A combination thermal and vibration sensor for use in sleep monitoring equipment comprises a thin film of plastic exhibiting both pyroelectric and piezoelectric properties. By providing a layer of foam material covering only a predetermined portion of one major surface of the film layer, it is found that the thermal mass of the sensor is changed to the point where the pyroelectric signal can be more readily isolated from the piezoelectric signal using conventional signal processing techniques. Because the layer of foam material is not present on a remaining portion of the piezo/pyro film, the signal output due to the film""s piezoelectric properties is not unduly dampened and attenuated.

I. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to electronic sensors for monitoring both temperature change and sound using a single transducer, and more particularly to the construction of such a sensor that more readily allows the temperature signal to be separated from the sound signal using conventional signal processing techniques, e.g., filtering, and which provides a more robust output due to sound vibrations.
II. Discussion of the Prior Art
In the U.S. Pat. No. 5,311,875, which is hereby incorporated by reference, there is described a system for electronically monitoring breathing patterns and may find use as a sleep sensor in a hospital sleep lab. The system described therein utilizes a plastic film exhibiting both pyroelectric and piezoelectric properties, such as a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) film. The film transducer has a conductive electrode on opposed major surfaces thereof and electrical wires connect the electrodes to an electronics module that is designed to separate the transducer output into two separate channels, one being for temperature and the other being for sound or vibration.
As is explained in copending application Ser. No. 09/416,660, filed Oct. 12, 1999, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and which application is hereby incorporated by reference, testing performed by the assignee of the present invention has shown that the signal proportional to temperature variation greatly exceeds that due to noise or vibration by a factor of about 50:1. The temperature-related signal also and is rich in frequency components in the 20 Hz to 50 Hz range during normal exhalation. These properties of earlier sensor designs have caused a difficulty in preventing the thermal component of the transducer from crossing over into the sound channel, often leading to the occurrence of false positives when both sound signals and temperature signals were being simultaneously monitored. The aforereferenced ""660 application describes a solution to the problem. By increasing the thermal mass of the sensor, the effective rise-time of the thermal signal can be greatly reduced, while not attenuating the signal amplitude occasioned by sound/vibration of the sensor below a detectable level.
As is further described in the aforereferenced ""660 application, the thermal mass of the PVDF transducer can be tailored by affixing a layer of plastic foam material onto the transducer film. The plastic foam material is made coextensive with the area of the PVDF film, i.e., it covered the entire surface of the PVDF film.
While the invention described in the aforereferenced ""660 application resulted in a significant improvement in the performance of the sensor in terms of being able to tailor the rise-time of the thermal signal in relation to the thickness of the foam plastic material applied, it did result in some loss of sensitivity of the transducer to sound/vibration signals.
It is, therefore, a principal object of the present invention to provide an improved pyro/piezo PVDF film transducer having a slower rise-time of the thermal signal to the point where it no longer overlaps with the predominant frequency components of the piezo or sound signal, but where the vibration/sound signal is not unduly attenuated.
In accordance with the present invention, control over the thermal mass of the transducer described in the aforereferenced Stasz ""875 patent is achieved by affixing a layer of plastic foam material unto the transducer film on at least one surface thereof but where the foam layer need not be coextensive with the PVDF film layer, thus leaving a portion thereof undamped by the plastic foam material. Thus, in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the combination thermal and vibratory sensor comprises a plastic film exhibiting pyroelectric and piezoelectric properties and has a predetermined shape configuration with first and second major surfaces. A thin layer of conductive material is disposed on and is coextensive with the first and second major surfaces. A pair of elongated conductors are individually attached at one end thereof to the conductive material on the first and second major surfaces. A layer of a material for changing the thermal mass of the sensor is adhered to the layer of conductive material on at least one of the first and second major surfaces so as to overlay only a predetermined portion of the one major surface while leaving the remainder of that one major surface free of the layer of material. In use as a sleep sensor, the transducer of the present invention may be adhered to the upper lip of a person such that inspiratory and expiratory air flow, via the nasal passages, impinges primarily on the portion of the sensor to which the plastic foam material is adhered while the remainder portion of the transducer that is free of foam material either extends beyond the lips and over the mouth or engages the base of the nasal septum. Noise and vibration which may be caused by a person""s snoring remains undamped, allowing the film to output a more robust piezoelectric signal.

Pyro/piezo sensor with enhanced sound response


The vehicle undercarriage cleaner is portable, lightweight, cost-effective, and is simple to use which makes it a new and improved way of cleaning the undercarriage of a vehicle. The device lay on the ground and is connected to a garden hose type connection via a connector. The connector is connected to the singular end of a t-connector which is connected to conduits at the second and third opposing ends of the t-connector. The conduits are connected to end caps at each respective end. The sprayers are connected to the conduits, end caps, and perhaps the t-connector and connector. When liquid is introduced it will run through the device and spray upward and outward through the sprayers. The consumer needs only to slowly drive a vehicle back and forth over the device to clean the undercarriage of the vehicle to satisfaction. Other embodiments are described.

Field
This application relates to vehicle cleaning devices, specifically to such devices that clean the undercarriage of vehicles.
Prior Art
Vehicles accumulate corrosive materials on their undercarriages such as but not limited to dirt, road salt, and chemicals. If not removed, these materials, over time, will erode parts of the vehicle resulting in damage and costly repairs to the consumer. Cleaning the undercarriage of a vehicle has been shown to stop the negative effects of such materials and save the consumer costly repairs in the future.
Having a vehicle washed professionally can be a costly endeavor, especially on a consistent basis. Professional vehicle washes will charge extra to wash the undercarriage of the vehicle, allowing only one pass through the undercarriage cleaning section each wash, which may not clean the affected areas well enough. Many professional vehicle washes do not offer an undercarriage vehicle wash. For these reasons many consumers wash their own vehicles at home.
A number of such devices for cleaning the undercarriage of a vehicle at home have been developed and patents granted. Many of these prior-art devices have been developed to rival the cleaning methods of a professional vehicle wash. These devices typically rely upon a conventional liquid source such as a garden hose type outlet via the home of a consumer.
These devices are typically larger in size and have the home-consumer exerting their own physical energy to use the device. Most of the devices have the consumer holding a spray handle at one end of the device and physically moving and or rolling the device back and forth to clean the undercarriage of the vehicle. Many of the devices also require the use of a pressure washer.
Among the examples of such devices are those of U.S. Pat. No. 6,045,064 issued on Apr. 4, 2000 to Abraham; U.S. Pat. No. 6,247,658 issued on Jun. 19, 2001 to Bakas; U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,014 issued on Jan. 13, 1998 to Chan, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,079,640 issued on Jun. 27, 2000 to Merritts; U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,746 issued on Jan. 15, 1991 to Joyal; U.S. Pat. No. 7,208,051 issued on Apr. 24, 2007 to Zinski, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,779,744 issued on Aug. 24, 2004 to Marine, et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,653,392 issued on Aug. 5, 1997 to Wells.
The aforementioned patents of Bakas, Chan, Joyal, and Zinski all use certain wheels to maneuver the device along the undercarriage of the vehicle. This can cause issues because the wheels can be obstructed by many different objects, and the surface itself, hindering the process of cleaning the vehicle. The consumer will expend excess time and energy trying to maneuver around the various obstacles.
In the patents of Zinski, Joyal, Bakas, and Abraham the device employs a handle with a squeeze style trigger for the operator to use. This trigger must be squeezed by the hand of the operator to release liquid into the device. This is another example of an expenditure of energy on the part of the operator which will add to the tediousness of using the device to wash the undercarriage of a vehicle. The patents of Abraham and Merritts require the operator to hold the full weight of the device while operating it. This again will have the operator expend more energy and cause possible muscular issues to the user while using the device.
The patents of Bakas, Chan, Joyal, Zinski, Merrits, and Abraham require the user to use specific motions and energy to operate their devices, thereby limiting the use of these devices by people with certain handicaps and limited mobility.
With the patents of Bakas, Chan, Joyal, Zinski, and Marine the materials needed to produce each device readily exceed what is needed to clean the undercarriage of a vehicle. This is especially prevalent with the devices of Joyal, Zinski, and Marine. Marines' device does have the added benefit of not having the consumer spend their energy using it but it is very bulky and therefore harder to transport if need be. Also, the entire frame is not needed to clean the entire undercarriage of a vehicle and adds unnecessary costs to the manufacturing of the device. The device of Joyal has a rounded t-shaped lower body which can also be bulky to transport and cost more to produce with the material used. Also, with the devices of Bakas, Chan, Joyal, and Zinski the material needed for the different lengths of tubing, the housing for the sprayers, the squeeze triggers (except for Chan), etc. add to the cost of the device.
Furthermore, with the patents of Bakas, Zinski, and Wells the devices may and/or will use a high pressurized stream of liquid via some type of pump or pressure washer to clean the undercarriage of a vehicle. This is not only unnecessary but may damage or destroy the protective undercoating that is applied to vehicles. This will void any positive effects the device may have on the vehicle by removing dirt, road salt, etc., from the undercarriage.


