A mobile handset having a static preventing device comprises a handset body having components such as a PCB, a detachable battery, a locking member for securing the battery to or for releasing the battery from the handset body, a conductive contact plate located by the locking member, a ground provided at the battery for discharging static electricity, and a switching path from the conductive contact plate to the ground, wherein the switching path is operative when the battery is secured to or released from the handset body.

Generally, a mobile handset is a communication device capable of performing a voice transmission and reception with a remote party, and is generally simply carried by a user. Information communication technology has progressed and the mobile handset can also transmit/receive text messages, access the Internet, and receive TV signals. The mobile handset can also function as a camera capable of taking, transmitting, and receiving still photographs and motion videos. Additional uses for the mobile handset are being developed continuously.
The mobile handset generally has one of several form types—a bar type mobile handset, a flip type mobile handset, a folder type mobile handset, or a slider type mobile handset.
A battery supplies power to the mobile handset and the battery may be detached from the handset for charging in a separate charger, or when being replaced by a fully charged battery. A memory card for external memory also may be mounted in the handset body.
FIG. 1 is a disassembled perspective view showing a mobile handset in accordance with the conventional art, and FIG. 2 is a partial sectional view showing the mobile handset. As shown, the mobile handset comprises a body 100 having a certain shape, and a battery 200 detachably coupled to one side of the body 100 for supplying power.
The body 100 comprises a body casing 111 having a certain shape, a printed circuit board (PCB) 130 mounted in the body casing 111, and a key pad (not shown) mounted in the body casing 111. The body casing 111 comprises a front case 110 and a rear case 120 coupled to the front case 110. A compartment 121 for mounting the battery 200 is formed at the rear case 120.
Connection terminals 140 are formed on an inner side of the battery compartment 121, and the connection terminals 140 are connected to other components. A memory card slot 122 and a SIM card slot 123 are respectively formed on a surface of the battery compartment 121 for mounting a memory card 300 and a SIM card 310 respectively. The memory card 300 and the SIM card 310 are connected to chips inside the handset body 100 by signal lines in order to exchange data and signals.
The battery 200 comprises a battery body 210 formed to have a certain thickness and area, connection terminals 220, and a stopping groove 230. A battery latch for securing or releasing the battery 200 within the battery compartment 121 is provided on one side of the handset body 100.
The battery latch comprises a guide groove 124 having a certain length, a locking member 150 formed with a certain shape, and a spring 160 positioned in the handset body 100 for biasing the locking member 150 in the direction of the battery compartment 121. The guide groove 124 is penetratingly formed at one side of the handset body 100 and positioned at an edge of the battery compartment 121. The locking member 150 is coupled to the handset body 150 by spring 160 and is slideable within the guide groove 124.
The locking member 150 comprises a step portion 151 for insertion into the stopping groove 230 of the battery, a contact portion 152 for sliding within the guide groove 124, and a spring support portion 153. Spring 160 is disposed between locking member 150 and the handset body 100, and couples the locking member 150 to the handset body.
The mobile handset is used when the battery 200 is mounted within the battery compartment 121 and secured with the locking member 150. When the battery 200 is completely discharged, the locking member 150 is released thereby allowing the battery 200 to separate from the handset body 100. The battery 200 then may be charged in a separate charger, or a replacement battery may be inserted into the battery compartment 121.
The battery 200 is mounted to the handset body 100 as follows: the locking member 150 is slideably moved into the handset body 100 in a direction away from the battery compartment 121 thereby compressing spring 160, the battery 200 is inserted into the battery compartment 121, and the locking member 150 is released. The spring 160 biases the locking member 150 to the original position causing the step portion 151 to be inserted into the locking groove 230 thereby securing the battery 200 into the battery compartment 121.
The battery 200 is removed from the handset body 100 as follows: the locking member 150 is slideably moved into the handset body 100 in a direction away from the battery compartment 121 thereby compressing spring 160, the step portion 151 retracts from the locking groove 230 thereby releasing the battery 200 from the battery compartment 121. The battery 200 now may be separated from the handset body 100. The memory card 300 and SIM card 310 may be removed from or inserted into their respective slots 122 and 123 after the battery 200 is separated from the handset body 100.
However, in the conventional mobile handset, when the battery 200 is separated from the handset body 100, and the memory card 300 and the SIM card 310 are inserted into handset body 100, static electricity may be generated causing a potential difference between the cards and the handset body 100 or between the user and the handset body 100.
Static electricity discharges to components mounted within the handset body 100 through the memory card 300 or the SIM card 310 generating severe errors. To reduce the effect of static electricity and the associated errors, a static preventing circuit is provided as shown in FIG. 3. The static preventing circuit is constructed as a static preventing filter 315 connected between signal lines 325 and ground. Signal lines 325 provide signals between the SIM card 310 (or the memory card 300, not shown) to the components of the handset body 100. Ground lines 335 connect the static preventing filter 315 to ground.
However, the conventional static preventing circuit has a limitation in suppressing static electricity. The operational speed of communication lines 325 is dependent upon the capacitance associated of the communication lines 325, and because the static prevention filter 315 adds capacitance, the effective communication speed of lines 325 is reduced. Therefore, operating the communication lines 325 without reducing the communications speed increases the chance of erroneous communications. Data communication speed of line L1 is critical especially considering the enhanced performance and functionality of the mobile handset. Therefore, protecting the mobile handset hardware and software from the static electricity is important.

Static preventing device and mobile handset having the same


Apparatus and methods for plasticity in spiking neuron networks. In various implementations, the efficacy of one or more connections of the network may be adjusted based on a plasticity rule during network operation. The rule may comprise a connection depression portion and/or a potentiation portion. Statistical parameters of the adjusted efficacy of a population of connections may be determined. The statistical parameter(s) may be utilized to adapt the plasticity rule during network operation in order to obtain efficacy characterized by target statistics. Based on the statistical parameter exceeding a target value, the depression magnitude of the plasticity rule may be reduced. Based on a statistical parameter being below the target value, the depression magnitude of the plasticity rule may be increased. The use of adaptive modification of the plasticity rule may improve network convergence while alleviating a need for manual tuning of efficacy during network operation.

Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to artificial neuron networks and more particularly in one exemplary aspect to computerized apparatus and methods for implementing plasticity in spiking neuron networks.
Description of Related Art
Artificial spiking neural networks are frequently used to gain an understanding of biological neural networks, and for solving artificial intelligence problems. These networks typically employ a pulse-coded mechanism, which encodes information using timing of the pulses. Such pulses (also referred to as "spikes" or 'impulses') are short-lasting (typically on the order of 1-2 ms) discrete temporal events. Several exemplary embodiments of such encoding are described in commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/152,084 entitled "APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR PULSE-CODE INVARIANT OBJECT RECOGNITION" filed Jun. 2, 2011, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/152,119, filed Jun. 2, 2011, entitled "SENSORY INPUT PROCESSING APPARATUS AND METHODS", the foregoing each being incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Typically, artificial spiking neural networks, such as the exemplary network described in commonly owned and co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/541,531, entitled "CONDITIONAL PLASTICITY SPIKING NEURON NETWORK APPARATUS AND METHODS" filed Jun. 3, 2012, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, may comprise a plurality of units (or nodes), which can be thought of as corresponding to neurons in a biological neural network. Any given unit may be connected to one or many other units via connections, also referred to as communications channels, and/or synaptic connections. The units providing inputs to any given unit are commonly referred to as the pre-synaptic units, while the units receiving the inputs are referred to as the post-synaptic units.
Individual ones of the unit-to-unit connections may be assigned, inter alga, a connection efficacy, which in general may refer to a magnitude and/or probability of input spike influence on unit output response (e.g., output spike generation/firing). The efficacy may comprise, for example a parameter (e.g., synaptic weight) by which one or more state variables of post-synaptic unit are changed. The efficacy may comprise a latency parameter by characterizing propagation delay from a pre-synaptic unit to a post-synaptic unit. In some implementations, greater efficacy may correspond to a shorter latency.
Some existing implementations of learning (e.g., slow feature analysis) by spiking neural networks via spike timing dependent plasticity and/or increased excitability may produce connection efficacy that is either too strong (e.g., one on a scale from 0 to 1) or too weak (e.g., zero). Some existing plasticity rules may employ a priori caps (e.g., hard limits) on efficacy magnitude and/or utilize manual tuning during network operation. Efficacy constraints may impede network response to varying inputs, while manual tuning may prevent network autonomous operation.
Accordingly, methods and apparatus for implementing plasticity in spiking networks are needed which, inter alia, overcome the aforementioned disabilities.

