An auto-tensioner comprising a fixed shaft having a cylindrical surface section formed on the tip of the fixed shaft, eccentric to the centeraxis of the fixed shaft, a rocker member coaxial with the fixed shaft and a damper plate such that the outer peripheral edge of the damper plate is slidally engaged with the inner peripheral surface of the rocker member, and that the cylindrical surface section is fitted into a circular hole provided eccentrically in the center section of the damper plate so that the damper plate is secured to the tip of the fixed shaft so as not to rotate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an auto-tensioner, and in particular to an auto-tensioner used to apply proper tension to an engine timing belt for an automobile or a belt for driving an auxiliary machinery such as an alternator or a compressor (hereinafter referred to as simply "belt" in both cases).
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, an auto-tensioner of the type illustrated in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, for example, is used to apply proper tension to a belt. A tubular fixed shaft 1 is secured e.g. to the front surface of an engine cylinder block by a bolt (omitted from the drawings). A half-casing 2 is secured on the base end section (left end in FIG. 3) of the fixed shaft 1 concentric to the fixed shaft 1, and an engaging projection 3 is secured to the axially outer end surface of the half-casing 2. The engaging projection 3 is to be engaged with an engaging indentation (not shown) formed on the front surface of the cylinder block to prevent the rotation of the fixed shaft 1.
A cylindrical section 5 provided on a rocker member 4 is externally fitted on this fixed shaft 1 through a sliding bearing 6 therebetween. A rocker arm 7 extends radially outward from the cylindrical section 5, and a pivot shaft 8 is provided on the tip of the rocker arm 7, parallel to the fixed shaft 1. A tension pulley 9 is pivotally supported on the pivot shaft 8 by means of a rolling bearing 10.
A half-casing 11 is provided on one part of the rocker member 4, concentric with the cylindrical section 5. A case 14 for enclosing a torsion coil spring 13 is formed by combining the half-casing 11 and the half-casing 2 in a nested shape.
One end of the torsion coil spring 13 is engaged with the half-casing 2 on the side of the fixed shaft 1 with the other end engaged with the half-casing 11 on the side of the rocker member 4 to impart an elastic force on the rocker member 4 in a direction to force the tension pulley 9 elastically toward a belt. Accordingly, the tension on the belt is normally maintained at a uniform level with the tension pulley 9 being pressed against the belt, regardless of any changes in the dimensions of the belt from a temperature change or the like, or vibration or the like from the operation of the engine.
Further, the inner peripheral edge section of a damper plate 15 is secured to the outer periphery of the axial tip portion (the right end in FIG. 3) of the fixed shaft 1, so that the outer peripheral edge section of the damper plate 15 slides on one part of the inner peripheral surface of the rocker member 4. Specifically, the damper plate 15 is fabricated together with the fixed shaft 1 and the half-casing 2 e.g. by die-cast forming from aluminum. A rectangular tubular section 16 is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the axial tip of the fixed shaft 1, and a rectangular hole 17 is formed at the center of the damper plate 15 to receive the rectangular tubular section 16 inserted thereinto. The axial tip of the rectangular tubular section 16 is then deformed by caulking or crimping against the peripheral edge section of the rectangular hole 17 to form caulked or crimped sections 18 so that the damper plate 15 is non-rotatably secured to the axial tip of the fixed shaft 1 from the effect of the caulked or crimped sections 18.
In this manner, an annular clearance space 19 is provided axially between the damper plate 15 and the rocker member 4 with the damper plate 15 secured to the axial tip portion of the fixed shaft 1. An 0-ring 21 is fitted into an indented annular groove 20 formed over the entire periphery on the outer peripheral surface of the damper plate 15 in either axial end section thereof. The outer peripheral edges of the 0-rings 21 is adapted to slide on the inner peripheral surface of the rocker member 4 to liquid-tightly close off the two end sections of the clearance space 19.
A viscous fluid 22 such as silicone oil or the like is filled into this clearance space 19 through a filling hole 23. The filling hole 23 is closed off by the insertion of a steel ball 24, after the filling operation.
In this manner, the viscous fluid 22 is sealingly enclosed in the clearance space 19 which is present between the fixed shaft 1, specifically the damper plate 15 and the rocker member 4 which are relatively displaced in the direction of rotation. Accordingly, when the belt vibrates with a small amplitude during the operation of the engine, this vibration, transmitted to both the tension pulley 9 and the rocker member 4, is damped by the viscous fluid 22 in the clearance space 19, so that the vibration of the tension pulley 9 and the rocker member 4 does not grow.
The present invention is designed to eliminate any backlash in the engaged section of the damper plate 15 with respect to the fixed shaft 1 without increasing the fabrication costs of the auto-tensinor with the structure and operation described above.
Conventionally, in order that the damper plate 15 is secured to the fixed shaft 1 so as not to rotate, the rectangular tubular section 16 on the axial tip portion of the fixed shaft 1 is formed simultaneously with the fabrication by die-casting of the fixed shaft 1, while the rectangular hole 17 in the center section of the damper plate 15 is formed simultaneously with the fabrication by die-casting of damper plate 15. Accordingly, because of unavoidable fabrication errors, backlashes are produced unavoidably in the engaged section when the rectangular tubular section 16 and the rectangular hole 17 are fitted together. Therefore, there are occasions where these backlashes cannot be eliminated, even when the caulked or crimped sections 18 are formed on the axial tip portion of the rectangular tubular section 16.
If the dimensional precision of the rectangular tubular section 16 and the rectangular hole 17 is improved by not using die-casting as the fabrication method, but rather forming by a machining process such as a shaper process or the like, the degree of backlash production in the above-mentioned engaged section would be reduced, so that it is possible to completely eliminate the backlashes in the engaged section by providing the caulked sections 18. But this is not desirable because the cost of fabrication is increased.


Ion mobility spectrometer apparatus may include an ion interface that is operable to hold positive and negative ions and to simultaneously release positive and negative ions through respective positive and negative ion ports. A first drift chamber is operatively associated with the positive ion port of the ion interface and encloses an electric field therein. A first ion detector operatively associated with the first drift chamber detects positive ions from the first drift chamber. A second drift chamber is operatively associated with the negative ion port of the ion interface and encloses an electric field therein. A second ion detector operatively associated with the second drift chamber detects negative ions from said second drift chamber.

Ion mobility spectrometry is a technique that separates and detects electrically charged particles (e.g., ions) that have been sorted according to how fast they travel through an electrical field in a chamber containing a gas, typically at atmospheric pressure. Small ions travel through the gas faster than do large ions and reach the end of the chamber first, with successively larger ions arriving later. Because ion mobility spectrometry only sorts ions by size, and not by their chemical properties or other identifying features, it cannot be used in all cases to make a positive identification of unknown compounds. However, ion mobility spectrometers can be used with certain compounds and can make measurements quite rapidly (e.g., in only a few seconds), therefore making them highly desirable for use in certain applications. For example, ion mobility spectrometers are commonly used to detect explosives, narcotics, and chemical warfare (e.g., nerve and blister) agents.
A typical ion mobility spectrometer comprises an ionization region, a drift chamber, and a detector. The ionization region is located at one end of the drift chamber, while the detector is located at the other end of the drift chamber. The ionization region is typically provided with a radioactive source, such as 63Ni, suitable for ionizing the sample material, although other ionizing techniques may be used. Ions of the sample material from the ionization region are introduced into the drift chamber, whereupon they ultimately reach the detector at the far end. The arriving ions cause the detector to generate electrical pulses which may thereafter be interpreted to form a conclusion about the nature of the sample material.
While ion mobility spectrometers of the type just described work well and are being used, they are not without their disadvantages. For example, ion mobility spectrometers having a single drift chamber cannot readily be used with both positive and negative ions, which limits the utility of such spectrometers. For example, while spectrometers that work with positive ions are useful for detecting drugs, nerve agents, and some types of explosives, they are not effective in detecting most types of explosives and blister agents, because such materials are better characterized by detecting the negatively charged ions they produce. Consequently, two separate spectrometers (e.g., both a positive ion type and a negative ion type) must be used in order to detect both classes of materials.
Partly in an effort to address this limitation, so-called "dual mode" ion mobility spectrometers have been developed. Dual mode ion mobility spectrometers utilize two drift chambers. Thus, a single spectrometer can be used to detect both positive and negative ions. Unfortunately, however, most dual mode ion mobility spectrometers cannot provide for the simultaneous detection of both positive and negative ions. Instead, such designs operate in a pulsed mode, wherein the spectrometer alternately detects positive ions, then negative ions. While dual mode ion mobility spectrometers have been developed that can simultaneously detect both positive and negative ions, they typically require complex apparatus for separating the positive and negative ions before they enter the drift chambers. In addition, such separation apparatus also tends to decrease the sensitivities of the spectrometers that utilize them.
Consequently, a need remains for an ion mobility spectrometer and ion mobility spectrometry method that can simultaneously detect both positive and negative ions, but without the disadvantages associated with prior art systems. Additional advantages could be realized if such an improved ion mobility spectrometer and method provided for increased detection limits and resolution.