A reduction photolithographic scanning system uses a reduction lens with a circular image field that is shaped to an irregular hexagonal configuration affording different effective scanning widths so that the full area of a microcircuit image can be scanned onto a substrate in an integer number of overlapping scans. This minimizes the number of scans required for each image area and maximizes the total image area that can be scanned per time unit.

The evolution of efforts to achieve finer dimensions for elements of microcircuit devices while also making such devices larger has led to a variety of expedients involving both step and repeat and scanning processes. U.S. Pat. No. 5,281,996, for example, suggests exposure on a substrate of juxtaposed images of microcircuit patterns so that a lens having an image field smaller than the total pattern to be imaged can complete the imaging in two or more steps. This patent also suggests scanning an image with a long and narrow bar of actinic radiation spanning the image field.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,257 suggests raster scanning a full substrate with image patterns exposed within the shape of a regular hexagon sweeping repeatedly across the substrate in an overlapping pattern that exposes the substrate uniformly. Either a large pattern filling the whole substrate or a series of smaller patterns fitting within the hexagonal shape can be scanned this way. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,285,236 and 5,291,240 offer similar suggestions.

Raster-scan photolithographic reduction system


A system and method for the communication of streaming data is disclosed. In an exemplary method of the present invention, a first set of data is received by an information handling system. A second set of data is received via a network wherein the second set of data is continuously streaming. During times when a sufficient amount of streaming data of the second set of data is available for communication, the second set of data is communicated to a user. Otherwise, the first set of data is communicated to the user. In one embodiment, the second set of data may include a video stream viewable by a user. In another embodiment of the present invention, the first data set and the second data set may be transmitted from a first source. In yet another embodiment, during the time that a first set of data is being communicated due to a presently insufficient amount of streaming data of the second set of data, the second set of data may be monitored such that when a sufficient amount of streaming data is available, the second set of data is communicated.

Resource networks and, more particularly, the Internet and World Wide Web, offer a wider range of resources with each passing day. Online concerts, talk sessions, simulcasts, and other broadcasts have become increasingly more common. Given the direction of Internet technology, it may be possible to receive video programming directly over the Internet as opposed to a television broadcast. This may allow a viewer to choose programming as desired. However, even though connection speeds may continue to increase (connection speeds have already made significant improvements over speeds that even recently were deemed impressive), it is foreseeable that problems may continue with interruptions and data transfer slow downs. Problems with connections, throughput rates, line interference, etc. may cause interruptions and delays in the transfer of data. The time during which the data transfer is interrupted or slowed may result in blank screens and/or indecipherable output. A user must then wait for restoration of the connection so that enough data may be transmitted to the user's system, therein enabling communication to resume.
To utilize streaming data (e.g., data that is transmitted in a fairly continuous series is one type of streaming data), it is necessary to have a sufficient amount of data present in a user's information handling system for processing. Therefore, data must be transmitted at a sufficient rate or quantity so as to provide sufficient amounts of data to be utilized by the system. Buffering data such that inconsistencies in the streaming rate or quantity of streaming data will not affect the utilization of the data, is one way to address this problem. However, in some instances the buffer may not store sufficient data to cover the inadequacy of the transmission, such as a lack of throughput rate. For instance, a large quantity of data may be needed for communicating a data stream that includes video programming. This may require a large buffer that would further result in an extended waiting period as the buffer is filled before utilization. Additionally, the buffer may not be fully responsive to varying throughput rates, resulting in inconsistent communication of the streaming data. Therefore, it may be desirable to utilize another set of data so as to disguise the lack of sufficient amounts of streaming data currently available.
Other methods for addressing nonproductive times in an information handling system prove inadequate when addressing the communication of streaming data. Most of these methods merely address waiting periods for a system to perform a task, not the dynamic problems associated with transmission of data streams that may be utilized as it is being transmitted. Often, these methods rely on the initiation of an event, such as the initiation of a link to perform the desired action. In some instances, actions taken before and after the necessary event are not capable of utilizing the method. Additionally, in another method, the displayed information must have been previously stored on the system. These methods may not provide for the supply of data images during interruptions or slowdowns in the transfer of the data, nor provide for the viewing of the data as it is downloaded so that a user may interact with a data stream. Rather, these methods merely respond to the initiation of an action.
Therefore, there is a need for a system and method for communication of a stream of data that addresses a potential lack of sufficient amounts of streaming data.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for communication of streaming data


A scheme for sharing a common virtual connection identifier between end-nodes, which enable sharing of a common identifier of a sufficient information length at both end-nodes of a virtual connection. In this scheme, the first message containing a first identifier for provisionally identifying a virtual connection commonly between neighboring nodes is exchanged between neighboring nodes, at a time of setting up the virtual connection. Then, the second message containing a second identifier having a larger information size than the first identifier for formally identifying the virtual connection commonly between neighboring nodes, in a form that enables establishing of a correspondence between the first identifier and the second identifier, is exchanged between neighboring nodes through another virtual connection different from the virtual connection to be set up. The correspondence between the first identifier and the second identifier is managed at each node according to the first message and the second message so as to share the second identifier between neighboring nodes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a node device having interface for virtual connection-oriented network, and a scheme for sharing a common virtual connection identifier between end-nodes in forms of such node devices.
2. Description of the Background Art
Currently, a CSR (Cell Switch Router) has been proposed as a high speed router for connecting ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) networks. This CSR has a built-in ATM switch for realizing a function of transfer in cell units in addition to a usual function of transfer in IP (Internet Protocol) packet units.
By utilizing this cell transfer function, it is possible to realize high throughput and low delay communications by taking full advantages of ATM according to the need, even in a case of passing through a router at an IP subnet boundary. Namely, in the ATM Internet formed by using CSRs, a packet assembling and a hop by hop IP transfer processing based on destination IP address are carried out similarly as in a conventional case for some communication at each CSR to be passed through, while a cell based transfer processing by only referring to VPI/VCI of a received cell is carried out for some other communication at each CSR to be passed through so as to omit IP transfer processing for each packet as much as possible. In the following, a VC (Virtual Connection) for realizing a hop by hop packet transfer will be referred to as a default VC, and a VC for realizing a cell based transfer will be referred to as a dedicated VC.
In the cell based transfer, it is not allowed to refer to a content of a packet so that a packet transfer without referring to a content of a packet is realized by using different dedicated VCs for different packet flows.
Also, in the cell based transfer, it is not allowed to refer to a content of a packet so that there is a need to exchange a message indicating that a packet with which destination is to be transferred through which dedicated VC, between neighboring nodes in advance. An identifier for identifying each dedicated VC which is necessary in this message will be referred to as VCID. Note that it is necessary for VCID to be a common identifier for both end-nodes of the dedicated VC.
In general, in ATM, a virtual connection identifier value (VPI/VCI) described in a cell header is different at both ends of the virtual connection. For this reason, it is necessary to provide a new identifier called VCID which is different from VPI/VCI and a scheme for establishing correspondence between the virtual connection identifier and the common identifier.
As a scheme for sharing an identical identifier at both ends, there is a scheme for notifying an identical identifier by using an ATM signaling message. For example, by using BLLI (Broadband Low Layer Information) as a common identifier (VCID), it is possible to establish correspondence between the virtual connection identifier and the common identifier.
However, this scheme is associated with a problem that a region available for the common identifier becomes small when a region available in the ATM signaling is small (BLLI field only has a 7 bit region that can be used by a user, for example), so that a number of dedicated VCs that can be used simultaneously will be limited.
On the other hand, there is also a scheme for establishing correspondence between the virtual connection identifier and the common identifier by sending a message containing the common identifier (VCID) through a dedicated VC (in-bound), as disclosed in xe2x80x9cFlow Attribute Notification Protocol (FANP) Specificationxe2x80x9d, draft-rfced-info-nagami-00.txt, IETF Internet Draft (February 1997).
However, this scheme is associated with a problem that it is difficult for a node that carries out the cell based transfer such as CSR to transmit a message packet with respect to a VC which is already carrying out the cell based transfer. This is because of the following.
First, in a case of transmitting a packet to an ATM network, there is a need to disassemble a packet into ATM cells (48 bytes). There are several methods for disassembling a packet into ATM cells, but a method called AAL5 is customarily used in general. This method divides a packet into segments in ATM cell (48 bytes) sizes, and attaches an xe2x80x9cend of packetxe2x80x9d marking only to the last ATM cell of this message. When ATM cells obtained by this method are received consecutively, a receiving node can recognize the last ATM cell of the packet and assemble the packet from received ATM cells. However, when another ATM cell unrelated to the disassembled packet gets mixed in a middle, it is impossible to assemble the packet from ATM cells.
Now, inserting a packet in order to attach a VCID to a VC that is carrying out the cell based transfer at CSR is equivalent to mixing ATM cells of a packet for VCID exchange in a middle of ATM cells belonging to packets transferred by the cell based transfer. Consequently, simply sending a message packet into a VC that is carrying out the cell based transfer causes cell mixing and thereby makes it impossible to assemble packets at a receiving node.
A need for sending a VCID exchange packet into a VC that is already carrying out the cell based transfer also arises at a time of set up of a virtual connection for multicast, for example. Namely, while the cell based transfer is carried out for participants of multicast by using an already set up virtual connection for multicast, if a new leaf for a new participant (node) is to be added to this virtual connection, a message packet to this new node would have to be sent through that VC which is already carrying out the cell based transfer according to the conventional scheme for sending a message in-bound.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a node device and a scheme for sharing a common virtual connection identifier between end-nodes, which enable sharing of a common identifier at both end-nodes of a virtual connection for which a common identifier is required, without sending a message in-bound through that virtual connection, while attaching a sufficiently large common identifier to that virtual connection.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a node device, comprising: an interface for a virtual connection-oriented network; a first message exchange unit for exchanging a first message which contains a first identifier for provisionally identifying a virtual connection commonly between said node device and a neighboring node device, at a time of setting up the virtual connection through the interface; a management unit for managing a correspondence between the first identifier and a second identifier having a larger information size than the first identifier for formally identifying the virtual connection commonly between said node device and the neighboring node device; and a second message exchange unit for transmitting or receiving a second message which contains the second identifier in a form that enables establishing of a correspondence between the first identifier and the second identifier, through another virtual connection different from the virtual connection to be set up.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for sharing a common virtual connection identifier between neighboring nodes, comprising the steps of: exchanging a first message between the neighboring nodes, the first message containing a first identifier for provisionally identifying a virtual connection commonly between the neighboring nodes, at a time of setting up the virtual connection; exchanging a second message between the neighboring nodes, the second message containing a second identifier having a larger information size than the first identifier for formally identifying the virtual connection commonly between the neighboring nodes, in a form that enables establishing of a correspondence between the first identifier and the second identifier, through another virtual connection different from the virtual connection to be set up; and managing a correspondence between the first identifier and the second identifier at each of the neighboring nodes according to the first message and the second message so as to share the second identifier between the neighboring nodes.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided an article of manufacture, comprising: a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing a computer at a node device to function as a system that enable sharing of a common virtual connection identifier between neighboring nodes, the computer readable program code means includes: first computer readable program code means for causing said computer to exchange a first message which contains a first identifier for provisionally identifying a virtual connection commonly between said node device and a neighboring node device, at a time of setting up the virtual connection; second computer readable program code means for causing said computer to manage a correspondence between the first identifier and a second identifier having a larger information size than the first identifier for formally identifying the virtual connection commonly between said node device and the neighboring node device; and third computer readable program code means for causing said computer to transmit or receive a second message which contains the second identifier in a form that enables establishing of a correspondence between the first identifier and the second identifier, through another virtual connection different from the virtual connection to be set up.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Node device and scheme for sharing common virtual connection indentifier between end-nodes