Apparatus and methods for efficacy balancing in a spiking neuron network


A sliding mechanism for an optical compact disk drive includes right and left slide tracks respectively mounted at opposite sides of a tray of the optical compact disk drive. A plurality of bulbous contacts are formed on the right and left slide tracks respectively to fit with a plurality of retaining portions of a lower cover of the optical compact disk drive. By respectively having the bulbous contacts in point to point contact with the corresponding retaining portions, the tray smoothly moves in a stable manner between its outermost and innermost positions. A slide body of each slide track is provided with a hook, a protection piece and a fastening piece to hold the tray at its outermost or innermost positions. Thereby, the stability and effectiveness of the optical compact disk drive assembled with the sliding mechanism of the invention is increased.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sliding mechanism for an optical compact disk drive. More particularly, the present invention relates to a sliding mechanism that includes a pair of slide tracks respectively mounted at opposite sides of a tray of an optical compact disk drive. A plurality of bulbous contacts are respectively formed on the right and left slide tracks to fit retaining portions of a lower cover of the optical compact disk drive. By respectively having the bulbous contacts in point-to-point contact with the corresponding retaining portions, the tray moves forth and back with reduced frictions. A slide body is provided with a hook, a protection piece, and a fastening piece. The hook and fastening piece have an inclined angle inclined inwardly toward the shaft motor for firmly clamping the tray's outermost and innermost portions respectively. The stability of the optical compact disk drive assembled with the sliding mechanism of the invention is increased. Furthermore, the amount of slide tracks is reduced and the production cost and assembly cost are therefore reduced.
2. Description of Related Art
When the tray of an optical compact disk drive is pulled out to an outmost position away from the optical compact disk drive, a compact disk is placed on the tray that, then, is pushed back along the same path. The data of the compact disk then is read by a read/write head 4 of the optical compact disk drive.
Referring to FIG. 1, a pair of punched metal slide tracks 7 are respectively formed between the tray 5 and a pair of injection-molded plastic tracks 6 inside a conventional optical compact disk drive. When the tray 5 is pulled out, it moves along the punched metal slide tracks 7 and the injection-formed plastic tracks 6 (i.e. dual-track sliding mechanism). However, the tray holder of the above optical compact disk drive practically has the following disadvantages.
When the tray 5 is pulled to an outmost position away from the optical compact disk drive, the configuration of the dual-track sliding mechanism causes slight loosening during operation. The dual-track sliding mechanism needs at least four tracks, which increases the production cost. The punched tracks 7 are not able to provide a firm holding. Therefore, the tray 5 may experience slight loosing during operation, which impacts the quality of the product.
When the tray 5 is pushed to an innermost position in the optical compact disk drive, the total gap between the tracks makes the tray 5 vibrate and generates noise when a shaft motor 3 of the optical compact disk drive rotates at high-speed.

Sliding mechanism for optical compact disk drive


Music compact disk player which automatically programs the titles and song names of every music CD that is installed therein. In addition to installing a multiple number of music CDs, a data CD having stored thereon time code data and name data of most or all music CDs is installed into the music compact disk player. Respective time code data, representing the number of songs and the song lengths thereon, is reproduced from each installed music CD, and respective name data corresponding to the reproduced time code data are reproduced from the data CD. The reproduced name data, which identifies the title and song names of every installed music CD, are stored in the music compact disk player's memory.

The present invention relates to a music compact disk player and, more particularly, to a multi-CD music compact disk player which automatically identifies and stores therein the title and song names of every installed music CD.
As is known, music compact disks (CDs) are reproduced in music CD players, such players being able to have installed therein a variety of numbers (e.g., 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 50, 100, etc.) of music CDs. Due to the possibly large number (e.g., 50) of music CDs that may be installed in a CD player, these devices often allow the user to manually program (i.e., enter) the title and song names of each installed music CD. One problem, however, with such manual programming is that the data entry process of supplying the title and song names of every installed music CD is tedious and exhaustive, and such often must be performed without the use of a 26 letter keyboard.
New music CDs, which are planned to be introduced into the marketplace, have a different data format than that of currently existing music CDs and include data thereon that identify the respective CD's title and track (i.e., song) names. It is anticipated that new music CD players will automatically retrieve the title and song names of installed CDs simply by accessing the CDs themselves thus obviating the need to manually enter such information.
However, even with the introduction of new music CDs having the new data format, the title and song names of currently available music CDs which have the current data format that are installed in a music CD player still must be manually entered by the user to "program" the music CD player.


A panel switch includes an insulating substrate, a resist layer provided on an upper surface of the insulating substrate, a cover sheet, an adhesive layer bonded onto an upper surface of the resist layer, and plural push switches activated upon being pressed via the cover sheet. The resist layer has plural contact openings and a communication opening provided therein. The contact openings and the communication opening exposes the upper surface of the insulating substrate from the contact openings and the communication opening. The communication opening allows the contact openings to communicate with each other. The adhesive layer is provided entirely on a lower surface of the cover sheet and covers the contact openings and the communication opening. The push switches are accommodated in the contact openings, respectively. In this panel switch, the adhesive layer can easily be printed on the cover sheet and bond the cover sheet securely to the insulating substrate.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are a cross sectional view and an exploded perspective view of a conventional panel switch 501, respectively. Stationary contacts 2 are provided on an upper surface of an electrically insulating substrate 1. Each of stationary contacts 2 includes an inner stationary contact 2A and an outer stationary contact 2B spaced by a distance between stationary contacts 2A and 2B. A resist layer 3 is provided on the upper surface of the insulating substrate 1 by printing and applying insulating material. The resist layer 3 has circular openings provided therein exposing stationary contacts 2, respectively. The openings are independently separated from each other one another and are not communicated with each other. Movable contacts 4 are made of elastic metallic material. Each contact 4 having a circular dome shape opening downward. The center of a lower surface of movable contact 4 is located above inner stationary contact 2A of stationary contact 2 by a distance. Movable contact 4 and stationary contact 2 provides a single switch.
Adhesive layer 6 is provided on a lower surface of cover sheet 1. Cover sheet 5 is bonded with the adhesive layer 6 onto the upper surface of the insulating substrate 1 so that movable contacts 4 are sandwiched between the cover sheet 5 and the insulating substrate 1.
FIG. 6 is a top view of the cover sheet 5. The adhesive layer 6 is formed by screen printing on the lower surface of the cover sheet 5. Circular adhesives 6A are provided on the lower surface of cover sheet 5 for holding the centers of movable contacts 4 to adhere onto the lower surface of the cover sheet 5, respectively. Air passages 7 where the adhesive layer 6 is not formed to expose the lower surface of cover sheet 5 are provided on the lower surface of the cover sheet 5. The air passage 7 includes ring portions 8 corresponding to the outlines of the movable contacts 4 and communicating portions 9 for communicating ring portions 8 adjacent to each other, thereby allowing movable contacts 4 to communicate with each other.
An operation of conventional panel switch 501 will be described below. Upon being pressed down at the center across the cover sheet 5, the movable contact 4 receives a pressing force. As the pressing force exceeds a predetermined level, the dome shape of the movable contact 4 elastically reversed with a light click feel. Then, the lower surface at the center of the movable contact 4 contacts the inner stationary contact 2A, thereby connecting electrically between the inner stationary contact 2A and the outer stationary contact 2B via the movable contact 4, thus turning on the switch 501.
When the pressing force applied to the cover sheet 5 is released, the dome shape of the movable contract 4 elastically returns back to its original shape which is upwardly convex with a light click feel. Consequently, the lower surface at the center of the movable contact 4 departs from the inner stationary contact 2A, as shown in FIG. 4, thus turning off the switch 501.
Since the cover sheet 4 covers the upper surface of the insulating substrate 1, the air trapped between the insulting substrate 1 and the lower concave surface of the movable contact 4 is compressed by the above elastic reversing of the movable contact 4. The compressed air may disturb the light click feel generated upon the elastic reversing of the dome shape of the movable contact 4. For compensation, the conventional panel switch 501 has the air passage 7 which is provided between the insulating substrate 1 and the cover sheet 5 and which does not have the adhesive layer 6. When the movable contact 4 is pressed down and elastically reversed, the air beneath the movable contact 4 flows through the air passage 7 and moves into another movable contact 4 which is not pressed down. This operation prevents the air from being compressed to disturb the light click feel, thereby allowing the movable contact 4 to maintain the click feel.
In order to increase the physical strength of the panel switch 501, the adhesive layer 6 is required to have a large boding strength to have the insulating substrate 1 adhere to the cover sheet 5. In the conventional panel switch 501, the adhesive layer 6 is provided on the lower surface of the cover sheet 5 by a screen printing technique enabling a pattern to be printed to form the air passages 7. The screen printing technique is however not favorable for increasing the thickness of the adhesive layer 6, accordingly preventing the adhesive layer from having a large bonding strength.


Method and apparatus in a communications controller to transfer data between a host computer and the controller. The communications controller includes a channel adapter (CA) and a central control unit (CCU) for controlling the operation of the CA. In response to a request from the CCU, the channel adapter transfers data between the host computer and the channel adapter to or from a linked list of buffers until all messages contained in the linked list have been transferred. Only after all messages in the present transmission have been transferred, the CA interrupts the CCU to signal completion. In a preferred embodiment, the channel adapter includes a microprocessor and a read-only-memory containing programmed instructions for controlling the microprocessor. Together, the microprocessor under control of the read-only-memory instructions form an apparatus for carrying out the method.