Dual mode ion mobility spectrometer and method for ion mobility spectrometry


A heat spreader (20) is added to a package to enhance thermal and advantageously electrical performance. In manufacture, a heat spreader precursor (24) is advantageously placed over a group of dies and secured after bonding (e.g., wire or tape bonding or flip-chip bonding) and before matrix/block mold. For example, a package strip (10) may consist of a row (linear array) of groups of die attach areas (e.g. in a rectangular array of four). The heat spreader precursor (20) may accommodate one such group or multiple groups along the package strip (10). The package strip (10) may then be singulated to form the individual packages. Each singulated package includes a die (14), its associated substrate 16 (e.g., either a lead frame or interposer type substrate) and a portion of the heat spreader precursor (24) as a heat spreader (20).

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to semiconductor device packages. More particularly, this invention relates to thermally enhanced, molded plastic semiconductor device packages.
2. Description of the Related Art
Molded plastic packages provide environmental protection to integrated circuit devices (dies). Such packages typically include at least one semiconductor device (die) having its input/output (I/O) pads electrically connected to a lead frame type substrate or an interposer type substrate, with a molding compound coating the die and at least a portion of the substrate. Typically, the I/O pads on the die are electrically connected to bond sites on the substrate using either a wire bonding, tape bonding, or flip-chip bonding method. The lead frame or interposer substrate transmits electrical signals between the I/O pads and an electrical circuit external to the package.
In semiconductor device packages having a lead frame type substrate, electrical signals are transmitted between at least one die and external circuitry, such as a printed circuit board, by an electrically conductive lead frame. The lead frame includes a plurality of leads, each having an inner lead end and an opposing outer lead end. The inner lead end is electrically connected to the I/O pads on the die, and the outer lead end provides a terminal for connecting to the external circuitry. Where the outer lead end terminates at a face of the package body, the package is known as a "no-lead" or "leadless" package. Examples of well-known no-lead packages include quad flat no-lead (QFN) packages, which have four sets of leads disposed around the perimeter of the bottom of a square package body, and dual flat no-lead (DFN) packages, which have two sets of leads disposed along opposite sides of the bottom of a package body.
In semiconductor device packages having an interposer type substrate, electrical signals are transmitted between at least one die and external circuitry, such as a printed circuit board, by a substrate comprising multiple layers, usually 2 or 3 thin layers, of dielectric material having electrical traces, pins, vias, and the like formed thereon. This type of substrate is typically used in grid array packages, such as ball grid array (BGA) packages, pin grid array (PGA) packages, land grid array (LGA) packages, fine ball grid array (FBGA) packages, flexible ball grid array (FxBGA) packages, and any other type of package that requires lands on the package to be arranged at a suitable circuit board-attach pitch (a "grid array"). Solder balls, bumps or pins may be disposed on the lands, as in BGA and PGA type packages, to facilitate connection to the circuit board.
In any type of molded plastic package, operation of the die generates heat that must be removed to maintain its operating integrity. While some heat is dissipated through the metallic components of the package, such as portions of the substrate and bond wires, the remainder is absorbed into the molding compound. Problematically, the molding compound is a poor thermal conductor. As a result, attempts have been made to improve the thermal dissipation performance of the molded plastic package.
One way to increase thermal dissipation performance of a molded plastic package is to dispose a metallic heat spreader within the package. In one common design, the metallic heat spreader is placed below the die. Examples of such heat spreader designs are provided, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,367,196 and 5,608,267, both to Mahulikar et al., and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,650,663 to Parihasarathi, all of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
In another common design, the metallic heat spreader is spaced above the die, such that the die is positioned between the heat spreader and the substrate. In this design, the heat spreader typically includes downwardly directed portions that contact the substrate, the die, or both. The downwardly directed portions may be adhered to the substrate and/or die using a dielectric adhesive. Such heat spreaders typically act to spread the heat throughout the encapsulant over an area larger than that of the chip. One example of such a heat spreader is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 6,432,742 to Guan et al. Another example of such a heat spreader is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,977,626 to Wang et al. Unfortunately, manufacturing methods for packages employing this type of heat spreader have not lent themselves to the high level of automation needed for assembly of lower cost molded plastic packages.
One attempt to automate the assembly of molded plastic packages with heat spreaders is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 6,432,749 to Libres (the '749 patent), which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. The '749 patent describes a method of manufacture in which heat spreaders are provided in strip format to allow a plurality of packages to be assembled at the same time. The strip of heat spreaders is placed over the die and substrate, and a molding compound is disposed over the heat spreader, die, and substrate such that the edge of the encapsulating material is coincident with a reduced cross-sectional pillar connecting an adjacent heat spreader. The reduced cross-sectional pillar is then cut to separate the packages. Where the substrate is a leadframe, the '749 patent teaches adhering the heat spreader to the leadframe using a non-conductive adhesive to prevent electrical shorting. While this method provides for automated assembly, the assembly requires that the packages be individually molded (i.e., pocket molded) to reveal the cross-sectional pillar so that it may be cut. The use of individual molds for each package is undesirable for certain applications because it makes the molding process prone to manufacturing defects such as misalignment of the individual molds relative to the die and substrate. In addition, the method described in the '749 patent requires the use of non-conductive adhesive to secure the heat spreader to the leadframe to prevent electrical short circuits. This is another step in the manufacturing process where defects can occur.
There remains, therefore, a need for a method for the automated manufacture of thermal enhanced molded plastic packages that does not require complex manufacturing steps.

Thermal enhanced package for block mold assembly

Advanced Interconnect Technologies Limited


In one embodiment, a method of fabricating one or more transistors in an integrated circuit includes an annealing step prior to a gate oxidation step. The annealing step may comprise a rapid thermal annealing (RTA) step performed prior to a gate oxidation pre-clean step. Among other advantages, the annealing step reduces a step height difference between P-doped and N-doped regions of a field oxide of a shallow trench isolation structure. The shallow trench isolation structure may be separating a PMOS transistor and an NMOS transistor in the integrated circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to integrated circuits, and more particularly but not exclusively to integrated circuit fabrication processes and structures.
2. Description of the Background Art
A metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) includes a source, a drain, and a gate. The source and the drain are typically formed in a substrate and separated by a channel. In an enhancement-type MOSFET, a channel sufficient to allow current flow between the source and the drain is not formed until the voltage on the gate relative to the source (vgs) equals or exceeds the threshold voltage (VT) of the MOSFET. Using complementary metal oxide semiconductor technology (CMOS), two kinds of enhancement-type MOSFETs may be fabricated in the same substrate. The first kind has a P-type channel and is referred to as a "PMOS transistor", while the second kind has an N-type channel and is referred to as an "NMOS transistor." PMOS and NMOS transistors may be separated by a shallow trench isolation (STI) structure.
FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of an example integrated circuit 100 in the middle of its fabrication process. FIG. 1 shows a PMOS transistor being formed in an N-well 105 and an NMOS transistor being formed in a P-well 106 after a gate oxidation step. The gate oxidation step formed gate oxides 108 and 109 for the PMOS and NMOS transistors, respectively. An STI structure 102 filled with field oxide (also referred to as "FILOX") separates the PMOS and NMOS transistors. The region of the STI structure 102 overlying P-well 106 has been implanted with a P-type dopant during the formation of P-well 106, while the region of STI structure 102 overlying N-well 105 has been implanted with an N-type dopant during the formation of N-well 105. In FIG. 1, a dotted line 112 marks the division between the P-doped and N-doped regions of STI structure 102. An arrow 103 points towards the N-doped region and an arrow 104 points towards the P-doped region.
A problem with integrated circuit 100 is the difference in step height between the P-doped and N-doped regions of STI structure 102. This step height difference also referred to as "step height delta," is generally bounded by dashed area 107. The step height difference may limit the operational window for a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) step performed during the fabrication of STI structure 102. The operational window may specify a lower and an upper limit for the step height of the field oxide. In FIG. 1, dimension D110 illustrates a distance between the top and bottom exposed portions of the field oxide, while dimension D111 illustrates a distance between the top of the region where a gate is to be formed (i.e., "gate region") and the bottom exposed portion of the field oxide. The limits for dimensions D110 and D111 may be dictated by the process window of the CMP step. For example, an excessive step height delta may limit the operational window for a silicon nitride CMP step and a silicon nitride strip step. Performing the silicon nitride CMP and silicon nitride strip steps on the upper side of the operational window may result in polystringer defects, while performing the steps on the lower side of the operational window may result in device stand-by current leakage. FIG. 2 shows a scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of an STI structure having an excessive step height delta (see dashed area 202) similar to that shown in FIG. 1.

Method of reducing step height difference between doped regions of field oxide in an integrated circuit


Persons with back problems have trouble putting on their stockings without experiencing some back pain or stress. An apparatus is provided for enabling the person to put on his stockings without bending or stooping; the person thereby avoids the back pain associated with such bending. An arcuate hollow form is releasably attached to the upper edge of a stocking by clamp elements located at spaced points on the hollow form. Elongated straps extend from the clamping points, such that the person can pull the hollow form over the foot and up onto the leg without bending or stooping.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for assisting a person in putting a stocking on his or her foot. The apparatus comprises two flexible straps that can be pulled to draw a stocking over a person's foot and around his or her leg.
2. Prior Developments
The process of putting a stocking on a person's foot normally involves some bending or stooping of the person. For example, a person sitting on a bed or chair is required to reach forward and downward in order to place a stocking over his or her toes. While the person remains in the bent-over position he or she is required to pull the stocking over the foot and onto the leg in order to complete the process.
Persons afflicted with back problems and hip problems frequently experience pain when bending over to put on their stockings. The present invention is concerned with a portable apparatus that can be attached to a stocking in preparing for putting on a stocking whereby the process of putting on a stocking is less painful and stressful.

