiled program.

Efficient memory management is important for efficient execution of computer programs. Many programming languages support memory management for heap memory. For example, some virtual machine implementations use a fast generational garbage collector that allocates objects from the heap, wherein the allocation streams through memory. Typically, streamed data flushes lines out of the cache and forces extra read operations and write operations. This leads to extra memory traffic and inefficient utilization of caches.
One way of reducing memory traffic is to use stack based allocation for memory management. In systems that support stack based allocation schemes, objects are allocated on the running program's stack instead of a shared heap. The memory is freed when the stack frame exits. Since manual stack allocation requires extensive programmer intervention and is error prone, stack based allocation is typically done automatically. Currently, successful stack based allocation requires accurate knowledge about the lifetime of objects. Such knowledge may be acquired using escape analysis. However, escape analysis is typically an expensive operation performed at compile time, making it impractical for large-scale development efforts. Also, current escape analysis tends to be pessimistic, that is, it tends to limit stack based allocation to those objects that can be proven to be safe to allocate on the stack. Such pessimistic allocation potentially misses a significant number of effective stack based allocation opportunities.
It would be useful to have a memory management technique that would allow for efficient stack based allocation, without incurring the compile time overhead associated with escape analysis. It would also be desirable if the memory management technique could maximize the opportunities for stack based allocation.


A method and computed tomography unit are disclosed for producing computed tomograms of a patient's beating heart by voxelwise reconstruction of volume data records from prescribed cardiac cycle phases. Firstly, a multiplicity of voxelwise partial reconstructions are calculated from projection segments substantially smaller than 180° in accordance with small cardiac phase segments. The complete voxel data that cover overall at least 180° and originate from a preselected cardiac phase are subsequently summed up per cardiac phase to be considered from the pool of the incomplete reconstructed voxel data.

Methods and computed tomography units are generally known from cardio CT. Reference may be made, for example, to the document by Thomas Flohr and Bernd Ohnesorge entitled "Heart-Rate Adaptive Optimization of Spatial and Temporal Resolution for ECG-Gated Multislice Spiral CT of the Heart", Journal of Computer Assisted Tomography, 25(6): 907-923. In this known method of CT cardiac imaging an ECG of the patient is recorded in parallel with the CT scan and is stored jointly with the acquired detector data. Detector data that are to be assigned to a specific cardiac phase can then be selected retrospectively with the aid of a typical ECG structure, for example an R wave, and a reconstruction of the image data can be carried out starting with a specific instant of the cycle relative to the R wave. This phase-resolved imaging of the cardiac volume is used both for coronary CT angiography and for functional diagnostics on the heart.
A multiplicity of images that show the overall cardiac cycle at different time intervals are required for functional diagnostics. Accordingly, volume data records are reconstructed at different initial instants relative to the subsequent R wave, the detector data used for the purpose extending, however, over a relatively large cardiac phase period. As a rule, even the data collection periods from which the individual temporally consecutive images are reconstructed overlap one another, because the temporal spacing at which the operator requires consecutive images of the heart is mostly smaller than the period from which the data for the reconstruction of the images must be collected.
Thus, at specific instants of the cardiac phase data records flow repeatedly into the reconstruction of volume data records of different initial instants, the result being a very large calculation volume.

Method and computed tomography unit for producing computed tomograms of a patient's beating heart


An anchor 14 for a building roof structure tie-down strap 12 comprises a rectangular hollow steel box 27 having a keyhole 26 formed at one end of one surface, which slips over the head 24 of an anchor pin 17 permanently fixed in the foundation 19 of a building, and a pair of bolt holes 29 formed at an opposite end in a pair of adjacent surfaces to receive a bolt 30 for fastening a strap-tightening ratchet 13 to the box 27.

In U.S. Pat. No. 5,537,786, straps utilized to clamp the roof structure of a building to the sidewall structure thereof are secured to the foundation of the building by means of ratchets which in turn are fastened to eye-bolts secured in the foundation by connectors. The use of eye-bolts and connectors which form a transition between the eye-bolts and strap ratchets comprise a weak, complicated and expensive portion of an overall tie-down system.

Anchor for hurricane-resisting building roof structure tie-down


Electrobiological stimulation is carried out transcranially by applying high frequency squarewave bursts exhibiting no d.c. term across the cranial region. Such stimulation is commenced employing ramp generators and positive and negative voltage converters which evolve the requisite baseform and burst frequencies having a voltage waveform which is square in nature. Both voltage and current are sensed and subjected to comparator logic in conjunction with predetermined thresholds and windows. Overcurrent detection and overvoltage detection is provided in hard wired fashion to assure rapid shutdown response. D.C offset detection is provided along with waveform balance tests to further assure the safety of the system. Diagnostic procedures as well as therapeutic procedures may be carried out with a system version which provides for the application of a stimulus in conjunction with safety monitoring and controller based development of stimulating waveforms, all of which exhibits no d.c. term. Feed point voltage waveforms and current waveforms are mathematically processed and compared for diagnostic analysis.