Many networking systems consist of communication controllers which are connected via channel adapters to host data processors. Such communication controllers which are also equipped with communication adapters which provide access by means of telephone connections to other communication controllers, cluster controllers and user terminals. In addition to one or more channel adapters for connection to a host, a typical communication controller has a Central Control Unit (CCU), a main memory and a Bus Control Unit (BCU). Once a channel adapter is started by the CCU to transfer or receive data to or from a host, respectively, the adapter accesses the main memory directly to perform the transfer. To accomplish the transfer, the CCU executes instructions that reside in the main memory to control the channel adapters to perform the actual data transfer. As the channel adapter performs its work, it periodically interrupts the CCU.
Many different types of communications controllers have been used in the past to transfer data to and from a host. The interface between a communications controller and the host generally takes the following form. The host, when it is ready, issues either a read or write command to the controller, which causes an interrupt of the CCU. Assuming that the command is a write, for example, data in the form of one or more messages is then transferred from the host, via a channel adapter, to the CCU. The host signals end of message (EOM) at the end of each message and signals end of transmission (EOT) after all messages available at that time are transferred. In the channel adapters in use today, the channel adapter interrupts the CCU at intermediate points of a message transfer to allow the CCU to send status messages to the host. At the end of a message transfer, a channel adapter again interrupts the CCU to allow the CCU to send a final status message to the host. During the actual transfer of a message, the channel adapter further interrupts the CCU a number of times to allow it to process intermediate data received during a message write from the host or to prepare further data for transmission to the host during a message read transfer. The number of such interrupts depends on the particular type of channel adapter involved, as further described below.
To accomplish the above protocol between a communications controller and a host, the interface between a CCU and a channel adapter has taken a number of forms in the prior art. For example, IBM offers or has offered six different types of channel adapters for use in different ones of its communications controllers, such as the 3725 and 3745 controllers. The Type 1 channel adapter interrupts the CCU after receiving or sending each buffer of four bytes. This is in addition to the initial and status interrupts mentioned above. This is an inexpensive hardware design, since most of the functions are coded in the CCU software. More important, however, is that the type 1 adapter creates a very large number of interrupts to the CCU.
The types 4, 5 and 6 channel adapters improve the operation of the type 1 adapter by increasing the size of a buffer from a maximum of 4 bytes to a maximum of 256 bytes. However, the potential number of interrupts is still large and remains a limitation on performance.
The Type 2 channel adapter uses a list of control words to allow a chain of buffers to be transferred before interrupting the CCU. The control words are linked to each other by the requirement that the list has to reside in contiguous memory and are accessed in consecutive order. Each control word includes a data address of a buffer for a corresponding block of transferred data and a count of bytes to be transferred from or to the buffer. In addition, the buffers themselves include pointers for creating a buffer linked list for individual messages and another linked list for individual messages. The CCU administers the list of control words and the channel adapter administers the lists of buffers and messages. Contiguous words of the control word list may point to the same buffer, depending on the size of the buffer and the number of bytes to be transferred under control of the control word. Thus, the CCU deals with the list of control words to maintain the order of byte transfer, while the channel adapter deals with the buffer and message linked lists. The type 2 channel adapter is expensive in terms of hardware, because most of its functions are implemented in hardware. The number of interrupts of a CCU is reduced over the types 1 and 4 through 6 because of the linking of control words. However, there is still a substantial amount of CCU processing consumed in responding to the need for status interrupts to a host. In addition, an excessive amount of CCU processing power is consumed because of the need to administer the control word list.
The Type 3 channel adapter provides two physical paths between a host and communications controller and uses the same linking of control words as the Type 2 channel adapter. This adapter improves the type 2 adapter because of the additional capacity added by the second path. However, the CCU still suffers from the same limitations of administering control word lists and responding to status interrupts.
The reader is referred to the following references for additional details of the operation of prior art communication controllers:
"IBM System/360 and System/370 I/O Interface Channel to Control Unit Original Equipment Manufacturers Information", GA22-6974, IBM Corporation; PA1 "IBM 3745 Communication Controller Principles of Operation", SA33-0102, IBM Corporation; PA1 "IBM 3725 Communication Controller Principles of Operation", GA33-0013, IBM Corporation; PA1 "IBM 3704, 3705-I, 3705-II, Communication Controller Principles of Operation", GC30-3004, IBM Corporation; and PA1 "Systems Network Architecture: Formats"; Publicaiton GA27-3136; 1987; International Business Machines Corporation.

Method and apparatus for buffer chaining in a communications controller


A method for manufacturing a bipolar transistor, comprising the steps of:                growing on the substrate a first semiconductor; depositing an encapsulation layer etchable with respect to the first semiconductor, forming a sacrificial block at the location of the base-emitter junction; exposing the first semiconductor around spacers formed around said block; forming a second semiconductor, then a third semiconductor etchable with respect to the second semiconductor layer, the encapsulation layer, and the spacers, the sum of the thicknesses of the second semiconductor and the sacrificial layer being substantially equal to the sum of the thicknesses of the encapsulation layer and of the sacrificial block; removing the block and the encapsulation layer; depositing a fourth semiconductor; removing the third semiconductor; and etching an insulating layer to maintain it on the emitter walls and between said emitter and the second semiconductor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the manufacturing of bipolar transistors in integrated circuits. More specifically, the present invention relates to the forming of a base-emitter structure of a bipolar transistor.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
To optimize the electrical performances of a bipolar transistor, it is desirable for the doping and the thickness of its intermediary base region between its collector and its emitter to be controlled as accurately as possible.

Method for manufacturing a bipolar transistor


An in-line four-cylinder engine provided with a variable valve timing mechanism which changes a rotation phase of a camshaft relative to a crankshaft, and a cam angle sensor which outputs a cam angle signal at each 45 (deg.) of the camshaft, detection of an angle spanning from a reference rotational position of the crankshaft to the cam angle signal being made to thereby detect the rotation phase of the camshaft.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a variable valve timing mechanism for an internal combustion engine, which changes a rotation phase of a camshaft relative to a crankshaft so as to vary valve timing of an engine valve, and more particularly to a novel technology for detecting the rotation phase of the camshaft.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-303865 discloses a method of detecting a rotation phase of a camshaft relative to a crankshaft in an in-line four-cylinder internal combustion engine provided with a variable valve timing mechanism.
In the above detecting method, there are provided: a crank angle sensor which generates a crank angle signal at each angle equivalent to a stroke phase difference between cylinders; and a cam angle sensor which generates a cam angle signal at an angular interval the same as that of the crank angle sensor, so that a difference in phase of both signals, i.e., a phase difference of the cam angle signal from that of the crank angle signal is measured.
In a region where an engine rotating speed is low, such as, at the starting of an engine operation, at an idling time or the like, it is required to achieve an improvement in the operating performance of the engine by varying valve timing.
However, in the conventional apparatus, since the detecting cycle of the valve timing is set at each difference in the stroke phase between cylinders, a time interval in which the detecting result of the valve timing is updated becomes long in the low rotating speed region.
Therefore, conventionally, in a feedback control of the variable valve timing mechanism, the overshooting might occur in the low rotating speed region.

Cam angle detecting apparatus, and cam phase detecting apparatus for internal combustion engine and cam phase detecting method thereof


An underwater connector assembly includes releasably mateable plug and socket units, each unit having at least one bore for receiving an optical or electrical lead connected to a terminal at a forward end of the bore, the terminals being mated when the units are connected together. A shaft extends from one terminal through the bore to form an annular chamber between the shaft and bore. An annular seal of resilient material is mounted in the annular chamber between the shaft and bore. The seal has an inner diameter less than the outer diameter of the shaft and an outer diameter greater than the bore diameter, and engages over a smooth, continuous outer cylindrical surface of the shaft, allowing the shaft to slide relative to the seal on mating of the plug and receptacle units while maintaining sealing engagement between the seal and shaft.

The present invention relates generally to dry and wet mateable underwater connectors, and is particularly concerned with an improved underwater seal assembly for the pin/socket junction elements of fiber-optical and electrical connectors which seals against pressure while permitting compliance of the optical junctions.
There are presently on the market connectors for simultaneously joining multiple electrical and/or fiber-optical circuits in a dry environment with subsequent immersion to great ocean depths. There are similar connectors which, when pre-treated with a bit of optical matching gel, which may also act as a dielectric, can be successfully mated once or at most a few times underwater. All of the connectors of these sorts have the challenge that they must seal against high pressures while providing low-loss optical transmission.
The challenge has, until now, not been adequately answered. The problem has been that the same traditional sealing techniques that render the assemblies pressure proof also cause them to rigidly grasp the pin and socket elements that are housed within them. To achieve low-loss optical junctions, the contacting elements within the connectors must be free to adjust geometrically to each other such that their cores, through which light is transmitted, are precisely aligned. Each pin/socket generally has an individual alignment device that is independent on a small scale from the alignment of the overall connector housings. That is, gross alignment of the elements is achieved by the relative positions of the housings. But final alignment of the contacts must take place locally at each individual pin/socket junction. If that final alignment is inhibited, as it is in current products on the market, by the pin/socket sealing means, then imperfect alignment with concomitant poor light transmission will result. The present invention addresses and solves this problem through the employment of low-stress gland seals that permit compliant mounting of the pin/socket elements while sealing against high pressure.
A typical underwater connector for sealably connecting a plurality of fiber-optical and/or electrical circuits comprises a plug unit and a receptacle unit which are releasably securable together either on land prior to submerging the connector, or, in a slightly changed form, underwater.
The plug unit typically contains a plurality of contact probes or pins to which fiber-optic or electrical leads are terminated. The receptacle unit contains a corresponding number of sockets into whose terminal ends a corresponding number of fiber-optic or electrical leads are terminated. The probes or pins are mated with the sockets when the two units are coupled together. As the plug and receptacle are coupled together, the contact pins must mate with the respective sockets. The optical circuits of such connectors, until now, have been of limited use due to the fact that their mounting means have not been compliant enough to permit reliable low-loss junctions. Optical pins and sockets in such underwater connectors require sealing against high pressures, and have been fixed into bores to which they seal with O-rings. The result is a rather non-compliant assembly. But compliance is required on at least one side, pin or socket, for low optical loss: It allows each pin/socket junction to self align. The difficult problem, until now, has been to simultaneously provide adequate compliance and sealing against high pressure.


