A pressurized liquid fuel tank system arranged to contain a first mass of liquid fuel such as Dimethyl-Ether (DME) is provided. The system includes a first tank having a first volume, a second tank having a second volume, a first conduit between a top of the first tank and a top of the second tank, and a second conduit between the first tank and a bottom of the second tank, wherein a sum of the first volume and the second volume is designed to equal a sum of a first mass volume of the first mass of liquid fuel plus an expansion volume equal to at least 5% of the first mass volume. A vehicle with such a fuel tank system is also disclosed.

The present invention relates generally to pressurized liquid fuel tank systems and, more particularly, to such systems comprising pressurized fuel tanks requiring a vapor expansion volume.
Certain fuels, such as Propane and Dimethyl Ether (DME), are stored under pressure. Aspects of the present invention pertain to any fuel that is kept under pressure; however, the invention will be described primarily in connection with its application to DIME fuel systems. DME shows substantial promise as a fuel for use in diesel and other engines. Its advantages include that it is sulfur-free and combusts with minimal particulate emissions, making it particularly attractive for meeting increasingly stringent emissions regulations.
The use of DME as a fuel in compression ignition engines requires the use of a fuel tank capable of storing both liquid and gaseous DME. Liquid DME expands in volume as the fuel temperature increase, with an approximately 9% expansion in volume from 20° C. to 50° C. (68° F. to 122° F.). The final expansion volume required will be calculated following industry normal practices for the liquid contained in the pressure vessel. For example, recommendations from professional organizations are that propane tanks have a 20% expansion volume. For DME to follow the propane example, a 15% expansion volume would be required. Using historical data from the U.S. Weather Service, a maximum temperature increase seen in one day is 28° C. or 50° F. Going back to 1890, temperature increases of 28° C. or 50° F. in one day have only happened fewer than one hundred times out of over 45,000 days. Heating due to fuel returning to the fuel tank from the engine will also increase the fuel tank temperature and, thus, the internal fuel volume. The tank's fuel volume increase is offset by the fuel being used by the engine which lowers the quantity of fuel in the tank faster than the volume increases. The fuel tank temperature will only increase until an equilibrium point with the environment is attained. An external fuel cooler could be used to reduce the temperature of the fuel being returned to the tanks, if required.
The extra volume needs to be made available to prevent the bursting of the fuel tank due to hydrostatic pressure. This can be particularly important in fuel tanks that are filled, e.g., during a cool time of the day and then left to sit in a hot environment, or, for tanks used on vehicles, during an initial driving interval when heated fuel from the engine is returned to the fuel tank.
DME has a low vapor pressure saturation curve. It will remain a liquid under moderately low pressure at ambient temperature conditions. For example, it would be a liquid at 20° C. and 5 bars. Typically, as with tanks for other liquids under pressure, such as propane, the DME liquid is dispensed into the tank to a particular mass of contents from a larger source of the liquid that is typically at ambient temperatures and saturated vapor pressures. A DME fuel tank containing fuel at an elevated pressure would be considered a pressure vessel because the internal tank pressure will exceed ambient pressure and, as such, needs to be designed accordingly, following all safety rules and regulations to prevent the bursting of the tank or vessel. It is, therefore, desirable to provide a fuel tank system that is adapted for use with DME.
Pressure tanks or vessels designed today follow well established rules and guidelines to prevent bursting. The tank design involves selecting the proper material and thickness to meet the tensile strength required for the application, as well to provide necessary chemical resistance to the material being stored. In addition, pressure tanks incorporate a pressure relief valve that allows the excess pressure to be bled out of the container before the bursting pressure is reached, such as by dumping liquid on the ground or vapor into the atmosphere. The geometry of the tank design is also important, as curved surfaces are better than flat surfaces for evenly distributing stresses in the container. A 20% vapor head space is normally used for storage of propane in a pressure container, while a 15% vapor head space is typical for DME.
DME has an energy equivalent level of 1.88 gallons of DME to 1.0 gallon of diesel fuel. Larger tanks are therefore required to accommodate DME fuel than to accommodate diesel fuel containing the fuel providing equivalent energy. This is significant for fuel systems such as are used on vehicles such as trucks. For a truck that uses DME fuel, much larger tanks must be provided to go the same distance as a truck running on diesel fuel. Not only is it necessary to increase the volume of the equivalent diesel tank by a 1.88 multiplier, it is also necessary to allow for the expansion of the liquid fuel without exceeding the bursting pressure of the tank. Standard practice is to allow a 15% gas buffer zone above the liquid for expansion. For example, given a theoretical diesel fuel tank size of 100 gallons, for a tank containing an energy equivalent amount of DME, the volume is first multiplied by 1.88 so that at least a 188 gallon tank is required for the energy equivalent amount of DME. When a 15% expansion volume is added to this 188 gallons, a 216.2 gallon tank is required, i.e., 188+(0.15)*(188)=216.2 gallon.
The large increase in volume necessary to provide DME fuel tanks that store an equivalent amount of energy presents problems in terms of packaging such tanks on a conventional diesel powered truck that would ordinarily be provided with, e.g., a 100 gallon tank. It is therefore desirable to provide a means allowing for the fuller utilization of the tank's volume without exceeding the burst pressure of the vessel.
The inventor has recognized that, although the energy content of pure DME cannot change, there is a way to make a useful adjustment to a tank's buffer volume. The inventor recognized that conventional car or truck radiators involve issues similar to those confronted by persons seeking to design DME fuel systems: such radiators are also under pressure and completely filled, however, they use an overflow container to capture the coolant released through the pressure relief cap on the radiator. Once pressure in the radiator starts to drop, coolant in the overflow container is withdrawn back into the radiator and coolant system.
In an aspect of the present invention, the inventor proposes an analogous system including providing what might be considered to be an overflow container for DME. The overflow container can contain, e.g., a volume of compressed vapor. The overflow container can be a smaller vessel (e.g., 10% of the main fuel tank) and might be mounted on a different part of the frame than the main fuel tank, such as on an inside of the frame rail where the main fuel tank is mounted on an outside of the frame rail, and can be connected to the main fuel tank by a fuel line. For example, a liquid fuel line can go from the main fuel tank to the bottom of the overflow container. A vapor fuel line can go from the main fuel tank to the top of the overflow container. To illustrate, if the main fuel tank is designed to provide for a 5% vapor volume and the overflow container is designed to provide for a 10% vapor volume, a total of 15% expansion volume can be provided using a smaller main fuel tank than would otherwise be required to provide such an expansion volume. In addition, the length and volume of conduits between the overflow container and the main fuel tank can be included as part of the entire expansion volume. The use of multiple fuel vessels can facilitate installation of DME fuel tanks in the same or similar spaces on vehicles that were designed to carry diesel fuel tanks, and can facilitate the design of fuel tank systems that make optimal use of space, regardless whether they are intended to replace diesel fuel tanks. The ratios of sizes of the main fuel tank and overflow container can, of course, be adjusted based upon the design requirements. The design may also provide for both the main fuel tank and the overflow container to hold both liquid and vapor.
Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that the exact ratios of the main fuel tank compression volume and the overflow tank volume are design decisions and will be based upon factors including available vehicle packaging space. Using an auxiliary or overflow tank as additional compression volume for the fuel tank allows more flexibility in the design of the fuel tank size.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a pressurized liquid fuel tank system is provide, the fuel tank system being arranged to contain a first mass of liquid fuel. The system comprises a first tank having a first volume, a second tank having a second volume, a first conduit between a top of the first tank and a top of the second tank, and a second conduit between the first tank and a bottom of the second tank, wherein a sum of the first volume and the second volume is designed to equal a sum of a first mass volume of the first mass of liquid fuel plus an expansion volume equal to at least 5% of the first mass volume.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a vehicle comprising a pressurized liquid fuel tank system is provided, the fuel tank system being arranged to contain a first mass of liquid fuel. The vehicle comprises a vehicle frame and the pressurized liquid fuel tank system mounted on the frame. The pressurized liquid fuel tank system comprises a first tank having a first volume, a second tank having a second volume, a first conduit between a top of the first tank and a top of the second tank, and a second conduit between the first tank and a bottom of the second tank, wherein a sum of the first volume and the second volume is designed to equal a sum of a first mass volume of the first mass of liquid fuel plus an expansion volume equal to at least 5% of the first mass volume.

Pressurized liquid fuel tank system and vehicle including same


The present invention is directed to an address recognition apparatus for recognizing a written address. The apparatus includes an input device that receives a scanned image of the written address and transforms the image into digital data, a character recognizing section that recognizes a word string in the digital data on a unit character basis, a word extracting section that extracts characters recognized by the character recognizing section on a unit word basis, and an address word string dictionary that previously stores a plurality of first word strings. The apparatus further includes and an address word string recognizing section that collates a second word string, determines words of the second word string respectively corresponding to the words of the first word string, evaluates each of the first word strings, and recognizes one of the first word strings as the address word string.

