A method of producing a mixture of fluorine-containing (meth)acrylate esters, the method including:                (A) a telomerization step of obtaining the mixture of the fluoroalkyl iodide telomers;        (B) an ethylene addition step of adding ethylene to the mixture of the fluoroalkyl iodide telomers obtained in the step (A) to give a mixture of ethylene adducts; and        (C) an esterification step of reacting the mixture of the ethylene adducts obtained in the step (B) with a (meth)acrylate compound to obtain fluorine-containing (meth)acrylate esters.

Telomerization is a reaction wherein a taxogen (X) is added to a telogen (AB) by application of heat or light under a suitable catalyst so that a polymer of low polymerization degree represented by the formula: A(X)mB (wherein m is generally in the range of 1 to 20), that is, a telomer is obtained. An example of telomerization known in the art is a reaction wherein a fluoroalkyl iodide is used as the telogen and tetrafluoroethylene is used as a taxogen and another fluoroalkyl iodide having the molecular weight higher than the telogen is obtained. This reaction can be regarded as a reaction for obtaining a tetrafluoroethylene adduct compound by adding tetrafluoroethylene to the telogen. Various methods utilizing this reaction for obtaining the industrially useful fluoroalkyl iodide have been proposed. Hereinafter, several examples of the methods are recited. It should be noted that in order to discriminate a fluoroalkyl iodide as a product from another fluoroalkyl iodide as a starting material, the former is referred to as a "fluoroalkyl iodide telomer."
U.S. Pat. No. 3,226,449 discloses a method for producing a perfluoroalkyl iodide telomer by means of a telomerization wherein tetrafluoroethylene is added to a perfluoroalkyl iodide using an organic peroxide as an initiator. The telomerization is carried out in a single step in a single reactor.
GB Patent 1,256,818, Japanese Patent Publication (Kokoku) No. 60-22687 (1985), U.S. Pat. No. 3,234,294, U.S. Pat. No. 3,404,189 and GB Patent 1,189,576 disclose a method for initiating a telomerization which is employed upon producing a perfluoroalkyl iodide telomer.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open (Kokai) Publication No. 6-206908 (1994), Japanese Patent Laid-Open (Kokai) Publication No. 6-305995 (1994), and Japanese Patent Publication (Kokoku) 7-59525 (1995) explain that the number of carbon atoms (or molecular weight) of a perfluoroalkyl iodide telomer needs to be in a specific range, and disclose methods for producing a perfluoroalkyl iodide telomer having the desired number of carbon atoms by means of telomerization degree is controlled by employing a specific procedure and a reactor having a specific shape.

Method for producing mixture of fluoroalkyl iodide telomers and method for producing mixture of fluorine-containing (meth)acrylate esters


The embodiments herein disclose a system and method for presenting a context-oriented content from a plurality of information sources. The method includes receiving a request from an electronic device for the context-oriented content associated with an item of a particular object. Further, the method includes identifying the context-oriented content associated with the item from the plurality of information sources. Furthermore, the method includes generating an overlay framework layers including context-oriented content. Furthermore, the method includes presenting the overlay framework layers associated with the item within the particular object to the user on an electronic device.

A drastic proliferation in web-based learning techniques has lead to their immense popularity in the last few years. Web-based learning techniques have facilitated online education for students, instructors and course-seekers using Internet as a medium. Many distances learning systems have been made available across the globe, and in fact, use of such systems is one of the fastest growing applications of information and communication technology. Many institutions, including but not limited to colleges, universities and even corporate establishments, are instituting e-learning systems as an effective means to dissipate knowledge.
E-learning systems are usually provided with an embedded electronic content reader. The electronic content reader is an interface embedded to the e-learning system that allows students to read course material, textbooks, and other learning materials on their electronic devices such as mobile phones, tablets, laptops, personal digital assistants, and the like. Electronic content readers enhance the user's experience by enabling the users to access, review, modify, and share the contents on the e-learning systems with their peers. However, the need in the art is to explore the collaborative capabilities using the information which may be published time to time to enhance the static information displayed in the electronic content readers and making it more interactive.
Different systems and methods are proposed to enhance these e-learning systems. In one mechanism, the system allows the user to navigate while reading the book through similar set of videos, followed by quiz exercises along with a final test or exam. For example, while reading a textbook a student may require instructor's guidance on a lot of content. The conventional system and method allows the user to manually search various websites, videos, and the like content over the Internet. Alternatively, the student can share the content with the instructor to get the information or explanation associated with the content. As vast amount of data is available on the Internet, the user need to manually search and identify the content related to the context in which the user is looking for the information. Finding such information is in itself a tedious task and takes a lot of user time, especially when the user is not familiar with the content. Further, the user has to navigate through different sets of information websites individually for reading the supporting items in relation to the textbook.
Thus, there is a need of a simple and robust system and method for providing a collaborative learning platform to enhance the user online learning experience by providing the effective on demand and on-the-fly services.

Collaborative learning platform for generating and presenting context-oriented content on an electronic device


Apparatuses, methods, program products, and systems are disclosed for generating online auction listings. An apparatus includes a content processing module that processes, on a mobile device, one or more of image and video content of an item captured with a camera of the mobile device. The one or more of image and video content processed for posting on an online auction marketplace platform. An apparatus includes an information module that receives, on the mobile device, information associated with the item in the one or more of image and video content. An apparatus includes a transmission module that sends the one or more of image and video content and the information associated with the item directly from the mobile device to the online auction marketplace platform to be posted as an auction listing.

Online auctions may include auctions that are held over the Internet or another network. Online auctions allow sellers to post products or services for sale and allow buyers to bid on products or services with the winning bidder receiving the product or service. Sometimes it can be cumbersome for sellers to post multimedia and information about a product or service for sale on an auction site especially if the seller has multiple items or services to sell.


A clean room suit including at least one first grasping means on an inner face for facilitating dressing.