Apparatus for assisting a person in putting on a stocking


A system described herein includes a receiver component that receives a first digital image from a color camera, wherein the first digital image comprises a planar object, and a second digital image from a depth sensor, wherein the second digital image comprises the planar object. The system also includes a calibrator component that jointly calibrates the color camera and the depth sensor based at least in part upon the first digital image and the second digital image.

Recently there have been an increasing number of depth sensors that are available at relatively low prices. In an example, a sensor unit that communicates with a video game console includes a depth sensor. In another example, computing devices (desktops, laptops, tablet computing devices) are being manufactured with depth sensors therein. A sensor unit that includes both a color camera as well as a depth sensor can be referred to herein as a depth camera. Depth cameras have created a significant amount of interest in applications such as three-dimensional shape scanning, foreground-background segmentation, facial expression tracking, amongst others.
Depth cameras generate simultaneous streams of color images and depth images. To facilitate the applications discussed above (and other applications that employ color images and depth images), the depth sensor and color camera may be desirably calibrated. More specifically, both the color camera and the depth sensor have their own respective coordinate systems, and how such coordinate systems are aligned with respect to one another may be desirably determined to allow pixels in a color image generated by the color camera to be effectively mapped to pixels in a depth image generated by the depth sensor and vice versa.
Many difficulties exist with respect to calibrating a color camera and depth sensor. For example, color cameras have been calibrated utilizing colored patterns. Colored patterns, however, cannot be analyzed in a depth image, as such image does not include captured colors (e.g., corners of a pattern are often indistinguishable from other surface points in a depth image). Furthermore, although depth discontinuity can be observed in a depth image, boundary points of an object are generally unreliable due to unknown depth reconstruction mechanisms utilized in the depth sensor.
An exemplary approach to calibrate a color camera and depth sensor is to co-center an infrared image with a depth image. This may require, however, external infrared illumination. Additionally, commodity depth cameras typically produce relatively noisy depth images, rendering it difficult to calibrate the depth sensor with the color camera.

Calibration between depth and color sensors for depth cameras


An integrated circuit formed on a semiconductor substrate has a contact pad for communicating signals between an external device and an internal signal line. The pad is protected by an SCR that conducts electrostatic discharge pulses from the pad directly to a current sink. The SCR includes a subregion underneath a field oxide that has a field inplant that increases the dopant concentration. The field implant lowers the SCR trigger voltage, so that SCR triggers before an ESD pulse can cause latch-up or damage in other devices in the integrated circuit.

The invention relates to the general field of semiconductor devices, and in particular to a field implant used to adjust operating characteristics of an SCR in an electrostatic discharge protection circuit.
High voltage electrostatic discharge (ESD) can damage fied effect transistor (FET) devices. Various combinations of diodes, transistors and resistors have been suggested to clamp electrostatic voltage excursions to levels below the gate oxide breakdown limits. A technique for reducing susceptibility to latchup is to form the FET devices in an epitaxial layer above a low impedance substrate. Additionally, guard rings and retrograde well dopant concentrations are known.

Field implant for silicon controlled rectifier

AT&T Global Information Solutions Company


A sealing mechanism for establishing a seal between a barrier material and a conduit that extends there through. The mechanism includes a specially configured opening formed in the barrier material and a grommet component that is inserted into the opening and locked in place by a slight rotation thereof.

The present invention generally relates to devices for sealing the combustion chamber of a gas-fired appliance to prevent the incursion and possible ignition of flammable vapors. More specifically, the invention pertains to a device for allowing various components to extend through a combustion chamber vapor barrier without compromising the seal established by such barrier.
A potential hazard inherent in the operation of a gas-burning appliance is that it may cause flammable vapors to ignite that happen to collect in and around the appliance. Ignition may either be caused by the burner or pilot flame or by an electric or electronic ignitor upon being energized. This is especially problematic in for example water h eaters or furnaces that are located in garages in which cars are parked where the leakage or spillage of gasoline may occur. Once a combustible mixture reaches the appliance, a fire or an explosion may result.
Efforts to address this potential safety hazard have been previously directed toward ensuring adequate ventilation in and around the appliance, the elevation of the appliance to distance it from flammable vapors that are denser than air, and more recently, the isolation or sealing of the combustion chamber from its surroundings. This latter approach not only prevents the incursion of vapors into the combustion chamber but also prevents the propagation of flame therefrom.
A difficulty associated with effectively sealing the combustion chamber of a typical gas-burning appliance is inherent in the necessity for various conduits to extend into the combustion chamber from the exterior of the appliance. The fitment of a sheet metal enclosure about the entire combustion chamber is typically relied upon to form a vapor barrier. The extension of any conduit through such barrier requires that an appropriate opening be formed in the barrier and that any gap between the installed conduit and the surrounding barrier material be closed off. An additional requirement is inherent in the fact that such conduits may have to be removed to allow access to the interior of the combustion chamber or that such conduits will need servicing or replacement at some time during the service life of the appliance. This requires that any sealing device that is in place between the conduit and the vapor barrier must be capable of maintaining an effective seal yet should allow the ready removal of the conduit when it is desired to do so. The sealing device should also be reusable and easily re-installable. Additionally, the sealing device should not deteriorate during the service life of the appliance. Accordingly, it must be capable of withstanding the elevated temperatures it is routinely subjected to due to its proximity to flame and must additionally be able to withstand even higher temperatures as may be mandated by various regulating agencies with regard to fire safety. Finally, the sealing device should be inexpensive to manufacture.
A seal configuration that had previously been considered included a separate grommet and spring combination for each of the various conduits that were extended through the barrier. A spring that was relied upon to maintain each such grommet in place which rendered the installation process rather cumbersome.
A sealing mechanism is needed for use between a combustion chamber enclosure and conduits that extend there through that is capable of maintaining an effective seal, that readily enables the removal and replacement of conduits, that readily enables an effective seal to be reestablished upon reinstallation, that is readily configured to accommodate multiple conduits, that does not deteriorate during the service life of the associated appliance and that is inexpensive to manufacture.
The present invention provides a sealing mechanism for sealing gaps between a combustion chamber enclosure and conduits that are extended there through. More particularly, a grommet type component is provided which cooperates with a specially configured opening formed in the enclosure material. The device may be configured to accommodate one or more conduits and is repeatedly reusable. Upon insertion through the opening in the enclosure, the grommet component locks into place by a slight rotation thereof.
The opening that is formed in the enclosure material is configured to define a depressed rim from which two diametrically opposed tabs extend inwardly therefrom. The grommet component has distal end configuration that allows it to be inserted into the opening and past the tabs. A flange prevents over-insertion while grooves formed in the sides of the grommet component are precisely dimensioned to receive and grasp the tabs when the inserted grommet is rotated into place. Perforations formed in the grommet component are dimensioned so as to provide a snug fit with the specific conduits that are to be inserted there through. Perforations formed along the edges of the grommet are dimensioned such that a snug fit with a conduit is achieved by a cooperation of the grommet surface and adjacent rim surface.
The sealing device may be configured to accommodate a single conduit or to simultaneously accommodate multiple conduits such as for example a gas line that feeds fuel to the pilot light, thermocouple with which the existence of a pilot flame is monitored and the wiring for a piezo electric ignitor with which the pilot flame is ignited. These components must all necessarily extend through the vapor barrier enclosure to the burner as the controller valve from which they emanate is typically affixed to the exterior of the appliance.
The grommet component is preferably formed by the machining of powdered aluminum. Alternatively, powdered zinc or steel may be used. Die cast aluminum or zinc or machined aluminum or steel are also viable alternatives as is high temperature plastic molding.


A speaker system having a first speaker, a second speaker, and a housing having a first mounting surface to which the first speaker is mounted and a second mounting surface to which the second speaker is mounted. The first mounting surface and the second mounting surface are substantially planar and abut one another to form an included angle of between 120 degrees and 140 degrees. By so arranging the mounting surfaces, the sound produced by each speaker is allowed to mix to provide a full sound.