Alternative medicine approaches to the treatment of a variety of physical and mental conditions have been the subject of substantial investigation and interest. See: Journal of the American Medical Association (1998), 280 (18). Nontraditional techniques in the management of pain have ranged from classic acupuncture to the electrical stimulation of tissue. In the latter regard, the efficacy of electrical stimulation from skin surface attached electrodes have been the subject of a substantial amount of investigation. Referred to generally as transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), typically a relatively low level of current, for example, in the milliamp range which is manifested as a squarewave is introduced to some select region of the peripheral nervous system for a prescribed treatment interval. The frequency of this squarewave signal is relatively low, ranging generally from a few Hertz to about 100 Hertz and patient response to the application of such low frequency currents at the skin has been described as an unpleasant experience.
Somewhat recently, a combination of electrical stimulation and acupuncture has evolved. This technique differs from traditional acupuncture in that the needle itself is not the focus of treatment, instead, it serves as a conductor of electricity. One approach with electroacupuncture has been described as percutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (PENS). This PENS therapy utilizes acupuncture-like needle probes positioned in the soft tissue to stimulate peripheral sensory nerves at the dermatomal levels.
In the 1970s, Limoge, working in France, evolved an electroanesthesia electroanalgesia approach involving a different form of stimulation sometimes referred to as "Limoge currents" wherein, for example, a pulse cycle comprising pulses consisting of a positive wave for 2 μS is followed by a negative wave of 4 μS. The group has a period duration of 6 μS corresponding to 166 kHz. These groups have been referred to as bi-phasic balanced currents. They are gated on for four milliseconds followed by an off period of six milliseconds. The total cycle period thus is ten milliseconds corresponding to a 100 Hz gating cycle or burst frequency.
The integrals of the positive high frequency pulses and the negative high frequency pulses are maintained in balance. This results in a zero net applied current and eliminates or substantially abates a potential for electrophoresis. The current intensity generally will be from about 220 mA to about 250 mA peak to peak. In general, application of the current is by transcranial electrical stimulation (TCES) which is applied to the head through a frontal electrode and two posterior electrodes at the level of the mastoid bones. TCES treatment evidences no apparent side effects and has been used with very positive results in abdominal, urological gynecolgical and orthopedic surgery and traumatology and in addiction withdrawal therapy. TCES has been shown to enhance the potency of conventional pharmaceuticals during surgery and to evoke a reduction in the need for opiate analgesic during neuroleptanalgesia. Mathematical analysis of the Limoge currents indicates that the use of high frequency currents allow deep penetration of the electric field into the brain. It has been thought that the dielectric properties of biological tissue enables, in situ, the high frequency current combination with low frequency currents is responsible for the analgesic potentiaton. See the following publications:                Limoge, A., An introduction to electroanaesthsia. In: R. M. Johnson (Ed.), University Park Press, Baltimore, Md., 1975, pp. 1–121.        Limoge, A., Louville, Y., Barritault, L., Cazalaa, J. B. and Atinault, A., Electrical anesthesia. In: J. Spierdijk, S. A. Feldman, H. Mattie and T. H. Stanley (Eds.), Developments in Drug Used in Anesthesia, Leiden University Press, Leiden, 1981, pp. 121–134.        Limoge, A. and Boisgontier, M. T., Characteristic of electric currents used in human anesthesiology. In: B. Rybak (Ed.), Advanced Technology, Sijthoff and Noordhoff, German-town, 1979, pp. 437–446.        Champagne, Papiemak, Thierry, and Noviant, Transcutaneous Cranial Electrical Stimulation by Limoge Currents During Labor, Ann. Fr. Anesth. Reanim., Masson Paris, 1984.        Stanley, T. H., Cazalaa, J. A., Atinault, A., Coeytaux, R., Limoge, A. and Louville, Y., Transcutaneous cranial electrical stimulation decreases narcotic requirements during neuroleptic anesthesia and operation in man, Anest. Analg., 61 (1982) 863–866.        Stanley, T. H., Cazalaa, J. A., Limoge, A. and Louville, Y., Transcutaneous cranial electrical stimulation increases the potency of nitrous oxide in humans, Anesthesiology, 57 (1982) 293–297.        Ellison, F., Ellison, W., Daulouede, J. P., Daubech, F. E., Pautrizel, B., Bourgeois, M. and Tignol, J., Opiate withdrawal and electrostimulation double blind experiments, Encephale, 13 (1987) 225–229.
In support of an expanded utilization of the Limoge currents in the control and management of pain and a variety of medical conditions, investigators and practitioners now find need for improved generation equipment with heightened capacities for investigation of variations of the Limoge current signatures or characteristics and for utilization of these variations and their effect for diagnostic applications to treatment as well as therapeutic purposes.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Electrical stimulation of tissue for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes


An improved helmet mounted display. The inventive display includes a laser and a fiber optic cable having an array having two sets of rows of optical fibers and being mounted to receive input from said laser at a input end and to illuminate a screen with light from said laser via an output end thereof. A particularly novel aspect of the invention is the provision of a first mechanism at the input end of the fiber optic cable for illuminating a first set of rows of fibers in the array with light from the laser during a first scanning interval and for illuminating a second set of rows of fibers in the array with light from the laser during a second scanning interval. A second tilting mechanism is mounted at the output end of the fiber optic cable for directing illumination from the first set of rows of fibers in the array to a screen during the first scanning interval and for directing illumination from the second set of rows of fibers in the array to the screen during the second scanning interval. An actuator is provided for moving the first and second tilting mechanisms synchronously. In a specific implementation, the first and second tilting mechanisms are glass plates and the actuator is a piezo-electric transducer. By repeating a scan over a second set of fibers, the visibility of dead spots in the output image from broken fibers is mitigated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to display systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to helmet mounted displays.
While the present invention is described herein with reference to illustrative embodiments for particular applications, it should be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. Those having ordinary skill in the art and access to the teachings provided herein will recognize additional modifications, applications, and embodiments within the scope thereof and additional fields in which the present invention would be of significant utility.
2. Description of the Related Art
Helmet mounted displays are useful in simulator, entertainment and virtual reality applications. Helmet mounted displays include a projector which provides an image on a screen or window which is attached to a helmet. As the head of the wearer moves, the displays moves and maintains an image in the field of view of the wearer. In displays in which the projector is bulky and heavy, the projector is mounted off the helmet and the image is relayed to the screen by a fiber optic cable and relay optics. To recreate the image with acceptable resolution, the fiber optic cable includes a large number of individual fibers which are often arranged into 5 by 5 arrays or multifibers.
Unfortunately, it is common for several multifibers to break creating dead spots in the display obscuring the displayed image.
One prior approach to this problem involves the use of a prism at the input end of the image guide to spread the color spectrum of the image over many fibers. An identical prism installed at the output end served to recombine the color spectrum into a single image. Unfortunately, this approach would not work in laser based projectors because the primary colors are single wavelengths. As there is no broad color spectrum with these systems, all energy for each color would pass through a single fiber only.
Another approach involves the use of tilted flat glass plate, one at the input and one at the output end. The plates are spun synchronously to spread the image in a circular pattern over many fibers. This approach would also be ineffective with laser projectors as laser light has zero persistence. Every point in the image is illuminated for just an instant. The stroboscopic effect of the scanning laser beam is such that the illumination of each point passes only through a single fiber.
Hence, these incoherent techniques for minimizing the effect of dead fibers in fiber optic image guides do not adequately address the problem of dead fibers in the otherwise advantageous laser projector.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a technique for correcting for dead spots projected images resulting from broken fibers in laser projector based helmet mounted displays.

