A matrix-array optoelectronic device includes a substrate on which a matrix array of what are called bottom electrodes is deposited; an active structure, which is preferably continuous and organic, arranged above the matrix-array of bottom electrodes, the structure being suitable for detecting light; and at least one what is called top electrode lying above the active structure, the top electrode being transparent to the light emitted or detected by the active structure; and at least one conductive element that is borne by the substrate without interposition of the active structure and that is connected to the top electrode by at least one vertical interconnection, the conductive element having an electrical conductivity greater than that of the top electrode. The device may also comprise a layer made of scintillator material, the layer being fastened to the top electrode, so as to form an x-ray imager.

Commonly, in the case of indirect x-ray detection, a scintillator (CsI:TI, or gadolinium oxysulfide or "Gadox") is coupled, via an adhesive coupling film, to a panel that detects the visible photons emitted by the scintillator when the latter is irradiated by x-ray photons.
This panel is composed of an active matrix array including up to several million pixels. Each pixel comprises at least one photodiode and one thin-film transistor (TFT). The photodiode comprises two electrodes, allowing a bias voltage to be applied thereto: a bottom electrode, which is deposited on the dielectric substrate of the panel, and a top electrode, opposite the substrate. An electrode (typically the bottom electrode) of each photodiode is connected to a column conductor by way of the thin-film transistor, the gate of which is driven by a row conductor. The network of column and row conductors is then connected to contact redistribution pads that are located exterior to the matrix array. In this way, by connecting the exterior pads to a circuit board configured with suitable read sequences, it is possible to read each pixel individually and to thus reconstruct a two-dimensional (2D) image. The other electrode (typically the top electrode) is connected to a bias voltage, which is the same for all the pixels.
The active matrix array may be based on inorganic or organic photodiodes, but the latter are typically made of silicon.
Organic photodiodes on the one hand have the advantage of being able to be produced over large areas by virtue of wet deposition technologies, and on the other hand of requiring only a low thermal budget, thereby allowing them to be hybridized with (integrated into) many existing matrix-array technologies: a-Si:H (amorphous silicon), IGZO (indium-gallium-zinc oxide), OTFT (organic TFTs), CMOS, etc. and with rigid (glass) substrates or flexible (plastic) substrates. FIG. 1A shows a cross-sectional view of one portion of an active matrix array of organic photodiodes. In the figure, the reference S designates the substrate, which is a dielectric (or covered with a dielectric layer; the references EI and ES designate a top and bottom photodiode electrode, respectively; the reference STA designates an active photodiode structure (in the present case, a multilayer or layer that is organic or, more generally, that comprises at least one layer containing at least one organic material); and the reference TFT designates a thin-film transistor. It will be noted that the photodiodes need not necessarily be physically separated from one another, such that the active structure STA may be continuous. Likewise, it is possible to use a single top electrode ES.
FIG. 1B shows a cross-sectional view of a portion of an active matrix array of inorganic photodiodes that are for example made of silicon. This time, the photodiodes must be physically separated from one another; thus, both the active structure STA and the top electrode ES are discontinuous. To ensure that the various portions of the top electrode are at the same potential, they are interconnected by metal buses BS that are generally parallel to the column conductors. These buses are connected together at at least one end, then connected to the exterior circuit via one or more contact redistribution pads (see FIGS. 4A-4E, reference PRC).
Below the case of a matrix array of organic photodiodes will mainly be considered but the invention also applies to the case of inorganic photodiodes.
In order to maximize spatial resolution, the incident light generally arrives from the side of the top electrode, which must therefore be transparent or semitransparent at the wavelength of this light. In the case of inorganic photodiodes, the buses BS are opaque, but sufficiently narrow to absorb only a small portion of the incident light.
Various semi-transparent and conductive top-electrode configurations have already been used in the context of active matrix arrays coupled to a level of organic photodiodes:
metal layers that are sufficiently thin to be semi-transparent (for example 2 nm Ca-10 nm Ag); however, the transmittance obtained is not very satisfactory, typically lower than 60%
ITO (indium-tin oxide) deposited by wet processing; however, the obtained resistivity is much too high (about 1 MΩ/□)
The organic conductor PEDOT:PSS (poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate)); the resistivity remains high (at least 50Ω/Υ) if it is desired to maintain a high transmittance (80% or more).
In the case of inorganic photodiodes, a top electrode made of ITO is most often used. Once again, the resistivity is too high, although it is lower than in the case of organic photodiodes.
The configuration employing PEDOT:PSS is advantageous, in particular in the case of organic photodiodes. Specifically, using PEDOT:PSS for the top electrode allows an organic-photodiode stack with what is called an inverse structure, in which the top electrode plays the role of anode, to be produced. This type of structure allows the stability/reliability of the device to be increased. Furthermore, having the anode above the matrix array is advantageous in the context of x-ray detectors, in so far as the read electronics of present-day x-ray detectors are configured to collect electrons from the bottom electrode (cathode) and holes from the top electrode (anode).
On the other hand, PEDOT:PSS has a higher resistivity than metals, this possibly leading to the creation of artifacts in the images during the read-out of the matrix arrays. Furthermore, this higher resistivity relative to metals tends to limit the use of PEDOT:PSS solely to devices of small areas; however, there is a great need for x-ray detectors of large area (100 cm2 or more).
In order to allow PEDOT:PSS to be used in devices of larger areas, one solution, which was derived from inorganic solar cells, and which was also developed in the context of organic-solar-cell devices (for which large device areas are necessary), is to use a mesh GR of conductive lines that are less resistive than PEDOT:PSS, said mesh being placed on, or under, the surface of the PEDOT:PSS layer (FIG. 2). In this case, the electric charge that flows through the PEDOT:PSS is transferred to the closest mesh point and ends up flowing through the latter in so far as its electrical resistance is lower. In addition to its ability to decrease the resistivity of the top electrode, the mesh, which by definition is localized spatially, allows the top electrode to be connected to the exterior circuit just like the contact redistribution pads. The mesh may therefore have a dual function, that of decreasing the resistivity of the top electrode and that of connecting the top electrode to an exterior circuit. These meshes are generally metal in nature. They may be deposited by evaporation, sputtering or electrodeposition, or microfluidically, or by printing of a conductive ink, such as for example an Ag ink, by screen printing. Generally, this mesh is produced with a material that is opaque to light; however, its mesh structure with many empty zones (devoid of material) allows the top electrode to preserve a good transmittance on average over the area covered thereby. The conductive lines of the mesh are typically about a few microns (μm) to a few hundred microns in width.
The use of such a mesh on the top electrode in the case of x-ray detectors is disadvantageous. Specifically, the dimensions of the conductive lines of the mesh are of the same order of magnitude as the dimensions of the pixels (˜80-150 μm). Thus, the zone occupied by the mesh will (completely or partially) mask certain pixels, with the unacceptable effect of making certain zones of the area of the matrix array inactive. This may be seen on the right-hand side of FIG. 2.

Optoelectronic array device having an upper transparent electrode

COMMISSARIAT A L'ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES


Multi-layer, porous material and process of manufacturing same produced from aluminum scrap powder by means of a centrifugal atomizer for use in noise absorbing devices and filter elements. The multi-layers are arranged according to increasing particle size so that a first layer contains the largest particle size and a last layer contains the smallest particle size. Arranging the layer sin this manner produces a multilayer porous material having a shell configuration of a conch which effectively absorbs noise.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the production of aluminum powder from scraps of aluminum and to multi-layer, porous materials produced therefrom for use in noise absorbing devices and filter elements for automobiles and air conditioners. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method in the preparation of multi-layer, porous materials comprising producing aluminum powder by a centrifugal atomization method from scrap aluminum and sintering the resulting aluminum powder with bonding materials.
2. Description of the Related Art
In accordance with industrial development, the demand for aluminum materials is increasing every year and the amount of scrap aluminum is also increasing. This not only contributes to public nuisances, but also many problems in terms of recycling. Currently existing methods of producing metal powder in large quantity use water atomization and gas atomization. Since materials like aluminum are easily oxidized and cannot be powdered by water atomization, aluminum powder is produced by gas atomization. The method of gas atomization, however, requires large facilities, which in turn require high maintenance costs. Therefore, the gas atomization method is not suitable for producing aluminum powder from scrap aluminum. Further, the use of noise absorbing materials that are now commercially produced can be largely classified into three categories, fiber shaped materials, sintered materials, and concrete materials. The sound absorbing material should have an efficient acoustic absorbing power, fire resistance, light weight, durability, hardness, and ductility. The fiber shaped sound absorbing materials like glass fibers, however, have the disadvantages of not only a poor forming capability due to weakness in hardness and durability of the materials, but also their sound absorbing effects are reduced when they are wet. The sintered sound absorbing materials, like ceramics, are heavy in weight and exhibit no ductility, and it is difficult to construct facilities/devices therefrom. Concrete sound absorbing materials have a poor efficiency in absorbing sound of high frequency. Sintered aluminum sound absorbing materials that have been recently developed are not only very expensive, but also very weak in absorbing sound in medium and low frequencies. In addition to the aforementioned inefficiencies, the sound absorbing materials of glass fiber and ceramics cannot be used for places of high vibration.