The present invention provides a light-emitting circuit board and a light-emitting display device, which can reduce a frame region (a space between a side of the board and a pixel region) on a board. The light-emitting circuit board of the present invention is a light-emitting circuit board comprising: on a board, a plurality of pixels each including a first electrode, a light-emitting layer, and a second electrode, stacked in this order; a driver circuit; and an external terminal, wherein the driver circuit is connected to the external terminal; the second electrode of the pixel and the external terminal are connected to each other by a wiring through an off-pixel contact; and the wiring is disposed to overlap with at least part of the driver circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to light-emitting circuit boards and light-emitting display devices. More specifically, the present invention relates to a light-emitting circuit board and a light-emitting display device, which is preferably used in active matrix electroluminescent display devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
With diversification of information processing devices, demands for flat display elements which consume electric power lower than that of a commonly used cathode ray tubes (CRT) and which can be thinned have been increasing, recently. Examples of such flat display elements include a liquid crystal display element and an electroluminescent element (hereinafter, also referred to as "EL element"). Particularly for organic EL elements, research and development have been actively carried out because such organic EL elements have characteristics such as driving at low voltages, all-solid state, high responsiveness, and self-emitting property.
The organic EL elements are broadly classified into passive matrix type (PM type) and active matrix type (AM type) (for example, refer to Japanese Kokai Publication No. 2000-173779 and Japanese Kokai Publication No. 2002-32037). The passive matrix organic EL elements are driven by a line sequential driving method, and light is emitted only from pixels whose scanning electrodes are selected. Therefore, a display capacity is increased in order to obtain a high luminance. That is, a large instantaneous electric power needs to be applied to each pixel, with an increase in the number of scanning electrodes. Accordingly, the PM organic EL elements have room for improvement in that the power consumption is large and in that the product lifetime is short because deterioration of the light-emitting layer, attributed to application of a large electric power, is significant.
In the AM organic EL elements, an active element is formed inside each pixel, and particularly, a system in which a thin film transistor (TFT) is formed in each pixel has been widely used. According to the AM organic EL elements, for example, in a system in which a TFT is formed inside each pixel, switching can be performed in every pixel. Therefore, according to the AM organic EL elements, the number of the scanning electrodes is not limited in principle and display during almost 100% of one frame period can be performed. Further, the instantaneous electric power can be more suppressed in comparison to the PM organic EL elements. Therefore, such AM organic EL elements permit high luminance, high image quality, and large-capacity display. Further, according to the AM organic EL elements, there is no need to apply a large electric power to each pixel in order to obtain a high luminance, unlike the PM organic EL elements. Therefore, a lower driving voltage and a longer product lifetime are permitted. Therefore, research and development especially for the AM organic EL elements have been actively carried out, recently.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a conventional bottom emission organic EL element. The organic EL element includes a board 2a, a light-emitting organic layer 12 formed on the board 2a, and a first electrode 10 and a second electrode 11 arranged to interpose the light-emitting organic layer 12 therebetween. The first electrode 10 has a function of injecting holes into the light-emitting organic layer 12. The second electrode 12 has a function of injecting electrons into the light-emitting organic layer 12. The holes and the electrons, injected from the first electrode 10 and the second electrode 11, respectively, recombine in the light-emitting organic layer 12, and thereby the light-emitting organic layer 12 emits light. The board 2a and the first electrode 10 are configured to have a light-transmitting property. The second electrode 11 is configured to have a light-reflecting property. Light emitted from the light-emitting organic layer 12 is transmitted through the first electrode 10 and the board 2 to be output from the organic EL element.
If the organic EL element is driven by the active matrix (AM) system, an active matrix (AM) board including TFTs and electrodes is used as a board. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing one example of a conventional AM organic EL display. As shown in FIG. 5, according to a conventional AM organic EL display, a TFT 17 for driving each pixel, a first electrode 10, a second electrode 11, a flattening film 13, and the like, are formed on a board 2.
The TFT 17 includes: an island semiconductor layer 15; a gate insulator 18 formed thereon; a gate electrode 14 insulated from the island semiconductor layer 15 by the gate insulator 18; and source/drain electrodes 16 which are formed on the island and semiconductor layer 15 and are connected to source/drain regions of the TFT 17.
The first electrode 10 is formed at a plurality of positions on the board 2 in a matrix pattern. The plurality of the first electrodes 10 constitutes pixel regions 1 of the organic EL element, respectively. An insulating film 21 is formed on the first electrodes 10 and provided with an opening only at a light-emitting portion. Each of the first electrodes 10 is connected to the source/drain electrodes 16 of the TFT 17 through an in-pixel contact 20 formed in the flattening film 13, and has a function of injecting holes into the light-emitting layer 12 in accordance with a signal input from the TFT 17.
The second electrode 11 is formed to cover the light-emitting organic layer 12 and a barrier insulating layer 9 and has a function of injecting electrons into the light-emitting organic layer 12. The second electrode 11 is connected to the source/drain electrodes 16 formed in the AM board through an off-pixel contact 3. The source/drain electrodes 16 are formed in the same layer as a layer where a wiring 5 for connecting the in-pixel contact 20 to a terminal for supplying an electric signal and/or an electric power from an external circuit to the AM board is formed.
FIG. 6 is a planar view schematically showing one example of a conventional AM organic EL display.
As shown in FIG. 6, according to a conventional AM organic EL display, a pixel region 1 where a thin film transistor, a first electrode, a light-emitting layer, and a second electrode are stacked on an AM board in this order is formed. In addition, a signal line 4 for connecting a driver circuit 19 including the thin film transistor (containing a source driver circuit 7 and a gate driver circuit 6) to a pixel, a wiring 5 connected to the second electrode through an off-pixel contact 3, and an external terminal 8 connected to the driver circuit 19 and the wiring 5, are formed. An electric signal and/or an electric power supplied from an external circuit pass/passes through the external terminal 8 into the driver circuit 19.
According to the AM organic EL displays, TFTs and electrodes, which are made of silicon with a low light transmittance, need to be formed on the board. Accordingly, the AM organic EL elements have room for improvement in that a ratio of a light-emitting area to a pixel area (opening ratio) is small. Particularly in organic EL elements driven by a current driving system in which variation of display among pixels can be prevented and decrease in display performances, attributed to deterioration of a light-emitting material, can be effectively suppressed, much more TFTs need to be formed inside each pixel, in comparison to the organic EL elements driven by a voltage driving system. Therefore, the organic EL elements in the current driving system have room for improvement in that the opening ratio is further reduced.
For this problem, a top emission organic EL element, in which the second electrode is made of a light-transmitting material and the first electrode is made of a light-reflecting material, and thereby light emitted from the light-emitting organic layer is output not from the first electrode side that is a side of the board where TFTs and electrodes not transmitting light are formed but from the second electrode side, was proposed (for example, refer to Japanese Kokai Publication No. 2004-127551).
According to the top emission organic EL elements, light emitted from the light-emitting organic layer can be output not through the board where TFTs and electrodes not transmitting light are formed. Therefore, the opening ratio can be larger than that of the bottom emission organic EL elements, and thereby organic EL elements with a higher luminance can be provided.
According to the top emission organic EL elements, light emitted from the light-emitting layer is output from the second electrode side, and therefore the second electrode is made of a material with a high light transmittance. Examples of such a material for the second electrode include indium tin oxide (ITO) and indium zinc oxide (IZO). However, electrode materials with a high light transmittance such as indium tin oxide (ITO) have a higher electric resistance than that of metal materials such as silver (Ag) and aluminum (Al), which have been conventionally used as a material for the second electrode. Therefore, the second electrode made of indium tin oxide (ITO) and the like, having a high light transmittance, has a high electric resistance. If the second electrode has a high resistance, voltage reduction occurs at part of the second electrode. Accordingly, the organic EL elements including the second electrodes made of indium tin oxide (ITO) and the like, having a high electric resistance, have room for improvement in that a voltage is not uniformly applied to the second electrode and therefore, uneven image is displayed. In addition, the top emission organic EL elements have room for improvement in that the driving voltage is high because the second electrode has a high electric resistance.
For this problem, a configuration in which a part electrically connecting the second electrode to a substrate-side wiring (off-pixel contact) is formed at a plurality of positions, for example, at four corners of a pixel region was proposed, as a measure for suppressing the voltage reduction generated in the second electrode, thereby uniformly applying a voltage to the second electrode (for example, refer to Japanese Kokai Publication No. 2001-109395). According to this, the voltage reduction generated in the second electrode can be suppressed, in comparison to the case where one off-pixel contact is formed. As a result, a voltage can be uniformly applied to the second electrode.
However, the number of the wiring for connecting the off-pixel contact to the external terminal is increased, with the increase in the number of the off-pixel contact. As a result, as shown in FIG. 7, a space where a wiring 5 for connecting each off-pixel contact 3 to an external terminal 8 is formed is needed, and therefore a frame region (a space between a side of the board and a pixel region) is extended. In this point, there is room for improvement.

