An improved cathodoluminescent device with a one piece spacer structure which is rigidly connected to two sets of grid electrodes. The spacer structure defines holes therein that spatially match pixel dots on an anode on a face plate. One set of grid electrodes comprises layers of electrically conductive material on surfaces within at least some of the holes of the spacer structure. The two sets of grid electrodes and different spacer layers may be attached together to form a one piece spacer structure integral with the two sets of grid electrodes. The display device is then simply assembled by matching each of the holes of the spacer structure with a pixel dot on the face plate, and attaching the structure to the face plate and a back plate.

This invention relates in general to flat panel electronic fluorescent display devices and, in particular, to an improved flat matrix cathodoluminescent device with simplified multiple electrode structure and innovative processing methodologies particularly useful for large-area single piece full color hang-on-wall type displays.
Researchers in many flat panel display technologies, such as LCD, PDP, EL, LED, VFD, flat CRT, have been trying to develop a full-color hang-on-wall television. Color televisions of several-inch to slightly over 10-inch screens using LCD technology have been produced. Such televisions using LCD employ a large number of thin film transistors on their basic boards and are expensive. Because of difficulties and complexities in manufacturing these LCD displays, increasing the screen size of the LCD display is a formidable task and is very expensive. LCD displays employ a back illuminator scheme with color filters and polarizers. The base board using thin film transistors to control the front end light shutter transmits a low proportion of light from the backlight source and thus limits the brightness of the display. Because of these difficulties, research in the large-area (above 25-inch diagonal) display based on LCD technology has been primarily focused on projection display.
Full-color displays using Plasma Display Panel (PDP) technology have been limited to 40-inch screen size due to the complexity in fabrication of the discharge cells. In large-area full-color PDP displays, the main problems include the low efficiency in phosphorescence, low brightness, complicated IC driving circuitry, and the short product lifetime. Research in LED and EL displays have been in the development of a cost efficient luminescent material for emitting blue light. While multi-color displays have been developed using VFD technology, such devices are limited to smaller display screen sizes. Furthermore, except from the use of luminescent materials such as zinc oxide for generating blue-green light, the brightness, luminance efficiencies and product lifetimes of other color phosphors are not acceptable in the low operating voltage range of the VFD. From the above-mentioned shortcomings of these display technologies, it will be evident that large-area flat full color hang-on-wall displays that have been proposed using these existing flat panel display technologies are not entirely satisfactory.
Cathode ray tubes (CRT) have been widely used for display purposes such as consumer television systems because of its affordable costs. These tubes operate by scanning electron beams from a single electron gun. This conventional configuration inevitably adds depth to the dimensions of the device and limits it to small screen size. Thus, these CRT systems are bulky and are difficult to manufacture where the display screen size is larger than 40 inches. In many applications, it is preferable to use flat display systems in which the bulk of the display is much reduced. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,935,500 assigned to Oess et al., for example, a flat matrix CRT system has been proposed where a monolithic stack in which electron beams are formed and through which the beams are selectively projected onto a phosphor coated face plate. The stack structure has a number of holes through which electron beams may pass and sets of X-Y deflection electrodes are used to simultaneously control all the beams. The deflection control structure define by Oess et al. is commonly known as a mesh-type CRT structure. While the mesh-type flat CRT structure is simple in form, these structures are expensive to make, particularly in the case of large-area display systems.
Other conventional flat panel systems currently used include Jumbotron and Flatvision such as that described in Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 62-150638 and 62-52846, as well as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,581, respectively. The structures used in the Jumbotron and Flatvision display devices are somewhat similar to the flat matrix CRT described above. Each anode in the Jumbotron includes less thatn 20 pixels so that it is difficult to construct a high resolution display device with high phosphor dot density type display system using the Jumbotron structure.
The Flatvision having a shallow depth (.about.4.0 inches) consists of multiple sources of electron beams that are focused and aimed by a series of multiple electrodes arranged in sheetlike layers. Electrical charges are used to electrostatically deflect or aim the beams to hit the proper phosphor dots. Such flat CRT device requires precise alignment of the multiple grid electrodes to provide good image quality. Complex driving circuitry is required to control the passage of electron beams for scanning and data modulation.