Aluminum powder prepared from scrap aluminum and multi-layer, porous sound absorbing material prepared therefrom with a shell configuration of a conch for effectively absorbing noise


A vehicular interior packaging system includes a holder for the stowage and ready access of an audio headset. The holder is provided on a headrest of the vehicle, and has an arcuate recess which provides a stowage cradle seat for the headset.

Many vehicles come equipped with one or more sets of headphones, hereinafter referred to as headsets or audio headsets. Audio headsets have speakers that cover each ear and are attached to a band that passes over or behind the head. Headsets provide personal listening pleasure and enable the driver to tune in perhaps a radio station while others in the vehicle are enjoying a movie or reading. Headsets tend to be bulky and in general take up a large amount of space. Vehicular storage is at a premium when traveling. Appropriate storage space is often lacking.
A typical method for storing headsets is to lay them on a seat of the vehicle. However, this method limits space usually occupied by passengers and also presents the risk of damage to the headset by someone sitting on it or placing something on top of it. Another storage solution is to put the headset under a seat or on the floor of the vehicle. Unfortunately, this solution leaves the vehicle occupant searching for the headset which often shifts about during travel. Also, and more importantly, the headset may be stepped on. Headsets are not only bulky but they are fragile and often will break when stepped on, sat on, or when seats are adjusted over them.
What is needed is a system for storing headsets which places them out of the way, and yet enables the headsets to be conveniently retrieved when the need arises.

Vehicular packaging system for headphone devices


Some implementations are directed to a A DC-to-DC converter that includes a power transformer having a primary side and a secondary side and a plurality of power transistors coupled to the primary side of the transformer. The converter also includes a secondary bias supply coupled to the secondary side of the transformer and a secondary side controller coupled to the secondary side of the transformer and configured to generate a feedback control signal based on a voltage level associated with the secondary side of the transformer. The secondary side controller receives operating power only from the secondary bias supply.

In a typical isolated DC-to-DC converter, the control integrated circuit (IC) for regulation can be placed either on the primary side of the power transformer, where the input voltage is applied, or the secondary side of the transformer, where the output voltage is delivered to a load. When the controller is placed on the primary side, it is straightforward to obtain the required bias voltage and current from the input voltage during startup. This can be accomplished by a variety of means such as resistor dividers, simple linear regulators and so on. As long as the main power converter has been switched on, the required bias voltage and current can be derived from the main power transformer.
However, in general, it is preferred to utilize the secondary side alone for controlling the regulation of the output voltage since doing so normally produces the lowest distortion of the desired ramp-up curve together with efficient startup performance. When the controller is placed on the secondary side, during a startup phase of the converter, there is no bias voltage and current readily available from the transformer's secondary side to the controller and the associated circuitry. Thus, a smaller converter is placed on the primary side to power both the primary circuits and the secondary circuitry through an isolated output. This smaller converter requires a controller and a transformer to provide the isolated output for the secondary side. Unfortunately this extra converter adds additional cost for another transformer to meet the isolation requirements of the design and requires additional space on the printed circuit board, which causes critical concerns in terms of designing an isolated DC-to-DC converter.

Integrated primary startup bias and MOSFET driver


A computing system is provided that includes a display 124 for displaying information and an audible locating agent 148 that, as a pointer moves over the display, plays audible locating signals to identify spatial locations of at least some of the displayed information.

Graphical user interfaces have replaced text-only interfaces in the vast majority of today's computer environments. The typical graphical user interface conveys at least some of the information to users via non-text images. Items may be selected or activated through the use of a point-and-click device, such as a mouse or trackball. It is important to note that point-and-click targets may occur anywhere on the screen.
The most popular graphically oriented operating systems are the windows-based offerings of Microsoft Corporation, with Windows 95™, Windows 98™, Windows for Workgroups™, Windows NT™, Windows 2000™, Windows 2003™, Windows ME ™, and Windows XP™ being examples. A "window" is an area of the display set aside for a specific purpose. Within each window, there will often be graphical images, as well as many different locations that can be targets for the point-and-click devices.
One feature of the typical modern computer is that it is able to perform many tasks simultaneously. The modern graphical user interface reflects this capability by allowing many different windows to be "open" simultaneously, with each window corresponding to a different piece of software, or application program. Thus, different application programs can be displayed simultaneously in different windows. The window commonly has visible boundaries within which information is displayed by the corresponding application program. The active window is the window with which the user is currently interacting while an inactive window is an open, but not currently active, window. (To illustrate the difference, although visible changes can occur in any window that is open—i.e., any window that is being displayed on the screen—the active window is the one in which users' keyboard entries will have an effect. If windows overlap, the active window will appear to be the one on top, concealing portions of the other windows in locations where they overlap.) The user can control the size, shape, and positioning of the windows by appropriate positioning of the cursor and keyboard/mouse commands.
Because windows can overlap and "hide" one another, a display tool bar is provided in windows-based operating systems. This tool bar may be positioned by users along any edge of the screen (most prefer the bottom edge); it contains icons that represent applications that may be invoked, as well as individual icons that correspond to each of the open windows.
As the number of windows opened becomes large, the display tool bar can become increasingly crowded with icons and unhelpful to the user. To make matters worse, the ordering of the window icons in the tool bar do not reflect the precise ordering of the window stack. The icons are ordered based upon the relative timing of when the windows were opened and not based upon the relative positions of the windows on the display. This forces the user to periodically click on the windows to identify which windows are open and rearrange them so that a part of each opened window is visible. Additionally, windows-based operating systems normally require two hands and full attention to operate. The user must not only view the display but also make selections or enter data via a point-and-click device, e.g., a mouse, a track ball, joy stick, stylus, etc. In many implementations, the user does not have the convenience of providing both hands and complete attention to the computer, thereby diminishing the attractiveness and decreasing the productivity of the operating system. For example, when operating a vehicle, it can be unsafe for a driver to view and operate a device that utilizes a visual display. There are situations, such as night-time use of the device, where illuminated displays are undesirable due to the adverse impact on the user's night vision. Similarly, the use of an illuminated display by military personnel at night may be undesirable because the illumination can reveal the user's location.
Another consideration is that disability access is increasingly becoming an important issue to software and hardware manufacturers. Many countries are enacting stringent laws requiring products to have specific features that permit the products to be operated by people with disabilities. An illustrative example is Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. §794d). The requirements associated with this legislation, that apply specifically to computer-based graphical user interfaces, are in the Code of Federal Regulations, 36 CFR Parts 1194.21 and 1194.22. The majority of these requirements are oriented toward people who unable to see. For example, regulation 1194.21(a) requires all operations to be accessible via the computer keyboard—i.e., without a point-and-click device. This regulation is necessary because people who are blind are unable to discern the position of the on-screen pointer, the locations of targets within windows, and the relative positions and borders of the different windows that may be open.
In order to operate graphical user interfaces, people who are blind rely on sophisticated text-to-speech assistive software applications, such as Microsoft Narrator™, JAWS™ by Freedom Scientific BLV Group, LLC, and Window-Eyes™ by GW Micro. Navigation within and between windows is accomplished by using the TAB, ALT, and arrow keys, either singly or in combination with other keys. For example, pressing TAB within a typical window causes the programmatic focus to move to the next tab-stop or point-and-click target. With each press of the TAB key, the text-to-speech software provides a spoken description of the target. (Section 508 regulation 1194.22(a) requires all non-text elements to have an underlying text tag. This is what permits the text-to-speech software to respond appropriately when the TAB function takes the focus to an icon or other graphical image.) When the desired target is voiced-out, the function may be executed by pressing the ENTER key.
A similar mechanism allows users to move among different applications, and to select the window to be activated. This is accomplished by pressing the ALT key continuously while pressing and releasing the TAB key. With each press of the TAB key, users may move sequentially through the windows that have been opened. The sequence of movement is in chronological order, starting with the window that had been activated most recently. (Note that the order in which the icons appear in the tool bar is based on the sequence in which the corresponding windows were first opened, not the sequence in which the windows had been activated.) Immediately after each release of the TAB key (but not the ALT key), the assistive text-to-speech software will read the title bar of the selected window. When the user hears the software speak the title of the desired window, the user causes that window to be activated by releasing the ALT key.
Although support for keyboard-based control does permit graphical user interfaces to be operated by people who are blind, this style of operation is considerably slower and more tedious than what is available to people who are able to operate point-and-click devices. To reiterate a point made earlier, the fundamental problem is that blind users are unable to discern the position of the on-screen pointer, the locations of targets within windows, and the relative positions and borders of the different windows that may be open. In this context, it is important to note that sighted users often form a mental map of where desirable point-and-click targets are located, thereby permitting them to move the pointer to the target very quickly. The lack of memorable location-specific data in the information presented to blind users represents one more operational advantage that is presently available only to sighted users.

Audible computer user interface method and apparatus


The disclosure relates to an antenna system 1 for providing coverage for multiple-input multiple-output, MIMO, communication in mixed type of spaces. The antenna system 1 comprises a leaky cable 2 arranged to provide coverage in a first type of space, and a distributed antenna system 3 comprising one or more antennas 31, 32, 33, 34 and ranged to provide coverage in a second type of space, wherein each of the one or more antennas 31, 32, 33, 34 of the distributed antenna system 3 is connected to the leaky cable 2 through a circulator 41, 42, 43, and wherein the MIMO communication is enabled by both ends of the leaky cable 2 being adapted for connection to a respective antenna port 8, 9 of a network node 5 configured for 10 MIMO communication. The disclosure also relates to a related method and system.