Light-emitting circuit board and light-emitting display device


Characteristics of polarizable particles in a fluid are detected using an optical cavity comprising opposed optical reflectors containing the fluid. A particle is introduced through the fluid into the optical cavity. The particle may be transiently in the cavity or optically trapped. The optical cavity containing the particle is illuminated with light that excites resonance of an optical mode of the optical cavity that is affected by the particle. A measurement of a parameter of the excited resonance is derived, for example while tuning through the resonance. Repeated measurements may be used to derive a measure of a characteristic of the particle that is dependent on the motion of the particle in the optical cavity.

The ability to achieve label-free characterisation of particles, which may be nanoparticles, in solution is important for a wide range of industrial and scientific applications. Fields as diverse as healthcare, materials science, environmental science, and security all involve the detection and identification of particles. Techniques capable of identifying nanoparticles between 30 nm and 300 nm in size at very low concentrations are particularly useful in the life sciences and security applications, since viruses and particles such as exosomes (which are key actors in the transport of genetic information) are typically to be found in this size range. Methodologies that allow characterisation of multiple properties at the single particle level are particularly valuable for real-time monitoring and identification of particles without prior knowledge of the contents of the fluid sample.
The most common technique used for particle detection and characterisation in practice is dynamic light scattering (DLS). In DLS, a solution is illuminated with laser light, and temporal fluctuations in the spatial distribution of the scattered intensity are used to determine a size distribution of particles based on their coefficient of friction and the viscosity of the surrounding fluid. This technique is generally employed to characterise large ensembles of particles, but can also be adapted to individual nanoparticles (an example instrument being Malvern Instruments NanoSight) whereby it is known as Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA). It can be combined with other techniques, for example electrophoresis to characterise particle zeta potentials.
Size information alone is often insufficient to identify a particle in a sample, and further information is needed about the shape, constituent material, or chemical properties. One parameter that can help in identification is the dielectric polarizability α, which depends on the size, shape, and refractive index. One method for measuring the polarizability is via the scattering intensity which for small particles scales as α2, but this presents difficulties due to the wide dynamic range of the signal in polydisperse samples and the need for careful calibration of optical intensities. For small particles, interference between a reflected (or transmitted) and scattered beam provides a signal that is proportional to a, but this is unsuitable for measuring moving particles, for which the relative phase of the scattered light is strongly time dependent. Interferometric methods such as heterodyne detection have been developed to transfer the need for phase stability from the sample to the instrument, but challenges remain in producing a robust instrument in which the interferometer is stable to environmental perturbations.
The trapping and manipulation of particles in focused optical beams is also well established. Typically, Gaussian beams from highly focused lasers are used, whereby the particle is trapped close to the focal region. The field intensity defines a trapping potential which constrains but does not eliminate the Brownian motion of the particle. The motion of the particle can be monitored in a similar way to DLS, by measuring the fluctuations in the scattered light signal (or equivalently the transmitted signal) to indicate the position of the particle in the trap. However, quantitative analysis of the diffusive motion of a particle in a trap to extract the particle size is hampered by the need for an accurate calibration of the trap stiffness parameter, for which a priori knowledge of the polarizability of the particle is necessary. The problem of calibration of scattering intensities to obtain the polarizability remains.
In recent years a few reports have emerged of resonant optical cavities such as photonic crystal cavities being used to trap and characterise particles. In these systems, the presence of the particle causes a spectral shift in the cavity mode resulting from the difference between its refractive index and that of the surrounding medium. These spectral shifts can be monitored to study the motion of the particle. The maximum magnitude of the shift provides a direct measure of the particle polarizability based on the known field intensity distribution in the trap, and therefore offers great potential for combining fully calibrated particle characterisation based on the diffusive motion with measurement of other particle properties.
Such methods using photonic crystal cavities offer the requisite high quality resonances and small mode volumes to trap and characterise small particles, but are often limited by lack of reproducibility in the cavity mode, partly caused by the fact that the trapping potential in these cavity designs is generally strongest either coincident with or very close to the interface with the solid dielectric medium of the photonic crystal. The details of the contact force between the particle and the solid cavity structure can therefore become important, as does the change in friction coefficient for the particle diffusing in the liquid medium. Self-induced back action, whereby the trapping field intensity is dependent on the particle position, can mitigate this problem, but is difficult to calibrate. Additional challenges are presented in the spectral tuning of photonic crystal cavity modes relative to the laser excitation wavelength, with the requirement for expensive tuneable laser sources limiting their commercial potential, and in the coupling of light into and out of the cavity mode, which requires advanced optical wave-guiding techniques. Some work has also been carried out on nanoscale optical cavities based on surface plasmons, but these are difficult to fabricate in a reproducible fashion and do not yet allow quantitative analysis of trapped particles.
In summary, there is a clear need for the development of techniques which allow quantitative characterisation of particles and which can be implemented using simple, inexpensive devices.

Particle characterisation in open optical resonator cavity


An elevated inverted cone product storage hopper having an enclosed volume with a central opening at the bottom. A dust-free transfer system removes and delivers stored product from the storage hopper through a hopper unloader. The unloader has a converging frustoconical transition body which continues from the inverted cone toward a bottom discharge port. An elongated delivery auger system coupled to the unloader comprises an elongated horizontal barrel having a delivery screw for rotation about its axis for moving product to a product delivery opening. A flexible enclosed delivery tube is coupled to the delivery opening, with the delivery tube having a compliant exterior shell for accommodating free axial length adjustment thereof. The hopper and the delivery auger are rotatable for positioning the auger barrel and enclosed delivery tube radially relative to the storage hopper.