The present invention relates to a suit for a clean room comprising an outer face provided for being in contact with a surrounding medium and an inner face arranged to be in contact with a user, a first and a second leg section connected to each other through an opening in a crotch area, a first and a second sleeve and a body portion to which are connected the first and second sleeves through a bound end and the first and second leg sections also through a bound end, said body portion comprising a section for letting through the head.
Such suits are used in environments of clean rooms, in laboratories which for example allow the making of drugs in an aseptic and sterile environment. In this type of room, the body of the user has to be isolated so that he/she does not contaminate the environment in which he/she works or the product which he/she makes.
When an operator has to work in a sterile environment, he/she should, prior to his/her entering the clean rooms, wear suits while observing a very particular protocol. Such procedures are very tedious and generally impose that the user dress in a completely contrary way to what he/she is used to do and unlike how one would dress instinctively.
Existing suits are therefore sterilized and provided in sealed packages which should be easy to open for the operator, before entering the clean room, but sufficiently resistant in order to avoid the tearing which may be the consequence of the contact with a contaminated environment.
The operator then has to slip on the suits without touching the outer face intended to be in contact with the sterile environment and especially without touching the outer face of the body portion (covering the thorax). Therefore a whole handling operation ensues during which certain portions of the suit are folded back, where the user climbs onto a bench, slips in one leg without it touching the ground, and then the other, while being careful not to let go or touch anything, which requires exercise necessitating exceptional dexterity and long years of practice. Consequently, there often results a little handling error or unbalance which requires changing suit. Of course, such sterilely provided suits individually packaged beforehand, are expensive and represent a relatively high operating cost for the company requiring such suits.
Many developments have been achieved with the purpose of simplifying the step for dressing the operator who has to sometimes enter a clean room several times a day.
For example, from document FR 2 810 855, a suit as mentioned initially is known which has a hooking member with which said concertina-folded suit may be hoisted up to a bracket so that it may be slipped onto the user from top to bottom when it is lowered down again.
Of course, this type of suit is simpler to wear than conventional suits. Unfortunately, it requires a device with which the suit may be hung and a certain volume space for lifting the suit and lowering it down again.
Of course, since the environment of clean rooms is aseptic and sterilized, it is clear that the requirement of such a large volume space represents a considerable maintenance cost (about twice the height of a normal room). Further the suit according to document FR 2 810 855 requires a dressing procedure starting with how to hang the suit from the bracket before slipping it on without touching the outside and ending with the slipping on per se. Consequently, untimely exercise is avoided, but it is clear that the dressing procedure is not particularly simplified.
From document CH 505576, a protective overall is known comprising a body and a skirt as well as a hood for cooperating with a face mask.
The overall therefore does not comprise any first and second leg sections and is made in impervious material.
This overall comprises flaps which are essential for folding and when it is sterilized, i.a. requires help from an assistant for slipping it on since each sleeve is folded on itself until the closest half of its end forming a sleeve surrounds the other half of the sleeve.
Therefore, there is always a need for a clean room suit which is slipped on in a particularly easy way without any bracket and without any assistance, while drastically simplifying the dressing procedures and which implies a very instinctive way for putting on the suit in order to avoid costly errors. Indeed, when an error occurs, i.e. the operator realizes this and changes suit. In this case, only the waste of time and the suit represent the generated overcost. On the other hand if the operator does not realize his/her error and contaminates a whole batch of vaccines, the loss is then much greater.
The object of the invention is to overcome the drawbacks of the state of the art by providing a suit with which the dressing steps and procedures may be simplified to a maximum and for which the dressing steps are particularly instinctive in order to avoid handling errors.
In order to solve this problem, a suit as indicated initially is provided according to the invention, characterized in that it further comprises a first grasping means, in contact with the inner face in the body portion, and preferably in the waist section.
In this way, since the grasping means is in contact with the inner face of the suit, in the body portion, when the operator grasps the suit with said grasping means, the latter is found in a particularly advantageous position for simplifying dressing. Indeed, when the grasping means is grasped by the operator, the inner face of the first and second leg section are facing the outer face of the body portion of said suit.
The interior portion of the body portion is therefore accessible to the user who, though still having the grasping means at hand, may then easily slip his/her free arm into the first sleeve, he/she then lets go the grasping means and slips his/her arm into said second sleeve. He/she then turns over the suit on his/her head by slipping the body portion in this way on his/her thorax and passes his/her head through the head section. The first and second leg section are then automatically unfolded along the legs of the user and the suit is thus put on without its outer face having been in contact with a body portion.
As this may be easily seen, such a suit is slipped on in the same way as a pullover is slipped on every morning when one dresses. This therefore represents a particularly instinctive dressing procedure for the operator.
In a particularly advantageous embodiment, the suit according to the invention further comprises a second grasping means, in contact with the inner face, in the body portion, preferably at the waist section. In this way, the operator may grasp with a first hand a first grasping means and with a second-hand a second grasping means, which promotes proper grasping of the suit and avoids dropping it during dressing.
Advantageously, the first and second grasping means are located sideways on either side of said opening in the body portion more preferentially at the waist section. In this way, the first grasping means located sideways on one side of said opening may be grasped with the left hand or with the right hand while the second grasping means located sideways on the other side of said opening in the body portion may be grasped with the right hand or the left hand respectively. This means that when both grasping means are grasped by the operator, the suit according to the invention is located in the proper alignment with respect to the way of slipping it on. That is to say that the suit faces the body of the operator.
As used herein, the "first grasping means" and the "second grasping means" can comprise, for example, respective loops.
In a particular embodiment of the invention, the first grasping means is differentiated from the second by a difference in texture, colour, shape, relief or the like. In this way, the user knows with which hand he/she has to grasp the first grasping means and with which hand he/she has to grasp the second grasping means. Consequently, as the suit is already in the proper alignment, it is now certainly also in the dressing direction, i.e. when the user slips on the suit, a back section of the body portion of the suit will be at the level of the back of the operator while the front section of the body portion of the suit will be on the thorax of the operator.
In a particular embodiment according to the invention, said opening is equipped with one or more closure means selected from a zipper, a self-adhering means, press studs or the like as well as optionally a placket, with which contamination of the sterile environment by bodily portions may be avoided.
Advantageously, the suit according to the invention further comprises an optionally removable balaclava connected to the body portion at the head section. In this way, when this is necessary and this is often the case in such clean rooms, it is no longer necessary to wear paper headwear for covering the hair of the operator, the suit according to the invention already comprises a balaclava integrated to the suit.
In an advantageous embodiment of the suit according to the invention, the first and/or the second sleeve include self-tightening means at a free end, opposite to the bound end such as cuffs in elastic fabric, a flap with press stud or self-adhering means and the like. Indeed if the opening of the sleeves is too wide, the outer environments may be contaminated with the skin of the arms.
Further, the first and/or the second leg section include self-tightening means at a free end, opposite to the bound end, such as elastic fabric ankle bands, a flap with press stud or self-adhering means and the like. This provides the same advantage as the self-tightening means of the sleeves and avoids contamination of the external medium by the legs of the operator.
In an advantageous embodiment, said opening at the crotch of the suit according to the invention has a zipper, a male end of which is engaged and pre-assembled in the female cursor in a non-separable way. In this way, the movement of the zipper slider is simplified and the operator does not have to engage the lugs himself/herself since this represents a tedious and difficult dressing step, especially when the hands are fitted out with gloves.
In a particular embodiment of the invention, the clean room suit further comprises a first and/or a second glove respectively connected to the free end of the first and/or the second sleeve. In this case, it is not absolutely necessary to add a pair of gloves, the suit according to the invention already comprising its own gloves connected to the sleeves.
Advantageously, the suit according to the invention in the folded-back position has: the inner faces of the first and second leg sections exposed towards the outside and the outer face of the first and second leg sections exposed towards the outer face of the body section, said opening of the crotch being then laid out in order to give access to the inside of the body portion and said grasping means being exposed towards the operator. In this way, with the outer faces of the first and second leg sections which are exposed towards the outer face of the body section, the outer face of the whole suit may be protected from accidental contact during dressing since the outer faces of all the portions of the suit are facing each other.
Further, since said grasping means are exposed towards the operator, grasping the suit is particularly easy.
Preferably, the suit according to the invention in the folded-back position has first and second leg sections folded back longitudinally on themselves and transversely on themselves in several (two, three, four, . . . ) portions. In this way, the suit is shown in a folded-back way to the user, sterilized beforehand so that it is compact and may easily be grasped by the operator.
Other embodiments of the suit according to the invention are indicated in the appended claims.
The object of the invention is also a method for folding a clean room suit according to the invention comprising the steps of:                exposing at least one first grasping means towards the outside by grasping the latter,        folding back an outer face of a first and second leg section by passing of a crotch section in the open position on an outer face of a body portion while maintaining said first grasping means exposed,        folding a side portion of a first leg section on itself and a side portion of a second leg section on itself, in a longitudinal direction of the first and second leg sections while maintaining said first grasping means exposed, and        folding by folding back in several portions the thereby longitudinally folded leg sections in a transverse direction of the first and second leg sections, while maintaining said first grasping means exposed.
Advantageously, the folding method according to the invention further comprises exposing a second grasping means towards the outside by grasping the latter.
Other embodiments of the folding method according to the invention are mentioned in the appended claims. The invention also relates to a dressing method for putting on a clean room suit comprising the steps of:                grasping a first grasping means with a first hand of a operator in order to position the suit so that the body portion of the suit is accessible via the opening of the crotch of the suit,        slipping a second arm of the operator into a second sleeve and, after having let go of the first grasping means, slipping a first arm of the operator into a first sleeve,        passing the head of the operator into an opening of the body portion and then into the section for letting through the head, and        turning over the leg sections so that the outer face of the latter is then exposed towards the outside and the outer face exposed towards the legs of the operator.
In a preferential embodiment, the dressing method further comprises grasping of a second grasping means with a second hand of the operator in order to position the suit so that the body portion of the suit is accessible via the opening of the crotch of the suit. Preferably the dressing method for putting on the suit according to the invention also comprises closing of said opening.
Other embodiments of the dressing method according to the invention are indicated in the appended claims.
In the figures, identical or analogous elements bear the same references.
FIG. 1 illustrates a clean room suit comprising an outer face provided for being in contact with a surrounding medium and an inner face laid out so as to be in contact with a user or operator. The suit comprises a first leg section 2 and a second leg section 3 connected to each other through an opening in the crotch area 14, it also comprises a first sleeve 4 and a second sleeve 5 and a body portion 6. The first sleeve is connected through a bound end 4a and the second sleeve is connected through a bound end 5a. The first leg section 2 also comprises a bound end 2a and the second leg section 3 also comprises a bound end 3a. The suit also comprises a section 7 for letting through the head.
In an alternative as the one illustrated here, the suit according to the invention comprises a balaclava 8 provided with an opening for the eyes 9. As this may be seen, said opening of the crotch area 14 is equipped with a zipper 10 and it comprises a placket (not shown) located below the zipper in order to avoid any contamination through said zipper. Of course, the opening may be closed by other equivalent means such as self-adhering means (Velcro), snap fasteners or the like. Also the balaclava 8 connected to the body portion at the section 7 for letting through the head may also be removable and consequently connected i.e. through a zipper, self-adhering means, snap fasteners or the like.
In an advantageous embodiment, the first sleeve 4 comprises self-tightening means at the free end 4b in the form of cuffs 11 in elastic fabric. The second sleeve also comprises at the free end 5b a cuff 11 in elastic fabric. The elastic fabric cuffs may also be replaced with a flap with press stud or self-adhering means or further other conventional means. The first leg section 2 comprises a flap 12 with a press stud allowing the free end 2b of the leg section to be tightened. The second leg sections 3 also comprises a flap with press stud 12 with which the diameter of the leg section at the free end 3b may be adjusted.
In the illustrated alternative, the end of the zipper 10 is engaged and pre-assembled beforehand so as to simplify the slipping-on of the suit according to the invention.
FIG. 2 illustrates the suit in the partly folded-back position. The inner face of the first leg section 2 and of the second leg section 3 are exposed towards the outside. The outer face of the first leg section 2 and the outer face of the second leg section 3 are exposed towards the outer face of the body section 6. Said opening of the crotch 14 provides access to the inside of the body portion 6 through a section called a waist section 15. In this way, the first grasping means 16 and the second grasping means 17 are exposed towards the operator. Indeed the latter are present on the inner face of the suit and by partly turning over the leg sections on the body section, it is possible to expose them towards the outside. When an operator has put on a suit according to the invention in order to carry out his/her work in the clean room, once the work is completed, he/she will have to remove the suit. The latter will then have to be washed and sterilized with a view to subsequent use. Such steps are either generally subcontracted by external corporations who bring back the folded and packaged suits in sterile packages. On other industrial sites, the suits are folded and washed on site as well as reconditioned in an aseptic individual package. Consequently, in order to ensure that the suit according to the invention is put on easily, it is advantageous to observe the steps of a folding method according to the invention as mentioned here, the first step of which will be the one illustrated in FIG. 2.
During this step, the first 16 and the second grasping means 17 are exposed towards the outside when the packer grasps them and he/she folds back the outer face of a first 2 and of a second leg section 3 by passing a crotch section 14 open on an outer face of a body portion 6 while maintaining the first 16 and the second grasping means 17 exposed.
The second step of the folding method is the one illustrated in FIG. 3. In this step, the first leg section 2 is longitudinally folded back on itself and the second leg section 3 is also longitudinally folded back on itself while leaving the first and second grasping means (16 and 17) exposed towards the operator. Further, the last step for folding the suit according to the invention is illustrated by arrows in FIG. 3. Indeed, the thereby folded suit 1 according to the invention will then be folded back transversely on itself into all three portions or even more, if this is necessary, depending on the size of the suit. The thereby folded suit 1 is then conditioned in a casing 18 and sterilized, for example in an autoclave.
When a user intends to put on a suit 1 according to the invention, he/she opens the package 18 illustrated in FIG. 4 for example by peeling the upper face, grasps the first grasping means 16 with a first hand and the second grasping means 17 with the second hand and lifts the suit 1. In this way, he/she obtains a suit 1 in the partly folded-back position, as illustrated in FIG. 2. The suit 1 is positioned so that the body portion is accessible via the opening of the crotch 14 of the suit via waist flexing 15. But the operator after having let go of the second grasping means 17, then slips his/her second arm into a second sleeve 5 and, after having let go of the first grasping means 16, he/she slips the first arm into the first sleeve 4. He/she then passes his/her head into an opening of the body portion 6 via the waist section 15 and then into the section 7 for letting through the head before ending up in the balaclava 8. He/she then turns over the leg sections 2, 3 so that the outer face of the first leg section 2 and of the second leg section 3 are exposed towards the outside and so that the inner face of the first leg section 2 and of the second leg section 3 are exposed towards the legs of the operator. Next, the operator positions his/her foot in the foot passage section 3b which includes the pre-engaged zipper and closes said opening 14 for completely isolating his/her body from the outside environment.
As this has already been mentioned hereinbefore, the slipping-on of the suit according to the invention is a particularly instinctive slipping-on.
FIG. 5 illustrates an alternative of the invention wherein a single grasping means 16 is present, in this way the operator grasps the first grasping means 16 with a first-hand, he/she slips his/her second arm into said second sleeve 5 and, after having let go of the first grasping means 16, he/she slips the first arm into the first sleeve 4. The user then slips his/her head into an opening of the body portion 6 via the waist section 15 and then into the section 7 for letting through the head so it ends up in the optional balaclava 8, if it is present. By straightening out, the leg sections 2 and 3 automatically turn over on the legs of the operator and the latter just has to close the zipper.
Of course the present invention is by no means limited to the embodiments described above and many modifications may be made thereto without departing from the scope of the appended claims.
For example, the suit according to the invention may also be used in sterile rooms in hospitals so as to avoid contaminating the patients, the immune defences of whom are weakened. Further, it is clear that the suit according to the invention may also be used for protecting the wearer from the outside medium, for example for those looking after highly contagious patients.
Further, means may be provided such as an elastic, a pocket, a slit or the like allowing a finger to be engaged therein, located on the inner surface of said free end of the first or second leg section which includes the pre-engaged zipper. In this way, closing the opening 14 of the crotch is simplified since these means in which a finger is engaged prevent the free end of the leg section from moving up when the cursor of the closure is moved upwards.
In an alternative, an elastic laid out so as to pass under the foot may also be provided, which would be connected at two points to the free end of the leg section. This elastic would also have a role of avoiding that the free end moves upwards when the cursor of the zipper is pulled.