Helmet mounted display including synchronously moving tilted mechanisms


An improved arts and crafts tool designed to loop and cut wire in a single fluid motion at any desired location along the length of the wire. The tool comprises a pair of arms each arm terminating in a soft-cover handle adapted to be gripped by a user. The upper portions of the arms have looping and cutting members for looping and cutting wire at a desired length. Disposed within one of the cutting members is an ejection aperture which harmlessly directs cut sections of waste wire away from a user and enables the tool to cut sections of wires at any desirable point.

A number of tools are designed for use in connection with the creation of arts and crafts projects and, more particularly, the art of jewelry making. Among them are piers having rounded heads for looping, bending and shaping wire; wire cutters having sharpened edges for cutting the ends of wire after other sections of wire are looped; and combination tools that are designed to perform the functions of looping, bending, shaping preceded by and/or followed by the task cutting the wire to a desired or customized length. For example, two types of prior art looping pliers are The Beadsmith® 6-in-1 Looping Pliers and The Beadsmith® 4-in-1 Pliers. The 6-in-1 Looping Pliers provides six different looping sizes ranging from 2-9 mm. The 4-in-1 Pliers provide a number of utility features for jewelry making, including round tips for use in wire looping, a groove for dosing jump rings, a flat section for flattening wire and sharpened edges for cutting wire or thin headpins.
Through improvements in these and similar types of arts and crafts tools, individuals with arthritic hand and finger joints have found it somewhat easier to continue to use these tools, often times in a manner consistent with use prior to the onset of their arthritic condition. For example, springs positioned between the handles have enabled the heads of looping and cutting tools to automatically separate without manual effort by a user, thereby reducing the stress placed on arthritic joints in the hands and fingers of users with each stroke or squeeze. Likewise, soft covers applied to the handles of looping and cutting tools that are used in jewelry making and other arts and crafts projects further ease the stresses caused by handling these tools. Nevertheless, due to the large amount of pain that is often present in arthritic joints, there is still an increasing need by many afflicted users to accomplish more with each stroke or squeeze of these types of tools. Yet, many tools are generally incapable of effectively performing the tasks and looping and cutting with a single stroke or squeeze, in the same fluid motion. Likewise, even amongst those users who possess pain-free, non-arthritic joints, there is a need to accomplish manual, craft-based wire looping and cutting tasks more quickly in order to increase productivity and reduce the time needed to create crafts and jewelry that utilize looped wiring.
Moreover, prior art looping and cutting tools are generally incapable of consistently discarding cut sections of wire in a particular direction, away from the user. It would be beneficial to incorporate such a feature into wire cutting tools in a manner consistent with their ordinary use.
Lastly, prior art looping and cutting tools are generally not configured to be able to perform customized cutting of wire at specified points along the length of the wire beyond a predetermined fixed length of approximately ½-¾ inch. Enabling customized looping and cutting increases the utility of such a tool by allowing a user to determine a precise position for cutting and looping of wire.
Based on the foregoing, there is an ongoing need to provide a more versatile arts and crafts tool which addresses the shortcomings of the prior art.


In one embodiment, an AC-DC power converter can include: (i) a rectifier bridge and filter to convert an external AC voltage to a DC input voltage; (ii) a first energy storage element to store energy from the DC input voltage via a first current through a first conductive path when in a first operation mode; (iii) a second energy storage element configured to store energy from a second DC voltage via a second current through a second conductive path when in the first operation mode; (iv) a transistor configured to share the first and second conductive paths; (v) the first energy storage element releasing energy to a third energy storage element and a load through a third conductive path when in a second operation mode; and (vi) the second energy storage element releasing energy to the load through a fourth conductive path during the second operation mode.

An AC-DC power converter is used to convert an AC voltage into a constant DC electrical signal, such as a DC voltage or DC current. Because of the relatively high power of AC-DC power converters, they are widely used to drive high power loads (e.g., motors, light-emitting diode [LED] lights, etc.). An AC-DC power converter can include a rectifier bridge to convert the external AC voltage into a sine half-wave DC input voltage for the conversion circuit. To reduce AC grid harmonic pollution, an AC-DC power converter may utilize a power factor correction (PFC) circuit through which a relative high power factor can be obtained.

Silergy Semiconductor Technology (Hangzhou) LTD


An improved area monitor for detecting gas concentration is provided that requires a very infrequent calibration, and works reliably in detecting a particular target gas using only two semiconductor sensors. One of these sensors will exhibit a drift that is constantly monitored and automatically compensated for, while the other sensor exhibits a stable, repeatable response over very long periods of time. Once the "stable" has been initially calibrated, the concentration of the target gas can be discerned directly from the resistance of this sensor, although more that one particular chemical gas may cause the stable sensor to change resistance. The second sensor is then used to discern whether or not the change in resistance of the stable sensor was due to the actual target chemical, or due to some other similar chemical. The second sensor is selected to be of a type that responds in one direction (i.e., its change in resistance either increases or decreases) when emersed in the particular target chemical of interest. For all other similar gases, the resistance of the second sensor will change in the opposite direction.