The flat matrix CRT, Jumbotron and Flavision structures are somewhat similar in principle to the flat CRT system described by Oess et al. discussed above. These structures amount to no more than enclosing a number of individually controlled miniature electron guns within a panel, each gun equipped with its own grid electrodes for controlling the X-Y addressing and/or brightness of the display. In the above-described CRT devices, the control grid electrodes used are either in the form of mesh or perforated sheet structures. These mesh/sheet structures are typically constructed using photo-etching by etching holes in a conductive plate. The electron beams originating from the cathodes of the electron guns then pass through these holes in the mesh/sheet structures to reach a phosphor material on the anodes. As noted above, large-area mesh/sheet structures are difficult to handle in the manufacturing process of these display devices. Since the electron beam must pass through holes in the mesh/sheet structure, a large number of electrons originating from the cathode will not travel through the holes, but are lost to the solid part of the structure to become grid current such that only a small portion of the electrons will be able to escape through the holes and reach the phosphor material on the anode plate. For this reason, the osmotic coefficient, which is defined as the ratio of the area of the hole to the area of the mesh structure of the control electrode grid, of the above-described device is quite low.
As taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,170,100 by Ge Shichao et al., to avoid the problem of low osmotic coefficient in conventional display devices, instead of using individually controlled electron guns, an electrofluorescent device (EFD) is proposed where two or more sets of elongated grid electrodes may be employed for scanning and controlling the brightness of pixels at the entire anode where the area of the grid electrodes that blocks electrons is much smaller than the area of the mesh structure of the conventional devices.
The above-described CRT-based devices have another drawback. In the case of the Jumbotron, each electron gun is used for scanning a total of 20 pixels. In the Oess et al. patent referenced above, each electron beam passing through a hole is also used for addressing and illuminating a large number of pixels. In the flat panel version, complex circuitry is required to drive a large number of electron beams for a 14-inch display device. When illumination at a particular pixel is desired, certain voltages are applied to the X-Y deflection electrodes on the inside surface of the hole, causing electrons in the electron beam passing through the hole to impinge the anode at such pixel. However, electrical noise and other environmental factors may cause the electron beam in the Oess et al. system, the Jumbotron and the Flatvision to deviate from its intended path. Furthermore, certain electrons will inevitably stray from the electron beam path and land in areas of the anode which are different from the pixel that is addressed. This causes pixels adjacent to the pixel that is addressed to become luminescent, causing crosstalk and degrades the performance of the display.
As is known to those skilled in the art, the inner chamber of a cathodoluminescent visual display device must be evacuated to high vacuum so that the electrons emitted by the cathode would not be hindered by air molecules and are free to reach the phosphor elements on the anode. For this reason, the housing that contains the cathode, anode and control electrodes must be strong enough to withstand atmospheric pressure when the chamber within the housing is evacuated to high vacuum. When the display device has a large surface area, as in large-screen displays, the force exerted by the atmosphere on the housing can be substantial especially when the chamber is evacuated to very high varuum (<10.sup.-7 Torr). For this reason, conventional flat cathodoluminescent display devices have employed thick face and back plates to make a sturdy housing. Such thick plates cause the housing to be bulky so that the device is heavy, expensive and difficult for manufacture.
It is important in flat panel displays of the electronic fluorescent type that the spacer wall charging effect should be eliminated. There is a high voltage differential between the cathode and the display surface. The electrical breakdown between the electron emitting surface and the display surface must be prevented. Although numerous approaches have been used, the results were not very satisfactory especially for flat displays type where the spacing between the front light emitting surface and the back cathode has to be kept small. Eventhough the wall charging effect can be controlled using multiple electrodes to direct the passage of electrons, fabrication of multiple electrodes for such purpose requires precise control of spacing between each layer of the multiple electrodes and alignment of each electrode components for the electron to pass through. It is therefore desirable to provide an improved flat cathodoluminescent visual display device where the above-described difficulties are not present.