This invention relates to a word string collating apparatus and word string collating method for collating a word string such as an address with addresses in an address dictionary when the word string is extracted from a character recognition result which may contain an error in the character recognition field in which a document inputting apparatus or an optical character reading apparatus for reading address information is used, for example, and an address recognition apparatus for recognizing the address.
For example, an apparatus for extracting only a word string of an address from a word string containing a destination address name, honorific title and the like written on an envelop by collating the word string with addresses in an address dictionary is proposed.
As this type of word string collating apparatus, an address collating apparatus for collating words based on a distance between words, for example, an apparatus for effecting a word collating process based on an edition distance (Levenshtein distance, LD, V. Levenstein; Sov. Phys. Dokl. 10, 707) or the like is known in the art. The outline thereof is to derive distances (similarities) between an input word string and words in the address dictionary and effect the address collating process by using the derived distances as the measurement when a word string is extracted from a set of input character recognition results containing errors.
The prior art technique is explained in detail below.
FIG. 1 shows the construction of an address collating apparatus used as the conventional word string collating apparatus. In FIG. 1, an input section 1 converts a document image into a form which can be processed by a computer when receiving the document image (for example, it is a photoelectric conversion device such as an image scanner).
A character recognition section 2 performs processes such as the binary coding process, segmentation process and individual character recognition process for understanding the contents of the document image based on the input document image. In this case, a recognition result obtained in the character recognition section 2 is hereinafter referred to as a character recognition result. The character recognition technique has been studied for a long period of time, but a system capable of attaining the character recognition rate of 100% without fail cannot be realized except some restricted cases. Therefore, it is required in practice to provide means for correctly extracting a word string even if the character recognition result contains an error.
A word string forming section 3 forms a word string A based on the character recognition result in the character recognition section 2 and stores the same into a memory M1. The word string A is a set of character strings segmented in the unit of word.
For example, the word string A constructed by 15 words of "JOHN", "WILLIAMS", "MULTIPLE", "DLSTRICT", "C", "1278", "SHEIATON", "STREEI", "UNLT", "5", "RICHRTIONDHILL", "ONTARLO", "L4B", "2N1" and "CANADA" are formed as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 based on the address of FIG. 2.
In an address dictionary M2 used as the word dictionary, a plurality of address data items (words) B1, B2, . . . are previously stored and desired data items can be read out at any time.
For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the address data B1 including six word items of the street name "WILLIAMS", street suffix "STREET", city name "RICHMONDHILL", state name "ONTARIO", zip code (upper three digits) "L4B" and zip code (lower three digits) "2N1" is read out.
Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the address data B2 including six word items of the street name "SHERATON", street suffix "STREET", city name "RICHMONDHILL", state name "ONTARIO", zip code (upper three digits) "L4B" and zip code (lower three digits) "2N1" is read out.
A distance calculating section 11 calculates a distance CLD between words by use of the word string A and address data B1 and stores the distance in a memory M4. The distance CLD between the words can be variously defined and an edition distance (which is also called a Levenshtein distance and is hereinafter simply referred to as LD) is given as one example thereof. LD indicates the minimum value of the number of operations of replacement, insertion and deletion of characters required for converting the word string A into the other word string B1. The operation is expressed by the following equation.LD(A,B1)=min{pa(i)+qb(i)+rc(i)}
where a(i) indicates a certain number of replacing operations, b(i) indicates a certain number of insertion operations, and c(i) indicates a certain number of deletion operations. Further, p, q, r are weighting factors used for the edition operation of replacement, insertion and deletion and depend on appearing characters. Generally, since the number of combinations of a(i), b(i), c(i) is limitless, the minimum value of LD(A,B1) is derived by use of the dynamic programming method (DP).
An optimum solution deriving section 12 selects one of a plurality of address data items B1, B2, . . . which has the minimum distance CLD with respect to the word string A and provides the selected address data as the optimum solution.
An output section 10 converts the thus acquired optimum solution into a form which the user can understand and outputs the thus converted address data and is a display device, for example.
Conventionally, since only the distance (similarity) CLD between the words is used to perform the address collating process, there occurs a possibility that erroneous address data is selected as the optimum solution rather than correct address data. The operation is explained with reference to FIGS. 2, 3, 4.
FIGS. 3 and 4 show address collating methods based on the conventional method by taking an address (imaginary) in Canada as an example. An input document image is shown in FIG. 2. In this example, "John Williams/Multiple District C/1278 Sheraton Street Unit 5/Richmondhill ONTARLO L4B 2N1 CANADA" is written. The result obtained by processing the document image by use of the character recognition section 2 and word string forming section 3 is a word string containing a character error. As described before, a character error is contained in the word string.
In this case, the recognized characters are all converted into capital letters (no distinction between capital letters and small letters). As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the word string containing the character error is "JOHN-WILLIAMS-MULTIPLE-DLSTRICT-C-1278-SHEIATON-STREEI-UNLT-5-RICHRTIONDHILL-ONTARLO-L4B-2N1-CANADA".
In the address dictionary M2, a plurality of address data items B1, B2, . . . are previously stored. In order to simplify the explanation, only two address data items including the first address data B1 "WILLIAMS-STREET-RICHIMONDHILL-ONTARIO-L4B-2N1" as shown in FIG. 3 and the second address data B2 "SHERATON-STREET-RICHIMONDHILL-ONTARIO-L4B-2N1" as shown in FIG. 4 are provided. The items in each of the address data items sequentially and respectively indicate the street name, street suffix, city name, state name, postal code (upper three digits) and postal code (lower three digits) from the head portion.
The distance calculating section 11 compares the word string A with the first address data B1 and the second address data B2. The method is to derive a word having the minimum distance (maximum similarity) for each item in the address data B1 (B2). In the case shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the distance between the words is derived based on LD and the similarity is derived according to the following equation (1).
                                                        SIMILARITY              =                              1                                                                            LD                      ′                                                                                (                                              A                        ,                        B                                            )                                                        +                  ɛ                                                                                LD                  ′                                                                  (                                      A                    ,                    B                                    )                                            =                                                LD                                                        (                                          A                      ,                      B                                        )                                                                                len                                                              (                      A                      )                                                        +                                      len                                                              (                      B                      )                                                                                (        1        )
where len(A) and len(B) are functions expressing the lengths of the character strings, and LD′(A,B) indicates a normalized LD. Further, ε may be a desired small real number, but in this example, ε is set at "1". Then, when LD is set at the minimum value (that is, the word strings A and B are the same), the similarity is set at the maximum value "1".
Various words which are not present in the address data items B1, B2 may exist in the document image. For example, "Multiple District C" is not a formal address, but indicates a block. Further, it may indicate the address name, the room number, or the name of a country. Among them, the name of the receiver (address name) such as "Williams" as in this example may become the same as the street name or city name in some cases.
In the conventional method, since only the distance (similarity) is used, the street name of the first address data B1 and the name of the receiver (address name) may be erroneously collated in the example of collation for the word string A and first address data B1. In addition, since a character error between "Sheraton" and "SHEIATON" occurs in the character recognition process when the word string A and the second address data B2 are compared with each other, the result of comparison becomes worse than in the case of comparison between the word string A and the first address data when only the distance (similarity) is used, and as a result, erroneous recognition may occur.

Word string collating apparatus, word string collating method and address recognition apparatus


A battery sealing structure is provided, which can provide an excellent seal for a battery. The sealing structure has an explosion-proof function and contributes to improved battery assembling operation efficiency. A three-part stack, including a cap member (3), a PTC element (4) and a safety valve (5), is inserted in a gasket (8). The safety valve has the same outer diameter as the cap member (3) and has a breakable portions capable of being broken in the event of an increase of pressure in the battery. The gasket (8), made of a soft synthetic resin, is inserted in a battery housing (2). The stack is set on an upper surface of a stepped portion (8a) of the gasket such that its outer edge is in close contact with the inner periphery of the gasket. A peripheral wall portion of the battery housing (2) adjacent the opening thereof is bent together with the gasket toward the center of the battery and onto an edge portion of the upper surface of the cap member (3) and is then pressed against the same while pushing a portion of the peripheral wall (2b) of the battery housing where the edges of the cap member (3) and the safety valve (5) are located.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a battery sealing structure with an explosion-proof function of preventing-battery explosion due to an abnormal increase of the inner pressure in the battery and, more particularly, to a battery sealing structure, which is capable of excellently sealing the battery and can contribute to improvements in battery assembling operation efficiency.
2. Prior Art
Recently, small-size portable electronic devices such as cellular phones, portable note personal computers, video cameras, etc. have remarkably spread. These devices extensively use small-size, high capacity lithium ion secondary batteries.
When such a lithium ion secondary battery is short-circuited or overcharged due to causes such as a trouble in the apparatus in which the battery is used or an erroneous use thereof, the temperature is increased, and also gas may be generated in the battery to increase the pressure in the battery. To prevent excessive current in the battery, a safety valve having an explosion-proof function and PTC (Positive Temperature Coefficient) element with the resistance thereof having a positive temperature coefficient are provided in the battery.
The safety valve and the PTC element are accommodated together with a cap member which serves as an external electrode terminal of the battery, and a stripper member which is deformed to cut current between the safety valve and a lead as a result of an increase of the inner pressure in the battery, in a substantially cylindrical seal member which seals the accommodated components while insulting the components from the battery housing. The accommodated components are engaged with one another in an overlapped fashion in the seal member. In this state, they are set in an opening of the battery housing, and caulked by a press means to seal the battery.
In the above prior art battery sealing structure, however, it is very difficult to completely seal the overlapped metal portion of the cap member, PTC element and safety valve. In the lithium ion secondary battery, therefore, the electrolyte may leak out under severe conditions. Accordingly, in the prior art battery, seal rubber coating is used to seal overlapped metal portions of the cap member, the PTC element and the safety valve.
However, the operations of providing the seal rubber coating over the overlapped metal portions of the cap member, PTC element and safety valve, are unsuitable for a flow operation. Besides, the components are engaged together less tightly and are more readily separable from one another in correspondence to the thickness of the seal rubber coating. This is undesirable for robots and parts feeders which are needed for mass production by a consistent flow operation.