An active sampler for detecting contaminants in liquids comprises an inlet tube, and outlet tube and a sampling unit positioned between said paths such that the liquid flows along a path from the inlet, through the sampling unit, to the outlet. The sampling unit has a plurality of sampling chambers that are substantially fluidly sealed relative to one another, wherein one of the sampling chambers is selectively positioned in the flow path. The active sampler also comprises an actuator, which relatively moves the sampling unit and the inlet and outlet tubes such that said one sampling chamber is positioned out of the flow path while another of the sampling chambers is positioned in the flow path.

The present invention is directed to sampling systems in general, and in particular, to an active sampler for detecting contaminants in liquids, such as water.
Systems and apparatuses for sampling are common in the field of water monitoring, including determining the presence of contaminants in natural waterways (e.g., springs, rivers, and creeks), as well as in industrial and municipal discharges.
However, conventional sampling devices usually require the presence of a user at the site to manually take the liquid sample (e.g., in a test tube). The user then analyzes the samples by, for example, introducing chemicals into the sample to detect the presence of a contaminant.
Conventional sampling techniques typically involve taking discrete samples at widely spaced time intervals. Such discrete sampling makes it difficult to easily determine the accumulated concentration of a contaminant over the sampling period. Further, taking discrete samples is costly, particularly if samples need to be taken regularly (e.g., several times a month). The cost and inconvenience is further increased when the sampling of remote locations is desired.
Conventional active samplers, though able to continuously sample, generally require relatively large amounts of energy to pump the liquid through the sampler due to the large pressure differential through the system, thus making them unsuitable for use in remote locations without power. Additionally, these samplers can be bulky and unsuitable for deployment in shallow bodies of liquid or in piping infrastructure.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved active sampling device for detecting contaminants in liquids.

Active sampler for detecting contaminants in liquids


A circuit board surface treatment equipment, which includes an upper solution chamber and a bottom solution chamber defined within a machine base at different elevations, a set of conveying rollers and upper and lower bumper rollers arranged in the upper solution chamber and controlled to deliver circuit boards through the upper solution chamber for treatment, upper and lower pressure-balanced water knives respectively mounted in gaps in between the conveying rollers and controlled to eject a surface treatment solution onto the circuit boards, and water level control switch means which open the passage between the upper solution chamber and the bottom solution chamber for letting the surface treatment solution flow from the upper solution chamber to the bottom solution chamber when the level of surface treatment solution in the upper solution chamber surpasses a predetermined high level.

The present invention relates to a surface treatment equipment for treating circuit boards, and more particularly to such a circuit board surface treatment equipment which uses pressure-balanced water knives to eject a surface treatment solution onto circuit boards being carried through the equipment, enabling the surface of each circuit board to be well treated.
In a regular horizontal PTH type circuit board surface treatment equipment, water knives are operated to eject a surface treatment solution onto the surface of the circuit boards being carried through the equipment, enabling the surface of each circuit board to be treated. A water knife for this purpose is, as shown in FIG. 1, comprised of an elongated tube 1 having a longitudinal series of jet nozzles 11 through which the surface treatment solution is forced out of the elongated tube 1 to treat the surface of the circuit boards. Because the jet nozzles 11 have an equal diameter and are longitudinally arranged in a line, and the surface treatment solution is forced to the jet nozzles 11 one after another, the jets of surface treatment solution from the jet nozzles 11 have different pressure. Because jets of surface treatment solution are ejected onto the circuit boards at different pressure, the surface of each circuit board cannot be uniformly treated.

Surface treatment equipment for treating circuit boards


A process and system for transmitting information on an aircraft may employ an avionics-type device having a first determining section that determines a first check code representative of information that one wishes to display on a display screen of an interface device available to an operator. The interface device may include a second determining section that determines an image corresponding to the representation of the information and a third determining section that determines a second check code representative of the image. A comparator intercompares the first and second check codes and displays the image on the display screen only if the first and second check codes are identical.

It is known that most aircraft currently in service, in particular civil transport planes, are equipped with onboard electronic devices, in particular computers of so-called "avionics type". These electronic devices are used, in particular, for the aircraft's strategic flight functions such as the flight controls. These devices have, consequently, to exhibit a very high level of reliability, able to guarantee a failure rate of the aircraft that is lower than that demanded by the certifying authorities. The communication networks and the links between such onboard devices (computers) of avionics type must meet the same reliability demands.
Certain modern transport planes, such as planes of the "Airbus A340-600" and "Airbus A318" type for example, also comprise so-called "open world" onboard equipment, which is not specific to aeronautical applications. This "open world" equipment is interface means (of "man-machine" type ) available to an operator, in particular a pilot, of the airplane. By way of nonlimiting example, mention may be made of so-called industrial processors, portable computers, printers, etc. Such "open world" equipment exhibits a lower level of reliability than that of the aforementioned devices of avionics type. It nevertheless has the advantage of being much cheaper than them and its reliability level is sufficient for applications that are not directly related to maneuvers of the plane, such as for example the consulting of maintenance documentation or diagnostic aid with regard to maintenance. When an airplane comprises interface means of open world type, it is sometimes beneficial to be able to use one or more of these interface means, to allow an operator to exchange information with devices of avionics type. This may be useful in particular within the framework of maintenance operations on the airplane, for consulting values of parameters available in devices of avionics type or for testing certain components of the airplane (for example electrical circuits, control surfaces, etc). the maneuvering of which is controlled by such devices of avionics type.
However, even if these maintenance operations exhibit lesser criticalness than that of the flight phases of the airplane, the reliability level of said interface means of open world type may not be sufficient in certain cases. Thus, by way of example, when a maintenance operation involves the maneuvering of a control surface, it is imperative for the latter not to trigger inadvertently, since inadvertent triggering could be dangerous for personnel located in proximity to said control surface. Likewise, when a maintenance operation entails the handling of electrical equipment, the operator must ensure that this equipment is not live, erroneous information possibly having fatal consequences.
Consequently, it is generally strongly discouraged, in particular for reliability and hence safety reasons, to implement transmission of sensitive information on an aircraft between a device of avionics type, such as described above, and an interface means of aforesaid type.