Gas detecting systems have been available in the prior art in which a plurality of sensors are used, each sensor having a different response characteristic from the other. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,638,443, a gas detecting apparatus is disclosed that determines a ratio of conductivity of each sensor as it becomes exposed to the gas sample. Various mathematical formula are used, including logarithmic operations, to obtain a linear relationship of the conductivity ratio versus the concentration of the particular gas in question. This system then finds "detection patterns," and calculates a "degree of similarity." Once this information has been derived, the gas detecting apparatus can discern the presence of the particular target gas by use of the detection patterns and degree of similarity.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,542,640 an array of gas sensors is used each having a different response to the selected gases. In this system, at least as many sensors are required as different gases to be detected. The various response patterns of the array of sensors are used to create simultaneous equations, which then can be solved to determine the presence of the selected target gases.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,457,161, a gas detection system is disclosed in which a sensor array is used to detect concentrations of multiple types of gases. Each sensor has a different sensitivity to the particular target gases, and the sensor's voltage outputs can be quantified by use of simultaneous linear equations.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,818,348 a system for identifying and quantifying simple and complex chemicals is disclosed. The materials to be analyzed are heated and vaporized. A sensor array is used in which each sensor has a response characteristic that is different from the other sensors. A response pattern is created and compared to a stored pattern to identify the chemical of interest, and this information is independent of concentration. The concentration can then be determined by solving simultaneous equations.
A major problem with conventional chemical analysis systems is that they really do not work well at all. In order to achieve workable simultaneous equations that can be analyzed to find either the presence of a target gas or the concentration of the target gas, the response of the individual sensors in the array of sensors must be very repeatable, and must not drift over time. This is difficult enough to achieve with one or two sensors, and is nearly impossible when using high numbers of sensors (e.g. five or more sensors). Conventional systems that can analyze the presence or concentration of gases in an open area typically use five or more different sensors, in order to have enough information be somewhat reliable in predicting a minimum concentration of important or dangerous gases. The sensors must be calibrated very frequently, or else the calculations used to make the determination of the presence of a particular gas will become quite useless.
It would be desirable to provide a gas detecting system that did not require recalibration at very short time intervals. In addition, it would be desirable for such a system to use relatively few sensors, regardless of whether or not such sensors exhibit severe drift problems (whether such sensors are repeatable or stable over long periods of time). It would be even more desirable to correct for drift of sensors that are not repeatable or stable over long periods of time.