A process is disclosed for stabilizing certain colored anodized coating on aluminum articles against degradation by ultraviolet radiation. Anodized articles colored by an electrolytic or interference process can thereafter be stabilized by heat treating them at temperatures of the order of 350° F. for a period of an hour or so. The process is particularly useful for use on electrolytically colored, anodized vehicular external body panels made from suitably formable sheet metal aluminum alloys.

There are known practices for the anodization of surfaces of aluminum and aluminum alloy articles. Depending upon the intended use of the article it may be anodized for corrosion resistance, wear resistance and/or appearance. The surface of the article is cleaned and pretreated in preparation for anodization. There are many anodization practices, but in general the article is immersed as an anode in an aqueous electrolyte comprising an acid such as sulfuric acid. Anodization processes for producing colored or colorable anodized layers are often conducted with an electrolyte bath with a temperature of about 25° C. The passage of an electrical current, usually direct current, through the bath produces an adherent coating on the aluminum surface of closely spaced, crystalline columns of aluminum oxide. The resulting columnar coating is a result of competing chemical reactions between the electrolyte and the aluminum surface. The electrochemical effect is to oxidize aluminum atoms at the workpiece surface to Al2O3 which build-up on the surface as thin polygonal columns of the oxide with a vertical axial pore. Coincident with the oxidation of the aluminum surface atoms, the acid electrolyte tends to soften and dissolve the aluminum oxide columns. An exemplary thickness of the anodized oxide columns is about fifteen micrometers.
In some instances the composition of the aluminum alloy is such that the anodized layer is colored as formed. Some aluminum alloys, such as certain magnesium containing alloys, yield anodized layers that are grey or even black when anodized in a sulfuric acid electrolyte. Other aluminum alloys yield different colors. Sheets of these inherently colored, anodized aluminum alloys are useful for decorative purposes in architectural and building applications. Still other aluminum alloys yield clear anodized coatings that can be colored by dying or by electrolytic deposition of metal particles.
Recently, automotive vehicle body panels have been formed of sheet metal aluminum alloys and they have been painted to match other body surfaces. However, there is an interest in anodizing and coloring such aluminum alloy surfaces. But automotive outer surfaces are continually exposed to the color degrading effects of the ultraviolet portion of solar radiation. Most dyes used in coloring anodized surface quickly fade during prolonged exposure to sunlight and are unsuitable for vehicular external applications. The coloring effect of metal particles deposited in the pores of the alumina columns is more durable than typical dyes but still fades to an unacceptable degree.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a method of stabilizing the color of anodized aluminum coating against degradation by ultraviolet radiation.

Color stabilization of anodized aluminum alloys


A microscope includes an illumination unit for illuminating a mask at a predetermined non-axial illumination angle, an imaging unit for imaging an aerial image of the mask within a predetermined defocus region, and an imaging field stop, in which as a result of the lateral displacement of the aerial image depending on the position within the defocus region and on the non-axial illumination angle, the opening of the imaging field stop is dimensioned such that the aerial image is either completely encompassed or circumferentially cut within the defocus region.

This patent document relates to a microscope and a method for characterizing structures on an object.
The patent document moreover relates to a mask inspection microscope and a method for characterizing structures on a mask.
Numerous measurement methods are used in the production of semiconductor components in order to monitor the results of the individual steps of the lithographic process. A basic object in this case lies in the measurement of dimensions or shapes of the structures to be produced.
In order to monitor the quality of a process step, it is advantageous to monitor the smallest structures that can still be produced. These are referred to as critical dimensions, abbreviated as CD. The critical dimension of a mask usually relates to the line width of a structure alternately consisting of lines and spaces. During the lithographic process, this structure is initially produced on a mask (photomask, reticle), for example by means of chromium on quartz glass. Further masks are also known, for example phase shift masks (PSM) or reflective masks, which are particularly used in the case of illumination radiation with short wavelengths in the EUV range. As a result of exposure in a scanner, this structure is produced on a wafer coated with a photoresist. The desired structure is obtained on the wafer by subsequent development and etching.
The characterization of a structure, such as e.g. the measurement of the CD or the line width of a structure, can be carried out both on the mask and on the wafer. On the one hand, the measurement on the wafer is very significant since the end product is measured; on the other hand, it is very complicated since the complete process of wafer exposure needs to be carried out for testing purposes.
If a structure of a mask is characterized on the mask itself, errors as a result of the behavior of the mask during the imaging and as a result of further method steps are not incorporated into the measurement. Errors on the mask are, in general, increased during the imaging by the scanner. A further problem is that mask structures are known, which are optimized by resolution enhancement technology (RET) and therefore do not completely correspond to the structures to be imaged. This renders more difficult a measurement of the CD on the mask.
By way of example, scanning electron microscopy is used to measure the CD on both the masks and the wafers (CD-SEM, critical dimension scanning electron microscopy).
A further option for characterizing masks lies in the evaluation of the aerial images of masks using a mask inspection microscope. In this method, the aerial image largely exhibits the features that are also imaged on the wafer. The mask inspection microscope largely simulates the imaging property of a scanner.
A further option for characterizing masks and wafers is provided by non-imaging optical methods. Here, use is made of various related measurement methods, such as e.g. classical scatterometry, ellipsometry, diffractometry or reflectometry, which are known by the overarching term scatterometry. Masks can also be characterized by measuring the transmission of masks. This method can also be used to establish the CD of a structure, as disclosed in EP 2171539 A1, for example.
The microscopes and methods discussed here are also suitable for examining objects other than masks.

Microscope and method for characterizing structures on an object

Abstract: A method for characterizing a mask having a structure includes illuminating the mask at at least one illumination angle using monochromatic illumination radiation such that a diffraction image of the structure is created, recording the diffraction image, establishing the intensities of the maxima of the adjacent orders of diffraction, and establishing an intensity ratio of the intensities.


A luminous device and a liquid crystal display device are provided. In the luminous device, a difference value between a first distance and a second distance is less than a preset value. The first distance is a distance between a first luminous side surface of a luminous element and a first wavelength conversion side surface of a wavelength conversion unit or a distance between a second luminous side surface and a second wavelength conversion side surface. The second distance is a distance between a luminous top surface of the luminous element and a wavelength conversion top surface of the wavelength conversion unit.

Nowadays, a liquid crystal display device serves as a display unit of an electrical device, and has been widely used in various electronic products. A luminous device is an important part of the liquid crystal display device for providing back light to the liquid crystal display device.
In general, as shown on FIG. 1, the luminous device comprises a base 11, a luminous element 12 disposed on the base 11 for providing light, which comprises a body section 121, a anode section 122, and a cathode section 123, and a wavelength conversion unit 13 for converting a wavelength of the light emitting from the luminous element 12.
However, a body section serves as an important component part of the luminous device. Since distances between each surface of the body section and a corresponding surface of the wavelength conversion unit are different, for example a distance between a left side surface of the body section and a left side surface of the wavelength conversion unit is different from a distance between a top surface of the body section and a top surface of the wavelength conversion unit, a chromatic aberration phenomenon in the light emitting from the luminous device is produced.
Accordingly, it is necessary to provide a luminous device and a liquid crystal display device to solve the technical problem in the prior art.

Luminous device comprising a wavelength conversion unit having an arc-shaped junction portion and liquid crystal display device

SHENZHEN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.

WUHAN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


An apparatus for applying a waterproof coating material to paper based articles is disclosed herein. The apparatus includes a main frame, a coating roller, a guide roller, and a disk to which the coating and guide rollers are mounted. Means are provided to rotatably mount the disc to the frame so that the coating roller may be inserted or withdrawn from a sink containing the coating material. A drive system for driving the rollers as well as a hot air drying system for drying coated articles are also provided.

The present invention relates to a waterproofing device, particularly to a coating machine applying waterproof process for paper based documents and photos.
People being in modern society must have experienced a lot of personal historical events to be commemorated, especially those of which was already taken pictures or which was taken record in documentations. They hope that these precious historical records regarding to themselves would be long lasting for their own reference in old age or to be inherited by their descendant generation after generation.
However, those paper based records are difficult to maintain under the hot and damp atmosphere. Thus, the colorful pictures are faded out after keeping a certain period of time, so as those precious paper documents are cracked eroded or wormed. It is a mischief for a owner of the record to face the intolerable loss.
Solution has been made simply by using liquidized glue sprayed on the surfaces of those paper based records manipulately in order to prevent it from deterioration. But the rough result is unacceptable because the uneven dried glue on the surface makes the pictures or doucments obscure or invisible.
Equivalent machinary of prior art has been manufactured similar to this invention of a coating machine of the type to facilitate people applying transparent liquidized glue instead of the manual spraying on the surfaces of the commemorative records. But these coating machines possess a lot of structure defficiencies, particularly that the laminar cylinder of these machine is made firmly secured on the pivot of a frame and can not be disassembled freely. Additionally, the immersion level of that cylinder into the liquidized glue sink is not adjustable. The laminar cylinder should cleaned up with some sort of thinner right after a phase of operation or it would be firmly coated with the quick drying liquidized glue. This critical disadvantage of the structure defficiency on the conventional art which is the original cause among others to have the machine to be damaged is pending for a solution.