The present invention relates generally to an improved product transfer and conveyor system, and more particularly to a transfer mechanism particularly adapted for use in combination with an elevated product storage hopper, such as, for example, those storage hoppers typically utilized to store grain, pulverulent solids, and/or other solids pending shipment to a different location or an ultimate destination. The features of the present invention provide for substantially dust-free transfer of the material, and hence the apparatus is highly desirable for use in various locations, including urban locations where dust discharge may be deemed unacceptable.
The utilization of elevated product storage hoppers has been a common practice in the agricultural business, with such storage hoppers being utilized in country elevator locations. The location of the hoppers is determined by the expedience of the business, with product transfers being made from the hopper to a transport vehicle such as a grain tank for railroad use, or a semi-trailer grain tank for over-the-road service. Both modes of transportation require transfer of the stored product from the hopper to the transit vehicle, with time as well as dust release being important factors.
The present invention expedites the dust-free transfer of materials such as grains from a storage hopper to a transient vehicle by means of a hopper unloading means which is operatively coupled to the hopper structure per se. The enclosed volume of storage hoppers is typically an external wall of circular or rectangular configuration, with a generally inverted cone comprising the bottom surface. The bottom surface will also be provided with a central opening for accommodating discharge of the stored material, as required. The hopper unloading mechanism of the present invention is designed to be operatively coupled to the bottom central opening of the storage hopper and indeed has a configuration which functions as a continuation of the inverted cone of the hopper.
The hopper unloading means comprises a transition body of generally frustoconical configuration with a top inlet in communication with the central bottom opening of the hopper, and also with a bottom discharge port. The bottom discharge port, in turn, delivers material to the inlet port of an elongated delivery auger system which is also dust-free in operation. The delivery auger system comprises a horizontally disposed enclosed barrel with an elongated axis and opposed ends, with a delivery screw mounted for rotation about the axis of the barrel. With the proximal end of the barrel receiving product from the transition body, the distal end portion, in turn, is provided with a flexible enclosed delivery tube which has a compliant exterior shell for accommodating free axial length adjustment. The flexible enclosed delivery tube provides a continuation of dust-free discharge directly into the transport enclosure.
As an additional feature, means are provided for adjustably rotating the hopper unloading means including the delivery auger about an axis extending generally through the product receiving opening adjacent the proximal end. In this manner, the delivery auger is arranged for selective radial positioning of the auger barrel and enclosed delivery tube so as to conveniently arrange for product discharge at precise locations. In the loading of large vessels, such as, for example, barges, boat hulls and the like, it is frequently necessary to load the vessel in a predetermined fashion in order to reduce the amount of stress in the vessel upon displacement due to loading. The selective positioning of the delivery tube is, of course, advantageous to accommodate this feature.
As a still further feature of the invention, the enclosed barrel for the auger system may be provided with an extension positioned generally along the barrel axis, and with the enclosed delivery tube being in turn coupled to the end of the barrel extension. Such an arrangement enhances the flexibility of application, and permits use in a wide variety of locations and applications.
Therefore, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an enclosed hopper unloading means for use in combination with an elevated product storage hopper, with the unloading means being operatively coupled to the base of the hopper, and provided for adjustable rotation of the unloading means about the hopper axis.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a dust-free transfer means for use in combination with transfer of product from a product storage hopper to a transport vehicle, and wherein the transfer means comprises a hopper unloading system arranged to receive product from the port or opening in the base of the storage hopper, and thereafter transported through the barrel of a delivery auger system into a flexible enclosed delivery tube which is positioned within the confines of the transport vehicle.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide an improved hopper unloading means for use in combination with a product storage hopper for delivering product from the hopper to a transport vehicle, and wherein the hopper unloading means receives product from the base of the hopper, and thereafter passes the product through an elongated delivery auger system to a remotely positioned enclosed delivery tube, with the arrangement further including a means for adjustably rotating the hopper unloading means so as to accommodate selective radial positioning of the auger barrel relative to the storage hopper.
Other and further objects of the present inventions will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a study of the following specification, appended claims and accompanying drawings.

Material handling system for reducing dust particles


Generally, a system and method for an automatic detection of referee's decisions during a ball-game match are provided. The method may include receiving a plurality of images of a ball-game field generated during the ball-game match; determining, based on predetermined ball-game rules, a first subset of images of the plurality of images representing a first event that is suspected as a specified rule-based event; determining, based on the predetermine ball-game rules, a second subset of images of the plurality of images that represents a second event, wherein the second event is subsequent to the specified rule-based event according to the predetermined ball-game rules; and analyzing, based on the predetermined ball-game rules, the images of the second subset and further determining, based on the analysis thereof, a referee's decision concerning whether the first even is the specified rule-based event.

Nowadays, a final decision concerning a rule-based event in a sporting match is made by a referee. Some current systems for an analysis of sporting matches may detect an event that are suspected as a rule-based event. Referring to soccer as example, such systems may, for example, detect an event in which a ball passes completely over a goal line between a goal posts and under a crossbar, and further determine the event thereof as a scoring event. However, the detected event may be committed while violating predetermined ball-game rules (e.g., due to a foul and/or offside), and thus may be disqualified by the referee. Some current systems for an analysis of sporting matches may further generate event-related data concerning the detected event (e.g., that is suspected as the rule-based event) and further deliver the event-related data to a referee to help the referee with a decision-making concerning the event thereof.
One disadvantage of current systems for an analysis of sporting matches is that they at best enable detection of events that are suspected as rule-based events. Nowadays, these detected events may not be directly considered as rule-based events, as they should be approved by the referee.

System and method for automatic detection of referee's decisions in a ball-game


A window assembly incorporating a composite seal is provided. The composite seal has a first sealing member and a second member stiffer than the first sealing member.

This invention is directed to a window assembly incorporating a seal and more specifically a composite seal and to a method for forming such an assembly.
A window, such as an aircraft type of window is mounted on a frame 8 which is part of the structure of the vehicle. As shown in FIG. 1, an exemplary aircraft window (i.e., window transparency) 10 is a laminate structure and includes one or more main plies 12 which are typically made out of a polycarbonate, acrylic or glass. An interlayer 14 typically made of polyurethane or polyvinyl is bonded on an outer face of the main ply. A face ply 16 is bonded on top of the interlayer. The face ply is typically made of glass but may also be made of plastic. A heater layer or coating 15 may be applied to the inner surface of the face ply allowing for the heating of the face ply for purposes of defrosting, and the prevention of ice build up on, the face ply.
The face ply does not extend to the ends of the main ply. As such, an end portion 18 of the main ply is not covered by the face ply and interlayer. This end portion is mated to the frame 8. Typically, the end portion of the main ply is fastened to the window frame using fasteners 20, or may simply clamp an end portion of a windshield.
When the main ply is mounted to the frame, a gap 22 is left between an end of the frame and the ends of the face ply and interlayer. This gap allows for expansion and contraction of the window, i.e., the main ply, the face ply and interlayer. The gap is sealed with a sealant, typically a polysulfide sealant, which fills in the gap and extends over the face ply forming a hump seal 24 for preventing moisture from entering through the gap. Such moisture can cause delamination the window 10. Typically, the hump seal extends a distance 26 about half an inch over the face ply.
By extending over the outer surface of the face ply, the hump seal is exposed to the outer environment, and is consequently susceptible to erosion, cracking and lifting which results in the intrusion of moisture into the laminate structure of the window 10. As a result, hump seals have to be frequently inspected and repaired to prevent window delamination and/or heater layer failure.
Another problem with hump seals is that they are costly to manufacture in that they require a specific amount of sealant of a specific thickness to extend a specific amount over the face ply. As a result, the process of forming and controlling the hump seal is very labor intensive. The hump seal can also fail due to the delamination of the edge of the face ply abutting the hump seal. Additionally, major expenditure and effort is required to disassemble the window assembly for purposes of seal repair due to the bonding of the seal to the frame and plies.
A further problem with conventional aircraft window assemblies is that with time the face ply separates, i.e., delaminates, from at its edge from the interlayer 14, and/or the interlayer 14 and face ply delaminate from the main ply. This delamination also results in failure of the seal and is a frequent cause of aircraft window failures.
As such, a seal between the frame and face ply and/or window assembly incorporating such a system is desired that is more resistant to erosion, cracking and lifting and provides more resistance to face ply edge delamination and which is easier to manufacture and overhaul.


An internal rocking structure applied in eyeball of the puppet includes an outer casing made of a transparent material, an inner casing, and an elastic member; the inner casing being connected to the elastic member, which is connected to a bottom of the outer casing; a pattern of an eyeball being printed on where appropriately on the inner casing; upon shaking the rocking structure, the elastic member maintaining the inner casing in a rocking status for a given time to deliver amusing effects of a rocking eyeball and significantly increase bizarrely lovable effects when applied in a puppet or doll.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to an internal rocking structure applied in a puppet eyeball, and more particularly, to a dynamic design art of demonstrating bizarrely lovable rocking eyeball effects.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
To cope with ever increasing pressure and stress people today have to deal with, many office toys are generally available in the market and they are bizarrely lovable to help release stress. Among various forms of office toys, puppets usually are squeezed to produce funny visual effects, and designs of eyeballs for those puppets are particularly amusing to attract consumers, solicit desire of consumers to buy, and increase funs of playing with them.

Internal rocking structure in a puppet eyeball


In one example, a method for transmitting video data includes capturing, by a source device, a plurality of tokens of graphical commands renderable into video data along with one or more texture elements; and generating, by the source device, a plurality of command frames that each correspond to at least one token of the plurality of tokens. In this example, each respective command frame of the plurality of command frames includes: an identification of at least one graphical command corresponding to the at least one token, and one or more arguments associated with the at least one token. In this example, the method also includes outputting, by the source device and for transmission to a sink device, the plurality of command frames.

Remote display (RD) systems include a source device and one or more sink devices. The source device and each of the sink devices may be either mobile devices or wired devices with wired and/or wireless communication capabilities. As mobile devices, for example, one or more of the source device and the sink devices may comprise mobile telephones, vehicle infotainment systems, tablet computers, laptop computers, portable computers with wireless communication cards, personal digital assistants (PDAs), wireless gaming devices, portable media players, or other flash memory devices with wireless communication capabilities. Mobile devices may also include so-called "smart" phones and "smart" pads or tablets, or other types of wireless communication devices. As wired devices, for example, one or more of the source device and the sink devices may comprise televisions, desktop computers, monitors, projectors, and the like, that include wireless communication capabilities.
The source device sends media data, such as audio and/or video data, to one or more of the sink devices participating in a particular communication session. The media data may be played back at both a local display of the source device and at each of the displays of the sink devices. More specifically, each of the participating sink devices renders the received media data on its display and audio equipment.
The Wi-Fi Display (WFD) standard (also known as Miracast™) is an emerging standard for wireless display systems being developed by the Wi-Fi Alliance and based on Wi-Fi Direct. The WFD standard provides an interoperable mechanism to discover, pair, connect, and render media data sourced from a Wi-Fi Display Source at a Wi-Fi Display Sink.