Process and system for transmitting information on an aircraft


The present invention provides an angular velocity detection method adopting a bi-directional full reciprocal coupling optoelectronic oscillator, which is implemented on an optical carrier microwave gyroscope. The optical carrier microwave gyroscope is a bi-directional resonant optical carrier microwave angular velocity measurement device sharing one optical fiber loop. The core of the method lies in that the Sagnac effect is sensed using a bi-directional optical carrier microwave resonant cavity, where the optical carrier microwave resonant cavity employs a coupling optoelectronic oscillator to achieve a bi-directional full reciprocal optical fiber path, and non-reciprocity error of the resonant cavity is eliminated effectively. The angular velocity detection method has features of high-precision, easy implementation and low costs.

The inertial technology is one of core technologies for a national defense weapon equipment system, which plays a very important role in improving rapid mobility of troops, conducting precision strikes and improving self-viability. In the field of inertial navigation, a gyroscope is used to measure an inertial angular velocity generally. A high-precision gyroscope directly affects navigation precision of an inertial navigation system, thus, a precision level of the gyroscope is a measure of national military technology levels.
Currently, practical high-precision gyroscopes mainly include electrostatic gyroscope and threefold floated gyroscope. The electrostatic gyroscope is the most accurate gyroscope so far, but it has a large size, its key component requires very high dimension accuracy, thus the processing is difficult, and costs are also very high. The threefold floated gyroscope is a mechanical gyroscope with stability of drift second only to the electrostatic gyroscope, however, high processing precision, strict assembly and precise temperature control are also required, and thus its costs are also very high.
High-precision gyroscopes which are being explored in theory include cold atom gyroscope, nuclear magnetic resonance gyroscope and slow light gyroscope. The cold atom gyroscope is implemented based on a cold atom interferometer, which has great potential sensitivity, but is difficult to be implemented. Precision of the nuclear magnetic resonance gyroscope with a cryogenic superconductor may surpass that of the electrostatic gyroscope theoretically, however, the sophistication of currently developed prototypes is far less than the level of the electrostatic gyroscope, which also brings high processing difficulty and production costs. As for the slow light gyroscope, there hasn't been a successful theory verification example yet.
An optical gyroscope has features such as compact structure and high sensitivity, which commands the greatest market share of the high-precision gyroscope, it operates on the theory of detecting an angular velocity based on the Sagnac effect. However, it is difficult to improve precision of a laser gyroscope and an optical fiber gyroscope due to their own limitations such as reciprocity error and drift error of the system, which thus relegate it to the field of medium-precision and low-precision gyroscopes and it is difficult to meet the requirements of high-precision inertial navigation.

Angular velocity detection method adopting bi-directional full reciprocal coupling optoelectronic oscillator


A semiconductor laser comprises two optical ring resonators, each comprising an optical waveguide electrically pumped to provide optical gain. The two ring resonators have different round-trip optical path lengths, and are coupled to each other through a half-wave optical coupler. The half-wave optical coupler has a predetermined cross-coupling coefficient and a 180-degree cross-coupling phase. The cross-coupling coefficient is substantially less than the self-coupling coefficients in order to achieve an optimal single-mode selectivity of the laser. The first ring resonator has an optical path length such that its resonant wavelengths correspond to a set of discrete operating channels. The second ring resonator has a slightly different length so that only one resonant wavelength coincides with one of the resonant wavelengths of the first ring resonator over the operating spectral window. The lasing action occurs at the common resonant wavelength. In operation, at least a portion of the optical waveguide in each of the first and the second ring resonators are forward biased to provide substantially equal round-trip optical gains. The second ring resonator is tuned by varying the effective refractive index of a portion of the waveguide through an electrical means, resulting in wavelength switching among the set of discrete operating wavelengths as determined by the first ring resonator.

Widely tunable lasers are of great interest for both long-haul and metropolitan optical networks. Besides their use for source sparing with the advantages of reduced inventory and cost, they open the possibility of new system architectures with more efficient and more flexible network management. For example, the combination of tunable lasers with wavelength routers can provide large format-independent space switches and reconfigurable optical add/drop functions. High speed wavelength switching can also be used for wavelength based packet switching and optical CDMA.
Monolithically integrated semiconductor tunable lasers offer many advantages over external-cavity tunable lasers assembled from discrete components. They are compact, low-cost, and more reliable as they contain no moving parts. A conventional monolithic tunable laser usually comprises a multi-electrode structure for continuous tuning. A typical semiconductor tunable laser consists of a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) grating, an active gain section, and a phase shift region. An electrode for electrical control is disposed on top of each of the three sections. When the reflection peak wavelength of the DBR grating is tuned by injecting current, the phase shift region must be adjusted simultaneously in order to prevent the laser from hopping from one mode to another. Besides, the tuning range of such a laser is limited to about 10 nm due to the limitation of commonly achievable refractive index change in semiconductor materials.
A more sophisticated tunable laser with a wider tuning range and improved performances was described by V. Jarayman, Z. M. Chuang, and L. A. Coldren, in an article entitled "Theory, design, and performance of extended tuning range semiconductor lasers with sampled gratings", IEEE J. Quantum Electron. Vol. 29, pp. 1824-1834, 1993. It comprises of four electrodes controlling two sampled grating distributed Bragg reflectors, a phase-shift region and a gain section. Similar structures have been developed in the form of superstructure grating (SSG) DBR laser, modulated grating Y-branch (MG-Y) laser and digital supermode (DS) DBR laser, as described, respectively, in Y. Tohmori, Y. Yoshikuni, H. Ishii, "Broad-range wavelength-tunable superstructure grating (SSG) DBR lasers," IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 29, 1817-1823 (1993); J.-O. Wesström, Gert Sarlet, Stefan Hammerfeldt, "State of the art performance of widely tunable modulated grating Y-branch lasers," Optical Fiber Communication Conference, Washington D. C., paper TuE2 (2004); and D. J. Robbins, G. Busico, L. Ponnampalam, J. P. Duck, P. J. Williams, R. A. Griffin, A. J. Ward, D. C. J. Reid, N. D. Whitbread, and E. Barton, "A high power, broadband tunable laser module based on a DS-DBR laser with integrated SOA," Optical Fiber Communication Conference, Washington D.C., Paper TuE3 (2004). In all these prior-art devices, the wavelength tuning requires complex electronic circuits with multidimensional current control algorithms and look-up tables. Such complexity reduces the fabrication yield and increases the cost, and also opens the questions about the manufacturability and long term stability of the devices.
A widely tunable or wavelength switchable laser can also be realized by using two coupled cavities of slightly different lengths. The coupled-cavity laser can be fabricated either by etching a groove inside a cleaved Fabry-Perot laser, as described in a paper entitled "Monolithic two-section GaInAsP/InP active-optical-resonator devices formed by reactive-ion-etching", by L. A. Coldren et al, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 38, pp. 315˜317, 1981, or by using a cleaved-coupled-cavity, as described in a paper entitled "The cleaved-coupled-cavity (C3) laser", by W. T. Tsang, Semiconductors and Semimetals, vol. 22, p. 257, 1985. However, the performance of the prior-art coupled-cavity lasers in terms of mode selectivity is not satisfactory, which results in very limited use for practical applications.
Coupled-cavity lasers have also been investigated in the form of a Y-laser, as described in an article entitled "The Y-laser: A Multifunctional Device for Optical Communication Systems and Switching Networks", O. Hildebrand, M. Schilling, D. Baums, W. Idler, K. Dutting, G. Laube, and K. Wunstel, Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 2066-2074, 1993, and the references therein. The Y-laser has the advantage of being monolithic without the challenging fabrication requirement for deeply and vertically etched trenches. However, the mode selectivity of the Y-laser is very poor, with a side-mode threshold difference of only about 1 cm−1 for a 450 μm laser, compared to over 10 cm−1 for a typical DFB laser. This is far from sufficient for stable single-mode operation.
It has also been proposed to use two passive ring resonators coupled to the waveguide in a Fabry-Perot laser for achieving single-mode widely tunable laser, as described in an article entitled "Passive Microring-Resonator-Coupled Lasers", by B. Liu, A. Shakouri, and J. E. Bowers, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 79, pp. 3561-3563, 2001, and in "A GaInAsP-InP Double-Ring Resonator Coupled Laser", by D. G. Rabus, Z. Bian, and A. Shakouri, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol. 17, no. 9, pp. 1770-1772, 2005. These prior-art devices require an active Fabry-Perot cavity with cleaved facets, while the two ring resonators are used as passive transmissive filters inside the Fabry-Perot cavity to select the lasing mode. The device has a large size due to numerous elements and there is complexity due to the requirement that the filter transmission peaks of both ring resonators need to be tuned to match the Fabry-Perot mode for optimum performance.
For many applications, it is not necessary to tune the laser wavelength continuously. Rather, it is only required that the laser can be set to any discrete wavelength channel, e.g. as defined by the ITU (International Telecommunication Union). Such applications include linecard sparing, wavelength routing and optical add/drop. Key requirements for such wavelength switchable lasers are: 1) an accurate match of the discrete operating wavelengths with the predefined wavelength channels (e.g. ITU grid); 2) simple and reliable control for the switching between various channels; 3) high side-mode suppression ratio and low crosstalk; 4) fast switching speed; and 5) easy to fabricate and low cost.
In co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/306,520 entitled "V-coupled-cavity semiconductor laser", a V-coupled cavity structure with an optimal coupling coefficient for high single-mode selectivity is disclosed for operation as a widely wavelength switchable laser. The present patent application discloses a half-wave coupled active double ring resonator structure which can achieve the same functionality and performance without deep-etched reflection mirrors or any additional Fabry-Perot cavity.