Audio speakers and speaker systems have been the subject of a great deal of research and design modification over the years in an effort to improve the quality of the sound produced by the speaker as perceived by the listener. The present invention builds upon many of these prior advances and results in a speaker system that produces a quality of sound that is much improved over prior designs.
Most audio loudspeakers are approximately cone shaped and vibrate in response to an electrical signal, thus producing sound waves. One way of improving the quality of sound is to improve the quality of the electrical signal received by the speaker. Another way is to improve the quality of the sound generated by the speaker itself. The latter improvement relates mostly to the materials and the design of the speaker.
Over a period of time speakers have become specialized. Speakers that produce high tones, or sound waves of high frequency, are designed differently and are of a different size than speakers that produce tones at a lower range. Accordingly, speakers are commonly divided into four categories: (1) tweeters, which produce the highest tones; (2) woofers, which produce the lowest tones, (3) mid-ranges, which produce tones bridging the gap between those produced by tweeters and woofers, and (4) full ranges, which produce the broadest range of tones. There is typically some overlap between the sound tones produced by speakers. Thus, a woofer may produce sound frequencies at the upper end of its frequency range that overlaps frequencies produced by a mid-range speaker at the lower end of its frequency response range.
Modern speaker systems typically fall into two categories; integrated systems in which multiple speakers are mounted within a single housing, and component level systems in which multiple speakers, each having its own housing, are used to provide a full range of sound. Because multiple speakers are used in each system, the quality of the sound perceived by a listener depends not only on the quality of sound produced by each speaker, but also by the complex way each speaker interacts with every other speaker.
Component level systems offer the most flexibility in the configuration of speakers and, therefore, the most flexibility in the mixing of the sound produced thereby. By placing a variety of speakers in different orientations relative to one another, the listener can optimize the sound produced by the system. However, component level systems also have a number of drawbacks. First, the use of separate speakers requires that separate housings and cable connections be provided for each speaker, dramatically increasing the cost of the system. Second, the need for separate wires to supply sound to each speaker generates a large number of wires to conceal and can cause difficulty in attaching the wires to the connectors on the amplifier. Third, in order to properly aim the separate speakers, speaker stands or brackets with adjustable mounts must be purchased and disposed with the room. Finally, the use of a number of components takes up a relatively large amount of space compared to that taken up by integrated systems.
Because of the drawbacks inherent in component level systems, the use of integrated speaker systems would be preferred, provided that such a system were capable of adequately mixing the sound produced by each of the speakers mounted thereon. However, these systems have not, heretofore, had this ability. This is due to the fact that the housings surrounding the speakers in conventional speaker systems are typically designed to have a single, substantially planar, front surface into which the speaker, or speakers, is mounted. Because the speakers are mounted to a planar surface, the sound emanating from each speaker begins its travel in parallel relation to that produced by the other speakers and is not fully mixed until it has traveled a significant distance into the room and, or is allowed to bounce off of walls or other obstructions. Accordingly, these systems lack the fullness of sound that can be achieved using component level systems.
Therefore, there is a need for a speaker system that provides a full mixing of the sound generated by the various speakers making up the system, that does not require the separate housings and cable connections of component level systems, does not require the use of multiple wires to connect the system to an amplifier, takes up a minimum of space, and does not require the use of separate stands or brackets in order to aim the speakers for optimum performance.


An intraocular tension measuring method comprising vibrating an eyeball to be examined by a sound wave, measuring vibration of the eyeball to be examined by a noninvasive means to determine a Q value of resonance of the eyeball to be examined, and calculating intraocular tension from the Q value, and an intraocular tension measuring device comprising a vibrating means for vibrating an eyeball to be examined by a sound wave, a measuring means for noninvasively measuring vibration of the eyeball to be examined, a Q value calculating means for calculating a Q value of resonance of the eyeball to be examined from the vibration measured by the measuring means, and an intraocular tension calculating means for calculating intraocular tension from the Q value.

The following methods are generally known as intraocular tension measuring methods: a method of applying a predetermined pressure to a cornea and monitoring a depression of the cornea at this time, thereby measuring intraocular tension; and a method of, by making a presser in contact with the cornea or by blowing air to the cornea, measuring a tension when a portion of the cornea becomes flat, thereby measuring intraocular tension. With those methods, it is necessary to ensure high safety because the cornea is directly stimulated. Accordingly, it is required that an examiner is a doctor or a health professional. In addition, a load on a person when examined is large because local anesthesia is required or air blowing causes discomfort.
Regarding such problems, several kinds of methods were proposed: a method of vibrating the surface of an eyeball by a sound wave and measuring intraocular tension based on an amplitude of the vibration, a resonance frequency of the eyeball, or a velocity of a surface wave of the eyeball (JP 02-181241A, U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,595, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,251,627); a method of pressing down an eyelid in a closed-eye state to measure intraocular tension (JP 06-105811 A, JP 08-280630 A, and JP 08-322803 A); and the like.
On the other hand, in a method of measuring an intracranial pressure using a sound wave, a Q value is known as one of the parameters related to the intracranial pressure (U.S. Pat. No. 5,919,144).

Method and device for measuring intraocular tension

Nishiki 3-chome, Naka-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi


A system and method for network monitoring are disclosed. In one embodiment, a network monitoring method includes determining that a caller can receive audible information via a first access device and graphical information via a second access device. The method also includes converting a request communicated by the caller via the first access device to a directive for a network management engine to retrieve network management information related to at least one monitored network device. The method also includes translating a first portion of the network management information to a first format for communication to the first access device and translating a second portion of the network management information to a second format for communication to the second access device.

In the world of information technology (IT), a network is made up of a series of nodes interconnected by communication paths. Networks often interconnect with computing devices of differing types and with other networks of various sizes. An enterprise network, for example, may interconnect with several local area networks (LANs) and one or more metropolitan area networks (MANs) or wide are networks (WANs).
An enterprise with a need to interconnect its various sub-networks with a broader network may do so by connecting some of the nodes on its network with nodes of the broader network. In many cases, this intermingling of smaller network assets actually helps create the broader network.
A given network may be characterized by several factors like who can use the network, the type of traffic the network carries, the typical nature of the network's connections, and the transmission technology the network uses. For example, one network may be public and carry circuit switched voice traffic while another may be private and carry packet switched data traffic. Whatever the make-up, most networks facilitate the communication of information between at least two nodes, and as such act as communications networks.
Given the potential complexity of a network, network operators and enterprises often invest a great deal of time and money managing and maintaining their networks. They usually supervise, monitor, and maintain their networks at a network operations center (NOC). A typical NOC is a room containing visualizations of the network or networks that are being monitored. The NOC may have workstations that show graphical representations of the network and provide a detailed and near real-time status of the network. In most cases, the network operations center is the focal point for network troubleshooting, performance monitoring, third party network coordination, software maintenance and distribution, as well as router and domain name management.

System and method for multi-modal monitoring of a network


To provide an electroconductive laminate excellent in electrical conductivity and visible light transparency, an electromagnetic wave shielding film for a plasma display, and a protective plate for a plasma display having excellent electromagnetic wave shielding properties, a broad transmission/reflection band and a high visible light transmittance.

Electroconductive laminates having transparency are used as a transparent electrode of e.g. a liquid crystal display device, a windshield for an automobile, a heat mirror, an electromagnetic wave shielding window glass, etc. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a coated electroconductive laminate comprising a transparent substrate, and a transparent oxide layer comprising zinc oxide and a silver layer alternately laminated on the substrate in a total layer number of (2n+1) (wherein n≧2). Such an electroconductive laminate is described to have sufficient electrical conductivity (electromagnetic wave shielding properties) and visible light transparency. However, if the lamination number n is increased to increase the number of silver layers so as to further improve electrical conductivity (electromagnetic wave shielding properties) of the electroconductive laminate, the visible light transparency tends to decrease.
Further, an electroconductive laminate is used also as an electromagnetic wave shielding film for a plasma display. Since electromagnetic waves are emitted from the front of a plasma display panel (hereinafter referred to as a PDP), for the purpose of shielding the electromagnetic waves, an electromagnetic wave shielding film which is an electroconductive laminate comprising a substrate such as a plastic film and an electroconductive film formed on the substrate is disposed on the observer side of a PDP.
For example, Patent Document 2 discloses a protective plate for a plasma display comprising, as an electroconductive film, a laminate having an oxide layer and a metal layer alternately laminated.
A protective plate for a plasma display is required to have a high transmittance over the entire visible light region and a low reflectance over the entire visible light region, i.e. to have a broad transmission/reflection band, and to have high shielding properties in the near infrared region. In order to broaden the transmission/reflection band, the number of lamination of the oxide layers and the metal layers in the electroconductive film of an electromagnetic wave shielding film to be used for the protective plate should be increased. However, if the number of lamination is increased, such problems arise that (i) the internal stress of the electromagnetic wave shielding film increases, whereby the film curls, or the electroconductive film may be broken to increase the resistance, and (ii) the visible light transparency decreases. Thus, the number of lamination of the oxide layer and the metal layer in the electroconductive film is limited. Accordingly, an electromagnetic wave shielding film having a broad transmission/reflection band and having excellent electrical conductivity (electromagnetic wave shielding properties) and visible light transparency has not been known.
Patent Document 1: JP-B-8-32436
Patent Document 2: WO98/13850

Electroconductive laminate, and electromagnetic wave shielding film for plasma display and protective plate for plasma display

Abstract: An electroconductive laminate 10 comprising a substrate 11, and an electroconductive film 12 having a three-layer structure having a first oxide layer 12a, a metal layer 12b and a second oxide layer 12c laminated sequentially from the substrate 11 side, or having a 3×n layer structure (wherein n is an integer of at least 2) having the above three-layer structure repeated, wherein the first oxide layer 12a contains “zinc oxide” and “titanium oxide or niobium oxide”, the metal layer 12b is a layer containing silver, and the second oxide layer 12c contains a mixture of zinc oxide and aluminum oxide, or the like.