Electronic fluorescent display system with simplified multiple electrode structure and its processing


A cone crusher having a crusher head assembly including a crusher head having a cone-shaped surface and an underside opposite the cone-shaped surface, the underside having an annular socket engagement surface, a one-piece frame including a peripheral portion and a central portion, the central portion having a wall forming a socket having an upper edge providing a continuous annular head support surface engaged with the socket engagement surface, the upper edge of the wall defining an opening, the wall defining a socket bore extending from the opening into the central portion, the central portion having a hub located within the socket and extending into the socket bore; and an eccentric assembly supported on the hub, the eccentric assembly including an eccentric member engaged with the crusher head assembly and including a ring gear fixed to said eccentric member, the ring gear being housed by the socket bore in a position surrounding the hub, the gear ring being removable through the opening.

1. Technical Field
Crushers are used to crush large aggregate particles (e.g., rocks) into smaller particles. One particular type of crusher is known as a cone crusher. A typical cone crusher includes a frame supporting a crusher head and a mantle secured to the head. The frame also supports a bowl and bowl liner so that an annular space is formed between the bowl liner and the mantle. In operation, large particles are fed into the annular space between the bowl liner and the mantle. The head, and the mantle mounted on the head, gyrate about an axis, causing the annular space to vary. As the distance between the mantle and the bowl liner varies, the large particles are impacted and compressed between the mantle and the bowl liner. The particles are crushed and reduced to the desired product size, and then dropped down from between the mantle and the bowl liner.
2. Related Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,750,681, which issued to Sawant et al. on Jun. 14, 1988, discloses such a cone crusher. The crusher includes a head 146 which is supported on a cylindrical support shaft 30 above an eccentric assembly 48. The upper end of the support shaft 30 supports a spherical seat 138 and base 140 which, in turn slidingly support a spherical bearing 142 fixed to the crusher head 146. The crusher disclosed by the Sawant patent (U.S. Pat. No. 4,750,681) also includes structural components extending between the frame of the crusher and the undersurface of the head. In particular, a counterweight assembly 55 has a lower seal 56 that cooperates to provide an interface between the frame, particularly flange 54, and countershaft box 52 and the counterweight assembly 55. Similarly, an upper seal 158 provides an interface between the undersurface of the head assembly 144 and the counterweight assembly 55.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,843, which issued to Motz on Jul. 16, 1991, also discloses a cone crusher. The Motz patent includes a head assembly 32 including a head 34. The Motz patent crusher also includes a frame 12 that supports the head 34 by contacting the underside of the head 34. The frame 12 includes a central hub and an outer hub. The outer hub supports a socket and seal assembly which is mounted on the frame of the crusher and which extends upwardly to support the underside of the head.

Cone crusher having integral socket and main frame


A mechanized broom-type sweeper truck that includes a pavement engaging brush or broom and an elevator for transported debris to the inlet or entry opening of a debris container includes a slinging roller in the debris container mounted at or subjacent the inlet opening. The slinging roller is journalled in bearings and driven by a motor at a selected rotary speed. Surface features are provided on the roller to engage with and contact any debris coming into contact with the roller to fling, sling, throw debris away from the inlet opening.

The present invention relates to mechanized sweeper trucks that utilize a primary broom to sweep debris from roadways and, more particularly, to method and apparatus for "leveling" the debris load within the debris container of such vehicles.
Mechanical broom sweepers are designed to pick-up debris not normally accepted by conventional regenerative or vacuum-type sweepers; this debris typically including asphalt nodules of varying size consequent to asphalt milling operations, rocks, stones, construction debris, broken masonry, and the like. In a typical design, as shown in schematic fashion in FIG. 1, a primary or main broom is rotated against the road surface to brush debris in the forward direction onto a mechanical elevator. The elevator typically includes a set of parallel flights that push the debris along an inclined floor pan to carry the debris upwardly for deposit through an entry opening of a debris collection bin or hopper. Because the density of the collected debris is relatively high, the debris drops from its point of entry and collects directly beneath its point of entry. As the debris pile accumulates and increases in elevation, the collected debris at the top of the pile tends to clog or block the entry opening, even though other parts of the collection hopper are comparatively unfilled.
In general, the problem cannot be solved by merely increasing or stepping up the operating speed of the elevator to more energetically throw the debris into the debris collection hopper. The sweeping vehicle and its main broom are best operated in speed ranges that assure the efficient sweeping of debris from the roadway and the efficient projecting of that swept debris into or onto the moving elevator. Thus, for any broom speed, the elevator speed is best maintained in a speed range that prevents a situation in which the elevator flights 'overrun' the brush function.
Vehicle operators have addressed this problem by abruptly applying the vehicle brakes to cause the debris pile to slump forwardly against the front wall of the debris container away from the entry opening on the rear wall of the debris collection hopper. This solution, while temporarily effective, tends to cause premature wear of the vehicle brakes and tires.