Coating machine for waterproof of paper based articles

Suite 1, 11F, 95-8 Chang Ping Road Sec. 1


A new and distinct cultivar of Poinsettia plant named ‘Duepremmiro’, characterized by its inflorescences with light red purple and pale yellow-colored flower bracts; uniform and rounded plant habit; freely branching habit; early flowering habit; and excellent post-production longevity.

The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Poinsettia plant, botanically known as Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd., and hereinafter referred to by the name 'Duepremmiro'.
The new Poinsettia is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Rheinberg, Germany. The objective of the breeding program is to create new Poinsettia cultivars with uniform plant habit and attractive flower bract coloration.
The new Poinsettia is a naturally-occurring whole plant mutation of a proprietary selection of Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd. identified as code number E-16-18, not patented. The cultivar Duepremmiro was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within a population of plants of the parent selection in a controlled environment in Rheinberg, Germany in December, 2004. The selection of this plant was based on its attractive flower bract coloration.
Asexual reproduction of the new Poinsettia by vegetative terminal cuttings at Rheinberg, Germany since December, 2004, has shown that the unique features of this new Poinsettia are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.


A guide rod assembly for a Jacquard loom is described which is narrower (10 mm or less), instead of 13 mm of conventional guide rods. This reduction in width is attained reducing the overall height of the magnet system integrated in the guide rod. The magnet system has a support member in the form of an iron core with an elongated or oval cross-section, with an excitation coil wound around the iron core. Pole strips are in contact with both front faces of the iron core. The respective top surfaces of the pole strips are spaced apart by less than 13 mm.

Such guide rods, also called selectors, are employed in large numbers in Jacquard looms. The guide rods are arranged side-by-side and stacked on top of each other, as described, for example, in G 9112552.9, EP 0494044 A1 and SK 277761.
Jacquard looms are shed-forming devices for weaving woven fabrics having large patterns. The Jacquard loom raises and lowers each warp end individually, so that woven items with a practically unlimited variety of patterns can be produced.
Conventional Jacquard looms use electronic modules with electromagnets to controllably raise and lower the individual warp threads. Blades are provided to raise and lower so-called lamellae or collar boards disposed on the guide rods. Hooks are suspended from the collar boards. Harness cords are suspended from the free ends of the hooks. These harness cords in turn are coupled to the individual warp ends. When the hook is raised, the warp end which is suspended from the hook, is also raised. A warp end can only be raised, if a collar board is maintained in its upper position. To provide a better understanding of the operation of the Jacquard looms, reference is made to the aforementioned documents.
In conventional Jacquard looms, a large number of guide rods having integrated magnet systems for attracting the Jacquard lamellae are arranged on a computer controlled PC board. Exemplary Jacquard looms may have, for example, 22 of such guide rods arranged side-by-side. The lamellae are also arranged consecutively, so that a Jacquard loom may include several hundred such guide rods.
The maximum packing density is limited by the overall height of the guide rods, since a magnet system is incorporated in each of the guide rods. The magnet system should be large enough to produce a sufficiently strong magnetic force so as to reliably attract the Jacquard lamellae when current flows through the magnet coils.
In conventional guide rods of Jacquard looms, each guide rod includes two adjacent excitation coils, which are connected in series, to attract the lamellae made of sheet metal through a magnetic force (see, for example, SK 277761 and FIGS. 4 and 5 of EP 0494044 A1). Each of the two excitation coils is disposed on an iron core having a circular cross section. A complete magnet system is formed by covering the front faces of the two excitation coils with pole strips made of sheet metal, hereafter referred to as pole strips. The conventional magnet system has to have sufficient height to produce a sufficiently strong magnetic force to attract the Jacquard lamellae, as well as a sufficiently large holding force, when current flows through the excitation coils. An exemplary pair of excitation coils may have, for example, 1420 turns and produce a holding force of 0.42 N at a DC current of approximately of 115 mA. The overall height of the magnet system, i.e., the length of the excitation coils and the iron cores, respectively, in the axial direction of the exemplary pair of excitation coils is approximately 13 mm. This height can therefore limit the maximum attainable packing density of the guide rods.
It is therefore desirable to provide magnets with a smaller overall height for conventional guide rods of a Jacquard loom to increase the packing density.

Michel Van de Wiele NV Carpet and Velvet Machinery


Automatic emitter point cleaners are disclosed. An automatic emitter point cleaning system includes: a fan configured to direct a stream of air through an air path; a point emitter configured to produce at least one of positive ions or negative ions within or proximate to the air path; a brush; a first gear coupled to the brush and configured to move the brush into contact with the point emitter; a second gear to engage the first gear; and a motor to actuate the second gear such that the second gear actuates the first gear to move the brush past the point emitter.

This disclosure relates generally to ionizers and, more particularly, to automatic emitter point cleaners.
Ionizing devices that function as static eliminators or neutralizers may produce both polarities of ions that combine with and neutralize oppositely charged surfaces. Such devices are useful for maintaining electrostatically neutral conditions usually associated with the manufacture of electronic devices, especially semiconductors. Because these ionizers use discharge electrodes that produce an electric field, they tend to accumulate foreign particles at their emitter points or edges. This particle accumulation can cause an excess emission of ions of one polarity or the other, i.e., ion imbalance, whereby the area at which both polarities of ions are directed tends to become charged rather than electrostatically neutral.


Disclosed is a method and system for providing to a user rapid access to search resources while interacting with electronic documents by providing for recognition of user initiated search triggers that result in searches being performed with minimal user input or page navigation. A method and system for performing a web search includes detecting, by a client-side module, a user-initiated search interface trigger occurring during display of the web page, the search interface trigger not associated with an input focus of the web page or an input focus of a browser, detecting, by the client-side module, a user-initiated search execution trigger after the detecting of the search interface trigger, and transmitting, by the client-side module to a search entity, in response to the detecting of the search execution trigger, a request for search results related to content associated with the search interface trigger.

Web pages often include an input focus in the form of a static search interface at a fixed location (e.g., at the top) of the web page. Such interfaces are also found in browsers. When a user wants to perform a search, the user types text into the search interface and selects a search button or presses a particular key (e.g., the Enter key). If, however, the user is further down on a web page, the user typically has to scroll back to the location (e.g., top) of the web page if the user wants to type an input into the search interface to perform a search, or direct a cursor off the page and enter text into the browser.

Method and system for performing a web search via a client-side module


Apparatus, methods, and other embodiments associated with mitigation of magnetic fields are described herein. In an embodiment, a method for mitigating an electromagnetic field includes positioning a mitigating coil around a linear alternator of linear motor so that the mitigating coil is coaxially located with an alternator coil; arranging the mitigating coil to generate a field to mitigate an electromagnetic field generated by the alternator coil; and passing an induced current from the alternator coil through the mitigating coil.

Electrical power may be generated by a variety of technologies implementing a variety of physical principles. One physical principle used to generate power is electromagnetic induction. One implementation of electromagnetic induction is a linear alternator, which is typically arranged so that a permanent magnet oscillates linearly along the central axis of a wound wire coil to induce an electromotive force in the wire coil. When connected to a load, the electrical current may be harnessed to provide electrical power. While linear alternators are practical and efficient, such arrangements typically emit an electromagnetic field that is generated by the magnets and coil of the linear alternator. Depending on the implementation, external electromagnetic fields are undesirable because such fields create an undesirable environment. Specifically, electromagnetic fields may interfere with sensitive instrumentation situated near a linear alternator. Therefore, linear alternators are not practical for implementations where electrical power generating equipment must be located near instrumentation that is sensitive to electromagnetic emissions.
In the prior art, shielding techniques have been used to limit interference from electromagnetic fields. Such shielding techniques typically include surrounding a linear alternator with metal sheeting or plating in an attempt to contain electromagnetic interference. Such techniques may substantially add to the weight of a linear alternator and make the alternator impractical for weight sensitive applications. In addition, shielding techniques also may create thermal management problems for any equipment that is being shielded, along with any equipment situated near the shielded equipment.
Because of the limitations of the prior art, there exists a need for novel apparatus and methods for mitigating electromagnetic interference emitting from linear alternators.

Apparatus and methods for mitigating electromagnetic emissions

The United States of America as Represented by the Administrator of National Aeronautics and Space Administration


A network slice management method, a management unit, and a system, where the method includes receiving, by a first management unit, a first management request, where the first management request carries requirement information of a network slice or indication information, and the indication information is used to obtain the requirement information of the network slice. The method further includes determining, by the first management unit, requirement information of a subnet that forms the network slice. According to the method, the first management unit can determine the corresponding requirement information of the subnet based on the requirement information of the network slice. This way, the network slice can be automatically deployed based on the requirement information of the network slice.