A large part of the traffic load in future wireless communication systems is expected to originate from indoor users, for example from users in office buildings, cafés, shopping malls etc. Providing the indoor users with high bit-rate and spectrally efficient communication from outdoor base stations is challenging due to the penetration loss that is experienced by signals propagating through building walls. One known solution for enhancing the indoor coverage is to use outdoor-to-indoor repeaters. An outdoor-to-indoor repeater has a pick-up antenna on the outside of the building connected via a double-directional power amplifier to a donor antenna on the inside of the building. Another known solution is to deploy pure indoor systems for example by deploying an indoor radio base station (RBS) and connect it to a distributed antenna system (DAS) where the antennas are also located indoor and close to the users.
Leaky (coaxial) cables can be used both for transmitting and for receiving electromagnetic waves, i.e. allows for two-way communication. Typical use cases for leaky cables are indoor deployments and along railway tunnels etc. Put simply, a leaky cable is a coaxial cable with slots or gaps along its entire length which enable the cable to "leak" electromagnetic waves. The leaky cable can be used both to transmit and receive electromagnetic waves, i.e. it allows two-way communication.
Multiple-input Multiple-output (MIMO) technology is developed and used in wireless communication systems, and has been incorporated as an important feature in Long Term Evolution (LTE) standards. MIMO provides higher data rates by using several antennas to transmit and receive signals. By combining signals properly in a receiver an improved signal quality and/or data rate is provided for users within the communication system.

Antenna system providing coverage for multiple-input multiple-output, MIMO, communication, a method and system


A taxi cab management board game providing a gaming environment and associated apparatus wherein the players experience the daily routine and practical business pressures associated with the successful operation of a taxi cab business. The game playing surface is comprised of interconnected location blocks 12 denoting geographical locations for navigation of vehicle playing pieces 20 to transport fare playing pieces 25. Fare playing pieces may be selected based on their physical proximity to vehicle playing pieces or assigned by an instruction card set 34A. Vehicle playing pieces 20 transport fare playing pieces 25 to assigned destinations accumulating transportation revenue and possible gratuity income. The player is limited economically by traffic, government regulation and practical business choices in the quest to expand the taxi company through the purchase of three company expansion certificates 50. The game is completed when a player purchases three expansion certificates or all opponents are disqualified by driving habits or poor money management skills.

The taxi cab provides a mode of transportation unique in experience among the various methods of mass transit. Unlike traditional bus and train service, the utilization of taxi cab services demands a personal interaction between passengers and taxi operators. As such, it is not enough for taxi operators to simply provide a reliable alternative source of transportation, but the successful taxi operator must additionally provide some degree of personalized customer service.
The successful taxi operator is capable of balancing an aggressiveness in transporting and obtaining customers while simultaneously maintaining a courteous and often personable demeanor. Indeed, passengers unfamiliar with a certain locality often rely on taxi operators to recommend area restaurants, hotels and attractions. Thus, the truly helpful and courteous operator is increasingly likely to earn gratuity income in excess of his/her colleagues who are less customer service oriented.
The game in accordance with the present invention seeks to simulate the above described environment by providing a board game in which players are rewarded not only for their business acumen, but for their customer service skills as well.

Taxi cab management board game apparatus and method of play


A method of navigating an electronic network includes steps of reading a list of at least one resource in an electronic network, displaying at least a portion of the list, receiving a user-initiated selection of a resource from the list, linking to the resource upon receiving the user-initiated selection, removing the resource from the list. An article of manufacture directs a system for navigating an electronic network to perform the above-listed steps.

The introductory chapter of Discover the World Wide Web with Your Sportster, Second Edition, provides a perceptive commentary on the present state of the Internet and the World Wide Web. Here, it is stated that the Internet is in need of an application which will transform the "much-hyped but difficult-to-use linking of computers around the world to being a highly informative, highly usable database and communications tool." It is further stated that the various available Web browsers (e.g. Mosaic and Netscape Navigator) all have difficulties and limitations which make them insufficient to handle the complexity of the Internet.
Part of the problem is in the complexity of addressing a resource on the World Wide Web. The World Wide Web uses an addressing system known as a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) that defines the location of a resource on the Internet. URLs are comprised of up to four parts: a protocol, a domain name, a path, and a filename. The combination of these four parts can produce a complex address for a resource. For example, the address for information on two-way pagers on the Motorola home page is: http://www.mot.com/MIMS/MSPG/Products/Two-way/tango/desc.html.
The popularity of the Internet and the World Wide Web has spawned a number of Web-related periodicals. One such periodical is Yahoo| Internet Life, which provides reviews of Web sites.
This periodical includes a tear-out address guide having URLs for the reviewed Web sites. To link to a Web site of interest, an end user types into his/her computer a URL printed on the guide. Scientific American is another example of a periodical having a page of URLS. The aforementioned complexity of addressing on the World Wide Web can result in the end user typing a lengthy URL to navigate to a Web site of interest.
To facilitate ease in repeatedly returning to resources of interest to an end user, some browser programs provide a bookmark feature. The bookmark feature provides an add link command to allow the end user to add a resource to a bookmark list. Thereafter, the end user can link to the resource in response to a selection of the resource from the bookmark list. The end user can delete the resource form the list by way of a selection of the resource from the list in combination with a delete command.

Method, system, and article of manufacture for navigating to a resource in an electronic network


The present invention relates to a process for manufacturing a segmented optical structure (100), comprising at least the steps consisting in:                a) providing a substrate (1) having microwalls (2) on one of the faces (3) of said substrate, which microwalls form, when the substrate (1) is observed along an axis (X) perpendicular to said face, a plurality of concentric recesses (5);        b) depositing at least one material (10; 10a; 10b; 10c) in at least one recess (5);        c) bringing at least one part of the upper surface (11) of the material (10; 10a; 10b; 10c) deposited in step b) into contact with at least one liquid medium (30) which is capable of dissolving said material (10; 10a; 10b; 10c) and is substantially inert with respect to the microwalls (2) and to the substrate (1); and        d) imposing a centrifugal force on the liquid medium (30) deposited in step c) so as to modify the distribution thereof on the upper surface (11) of the material (10; 10a; 10b; 10c) deposited during step b),the amount of liquid medium (30) used during step c) enabling the material deposited during step b) to be partially dissolved.

A Fresnel lens consists of a central lenticular part generally encircled with structures forming concentric rings (spherical lens) or having linear shapes (cylindrical lens).
The optical quality of a Fresnel lens depends inter alia on the shape of the Fresnel zones, on the surface finish, on the material and on the vertical walls separating two consecutive zones.
A Fresnel lens may have, relative to a conventional convergent lens, a smaller thickness and therefore, advantageously, a higher optical transmission coefficient for the same interception area.
Various process are known for manufacturing Fresnel lenses.
It is, for example, known from JP 062 341 56 to manufacture Fresnel lenses by hot stamping, in which a tool is heated and pressed into a thermoformable material so as to form the Fresnel zones of said lens.
Fresnel lenses may also be manufactured by molding. A method for manufacturing a mold is described in US 2006/0234607.
Hot-stamping or molding manufacturing methods may have the drawbacks of limiting the profile of the Fresnel lenses thus obtained to the shape of the stamp or mold used and of restricting the materials that can be used to thermoformable materials.
JP 2009 184 066 describes the manufacture of Fresnel lenses by micromachining, in which a tool of a suitable shape is used to machine a material in a particular way so as to structure it. Such a method may be relatively costly and is not suitable for mass production.
Moreover, other processes that employ photolithography methods are known. In particular it is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,779,751 to produce, by photolithography, a stack or succession of pads of various heights, the juxtaposition of these pads eventually forming the features of the Fresnel lens.
However, methods employing photolithography processes can be relatively expensive and involve a large number of processing steps.
Other methods, especially direct structuring in a photosensitive layer, are known, for example from U.S. Pat. No. 4,609,259.
There is however a need for a relatively simple process for manufacturing segmented optical structures.
There is furthermore a need for a process enabling production of segmented optical structures with a wide variety of profiles.
The present invention aims to meet all or some of the aforementioned needs.

Process for manufacturing a segmented optical structure

Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives


An inspection and maintenance data storage and retrieval system features uniquely identified read/write memory buttons mounted in or on an equipment unit such as an aircraft, in association with specific components of the equipment unit. Technical information useful for inspection and maintenance of the components, plus historical inspection and maintenance information, is stored in a central database computer remote from the equipment unit. A memory button probe, used in conjunction with a portable computer, enables storage on the memory buttons of information relating to inspection and maintenance carried out on the corresponding equipment components, as well as technical information related to the components. The portable computer is connected to the central database computer, preferably through a wireless Internet connection, thus enabling downloading of technical information from the central database to the portable computer at the point of inspection or maintenance. Information relating to each inspection and maintenance task may be downloaded to the central database computer via the portable computer. The central database computer may be a network server providing authorized users with access to current maintenance and operational status information for the equipment units supported by the system.