A container for holding a product including a holding means for removably holding a product measuring device adjacent the upper end of the container. The holding means is connected to the container and the measuring device may be replaced in the holding means to secure the measuring device therein during use of the product.

Containers, especially plastic containers, frequently require a measuring device or measuring scoop to correctly measure the needed amount of product therein. The measuring scoop is frequently sold with the product and immersed in the product. The desire is that the consumer can safely retrieve the measuring device from the product when the container is opened, and therefore safely use the device for accurately measuring needed product. Typical such products are baby formula, powdered juice mix, coffee, dry mix baking products, as pancake or biscuit mixes, laundry and dish-washing products and the like.
However, frequently the measuring device or scoop becomes immersed in the product, requiring the consumer to manually retrieve the device by immersing fingers or instruments in the product. This is clearly inconvenient and indeed may represent a health hazard.
Therefore, it is a principal objective of the present invention to overcome the foregoing disadvantage and provide a system for easily retrieving a measuring device from a product without the necessity of having the consumer retrieve the device from within the product.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide a container and holding means for a measuring device which is convenient and easy for a consumer to use without compromising product safety.
Further objects and advantages of the present invention will appear hereinbelow.

Container with measuring device holding means


An axial flow turbine motor is provided which includes a rotor with a peripheral row of drive blades and a peripheral band-shaped wall element radially clamped against the tops of the drive blades, and a housing with at least one pressure medium inlet nozzle and an annular inner surface surrounding the rotor drive blades and the wall element, wherein the wall element is arranged to withstand centrifugal forces and uphold its clamping engagement with the drive blades at rotor speed levels up to a predetermined speed level, but to expand and loosen its clamping engagement with the drive blades at speed levels above the predetermined speed level, thereby moving into contact with the annular surface and interfering with the rotational movement of the rotor so as to prevent the rotor from reaching hazardous high speed levels.

A problem concerned with turbine motors is the difficulty to accomplish a simple yet reliable overspeed preventing safety device by which the rotor is prevented from reaching hazardous high speed levels where damage to equipment and operator injuries may be caused. Normally a safe and suitable speed is provided by a speed governor of any suitable type, but in case of a speed governor malfunction there has to be an independently operating overspeed preventing device fitted to protect the operator and other equipment from damage and injury. Since turbine motors operate at very high speed levels it is very difficult to design a reliable and safely operating overspeed preventing device of the type comprising a mechanical speed responsive actuator and a pressure medium shut-off valve. Such an actuator/valve arrangement is also rather complex in design and costly to manufacture as it contains many parts which require expensive machining.

Axial flow turbine with overspeed preventing device


The invention relates to an instrument for holding skin at an incision site having two pivotally connected elongated members, each member having releasably engagable handles while one member has a hook and the other has a paddle. The hook can be moved into and out of proximity with the paddle for shielding the hook when it is in close proximity to the paddle.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device and a method for hooking skin and holding it away from an incision, thus affording a surgeon greater access to the surgical area. More particularly, a forceps-type instrument is configured to hook into the skin on one side of an incision and hold the skin back against the hook.
2. Description of the Related Art
The invention relates to a device for hooking and, holding back the skin at an incision in the skin surface. An incision tends to remain closed because of the resilience of the skin and underlying tissue. Skin hooks are used to counteract this tendency by hooking the skin for the purpose of pulling the skin back from the incision and for providing a surgeon with improved access and visibility.
Known devices of this type include straight-shaft skin hooks, which have a pencil-type shape, with single or multiple hooks, as described and shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,857,386 to Ashbell. Skin hooks of this design suffer from several disadvantages including the fact that they tend to slip to an extent that the hook becomes dislodged and needs to be reinserted. These skin hooks may also cause trauma from slippage in that the skin may tear in the area where the hook has slipped. More importantly, since the hook is not covered or protected, the physician or attendant is at significant risk of being inadvertently punctured, particularly when the skin hook is passed from the attendant to the physician or vice versa. With the possibility that these medical professionals could become infected by viruses such as AIDS or hepatitis from such a puncture, this design has severe disadvantages. Hooks with this design are also subject to being bent out of shape because the tips are unprotected, requiring frequent replacement.
Adhesive retractors for retracting skin at the edges of an incision, such as described and shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,619 to Sharpe, have also been used to address the problem of slippage. An adhesive pad enables the retractor to remain in place. These products have drawbacks such as adhesives that do not stick all the time and the fact that they are not reusable which contributes to higher medical costs and waste that requires special handling. Further, since sterility is of utmost importance during an operation, the adhesive retractor is disadvantageous because it is difficult to sterilize since the adhesive pads are not autoclavable. Neither do adhesive retractors protect against accidental puncture by the retractor hooks.
Thus, there exists a need for a skin hook that will not slip, causes minimum trauma to the patient, will not bend when inadvertently bumped or dropped, and does not have unshielded sharp points or edges that could accidentally puncture physicians or attendants engaged in surgical procedures.


A message determination apparatus includes a storage unit that stores messages generated in a system, an extracting unit that extracts a message whose occurrence interval is in a certain range from the messages stored on the storage unit, and a determining unit that determines whether the occurrence interval of the message extracted at the extracting unit is out of a certain range in the messages generated in the system. Accordingly, a fault on the system can be detected when the occurrence interval is out of a certain range.

Heretofore, in a computer system that manages operations based on messages, the computer system outputs a message related to an abnormality when a device, an application, or the like in the system is abnormally operated. A management apparatus that manages operations monitors messages outputted in abnormal operation, and detects an abnormality on the system.
Moreover, the management apparatus monitors messages outputted from the device, the application, or the like in the system in normal operation separately from messages outputted in abnormal operation, and detects an abnormality on the system. In the monitoring and detection, an administrator that manages operations manually defines messages targeted for monitoring as rules on the operation in correspondence to the device configuration of the system, the operation of the system, and the like. Thus, the management apparatus can monitor messages targeted for monitoring defined in the rules, and can detect an abnormality on the system based on the rules on the operation.
Here, there is a technique to monitor messages for detecting an abnormality. In the technique, a management apparatus stores normal patterns. The normal pattern is combinations of one or two or more of continuous messages generated in the case where a distributed system is normally operated, and includes elements that are identifiers to uniquely identify the messages and the occurrence numbers of messages indicated by the identifiers. The management apparatus then makes reference to normal patterns, searches for an identifier matched with the identifier of the collected message, and counts the occurrence number of the message, which is indicated by the identifier, in the case where the corresponding identifier exists. The management apparatus then determines an abnormality in the case where the counted occurrence number of the message is a predefined value or less.
Moreover, there is a technique in which events are monitored to detect the throughput of a CPU (Central Processing Unit). In the technique, in the case where a packet destination is directed to a different device, a relay-equipped device monitors the occurrence interval between events that are generated on a regular basis, and determines the throughput of the CPU depending on whether the occurrence interval between the monitored events exceeds a predetermined interval. The device then detects that the CPU does not have enough remaining power in the case where the occurrence interval between the events exceeds a predetermined interval.
Furthermore, there is a technique in which an FCS (Frame Check Sequence) error frame (in the following, referred to as an error frame) is detected to find a fault on a network system. In the technique, a fault prediction device calculates the number of bits between error frames that is the total number of bits of frames transmitted on a transmission line between an error frame and a subsequent error frame. The fault prediction device then compares the calculated number of bits with a threshold calculated based on the number of bits transmitted in correspondence to the occurrence rate of bit errors on the transmission line statistically spontaneously produced, and detects a fault on the network system. The fault prediction device then determines that a fault occurs on the network system when the calculated number of bits is smaller than the threshold.    Patent Literature 1: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2007-96835    Patent Literature 2: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 11-224214    Patent Literature 3: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 08-139722    Patent Literature 4: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2006-318071

Apparatus and program for detecting abnormality of a system


An absorbent article, including: a leak preventer in sheet form having a bottom surface part and a pair of side parts raised upward from both the right and left sides of the bottom surface part and forming an internal space by the bottom surface part and the pair of side parts; an absorber arranged in the internal space at least in one layer, containing a super absorbent polymer, and capable of absorbing body fluids; a pair of side edge stretchable bands provided to extend along edge parts of the pair of side parts; a waist band joined to a rear end of the leak preventer and extending in a lateral direction; and a pair of hip wrapping stretchable bands connected to the pair of side parts of the leak preventer and/or the pair of side edge stretchable bands and to the waist band.