With continuous growth of network requirements, a telecommunications operator needs to provide more technologies to cooperate with different customers, including sharing an infrastructure, providing a particular network function, and integrating a partner's powerful and abundant software capabilities into a next-generation network system, or the like. Network slicing is an important technical means used in the next-generation network system to meet special network requirements of different users and different industries. Network slices are communication resources to ensure that a carried service can meet Service Level Agreement (SLA) requirements. These resources may be physically or logically isolated from each other based on different requirements. It may be considered that a network slice is a combination of network functions and resources that are needed to complete a particular service or some services, and is a complete logical network. In the next-generation network system, different tenants can deploy their own services by renting the telecommunications operator's network. For example, an electric power company can deploy its meter reading service by renting the telecommunications operator's network, and the telecommunications operator splits its own network into different network slices for different tenants to use.
Currently, during network slice deployment, after receiving a service request, a network management service designer needs to manually deploy a network slice to meet the service request. This way of manually deploying a network slice is inefficient.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Network slice management method, management unit, and system


A method of determining the severity of prostatic cancer includes measuring the level of amplification of the HER-2/neu gene in a sample of prostate tissue by fluorescence in-situ hybridization and comparing the measured level of amplification of the HER-2/neu gene in the sample with the level of HER-2/neu gene in normal prostate tissue. A method for determining treatment for a patient afflicted with prostate cancer includes determining whether the number of copies of HER-2/neu gene in prostate cells from the patient exceeds four by using fluorescence in-situ hybridization and aggressively treating such patient having prostate cells with five or more copies of the HER-2/neu gene.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to treatment of neoplastic disease and more particularly to determining severity of prostate cancer in afflicted patients.
2. Description of Related Art
The ability to monitor neoplastic disease status is an important tool in cancer therapy. In addition to improving prognostication, knowledge of the disease status allows an attending physician to select the most appropriate course of therapy. For example, patients with a high likelihood of relapse can be treated aggressively with powerful systemic chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy. Where there is a lesser likelihood of relapse, less aggressive therapies can be chosen. Since severe patient distress can be caused by more aggressive therapy regimens, it is desirable to determine which patients require such aggressive therapies.
Prostate cancer disease is responsible for nearly 3% of all deaths in men over the age of 55 years. It is likely that more than 300,000 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in American men this year. Prostate cancer has variable clinical outcome and recent studies indicating the potential benefits of withholding therapy in older men with limited disease and the potential to predict inoperable cancer in men with aggressive tumors has prompted the search for new prognostic markers that could be applied to the initial guided prostate needle biopsy and prove successful in selecting therapy and predicting disease outcome.
The identification of new prognostic markers in prostate cancer would allow urologists to stratify their patients into groups that could receive significantly different therapies. Tumor grade and DNA ploidy have been generally accepted as significant predictors of outcome for the disease (see e.g., Ross et al., Cancer, 74:2811-18(1994)), but a clearly established prognostic panel capable of defining therapy selection has not emerged to date.
Fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH) has recently been employed in detection of chromosomal aneusomies and gene copy numbers in both solid tumors and hematopoietic malignancies. See, e.g., Wolman SR., Pathology Annual, Appelton and Lang, Stanford, Conn., pp.227-244 (1995). Using chromosome specific probe, FISH was found to be more sensitive than flow cytometry for the detection of aneuploidy in prostate cancer. Visacorpi et al., Am J Pathol, 145:624-630 (1994). High grade prostate cancer has been linked to chromosomal aneusomy by FISH and chromosome 8 aneusomy has been associated with increased tumor stage. Brown et al., J Urol, 152:1157-1162 (1994). FISH detected aneusomy in prostate cancer has been associated with recurrent and progressive disease. See Lifson et al., Anal Quant Cytol Histol, 17:93-99 (1995); Koivisto et al., Am J. Pathol, 147:16-8-14 (1995); Lieber M M., J Cell Biochem (suppl), 19:246-248 (1994); Bandyk et al., Genes Chrom Cancer, 9:19-27 (1994); Zitzelsberger et al., J Pathol, 172:325-335 (1994); Alcaraz et al., Cancer Res, 54: 3998-4002 (1994). Studies have revealed varying abnormalities associated with disease progression including increased copy number of chromosome X (Koivisto et al., supra) and aneusomies of chromosome 7 and/or 8 (Lieber M M., supra; Bandyk et al., supra; Zitzelsberger et al., supra; Alcaraz et al., supra). FISH based techniques have also been utilized recently to demonstrate potential candidate tumor suppressor genes that may prove of significance in prostate cancer. Ziao et al., Am J Pathol, 147:896-904 (1995); Cher, J Urol, 153:249-254 (1995).
The HER-2/neu (c-erbB2) gene is localized to chromosome 17p and encodes a transmembrane tyrosine kinase growth factor receptor with substantial homology to the epidermal growth factor receptor. HER-2/neu expression in breast cancer has generally been accepted as a predictor of disease outcome with HER-2/neu gene amplification by southern analysis and corresponding overexpression of HER-2/neu protein (p185.sub.neu) by western blotting or immunohistochemistry (IHC) predicting early disease relapse in lymph node negative and lymph node positive patients. See Battifora et al., Modern Pathol, (1991) 4:466-474; Press et al., Cancer Res, (1993)53:4960-4970; Seshadri et al., Clin Oncol, (1993)11:1936-1942; Descotes et al., Anticancer Res, (1993) 13:119-124; Muss et al., N Engl J Med, (1994) 330:1260-1266; Tetu et al., Cancer, (1994) 73:2359-2365; Marks et al., Annal Surg, (1994) 219:332-341. Recently, amplification of the HER-2/neu gene or overexpression of the HER-2/neu protein have been clinically utilized to identify patients likely to be refractory to less intense cytotoxic chemotherapy in breast cancer. Muss et al., supra. Moreover, clinical trials featuring patients with HER-2/neu amplified tumors and therapeutic use of an administered antibody to HER-2/neu protein have shown promise for the treatment of refractory metastic ovarian and breast cancer. See Baselga et al., J Clin Oncol, 14(3):737-44 (1996); Peitras et al., Oncogene, 9(7): 1829-1838 (1994).
In prostate cancer, a consensus as to the predictive value of HER-2/neu gene amplification and p185.sub.neu. protein expression has not been reached. The majority of published prognostic studies of HER-2/neu status in prostate cancer have utilized immunohistochemical techniques featuring a variety of antibodies with differing sensitivities and specificities particularly when utilized in archival specimens. See, e.g., Visacorpi et al., Modern Pathol, (1992) 5:643-648; Ibrihlm et al., Surg Oncol, (1992) 1:151-155; Ross et al., Cancer, (1993)72:3020-3028; Sadasivan et al., J Urol, (1993) 150:126-131; Kuhn et al., J Urol, (1993) 150:1427-1433; Melon et al., J Urol, (1992) 147:496-499. Molecular based studies of the HER-2/neu gene in prostate cancer have been limited to two published reports from one research group which reported an absence of gene amplification by Southern analysis in a small number of prostate cancer specimens, i.e., Latil et al., Int J Cancer, (1994) 59:637-638; Fournier et al., Urol Res, (1995) 22:343-347. In one report using the MAB-1 antibody, no staining could be identified on archival fixed tissue specimens. Visacorpi et al., Modern Path., supra. In another study, immunoreactivity for HER-2/neu oncoprotein was more intense in prostatic hyperplasia and prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia than in adenocarcinoma. Ibrihlm et al., supra. Several previously published immunohistochemical studies of HER-2/neu in prostate cancer have failed to link expression with disease outcome. In one study using the paB-1 antibody on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded archival material, HER-2/neu oncoprotein expression was identified in one of clinically localized prostate cancers, but did not appear to be a significant prognostic marker. See Kuhn et al., supra. A significant decrease of EGF receptor and increase immunodetection for HER-2/neu protein was identified in prostate cancer but the findings did not correlate with tumor stage or grade. See Melon et al., supra. Finally, in a more recent study of prostate cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia using the AB-3 antibody on archival tissues, p185.sub.neu immunostaining did not correlate with Gleason grade and a trend toward an inverse relationship was presented. See Gu et al., Cancer Letters, (1996) 99:185-189.
Several immunohistochemical studies of HER-2/neu protein expression in prostate cancer have correlated with other prognostic variables and suggested correlation with disease outcome. In one study using a immunoalkaline phosphatase procedure and the 9G6 antibody, HER/2-neu protein expression was found in 16 of 100 (16%) of prostate cancer specimens and protein expression correlated with high tumor grade and aneuploid DNA content. See Ross et al., supra. In another study utilizing the TA-1 antibody, overexpression of HER-2/neu protein was found to be an indicator of poor prognosis in prostate cancer and correlated with high histologic tumor grade, disease state and DNA aneuploidy. See Sadasivan et al., supra. In a study featuring analysis of a group of potential prognostic markers, HER-2/neu antigenicity was found to be a predictor of prostate cancer progression on univariate analysis and also significantly contributed to further stratification into higher risk of recurrence groups for patient subpopulations initially featuring the usually more favorable low Gleason score tumor grades. See Veltri et al., J Cell Biochem Suppl, (1994) 19:249-258.
Unfortunately, studies of HER-2/neu expression by IHC are subject to considerable technical variations. Given that most specimens are formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded archival material, false negative staining may occur due to antigen loss. Fixation and processing protocols significantly affect the reactivity of the antigenic determinants detected by HER/2-neu antibodies such as MAB-1 and pAB-60. Ware et al., Hum Pathol, (1991) 22:254-258. Different antibodies may produce either cytoplasmic or membranous staining, be ineffective when certain fixatives are used or be impacted by temperature of the IHC reaction. Ware et al., supra. Antigen retrieval techniques featuring either enzymatic digestion or microwave irradiation contribute additional potential variables that may affect staining levels. Potential sources of error in IHC studies of HER-2/neu oncogene expression in archival breast cancer tissue samples have recently been reported. See Press et al., Cancer Res, (1994) 54:2771-2777. Substantial variation in sensitivity and specificity of commercially available HER-2/neu antibodies to detect gene amplification confirmed by Southern blotting was observed with antibodies such as the pAB-1 featuring 65% sensitivity and the 9G6, 47% sensitivity. Press et al., supra. Fixation and embedding methods similarly affect the results of IHC for HER-2/neu protein in gastric cancer. See Chiu et al., J Clin Pathol, (1994) 47:816-822. Staining interpretation problems and interobserver variability especially concerning cytoplasmic immunoreactivity for HER-2/neu protein have also been reported. See Kay et al., J Clin Pathol, (1994) 47:816-822. The present invention overcomes the above described problems associated with such variation in the immunohistochemical demonstration of HER-2/neu protein in archival tissue specimens.