Many types of equipment require ongoing inspection and maintenance to ensure that the equipment is in proper and safe working order. This is true for stationary industrial equipment, and also for aircraft and other mobile equipment transportation equipment. Regular inspection and maintenance may be required not only for practical and economic reasons, but may also be mandatory for regulatory compliance. For example, in order to maintain airworthiness status, specific components and assemblies of both private and commercial aircraft must undergo inspection, plus maintenance or overhaul as required, at regulated intervals. These intervals are typically established in terms of service hours on the component in question, or service hours on the aircraft.
A commercial airliner may have dozens of components requiring regular inspection and maintenance, and this work must be performed with painstaking care by highly qualified technicians. At each inspection point, a technician must gain direct visual and physical access to component being inspected. Gaining such access may be a complicated exercise in itself. For example, inspection hatches for rudder and elevator components on a modern jetliner may be located high above the ground, so a technician may require scaffolding or mechanized equipment (e.g., a "cherry picker") in order to gain access to such components.
Having gained access to a particular component, the technician must know exactly what steps need to be taken to inspect the component properly, and must know what maintenance or repair activities are required in the circumstances, according to the condition of the component as determined during the inspection, and the time interval since the previous inspection or maintenance procedure. Accordingly, the technician may need to have on-the-spot access to relevant provisions of the aircraft's maintenance manuals, including technical specifications and inspection checklists, as well as any work orders which may have been prepared for the specific inspection As well, it may often be necessary or desirable to have access to records of previous inspections, service, and maintenance.
The technician might conceivably have this information in his or her memory, but it is not desirable to rely on memory in connection with work in respect of which an error might jeopardize passenger safety. Therefore, the technician may need to carry several reference documents during the inspection. If the technician has forgotten any particulars of the inspection or maintenance to be performed, or has forgotten to bring required reference documents to the point of inspection, he or she may need to leave the inspection point to obtain or retrieve the necessary information, and then return to the inspection point to complete the required inspection or maintenance service.
Once the inspection has been made, and any necessary maintenance has been completed, the technician usually will need to record certain particulars of the work; e.g., date and time of inspection, identity of the technician, and details of maintenance or repairs performed. In addition, it will typically be necessary or desirable to transfer such information to a central record-keeping facility so that the maintenance history and the current serviceability status of the aircraft can be conveniently reviewed. For many aircraft operators, such as commercial airlines and military air forces, it may be particularly efficient and desirable to have this inspection and maintenance information stored in a computer database remote from the aircraft in question, and to have the information transferred to the database as soon as possible after the inspection or maintenance work has been completed, in order to have access to up-to-the-minute information on the condition of the aircraft and its availability for service.
This desirable objective may be difficult to achieve satisfactorily where the subject information must be transferred to the central record-keeping facility from a technician's handwritten notes, because there may sometimes be a delay between the time of the inspection or maintenance and the time of entry in the central records, even when the technician acts with reasonable diligence. In other cases, the technician may inadvertently neglect or forget to enter the information until a considerable time after the inspection or maintenance was performed, and in the worst case the information may never get entered at all. In addition, there is the risk that the information in the technician's notes will be transferred inaccurately or incompletely, not to mention the further risk than the information might be lost completely if the technician's notes are accidentally misplaced or destroyed before the information transfer can be carried out.
Because of factors such as those outlined above, security and storage of information related to inspection and maintenance of aircraft and other types or equipment, as well as timely access to information required for such inspection and maintenance, can be inconvenient and inefficient, and correspondingly time-consuming and expensive. One example of prior attempts to address these problems is U.S. Pat. No. 5,931,877, issued on Aug. 3, 1999 to Smith (et al.), which discloses a system providing electronic access to a central data warehouse which stores information from technical mutuals relating to the various pieces of equipment being supported by the system, as well as historical maintenance information for specific pieces of equipment. Maintenance technicians may acquire access to the information in the central data warehouse by use of a hand-held computer, or portable maintenance aid ("PMA"), via wireless transceivers or high-speed land lines. The technicians therefore do not need access to hard copies of the technical and historical maintenance information for the equipment they are working on, and they can transmit data regarding their maintenance tasks back to the central data warehouse through use of the PMA.
The PMA forms part of a fundamental element of the Smith system, namely, a test means for identifying failed equipment components. More specifically, the test means provides for automated downloading, to the PMA, of built-in test (or "BIT") data available from a bus in particular equipment units such as sophisticated military aircraft and weaponry components Accordingly, the Smith system's practical usefulness is therefore best found in association with such specialized equipment adapted for BIT logic analysis, and it is not readily and economically adaptable for use with other types of equipment. Perhaps the most significant drawback of the Smith system, however, is the fact that technicians' work will be seriously hampered or delayed in the event of breakdown of communications with the central data warehouse, which will typically be the technicians' only convenient source of reliable technical and historical information which may be needed to complete a particular maintenance task.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a method and apparatus for recording and storing inspection and maintenance information in a central data storage facility promptly upon completion of the inspection or maintenance work, without requiring transfer of the information from handwritten notes. In addition, there is a need for a method and apparatus for providing paperless access to inspection and maintenance reference information, such as information in technical service manuals, or historical inspection and maintenance information, directly at the point of inspection or maintenance. Furthermore, there is a need for a method and apparatus for storage of technical and historical inspection and maintenance information directly on the equipment in question, preferably in the immediate vicinity of the point of inspection or maintenance. The present invention is directed to these needs.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for storing and retrieving equipment inspection and maintenance data


A camera has an infinity end stopper that stops a lens holder to a position which sets a best focal length at infinity, and a macro-side stopper that stops the lens holder to a position at which the best focal length becomes a predetermined length. In normal mode, the camera abuts the lens holder on the infinity end stopper and then moves the lens holder toward the macro-side stopper to perform auto focus. In macro mode, the camera abuts the lens holder on the macro-side stopper and then moves the lens holder toward the infinity end stopper to perform auto focus. This can suppress a variation in the position of the camera after lens movement.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus and a lens movement control method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, as typified by cellular phones, mobile devices with a built-in camera as an imaging apparatus are rapidly becoming popular. There is an increasing number of cameras each to be built in a mobile device, which have an auto focus mechanism. Because miniaturization is a prerequisite in mobile devices, the miniaturization of the auto focus mechanism is desired.
Conventionally, a stepping motor as a lens drive motor is used to do auto focusing. An auto focus mechanism using the stepping motor needs to convert the torque of the motor into the movement of a lens, making miniaturization difficult.
There are methods which do not use an electromagnetic motor like a stepping motor. One example of such methods drives a lens by an ultrasonic motor used by, for example, a single-lens reflex camera, as disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Application KOKAI publication No. 2005-57839.
However, because the ultrasonic motor employs a mechanism which generates ultrasonic vibration by a plurality of piezoelectric elements, miniaturization and cost reduction are difficult.
As a lens moving mechanism which overcomes the foregoing problem, there is a Smooth Impact Drive Mechanism (hereinafter, "SIDM") as disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Application KOKAI publication No. 2002-95272 and Unexamined Japanese Patent Application KOKAI publication No. 2005-86887.
In the SIDM, as shown in FIG. 15, one end and the other end of a piezoelectric element 1 are respectively attached to a fixation member 2 and a drive shaft 3. A Flexible Print Circuit (hereinafter, "FPC") 4 is attached to the piezoelectric element 1, and a voltage is applied to the piezoelectric element 1 through the FPC 4. A lens holder 5 for fixing a lens is mounted on the drive shaft 3 or attached thereto in such a way that the drive shaft 3 penetrates the lens holder 5. The lens holder 5 moves along the drive shaft 3. The position of the lens is determined based on at what position in the drive shaft 3 the lens holder 5 is located. A best focal length which is a distance for best focusing changes in accordance with the position of the lens.
It is generally known that the piezoelectric element 1 expands and contracts as a voltage is applied. As a pulse voltage is repeatedly applied to the piezoelectric element 1 via the FPC 4, the piezoelectric element 1 expands and contracts based on the pulse voltage. Adjusting the rise speed of the pulse and the fall speed thereof can adjust the expansion and contraction speed of the piezoelectric element 1.
As the piezoelectric element 1 is slowly expanded, the lens holder 5 is displaced with the displacement of the piezoelectric element 1 because of friction between the lens holder 5 and the drive shaft 3. As the piezoelectric element 1 is rapidly contracted, the frictional part of the lens holder 5 slips because of the inertia, and the lens holder 5 remains at almost the same position. By repeating expansion and contraction, the lens is displaced by a long stroke.
As the foregoing operation is performed reversely, the lens can be moved in the opposite direction.
In the case of auto focusing, the camera moves the lens to plural points within a desired focus range by controlling the lens moving mechanism, finds out the best focus lens position where the best focus is set to an imaging target from image information obtained at each point, and moves the lens to that position. The method of finding the best focus lens position is disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Application KOKAI publication No. H5-122579.
When the lens is moved to set the best focus to the imaging target, a lens position (reference position) to be a reference where a focal position is specified beforehand is necessary to figure out a current lens position. Thus, when the lens is mounted on the camera, a stopper which stops the lens holder 5 at a position over the drive shaft 3 where the best focal length becomes infinite (hereinafter, this position is called "infinity end") is set up, and this infinity end is taken as a reference position. The reference position may not be the infinity end, but may be set to a position where the best focal length is 1.4 m or a position where the best focal length is 1 m, both positions being shifted from the infinity end by specified number of pulses.
In the SIDM, pulse control is performed, and the movement of the lens holder 5 is controlled by the number of pulses or a time when pulses are applied. In moving the lens holder 5 to a desired position, first, the lens holder 5 is moved until it hits the stopper which serves as the reference position. From this position, a pulse voltage having a necessary number of pulses for the lens holder 5 to move to the desired position is applied to the piezoelectric element 1, or a pulse voltage is applied to the piezoelectric element 1 for a time necessary for the lens holder 5 to move to the desired position.
In the SIDM, however, the movement of the lens is performed by the friction between the lens holder 5 and the drive shaft 3 and reciprocation, raising a problem such that the moving speed of the lens varies. For example, even if the average moving speed of the lens is 3.75 mm/sec, the moving speed varies from the minimum (2.2 mm/sec) to the maximum (5.3 mm/sec) at a normal temperature. As the moving speed of the lens holder 5 on which the lens is mounted varies, the moving distance of the lens holder 5 varies even if the pulse voltage is applied to the piezoelectric element 1 by the specified number of pulses, or for the specified time. Accordingly, it is difficult to move the lens to the desired position. In particular, in macro shooting in which the moving distance of the lens holder 5 from the infinity end becomes large, a variation in moving distance becomes extremely large, making it difficult to control the moving distance by the pulse voltage.