Monitor for detecting hydrocarbons and other gases in an open area


A high voltage gas circuit breaker, comprises: a fixed unit including a fixed arc contactor and a fixed contactor; and a movable unit including a movable arc contactor and a movable contactor, and configured to selectively contact or be separated from the fixed unit, and wherein the movable unit comprises: a fixed cylinder; a compression cylinder slidably-installed in the fixed cylinder; a movable rod penetratingly-coupled to the compression cylinder, and configured to transmit an adjusting force of an operator; a pressing member installed on an inner bottom part of the compression cylinder; and a compression plate supported by the pressing member, and up-down moving in the compression cylinder by a pressure of an expansion chamber.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a high voltage gas circuit breaker, and particularly, to a high voltage gas circuit breaker capable of enhancing a breaking performance and durability by controlling a volume of an expansion chamber by a pressing member.
2. Background of the Disclosure
A high voltage gas circuit breaker (or a high voltage gas insulated switchgear) indicates an apparatus installed on a circuit between a power side and a load side of a power system, and configured to protect the power system or a load device by switching the circuit in a normal current state, and by breaking the circuit when an abnormal current such as a ground fault and a short circuit occurs on the circuit. The high voltage gas circuit breaker is configured to separate a movable electrode from a fixed electrode by receiving power from an power unit connected to outside. In this case, an arc occurring between contacts is extinguished by gas such as SF6 sprayed thereonto.
A method for extinguishing an arc occurring from the high voltage gas circuit breaker is largely classified into a puffer method and a composite extinguishing method according to a configuration of an extinguishing unit. The puffer method indicates a method for extinguishing an arc by compressed heat gas. On the other hand, the composite extinguishing method indicates a method for extinguishing an arc using the existing puffer method and a thermal expansion method. In the composite extinguishing method, a circuit to which a small current has been applied is interrupted by the exiting puffer method, i.e., by extinguishing an arc using compressed gas. However, a circuit to which a large current has been applied is interrupted by utilizing heat gas expanded by arc energy to extinguish an arc.
FIGS. 1a, 1b, 1c and 1d illustrate an operation principle of a puffer type gas circuit breaker in accordance with the conventional art. More specifically, FIG. 1a illustrates a state of a closed circuit, FIG. 1b illustrates a state just before an open circuit, FIG. 1c illustrates an extinguished state, and FIG. 1d illustrates a state of an open circuit.
The gas circuit breaker includes a fixed arc contactor 1, a nozzle 2, a fixed contactor 3, a movable arc contactor 4, a compression chamber 5, a movable contactor 6, a fixed piston 7, and a cylinder rod 8. If the cylinder rod 8 is downward moved as shown in FIG. 1b by an adjusting force from an external driving source, from a closed state shown in FIG. 1a, the cylinder rod 8, the movable contactor 6 and the nozzle 2 are also downward moved. As a result, gas inside the compression chamber 5 is compressed. For an extinguished state (FIG. 1c), extinguishing gas (SF6) compressed in the compression chamber 5 is sprayed through the nozzle 2, thereby cool-extinguishing an arc in a blowing manner. Then the cylinder rod 8 is downward moved, so that the fixed arc contactor 1 and the movable arc contactor 4 are separated from each other (FIG. 1d).
FIGS. 2a and 2b illustrate an operation principle of a composite extinguishing type gas circuit breaker in accordance with the conventional art.
The gas circuit breaker includes a movable electrode composed of a movable rod 11 connected to an operator, a movable main contact 12, a movable arc contact 13, a main nozzle 14 and an auxiliary nozzle 15; and a fixed electrode composed of a fixed main contact 16 and a fixed arc contact 17. The gas circuit breaker also includes a compression chamber 18 for compressing extinguishing gas as the movable electrode moves; and an expansion chamber 19 for expanding gas by an arc occurring when the movable main contact 12 and the fixed main contact 16 are separated from each other. A flow path 10, through which the movable arc contact 13 and the fixed arc contact 17 are separated from each other and heat gas expanded when the main nozzle 14 is separated from the fixed arc contact 17, is formed between the main nozzle 14 and the auxiliary nozzle 15.
FIG. 2a illustrates a normal state of a circuit, i. e., a state where a current flows on a closed circuit through contacts. If a movable electrode and a fixed electrode are separated from each other as shown in FIG. 2b as an abnormal current occurs, an arc is generated between the movable arc contact 13 and the fixed arc contact 17. In this case, an expansion energy of the arc is applied to the expansion chamber 19 to thus increase a pressure inside the expansion chamber 19. If the movable arc contact 13 is separated from the fixed arc contact 17 and the main nozzle 14 is also separated from the fixed arc contact 17, extinguishing gas is sprayed onto the fixed arc contact 17 from the expansion chamber 19 and the compression chamber 18, along the flow path 10 formed between the movable arc contact 13 and the fixed arc contact 17. As a result, the arc is extinguished.
The aforementioned puffer method has an inner structure where the compression chamber 5 and the expansion chamber are integrated with each other. The puffer method is a method for extinguishing an arc by spraying heat gas of which pressure has been increased when a neck portion of the main nozzle 2 is separated from the fixed arc contact 1, onto the arc occurring when the movable arc contact 4 is separated from the fixed arc contact 1, during a trip operation.
The composite extinguishing method is a method capable of breaking a circuit using a smaller amount of adjusting energy than the puffer method, because the compression chamber 18 and the expansion chamber 19 are separated from each other.
However, the conventional puffer method and composite extinguishing method may have the following problems.
Firstly, in case of the puffer method, a breaking speed is lowered as an inner pressure of the expansion chamber 19 serves as a repulsive force against a breaking operation when a circuit to which a large current has been applied is interrupted. Accordingly, a larger adjusting force is required in the puffer method than in other methods.
Secondly, in case of the composite extinguishing method, the compression chamber 18 and the expansion chamber 19 should be disposed separately. Accordingly, a larger number of components are required in the composite extinguishing method than in the puffer method. Further, since a repulsive force due to increase of a pressure inside the expansion chamber 10 in the puffer method is reduced, a breaking operation can be performed with a smaller adjusting force than in the puffer method. However, this may merely reduce increase of a pressure of the compression chamber 18 due to a piston movement. That is, controlling an inner pressure of the expansion chamber 19 is substantially impossible.
Thirdly, in case of both of the puffer method and the composite extinguishing method, an inner pressure of the expansion chamber is excessively increased. This may cause damage of components inside the extinguishing unit due to heat gas, and may cause scarfing of the contacts and the nozzle.
Fourthly, in case of both of the puffer method and the composite extinguishing method, an inner pressure of the expansion chamber is not sufficiently increased when a circuit to which a small current has been applied is interrupted. This may cause a breaking operation not to be performed.
As a prior art relating to utilization of a pressure of gas occurring from a gas insulating switchgear, Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-2012-0002779 (Composite extinguishing type gas circuit breaker for gas insulating switchgear) may be referred.


An exemplary pressure influencing assembly for an aircraft auxiliary system an inlet opening to an aircraft auxiliary system and an exhaust opening from the aircraft auxiliary system. Both the inlet opening and the exhaust opening face at least partially radially away from an axis. At least some of the inlet opening is circumferentially aligned with at least some of the exhaust opening relative to the axis.

This disclosure relates generally to an aircraft auxiliary system and, more particularly, to influencing back pressure at an exhaust of the aircraft auxiliary system.
Auxiliary systems are used in many aircraft. One example auxiliary system, an auxiliary power unit (APU), mounts to structural members within a tail cone of the aircraft. Aircraft skin secured to the structural members encloses the APU within a cavity. Other auxiliary systems are located in other areas of the aircraft.
An inlet duct extends from an outer surface of the aircraft skin to the auxiliary system. Fluid communicates to the auxiliary system through the inlet duct. A door may selectively cover an opening to the inlet duct to restrict flow to the auxiliary system. An exhaust duct communicates exhausted fluid from the auxiliary system.
As known, back pressure is a function of the air flowing over outwardly facing surfaces of the aircraft skin interacting with the exhausted fluid. If the back pressure is relatively high, the efficiency of the auxiliary system may undesirably decrease. For example, relatively high back pressure levels can reduce flow through the APU, which inhibits the ability of the APU to cool an aircraft cabin.

Pressure influencing assembly for an aircraft auxiliary system


An eccentric Z-fold mailer intermediate, and mailer produced from the intermediate, offers a significant saving in mailing a customer merchandise return mailer. A sheet of paper (typically 8 1/2.times.14 inches) has first and second fold lines parallel to the top and bottom edges and dividing the sheet into first through third panels, the second and third panels of substantially the same size and shape (e.g. and a length of about 5.75 inches), and the first panel of a smaller length (e.g. about 2.5 inches). A blow on mailing label assembly, including a release liner adhesively attached to the sheet and a merchandise return label including merchandise label return tracking indicia is adhesively secured to the release liner, is provided on the first face of the third panel. A series of patterns of pressure activated cohesive, e.g. disposed in separable margin strips, hold the mailer panels together in a Z-fold configuration, with outgoing address indicia on the first face of the first panel.