An absorbent article such as a disposable diaper (for both children and adults), a sanitary napkin, an incontinence product, or training pants is an article for absorbing a body fluid such as urine excreted from a wearer into an absorber employing a super absorbent polymer (hereinafter, may also be referred to as "SAP").
Conventionally, in order to prevent an absorbent article from getting loose to be detached or slipping off from the body of the wearer, various structures have been considered. This problem, however, occurs frequently. Such loosening or slipping off constitutes one of the main causes of leakage at an early stage of wearing. Further, it also leads to the problem of wearing comfort and outward appearance during use being impaired.
Such loosening or slipping off is caused, for example, by a change in the positional relationship between the body of the wearer and the absorbent article due to the breathing of the wearer, a change in his/her position, movement, etc., or deformation of the absorbent article; or a downward force due to a weight load generated when the absorbent article receives human wastes (urine, feces, etc.)
Conventionally, as a means for preventing such loosening and slipping off, in order to hold the absorbent article in intimate contact with the body of the wearer, there has been adopted a method in which an elastic member called waist gather or leg gather (e.g., gusset gather, inner gather, or outer gather) is provided at an edge of the waist part or the crotch part of the absorbent article.
However, it has been impossible to prevent loosening or slipping off to a sufficient degree by such the method.
In view of this, various methods have been proposed.
For example, Patent Documents 1 and 2, proposed by the inventors of the present invention, describe a method according to which the front body part and the rear body part of a tapeless type (shorts type) absorbent article are connected by an elastic member in the vicinity of the waist part or the leg holes.
Further, Patent Documents 3 through 5, proposed by the inventors of the present invention, describe a method according to which an elastic member functioning as a leg gather is provided on the inner side of the leg hole portions of the absorbent article.
Patent Document 1: JP 6-66653 U
Patent Document 2: JP 6-65409 U
Patent Document 3: JP 7-96004 A
Patent Document 4: JP 8-56985 A
Patent Document 5: JP 8-56986 A


A driving circuit includes a plurality of scanning lines, a plurality of data lines, a plurality of capacitor lines, pixels, a scanning line driving circuit, a capacitor line driving circuit, a first capacitive signal output circuit, and a data line driving circuit. Each of the pixels includes a pixel switching element, a pixel capacitor, and a storage capacitor. The capacitor line driving circuit supplies a first capacitive signal to the capacitor line when the one scanning line is selected, and changes a voltage value of the first capacitive signal when a scanning line, located a predetermined number of scanning lines away from the one scanning line, is selected. The first capacitive signal output circuit adjusts and outputs a voltage of the first capacitive signal when the one scanning line is selected. The data line driving circuit supplies the pixels with data signals of voltages corresponding to gray scale levels.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a technology that suppresses a voltage amplitude of a data line with a simple configuration in an electro-optical device, such as a liquid crystal display.
2. Related Art
In an electro-optical device, such as a liquid crystal display, pixel capacitors (liquid crystal capacitors) are provided correspondingly at intersections of scanning lines and data lines. When the pixel capacitors need to be driven by alternating current, the voltage amplitudes of data signals have positive and negative polarities (bipolarity). For this reason, in a data line driving circuit that supplies data signals to the data lines, component elements need to have withstanding voltages corresponding to the voltage amplitudes. JP-A-2001-83943 has proposed a technology in which storage capacitors are provided in parallel with pixel capacitors, and capacitor lines, to which the storage capacitors are commonly connected in each row, are driven by binary voltage in synchronization with selection of the scanning line so as to suppress the voltage amplitudes of data signals.
However, in this technology, because a circuit that drives the capacitor lines is similar to the scanning line driving circuit (actually, a shift register) that drives the scanning lines, the configuration of the circuit that drives the capacitor lines becomes complex. In addition, if a voltage applied to the capacitor line deviates from a predetermined voltage due to superposition of a noise, or the like, pixels corresponding to the capacitor line each cannot display a desired gray scale. The capacitor line of a single row corresponds to a multiple number of pixels. If all of these pixels cannot display a desired gray scale, there is an adverse effect on display.

Electro-optical device, driving circuit, and electronic apparatus


Disclosed is a rechargeable battery including: a bare cell composed of an electrode assembly including a negative electrode, a separator and a positive electrode, a container for housing the electrode assembly and an electrolyte, and a cap assembly for closing an opening of the container; and a safety device electrically coupled to an outer surface of the bare cell, wherein the safety device is coupled to the bare cell by being incorporated into a battery component part, and each of bonding surfaces of the bare cell and the battery component to be bonded to each other has a bonding parts capable of forming a mechanical bonding between the bare cell and the battery component. The rechargeable battery permits a safety device such as a protective circuit board and a bimetal device to be coupled to a bare cell in a stable and simple manner. Additionally, the mechanical bonding parts between the safety device and the bare cell can be separated so that the safety device such as a protective circuit board can be reused.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rechargeable battery, and more particularly to a rechargeable battery including a bare cell having an electrode assembly, a can and a cap assembly, and a protective circuit board electrically and mechanically connected to the bare cell.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As generally known in the art, rechargeable batteries are rechargeable and can be made in a compact form with a large capacity for energy storage, and thus have been broadly researched and developed recently. Typical examples of such rechargeable batteries include nickel-hydrogen (Ni—H) batteries, lithium (Li) batteries and lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries.
In such rechargeable batteries, most bare cells are formed by inserting an electrode assembly composed of a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and a separator into a container formed of a metal such as aluminum or aluminum alloys, closing the container with a cap assembly, injecting an electrolyte into the container, and then sealing the container. Although the container may be formed of iron compounds, a container formed of aluminum or aluminum alloys has an advantage in that it weighs less by virtue of the light weight of aluminum itself. A battery formed of an aluminum container is free of corrosion while used for a long time under a high voltage.
However, a battery, as an energy source, has a great potential to discharge a large amount of energy. In the case of a rechargeable battery, a large amount of energy is stored in a charged state. Also, in order to charge a rechargeable battery, an external energy source is needed to supply the energy to be stored in the battery. When internal short circuit or malfunction of a rechargeable battery occurs during the above described process or state, the energy stored in the battery may be discharged quickly, thereby causing safety problems such as fire, explosion, or the like.
Lithium rechargeable batteries, which are being used increasingly, include lithium having a high activity, and thus have a great potential for fire or explosion when they are defective. In the case of a lithium ion battery, lithium exists not in a metal state but in an ion state, and thus the safety of the battery is higher than a battery using lithium metal. However, negative electrode materials and non-aqueous electrolytes, etc. used in the battery are flammable, and thus there is a great possibility for fire or explosion when the battery is defective.
Accordingly, in general, a rechargeable battery is equipped with various kinds of safety devices for preventing fire or explosion caused by defect of the battery itself in a charged state or during the charge process of the battery. These safety devices are generally connected to a positive terminal and a negative terminal of a bare cell through a conductive structure, such as a lead plate. These safety devices can interrupt the flow of electric current, for example, when a battery is overheated or a battery voltage rapidly changes due to overcharge/overdischarge, etc., thereby preventing dangers such as explosion or ignition of the battery. Typical examples of safety devices coupled with a bare cell include a protective circuit board that can detect abnormal electric current or voltage to interrupt electric current, a Positive Temperature Coefficient (PTC) device operated according to the occurrence of overheating due to abnormal electric current, a bimetal device, etc.
A rechargeable battery having a bare cell coupled with a safety device is contained in a separate casing so that the rechargeable battery has a finished outer appearance. Further, a bare cell and a safety device, such as a protective circuit board, connected to the bare cell are fixed to each other and are encapsulated with plastic molding to fill the gap between the bare cell and the protective circuit board, resulting in a rechargeable battery having a finished appearance.
In general, rechargeable batteries are made from different materials, and are made into various shapes, sizes, etc., depending on their manufacturers and product models. Accordingly, the design of a suitable safety device is also varied according to such factors. Additionally, general manufacturers of rechargeable batteries integrate a bare cell and a protective circuit board, etc., into one body. In most cases, the compositional material and design are predetermined because the rechargeable battery forms a part of a product set to which it is mounted. Therefore, even if a rechargeable battery has the same operating conditions and functions in the same way as another battery meant for the exclusive use in a desired product set, it is not possible to use the rechargeable battery in the product.
Under these circumstances, rechargeable batteries have no interchangeability among various products, and thus it is difficult for consumers to optionally select a rechargeable battery for use in a desired product.
To solve this problem, a rechargeable battery that can be used in various products has been developed. In order to accomplish this, a rechargeable battery is often made as a pack-type battery, in which the terminals of a bare cell and those of a safety device such as a protective circuit board are bonded by welding, and the space between the bare cell and the protective circuit board is filled with a plastic molding, thereby bonding the bare cell with the protective circuit in a physical manner.
FIG. 1 is a schematic exploded perspective view showing a conventional pack-type lithium-ion battery, before coupling with a plastic molding. FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a conventional pack-type lithium ion rechargeable battery, which has been coupled with a plastic molding.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, in a pack-type battery, a protective circuit board 30 is disposed parallel to the surface of a bare cell, on which electrode terminals 130, 111 are disposed. Additionally, as shown in FIG. 2, a gap between the bare cell 100 and the protective circuit board is filled with a plastic molding 20. When the gap is filled with the plastic molding 20, the molding may cover even the outer surface of the protective circuit board. However, external input/output (I/O) terminals 31, 32 must be exposed to the exterior.
The bare cell 100 includes a positive terminal 111 and a negative terminal 130 on the surface facing the protective circuit board 30. The positive terminal 111 may be a cap plate that is formed of aluminum or aluminum alloys, or a nickel-containing metal plate bonded to a cap plate. The negative terminal 130 protrudes from a cap plate 110, and is electrically isolated from the cap plate 110 by a peripheral insulator gasket.
The protective circuit board 30 includes a panel formed of a resin, on which a circuit is disposed, and the external I/O terminals 31, 32 are formed on the outer surface thereof. The protective circuit board 30 has a dimension and a shape that are substantially the same as those of the surface (cap plate 110 surface) of the bare cell 100 facing thereto.
The internal surface of the protective circuit board 30 opposite to the outer surface, on which external terminals 31, 32 are formed, is equipped with a circuit section 35 and connection terminals 36, 37. The circuit section 35 includes, for example, a protective circuit for protecting a battery from overcharge/overdischarge during charge/discharge of the battery. The circuit section 35 and each external I/O terminal 31, 32 are electrically connected to each other by a conductive structure passing through the protective circuit board 30.
Connection leads 41, 42 and an insulating plate 43, etc., are disposed between the bare cell 100 and the protective circuit board 30. The connection leads 41, 42, which are generally formed of nickel, are used for the purpose of making electric connection between the cap plate 110 and each connection terminal 36, 37 of the protective circuit board 30. They may have an "L"-shaped form or a planar structure. In order to make electric connection between each connection lead 41, 42 and each terminal 36, 37, a resistance spot welding method may be used. In the embodiment as shown in FIG. 1, a separate breaker is formed in a connection lead 42 disposed between the protective circuit board and the negative terminal. In this case, the circuit section 35 of the protective circuit board has no breaker. The insulating plate 43 is positioned to electrically insulate the connection lead 42 connected to the negative terminal 130 from the cap plate 110 as a positive terminal.
However, when the bare cell 100 and other battery components including the protective circuit board 30 are incorporated into a pack-type battery using a plastic molding, certain mechanical problems arise. Plastic molding part 20 for securely coupling the battery components including the protective circuit board 30 with the bare cell 100 is made of a material different from that of the bare cell 100 including metallic components, such as the cap plate 110 and the can, and has a small contact area with the bare cell 100, thereby showing a weak bonding strength.
For the purpose of increasing the bonding strength, increasing the size of a connection structure such as a lead plate or formation of a separate reinforcing structure may be considered. For example, an embodiment in which a separate reinforcing structure is welded to a cap plate, with a space partially formed between the reinforcing structure and the bare cell so that the space may be filled with a plastic molding while the plastic molding covers the reinforcing structure may be considered. However, in order to form such a reinforcing structure, additional materials and welding processes are needed.
Additionally, in order to pour and cure a resin for plastic molding between the bare cell and the protective circuit board, a mold is needed and should be removed after use, thereby complicating the manufacturing process. Moreover, there is an additional problem in that when a resin for plastic molding is poured, the resin is not uniformly distributed in the gap between the protective circuit board and the bare cell. Particularly, when using a reinforcing structure with a complicated form, it is very difficult to fill the gap between the protective circuit board and the bare cell uniformly with the resin for plastic molding.
In addition, when resin is poured into the gap between the bare cell and the protective circuit board so as to form the plastic molding, the connection parts of terminals, protective circuit board, PTC, etc., are embedded in the plastic molding together, and thus it is not possible to separate them individually. Therefore, when the bare cell is discarded, a safety device attached thereto should also be discarded.