The invention relates to the use of sulbutiamine and pharmaceutical compositions thereof for the treatment of Parkinson's Disease, Schizophrenia, alcoholism, and dysthymia.

The present invention relates to the use of sulbutiamine and pharmaceutical compositions thereof for the treatment of certain psychomotor and psychointellectual disorders, characterized by the delay, the slowing and the depression of behavioral and intellectual responses demanding the strategic mobilization of percepts and mental concepts. These disorders are observed in particular in Parkinson's patients, deficient schizophrenics, alcoholics, major depressives and dysthymics.

Use of sulbutiamine in the treatment of Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, alcoholism, and dysthymia


An improved method for depositing a flow fill layer of an integrated circuit. Two flowlayers and two cap layers are deposited. The wafer is warmed between the deposition of the first cap layer and the deposition of the second flowlayer, to evaporate water from the first flowlayer. Preferably, each of the cap layers is deposited in two separate steps of plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition, to inhibit crack formation in the flowlayers. Most preferably, after the depositions of each flowlayer, the flowlayer is planarized by flowing H.sub.2 O.sub.2 thereupon.

The present invention relates to the fabrication of ultra large scale integrated circuits and, more particularly, to an improved method for depositing a flow fill intermetallic dielectric on a wafer bearing these circuits.
The latest ultra large scale integrated circuits include features as small as about 0.5 microns and smaller. To effect contact with these features, the metallic contacts in the chip that contains the circuits must be stacked in three or more levels. These contacts are formed by a process that includes lithography and etch, and are separated by an intermetallic dielectric, typically SiO.sub.2. For successful lithography and etch in the formation of a second or subsequent level of metal, the substrate above which they are deposited must be substantially flat.
A process for depositing an SiO2 intermetallic dielectric with a substantially flat upper surface is described in C. D. Dobson. A. Kiermasz, K. Beekman and R. J. Wilby, Advanced SiO.sub.2 planarization using silane and H.sub.2 O.sub.2, Semiconductor International, December 1994, pp. 85-88; in M. Matsuura, Y. Hayashide, H. Kotani, T. Nishimura, H. Iuchi, C. D. Dobson. A. Kiemasz, K. Beekmann and R. Wilby,; and in A. Kiermasz, C. D. Dobson, K. Beekmann add A. H. Bar-Ilan, Planarization for sub-micron devices utilizing a new chemistry, DUMIC Conference, Feb. 21-22, 1995, pp. 94-100. These references are incorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein. FIG. 1 schematically shows the "flow fill layer" 30 thus deposited between and around metallic contacts 22. Flow fill layer 30 includes a base layer 32, a flowlayer 34, and a cap layer 36. The essence of the process is the deposition of flowlayer 34, by reacting SiH.sub.4 and H.sub.2 O.sub.2 at 0.degree. C. to form a liquid layer, believed to be primarily Si(OH).sub.4 in composition. The liquid flows around and above metallic contacts 22, providing a dielectric layer with a substantially flat top surface. Base layer 32 of SiO.sub.2 is deposited, prior to the deposition of flowlayer 34, by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), to provide a surface to which flowlayer 34 adheres well. Cap layer 36 of SiO.sub.2 is deposited over flowlayer 34, also by PECVD, to protect flowlayer 34 in the final step: baking the wafer at a temperature of between 400.degree. C. and 450.degree. C. to transform flowlayer 34 from Si(OH).sub.4 to SiO.sub.2.
It is important that flowlayer 34 not have cracks. The transformation of Si(OH).sub.4 to SiO.sub.2 involves the evaporation of water as steam, which may induce the formation of cracks in flowlayer 34 as flowlayer 34 is transformed from a liquid to a solid. One of the purposes of cap layer 36 is to prevent the formation of these cracks. Cap layers 36 deposited by the processes known in the art have not been entirely successful in preventing crack formation. It also is important that the top surface of flow layer 30 be relatively flat. The processes known in the art have not entirely succeeded in achieving the desired degree of flatness.
There is thus a widely recognized need for, and it would be highly advantageous to have, a method of depositing a flow layer with a flatter top surface and less crack formation than in the prior art processes.

Method for depositing a flow fill layer on an integrated circuit wafer


An accelerator-based neutron tool is provided. The tool includes a deuterium-tritium gas mixture such that the tool outputs a desired ratio of 2.45 MeV and 14 MeV neutrons.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates broadly to the hydrocarbon industry. More particularly, this invention relates to neutron logging tools useful in the exploration of geological formation. The invention has particular application to accelerator-based neutron porosity tools although it is not limited thereto.
2. State of the Art
Conventional neutron porosity tools such as the CNT (a trademark of Schlumberger) tool or Compensated Neutron Tool, detect neutrons emitted by a radioisotope-based neutron source after they have traveled through the formation under investigation. The most common neutron source consists of radioactive americium (241Am) combined with beryllium, or AmBe. The alpha particles emitted by 241Am react with beryllium nuclei and emit neutrons of a broad spectrum of energies which span a range of about 11 MeV as seen in FIG. 1. Because of its broad energy spectrum, several different transport processes are involved as neutrons from the AmBe source scatter through the formation and lose energy. As seen in FIG. 27 for neutron energies above about 6 MeV, inelastic scattering is the dominant energy loss mechanism. For neutron energies below about 6 MeV, elastic scattering from hydrogen is the dominant energy loss mechanism. Thus, neutrons emanating from the AmBe source will be subjected to both inelastic scattering and elastic scattering.
Other neutron sources have emission spectra different from the AmBe source. For example, as seen in FIG. 1, a radioactive californium source has a peak at about 1 MeV, and emits few neutrons above 6 MeV. Accelerator-based neutron generators such as DD (deuterium source-deuterium target) and DT (mixed deuterium/tritium source and target, which is typically provided with 50% deuterium and 50% tritium, and the overwhelming interaction is deuterium-tritium) typically emit neutrons at a single energy. For example, the DD neutron generator typically emits 2.45 MeV neutrons, while the DT neutron generator typically emits 14 MeV neutrons. DT sources surrounded by a inch shell of tungsten (1 inch W Moderated DT) have spectra that show neutron emissions in a 0-2 MeV window and a 13-14 MeV window (as seen in FIG. 1). As a result, the neutrons from californium and DD neutron sources are generally subject to primarily elastic scattering, while the neutrons from DT and 1 inch W Moderated DT are subject to both inelastic and elastic scattering. It is noted that the neutrons from DT are subject to elastic scattering after the energies of the neutrons are first reduced by inelastic scattering.
For certain measurements such as formation porosity, tools which utilize an AmBe source and two detectors have been dominant in the marketplace. However, because of security issues associated with radioactive materials, it is no longer desirable to use AmBe as a source material.

Neutron logging tool having source and target with deuterium-tritium gas admixture


An electronic apparatus capable of transmitting data at two or more different data rates contains transmitter circuitry, a cable connection mechanism, and an isolation transformer having a primary winding and a secondary winding. The transmitter circuitry low-pass filters digital data which the transmitter circuitry transmits to the primary winding at a first data rate. The transmitter circuitry also transmits digital data to the primary winding at a second data rate different from, typically greater than, the first data rate. The cable connection mechanism provides outgoing data from the secondary winding to the communication cable. Importantly, the transmitter circuitry is operable to generate current-sourced data signals at both data rates and then to convert the current-sourced signals into impedance-produced voltage signals that constitute the outgoing data. Current-source amplifier circuitry normally generates the current-sourced signals. Impedance circuitry then converts the current-sourced signals into the outgoing data.