Imaging apparatus and lens movement control method

Casio Hitachi Mobile Communications Co., Ltd.


The invention relates to a belt unit in a wind tunnel balance for motor vehicles, in particular for determining forces and moments acting on a motor vehicle in a wind tunnel, wherein an area exposed to wind is minimized by means of a trapezoidal support, which is raised with respect to a normal zero position, and appropriately adapted test stand covers. The wind-exposed area of the endless belt of the belt test stand can be reduced here to a value which is only slightly above the necessary wheel contact area (tire shuffle). As a result, error forces can be reduced further, so that the result is highly increased measurement accuracy.

DE 10 2008 019 699 A1 discloses e.g. a belt test stand for motor vehicles, which includes a belt unit having a first drum and a second drum. One of these drums is driven and the other one is carried along via the endless belt. A hydraulic cylinder is arranged between the drums and increases or decreases the distance between the driving drum and the idler drum depending on the moving direction of the piston so as to correspondingly increase or decrease the pretension of the endless belt. It is also shown that one of the drums is fixedly arranged in the belt running direction and the other drum is movably mounted. In addition, a support is shown the top side of which is provided between the drums. The top side of the support is arranged here in alignment with a tangential connecting line of the top side of the drums.
DE 197 02 421C2 describes a test stand for determining forces and moments acting on a motor vehicle or on components thereof, wherein a wheel belt unit is mounted on a weighbridge. The threshold support also rests on the weighbridge. However, a recess in the non-weighed base plate is chosen to be relatively great, and therefore the area for generating error forces is relatively large.
A drawback of the above mentioned prior art is that the belt test stand area exposed to the air current is relatively large, and therefore error forces are measured by the test stand.
In order to optimize the aerodynamic properties of a motor vehicle, the motor vehicles are exposed to real wind conditions in what is called a wind tunnel. It is here of utmost significance that all current conditions around the car body and at the underbody are reproduced as realistically as possible.
This is why the vehicle is not placed on otherwise common roller type test stands but on what is called flat belt units (belt test stands) since the latter permit a level insertion in the base plate.
What is called a center conveyor belt can be inserted here in the center of the test apparatus and is usually operated at a same speed as that of the air current. As a result, realistic pressure conditions occur at the underbody of the motor vehicle. During an incoming fluid flow, the vehicle forces must be measured via "X" (from the front) and via "Y" (from the side) and the lifting force "Z". The lifting force is understood to mean here the difference between the normal weight force without an incoming flow and the weight force with the incoming flow. In accordance with the three forces in the X-, Y- and Z-directions, it is also possible to suitably determine three moments in the X-, Y- and Z-directions by including the lever arms, and therefore such an apparatus is referred to as a 6-component balance.
Since the vehicle would be pushed off the belt units by the X-forces occurring, it is necessary to hold the vehicle via beam supports (so-called rocker panels). Here, the four wheel belt units and the four threshold supports are mounted on the weighing frame. All the other parts of the platform are connected to the non-weighted test stand design.
In a model case, the belt contact area which is visible from above is as large as the tire shuffle of the respective wheels of the motor vehicle to be tested. Of course, this can only be achieved theoretically. In practice, the wheel belt units are markedly greater than the tire shuffle. As a result, parts of the wheel belt unit and thus of the wind tunnel balance are exposed to the resulting flow conditions at and/or under the vehicle. In accordance with the resulting pressure condition and the exposed area, error forces are formed and add up to the actual lifting force and/or downforce.

Apparatus for determining forces and moments acting on motor vehicles in a wind tunnel


The device comprises a cylinder (1) which is filled less than half with ink (2). In its initial state, there is directly above ink (2) a piston (3) with piston rod (4) and handle (5). At the lower end there is arranged at the cylinder (1) a hollow needle (6) with a sealing ring (7). For re-filling of a print head (10) its nozzle openings (11) are sealed and needle (6) is adjusted through an opening of lid (13) up to sealing abutment of ring (7). The piston (3) is pulled up and the air from the print head (10) is thereby suctioned through the ink (2). As a result of the negative pressure, the ink (2) is then suctioned into head (10). The device has a simple design.

The subject invention concerns a device and method for filling a solution into a container.
The invention is especially suited for refilling ink cartridges of ink jet print heads and will be described with reference thereto; however, the invention is capable of broader application and could be used for filling many different liquids into a variety of containers.

Device for filling up a container with fluid


A female socket of a connector adapted for connecting to coaxial wires of a flat cable. The female socket mainly includes a socket base, a cover, and a metal shell. The socket base is provided at one front side with a plurality of insertion slots and a plurality of terminal receiving slots corresponding to and communicable with the insertion slots for each receiving an electrical terminal therein. The flat cable is extended into the socket base from another side opposite to the insertion slots with each coaxial wire of the flat cable rested in one terminal receiving slot to contact with an inner arm portion of the terminal. The cover is closed to a top of the socket base to tightly press the coaxial wires against the terminals. The cover has a top window for receiving a ground pin which contacts with a conductive plate connected to the coaxial wires. The metal shell encloses the socket base and the cover and contacts with the ground pin to allow the conductive plate of the coaxial wires to externally grounded. The terminals have outer pin insertion holes for receiving pins on a male plug connected to the female socket.

The present invention relates to improvements made to a female socket of a connector, so that the female socket can be more easily assembled and is more effective in use.
A connector consists of a male plug and a female socket engaged with one another. The male plug includes insertion pins which are inserted into insertion slots included in the female socket to achieve an electric connection.
Either the male plug or the female socket is designed to achieve connection between wires (electric wires) and electrical terminals. A conventional wire adopted in a connector in early stage is a single-core wire via which signals are transmitted at low speed and tend to be interfered by noise. To overcome such problems, a kind of coaxial wire has been developed. To make electronic products even more compact than before and to make the wiring in the products neat and orderly, a plurality of coaxial wires are combined to form a flat cable. Presently, most precision electronic and computer products all use such flat cable.
FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a flat cable A which includes a plurality of coaxial wires 1 parallelly arranged side by side to form a flat band. Each coaxial wire 1 includes, from inner side to outer side, a core 11, a core insulation 12 wrapping around the core 11, a braided wire 13 coaxial with the core 11, and an insulating skin 14. A part of the insulating skin 14 near an end portion of each coaxial wire 1 is peeled to allow a conductive plate 15 to transversely connect to the braided wire 13. The core insulation 12 at the same end portion of each coaxial wire 1 is then peeled to bare the core 11. Glue material 16 is applied at outer ends of the bare cores 11 to fix the distance between every two adjacent bare cores 11.
FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a conventional female socket B of a connector. From FIG. 2, the manner in which the above-described flat cable A is connected to the conventional female socket B can be seen. The female socket B of a connector includes a base board 2, a socket seat 3, and a transfer plate 4. The base board 2 is formed of a plurality of terminal receiving slots 21 to each receive an electrical terminal 22 therein. An upward-open sliding groove 23 is formed on top of the base board 2 for a sliding member 25 to sideward slide thereinto. The end portion of each coaxial wire 1 of the flat cable A is rested on one terminal receiving slot 21 of the base board 2, so that each bare core 11 at the end portion of the coaxial wire 1 is located above an inner end 22a of the electrical terminal 22 received in that terminal receiving slot 21. A pressing bar 24 is positioned on top of the bare cores 11 and is pushed downward by the sliding member 25 to tightly and firmly press the bare cores 11 against the inner ends 22a of the terminals 22. Downward projected portions 26 are provided at a bottom of the base board 2 to engage into recesses 41 correspondingly provided on a top of the transfer plate 4. The socket seat 3 is provided with a plurality of insertion slots 31. In each of the insertion slots 31, there are metal legs 32 extending to outside of the insertion slots 31. An outer end 32a of each metal leg 32 is indirectly connected to an outer end 22b of a corresponding electrical terminal 22 via a line 42 provided on the transfer plate 4 to extend between the metal leg 32 and the terminal 22. Tenons 33 are provided at a bottom of the socket seat 3 to engage with mortises 43 correspondingly formed on the transfer plate 4. Each of the insertion slots 31 on the socket seat 3 receives a pin (not shown) on a male plug (not shown) of the connector when the male plug is plugged into the female socket B.
The above-described conventional female socket B is not easy to assemble and has a large volume. Moreover, the conductive plate 15 contacting with the coaxial wires 1 is not substantively and externally grounded and therefore, noise can not be effectively eliminated during signal transmission.