One or more techniques and/or systems are disclosed for providing a customized service error message to a user of a service. An error encountered during a user action related to the service may be compared to one or more identified service outages to determine if the error may be attributable to any of the service outages. If the error may be caused by one or more of the identified service outages, the customized service error message can be provided, where the customized service error message comprises information about one or more of the identified service outages that cover the error. The customized service error message may be displayed to the user so that the user knows that the error is server/service side (e.g., as opposed to an issue on the user's local device), a timeframe within which the error is expected to be resolved, etc.

Online services and/or web-based applications may be accessed by network connected users, such as connected to the Internet. Some services may be used by a large number of users, and may utilize vast amounts of resources, such as hardware and software to provide the services to the users. These services may comprise multiple data centers, respectively comprising many (e.g., thousands of) servers and many (e.g., hundreds of) hardware/network components. Operations comprised on this scale may often have many small-scale, localized, partial outages, for a variety of reasons. Hardware outages may comprise storage disk failures, server crashes, network switches and/or other hardware failures, for example. Further, small-scale, localized software failures may occur that can affect a portion of users utilizing one or more of the services, for example.

Service outage details in an error message


The present invention comprises several different embodiments of wiring systems for connecting terminal end portions of electrical wires. In accordance with a first embodiment, two terminal end portions of the wires are disposed adjacent to each other, one being fixed and one being movable, and an aperture is formed within a support panel to which the wires are secured. A pivotable lid or cover uncovers or closes the aperture so as to provide access to the terminal ends of the wires, and to close the aperture once connection of the wires has been achieved. In accordance with a second embodiment, the lid or cover is slidable upon the support panel and is connected to the movable wire such that upon slidable movement of the lid or cover, the movable wire is moved so as to connect with or be disconnected from the other wire. In accordance with a third embodiment, the lid or cover has short-circuiting wiring disposed thereon such that upon insertion of the lid or cover within the aperture of the support panel, the short-circuiting wiring and connectors of the lid or cover interconnect the two wires mounted upon the support panel. In accordance with a fourth embodiment, short-circuiting wiring and connectors are mounted upon a base, and the wires and connectors thereof are mounted upon the support panel. When the support panel is secured to the base by threaded fasteners, the connectors of the support panel wires are interconnected with the short-circuiting connectors and wires of the base.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a simplification of wiring structure for various electric devices disposed within interior members to be mounted in a vehicle, in a building and the like, wherein the interior members to be installed therein are divided and unified.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In case, for example, of achieving unification of interior members installed in a railway vehicle, a conventionally disclosed manner of unification is performed in such a manner that only each one of the panel surfaces to be mounted on the ceiling, longitudinal-side walls and lateral-side walls within the vehicle is unified to be a unit, wherein wiring structure for the electric devices installed therein is, as conventionally done, constructed by taking advantage of tubes, cable ducts, cable supporters, and the like, which are mounted in advance in the vehicle body.
Accordingly, the construction described above provides a very narrow working space and poor working conditions to service personnel especially in connection with wiring operations to be performed beneath the floor of the railway vehicle where the service personnel has to work looking upward the whole time, and therefore, a substantially long time is required for completing the wiring operation.
In order to solve this problem, there has been disclosed a new technology in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-6265. However, the method disclosed therein is targeted only for facilitating wiring operations beneath the floor, so that although working conditions are facilitated thereby, the wiring operation itself in a working place can not be abbreviated at all.
For this reason, there has been disclosed another method as shown in FIG. 5 wherein the interior members to be installed are divided and unified as the respective ceiling units 1 and 2, a panel unit 3 and so on, which are thereafter connected to each other directly or by way of an adjusting member 4 disposed for absorbing errors in measurement, wherein each of the units is provided in advance with various electric devices, such as a fan 5, and a fluorescent lamp 6, and also with necessary electric wires 7 and 8, so that when the respective units 1 and 2 are installed on the railway vehicle, the electric wires 8 and 8' of the respective units are connected through the connectors 9 and 9' which are respectively disposed at the connection terminals of the electric wires of the respective units.
In this case, however, the connection between the connectors 9 and 9' of the respective units 1 and 2 is performed at the ceiling side, or in other words, at the back surface of the units, which can cause such problems regarding the connecting method therebetween as follows.
For example, if a method in which wires 8 and 8' are provided so as to be intentionally longer so as to previously connect the connectors 9 and 9' is adopted, the slackened wires and the connectors are vibrated during the time the vehicle is running, which can be a cause of noise, and also can be a cause of destruction of the connectors. On the other hand, if the wires are shorter than necessary, then the connecting operation can be rather difficult.


The attack vectors for some denial-of-service cyber attacks on the Internet's Domain Name System (DNS) are bad, bogus, or unregistered domain name DNS requests to resolve domain names that are not registered in the DNS. Some other cyber attacks steal sensitive data by encoding the data in bogus domain names, or domain names otherwise not registered in the DNS, that are transferred across networks in bogus DNS requests. A DNS gatekeeper may filter in-transit packets containing DNS requests and may efficiently determine if a request's domain name is registered in the DNS. When the domain name is not registered in the DNS, the DNS gatekeeper may take one of a plurality of protective actions. The DNS gatekeeper drops requests determined not to be legitimate, which may prevent an attack.