There are many marketers of products, particularly catalog companies, that receive requests from customers to return merchandise. The United Parcel Service (UPS) has approved a particular label for that purpose, called an Authorized Return Service label (ARS). Such a label is used for postage paid return of merchandise. In conventional techniques practiced by most catalog companies, and others dealing with return merchandise, a conventional UPS/ARS label (comprising a label that is about 4.5.times.5.75 inches having pressure sensitive adhesive on one face thereof and UPS Groundtrac information, including tracking numbers, on the other face thereof, and the adhesive attached to a conventional release liner) is inserted into a No. 10 envelope with a letter from the catalog company or the like, and mailed to the customer. When a customer receives the envelope, he or she opens it up, reads the letter, removes the merchandise return label (ARS label) from the release liner backing, and places them on a package containing the merchandise to be returned. This is a labor intensive process which costs more, and takes more time, than is desired.
According to the present invention, the cost and time associated with sending out ARS labels are both greatly reduced by incorporating the ARS label as part of any an eccentric Z-fold mailer, formed of a single sheet of paper (typically an 8 1/2.times.14 inch sheet). The invention allows 2 the outgoing address and the letter from the catalog company to be simplex printed at the same time, allows the ARS label to be affixed to the same face of the mailer on which simplex printing is provided, and allows the mailer to be readily sealed (so that the label is within a completely sealed compartment) by machine and mailed out. Utilizing the intermediate in the mailer according to the present invention, the savings of more than a dollar and twenty-five cents per document can be achieved compared to the prior art process described above, with an increased customer satisfaction and less turn around time for sending out an ARS label from the time that it is requested.
According to one aspect of the present invention an eccentric Z-fold mailer intermediate is provided comprising the following components: A quadrate sheet of paper having first and second faces, top and bottom substantially parallel edges, and substantially parallel side edges substantially perpendicular to the top and bottom edges. First and second fold lines substantially parallel to the top and bottom edges, and dividing the sheet of paper into first, second, and third panels, the first panel between the top edge and the first fold line, and the third panel between the bottom edge and the second fold line, and the second panel between the first and second panels, the second and third panels of substantially the same size and shape, and the first panel having a smaller length, along the side edges, than the second and third panels. A blow on shipping (e.g. mailing) label assembly disposed on the first face of the third panel. A first series of patterns of adhesive disposed on the first face of the second and third panels for holding the first face of the second and third panels together when the sheet is folded about the second fold line. And a second series of patterns of adhesive disposed on the second face of the first and second panels for holding the second face of the first and second panels together when the sheet is folded about the first fold line.
The blow on label assembly preferably comprises a release liner permanently adhesively attached (over substantially the entire surface thereof) to the sheet, and a merchandise return label including UPS Groundtrac information (that is an ARS label) on a first face thereof, and pressure sensitive adhesive on a second face thereof releasably attached to the release liner. Outgoing address indicia is imaged on the first face of the first panel, and other indicia (typically a "letter" from the mailer, such as a catalog company) imaged on the first face of the second panel, the other indicia and the outgoing address indicia having the same orientation, formed by simplex printing of the first face of the intermediate.
The intermediate preferably further comprises first and second lines of weakness parallel to and adjacent the side edges to define separable edge strips of the sheet, portions of the first and second series of the patterns of adhesive disposed in the separable margin strips. The first and second patterns of adhesive preferably comprise pressure activated cohesive. The intermediate also preferably comprises third and fourth lines of weakness parallel to and adjacent the bottom edge and the first fold line in the second panel, portions of the first pattern of adhesive disposed on the first face between the bottom edge and the third line of weakness, and between the first fold line and the third fold line.
Also, return address indicia is imaged on the second face of the second panel adjacent the second fold line and has the same orientation as the outgoing address indicia wherein the first panel is folded about the first fold line. The quadrate sheet preferably has side edges having a length of about 14 inches, and the sheet top and bottom edges have a length of about 8.5 inches, and the first panel side edges have a length of about three inches. The merchandise return label (as is conventional) typically has dimensions of about 4.25 by 5.75 inches. The merchandise return label also is spaced at least about 0.75 inches from each of the bottom edge and the second fold line.
According to another aspect of the present invention an eccentric Z-fold mailer is provided, comprising the following features: First, second, and third panels each having first and second faces, and disposed in a stack, the second panel sandwiched between the first and third panels so that the second face of the first panel engages the second face of the second panel, and the first face of the second panel engages the first face of the third panel. The second and third panels have substantially the same size and shape, including aligned side edges have a first length. The first panel has a second length significantly less than the first length. Outgoing address indicia is imaged on the first face of the first panel and other indicia is imaged on the first face of at least one of the second and third panels. A blow on label assembly is sandwiched between the second and third panels. And adhesive patterns connect the second and third panel first faces together, and the second faces of the first and second panels together.
The adhesive patterns preferably comprise pressure activated cohesive. The blow on label assembly is preferably as described above, with the release liner pressure sensitive adhesive attached to the third panel first face and the other indicia on the second panel first face. The second and third panels have side edges with a length of about 5.75 inches, and the first panel has side edges with a length of about 2.5 inches. Lines of weakness are provided in the panels adjacent but spaced from the side edges thereof, and pressure activated cohesive is disposed between the lines of weakness and side edges.
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide for the cost effective and quick production and mailing of mailers with merchandise return labels. This and other objects of the invention will become clear from an inspection of the detailed description of the invention and from the appended claims.