Resources in a communication system are associated based on a query by receiving the query from a client device, generating requests based on the query, each request being formatted in a different message format, transmitting each of the plurality of requests to at least one corresponding source, and receiving at least one result associated with the query from the at least one corresponding source, where each result is associated with a communications application.

1. Field
Example aspects of the present invention generally relate to communication systems and more particularly to products for providing a query and launch tool for communications system.
2. Related Art
A turret system is a specialized key telephony switching system that allows a relatively small number of users to access a large number of external lines and provides enhanced communication features such as hoot-n-holler, push-to-talk, intercom, video, and large-scale conferencing. These features are often utilized in the financial industry such as trading floor environments, as well as security/law enforcement, public safety utilities, healthcare, and customer support (e.g., contact centers) environments.
Users interface with a turret system through a turret device, which is a phone-like desktop device with multiple handsets and speakers and multiple buttons. A turret is either implemented in dedicated hardware (sometimes referred to as a "hard" turret) or a general-purpose computer (sometimes referred to as a "soft" turret).
Turret devices can reside in a fixed environment of dedicated voice communications trading resources or a more virtualized trading environment across multiple sites. A virtual environment allows resources to be shared dynamically, when and where required, across a global corporate enterprise.
Typical global corporate enterprises lack mechanisms for querying, sharing and organizing information related to communications resources and infrastructure. Search engines, for example, are not designed to identify and organize resources across a communications system. A search engine searches for information on a network and presents the search results in a list where each identified resource is associated with a uniform resource locator (URL) that specifies where the identified resource is available. The mechanism for retrieving the content is typically defined by the file pointed to by the URL (e.g., by the extension of the file, .docx, .html, .mp3, and the like). The content may consist of web pages, images, information and other types of files. Depending on the type of resource pointed to by the URL, the appropriate program is launched. For example an image pointed to by the URL causes a computer to launch an image viewer, a document-type file causes an appropriate word processing document to launch, etc.
Applications such as e-mail and contact applications allow users to search for e-mails and contacts based on a query term. E-mails can be queried by sender, recipients, subject, and the like. Similarly, a local or global contact database can be searched for a particular contact or group and, in some cases, the same application that runs the search can execute a service such as make a call or prepare and e-mail to the contact or group.
What is needed is a communications resource tool that initiates queries of several remote sources based on a single query, associates the results and provides communications-related resources related to the results so as to allow associated communication system applications to be quickly and easily executed.

Communication services and application launch tool


A method for controlling a position of an actuating element, to which a restoring force is applied, in an actuator system having an electronically commutated electrical machine, includes controlling the position of the actuating element as a function of a predefined setpoint position specification and an actual position specification. A position control unit provides an actuating variable which is associated with a space vector with which a stator arrangement of the electrical machine can be driven. The method further includes applying a correction variable to the space vector in order to correct a space vector angle of the space vector; providing an auxiliary signal; varying the space vector angle of the space vector, which is defined by the actuating variable, by the auxiliary signal; and integrating a variable to give an integration value.

An electronically commutated electrical machine, for example a synchronous machine or an asynchronous machine, comprises a stator and a rotor. The stator is used to provide a motor magnetic field. The rotor comprises permanent magnets and/or linked rotor coils in order to provide an exciter magnetic field.
The stator comprises a plurality of stator coils that are allocated in each case to one or several phases of the electrical machine. In order to operate the electrical machine as a motor, the stator coils are energized in a suitable manner so that the motor magnetic field is generated. The interaction between the motor magnetic field and the exciter magnetic field produces a driving torque that acts on the rotor.
The individual stator coils are energized in accordance with a commutation method, wherein in order to generate a maximum driving torque it is necessary to advance the motor magnetic field in the direction of the exciter magnetic field, which motor magnetic field is generated by the stator coils. Since the rotor moves with respect to the stator coils, it is necessary, for the purpose of suitably energizing the stator coils, to know the position of the rotor (rotor position) and thus the direction of the exciter magnetic field in order to be able to generate the motor magnetic field with the corresponding angle of advance. A maximum driving torque can be achieved when advancing the motor magnetic field by 90° with respect to the exciter magnetic field (electrical rotor position; corresponds to the mechanical rotor position divided by the number of pole pairs of the rotor).
For this reason, an internal position sensor for detecting the rotor position is generally provided in electronically commutated electrical machines. The energizing patterns are then applied to the corresponding stator coils in dependence upon the rotor position that is detected by the position sensor. Generally, the internal position sensor is dimensioned such that it provides sufficient position resolution in order to perform the commutation.
When using an electronically commutated electrical machine for a positioner, it is possible in order to reduce the costs of detecting the rotor position to forego an internal position sensor and to detect only a position of the actuator that is operated by the electrical machine. When using a so-called external position sensor for the purpose of ascertaining the position of the actuator, both the cost for the electrical machine and also the cost for providing the cabling between the electrical machine and the control device are reduced and this constitutes an advantage. However, the actuator is frequently connected to the electrical machine by way of a reduction gear, so that it is not possible to obtain accurate information regarding the rotor position from the position of the actuator owing to the reduction ratio and owing to the unavoidable amount of play. It can be expedient for reasons of cost to limit the accuracy of the resolution of the position sensor even when using an internal position sensor.
The inaccuracies when ascertaining the rotor position from the position of the actuator result in it not being possible to adjust the angle of advance to the optimum angle of advance of 90°. Consequently, when using an external position sensor for the purpose of operating the electronically commutated electrical machine there is the disadvantage that it is not possible to operate the electrical machine at a maximum torque.
It is therefore the object of the present disclosure to provide an improved commutation of an electrically commutated electrical machine, where the information that is provided regarding a rotor position is less than accurate.

Method and apparatus for adapting commutation for an electronically commutated electrical machine


Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for generating a set of training utterances. The methods, systems, and apparatus include actions of obtaining a target multi-dimensional distribution of characteristics in an initial set of candidate utterances and selecting a subset of the initial set of candidate utterances based on speech recognition confidence scores associated with the candidate utterances. Additional actions include selecting a particular candidate utterance from the subset of the initial set of utterances and determining that adding the particular candidate utterance to a set of training utterances reduces a divergence of a multi-dimensional distribution of the characteristics in the set of training utterances from the target multi-dimensional distribution. Further actions include adding the particular candidate utterance to the set of training utterances.

An automated speech recognizer may be trained using training data that includes audio recordings of utterances and corresponding transcripts of the utterances. For example, training data may include an audio recording of "AUTOMATION" and a corresponding transcription of "AUTOMATION." The quality of recognition by a trained automated speech recognizer may depend on the quality of the training data used to train the automated speech recognizer. For example, an automated speech recognizer that is trained using training data with incorrect transcriptions or biases may produce similarly incorrect transcriptions or biased transcriptions.

Utterance selection for automated speech recognizer training


The liquid crystal display device comprises a first substrate, a second substrate opposite to the first substrate, a plurality of switching elements formed on a face of the first substrate, which is opposite to the second substrate, a common electrode formed on a face of the second substrate, the face being opposite to the first substrate, a plurality of liquid crystal layers stacked on the second substrate to hold the common electrode between the layers and the second substrate, and arranged between the first and second substrates a plurality of projection electrodes selectively formed on the liquid crystal layers and a plurality of pixel electrode each formed on a corresponding one of the liquid crystal layers. The pixel electrodes respectively formed between a corresponding couple of the liquid crystal layers are connected to a corresponding one of the switching elements formed on the first substrate through one or several of the protrusion electrode/electrodes. The several protrusion electrodes are brought into contact at each of the boundaries of the adjacent liquid crystal layers and connected in cascade.