The feed line (7) and the return line (8) are combined to a single current supply line (6) at one end of the coil which leads to the first turn sections connected to the opposite end of the coil. Second turn sections running back to the supply line (6) are radially opposed from respective first turn sections.

The invention relates to a coil for a melting pot with a ceramic-free outlet for the purpose of letting off a stream of molten metal. This coil is equipped with turns conducting electricity supplied by means of a feed line and a return line.
In the ceramic-free discharge of a stream of molten metal where the outlet that the melt flows through is formed by individual metal palisades that are surrounded by the coil, problems occur with known coil due to the high amount of power required to be introduced into the stream of melt since the shape of the coil and its current supply causes the power supply to be unsymmetrical and therefore inhomogeneous. This results in a deflection of the liquid stream of melt due to the magnetic fields of the coil. Such a deflection of the metal stream is undesirable in the case of subsequent further processing of the metal stream into powder or into a dead-mold casting or even prevents subsequent processes altogether.
Up to this point attempts were made to minimize the effect of a deflected stream of metal by using an additional compensating turn, by modifying the height between the turns of the coil or by changing the diameter of the coil locally. Furthermore, attempts have been made to locate bodies made from special magnetic alloys in the area of the outlet in order to compensate for such non-homogeneities in the magnetic field. The known processes, however, are always combined with a reduction of the effectiveness of the system and therefore do not solve the problem.
The invention is based on developing a coil of the previously mentioned type that allows for a high supply of power while maintaining a highly homogenous magnetic field.
The feed line and the return line are combined into one single current supply line in the area of the front side of the coil and this current supply line leads directly up to the turns. The turns run from that side of the coil that is located axially opposite to the current supply back to the return line in symmetrical arrangement to the turns leading to this front side.
Such a coil makes a coaxial current supply possible. Inside the turns of the coil, the current is distributed symmetrically due to the geometry of the semi-circular turn sections. This results in a magnetic field in the coil that is symmetrical to its center line which prevents a lateral deflection of the metal stream.
The coil as laid out by the invention can have several design variations. If the objective is to supply high levels of power into the liquid stream of metal without magnetic forces influencing the flow speed of the metal stream, the coil can be produced in a particularly cost-saving manner if the turns, coming from the feed line, initially form an almost semi-circular turn section, then a short connecting section running in the direction of the axis, after which another, almost semi-circular turn section with opposite direction of rotation (phase sequence) follows (FIG. 2).
Another condition is that the two axial connecting sections are connected by a turn circle that is almost a full circle on the side that is facing away from the current supply after a desired number of turn sections which are connected by the connecting sections that are oriented in axial direction and that the turn then runs toward the return line in symmetrical arrangement to the remaining turns.
If one intends to control the discharge of the metal in order to control the progression of a remelting process by means of magnetic forces that act upon on a metal stream, then a coil is beneficial which is distinguished by the fact that an almost semi-circular turn section is located adjacent to the power supply which is followed by a second, almost semi-circular turn section with the same orientation (phase sequence) that runs at a different height as a result of the oblique connecting section and if the turns run back to the return line after a desired number of turn sections from the far front side that is facing away from the power supply in symmetrical arrangement to the turns that lead to the opposite front side (FIG. 3).
A possible elliptic deformation of the metal stream due to the difference in height of the turn sections that are located opposite each other by 180.degree. can be minimized by providing, in accordance with another variation of the invention, a field weakening at the 90.degree. and 270.degree. positions respectively at the areas located between the two connecting sections. The remaining non-homogeneity of such a coil is located in the end area of the coil and does not have a negative effect there.
Another possibility of compensating non-homogeneities of the magnetic field is to vary the position and/or number of the palisades.
The invention allows for numerous variations. In order to explain it in more detail, two of these variations are illustrated in the diagram and will be described in the following.

Power supply coil for the ceramic-free outlet of a melting pot


Employing collector optics that has a sacrificial reflective surface can significantly prolong the useful life of the collector optics and the overall performance of the condenser in which the collector optics are incorporated. The collector optics is normally subject to erosion by debris from laser plasma source of radiation. The presence of an upper sacrificial reflective surface over the underlying reflective surface effectively increases the life of the optics while relaxing the constraints on the radiation source. Spatial and temporally varying reflectivity that results from the use of the sacrificial reflective surface can be accommodated by proper condenser design.

In general, lithography refers to processes for pattern transfer between various media. A lithographic coating is generally a radiation-sensitized coating suitable for receiving a cast image of the subject pattern. Once the image is cast, it is indelibly formed on the coating. The recorded image may be either a negative or a positive of the subject pattern. Typically, a "transparency" of the subject pattern is made having areas which are selectively transparent or opaque to the impinging radiation. Exposure of the coating through the transparency placed in close longitudinal proximity to the coating causes the exposed area of the coating to become selectively crosslinked and consequently either more or less soluble (depending on the coating) in a particular solvent developer. The more soluble, i.e., uncrosslinked, areas are removed in the developing process to leave the pattern image in the coating as less soluble crosslinked polymer.
Projection lithography is a powerful and essential tool for microelectronics processing and has supplanted proximity printing. "Long" or "soft" x-rays (a.k.a. Extreme UV) (wavelength range of 10 to 20 nm) are now at the forefront of research in efforts to achieve smaller transferred feature sizes. With projection photolithography, a reticle (or mask) is imaged through a reduction-projection (demagnifying) lens onto a wafer. Reticles for EUV projection lithography typically comprise a glass substrate coated with an EUV absorbing material covering portions of the reflective surface. In operation, EUV radiation from the illumination system (condenser) is projected toward the surface of the reticle and radiation is reflected from those areas of the reticle reflective surface which are exposed, i.e., not covered by the EUV absorbing material. The reflected radiation is re-imaged to the wafer using a reflective optical system and the pattern from the reticle is effectively transcribed to the wafer.
A source of EUV radiation is the laser-produced plasma EUV source, which depends upon a high power, pulsed laser (e.g., a yttrium aluminum garnet ("YAG") laser, or an excimer laser, delivering 2,000 to 10,000 watts of power to a 50 μm to 250 μm spot, thereby heating a source material to, for example 250,000 to 500,000° C., to emit EUV radiation from the resulting plasma. Plasma sources are compact, and may be dedicated to a single lithography tool so that malfunction of one source of tool does not close down the entire plant. A stepper employing a laser-produced plasma source is relatively inexpensive and could be housed in existing facilities. It is expected that EBV sources suitable for photolithography that provide bright, incoherent EUV and that employ physics quite different from that of the laser-produced plasma source will be developed. One such source under development is the EUV discharge source.
EUV lithography machines for producing integrated circuit components are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,031,598 to Tichenor et al. Referring to FIG. 7, the EUV lithography machine comprises a main vacuum or projection chamber 102 and a source vacuum chamber 104. Source chamber 104 is connected to main chamber 102 through an airlock valve (not shown) which permits either chamber to be accessed without venting or contaminating the environment of the other chamber. Typically, a laser beam 130 is directed by turning mirror 132 into the source chamber 104. A high density gas or liquid stream, such as xenon, is injected into the plasma generator 136 through gas supply 134 and the interaction of the laser beam 130, and gas supply 134 creates plasma giving off the illumination used in EUV lithography. The EUV radiation is collected by segmented collector 138, that collects about 30% of the available EUV light, and the radiation 140 is directed toward the pupil optics 142. The pupil optics consists of long narrow mirrors arranged to focus the rays from the collector at grazing angels onto an imaging mirror 143 that redirects the illumination beam through filter/window 144. Filter 144 passes only the desired EUV wavelengths and excludes scattered laser beam light in chamber 104. The illumination beam 145 is then reflected from the relay optics 146, another grazing angel mirror, and then illuminates the pattern on the reticle 148. Mirrors 138, 142, 143, and 146 together comprise the complete illumination system or condenser. The reflected pattern from the reticle 148 then passes through the projection optics 150 which reduces the image size to that desired for printing on the wafer. After exiting the projection optics 150, the beam passes through vacuum window 152. The beam then prints its pattern on wafer 154.
Production of debris and high energy ions generated by the plasma source is one of the most significant impediments to the successful development of photolithography. In particular, species tend to erode the optics used to collect the EUV light which severely degrades their EUV reflectance. Ultimately, the erosion will reduce the optics' efficiency to a point where they must be replaced frequently. The art is in search of techniques, that address this problem.