A flat display device including an active area for displaying an image and a non-active area for lines in which drive circuits apply data signals to the image display area from signal lines the device including a first signal layer of first signal lines in the non-active area, a second signal layer of second signal lines in the non-active area, and a first insulating layer between the first and second layers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flat display device, and more particularly, to an LCD panel with integrated driving circuits.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
As the information society develops, demands for various types of display devices increase. Accordingly, many efforts have been made to research and develop various flat display devices such as liquid crystal display (LCD), plasma display panel (PDP), electroluminescent display (ELD), and vacuum fluorescent display (VFD), and some species of the flat display devices are already applied to display devices of various equipments. Among various flat display devices, the LCD device has been used most widely as a mobile display while replacing a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) because of its advantages, such as excellent picture quality, lightweight, thin profile, and low power consumption. In addition to the mobile type LCD device, such as a display for a notebook computer, the LCD device has been developed for computer monitors and televisions.
The LCD device includes two substrates facing each other with a liquid crystal injected in between the two substrates. The liquid crystal has a different alignment direction according to temperature or density of the liquid crystal. Liquid crystal has both the fluidity of a liquid material and crystalline characteristics of a solid material. That is, a liquid crystal lies between the solid and the liquid phase, which is like a state just before a melting solid becomes a liquid. When a light is irradiated onto the liquid crystal, or an electric or magnetic field is applied to the liquid crystal, the liquid crystal has the birefringence of an optical anisotropic crystal. Also, the liquid crystal has the characteristics of both the liquid and solid within a predetermined temperature range.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a related art LCD device including a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel for displaying an image from a driving circuit that generates a video signal. As shown in FIG. 1, the LCD device includes a plurality of gate lines 14 and data lines 16 that are formed on a first substrate 21 in a matrix. Thin film transistors 13 are formed where the gate lines 14 and data lines cross over each other. Then, a color filter with a black matrix 23 and common electrode 24 are sequentially formed on a side of a second substrate 22 that opposes the first substrate 21. A liquid crystal 25 is positioned between the first and second substrates 21 and 22. The common electrode 24 faces pixel electrodes 26 formed on the first substrate 21 such that each of the pixel electrodes together with the liquid crystal 25 and the common electrode 24 define a pixel of the related art LCD device.
As shown in FIG. 2, each of the thin film transistors 13 includes a gate electrode 30 made of a metal, such as aluminum Al, chrome Cr, or molybdenum Mo. Further, each of the thin film transistors 13 includes source electrode 32 and drain electrode 33 made of a metal, such as aluminum Al, chrome Cr, or molybdenum Mo. A semiconductor layer 34 is positioned in between the source electrode 32 and the drain electrodes 33. Impurity semiconductor layers 36 are respectively provided between the semiconductor layer 34, and the source electrode 32 and drain electrodes 33. The gate electrode 30 is connected to the gate line 14 shown in FIG. 1, the source electrode 32 is connected to the data line 16 shown in FIG. 1, and the drain electrode 33 is connected to the pixel electrode 26. When a scanning voltage is applied to the gate electrode 30 through the gate line 14, the thin film transistor is operated so as to apply a data voltage from the data line 16 to the pixel electrode 26.
The data voltage applied to the pixel electrode 26 through the thin film transistor generates a voltage difference between the pixel electrode 26 and the common electrode 24. The voltage difference changes the arrangement of the liquid crystal 25 between the pixel electrode 26 and the common electrode 24 such that light transmittance characteristics of the pixel are changed. Thus, a visual image can be created with the pixels of an LCD device according to data voltages applied to the pixels.
Recently, the trend in LCD devices has been higher resolutions at larger sizes. Further, efforts have been made to manufacture the active region display part and the driving circuits for the display part on the same substrate. The driving circuits should use thin film transistors having a high mobility as switching device for high speed switching of video signals. However, the thin film transistor (TFT) in driving circuits formed on the same substrate of the display part in the related art includes the same amorphous hydride silicon (a-Si:H) with low mobility as the semiconductor layer 34 of the TFTs of the pixels. Thus, the related art LCD device has problems in achieving higher resolutions at larger sizes that require high speed switching of video signals.
A method for overcoming the switching problem is to use a polycrystalline-silicon TFT (Poly-Si TFT) instead of amorphous hydride silicon TFTs. More particularly, the polycrystalline-silicon TFTs are used in the driving circuits, which are integrated into the LCD panel. Also, active layers of the TFTs in the pixel, such as the semiconductor layer 34 in FIG. 2, are made of polycrystalline silicon, thereby preventing image blur due to slow switching in the pixels. Furthermore, because a process step, such as of Chip On Glass (COG) or Tape Automated Bonding (TAB), for connecting the driving circuit (driver IC) to the LCD panel does not have to be performed since driving circuits are formed on the same substrate as the active region, manufacturing costs are decreased.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a related art LCD panel using polycrystalline-silicon TFTs. As shown in FIG. 3, the LCD panel of the related art LCD panel includes an active region 1 for displaying an image, a data driving circuit 2, a gate driving circuit 3, and an input terminal 4. The data driving circuit 2 is integrated into the LCD panel for driving data lines 5 in the active region 1. The gate driving circuit 3 is integrated into the LCD panel for driving gate lines 6 in the active region 1. The input terminal 4 is integrated into the LCD panel for providing a data signal to charge the data lines 5, a first power signal to operate the gate driving circuit 3, a second power signal to operate the data driving circuit 2, an electrostatic discharge protection circuit, and a control signal to control the gate driving circuit 3 and the data driving circuit 2. The data driving circuit 2 is separated from the gate driving circuit 3 such that the data driving circuit 2 applies signals to the data lines 5 and the gate driving circuit 3 applies signals to the gate lines 6.
As shown in FIG. 4, data lines 45 are divided into blocks, which each receive video signals from the plurality of signal lines S1–Sn through a plurality of switching devices 46. Each of the blocks includes a shift register 43 and a buffer 44 for driving data lines 45 divided into "m" blocks. The plurality of signal lines S1–Sn are formed so as to transmit a video signal output from a digital-to-analog converter (not shown) to each of the data lines 45. The plurality of switching devices 46 sequentially applies the video signals of the signal lines S1–Sn to the data lines for each block according to driving signals output from the shift registers 43 and the buffers 44. It is possible to drive the data lines 45 divided into "m" blocks since the active layers of the TFTs in the pixels are made of polycrystalline silicon having a high electron mobility.
The driving circuits of the related art LCD panel using polycrystalline silicon TFTs is different from a related art driving circuits using amorphous hydride silicon TFTs in that the respective data lines are divided into "m" blocks so as to decrease the number of contact lines between the panel and an external circuit during selecting the gate line, whereby a display voltage is sequentially provided to the data line. The related art LCD panel using polycrystalline silicon TFTs has other advantages. For example, if the LCD panel is a reflecting type LCD panel, the LCD panel includes multi-layered metals for the gate electrode, the source/drain electrodes, a reflecting electrode and a pixel electrode, and an insulating layer.
The plurality of signal lines S1–Sn of FIG. 4 is single layer structure that can be formed during the metallization process for forming either the gate electrodes, source/drain electrodes or pixel electrodes. As shown in FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B, a plurality of signal lines S1–Sn formed in a single layer requires the use of an area of the related art LCD device that cannot be used as an active region. The unused or non-active area that cannot be used in the active region increases in proportion to the number n of the signal lines S1–Sn.