This invention relates to a liquid crystal display device and the manufacturing method thereof, in particular, to a liquid crystal display device having a plurality of liquid crystal layers stacked in order and the manufacturing method thereof.
The CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) display is the most popular display device used in the present time. The CRT display, however, displays all the pixels with use of one electron gun, and thus needs to have a large depth. In addition, the CRT display is so heavy and consumes so much electric power that the CRT display is not suitable as a display device of a mobile apparatus. The other display devices than the CRT display such as a plasma display device and an EL(Electro-Luminescence) display device which are now distributed in the market respectively have problems in a practical use as a mobile display device.
The liquid crystal display device is thus only one device now practically used as a display device of a mobile apparatus. The liquid crystal display device is so thin and can be driven with low electric power consumption, and thus is widely used as a display device of a mobile apparatus such as a watch and a pocket calculator. Particularly, a TN (Twisted Nematic) liquid crystal display device is incorporated with an active switching device such as a TFT (Thin Film Transistor), and thus has so good display characteristics equal to the CRT display to be used for a television. The TN liquid crystal display device, however, uses polarizers and thus has low light utilization efficiency. In order to securely obtain sufficient light to display an image, the TN liquid crystal display device needs to be provided with a backlight, which consumes a large amount of electric power.
The liquid crystal display device such as a GH (Guest Host) type liquid crystal display device using dichromatic pigment and a cholesteric selective reflection type liquid crystal display device are used as a reflective type liquid crystal display device, which needs no polarizer. In order to attain a full-color display by using the GH type liquid crystal display device, however, each sub-pixel of the display needs to be provided with liquid crystal materials different from each other in color. However, it is practically difficult to arrange such several types of liquid crystal materials in a plane. The full-color display can be also attained by stacking more than three layers of liquid crystal cells. However, when more than three layers of liquid crystal cells are stacked, various problems in a practical manufacturing process occur: the assembly of the cells, the injection of the liquid crystal material in each cells, and the mounting of the driving transistor cannot be performed with ease. The similar problems occur in using the cholesteric selective reflection type liquid crystal display device.
The full-color display can be theoretically attained by these types of the liquid crystal display devices which use no polarizer by stacking three substrates (hereinafter referred to "TFT substrates") on each of which TFTs as driving elements are mounted, and then by forming a liquid crystal layer on each TFT substrate. However, both the manufacturing cost and the weight of such a full-color display device having three TFT substrates will increase. In order to obtain a full-color display device with one TFT substrate, via conductors for connecting the liquid crystal layers on the TFT substrate each other need to be formed to reliably connect each pixel electrode and a TFT to each other.
One of the methods for attaining the full-color display by the liquid crystal device having no polarizer and only one TFT substrate has been proposed by the Jpn. Pat. KOKAI Appln. No. 6-337643. According to this method, three liquid crystal layers are stacked on one TFT substrate such that each of the liquid crystal layers holds a transparent pixel electrode between the substrate or the lower liquid crystal layers and itself, and via conductors for connecting these transparent pixel electrodes to the electrodes of the TFTs are formed by the sputtering or the printing technique in via holes which are formed in the liquid crystal layers by performing the etching thereon.
The plating technique can be also employed to form the via conductors, but the process thereof is so complicated that the number of the steps will increase. Particularly, if the etching or plating is performed after forming the liquid crystal layers, impurity ions may be introduced into the liquid crystal layers, which deteriorates the reliability of the display device. In addition, the device having the via conductors formed by the plating technique has so much connections that the failure in connection may easily occur and even disconnection may occur due to the change in temperature.
As described above, the conventional liquid crystal display device, particularly the full-color display device has so many problems in view of the manufacturing process.

Liquid crystal display device using stacked layers


A dislocation between lead wires and a main body of an electronic part has been apt to occur when cross portions of lead wires are soldered to opposed electrodes of the main body if the cross portions do not contact stably with the electrodes. In order to provide stable contact between the cross portions and the electrodes, the cross portions are bent, in a circular arc for example, so that they contact the electrodes respectively at two points.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic part with attached lead wires and more particularly to an improvement in the shape of the lead wires.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 4 shows an electronic part 1 with attached lead wires which is related to the background of the present invention. The electronic part 1 has a main body 2 in the shape of a disc, for example. Electrodes 3 and 4 (the electrode 4 is shown in FIG. 5) are formed respectively on two opposed main surfaces of the main body 2.
The electrodes 3 and 4 are connected electrically with lead wires 5 and 6, respectively, by solder 7 which is shown by an imaginary line in FIG. 4. Dip soldering for example is used in this soldering operation. It is noted that the solder may be applied to the lead wires 5 and 6 beforehand and then the wires may be soldered by melting the solder, instead of dip soldering. The two lead wires 5 and 6 are led out respectively in the same direction. Further, the lead wires 5 and 6 have crossing portions 8 and 9 which extend in suitable directions so as to cross each other at the parts where they are connected with the electrodes 3 and 4.
Further, a resin sheath 10 shown by an imaginary line in FIG. 4 is applied so as to cover the main body 2.
The electronic part 1 with the attached lead wires is supplied from an elongated holder 11 wherein a plurality of such parts are distributed in the longitudinal direction. The holder 11 has a carrier tape 12 and an adhesive tape 13 which is adhered to it. The holder 11 holds the electronic parts 1 by holding their lead wires 5 and 6 between the carrier tape 12 and the adhesive tape 13.
The processes of working on the lead wires 5 and 6, inserting the main body 2 between the lead wires 5 and 6, soldering the lead wires 5 and 6 to the electrodes 3 and 4, and applying the resin sheath 10 are normally carried out while the lead wires 5 and 6 are held by the holder 11. Then, in a stage of mounting the electronic parts on a circuit board, the lead wires 5 and 6 are cut along a cut line 14 for example and the electronic parts 1 with the attached lead wires 5 and 6 are separated from the holder 11.
This structure of an electronic part can be applied to a capacitor, for example. In this case, the main body 2 is made from dielectric ceramic. Electrostatic capacitance is created between the opposed electrodes 3 and 4 and is accessed via the two lead wires 5 and 6.
FIG. 5 is a right side view of the electronic part 1 shown in FIG. 4. A problem to be solved by the present invention will be explained with reference to this figure.
At the location where the lead wires 5 and 6 form the cross portions 8 and 9 at the parts thereof connected respectively with the electrodes 3 and 4 as described above, it is possible for each of the end portions of the cross portions 8 and 9 to become detached respectively from the electrodes 3 and 4, thereby creating gaps 15 and 16 between each of the end portions of the cross portions 8 and 9 and each of the electrodes 3 and 4 as shown in FIG. 5.
The gaps 15 and 16 are apt to be created when a thickness of the main part 2 is relatively large.
In order to solder the cross portions 8 and 9 to electrodes 3 and 4, bend portions 17 and 18 are often created in the lead wires 5 and 6 as shown in FIG. 5 to create distances 19 and 20 of about 0.5 mm to 1.0 mm for example between the lead wires 5 and 6 and the peripheral portion of the main body 2, in order to prevent deterioration of the withstand voltage of the electronic part 1 which otherwise occurs when the solder 7 (see FIG. 4) enters around the peripheral surface of the main body 2. However, the creation of the bend portions 17 and 18 in the lead wires 5 and 6 as described above is apt to cause the gaps 15 and 16 to be created between each of the end portions of the cross portions 8 and 9 and the corresponding electrodes 3 and 4.
Further, when the main body 2 is made from ceramic, the ceramic often warps when it is sintered during its fabrication, causing both sides of the main body 2 to be curved or irregular. The use of such a curved main body 2 also causes the gaps 15 and 16 to be created.
If the gaps 15 and 16 are thus created, the cross portions 8 and 9 barely contact the electrodes 3 and 4, having only a point-contact at bases 21 and 22 thereof. Therefore, the main body 2 is apt to rotate, centering on the contact point with the base 21 or 22, and the positional relationship between the lead wires 5 and 6 and the main body becomes instable. Thus, it is possible for the main body and the lead wires to be soldered even though they are in an inadequate positional relationship.

Electronic part with attached lead wires


This invention is about metal tubing/frit applicable in liquid chromatography and a chromatography column manufactured by using the same. In detail, this invention is about manufacturing the metal tubing/frit by treating a powdered inorganic oxide such as silica, alumina, zirconia, and titania with a strong base, drying it with some humidity included, scrubbing it into powders, putting it in the tip of a chromatographic metal tubing at a proper depth, and by sintering the powders to form a durable sintered frit on the inner wall.