Wavelength switchable semiconductor laser using half-wave coupled active double-ring resonator


A required torque waveform, a target torque waveform, and a maximum torque that can be realized/achieved by hardware are updated at time t2. When a required torque value at time t2 exceeds the maximum torque, the time at which the target torque waveform is realized is delayed until time tb at which this required torque value matches the maximum torque.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a control apparatus and method for an internal combustion engine. More particularly, the invention relates to a control apparatus and method that realizes a target waveform of a torque produced by an internal combustion engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 11-82090 (JP-A-11-82090) describes an apparatus which calculates a target torque based on an accelerator pedal operation amount and determines an intake air amount, an ignition timing, and the like so as to achieve that target torque. In addition, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 3-182667 (JP-A-3-182667) describes other related art.
However, if an internal combustion engine is required to significantly increase or decrease the torque production amount in a short time, the target torque may fall outside a range of torque that can be achieved by controlling the throttle valve opening amount, the ignition timing, and the like. In such case, it may no longer be possible to realize the target torque waveform. That is, the degree of accuracy at which the target torque waveform matches the required torque wave form may be reduced.

Control apparatus and method for internal combustion engine


A detachable imaging module for an electrostatographic printing apparatus, including: (a) a housing; (b) a cylindrical, rotatable photoreceptor at least partially disposed within the housing, wherein the photoreceptor has a non-imaging area; and (c) a frictional drive apparatus in contact with the non-imaging area for facilitating rotation of the photoreceptor by frictional contact, wherein there is absent a rotational drive gear coupled to the photoreceptor.

Electrostatographic printing machines have been developed which use one or more replaceable sub-assemblies called customer replaceable units (CRU). One typical CRU contains the photoreceptor and the necessary supporting hardware therefor assembled in a single unit designed for insertion and removal into and out of the machine by the user. When the CRU is no longer operational, the old CRU is removed and a new one installed.
For small cylindrical photoreceptors in correspondingly small CRUs, drive gears are relatively expensive, necessitating shafts, bearing surfaces, and flanges to attach to the photoreceptor, as well as inherently mechanically noisy due to the discrete nature of momentum transfer in a toothed gear system. In addition, ensuring surface motion tracking between the image-writing laser beam and the transfer point of toner to paper to ensure faithful digital image reproduction in a monochrome printer or color fidelity in a tandem color printing machine in which the surface motion tracking additionally must follow from photoreceptor to photoreceptor as well as within the photoreceptor, relies on both uniform rotation rate and controlled photoreceptor radji to minimize error in a gear driven system. The present invention achieves the necessary motion quality while using reduced cost parts and relaxing the radial uniformity requirements for the photoreceptor.
Conventional consumer replaceable units are disclosed in Imes, U.S. Pat. No. 5,537,189; Ebata et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,975,744; Harlan, U.S. Pat. No. 5,307,117; and Everdyke et al., U.S. Pat. No 5,243,384, the disclosures of which are totally incorporated herein by reference. In addition, Michlin, U.S. Pat. No. 5,402,207, discloses a long-life and improved photoreceptor drum gear.

Imaging module employing frictional drive


There is provided headgear having a variety of components. In one form, the headgear includes a camera device mounted to a brim thereof. Camera accessories that can be mounted to the headgear can include a switch, a control panel, a view finder, one or more lights. The headgear can also include a heat sink mounted to the brim to dissipate heat, and can be configured to block radio frequency emissions, generated by powered components of the headgear, such as the camera, a circuit board, one or more lights, or the like. The headgear can also include a 3D camera device having first and second lens devices mounted to the brim in a spaced configuration.

Often an individual desires a light focused to illuminate an area while performing a task or a light directed in a general outward direction for visibility. Holding a flashlight is an option, but such lighting devices are often cumbersome and may detract from the task being completed because the flashlight needs to be hand-held to be able to direct the light at a work site where the user needs illumination. As a result, hands-free lighting is often used because the individual desiring illumination does not need to hold the light source.
Lighted headgear may include illumination sources mounted to various types of headgear and hats. The light can be directed in such a manner so that the wearer is illuminated to be seen by others or directed downward to provide light forwardly of the wearer illuminating an area in the wearer's field of view, such as for reading. Applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 6,659,618 provides examples of such lighted hats. The light source can be one or more LEDs. Such LED lighted headgear, which may include LEDs mounted to a typical baseball-style cap, are convenient for hands-free lighting in a number of recreational activities, such as camping, hunting, fishing, jogging, or the like. Lighted headgear may include separate components such as one housing or assembly to hold a power source and other electrical components and a separate housing or assembly to contain the illumination source. Other lighted hats may contain all electrical components within a crown and/or brim portion of the hat. In each case, the lighted headgear generally includes a user-activated power switch (to energize the light source) positioned on one of the housings or on a portion of the hat.
In many cases, the lighted headgear is displayed on a store shelf in a manner so that a potential purchaser can operate the switch to turn on the light source. To this end, the hat may be provided to the store with a power source already included so that the light source can be activated by the consumer. However, because the lighted headgear may be shipped in bulk to the store with the power source included, the power source can be unintentionally activated through contact of the activation switch with an adjacently packed hat. In particular, where the activation switch is positioned on the hat brim, the light source can be inadvertently turned on during the shipping process by the hat brim of one hat engaging or depressing the activation switch of another hat nested therewith. Such inadvertent activation can drain the power source prior to the hat's display on the store shelf.
Prior packaging arrangements have been configured to allow actuation of a switch to momentarily activate a power source while an item is encased with the packaging, but such prior packaging is generally a blister-type pack that completely encases the product so that it tends to be bulky and distracts from the appearance of the item within the package. Moreover, such prior blister-pack arrangements generally do not include sufficient structure on the packaging to block inadvertent actuation of the switch that might cause power to drain from the battery. Therefore, when these prior packaging designs are shipped in bulk, there is the risk that engagement between adjacent packages could energize the power source and drain the battery.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,311,837 to Blaustein provides a bulky blister pak for an electric toothbrush that allows momentary activation of the toothbrush while within the packaging material by permitting a power switch to be depressed momentarily, but attempts to block continuous actuation of the power source by hindering the sliding of the switch to a permanently on position. To this end, Blaustein permits the momentary depressing of its power switch by relying on the flexibility of the blister pak material covering the switch that can easily deform to allow the switch to be depressed, but then includes a single and narrow rib adjacent one side of the momentary switch to prevent the sliding action of the switch to the continuously on position.
Blaustein's single rib is designed primarily to block the activation switch from shifting or sliding in a direction along the shaft of the toothbrush to prevent the switch from being shifted to the continuous on position. Although this packaging arrangement may be effective to prevent the switch from being slid to the continuously on-position, the blister pak has a relatively flexible material surrounding the switch in order to permit the momentary actuation of the switch. Therefore, inadvertent actuation may still occur when multiple items having this packaging arrangement are stacked atop one another. When sufficient items are tightly packed in a box or other shipping crate, a force between packed items may be sufficient to deform of the thin blister pak material covering the switch to depress the switch to the momentary on position. Therefore, Blaustein's switch can be inadvertently depressed to the momentary on position and the power source drained.
Other accessories have also been mounted to headgear to generally enable some aspect of hands-free operation of such accessories. In this regard, the individual's hands are free to complete other tasks while the accessory is being used. For example, cameras, binoculars, as well as other accessories have been mounted to headgear in order to allow the use of the accessory generally without requiring the use of ones hands. However, prior hat and accessory configurations tend to be bulky and also detract from the traditional style of the headgear.
In some instances, the lighted headgear may contain illumination sources, such as powerful LEDs, that release relatively large quantities of heat during operation. In order to protect the components of such an LED lighting system it is advantageous to dissipate the heat generated during light operation. Unfortunately, current heat sinks configured for use with compact light sources such as LEDs tend to be large and bulky and require relatively large flat surfaces to which the heat sink is mounted. In addition, prior heat sinks and LED configurations tend to be relatively thick and rigid which can limit their positioning on some headgear designs, such as baseball type hats or caps. Therefore, mounting a heat sink to an LED on a lighted hat tends to increase the thickness and bulk of the profile of the hat, and particularly the brim thereof from its normal more desired appearance.
Lighted headgear may include activation switches that are operable to establish electrical communication between the power source and the illumination source. The illumination source can be energized once the activation switch is depressed, slid, or otherwise shifted to an on position. For example, it is known to place a push button switch underneath the fabric covering the rigid brim material. However, many activation switches tend to be large and bulky and they do not allow the hat to maintain its normal more desired appearance because the switch provides bulges or other bumps in the profile of the hat.
Other headgear configurations include a power source contained in a rigid battery holder. In some cases, such rigid holder is placed within a lower sweatband area of the crown portion of the headgear that encircles a wearer's head. Because of the rigid configuration of the battery holder, the headgear can be uncomfortable for the wearer because the battery holder generally does not conform to the curved shape of the headgear. Alternatively, loose batteries can be placed in a pouch or other pocket contained within the headgear, but such loose configuration of the batteries can place strain on the wire connection to the battery that can eventually fail after repeated use of the hat due to repeated bending of the connection.
Additionally, an individual can use a camera to record pictures or video. In order to take a picture, a user often has to hold the camera in a position where the user can see what the camera is focused on, steady the camera, and depress a button to operate the camera. Holding the camera in a steady forward position to obtain a clear and non-blurry image can be difficult for a user. In such cases, a user can position the camera on a tripod to hold the camera steady during use. This, however, requires that a user carry the bulky tripod around in addition to carrying the camera. Similarly, when recording video, a user must hold the camera in a position where the user can see the live feed and must hold the camera steady to obtain clear video.
Camera manufacturers have recently been developing and marketing 3-dimensional (3D) cameras with two lenses on a front face thereof. The two lenses are configured to capture images or video, which can be combined to produce a 3D end product. Such cameras suffer from the same disadvantages as discussed above because a user still carries the camera and must hold it steady in a forward position or position the camera on a tripod to capture good quality images. The illusion of depth provided by 3D images and videos is impacted by the spacing between the two lenses, which provides two different perspectives for the combination. Additionally, hand-held cameras have steadily decreased in size to increase the camera's mobility and ease of storage. Such small housings, however, would limit the amount of available spacing between the lenses and therefore limit the 3D effect of end product images and video.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An oscillation piece includes a first oscillation arm and a second oscillation arm, a first base that connects ends of the first oscillation arm and the second oscillation arm on one side to each other and a second base that connects ends of the first oscillation arm and the second oscillation arm on the other side to each other, and weight films provided on each of the first oscillation arm and the second oscillation arm. The drive electrodes are disposed in positions where the amount of distortion produced in the first oscillation arm and the second oscillation arm is maximized, and the weight films are disposed in positions where the amount of distortion produced in the first oscillation arm and the second oscillation arm is minimized. The oscillation frequency of the oscillation piece can be precisely adjusted by removing part of the weight films.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an oscillation piece, an oscillator, an electronic device, an electronic apparatus, and a mobile object.
2. Related Art
As electronic apparatuses are miniaturized, oscillators used in the electronic apparatus need to be also miniaturized. To achieve the miniaturization with high precision maintained, a double-ended tuning fork oscillation piece is used as an oscillation piece that is a main element of the oscillator. There is a known double-ended tuning fork oscillation piece having two oscillation arms, connection portions that connect ends of the oscillation arms on one side and ends thereof on the other side, and bases that fix the double-ended tuning fork oscillation piece and so configured that the cross-section area of a portion between each of the connection portions and the corresponding base is reduced to suppress what is called oscillation leakage, which causes oscillation of the oscillation arms to be transmitted to the bases, which are fixing portions of the double-ended tuning fork oscillation piece. The thus configured double-ended tuning fork oscillation piece can be miniaturized with the precision thereof maintained (see JP-A-64-29110, for example).
In JP-A-64-29110, the precision of the oscillation piece is improved by preventing the oscillation of the oscillation arms from being transmitted to the bases. To precisely control the frequency of the oscillation piece, the oscillation piece needs to be precisely shaped. An etching process and a photolithography process are typically used as a method for forming such an oscillation piece, but processing precision in these processes is limited and the variation in the shape cannot provide target frequency precision.