A local-area network ("LAN") is a communication system that enables personal computers, work stations, file servers, repeaters, data terminal equipment ("DTE"), and other such information processing equipment located within a limited geographical area such as an office, a building, or a cluster of buildings to electronically transfer information among one another. Each piece of information processing equipment in the LAN communicates with other information processing equipment in the LAN by following a fixed protocol (or standard) which defines the network operation. Information processing equipment made by different suppliers can thus be readily incorporated into the LAN.
The ISO Open Systems Interconnection Basic Reference Model defines a seven-layer model for data communication in a LAN. The lowest layer in the model is the physical layer which consists of modules that specify (a) the physical media which interconnects the network nodes and over which data is to be electronically transmitted, (b) the manner in which the network nodes interface to the physical transmission media, (c) the process for transferring data over the physical media, and (d) the protocol of the data stream.
IEEE Standard 802.3, Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) Access Method and Physical Layer Specifications, is one of the most widely used standards for the physical layer. Commonly referred to as Ethernet, IEEE Standard 802.3 deals with transferring data over twisted-pair cables or co-axial cables which are typically more expensive than twisted-pair cables. The 10Base-T protocol of IEEE Standard 802.3 prescribes a rate of 10 megabits/second ("Mbps") for transferring data over twisted-pair cables.
Referring to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates a typical example of how a conventional 10Base-T media-access unit ("MAU") interfaces with an outgoing twisted-pair copper cable 10T and an incoming twisted-pair copper cable 10R. The 10Base-T MAU in FIG. 1 is part of a personal computer, a work station, a file server, a bridge, a repeater, or DTE. The MAU consists of an interface controller 12, a 10Base-T transceiver 14, two sets of terminating resistors 16T and 16R, two low-pass filters 18T and 18R, two isolation transformers 20T and 20R, two common-mode chokes 22T and 22R, and an RJ-45 cable connector 24, all situated on an Ethernet adapter card (not indicated). Twisted-pair cables 10T and 10R are part of a larger cable having a plug (not shown) that plugs into RJ-45 connector 24 along an edge of the adapter card.
Interface controller 12 controls the transmission of outgoing data to cable 10T and the reception of incoming data from cable 10R. 10Base-T transceiver 14 converts non-differential outgoing data from controller 12 into differential form represented by signals TXO+ and TXO-. The differential outgoing data moves through resistors 16T, filter 18T, transformer 20T, and choke 22T where, in modified differential form represented by signals TX+ and TX-, the outgoing data is supplied through RJ-45 connector 24 to outgoing cable 10T as a data stream moving at the 10Base-T rate of 10 Mbps.
Before being furnished to outgoing copper cable 10T, the outgoing data is Manchester encoded to reduce electromagnetic interference ("EMI"). The Manchester encoding causes some portions of the data stream to be pulses at 10 MHz while other portions are pulses at 5 MHz. In low-pass filtering the outgoing data, filter 18T typically removes frequency components above approximately 15-20 MHz. This is below the 30-MHz frequency above which the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") places controls on electromagnetic radiation from unintentional radiators.
Differential incoming data on incoming copper cable 10R is supplied through connector 24 as signals RX+ and RX-. The incoming data passes through choke 22R, transformer 20R, filter 18R, and resistors 16R where, in modified differential form represented by signals RXI+ and RXI-, the incoming data is furnished to transceiver 14 for conversion to non-differential form and transfer to controller 12.
The ever growing need to transfer more information faster accompanied by increases in data processing capability, is necessitating an expansion to data transfer rates considerably higher than the 10-Mbps rate prescribed by the 10Base-T protocol. As a consequence, the 100Base-TX protocol has been established for extending IEEE Standard 802.3 to accommodate data moving at an effective transfer rate of 100 Mbps through twisted-pair cables of presently existing types.
Under the 100Base-TX protocol, certain control bits are incorporated into the data before it is placed on a twisted-pair cable. The result is that the data and control signals actually move through a twisted-pair cable at 125 Mbps. The 125-Mbps cable rate corresponds to a maximum pulse frequency of 62.5 MHz. Since this exceeds the 30-MHz frequency above which the FCC requires that EMI be controlled, the 100Base-TX protocol specifies that the data be scrambled and provided with a trinary MLT-3 (multi-level transmit/three levels) coding before entering a twisted-pair cable.
In expanding IEEE Standard 802.3 to the 100Base-TX protocol, the physical transmission media will sometimes need to be capable of handling data transferred through twisted-pair cables at both the 100Base-TX rate and the lower 10Base-T rate. Accordingly, a user-friendly apparatus that can transfer data at both rates is desirable.
In particular, a person using information processing equipment capable of handling data moving through twisted-pair cables at either the 10Base-T rate or the 100Base-TX rate should not have to throw a switch, or make another such physical adjustment, when the data transfer rate changes from 10Base-T to 100Base-TX and vice versa. Also, when connecting a twisted-pair cable to data transfer apparatus, the user should not have to make accommodations depending on whether the cable comes from equipment that can handle data moving at the 10Base-T rate, at the 100Base-TX rate, or at both rates.
To keep the cost low, it is desirable to use a small number of items such as isolating transformers, which are relatively expensive, and cable connectors in transferring data at both rates. Furthermore, the information-processing circuitry components which provide data to, and receive data from, the isolating transformers at the 10Base-T and 100Base-TX rates should be readily manufacturable as a single integrated circuit.

Apparatus utilizing current-to-voltage conversion for transmitting data at different data transfer rates especially in applications such as dual-rate ethernet local-area networks


An image of a graphical user interface is captured. For example, a screen shot of a browser display is captured. Text syntax is executed that contains one or more parameters for identifying a graphical object. For example, the text syntax may identify a rectangle that contains the text “OK” where the text is red. Based on the text syntax, a graphical object is identified in the image of the graphical user interface. Information is returned that identifies how to access the graphical object in the graphical user interface. For example, coordinates of the graphical object are identified. This information can then be used in a test script using existing programming languages to test the graphical user interface. For example, the coordinates may be used to click on the OK button.

Traditional software programming methods typically use information from the code base of an application for developing test software. For example, a developer of a test script may use a Document Object Model DOM of a web page to develop a set of test scripts to test the application. One problem with this approach is that the developer of the test script may not actually have access to the source code of the application under test. For example, the application under test is still being developed or the application under test is being tested by a third party.
An alternative is to use captured images of a user graphical user interface of the application under test (e.g., a screen shot of a browser) in order to identify graphical objects in the graphical user interface. However, when it comes to image comparison, the challenge is quite different. For example, in order to do image comparison, current systems use image comparison algorithms to match one image with another. While image comparison can be very useful in identifying graphical objects in a graphical user interface, there are still limitations in the current image comparison algorithms. There are times when the image comparison algorithm cannot completely parse and understand a target graphical object. For example, in most cases, the target graphical object contains unnecessary information such as additional image edges, unimportant colors, shapes etc. This type information can reduce the accuracy of identifying a graphical object in a user interface. What is needed is a simplified way of identifying specific graphical objects in the graphical user interface.

Using graphical image analysis for identifying image objects


Tapered layers of pre-cured composite material are integrated into a tapered, highly stressed laminate structure in order to provide improved compressive strength. The pre-cured composite material can advantageously be cured under tension as pultruded material, to further augment compressive strength. The thickness of composite layers can be tapered on their termination edges by mechanically abrading, chemical abrading, or other methods. Especially preferred embodiments include aircraft structural components such as wings, wing spars, wing skins, fuselage skins, rotor blades, propellers, and propeller blades. Preferred laminates can be constructed to have at least 6, 10, 30, 50, or 100 layers of material, and can have a maximum thickness of at least 0.15, 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, or 5.0 inches.

Due to the nature of flight, desirable aircraft structures have traditionally had high strength-to-weight ratios (strength efficiency) and stiffness-to-weight ratios (stiffness efficiency). In the last several decades, carbon composite materials were often used in aircraft structures to improve strength and stiffness efficiency in the airframe. Although carbon composite materials do provide weight savings over traditional aluminum structures, carbon composite materials still suffer from a comparatively low compression strength. In a typical unidirectional carbon composite laminate the compression strength is approximately 50% of the tension strength of the material. This is caused by small amplitude waviness in the unidirectional fibers. These small eccentricities in the fibers promote micro buckling of the laminate under compressive loads.
Aircraft wing and blade structures in particular see high bending stresses due to the cantilevered configuration of their structure, and the thin sections required for aerodynamic performance. The bending creates high compression loads in the upper surface of a cantilevered wing or blade structure. Thus, although composite materials do increase the structural efficiency (ratios of strength to weight or stiffness to weight) of aircraft structures over a typical aluminum structure, there is still a large performance gap that can be bridged by increasing the compression strength of the composite laminate.
It is known in the composite materials industry that pultruded composites exhibit significantly higher compression strength than typical fibers pre-impregnated with resin (pre-preg in the industry vernacular) in autoclave cured laminates. The pultrusion process of tensioning fibers and curing them under tension raises the compression strength of the material by over 60%. Pultruded composites also allow lower resin content and therefore a higher fiber volume fraction than a comparable pre-preg structure. Higher fiber volume fractions also lead to higher composite material stiffnesses and strength per unit weight.
FIG. 1 depicts a typical prior art process for making pultrusions. This figure is adapted from "Composite Airframe Structures: Practical Design Information and Data", by Michael C. Y. Niu, Hong Kong Conmilit Press Ltd., 2005. One or more spools or other sources 102, 104, 106 of tape or other composite material comprising fibers unreel material into one or more wet-out stations or resin tanks 110, 120. The material is then pulled in tension by a pull station 130 before being cured into shape at a heated die station 140 powered by a power source 142. Finished material 150 leaves the die 140 with largely constant cross-section. The finished material 150 comprises pre-cured, pultruded composite fibers. A pre-cured composite material is pultruded when it is cured or formed under tension.
The Niu book, as well as all other extrinsic materials discussed herein, is incorporated by reference in their entirety. Where a definition or use of a term in an incorporated reference is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of that term provided herein applies and the definition of that term in the reference does not apply.
The value of pultrusions is recognized in the industry; they are employed in composite structures, such as high compression strength areas like wings. FIG. 2 is an illustration of the prior art Genesis 2 sailplane made by Group Genesis™. The aircraft 200 comprises a wing 210 and a fuselage 220. FIG. 3 is a section view of the wing 210. The prior art wing section 300 comprises an airfoil 310 defining the outer boundary. Disposed within the airfoil are a foam vertical stiffener 310 providing bending stiffness, a number of fiberglass laminate sheets 330, 332, 334, 336, and several pultruded rectangular carbon rods 320, 322, 324 that run the length of the wing. Pultrusions have also been used in the wing structures made by large military airframers. However, in prior art known to the inventor, these pultrusions have always been used either as continuous strips running the length of the beam, or as very small rods in an under-stressed structure.
Typical distributed loads on a cantilevered structure such as a wing result in a moment that drops off rapidly from the root to the tip of the structure. A tapered beam structure is often used to take full advantage of possible weight savings where extra structure is not needed. Currently, any tapering of a pultruded structure simply drops off small pultruded sections and uses the material in an under-stressed design, otherwise the abrupt changes in a load bearing members cross-section are transferred to the nearby supporting matrix in too small an area. The resulting stress riser fails the nearby supporting matrix material and ultimately cause a failure of the laminate. Therefore, there is still a need to employ high compression strength composite pultrusions in a highly stressed, tapered laminate.