Streaming video data in the graphics domain


This invention belongs to ferrous metallurgy field, and in particular relates to a lime-based additive for steel smelting which is used in the electric furnace refining and steel casting process for carbureting and deoxidation and the preparation method thereof. The lime-based additive for steel smelting comprises lime-based material and carbonaceous material, wherein the content of the lime-based material is 40-80 wt % relative to the total amount of the additive, and the remaining is the carbonaceous material; the lime-based material is a passivated CaO powder with a low flowability, or the mixture of the passivated CaO powder and CaCO3 powder, and the carbonaceous material is at least one of the coke, graphite, semi-coke powder and coal with carbon content not less than 85 wt %. When the additive has a shape of pellet, and it further comprises 1-5 wt % of agglomerant which has a microstructure of strip, streak or dendritic, and is at least one of MgO, Al2O3, and CaCO3.

At present, there are mainly two steel smelting methods worldwide, 60-70% of which is the converter steel smelting with a long process flow, and the other is the electric furnace (also referred to as the electric furnace steel smelting process) with a short process flow. The main raw materials for the electric furnace smelting process are the scrap steel, and most of the industrial or municipal scrap steels are lightweight and thin sheets, with a low content of carbon (0.10˜0.35%). Moreover, due to long-term storage in open air, most of the scrap steels have the surface rust, such that when smelting the scrap steels in the electric furnace, the carbon must be added in the charge depending on the requirements of carbon content for steel smelting. During the preparation of carbon, considering the fact that some carbon is fire lost and part of carbon must be also used in the reduction reaction with Fe2O3, the amount of carbon make-up is very high. Usually, the materials for adding the carbon include the pig iron, melted iron, blocky coke, waste graphite electrode or carbon-containing pellet, and the powdery carbonaceous materials are blown into the melted steel.
In the prior art, the carburetion additive for electric furnace smelting is materials with a carbon content more than 80%, including the common carbon-containing pellet etc, in addition to the molten iron or pig iron. For example, Japan Patent No. 3750928, (Application No. 2001-373378 filed on Dec. 8, 2001) disclosed a carburetion additive comprising 20-80% of lime-based materials and 20-80% of carbonaceous materials, and a steel smelting method. However, this additive can't be kept in open air for long period while keeping its performances, and it may be usually stored in open air for less than 7 days.

Lime-based additive for steel smelting and the preparation method thereof

Qingdao Deshipu Metallurgy Science & Technology Co., Ltd.


Congestion in a high speed connection oriented packet network carrying bursty data and real time service is avoided by a novel in-call negotiation scheme for reserving bandwidth for real time calls and reserving buffer capacity for bursty calls.. For a real time call, a centralized call controller in each switch in the network determines which of its outgoing trunks has available to it the peak bandwidth needed to accommodate the call. Once one of these trunks is found, the call routing is set up so that the call is directed through that trunk and the peak bandwidth requirement of the call is allocated on that output trunk for the duration of the call.. The network contains one or more switches, each of which has a centralized call controller and a plurality of trunk controllers. The call controller routes calls from a plurality of input trunks to a plurality of output trunks, identifies kinds of calls, and allocates bandwidth on the output trunks. The trunk controllers perform in-call buffer reservation independent of the routing, identification, and bandwidth allocation performed by the call controller. This relieves the call controller of the extra burden of performing buffer reservation and it permits buffer reservation to be accomplished in a shorter period of time.

In response to rapidly increasing demand for a wide variety of telecommunication services, high speed, large capacity digital packet switching networks have been proposed. To meet these demands in an efficient and cost effective manner, a single packet network must be able to handle simultaneously different kinds of telecommunication services which have conflicting requirements. Moreover, these services must be accommodated in a manner which constitutes an effective and efficient use of available communication resources.
The proposed packet switching networks must be capable of handling real time services such as voice, video, and smoothly transmitted data transmissions without significant degrees of delay or jitter. These types of transmissions have short term (peak) bandwidth requirements which are substantially the same as their long term (average) bandwidth requirements. These transmissions are most conveniently handled by allocation of their bandwidth requirements in the network for the entire duration of those transmissions along the entire call routing path from the transmitter to the receiver.
Certain bursty data transmissions, on the other hand, do not have strong jitter or delay requirements. These kinds of transmissions, however, may involve periods of high rates of data transmission with long periods of little or no data transmission. For such transmissions, the short term (peak) bandwidth requirements can be very high compared to the long term (average) bandwidth requirements. Allocation of peak bandwidth, as in the case of real time services mentioned above, would be an inefficient use of the network, and is not necessary, for such bursty data transmissions not having stringent delay or jitter requirements. Although bursty data transmissions may not have strong jitter or delay requirements, they do have stringent loss requirements. Specifically, it is particularly important to keep the probability of packet loss very small. If such probability is not kept very small, the resulting packet retransmissions that are needed to complete the transmission can overwhelm the network and cause congestion collapse, particularly in high speed networks carrying a large amount of communication activity in which the amount of data in the network can increase dramatically with trunk speed.
Accordingly, there is a need for an effective congestion avoidance scheme, particularly, for very bursty data transmissions, which keeps the probability of packet loss very small. Furthermore, there is a need for such a congestion avoidance scheme which is compatible with congestion avoidance schemes used for real time transmissions and which is not wasteful of communications resources.

Congestion control for high speed packet networks


The invention relates to a device (2) for controlling and/or regulating the supply of a medium using a supply unit for an impingement device. Said supply unit comprises at least one shut-off member and each shut-off member can be moved into a closed position and at least one open position by means of an actuating element. The device comprises a sensor unit (50) for determining in a contactless manner the presence of a material that is to be impinged by the medium. The inventive device (2) is characterized in that said sensor unit (50) is additionally configured for the contactless determination of the relative position of the material in relation to the impingement device (10) and for the output of signals, which act on the actuating elements in such a way that the later moves the shut-oft members into a position that corresponds with the presence and the location of the material to be impinged by the medium. The washing and/or drying devices (10) preferably comprise a device (2) of this type for controlling and/or regulating the supply of water and/or warm air for washing and/or drying purposes. The invention also relates to a corresponding method.

The present invention relates to a washing and/or drying device according to the preamble of Claim 1.
In the framework of the present description, a washing and/or drying device is to be understood as a device like a washstand or sink unit, a bidet, toilet, urinal, a bathtub, a shower stall and/or a drying device for contactless hand drying. Washstands and sink units and drying devices of this type are used in plumbing units of all types, for body care in bathrooms, for example, for washing purposes in kitchens, for cleaning purposes in semi-public and public sanitary facilities such as toilets and shower rooms, as well as in laboratories, the food industry, homes for the elderly and convalescent, and hospitals. Depending on the use, porcelain, stoneware, stone, particularly natural stone such as marble, plastic, enameled sheet metal and chromed sheet steel are typical as materials for basins for installing or mounting washing devices of this type; modern basins are occasionally made of opaque plastics such as Corian and of transparent or translucent materials such as acrylic, glass, or Quaryl. Metals, such as lacquered and/or enameled sheet metal or even bare chromed sheet steel, are known above all as materials for housings of drying devices of the type cited.
It is to be noted here that the concept of fresh water in the framework of the present description is to be understood as cold and/or hot water flowing into the basin and the concept of dirty water is to be understood as water flowing out of the basin, including the additives contained therein.
The washing devices typically comprise a basin and a supply armature and typically also have a drain armature. The basin is delimited by a basin wall and is attachable to a structure or a building wall. The supply armature, which is generally referred to as a faucet, has a connecting piece, via which the fresh water reaches the basin. The connecting piece is connected to a building supply line for the fresh water; the fresh water is supplied to the basin from a tank or a network. Furthermore, the supply armature contains a shut-off member, which is movable and/or rotatable or displaceable between a closed setting and at least one open setting using an actuating element such as a control knob or lever. In the closed setting, the supply of fresh water to the basin is suppressed, in the open setting(s), the fresh water may reach the basin through the connecting piece at a greater or lesser flow rate. The supply armature is preferably attached in a first opening of the basin wall. The dirty water is preferably drained via a second opening, in which at least one drain armature is mounted, into a drain line. The drain armature typically includes a stench trap, which is usually referred to as a siphon.
The typical washing devices described above are subject to numerous disadvantages, which are more or less significant depending on their intended purpose. In particular, it is disadvantageous for various reasons, such as the danger of damage due to vandalism, and the comfort of use and cleaning, that the armatures, which are mounted on the edge region of the cavity of the basin, project into the inside of the basin.
Practical vandal-safe washing devices are known, which are used above all in washrooms of industrial operations. They have round basins, accessible from all sides, made of chromed sheet steel, which contain a column in their center, clad with chromed sheet steel and projecting well over the edge of the basin, in which the supply line of the fresh water is positioned. The column has openings in its upper region through which the fresh water flows out. However, this washing device is only suitable for cases in which a certain number of persons always use it simultaneously, since individual control of the water supply is not provided.
A practical vandal-safe drinking water dispenser, actually a fountain, in which a connecting piece for supplying the drinking water is integrated into the lowest point of the basin wall, is also known. Drinking water flows through the connecting piece in small quantities, i.e., upward in a thin stream, in such a way that the stream extends somewhat above the upper edge of the basin. The actual basin, which is concave upward, is largely covered by a hood outside the stream region, in order to prevent improper usage of the drinking water dispenser. The drinking water is supplied continuously, neither the quantity of drinking water over time nor its temperature may be controlled by the user of the drinking fountain.
A washing device according to the species, which functions automatically without the user having to touch any part of the device, is known from WO 93/10311. In this case, two sensors determine the presence of the hands to be washed and initiate a cleaning process controlled via a time relay. However, the user may not change the time sequence of the admission of wetting water, cleaner, and washing water, nor is he able to adjust the water requirements to his needs.
Therefore, it has been determined that no washing devices, particularly in the form of washstands and sink units, are known which ensure both sufficient security from vandalism and which also are optimally designed in regard to production, cleaning possibilities, and economic water consumption, but particularly also in regard to hygiene and comfort in use. A corresponding determination may also be made in regard to drying devices.