Oscillation piece, oscillator, electronic device, electronic apparatus, and mobile object


A string clamping and tuning mechanism for stringed instruments is disclosed, where the string tension actuates one or more levers to generate two points of clamping force along the string. In a first embodiment, a single lever is used to generate two points of clamping force along the string. In a second embodiment, the clamping force is less concentrated at a first point of clamping force than a second point of clamping force to optimize the holding power of the mechanism. In a third embodiment, a second lever with a screw adjusted stop causes an increase or decrease in the tension in the string.

Over the years, many systems have been devised for securing and tensioning the strings of stringed musical instruments. Strings for musical instruments are usually provided with one ball end and one non-ball end.
One common tuning system in use today creates tension in the strings by wrapping the non-ball ends around tuning posts fixed at the head end of the instrument neck, which posts are tuned through a worm gear arrangement to create the required tension. The ball ends of the strings pass through openings in a tail piece, through which the balls or rings cannot pass. This system, while in common use, has stability problems because the worm gear drives needed to operate the tuning posts have backlash making precise tuning difficult, and also the strings can tighten around the posts after once being tightened, detuning the instrument.
In an alternative tuning system, the ball end of the string is held in a jaw, which is threaded to accept a screw that pulls the string taut. In this kind of tuning system, the non-ball end of the string is held in a clamp which ordinarily requires a tool of some sort to operate. To avoid the use of tools, this type of tuning system can alternatively hold the non-ball end of the string in a clamp that uses the tension of the string itself to provide a clamping force at a single point. By providing a clamping force at a single point, the clamping force is limited to the minimum force required to sever the string. For string players who pull aggressively on the strings when they play the instrument, the clamping force provided by a single point of clamping can be inadequate to hold the string, causing the instrument to detune.
The present invention permits the non-ball end of the string to be clamped without using tools, using the tension in the string itself to provide the clamping force in multiple locations along the string. In a second embodiment, the present invention distributes the clamping force over a wider area of the string at the point where the string is first clamped, as compared to the second point of clamping, to reduce the occurrence of the string severing at the first point. In a third embodiment, the present invention also provides an improved tuning system which has greater stability than the worm gear tuning posts of the past and a greater clamping force than the single point string tension clamps of the past without severing the strings.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a system for clamping the strings of a musical instrument that can be operated without tools and provides an adequate clamping force to withstand extreme bending of the strings without slipping. It is a further object of the invention to provide a stable tuning system for a stringed musical instrument that can be operated without tools and provides an adequate clamping force to withstand extreme bending of the strings without slipping.

String clamping system for musical instruments


To connect one out of N signal channels (K.sub.1, K.sub.2, K.sub.N) each having a signal line (L.sub.1, L.sub.2, L.sub.N) and a channel zero line (N.sub.1, N.sub.2, N.sub.N), where N is greater than one, to one input of a (differential) amplifier (1) whose circuit is referenced to an associated ground (SN), a one-out-of-N multiplexer (2) is provided having 3N switching paths (S.sub.11, S.sub.21, S.sub.31, S.sub.12, S.sub.22, S.sub.32, S.sub.1N, S.sub.2N, S.sub.3N), a first (S.sub.11, S.sub.12, S.sub.1N) of which serves to connect the N signal lines (L.sub.1, L.sub.2, L.sub.N) to said input, and a second (S.sub.21, S.sub.22, S.sub.2N) of which serves to advance the N channel zero lines (N.sub.1, N.sub.2, N.sub.N). The respective inputs of the switching paths of a third switching-path set (S.sub.31, S.sub.32, S.sub.N) are connected to the respective inputs of the switching paths of the second switching-path set (S.sub.21, S.sub.22, S.sub.2N), and the outputs of the latter are commoned to one input of an auxiliary (differential) amplifier (3). The outputs of the third switching-path set (S.sub.31, S.sub.23, S.sub.2N) are commoned to the output of the auxiliary (differential) amplifier, whose circuit is referenced to the ground (SN) of the (differential) amplifier (1).

Such circuit arrangements are needed, for example, if signal channels which carry signals originating from several measuring points with suitable sensors are to be alternately or successively connected to the input of a differential amplifier. Each signal channel generally has a signal line and a channel zero line.
The channel zero line need not necessarily be connected to ground, as in the case of a battery, for example, where the signal line and the channel zero line serve to connect the two terminals of the battery to desired points of a circuit.
Normally, the multiplexer serves to connect both the signal line and the channel zero line to the differential amplifier; thus, a two-terminal through-connection is made.