Network security is becoming increasingly important as the information age continues to unfold. Network threats/attacks may take a variety of forms (e.g., unauthorized requests or data transfers, viruses, malware, large volumes of traffic designed to overwhelm resources, and the like).
To counter these kinds of threats and attacks, various cyber defense methodologies and systems have been developed and deployed. One variety of cyber defense system uses packet gateways, such as a threat intelligence gateway (TIG), to protect networks. A packet gateway may include an (inline) network packet filtering device with a capability to apply sets of packet filtering rules to in-transit TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) packets. The TIG may act as a gateway, or interface, between a network (e.g., a private network) that has been protected, or secured, by cyber threat intelligence (CTI) and a network that is not similarly secured/protected (for example, the Internet).
The packet filtering rules may be based on databases of threat indicators supplied by sources of CTI, including CTI provider organizations. The set of packet filtering rules may represent a TIG-enforced security policy for securing/protecting a network. Threat indicators may be used as packet matching criteria for identifying risky packets. References herein to criteria may refer to an individual criterion and/or multiple criteria. CTI indicators, or threat indicators, may include Internet network addresses (e.g., IP addresses, IP address ranges, L3/L4 ports and protocols, domain names, Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs), and the like) of resources that may be controlled or operated by threat actors, or that may have otherwise been associated with malicious activity. CTI indicators/threat indicators may also include identifiers for certificates and associated certificate authorities that are used to secure some TCP/IP communications (e.g., X.509 certificates used by the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol to secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)-mediated sessions). CTI providers include threat metadata associated with each threat indicator including, for example, the threat/attack type, the threat name, the threat risk score, the threat actor (attribution), and the like. A TIG and associated applications may use the threat metadata to further increase protections from threats and further improve network security posture.
A network security policy manager may create a network security policy as a set of CTI-derived packet filtering rules by receiving threat indicators and associated threat metadata from one or more CTI providers and generating packet filtering rules based on the indicators and metadata. Each packet filtering rule includes at least (a) criteria for matching packet data, (b) an action or combination of actions to be applied to the packet if there is a match with the criteria, and (c) threat metadata. The matching criteria may include one or more pairs composed of a packet field name (e.g., the L3 source IP address field) and the field value. The field value may be a threat indicator in the form of a network address (e.g., an IP address, domain name, URI, and the like) or an identifier for a certificate or a certificate authority. The action or combination of actions may include some combination of blocking or dropping the packet, allowing or forwarding the packet, logging the packet, capturing the packet, re-directing or re-routing the packet, and modifying the packet to protect the network. In the context of TIGs and CTI-derived policies, the rule action may be called a packet transformation function (PTF), which may transform a packet in such a way as to protect the network. For example, a PTF may transform a TCP SYN packet that is initiating a connection setup with a threat endpoint into a corresponding TCP RST packet that halts the connection setup process. The threat metadata may be used to compute a threat risk score, to select a threat analysis methodology to be applied to the packet and the communications associated with the packet, or select or compute the action(s) to be applied to the packet in accordance with the threat risk.
One or more TIGs may be inserted inline with, for example, one or more of the network's Internet access links. A policy manager of one or more TIGs may be configured to (a) receive CTI (threat indicators and associated metadata) from one or more CTI providers; (b) generate one or more policies composed of packet filtering rules derived from the threat indicators and metadata; and (c) download the one or more policies or transfer the one or more policies into one or more (subscribing) TIGs, which may be associated with the policy manager by a policy subscription. The TIGs may enforce the policies by applying the packet filtering rules to each in-transit packet as the packet traverses an Internet access link (in either direction).
The effectiveness of protecting networks using TIGs and associated CTI is often a function of the scope and quality of the CTI indicators and metadata being applied by the TIG, and of the performance of the TIG. At the present time of disclosure, in aggregate there are many millions of threat indicators (and associated threat metadata) available from multiple sources of CTI, with the indicators being in the form of IP addresses, 5-tuples, domain names, URIs, and the like, as well as certificate identifiers, certificate authority identifiers, and the like. These large databases of CTI may be translated into a similar number of packet filtering rules. Because the threat indicators that may actually be observed in a given network's communications traffic are not necessarily known, all available CTI or associated packet filtering rules may be applied by a TIG at any time to ensure effective protections. TIG policies may be composed of 1's, 10's, or 100's of millions of rules. As such, the TIG must be capable of applying the millions of packet filtering rules to each in-transit packet without adversely impacting network performance. 10 G and 40/100 G network links may be used at TIG insertion points, which means that packet transmission rates may be millions or tens of millions of packets per second. The TIG must filter each in-transit packet through the millions of rules in order to enforce the policy, without adversely affecting network performance. With such large policies and high packet rates, even when the policies are stored in main memory, and even when fast (e.g., sublinear) policy search algorithms are used, TIG performance may be insufficient and may result in unacceptable performance degradations. For example, high latencies may result in packet drops due to buffer overflows. The latency incurred during packet filtering should be low and packets should not be dropped (e.g., due to buffer overflows).
A TIG may be designed to achieve the necessary performance by some combination of (a) high-performance CPUs, which may be architected or configured for network packet processing; (b) fast/efficient algorithms and associated data structures for searching the rules for matches between the rules' indicators and the current in-transit packet's associated field values; and (c) storing the policy (which may include the millions of packet filtering rules) in high-speed local memory (for example, on-board SDRAM, which is often called main memory) so that the CPU(s) may access the main memory quickly via a high-speed, high-bandwidth data bus.
However, recent trends in networking are making it difficult or impractical for TIGs to perform at the levels necessary to maintain effective network protections. The growth rate of the quantity of CTI (measured by the number of threat indicators and associated metadata), and therefore the rate of growth of associated policies (measured in bytes, which is a function of the number of packet filtering rules and the size in bytes of those rules), is higher than the rates of improvements in processor speeds, processor costs, processor power requirements, memory speeds, memory densities, memory costs, etc. The result is that it is no longer practical for TIGs to handle increases in policy sizes by increasing the size of the memory. This problem is further compounded by ever-increasing network link speeds and ever-increasing network traffic volumes. Thus, there is a need for improvements in efficiencies of TIG technology such that large increases in the size of CTI-derived policies only require relatively small increases in computational resources that are necessary to maintain TIG performance at acceptable levels (e.g., relatively low latency and minimal to no packet drops) while providing effective network protections.
Many attacks may be associated with the Internet's Domain Name System (DNS). The DNS is sometimes called the Internet's "phone book," and the DNS is a database distributed across the Internet that maps human-readable domain names to machine-readable IP addresses. Many popular Internet applications, including the World Wide Web (www) and e-commerce applications, critically depend on DNS to enable routing of traffic such as web browser requests and web server responses across the Internet's infrastructure of routers and interconnecting links. Thus, a successful attack on the DNS that causes the DNS to underperform may cause these Internet applications and the Internet itself to stop functioning effectively or otherwise severely impair their operation. Conversely, DNS requests may be used as an attack vector for some other types of attacks, including a Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack on the DNS, which may cause damage and loss to networked assets. Accordingly, there is a need for efficient DNS protections that (a) prevent attacks on the DNS, and (b) prevent the DNS from being used as an attack vector.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods and systems for prevention of attacks associated with the domain name system


Systems and methods are disclosed for estimating impulse responses of multiple channels, e.g., multiple antenna sub-array paths of a base station, in a distributed manner. In one embodiment, a method of operation of a Scalable Estimation Ring (SER) processing component in a SER that operates to estimate impulse responses of corresponding channels is provided. In one embodiment, the method includes, during a first iteration of the SER, receiving a feedback signal for the SER processing component and computing an initial estimate of an impulse response of a corresponding channel based on the feedback signal, removing a contribution of the corresponding channel from the feedback signal based on the initial estimate of the impulse response of the corresponding channel to thereby provide a feedback signal for a next SER processing component in the SER, and outputting the feedback signal for the next SER processing component in the SER.

Base stations having antenna arrays have been widely used in cellular networks for directional signal transmission and reception with an increased gain compared to an omni-directional antenna. The increased gain translates into a higher cell density and data throughput. An antenna array needs to be calibrated across its sub-array paths to remove any linear phase and/or amplitude distortions (hereafter simply referred to as phase distortion) in these paths. If the transmission beam pattern is out of phase or otherwise phase-distorted, the signal transmitted by the base station at normal transmission power may not be correctly received and decoded by a wireless device, e.g., a user terminal. To compensate for the phase distortions, the base station may transmit data at a higher power level; however, increasing the transmission power acts as a load to the system, causing a reduction to the power that can be allocated to other wireless devices. In addition, the signal transmitted at higher power may interfere with other terminals, causing a reduction in signal quality.
Calibration of the antenna array is typically performed by careful coordination of radio signals transmitted by the sub-arrays of an antenna array. Coordination of the radio signals transmitted by the sub-arrays requires signal correction or compensation, which in turn requires estimation of impulse responses of the sub-array paths (i.e., transmit or receive paths). Estimation of the impulse responses of the sub-array paths is normally done using centralized processing in a radio unit where the correction and compensation is done. In this regard, commonly owned and assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/894,826, entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ANTENNA ARRAY CALIBRATION USING TRAFFIC SIGNALS, which was filed May 13, 2013, discloses systems and methods for calibrating an antenna array using a centralized architecture.
Base stations for advanced 4th Generation (4G) and 5th Generation (5G) wireless, or cellular, networks require many radio units and many antennas. Further, it is important for base stations in these 4G and 5G wireless networks to be scalable and modular in order for the base stations to be cost effective and manageable. One issue with a centralized approach for estimating the impulse responses of the sub-array paths in such a base station is that a complexity of the centralized approach increases as the number of radio units (or sub-array paths) increases. This increases the cost and complexity of the base station.
As such, there is a need for systems and methods for estimating impulse responses of sub-arrays paths in a base station having an antenna array that enhance scalability and modularity of the base station without increasing the complexity of the base station.