Device for controlling and/or regulating the supply of a medium, devices of this type comprising washing or drying units and a corresponding method


A power semiconductor device (1; 37) has a leadframe (4), at least one vertical power semiconductor component (2) and at least one further electronic device (3) which is arranged on the power semiconductor component (2). The chip carrier (5) of the leadframe (4) has at least two separate parts (7, 8) on which the power semiconductor component (2) is arranged. The power semiconductor component (2) is embodied such that the lower surface (28) of the first part (7) of the chip carrier (5) provides a ground contact area (36) of the power semiconductor component (2).

In the case of semiconductor devices and power semiconductor devices, increased power in increasingly smaller device housings is generally desired. This requirement leads to increasing generation of heat in the housings. If said heat is not distributed sufficiently, the high operating temperature may lead to instability and even to the failure of the device.
In order to improve the heat dissipation, it is possible to incorporate the semiconductor component into a larger housing, in which the heat dissipation is improved by the larger area of the leadframe of the device. However, customers do not desire a larger housing. As an alternative, an additional external heat sink may be mounted on the device. This solution has the disadvantage, however, that the mounting of the device becomes more complicated for the customer and the size of the overall device increases. Moreover, the overall costs are increased by the additional heat sink and also the mounting outlay.
Consequently, there is a need to specify a power semiconductor device which has an improved power and an improved heat dissipation, and which can be mounted onto a printed circuit board in a simple manner, particularly by customers.

Power semiconductor device and method for producing it


A heating control apparatus of an air conditioner and method thereof are provided to control an indoor fan according to temperature of an indoor heat-exchanger at an initial heating stage of the heating operation, thereby preventing cool air from being discharged indoors, the air conditioner having an indoor heat-exchanger to heat-exchange the room air circulated by an indoor fan and a compressor to circulate a coolant for being heat-exchanged at the heat-exchanger, the apparatus comprising: a temperature detecting unit to detect the changing temperature of the indoor heat-exchanger with the compressor being maintained at the operation state during the heating operation; a controlling unit to control the operation of the indoor fan by counting the time according to the temperature of the indoor heat-exchanger detected by the temperature detecting unit; and an indoor fan motor driving unit to turn the indoor fan off according to the control of the controlling means in order to prevent cool air from being discharged when the temperature of the indoor heat-exchanger detected by the temperature detecting unit is under the predetermined temperature for the predetermined time duration.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air conditioner with a dual function of cooling and heating operations, and more particularly to a heating control apparatus of an air conditioner and method thereof to control an indoor fan according to temperature of a heat-exchanger at an initial heating stage to prohibit cool air from being discharged indoors.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, an air conditioner includes a heating apparatus for supplying warm air by heating cold room air and a cooling apparatus for supplying cool air by cooling warm room air. Besides, a heating and cooling apparatus is also included for a dual function of heating and cooling operations and an air purifying which cleans polluted room air.
FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate an indoor unit of the heating and cooling apparatus (generally, referred as an air conditioner) among conventional air conditioners. As shown in FIG. 1, an suction grille member(5) is provided at the lower front surface of an indoor unit main body (hereinafter referred to as a main body) with a plurality of suction inlets(3) to suck room air and with a plurality of discharge outlets(7) at the upper front surface of the main body to discharge the heat-exchanged air, i.e., the heated or cooled air, that is sucked through the suction inlets(3).
Furthermore, the discharge outlets(7) comprises vertical vanes(9) and horizontal vanes(11) for controlling the vertical and horizontal directions of the air discharged indoors therethrough, a covering member(13) attached for forming an external appearance thereof and for protecting the interior parts therein, and a controlling part(15) disposed at the lower portion of the cover member(13) for controlling overall operational modes (automatic, cooling, dehumidifying, blowing, heating, etc.) of the air conditioner, a start or stop operation thereof and the amount and direction of the air discharged through the discharge outlets(7).
As shown in FIG. 2, there are a filtering member(17) disposed at the inner side of the suction grille member(5) for filtering dust and foreign objects floating with the room air sucked through the suction inlets(3) and a heat-exchanger(19) behind the filtering member(17) for heat-exchanging into heated air or cooled air through evaporative latent heat of a coolant.
In addition, the heat-exchanger(19) is disposed thereon with a blower fan(23) (hereinafter referred as indoor fan) which rotates according to operation of an indoor fan motor in order to suck the room air through the suction inlets(3) and, at the same time, to discharge through the discharge outlets(7) the air heat-exchanged at the heat-exchanger(19). The indoor fan(23) is also provided with a duct member(25) outside thereof for covering the indoor fan(23) and for guiding the stream of the air sucked through the suction inlets(3) and discharged through the discharge outlets(7).
In an inverter air conditioner with a dual function of heating and cooling operations, the coolant is circulated in the following sequence: compressor(39)--four way valve(31)--indoor heat-exchanger(19)--expansion valve(33)--heating expansion valve(34)--outdoor heat-exchanger(35)--four way valve(31)--compressor(39), as shown in a dotted line in FIG. 3 when the four way valve(321) is turned on for the heating operation.
On the other hand, when the four way valve(3 1) is turned off for the cooling operation, the coolant is circulated in the following sequence: compressor(39)--four way valve(31)--outdoor heat-exchanger(35)--one way valve(36)--expansion valve(33)--indoor heat-exchanger(19)--four way valve(31)--compressor(39) as shown in a straight line in FIG. 3. At this time, the four way valve(31) controls the circulation route of the coolant in the straight line or in the dotted line respectively when the four way valve(31) is turned off or on.
In the inverter air conditioner with a dual function of cooling and heating operations, an user turns on a start/stop key (hereinafter referred to as an operation key) with a remotely controlled unit or with the operating part(15) and selects a desired operation mode (for instance, heating). When the set temperature (Ts) is higher than the room temperature (Tr), an operation frequency of the compressor(39) is determined by the temperature difference between Ts and Tr to drive the compressor(39).
When the compressor(39) is driven, the coolant is circulated in the following sequence, as shown in the dotted line in FIG. 3: compressor(39)--four way valve(31)--indoor heat-exchanger(19)--expansion valve(33)--heating expansion valve(34)--outdoor heat-exchanger(35)--four way valve(31)--compressor (39), to thereby heat the indoor heat-exchanger(19). Operation of the indoor fan(23) is controlled according to the temperature of the indoor heat-exchanger(19).
If the temperature of the indoor heat-exchanger(19) is lower than the predetermined temperature (about 27.degree. C.), the indoor fan(23) is stopped to prevent cool air from being discharged indoors at the initial heating stage. If the temperature of the indoor heat-exchanger(19) is higher than the predetermined temperature (about 27.degree. C.), the indoor fan(23) is operated.
If the indoor fan(23) is operated, the dust and foreign objects floating in the room air are sucked through the suction inlets(3) into the main body(l) to be removed by the filtering member(17). The purified room air is heat-exchanged into warn air by way of evaporative latent heat of the coolant at the indoor heat-exchanger(19).
The warm air heat-exchanged at the indoor heat exchanger(19) is guided upwards and discharged indoors through the discharge outlets(7). The warm air discharged through the discharge outlets(7) carries out the heating operation at air directions according to the angles of the vertical vanes(9) and the horizontal vanes(11).
When the temperature of the indoor heat-exchanger(19) lowers under the predetermined temperature by the room temperature(Tr), the indoor fan(23) is to be turned off. If this phenomenon is repeated, the heating operation can not be properly carried out. While the compressor(39) is in operation, the warm coolant tends to be continuously supplied into the indoor heat-exchanger(19). Even though the temperature of the indoor heat-exchanger(19) lowers under the predetermined temperature (about 24.degree. C.), the compressor(39) can be in continuous operation carrying out the heating operation without turning off the indoor fan(23).
There is a problem in the conventional heating control apparatus in that cool air can be continuously discharged without properly responding to the change of the room temperature when the compressor(39) is in continuous operation driving the indoor fan(23) even if the temperature of the indoor heat-exchanger(19) lowers under the predetermined temperature (about 24.degree. C.).