Wing and blade structure using pultruded composites


An antenna module for an electronically scanned phased array antenna is provided. In various embodiments, the module includes a transmit/receive (T/R) module layer including a plurality of T/R modules. The module additionally includes an external phase shifter layer that includes a plurality of sets of secondary phase shifters. Each secondary phase shifter set is associated with a specific one of the T/R modules. Furthermore, the module includes a horn antenna layer having a plurality of antenna horns. The horn antenna layer is positioned between the T/R module layer and the phase shifter layer such that each horn is aligned between one T/R module and the associated one of the sets of phase shifters.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Both active and passive electronically scanned antennas (ESAs), also commonly referred to as phased array antennas, typically comprise multiple antenna radiating elements, sometimes referred to as radiators, individual element control circuits, a signal distribution network, beam steering control circuitry, a power supply and a mechanical support structure. The total gain, effective isotropic radiated power ("EIRP") (for a transmit antenna) and scanning and side lobe requirements of the antenna are directly related to the diameter of the antenna's aperture, the number of radiators in the antenna aperture, the individual radiator spacing and the performance of the radiators and element electronics. In many applications, thousands of independent radiators and related control circuits are required to achieve a desired antenna performance.
A phased array antenna typically implements independent electronic packages, also referred to as transmit and receive (T/R) modules, for each radiator that are interconnected to a signal distribution circuit board, e.g., a printed wiring board (PWB). To avoid grating lobes, typical ESAs require that antenna radiators with controllable phases be spaced approximately one-half wavelength apart. Additionally, as the antenna operating frequency (and/or beam scan angle) increases, the required spacing between the radiators decreases. Thus, as the antenna operating frequency increases, the spacing between T/R modules also decreases, which increases the number of T/R modules for a fixed aperture diameter.
As the spacing of the radiators and related T/R modules decreases, it becomes increasingly difficult to physically configure the control electronics, i.e., the T/R modules, relative to the tight element spacing. This can affect the performance of the antenna and/or increase its cost, size and complexity. Consequently, the performance of a phased array antenna becomes limited by the need to tightly package and interconnect the antenna radiators and T/R modules associated therewith. For easing the mechanical packaging constraints and reducing the ESA cost, it is sometimes desirable to reduce the number of the T/R modules with a distribution beyond the half wavelength restriction.

Electronically scanned antenna with secondary phase shifters


An encoded marker is transmitted as a paging signal for mobile satellite telephones. The signal is susceptible to Doppler effects, and the processing procedures are arranged to determine the Doppler characteristics of subsequent signals. The marker takes the form of a first frequency sweep occurring in a first direction followed by a second frequency sweep occurring in the opposite direction. The markers are correlated against sweep signatures to produce amplitude peaks. The mid-point between the peaks and the spacing between the peaks allows timing offsets and frequency shifts to be accurately calculated, thereby facilitating the processing of subsequent data signals.

Satellites are being used increasingly for providing communication links between stations of different locations throughout the world. Initially, such links were provided for use at sea where, given the availability of power from ocean-going vessels, direct communications to satellites could be achieved. Recently, this approach has been extended to mobile units, powered from local batteries, using relatively low orbiting satellites.
In order for low orbiting satellites to remain in orbit, it is not possible for them to orbit at the rotational speed of the earth and thereby remain geostationary. As a result, there is a relative velocity between the ground stations and the orbiting satellites and procedures must be implemented in order to establish a communication link, at any one time, with a satellite that is within range. Thus, such an approach could be compared to terrestrial cellular systems, in which the ground stations remain stationary with a relative velocity being created by a roaming mobile.
In terrestrial situations in which a mobile roams between transmission cells, it is necessary to provide complex handover routines as a mobile moves from cell to cell, as is known in the art. However, the relative speed of the mobiles, compared to the transmission frequencies, is negligible therefore the movement of the mobile does not affect the characteristics of the signal itself and, from a signal analysis point of view, the mobiles may be treated as being effectively stationary.
In satellite systems the problem of roaming from one satellite position to another is also present and again complex procedures must be put in place to ensure that a communication link can be handed over from one system to another while a call is taking place. However, another problem is introduced in that the velocity of the orbiting satellites is such that the transmitted signals will experience Doppler effects. Thus, transmission frequencies will appear higher as the satellite is moving towards a ground station and, similarly, the transmission frequency will appear lower as the satellite is moving away from said ground station. Thus, frequency channels from one satellite may impinge upon channels from a neighbouring satellite unless a very large spacing is provided between adjacent channels or groups of channels from respective satellites. Furthermore, most frequency channels convey a plurality of digital signals as a time division multiplex and frequency shifting may therefore disrupt channel allocation of the time division multiplex. Furthermore, timing offsets will also occur due to the position of the satellite. Thus, before a connection may be established for the transmission of actual data, it is necessary to identify the nature of the data so as to identify the extent to which the frequency of a message has been modified by Doppler effects and the extent to which the start of the message has been shifted in phase so as to locate the message within the correct time division multiplex channel.


A substrate processing method is provided including: shaping a laser beam emitted from a laser beam source into a beam having a focal depth larger than the maximum value of a variation in thickness of a processing area portion of a processed substrate and the maximum value of a variation in bend thereof by making the laser beam pass through an diffractive optical element; forming plural etching holes by irradiating the shaped beam onto a film formed on the substrate to remove the film; and forming plural recessed portions by etching the substrate through the plural etching holes.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a substrate processing method using a laser process or a laser process and an etching process and particularly to a fine processing method. The present invention also relates to a method of manufacturing a micro lens sheet using the processing method and a transmission screen having a micro lens sheet or array (a sheet or array including plural protrusion-shaped micro lenses) obtained using the method. The present invention also relates to a display device having the micro lens sheet, etc. and a projector having the transmission screen.
2. Related Art
Projection screens used for image projection devices such as rear projection televisions, etc. comprise a Fresnel sheet having plural Fresnel prisms for collimating incident light from projection lenses into substantially-collimated light and a micro lens sheet having plural micro lenses for diffusing the substantially-collimated light from the Fresnel lenses. Particularly, the micro lens sheet is formed by die-cutting thermoplastic resins, etc. with a die in which recessed portions are formed at the portions which form the micro lenses. When the die for a micro lens sheet is manufactured, as for the recessed portions which form the micro lenses, it is necessary to form etching holes for forming the recessed portions in a metal film provided on the surface of a substrate which forms the die. The etching holes could be formed using a laser process.
As a conventional laser processing method, there has been known a method of performing the processing while maintaining a difference between a focusing point and a processing point of a laser beam to be 50% or less of the focal depth so as to perform the processing with a high processing accuracy. That is, the height of an XYZ stage on which a processed subject is placed and which moves the processed subject in the X, Y, and Z axis (height) directions correspondingly to advance of the processing, is measured with a laser displacement gauge, the oscillation of a processing laser is stopped when the difference between the focusing point and the processing point becomes 50% or more of the focal length of the processing optical system, and the processing laser is oscillated when the height of the XYZ stage reaches the set position (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 9-253877 (see [0005], [0012], and FIG. 1)).
The conventional laser processing method described above is suitable for a case of forming holes having a depth of about 200 to 300 μm in a substrate having a thickness of 0.50 to 1.5 mm, for example, with a processing optical system having a focal depth of 30 to 50 μm.
On the contrary, for example, in the case of manufacturing a micro lens sheet to be used for a projection screen having a screen size of 70 inches, a substrate which forms a die for manufacturing the micro lens sheet is large in thickness and area, for example, a width of 1700 mm, a length of 1000 mm, and a thickness of 10 mm. In a substrate of such size, for example, a bend of ±500 μm might be caused, and also a thickness variation might be caused.
In the conventional laser processing method, since the focal depth of the processing optical system is small, there is a problem in that the etching holes (etching-start holes) having a desired shape and pitch could not be formed in a metal film formed on the substrate by adjusting the height of the XYZ stage because of variation in thickness or bend of the substrate. Further, in the conventional laser processing method, since the XYZ stage, the laser displacement gauge, etc. are required, there is a problem in that the apparatuses are complex and expensive.
Accordingly, the present invention is designed to solve the above-mentioned problem, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a processing method and a processing apparatus capable of fine-processing a metal film formed on a substrate, or the metal film and the substrate without influence of variation in thickness or bend of the substrate having a small thickness and a large area. In addition, it is another object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing a micro lens sheet using the processing method or the processing apparatus, a micro lens sheet manufactured with the processing method, and a transmission screen for a display device obtained using a shaping die.