The liquid chromatography column is composed of three major parts, that is, a column body tubing, end-fitting blocks at both ends of the column body, and a filler as a static phase(stationary phase) packed in the column.
The column body tubing is made of various material such as stainless steel, glass-lined stainless steel, polymer, and polymer coated silica, etc.
Porous powders are usually used as stationary phases. Porous silica, alumina, zirconia, and their ligand-attached or polymer-coated products are usually used, and various kinds of porous block copolymer powders are also used. The most typical stationary phase at present is porous octadecyl ligand attached silica, C18.
Porous disc-type frits are placed in both ends of a column to keep the stationary phase in and to let the mobile phase penetrate in common columns although they are different in shapes. Such frits are treated very carefully since frits directly influence chromatographic resolution, and various researches for frits have been being carried out.
The monolith column has been recently proposed. The whole stationary phase of the monolith column is one body with numerous multiple porous channels, thus it does not need any frit (Svec et al., Anal. Chem. 1992, 64, 820–822; Minakuchi et al., Anal. Chem., 1996, 68, 3498–3501).
Various types of column end fittings and frit installation mechanisms are illustrated in the "Handbook of HPLC" (1994, GIT-Verlag) edited by Unger. In all cases, frits are installed inside the column main body, and the frits cannot be removed without disassembling the column.
Additional various designs of frits and end fittings have been proposed. For example, polymer encased stainless steel disc frits were used in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,399,032(1983), and trapezoidal disc type frits, in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,966,696(1990). Such frits were used to minimize anomalous perturbation of mobile phase flow and consequent column efficiency degradation owing to differences among the inside diameter of column, the diameter of porous frit disc, and the inside diameter of connecting tubing. Another special design is given in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,227,059(1993) where a tough and flexible polymer insert with a central flow channel was proposed to be installed in front of the column inlet frit in order to remove any void volume owing to prolonged use of the column and consequent partial collapse of the stationary phase by just tightening the insert.
Hernan Cortes et al proposed to prepare an unreplaceable porous ceramic plug frit at the column end by putting a potassium silicate solution into the end of the column main body and by causing sintering on vapor heating in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,920(1988). This method was also used in production of microcolumns in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,679,255(1997), and only the treatment of column outlet was mentioned, in particular, but not the treatment of column inlet, which leads us to guess that the conventional separate frit technique was used for the inlet side.
The technique of making fixed frits in the column main body tubing is generally used in production of microcolumns, especially microcolumns made of polymer coated silica capillary.
The initial microcolumn frit designs were, however, nonporous and imperfect, and a metal wire whose diameter was slightly smaller than the inside diameter of the silica capillary, or another silica capillary with very narrow I.D. whose O.D. was slightly smaller than the I.D. of column capillary, was used in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,773(1984). In addition, a silica capillary column encased in soft polymer tubing was proposed in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,938,919(1999) where the conventional replaceable frits were used.
The recent trend of silica capillary microcolumns is shifting swiftly toward monolithic columns where the whole column functions as a large frit, too. Details of monolith columns have been introduced in some review articles (Vissers et al., J. Chromatogr. A, 1999, 856, 117–143; Jinno et al., Trends in Analytical Chemistry, 2000, 19, 664–675; Bartle et al, J. Chromatogr. A, 2000, 892, 279–290), and patents of various monolith columns have appeared.
For example, the method of preparing fixed frits at both ends of the column by partial heat treatment of a packed silica capillary was introduced in the literature (Boughfflower et al, Chromatographia, 1995, 40, 329; Smith et al, Chromatogrphia, 1994, 38, 649). A research group made use of such concept, and packed a silica capillary with porous stationary phase powders, and sintered the whole stationary phase by heating with a ring-type electric heating wire, leaving the whole stationary phase combined but the porous spherical structures of the powders unchanged, in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,858,241(1999). A monolith column was proposed to be prepared by putting the dispersed solution of stationary phase powders, water, a solvent such as alcohols, and a metal alkoxide by a syringe in a silica capillary, and by applying heat treatment and vacuum in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,136,187(2000).
The conventional arts of preparing frits of liquid chromatography columns described above can be categorized into two techniques.
The first one is to place separate frits. In this case, the frit is exclusively installed inside the column end-fitting, thus, if the frit is clogged and needs to be replaced, the column end-fitting should be disassembled. Besides, perturbation of mobile phase flow and consequent reduction of column efficiency can occur if the frit diameter is very larger than the column I.D. or the I.D. of connection tubing. Adopting complicated designs for the frit structure to solve such problems yields cost increase and inconvenience of use. Furthermore, it is very difficult to make separate miniaturized frits for microcolumns with I.D. of 0.5 mm or less whose relative importance has been rapidly increased, and, actually, microcolumns with such frits are not commercially available.
The other frit technique is to make permanent frits at the column ends or for the whole column without using separate frits. In this case, column repacking is impossible, and the column lifetime ends when the frit is clogged or a crack or void volume develops in the column. First, in the case of permanent end frits only at the column inlet and outlet, cracks in the packing structure are sometimes observed after formation of end frits, and the column efficiency is degraded. Furthermore, if frit clogging happens in the course of forming the inlet frit after packing the column with the stationary phase powders, then the whole column finishes its lifetime without being used at all.
The monolith column in which the whole stationary phase is one porous phase and a huge frit as well, has raised a lot of interest, and has its own advantages and disadvantages. First of all, it is difficult to make a monolith without a void volume in a rigid conventional stainless steel column with I.D. of 1–5 mm, thus formation of monolith is confined in a heat-shrinkable polymer tubing. Such manufacturing technique seems to suffer from low reproducibility of production. A lot of care should be taken in end fitting treatment of the polymer tubing of low strength, and such products will have endurance problem. It is relatively easy to make silica capillary monolith column with I.D. of 0.5 mm or less, but lots of high level man-power and time are required for preparation of monolith reactants, formation of monolith, and cleaning the monolith. Furthermore, production reproducibility of silica capillary monoliths is not well known, and it is improper to apply to a pilot or industrial scale.
There has been no frit technique so far to make permanent frits not in the column main body but in the connection tubing between the column and other devices such as an injector or detector. If such a frit technique is avaliable, the structure of column end fitting becomes simple, and it is possible to make useful columns at lower prices by using commercial unions without a new special design. The problem of column efficiency reduction owing to a larger frit diameter compared to the column I.D. is eliminated for this tubing/frit design, and the tubing/frit can be easily replaced without disassembling the main column body when the frit is clogged. The problem is, however, it is difficult to make a permanent frit combined to the inner surface of the connection tubing end with endurance over high pressure and mobile phase flow on packing or operating the column.
The inventor studied repeatedly on production of tubing/frit and column of simple design, convenience, and low cost, and developed the method of producing a durable frit/tubing by sintering porous inorganic particles chemically and thermally at the tip of metal connection tubing, and the method of producing a column of a new simple design by installing the frit/tubing at the column outlet union followed by packing the column with a proper stationary phase and finally installing the column inlet union with the frit/tubing of chemically and thermally sintered frit.

Stainless steel tubing/frit with sintered inorganic particle, the chromatography comprising it, and their manufacturing method

Abstract: This invention is also about a liquid chromatographic column manufactured by installing the metal tubing/frit's with a sintered end frit at the column inlet and outlet unions and by placing the cylinder-like column main body tubing packed with a stationary phase between the unions.

Abstract: The metal tubing/frit manufactured according to the description above is not placed inside the column as in the conventional column design, thus it is easily replaced and fixed without disassembling the column, and the column of this design can displace the conventional microcolumn of complicated production process and high cost.


A novel process for preparing imidazopyran derivatives of the formula:

An imidazopyran derivative of the following formula (9A) is useful as, for example, an intermediate of PA-824 having the following formula, which has antibacterial activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis and so on.

The process for preparing imidazopyran derivatives is known and shown by the following scheme 1 (see WO 97/01562).
According to this process, the compound (B) obtained starting from glycidol and t-butyldimethylsilyl ether is reacted with 2,4-dinitroimidazole, and after protecting the hydroxy group of the resulted siloxy alcohol (C) with dihydropyran, the tetrahydropyranyl (THP) ether compound (D) is subjected to desilylation and cyclization to form imidazopyran skeleton (E) and then, the imidazopyran derivative (F) is obtained by removal of THP group.

Process for preparing imidazopyran derivatives

Abstract: wherein R1 is halogen atom, hydrogen atom, C1 to C3 alkyl group, aryl group, or aryl group substituted by C1 to C3 alkyl group, by using dinitroimidazole and 2,3-epoxy-1-propanol as starting materials and being followed by five steps.


Approaches for improving the write quality of a hard-disk drive (HDD) head experiencing temporary fly-height problem. When the hard-disk drive is idle and heads are parked on the ramp, fluid, such as a lubricant or the condensation of vapor, may collect between the surface of a platter and the head or a slider, thereby causing the head to temporarily fly higher than normal. An HDD may include electronic component(s) configured to (a) determine whether it is likely that fluid is interposed between the surface of a magnetic-recording disk and the slider or the head, and (b) temporarily adjust one or more of (i) a thermal fly height control setting of the head and (ii) a write parameter of the head to compensate for the head flying higher than normal as a result of the fluid being interposed between the surface of the disk and the slider or the head.

A hard-disk drive (HDD) is a non-volatile storage device that is housed in a protective enclosure and stores digitally encoded data on one or more circular disks having magnetic surfaces (a disk may also be referred to as a platter). When an HDD is in operation, each magnetic-recording disk is rapidly rotated by a spindle system. Data is read from and written to a magnetic-recording disk using a read/write head which is positioned over a specific location of a disk by an actuator.
A read/write head uses a magnetic field to read data from and write data to the surface of a magnetic-recording disk. As a magnetic dipole field decreases rapidly with distance from a magnetic pole, the distance between a read/write head and the surface of a magnetic-recording disk must be tightly controlled. To provide a uniform distance between a read/write head and the surface of a magnetic-recording disk, an actuator relies on air pressure inside the hard drive enclosure to support the read/write heads at the proper distance away from the surface of the magnetic-recording disk while the magnetic-recording disk rotates. A read/write head therefore is said to "fly" over the surface of the magnetic-recording disk. That is, the air pulled along by a spinning magnetic-recording disk forces the head away from the surface of the magnetic-recording disk. When the magnetic-recording disk stops spinning, a read/write head must either "land" or be pulled away.
It is desirable, for a variety of reasons, to maintain a constant or approximately constant distance between the read/write head and the surface of the magnetic-recording disk to ensure proper operation of the read/write head. If the distance between a read/write head and the surface of a magnetic-recording disk fluctuates, then the strength of the magnetic dipole field between the read/write head and the surface of the magnetic-recording disk will also fluctuate, which may cause problems in reading data from or writing data to the magnetic-recording disk.

Write quality of HDD heads experiencing temporary fly-height problems

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.