Heating control apparatus of air conditioner and method thereof


Apparatus for sensing an angular position of a steerable wheel of a vehicle, such as a work machine or the like, about a steering axis thereof. The apparatus includes a support frame having an upper arm and a lower arm defining a space through which the steering axis passes, and a wheel hub located in the space for supporting the wheel. The steering axis extends through a predetermined bottom axial surface portion of the wheel hub, and a lower kingpin is mounted in a passage through the lower arm and supports the wheel hub in the space for rotation about the steering axis. The lower kingpin includes an axial passage therethrough extending between an upper axial opening facing the bottom axial surface portion of the wheel hub and an externally located bottom opening. A sensor is mounted in connection with the bottom opening of the lower kingpin, the sensor including an element rotatable about a rotational axis, the sensor being operable for sensing a rotational position of the rotatable element about the rotational axis, and a pin extending through the axial passage through the kingpin and having a first end pivotably connected to the wheel hub for rotation therewith, and a second end connected to the element for rotating the element when the wheel hub is rotated about the steering axis.

The present invention generally relates to angular position sensors and, more particularly, to apparatus for sensing an angular position of a wheel hub of a steerable wheel of a vehicle about a steering axis thereof, through a kingpin supporting the wheel hub.
It is a well known, common practice to detect and monitor angular position of steerable wheels of vehicles relative to a reference angular position, such as a straight ahead position, for purposes such as providing a steering input to an automatic guidance system for the vehicle, a differential lock system, and the like. Reference in this regard, Wilks et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,366,042, issued Nov. 22, 1994 to ZF Friedrichshafen AG of Germany, which discloses a device for detecting different steering angles of a driven wheel of an axle for a motor vehicle, utilizing multiple sensors disposed in radial bores in a housing supporting an axle kingpin for rotation about a steering axis. Reference also Sollbach et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,775,026, issued Oct. 4, 1988 to Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen AG of Germany, which discloses actuation of a differential lock utilizing an inductive switch or potentiometer in the area of angle dependent steering elements held fast in an axle housing of a vehicle for determining steering angle. A particular embodiment of this latter referenced patent mounts a rotary potentiometer in a housing integrated with a pivot bearing, and includes an adjusting pin held in positive engagement with the potentiometer shaft by means of a screwdriver slot and expansion spring for allowing joint rotation thereof, the adjusting pin being clampable in place inside a hollow screw on the steering pivot such that the potentiometer shaft is reliably taken along rotationally with rotation of the pivot. It is recited that small angular errors or normally occurring axial displacements of the foregoing arrangement cause no damage to the potentiometer.
Addressing observed shortcomings of the referenced devices, the former device requires multiple sensors and conductive paths for communication with a signal processing unit for sensing angular position so as to be disadvantageous costwise. A shortcoming of the latter referenced arrangement is only a limited capability for compensating for or overcoming misalignment of the potentiometer or other sensor relative to the steering pivot and variances in the distances therebetween resulting from manufacturing and assembly tolerances, damage, and wear. Another shortcoming is the location of the potentiometer or other sensor in a difficult to access location within the axle housing, thus requiring substantial disassembly for accessing the potentiometer for service and replacement.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide apparatus for sensing an angular position of a steerable wheel arrangement of a vehicle about a steering axis thereof, which overcomes the shortcomings discussed above.
According to the invention, apparatus for sensing an angular position of a steerable wheel of a vehicle, such as a work machine or the like, about a steering axis thereof, is disclosed. The apparatus includes a support frame having an upper arm and a lower arm projecting therefrom defining a space therebetween, the lower arm having a passage therethrough communicating with the space, the steering axis extending through the space and the passage; a wheel hub being located in the space for supporting the wheel, the steering axis extending through a predetermined bottom axial surface portion of the wheel hub; a lower kingpin mounted in the passage through the lower arm and supporting the wheel hub in the space for rotation about the steering axis, the lower kingpin including an axial passage therethrough extending between an upper axial opening facing the bottom axial surface portion of the wheel hub and a bottom opening; a sensor mounted in connection with the bottom opening of the lower kingpin, the sensor including an element rotatable about a rotational axis, the sensor being operable for sensing a rotational position of the rotatable element about the rotational axis; and a pin extending through the axial passage through the kingpin and having a first end pivotably connected to the wheel hub for rotation therewith, and a second end connected to the element for rotating the element when the wheel hub is rotated about the steering axis.

Apparatus for sensing an angular position of a wheel of a vehicle about a steering axis


A plurality of wiring patterns in a stripe form are formed to be parallel to one another on one surface of a base insulating layer. The wiring patterns each have a layered structure including a conductive layer and a wiring layer. A thin metal film is formed on the other surface of the base insulating layer, and a plurality of ground patterns in a stripe form are formed to be parallel to one another on the thin metal film. The wiring patterns and the ground patterns are provided in a staggered manner so that they are not opposed to one another with the base insulating layer interposed therebetween. In other words, the ground patterns are provided to be opposed to regions between the wiring patterns.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printed circuit board and a manufacturing method thereof.
2. Description of the Background Art
A flexible printed circuit board that can be bent is used for a movable element in electronic equipment. The flexible printed circuit board for example has wiring patterns made of a conductor formed on one surface of an insulating layer and a ground layer formed on the other surface. The wiring patterns are connected to various kinds of electronic components and transmit electrical signals between these electronic components.
In the flexible printed circuit board, various techniques have been devised in the ground layer to secure necessary flexibility.
FIG. 8 shows an example of a conventional flexible printed circuit board (see JP 2004-088020A). Hereinafter, the flexible printed circuit board will be abbreviated as "printed circuit board."
FIG. 8(a) is a plan view of a signal wiring surface in the printed circuit board, and FIG. 8(b) is a plan view of a ground wiring surface in the printed circuit board. FIG. 8(c) is a sectional view of the printed circuit board taken along line A-A in FIGS. 8(a) and 8(b), and FIG. 8(d) is a sectional view of the printed circuit board taken along line B-B in FIGS. 8(a) and 8(b).
As shown in FIG. 8, the printed circuit board 30 has a base 33. A front layer (see FIG. 8(a)) having signal lines 31 and a ground line 32 is formed on one surface of the base 33, and a backside layer (see FIG. 8(b)) having ground planes 37a and 37b and ground lines 38 is formed on the other surface of the base 33.
A bend portion 35 is provided in a prescribed region of the printed circuit board 30, and flat portions 36a and 36b are provided to extend on both sides of the bend portion 35.
As shown in FIG. 8(a), at the front layer, the signal lines 31 and the ground line 32 are provided at prescribed intervals in the length-wise direction of the printed circuit board 30.
As shown in FIG. 8(b), at the backside layer, the ground planes 37a and 37b are provided at the flat portions 36a and 36b, and the ground lines 38 are provided at the bend portion 35. The ground lines 38 electrically connect the ground planes 37a and 37b.
Here, as shown in FIG. 8(d), the ground lines 38 at the backside layer are provided in a staggered manner so as not to be opposed to the signal lines 31 at the front layer with the base 33 interposed therebetween.
In this way, the signal lines 31 at the front layer and the ground lines 38 at the backside layer are shifted so that they do not overlap. Therefore, if the printed circuit board 30 is bent at the bend portion 35, the printed circuit board 30 is less likely to be broken, and the signal lines 31 and the ground lines 38 are less likely to be disconnected.
If the wiring pattern transmits a high frequency signal, the characteristic impedance of the wiring pattern must be matched with the input/output impedance of an electronic component to be connected to the wiring pattern. If they do not match, a part of the electrical signal is reflected at the connection part between the wiring pattern and the electronic component, which degrades the transmission efficiency of the electrical signal.
In general, the characteristic impedance of the wiring pattern depends on the area of the region in which the wiring pattern and the ground layer are opposed to each other, and as the area of the region in which the wiring pattern and the ground layer are opposed to each other decreases, the characteristic impedance of the wiring pattern increases.
In the conventional flexible printed circuit board 30 shown in FIG. 8, the area of the region in which the signal lines 31 at the front layer and the ground layer at the backside layer (including the ground planes 37a and 37b and the ground lines 38) are opposed to one another is large at the flat portions 36a and 36b and small at the bend portion 35. Therefore, the characteristic impedance of the signal lines 31 greatly differ between the bend portion 35 and the flat portions 36a and 36b, which degrades the transmission efficiency of electrical signals.
In the conventional flexible printed circuit board 30, the flexibility at the bend portion 35 is secured while the flexibility of the flat portions 36a and 36b is not secured. Therefore, the region other than the bend portion 35 cannot be bent in use.
Meanwhile, it would be possible to form the ground lines 38 in a staggered manner with respect to the signal lines 31 at the flat portions 36a and 36b.
However, in this case, the region in which the ground layer (ground lines 38) and the signal lines 31 are opposed to one another is reduced. Therefore, the characteristic impedance of the signal line 31 increases. In this way, if the input/output impedance of an electronic component is low, the characteristic impedance of the signal line 31 cannot be matched to the input/output impedance of the electronic component.

Printed circuit board and manufacturing method thereof