Condenser optic with sacrificial reflective surface


A hybrid vehicle includes a powertrain having a retarded diesel engine, an electric machine and energy storage system. The engine and motor are operatively coupled through one or more planetary gearsets and selective coupling paths in accordance with application and release of various torque transfer devices to a drivetrain via an output. Regenerative and retarded engine braking are coordinated to provide priority to energy return to an energy storage system in accordance with predetermined power flow limits. Power flow in excess of the limits are handled by increased engine retard braking contributions via engine speed increases.

Various hybrid powertrain architectures are known for managing the input and output torques of various prime-movers in hybrid vehicles, most commonly internal combustion engines and electric machines. Series hybrid architectures are generally characterized by an internal combustion engine driving an electric generator which in turn provides electrical power to an electric drivetrain and to a battery pack. The internal combustion engine in a series hybrid is not directly mechanically coupled to the drivetrain. The electric generator may also operate in a motoring mode to provide a starting function to the internal combustion engine, and the electric drivetrain may recapture vehicle braking energy by also operating in a generator mode to recharge the battery pack. Parallel hybrid architectures are generally characterized by an internal combustion engine and an electric motor which both have a direct mechanical coupling to the drivetrain. The drivetrain conventionally includes a shifting transmission to provide the necessary gear ratios for wide range operation.
Electrically variable transmissions (EVT) are known which provide for continuously variable speed ratios by combining features from both series and parallel hybrid powertrain architectures. EVTs are operable with a direct mechanical path between an internal combustion engine and a final drive unit thus enabling high transmission efficiency and application of lower cost and less massive motor hardware. EVTs are also operable with engine operation mechanically independent from the final drive or in various mechanical/electrical split contributions thereby enabling high-torque continuously variable speed ratios, electrically dominated launches, regenerative braking, engine off idling, and multi-mode operation.
Hybrid powertrains generally rely upon a mechanically operatively decoupled accelerator pedal in determining the propulsion torque request from the vehicle operator, which propulsion torque may be delivered in various contributory splits from the internal combustion engine and the electric machine(s). Similarly, hybrid powertrains may provide all or a portion of braking torque by controlling regenerative operation of the transmission electric machine(s) or by controlling the electric machines in a fashion to transfer vehicle kinetic energy to the engine and dissipate that energy via engine or exhaust braking (engine retard braking) in response to operator braking requests. Hybrid powertrains, therefore, are generally responsive to both accelerator pedal and service brake pedal requests to provide output torque in accordance therewith.
Generally, it is desirable to recover as much kinetic energy from a vehicle braking event as practical by converting to electrical energy to be returned to the electrical energy storage system of the hybrid vehicle. However, even under ideal conditions, the substantial power flows represented by decelerating a massive vehicle may not be able to be accommodated by the energy storage system. Attempting to return too much energy, or returning energy at power flows in excess of the reasonable capacity of the energy storage system to accept same, may result in irreparable harm to the energy storage system. Known regenerative braking systems therefore are generally calibrated rather conservatively to avoid damage to the energy storage system. Furthermore, for other reasons, it may be desirable to limit the power flow into the energy storage system even if its capacity to accept more energy and higher power flow is not limited by such damage considerations. Therefore, even with conservative calibrations, a regenerative braking system may not provide optimum energy return and power flow to the energy storage system in accordance with other desirable objectives.
Engine retard braking has been practiced to dissipate vehicle deceleration energy in conventional powertrain equipped vehicles. Such braking is most desirable with heavy vehicles, particularly when grade descending, to significantly enhance and minimize the need for service brake application. However, engine retard braking has conventionally been employed in a substantially uncontrolled fashion at the request of the vehicle driver in accordance with actuation of the engine braking or exhaust braking mechanism and gear ratio selection. In a hybrid powertrain equipped vehicle, such non-ideal application of engine retard braking may supplant the need for regenerative braking and forgo the significant efficiency gains that might otherwise be effected by returning the dissipated engine retarding energy to the energy storage system. Furthermore, such non-ideal and unpredictable application of engine retard braking frustrates the objective of returning regenerative braking energy in a controlled fashion to the energy storage system.
Therefore, it is desirable to coordinate control of both regenerative braking and engine retard braking in a hybrid vehicle.

Coordinated regenerative and engine retard braking for a hybrid vehicle


The interferometric modulator of the invention includes a transparent substrate (refractive index: n0) 12, an optical thin film (complex index of refraction: N1=n1−i·k1) 13 provided on the transparent substrate 12, and an absorber layer (complex index of refraction: Ns=ns−i·ks) 14 opposed to the optical thin film 13, the distance of a gap to the optical thin film 13 being variable, wherein the relation n1>n0, k1≅0 and ns>n0 is satisfied.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an interferometric modulator and a display unit with the interferometric modulator, and more particularly to an interferometric modulator that is suitably employed for a reflection type display unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, the reflection type display unit employs the ambient light, and is particularly useful for the mobile purposes.
Currently, the typical reflection type display units are employed in a TN (Twisted Nematic) mode or an STN (Super-Twisted Nematic) mode using the birefringence or optical rotatory power of the liquid crystal.
However, in these display modes, it is required to use a polarizing plate, in which an optical loss by the polarizing plate is as large as about 60%, so that the display is darker.
On the other hand, a guest-host method in which dichroic dye is added to liquid crystal and a transmitting/scattering method represented by a dynamic scattering mode have been proposed as the liquid crystal display method without using the polarizing plate. However, these display methods have lower contrast and are impractical. An electrophoresis method of color particles in a solution, a dichroic rotary particle (twisted ball) method, and a toner display method have been proposed as the display method using other than the liquid crystal, but have not been put to practical use because of the problems with the driving voltage, contrast, response speed, stability and life.
In recent years, a new display method without using the polarizing plate, called an iMod™ method, in which interference of incident light is modulated by driving of a micro machine (Micro Electro Mechanical System: MEMS), has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,835,255 and Japanese National Phase Publication No. 2000-500245. This method is a reflection type display system for modulating interference of an ambient light by changing electrostatically the spacing of a cavity (interferometric modulator cavity) having two walls, one being a reflector (metal) and the other being an induction absorber (metallic absorber sandwiched between dielectrics). In this system, a monochrome display with red (R), green (G) or blue (B) and a black display can be switched. That is, light of a wavelength corresponding to the optical distance is reflected to the observer in a state where the reflector and the induction absorber are separated apart by a specified optical distance, based on a Fabry-Pérot interference principle, and displayed in monochrome. Also, incindet light in a visible radiation region is prevented (absorbed) from being reflected by adjusting this optical distance, and displayed in black.
This system has an advantage that CF is unnecessary because of monochrome display by interference. Also, it has advantages such as a high contract ratio, a low consumption power, and a high speed response of MEMS. Furthermore, this system makes it possible to omit TFT by effectively using a hysteresis of MEMS.
However, since the bright display with the iMoD™ method is "monochrome display" using optical interference, there is a great dependence on the angle of incidence, causing a chromatic aberration depending on the viewing angle. To reduce or remove this chromatic aberration, an auxiliary front lighting and an optical compensation mechanism are required. Moreover, a color display has a laser-like color tone with a specific wavelength as the center. On the other hand, the white display is limited by a bandwidth (e.g., FWHM) of interference reflection of each color, because each pixel of RGB is realized by additive color mixture, whereby the Y value of the white display is difficult to increase. This is less preferable in the respect of application to the electronic books specific to the white/black display. Also, it is necessary to fabricate a pixel having a different structure for each display color. Moreover, with this iMoD™ method, a binary display of bright and darkness is made, and a half tone display is only possible by using a spatial dithering (area gradation method) based on the pulse width modulation, resulting in a large load.