An improved water filter vacuum cleaner includes a vacuum body which contains a dust chamber and a dust collector assembly in the dust chamber that contains filter water. The dust collection assembly includes a dust collection seat and an upper cap. The dust collection seat is divided by a partition to form a filter chamber and an airflow chamber that communicate with each other. The airflow chamber has an airflow duct connecting to the filter chamber. The vacuum body has a suction assembly to generate a suction airflow which sucks suction articles through the airflow duct into the filter chamber. The suction airflow generates oscillating moisture to trap the suction articles. The cleaned suction airflow passes through the upper cap and a guiding member communicating with the upper cap to the suction assembly to form output airflow in the suction assembly to be discharged through an air outlet.

Nowadays the vacuum cleaner has almost become an indispensable household cleaning appliance. It generally includes a vacuum body to generate a strong suction airflow and a housing compartment in the vacuum body. The vacuum body is connected to a hollow hose which has a distal end connecting to a suction head. When the suction body generates the suction airflow, suction articles are drawn through the suction head and the hose into the housing compartment. After vacuum operation has been finished, the housing compartment may be detached from the vacuum body for clearing the suction articles drawn inside.
The present vacuum cleaners can be divided into a dry vacuum cleaner and a wet vacuum cleaner. Both are designed to generate a strong suction airflow. Due to the strong airflow, the conventional dry vacuum cleaner often cannot trap small articles (such as fine dusts or debris) in the housing compartment. The fine dusts are dispelled with the discharged airflow to the exterior. Dust collecting function becomes not effective. Referring to FIG. 1, the wet vacuum cleaner differs from the dry vacuum cleaner in the design of the housing compartment. As shown in the drawing, the housing compartment contains filter water. And an airflow duct is extended from interior of the housing compartment to couple with a connection tube. When the suction articles are drawn into the housing compartment, the suction airflow generates oscillating water spray in the housing compartment to bind and trap the suction articles. The rest clean air is discharged outside. Hence it is more effective than the dry vacuum cleaner and can overcome the disadvantage of failing to trap the small suction articles occurred to the dry vacuum cleaner.
However, as shown in FIG. 1, the conventional wet vacuum cleaner that provides water filter function mostly is quite bulky. This is because the housing compartment has only one filer room. When the contained water is not enough, suction airflow tends to splash the water excessively and result in not desirable binding with the suction articles. Although some vacuum cleaners have a partition located in the housing compartment, the partition merely aims to prevent the water from being dispelled with the discharged airflow and causing dysfunction of the vacuum cleaner. If the water content is too much, the filter room is too large and oscillating water spray cannot be generated as desired, and the strong suction airflow tends to carry a portion of the filter water away outside the housing compartment. As a result, the filter water splashes outside and causes environmental pollution. And an extra effort is needed to wipe the spilled water. It is troublesome.


A method is disclosed for determining anatomical properties of a patient, the patient having an oral cavity and a throat, comprising a) projecting at least one structured light pattern into the patient's oral cavity; b) detecting at least one reflected light pattern, each of the reflected light patterns emanating from reflection of a corresponding projected structured light pattern; c) analysing the at least one reflected structured light pattern in view of the at least one structured light pattern, thereby determining anatomical properties of the patient; and an associated imaging device.

Convenient and accurate measurement of throat anatomy is relevant for daytime screening for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Obstructive sleep apnea is a medical condition wherein the upper respiratory tract is blocked by features within the oral cavity of throat of the patient, preventing a patient from breathing normally, especially when sleeping.
Today, patients exhibiting OSA symptoms need to be monitored during their sleep, and need to go to a sleep lab. This is very tedious and labour-intensive. Obviously, more comfortable and less time-consuming approaches are needed.
Alternative practices which may indicate the presence of OSA with a patient, without sleep lab, are still not accurate enough and cannot sufficiently be trusted. Visual methods include classifying the ensemble of oral cavity and throat in categories (e.g. by using Mallampati scores, see FIG. 1(a), or tonsil grade scores, see FIG. 1(b)) by visual inspection by a human expert. Obviously this implies subjective interpretation and low reproducibility. A follow-up in time of the specific patient's evolution is difficult, and different human experts may categorise the same patient differently.
Another alterative practice comprises the use of a pharyngometer, which is based on an acoustic scanning of the nasal or oral cavity. A good acoustic seal is required for an accurate measurement, which is difficult to achieve. Acoustic scanning provides only little information on the anatomy. Advanced 3D imaging techniques as for instance MRI are expensive and are only available in hospitals, whereas OSA screening typically takes place in the office a primary health physician.
A camera has been used to measure craniofacial anatomic features related to OSA, in "Craniofacial Phenotyping in Obstructive Sleep Apnea—A Novel Quantitative Photographic Approach", Richard W. W. Lee et al., published in SLEEP, Vol. 32, No. 1, 2009. Parameters relating to craniofacial morphology are derived from frontal-profile photographs of patients.

Method and apparatus for determining anatomic properties of a patient