A disk drive comprising an actuator including a head, a disk, and a processor connected to the actuator by a flex circuit cable. The processor under the control of a program to: apply a control signal for a seek operation and to apply a bias signal to the control signal to approximate the bias imparted by the flex circuit cable. The bias is determined from a data structure that stores: bias values for track zones representative of a first and second bias curves that approximate a bias imparted by the flex circuit cable upon the actuator as the actuator moves the head from the OD to the ID of the disk and from the ID to the OD of the disk, respectively. The bias values representative of the first and second bias curves are determined based upon a non-linear apportionment of track zones.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to disk drives. More particularly, the present invention relates to a disk drive that compensates for the bias imparted by a flex circuit cable during a seek operation by utilizing a dual bias curve estimation scheme.
2. Description of the Prior Art and Related Information
Today, computers are routinely used both at work and in the home. Computers advantageously enable file sharing, the creation of electronic documents, the use of application specific software, and electronic commerce through Internet and other computer networks. Typically, each computer has a storage peripheral such as a disk drive (e.g. a hard disk drive).
A huge market exists for hard disk drives for mass-market computer systems such as servers, desktop computers, and laptop computers. To be competitive in this market, a hard disk drive should embody a design that is adapted for providing rapid access to data and providing high data storage capacity. Satisfying these competing constraints of rapid access to data and high data storage capacity requires innovation in many of the numerous components of the disk drive.
Typically, the main assemblies of a hard disk drive are a head disk assembly (HDA) and a printed circuit board assembly (PCBA). The head disk assembly includes an enclosure including a base and a cover, at least one disk having at least one recording surface, a spindle motor for causing each disk to rotate, and an actuator arrangement. The PCBA generally includes circuitry for processing signals and controlling operations in the disk drive.
An actuator arrangement that is commonly used in hard disk drives is a rotary actuator arrangement included as part of a head stack assembly (HSA) that includes a collection of elements of the head disk assembly. The collection typically includes certain prefabricated subassemblies and certain components that are incorporated into the head disk assembly. For example, a prefabricated head stack assembly (HSA) may include a pivot bearing cartridge, a rotary actuator arrangement, and permanent magnets and an arrangement for supporting the magnets to produce a magnetic field for a voice coil motor.
The rotary actuator arrangement of the HSA may also include a coil forming another part of the voice coil motor, an actuator body having a bore through it, and a plurality of arms projecting parallel to each other and perpendicular to the access of the bore. The rotary actuator arrangement of the HSA may also include head gimbal assemblies (HGAs) that are supported by the arms. Each HGA includes a load beam and a head supported by the load beam. The head is positioned over a track on a recording surface of the disk to write or read data to or from the track, respectively. A flex circuit cable typically connects the processing circuitry of the PCBA to the rotary actuator of the HSA in order to deliver commands such as read and write commands, as well as seeking and tracking commands.
Because of the competitive pressure to continually develop hard disk drives that provide faster and more robust access to data, techniques are continuously being developed to decrease the access time to data. One technique to accomplish this is by increasing the speed and accuracy by which the HSA is pivoted to position the head over a track of the disk in order to access data as part of a seek operation. Particularly, in order to provide faster access to data, techniques are continually being developed to decrease seek time to data.
Seek time generally refers to the time required to move the head of the actuator from a current position or current track to a target position or target track. The seek time is determined by the mechanical characteristics of the HSA and by a seek profile. The seek profile defines, during the time that the actuator is accelerated and decelerated en-route to the target track, a desired acceleration/deceleration profile and desired velocity profile to achieve an efficient and predictable arrival of the head to the target track of the disk. Disk drive makers work diligently to improve the efficiency and accuracy of the seek operation.
One common problem associated with seek operations is that the flex circuit cable typically imparts a bias force upon the actuator that needs to be accounted for in the final control effort to cancel its effect. If the bias imparted by the flex circuit cable is not properly accounted for in the control effort of the seek operation, the seek operation performs poorly resulting in decreased data retrieval time and overall degraded throughput performance.
Particularly, the flex circuit cable typically imparts a spring action that operates upon the actuator as a bias force. Also, other factors affect the bias of the flex circuit cable on the actuator such as windage on the flex circuit cable and actuator, the internal ambient temperature of the disk drive, as well as other factors.
Previous attempts have been made to address flex circuit cable bias in seek operations. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,872,674 issued to Eddy discloses a specialized seek controller and tracking controller to attempt to account for various biases. The tracking controller of Eddy is preferably implemented as a digital signal processor (DSP) and includes a proportional integrator differentiator (PID) controller. In conjunction with the DSP tracking controller, Eddy discloses the use of a look-up table that is provided to store predicted bias values and locations addressable by seek direction, previous seek direction, seek length, and head position.
Other more robust techniques have been implemented in modern microprocessor-based disk drives to attempt to compensate for bias forces imparted by the flex circuit cable during seek operations, such as, by storing bias values representative of a single bias curve that is used to estimate bias effects. Unfortunately, these techniques do not provide the desired degree of accuracy for high performance disk drives that have an ever-increasing radial density of data tracks.

Disk drive compensation of bias imparted by a flex circuit cable utilizing a dual bias curve estimation scheme


An electronic ignition gun includes a casing holding a fuel gas container, a battery and a high voltage circuit on the inside, the fuel gas container having a gas outlet valve and a pull tab coupled to the gas outlet valve, a push-button switch mounted in a hole on the casing and depressed to drive the pull tab in opening the gas outlet valve for letting fuel gas be discharged out of the fuel gas container through a gas nozzle via a gas tube and to simultaneously close the circuit between the high voltage circuit and the battery, causing the high voltage circuit to discharge a high voltage in producing sparks for igniting discharged fuel gas, and safety lock means, which stops the push-button switch from operation.

The present invention relates to an electric ignition gun, and more particularly to an electric ignition gun that can easily be operated to catch fire by depressing a push-button switch.
FIG. 1 shows an electronic ignition gun according to the prior art. This electronic ignition gun includes a casing 1 having a sliding slot 11 at one side, and a sliding switch 12 mounted on the casing 1 and moved back and forth in the sliding slot 11. The sliding switch 12 comprises a handle 121 disposed outside the casing 1, a substantially L-shaped stop plate 122 coupled to the handle 121 and disposed inside the casing 1. The stop plate 122 has one end coupled to the handle 121, and an opposite end terminating in a stop wall 1221. The casing 1 defines a storage chamber 13, which holds a fuel gas container 14. The fuel gas container 14 has a gas outlet valve connected to a flexible gas tube 142. The flow rate of the gas outlet valve of the fuel gas container 14 is controlled by a gas flow rate control 141. A coupling plate 143 is provided having one end coupled to the connecting area between the gas outlet valve of the fuel gas container 14 and the flexible gas tube 142, and an opposite end mounted with a spring 144. The spring 144 has one end connected to the coupling plate 143, and an opposite end situated above the stop wall 1221 of the stop plate 122. The opposite end of the flexible gas tube 142 is connected with a metal gas nozzle 145, having a front end on which is mounted with a gas flow buffer spring 146. The gas flow buffer spring 146 buffers the flowing speed of discharged fuel gas, enabling discharged fuel gas to be well mixed with air. The casing 1 further comprises a locating groove 15 on the inside at its front end, which receives the metal gas nozzle 145. The front end of the casing 1 is mounted with a metal flame nozzle 17. A piezoelectric igniter 18 is mounted in the casing 1 and coupled to the stop plate 122 of the sliding switch 12, and has two electric wires 2 respectively extended from its two opposite terminals and respectively connected to the metal gas nozzle 145 and the metal flame tube 17. When the sliding switch 12 is pushed in one direction, the coupling plate 143 is forced to pull the flexible gas tube 142, causing fuel gas to flow out of the gas outlet valve of the fuel gas container 14 through the flexible gas tube 142 to the metal gas nozzle 145, and at the same time the piezoelectric igniter 18 is driven to discharge a high voltage through the metal gas nozzle 145 and the metal flame tube 17 via the electric wires 2, thereby causing sparks to be produced in the space between the metal gas nozzle 145 and the metal flame tube 17, and therefore discharged fuel gas is ignited at the front end of the metal gas nozzle 145. Because the operation of the piezoelectric igniter 18 and the discharging of fuel gas from the fuel gas container 14 are controlled by the sliding operation of the sliding switch 12, the user must employ much effort to move the sliding switch 12 when operating the electronic ignition gun. If insufficient push force is applied to the sliding switch 12, the piezoelectric igniter 18 cannot be positively triggered to discharge a high voltage.


Systems and methods for providing services to smart devices connected in an Internet of things (IoT) platform. It detects the user and connected registered smart devices in it's vicinity, authenticates them, and receives and processes various requests from them. The user may also provide inputs in natural language and the invention maps context associated with the user utterance to an intent to utilize the one or more services. It may also generate one or more customized responses for one or more outlier requests based on historical data stored in the database. It may automatically processes payment pertaining to one or more services subscribed by the user, wherein information specific to the payment is obtained based on the configuration preferences stored in a database and the one or more services being analyzed by the Process Orchestration Layer module.