Interferometric modulator and display unit


Method and apparatus for reducing memory access while de/compressing multimedia files, videos, or image files. An image is divided into blocks, and a frequency data matrix corresponding to a frequency transformed and quantized block is stored in a memory for later de/compression. The method includes registering a bit plane containing a plurality of bits in a register module, wherein each bit represents whether a corresponding element of the data matrix equals zero. While accessing the memory for the data matrix, if a bit of the bit plane shows that its corresponding element of the data array is zero, the element is not accessed from the memory. In checking bits corresponding to elements not yet accessed; if these bits show that elements not accessed are all zero, accessing for the data array can be terminated without accessing them. Thus, memory access can be reduced to occupy less bandwidth of the memory.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention provides a method and related apparatus for reducing memory accessing while de/compressing multimedia files, and more particularly, a method and related apparatus for reducing memory access by preventing access of null data in the frequency domain.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Since signal detection and processing techniques have been developed and improved upon, media signals, whether static images or motion videos, can be stored, processed, or transmitted by electronic signals with little distortion. However, in general, file sizes of multimedia files, including a variety of media information, are so large that they must be compressed properly for storing and transmitting. Consequently, compressed multimedia files should be decompressed to play. Moreover, because image data of multimedia files are rich in high-dimensional data (including two-dimensional images and/or time-domain changes), de/compression processes place high demand on system resources. Therefore, a key development issue in modern information technology is how to de/compress image data files with high efficiency and low cost.
Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a schematic diagram illustrating a typical image compression process, such as the process under MPEG protocol, or Motion Picture Expert Group. Those skilled in the art will recognize that image compression is seen as a coding process for image data, and decompression contrarily a decoding process. As FIG. 1 illustrates, a motion image data M (such as a movie or an animation) can be seen as a series of static pictures, A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, etc. Displayed different pictures as time changes, the motion image data M can be a movie. Besides, in order to increase compression rate, a process 10 undergoes an inter-coding among pictures initially to analyze each difference among pictures as the image data M is compressed; then, a process 12 takes an intra-coding process in a picture based on the outcome of the process 10.
Those skilled in the art will recognize that the differences among pictures are little when displaying a series image of running actions. For example, in FIG. 1, a movie formed by the pictures A1, A2, A3 displays a motion: an object Oj moves in the same background Bk. With exception of the object Oj position different in varied pictures, the background Bk image does not change a lot. In the process 10, a motion detection is taken to compare pictures. As FIG. 1 illustrates, the motion detection in the picture A1, A2 can roughly conclude that the object Oj moves but the background Bk does not change. Furthermore, a vector V12 is computed to represent moving direction and distance of the object Oj. In other words, the picture A2 can roughly be obtained by moving the object Oj in the picture A1 along with the vector V12, this processes being named dynamic (or action) compensation. A predictive picture of the picture A2 operated by shifting the object Oj in the picture A1 along with the vector V12 can be a prediction P2, not shown in FIG. 1. Indeed, the prediction P2 may not absolutely match the picture A2 (such as reflected light on the object Oj changes a little between the pictures A1 and A2), but their differences should not be significant. Hence, subtracting the prediction P2 from the picture A2 generates a difference picture, named difference D12. That is to say, the picture A2 can be gained by dynamically compensating the picture A1 and adding the difference D12, and this means that all image information of the pictures A1 and A2 can be contained by the picture A1, the vector V12 and the difference D12. In addition, owing to little image information in the difference D12 and slight differences between the prediction P2 and the picture A2, a high level compression is practicable, and the pictures A1, A2 are compressed.
Based on the same method, the picture A3 in FIG. 1 can be obtained from the picture A2, the corresponding vector V23, and the difference D23, so that the movie composed of a series of the pictures A1, A2, A3 can be expressed by the picture A1, the differences D12, D23 and the vectors V12, V23, thus an initial compression to the series motion image is performed. Certainly, the data image M may contain so many irrelative sequences, like pictures A4 and A5, that there might be an entirely different object moving in an entirely different background; therefore, the picture A4 is much different from the picture A3, and the motion detection is cancelled between the pictures A3 and A4, but is executed between the pictures A4 and A5 to take compression for the series image of the pictures A4 and A5 in the process 10.
After compressing/coding the differences among pictures in the process 10, the process 12 compresses/codes the pictures or the differences respectively. For example, in FIG. 1, the pictures A1, A4 and the differences D12, D23, D45 can be further compressed to increase compression rate. Please refer to FIG. 2, which illustrates a compression (or coding) process of in the process 12. To further compress a picture A (like pictures A1, A4, the differences D12, D23, etc.), the picture A is divided into a plurality of small blocks B formed by a plurality of pixels Bij. The frequency domain data matrix C containing a plurality of data elements Cij is obtained by two-dimensional frequency-domain transformations within each block B (such as discrete cosine transformation, or DCT). In other words, each data element Cij represents the quantity (i.e. the frequency domain component or coefficient) of the block B in frequency domain. Combining each Qij, the quantized data element Cij, can construct the frequency domain data matrix Q, or frequency domain matrix. Arranging each data element Qij of the data matrix Q in a specified order to be a series of one-dimensional data matrix S is called a serial scanning. Another one-dimensional data matrix R is gained after a running length coding to the data matrix S. Then, a data matrix H is generated after Huffman coding to the data matrix R. Combining data matrix H corresponding the block B finishes coding the pictures A.
In the process 12, because each block B is just a part of the picture A, values of pixel Bijs in a block B should not be significant, that is, the values of pixels in the same block tend to be similar. After the block B undergoes the frequency-domain transformation/quantization, this represents that high frequency domain quantities of the data element Cij and Qij should almost be null, or be negligible. That is to say, the frequency domain data matrix C and Q are sparse matrices. Therefore, after the one-dimensional matrix S is scanned and arranged from the data matrix Q, data elements Sks (each equals to one data element Qij) of the data matrix S are among many null values. As the data matrix S undergoes the running length coding, numbers of null data elements between two non-null data elements Sks are coded to reduce the length of the data matrix S. For example, when ten null data elements exist between two non-null data elements Si and Sj, it does not store the ten null data elements between Si and Sj, but records the number of ten null data elements by the running length coding to the data element Sj. So, the bit length of the data matrix R generated from the running length coding of the data matrix S can be reduced a lot. After Huffman coding, the bit length of the data matrix R is further compressed, and a data matrix H is generated. Combining each data matrix H generated from the compression of each block B, the compressed picture of the picture A becomes a multimedia file.
Obviously, if the image data is static, it undergoes the process 12 without the process 10, such as a joint Photo-graphic Experts Group, or JPEG, process. Please refer to FIG. 2 (and FIG. 1) again. The decompression process is basically the reverse of the compression process. The data matrix H of a compressed multimedia file is decompressed to the data matrix S, and then is arranged to the two-dimensional data matrix Q (named inverse scanning). Dequantizing the data matrix Q obtains the frequency domain data matrix C. The block B can be obtained by taking an inverse discrete cosine transformation to the data matrix C. Combining varied blocks B obtains the picture A. If the original image data is a motion image data, the original motion image data can be combined by dynamically compensating the picture A, thereby finishing the decompression (or decoding).
Please refer to FIG. 3 illustrating a function block diagram of a prior art processing circuit 20. The processing circuit 20 performs de/compression (or de/coding) for image data, and includes a central processing unit 14, a memory access module 16, a dynamic estimation module 18, a frequency-domain transformation/quantization module 22, an inverse frequency-domain transformation/dequantization module 24, and an inner memory 28 (such as random access memory). The central processing unit 14 controls operations of processing circuit 20. The memory access module 16 can achieve the function of direct memory access, or DMA, so that the processing circuit 20 can access an outer memory 26 (such as loading the image data waiting for compression from the outer memory 26). In the process 10 shown in FIG. 1, the dynamic estimation module 18 can take dynamic estimation. In the process 12 in FIG. 1, the frequency-domain transformation/quantization module 22 can achieve frequency-domain transformation and quantization. Contrarily, the inverse frequency-domain transformation/dequantization module 24 can recover compressed multimedia files from one-dimensional data matrixes to two-dimensional blocks in order to decompress (decode) and generate each picture. To support operations of each module in the processing circuit 20, the processing circuit 20 also includes an inner memory 28 to register data for the operations of each module.
For example, when image data compression (coding) is performed by the prior art processing circuit 20, the frequency-domain transformation/quantization module 22 transforms/quantizes the block B of each picture (please refer to FIG. 2) to the two-dimensional data matrix Q, and each data element Qij of the data matrix Q is written (stored) into the inner memory 28 sequentially. Progressing to serial scanning, each data element of the data matrix Q is read from the inner memory 28 sequentially and forms a one-dimensional data matrix S. Then, the next block B is processed.
In summary, it is necessary to access the inner memory 28 frequently in the prior art processing circuit 20. As FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 show, a data image M may include a lot of pictures A, and a picture A contains a lot of blocks B each corresponding to the frequency domain data matrix Q. When the processing circuit 20 compresses images, each data element Qij of the data matrix Q is stored into the inner memory 28 one by one. Besides, when serial scanning, each data element Qij is read sequentially. Actually, as mentioned above, the frequency domain matrix Q might be a sparse matrix, which means that most data elements Qij are nulls, and this is the reason that the running length coding can reduce the length of the matrix S in that the data matrix R only records the number of null data elements after running length coding, instead of arranging these null data element exactly in the data matrix R. However, when the prior art processing circuit 20 accesses the data matrix Q from the inner memory 28, there is no better way to utilize characters of a sparse matrix, but to access each data element Qij one by one. As a result, the processing circuit 20 needs to access its inner memory 28 frequently in the de/coding process, so that its occupied memory resources cannot be reduced effectively. In achieving the function of high speed de/compression, the processing circuit 20 should use high frequency inner memory (that is, it must access more data in a unit of time), so that the cost of circuit design and manufacture cannot be reduced.

Method and related processing circuits for reducing memory accessing while performing de/compressing of multimedia files