Substrate processing method, method of manufacturing micro lens sheet, transmission screen, projector, display device, and substrate processing apparatus


An acoustical and thermal insulation product suitable for use in an aircraft is provided, comprising an insulation layer formed from a sheet of insulation material, wherein the sheet of insulation material is arranged to form a series of undulations defining a series of alternating upper ridges and lower ridges of the sheet.

An insulation product can be installed in various structures such as the fuselage of an aircraft. Such insulation products for installation in an aircraft typically provide a barrier to the high sound levels and/or cold temperatures encountered during flight.
The use of conventional aircraft insulation products can present several disadvantages. For example, the formation and installation of conventional insulation products can be relatively expensive. In addition, conventional insulation products can provide an inadequate amount of thermal and/or acoustical insulation, and the structural characteristics of such products can be insufficient.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Insulation product and system suitable for use in an aircraft


Various embodiments of systems, methods, and computer programs are disclosed for incorporating a social networking feature in a conferencing system. One embodiment is a method comprising: a conferencing server establishing an audio conference between a plurality of computing devices connected via a communication network; the conferencing server presenting to the computing devices a user interface associated with the audio conference, the user interface comprising a social networking component for providing a social networking feature to a participant during the audio conference; a social networking server authenticating the participant as a member of a social networking system; and during the audio conference, the conferencing server enabling the authenticated participant to access the social networking feature via the social networking component in the user interface.

Currently, there are a number of conference solutions for enabling people to conduct live meetings, conferences, presentations, or other types of gatherings via the Internet, the public switched telephone network (PSTN), or other voice and/or data networks. Participants typically use a telephone, computer, or other communication device that connects to a conference system. The meetings include an audio component and a visual component, such as, a shared presentation, video, whiteboard, or other multimedia, text, graphics, etc. These types of convenient conference solutions have become an indispensable form of communication for many businesses and individuals.
Despite the many advantages and commercial success of existing conference, meeting, grouping or other types of gathering systems, there remains a need in the art for improved conference, meeting, grouping or other types of gathering systems, methods, and computer programs.

Sharing social networking content in a conference user interface

American Teleconferencing Services, Ltd.


A padlock includes a lock base formed with first and second shackle insert holes, a lock receiving space which is disposed between the first and second shackle insert holes and which has an upper section communicated with the second shackle insert hole, and a ball chamber which extends transversely between the first shackle insert hole and the upper section of the lock receiving space. A lock device is received in the lock receiving space, and has an axially rotatable key-operated lock core which is provided with a plunger formed with a latch projection. A locking unit includes at least one ball member rollingly disposed in the ball chamber adjacent to the plunger. A shackle has longer and shorter leg portions to be received in the first and second shackle insert holes, respectively. The shorter leg portion is formed with a plunger engaging groove for engaging the latch projection of the plunger. The longer leg portion is formed with a ball retaining groove for engaging the locking unit. A biasing spring is disposed in the first shackle insert hole for biasing the longer leg portion upwardly.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a padlock, more particularly to a padlock having a lock device that is suitable for use with lock bases of different sizes.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional padlock which includes a lock base 10, a lock device 11, two ball members 12, and a U-shaped shackle 13. The lock base 10 is formed with two shackle insert holes 16 for receiving longer and shorter leg portions of the shackle 13, a lock receiving space 14 between the shackle insert holes 16 for receiving the lock device 11, and two ball chambers 15 on opposite sides of an upper section of the lock receiving space 14 to communicate the lock receiving space 14 with the shackle insert holes 16, respectively. The lock device 11 is formed with an engaging rim 111 for retaining the lock base 10 in the lock receiving space 14. The lock device 11 has an upper end formed with a plunger 112 which has two opposite latch portions 113 for actuating the ball members 12, respectively. When the padlock is in a locking state, the ball members 12 are pushed by the latch portions 113 of the plunger 112 to extend into the shackle insert holes 16 for engaging ball retaining grooves 131 formed in the longer and shorter leg portions of the shackle 13 in order to prevent upward movement of the shackle 13 and removal of the shorter leg portion from the corresponding shackle insert hole 16. When the lock device 11 is operated using the correct key (not shown) to rotate a lock core (not shown) in the lock device 11, the plunger 112 is rotated to permit retraction of the ball members 12 into the ball chamber 15 for disengaging the shackle 13, thereby permitting upward movement of the shackle 13 and removal of the shorter leg portion from the corresponding shackle insert hole 16 for placing the padlock in an unlocked state.
In the conventional padlock, when it is required to produce a lock base with a different size, such as a different width, the original lock device cannot be used, and a new lock device with a different size is produced so as to fit the lock base. Since a lock device generally has a relatively complicated and delicate structure in order to provide a good antitheft effect, the design and manufacture of a new lock device result in great expense.
In applicant's co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/992,444, filed on Dec. 17, 1997 and entitled "PADLOCK WITH REPLACEABLE KEY-OPERATED LOCK CORE," there is disclosed a padlock which includes a lock base, a lock unit, a shackle, and catch means. The lock base is formed with first and second shackle insert holes for receiving longer and shorter leg portions of the shackle, and a lock receiving space between and parallel to the first and second shackle insert holes for receiving the lock unit. The lock receiving space has an upper section formed as a catch chamber which extends between the shackle insert holes for receiving the catch means. The lock unit includes an axially rotatable key-operated lock core having a plunger disposed in the catch chamber. The second shackle insert hole has an innermost end provided with a spring-loaded retaining means which extends radially into the lock receiving space to engage a peripheral portion of the lock unit so as to retain releasably the lock unit in the lock receiving space. The catch means includes first and second catch units, each of which is provided with a ball member, and a spring for pulling together the catch units such that the ball members engage the plunger. When the plunger is in the locking position, the plunger forces apart the first and second catch units so as to extend the ball members into the shackle insert holes such that the ball members engage the longer and shorter leg portions of the shackle, respectively. When the lock unit is operated using the correct key to cause axial rotation of the plunger, the plunger ceases to force apart the first and second catch units, thereby retracting the first and second catch units into the catch chamber by virtue of the spring in order to permit upward movement of the longer leg portion and removal of the shorter leg portion from the second shackle insert hole. After the shorter leg portion has been removed from the second shackle insert hole of the lock base, the longer leg portion can be rotated to expose the second shackle insert hole. In this situation, a tool can be inserted into the second shackle insert hole so as to access and actuate the retaining means for disengaging the latter from the locking unit, thereby permitting removal of the lock unit from the lock receiving space for replacement purposes.


An edge graph in which a pixel of an image is set as a node and an edge is set between nodes is generated. The dissimilarity or similarity between nodes at the two ends of the edge is used as the feature amount of the edge, and the edge is classified into one of a plurality of classes based on the feature amount. The edge of interest is selected in ascending class order of the feature amount, and it is determined whether to merge determination target regions to which the nodes at the two ends of the edge of interest belong. Determination target regions determined to be able to be merged are merged, and a feature amount in the merged region is updated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to graph-based image segmentation processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
A region segmentation method is used as a technique for segmenting an image into a plurality of regions so that attributes such as color, pattern, and brightness become the same. The segmented regions can undergo encoding processing, and region recognition and identification for each segmented region. This can reduce the processing amount in comparison with image processing at the pixel level. Recently, it is becoming popular to perform image processing in a built-in device controlled by software. It is considered that even the built-in device can perform complicated image processing on a high-resolution image by executing image processing for each region after region segmentation.
Various methods have been proposed regarding region segmentation of an image. Literatures which present methods for clustering pixels to segment an image into regions are, for example, literatures 1, 2, and 3:    Literature 1: Dorin Comaniciu, Peter Meer, "Mean Shift: A Robust Approach toward Feature Space Analysis", IEEE Trans. Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, Vol. 24, No. 5, pp. 603-619, 2002    Literature 2: Radhakrishna Achanta, Appu Shaji, Kevin Smith, Aurelien Lucchi, Pascal Fua, Sabine Susstrunk, "SLIC Superpixels", EPFL Technical Report, No. 149300, June 2010    Literature 3: Andrea Vedaldi, Stefano Soatto, "Quick Shift and Kernel Methods for Mode Seeking", In Proceedings of the European Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV), 2008
Literature 1 proposes a non-parametric feature space search method called mode-seeking. This search method is a method (Mean-shift method) of detecting local maximum positions at distribution densities for input points obtained by projecting pixels in an image to a predetermined feature space. The input points are connected to the detected local maximum positions to cluster pixels. This method is based on convergent calculation by iterative processing, and the total processing amount is large.
Literature 2 proposes a pixel clustering method based on mode-seeking, similar to literature 1, but adopts a method of moving a feature space to increase the kernel density estimation. Since this method is not convergent calculation, the processing amount is smaller than that in the Mean-shift method. However, the calculation amount is O(n^2) proportional to almost the square of the number n of data, so the total processing amount is large.
Literature 3 proposes a method of distributing and arranging cluster centers serving as initial positions not to overlap edges in an image, and clustering pixels based on a k-mean method using the cluster centers as seeds to segment the image into regions. This method includes iterative processing, but the calculation amount is much smaller than those in the above-described methods. However, since the k-mean method needs to be executed between respective cluster centers, data of the entire image needs to be held for clustering. It is difficult to implement this method in a built-in device for which it is hard to ensure a large-capacity memory.
Unlike the above-mentioned region segmentation methods by clustering, literatures 4 and 5 present graph-based region segmentation methods in which pixels are set as nodes, adjacent pixels are connected to form an edge, and an image is handled as a graph to segment the image into regions:    Literature 4: Jianbo Shi, Jitendra Malik, "Normalized Cuts and Image Segmentation", IEEE Trans. PAMI, Vol. 22, No. 8, August 2000    Literature 5: Pedro F. Felzenszwalb, Daniel P. Huttenlocher, "Efficient Graph-Based Image Segmentation", International Journal of Computer Vision, Vol. 59, No. 2, September 2004
According to the method in literature 4, an edge having, as a feature amount, an affinity representing the similarity between nodes is set between nodes, and an edge to be cut for region segmentation is specified. To obtain the cut, the eigenvalue problem of a matrix representing the affinity needs to be solved, requiring a large calculation amount.
According to the method in literature 5, similar to literature 4, pixels are set as nodes, adjacent pixels are connected to form an edge, and the dissimilarity in color or the like between adjacent pixels is calculated as the feature amount of an edge. After calculating the feature amounts of all edges, the edges are sorted in the order of magnitude of the feature amount. In the order of sorted edges, it is determined whether to merge regions to which nodes, that is, pixels at the two ends of each edge belong. Regions determined to be merged are merged. The same merging determination processing is performed for all edges. At the end of the merging determination processing for all edges, the image has been segmented into a plurality of regions each having the same attributes. This method has features in which the calculation amount itself is smaller than those in the aforementioned methods, processing is possible at high speed, and the accuracy is high.
In the region segmentation method in literature 5, sort processing can reduce processing for searching for an edge having a maximum feature value in a region. The sort processing amount depends on the number of edges generated in an image to be processed. According to the method in literature 5, edges are generated between a pixel of interest and eight neighboring pixels. Therefore, time is taken to sort all edges.
Generally, sort processing is often executed as sequential processing, and it is hard to increase the speed of sort processing by hardware. Thus, when a built-in device performs image processing on a high-resolution image by using the method in literature 5, sort processing in region segmentation becomes a bottleneck.