The Internet of Things (IoT) has metamorphosed over the last few years. Internet of Things (IoT), from eye-wear to cars and smartwatches, is spreading its wings as the technology behind it matures. Connecting various types of electronic devices together for a great experience in the day-to day activities is stated to be the ultimate objective of IOT. In the future, its applications will no doubt impact industry, urban development, healthcare, agriculture and other major ecosystems. Gartner projects there will be 6.4 billion connected things in use worldwide in 2016 (a 30 percent increase from 2015), and that the market will grow to 20.8 billion by 2020.
Internet of Things is attractive for fintech, not only for software and hardware developers, but also for banks and other FinTech companies to enable innovative payment experiences and provide wide range of methods to accept payments using NFC chips, payment apps, sensors, tracking devices, etc. Apart from apps for IOT devices, Fintech companies are also making bold moves and developing customized platforms to integrate IoT with payment applications.
While IoT will undoubtedly affect all sorts of global infrastructures, one of its prime applications is within the private home. By definition, a "smart home" is a house that incorporates advanced automation systems to provide the inhabitants with sophisticated monitoring and control over the building's functions. A smart home may provide its owners with control of lighting, temperature, multi-media, window and door operations and security, as well as the ability to automatically replenish various supplies.
Configuring a complex IoT ecosystem that provides multiple technical services to banks, users and vendors is another challenge. Presently, the IoT devices do not have ability to make financial transactions. This requires multiple devices to be configured independently. Lot of user interference is required for safe and reliable communications and handling of various requests. Many IoT platforms are poorly designed and implemented, using diverse protocols and technologies that may create complex and conflicting configurations. Various approaches such as decentralization and blockchain techniques have been applied but these suffer from various limitations such as scalability issues, storage issues and processing power and time required. Thus, there is a need for a system that automatically identifies a registered user or a vendor, handles various requests even in the absence of a registered user and provides secure and reliable technical solutions to users, payment facilities and vendors through dynamic authentication of each user, each device recognized by the IoT network and each transaction or service domain. Thus, there is a need for an IoT platform which provides for easy set-up, appliance activation, a simple and secure registration of smart devices and enabling or disabling of financial sources.
Security is a major issue in the IoT ecosystem. The massive amounts of personal identification and financial account information may be hacked for illicit financial gains by initiating a massive amount of fraudulent transactions, without any knowledge of the rightful owner. This may typically be done by using breached credit/debit or bank account information. In today's IoT ecosystem, the user has very few reliable tools available to insure that their information and data is safe and cannot be used to complete fraudulent transactions. Some steps have been taken by financial communities to reduce such financial frauds. For example, Visa and MasterCard which act as branding networks in the credit/debit card market, are both introducing enhanced security measures that allow the rightful account owner to add a user name, password, secured pin number etc to their account, which are then required for all transactions initiated via the cards. Further, Visa verified and MasterCard secured code are being rolled out through their participating financial card issuers. However, in spite of these measures millions of accounts and large volume of financial information are getting breached or hacked. Thus, there is a need for system which can eliminate such security threats in IoT ecosystem that caters the needs of multiple banks, users and various financial devices.
None of the aforementioned legacy approaches achieve the capabilities of the herein-disclosed techniques for providing and managing services through connected smart devices or in other words in evolving Internet of Things (IOT) ecosystem. There is a need for improvements.

Systems and methods for providing services to smart devices connected in an IoT platform


An oil strainer head is attached to an oil suction pipe using a machined bulge flange in the pipe. A connection flange on the oil strainer head is fitted over the lower end of the pipe below the bulge flange. The bulge flange is then crimped in an outward curve to deform the connection flange into a corresponding outward curve captured within the crimped lower end. This structure eliminates the need for reinforcement and welding and produces a strong, non-leaking joint that reduces the number of parts and manufacturing operations.

Referring to FIG. 6 an engine 1 of an automobile includes a lubrication system that uses, among other things, an oil pan 2, an oil pump 3 and an oil strainer 4. Oil strainer 4 conducts oil 5 from oil pan 2 to oil pump 3.
Referring now to FIG. 7, oil strainer 4, in brief, comprises pipe member 6, which forms the oil path, and an umbrella-shaped member 8 attached to a lower end 6a of pipe member 6. A screen 7 covers the lower end of umbrella-shaped member 8.
Screen 7 prevents impurities in the oil 5 from being sucked in, and umbrella-shaped member 8 holds this screen 7 to prevent air from being sucked in when the surface of the oil in oil pan 2 is tilted.
An enlarged view of the connection between pipe member 6 and umbrella-shaped member 8 is shown in FIG. 8. An axially directed cylindrical connection flange 9 is formed in the upper center of umbrella-shaped member 8. Lower end 6a of pipe member 6 is inserted into connection flange 9 in the upper part of umbrella-shaped member 8. After insertion, reinforcement 10, which has an L-shaped cross-section, is slid down from its initial position on pipe member 6 onto connection flange 9 and the upper part of umbrella-shaped member 8. The upright upper end of reinforcement 10 is joined integrally to the outer circumference of the upper end of connection flange 9 and of pipe member 6 by means of weld W1. The upper part of umbrella-shaped member 8 and the horizontal part of reinforcement 10 are joined integrally by means of spot weld W2.
Reinforcement 10 serves not only to join pipe member 6 and umbrella-shaped member 8 but also to form a seal between pipe member 6 and umbrella-shaped member 8. That is, reinforcement 10 is attached in order to improve the seal of oil strainer 4 and in order to improve the strength.
As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, an upper end 6b of pipe member 6 includes a flange 11 for attachment of pipe member 6 to oil pump 3. A notch or groove 13 in flange 11 adjacent upper end 6b accommodates an 0-ring 12. 0-ring 12 seals upper end 6b of pipe member 6 to an oil pump case 14 of oil pump 3.
An oil gauge 18 is inserted into a level gauge guide 17 which passes alongside a cylinder block 15 and cylinder head 16. An end 18a of oil level gauge 18 extends into oil 5 in oil pan 2. As is conventional, oil level gauge 18 includes graduations thereon to indicate the level of oil 5 in oil pan 2.
A cylinder head bolt 19 is one of many that join cylinder block 15 and cylinder head 16. A chain adjuster 20 is disposed within cylinder head 16 to adjust the tension on a chain (not shown) for connection to oil pump 3. Oil is pumped under pressure by oil pump 3 though an oil filter and a main gallery to cylinder head 16. The oil is diverted around the circumference of cylinder head bolt 19, to chain adjuster 20. An oil pressure switch 21 monitors oil pressure. An oil drain hole 22 permits draining oil 5 from oil pan 2.
Examined patent HEI 7-4631 1995! discloses a crimping member and crimping structure. In what is disclosed, a crimping part is provided that has a cylindrical part, a flange, part of whose circumferential wall is plastically deformed. A notch is formed in a flange on one end of cylindrical part. The cylindrical part is inserted through a connection hole formed in a correspondent member to be joined to this crimping member. The notch is fitted into a notch fitting part formed on the correspondent member. The part that passes through the connection hole of the cylindrical part is plastically deformed. The correspondent member is crimped with this plastically deformed part and the flange.
Examined utility model HEI 5-22344 1993! discloses an anchoring structure for a first plate and second plate that employs a crimping cylinder on the second plate fitted rather tightly onto the outer circumference of a cylindrical protrusion on the first plate. Striking pressure is applied to the upper end face of this crimping cylinder and cylindrical protrusion to form flat ribs on the cylindrical protrusion. Rib crimping surrounds the flat rib in the crimping cylinder, thereby holding in place the first plate and second plate.
Unexamined utility model SHO 58-71422 1983! discloses a fence in which the ends of a steel plate are crimped and both ends of multiple pipe-shaped upright crosspieces are fitted into cylindrically flanged through-holes on an upper frame and lower frame of molded steel plate. Crimping spots for the upright crosspieces are cut away in these through-holes and expanded outward, engaging with the cylindrical flanges of the upper frame and lower frame. The upright crosspieces and the upper and lower frames are held in place by this engagement part and by bulges provided on the outer upright crosspieces of the through-holes.
In the prior art described above, because the oil strainer pipe member and umbrella-shaped member are joined and held in place with a reinforcement, there is the problem that the number of parts and the attachment operations are increased by the portion attributable to the reinforcement, and the running costs of the equipment itself are that much higher. Because the pipe member, umbrella-shaped member, and reinforcement are joined by welding, there is the additional problem that the process of manufacturing the oil strainer is more complicated. If the reinforcement is omitted, the strength of the joint between the pipe member and the umbrella-shaped member is reduced.
Also, with the crimping member and crimping structure disclosed in examined patent HEI 7-4631 1995!, the application of excessive force to the flange formed in the crimping member or to the corresponding member that is fitted into the crimping member may cause a crack in the connecting hole of the correspondent member, of the same diameter as the cylindrical part. There is the further problem that the corresponding member cannot be made thinner in order to avoid such cracking.
In the first plate and second plate anchoring structure disclosed in examined utility model HEI 5-22344 1993!, crimping is formed surrounding the flat rib on the cylindrical protrusion of the first plate located on the inner side and the flat rib on the crimping cylinder of the second plate located on the outer side, holding the two plates in place. But there is the problem that the cylindrical protrusion of the first plate may be curved. If the cylindrical protrusion is long, it is difficult to form the flat rib. Also, because the crimping part of the first plate and second plate overlap, the crimping to this extent bulges outward, creating the problem that more space is needed and the freedom of design is restricted.
Also, with the fence as disclosed in unexamined utility model SHO 58-71422 1983!, both ends of multiple upright crosspieces are inserted into flanged through-holes on the upper and lower frames, the ends of the crosspieces are expanded open in these through-holes, engaging the cylindrical flange, and the upper and lower frames and the upright crosspieces are held in place by this engagement part and by the bulge that is formed in the upright crosspieces located outside the through-holes. There is a problem with strength, because the crimping is not done in such a way that both the ends of the upright crosspieces and the cylindrical flange of the upper and lower frames curl inward.