Image processing apparatus and image processing method


The invention relates to a method for measuring and/or regulating the oscillation amplitude of an ultrasound oscillator of an ultrasound device. In order to be able to measure or regulate the oscillation amplitude of the ultrasound oscillator in a simple manner, it is proposed that a sensor capturing the oscillation amplitude be associated with at least one component element of the ultrasound oscillator.

The invention relates to a method for measuring and/or regulating the oscillation amplitude of an ultrasound oscillator of an ultrasound welding device, comprising components producing and transmitting oscillations in the form of at least one converter and one sonotrode, as well as, if applicable, a booster placed between the converter and the sonotrode, wherein the ultrasound oscillations are produced by transmitting a high frequency voltage coming from a control circuit to the converter. In addition, the invention relates to an ultrasound welding device, comprising components producing and transmitting oscillations in the form of at least one converter and one sonotrode, as well as, if applicable, a booster placed between them, a backing electrode (ambos), between which and the sonotrode compressible, weldable parts, such as wires, are to be placed, preferably in a compression chamber, wherein to the converter for oscillation production an amplitude is transmitted across a control system with high frequency voltage.
In order to obtain reproducible welding results, it is necessary to monitor welding parameters and then, if predetermined target values are exceeded or not met, regulate them. It is thus disclosed in DE-A-198 10 509 to capture ultrasound waves coupling into a welding material following a reciprocal effect with a joined layer as the measuring signal, in order to then further process characteristic parameters by means of a measured data memory and an evaluation unit for the welding process with subsequent control of the sonotrode.
In order to control and regulate the process parameters in the ultrasound welding of plastic parts, DE-A-43 21 874 proposes that the joining force be measured during the welding process to monitor the energy application at a joining location between two parts that are to be welded.
According to EP-B-0 567 426 the oscillation amplitude of a sonotrode welding plastic parts is reduced after a predetermined time interval, in order to then work with a lower oscillation amplitude during the remaining time of the welding operation. An appropriate control signal to reduce the amplitude can also be initiated directly or indirectly as a function of the power transmitted to the work pieces to be welded, as is revealed, for example, in WO-A-1998/49009, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,855,706, 5,658,408 or 5,435,863.
WO-A-2002/098636 discloses a method for welding plastic parts, in which during an initial time span the oscillation amplitude is reduced following a given course to optimize the welding process, in order to subsequently perform a measurement of a characteristic parameter of the work piece and then, as a function of the value of the parameter measured, end the welding process with a constant amplitude of a sonotrode transmitting ultrasound energy.
In order to check connections established by ultrasonic wire bonding, DE-A-101 10 048 envisions an online monitoring method on the basis of predetermined or stored master values, which allow inferences to be made about the stability of the connection.
An ultrasound welding method for coated electrical wires and a device for performing the method are disclosed in DE-A-102 11 264. In order to vary the welding energy after removal of the insulation and for the welding of the conductors, a measurement of the resistance of the electricity flowing between the sonotrode and the backing electrode is carried out.

Method for measuring and/or regulating the oscillation amplitude of an ultrasonic transmitter, and an ultrasonic welding device


An article transport device includes: an input section configured to input a package; an input belt conveyor configured to transport, toward a seal attaching mechanism, the package input by the input section; a passage detection sensor configured to detect that the package transported by the input belt conveyor passes by a predetermined position; a suspending pusher configured to temporarily suspend a subsequent package while a package is processed by the seal attaching mechanism; and an article stopper configured to block the subsequent package in a traveling direction and suspend the subsequent package while the package is processed by the seal attaching mechanism. An article detection sensor is disposed upstream of the passage detection sensor. When the passage detection sensor detects passage of one package, the suspending pusher is caused to operate so that a subsequent package is temporarily suspended.

In a band-wrapping packaging device known to date, an article is transported by an article transport device, and a band-shaped film piece is attached to a surface of the article (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In this band-wrapping packaging device, to attach a band-shaped film piece onto a transported article, process steps such as feeding a film piece, receiving the film piece, placing the film piece onto an article at an attachment position, and attaching the film piece onto a back surface of the article are successively performed.


A hanging emergency light assembly comprising a portable housing which includes a compartment for accommodating at least one battery for supplying electric power, and opposite first and second light emitting ends. The first light emitting end of the portable housing is provided with a strobe lamp and a red colored lens for emitting a red colored strobe light. The second light emitting end of the portable housing is provided with a high intensity light bulb and a clear lens for emitting blinking high intensity light. The hanging emergency light assembly further comprises first and second switches for independently activating and deactivating the strobe lamp and the high intensity light bulb, respectively. The portable housing includes a flange extending upwardly therefrom for accommodating a ring and an elastic band removably placed around the ring for allowing the light assembly to conveniently hang on a door knob or a fixture in order to alert an emergency service personnel or nighttime delivery to one's location.

This invention relates to a hanging emergency light assembly. More particularly, the invention relates to a light assembly which is designed to hang on a door knob or other fixture and emit a red colored strobe light or rapidly flashing high intensity light upon selective activation thereof for alerting and directing emergency service personnel or a nighttime delivery to the location of the user.
Many emergency situations arise at nighttime in a wide variety of locations, including near the road, at home, in deserts, in mountains, and many other places. Because many emergency situations require immediate assistance, it is critical for the emergency service to respond as quickly as possible in order to avoid harmful results. However, in the dark, it is often difficult for emergency service personnel to locate the person seeking help. Inability to locate the person seeking emergency help in a timely manner may not only result in harm and furtherance of an injury but also result in a person loosing their life while waiting for a medical assistance. Thus, it is desirable to have an inexpensive device that is capable of quickly alerting and directing emergency service personnel to the location of the individual seeking help.
Various references uncovered in the prior art provide emergency lighting devices with high intensity flash elements. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,613,847 to Scolari discloses a self-contained emergency signal having a base which contains a battery, a high-intensity flash lamp and a high-intensity flash lamp actuating unit. U.S. Pat. No. 4,112,482 to Powell discloses a night light belt provided with red or amber colored rear lamp and a red or white front lamp that is manually removable from the belt, for use as a portable flashlight.
In the field of lighted signs, many have been designed to illuminate street numbers of the building for facilitating the finding of a particular residential address. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,686,505 to Vanderburg discloses an emergency lighting apparatus which is activated by a homeowner in the event of an emergency. The emergency lighting apparatus includes transparent house numbers which are illuminated from behind, while a strobe Light is flashed. Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 4,003,040 to Browand discloses a flashing address-indicating door sign comprising a casing having illuminable house numbers at the front thereof, wherein the casing contains red and white light bulbs which are selectively operable by a switch located inside of the house.
Despite all these emergency lighting devices, there is still a further need to provide an improved hanging emergency light assembly. Such a hanging emergency light assembly should be capable of alerting and directing emergency service personnel or a nighttime delivery person to the location of the individual seeking help or waiting for delivery. Moreover, such a hanging emergency light assembly should be positionable in an elevated position so that it can be easily seen by an emergency service personnel from a considerable distance, and eliminates the need to have the user manually hold such a light assembly.
While these units mentioned above may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or for general use, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as disclosed hereafter.