An elastic boundary wave device includes an IDT including laminated conductor layers disposed between a first medium and a second medium, wherein a plane that divides the IDT in half in the thickness direction defines an interface, the energy of an elastic boundary wave present on the side of the first medium of the interface is denoted as E1, and the energy of an elastic boundary wave present on the side of the second medium of the interface is denoted as E2, and wherein if the IDT included only a conductor having the highest density among the laminated conductor layers of the IDT, when the energy of an elastic boundary wave present on the side of the first medium of the interface is denoted as E1′ and the energy of an elastic boundary wave present on the side of the second medium of the interface is denoted as E2′, the energies of an elastic boundary wave would satisfy the relationship of E1/E2<E1′/E2′ so that the sonic velocity of an elastic boundary wave in the IDT including the laminated conductor layers is equal to the sonic velocity of an elastic boundary wave if the IDT included only the conductor layer having the highest density.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an elastic boundary wave device for use in a resonator, a band-pass filter, or other suitable device, and more particularly, the present invention relates to an elastic boundary wave device including an IDT disposed between a first medium and a second medium, which are made of different materials.
2. Description of the Related Art
An elastic boundary wave device includes interdigital electrodes (IDTs) that are disposed on an interface between different media. An elastic boundary wave propagates through a layered body of the different media in the elastic boundary wave device. Thus, the elastic boundary wave device does not require a complicated package structure, and has a simpler, lower-profile structure than surface acoustic wave devices.
An elastic boundary wave device that operates at a higher frequency includes IDTs that have a shorter period. This decreases the width of electrode fingers of an IDT or a reflector, and thus, increases the conductor resistance and the loss of the electrode fingers.
In an elastic boundary wave device, when the sonic velocity of an elastic boundary wave is less than the sonic velocity of a transverse wave propagating through the media disposed over and under the interface, the elastic boundary wave is confined or trapped between the upper medium and the lower medium. This reduces the propagation loss.
To enhance such a confinement effect, it is effective to provide an IDT made of a high-density metal. As described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 58-30217 (Patent Document 1), many elastic boundary wave devices include IDTs made of Al. In contrast, in an elastic boundary wave device described in DE 4132309 A1 (Patent Document 2), in addition to Al, Au and Ag are described as materials used for IDTs.
In an elastic boundary wave device, the operating frequency Fi at which an IDT generates an elastic boundary wave is expressed by Fi=V/λi (equation (a)), where V denotes the sonic velocity of an elastic boundary wave and λi denotes the period of IDT. As is apparent from the equation (a), when the operating frequency Fi of an elastic boundary wave device is increased, the period λi of the IDT must be decreased. This also decreases the width of electrode fingers of an IDT or a reflector, thus, increasing the conductor resistance and the loss. In particular, when electrode fingers are made of a high-density conductor, the propagation loss is close to zero if the thickness of the electrode fingers is small. However, as the thickness of the electrode fingers decreases, the conductor resistance increases.
Previously, when IDTs of an elastic boundary wave device were made of Au, the electromechanical coupling coefficient K2 was not sufficiently large, and the temperature coefficient of delay (TCD) was not sufficiently small.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


The invention is about a supporting framework, having nodes and at least one framework component. The framework components are either panels or diagonal braces or a combination of them. At least one node has a connector and at least two bars. At least one connector has a plurality of bar receiving members that are located in a corresponding plurality of faces of an imaginary polyhedron and at least one bar has a first end, fixed to the one of the bar receiving members of the connector of a first node and a second end, fixed to the corresponding bar receiving member of the connector of another node. The node further comprise a holder for the diagonal braces or panels.

That type of framework systems have been known for a long time, and used both in temporary and contemporary structures. The connectors connect bars to each other, producing connection nodes. In those framework systems, especially in temporary structures, like fair stands or booths, the connectors are preferably manufactured from a durable material, like stainless steel, that can withstand the load and weariness due to the numerous connection/disconnection routines, while the bars are preferred to be manufactured from lightweight and preferably extrudable materials, like aluminum, to benefit from customizable cross sections. Therefore, in most cases, the connectors are the preferred elements in the framework system that the framework components, including panels and especially diagonal braces, are connected to. The panels are flat elements, used mainly for separation purposes and diagonal braces comprise elongated elements in the form of a rod, wire or a profile element, used for improving the load bearing capacity of the framework system and bear compression or tension forces or both.
Because the connectors are used numerously in those framework systems, the excess weight of an oversized connector has a limiting effect on the load bearing capacity of the overall system. The oversized connectors have negative effects, also on manufacturing costs and on labor costs due to the increased time for setting the system numerously up and down especially in temporary structures, like fair stands or booths.
Connectors are generally polyhedron shaped elements with faces that receive bars. For reasons of not getting oversized and stabilization of the bars, the faces are shaped in relation with the cross section of the bar that is received, in such a way that, is covered by the bar substantially, if possible. The peripheral surface of the connector get covered substantially, when each of the faces receive at least one bar and especially in the cases of the bars with cross sections, shaped as a convex polygon, especially a regular convex polygon or a circle. That type of bars is among the most widely used types of bars in the framework systems, due to their high torsional resistance. The problem arises when to add framework components to their connectors. In known framework systems, the connectors fail to receive the framework components without being considered as oversized, especially for the cases in those systems, when those connectors are also used without the framework components, regarding that the components are used in the system only where needed. The additional faces, physical elements or surface area, dedicated for attaching the components, increase the overall size of those connectors and make them considered as over-sized. Furthermore, the over-sized connectors and their additional features dedicated for attaching components which usually remain useless for the cases without them, usually have negative effects on the ability of the framework's capability of attaching panels, by interfering with them and bringing out a problem of making undesirable arrangements especially at the corners of that panels.
Among those polyhedron shaped connectors of known systems, there are lightweight connectors with hollow forms that have advantageous shape on attaching framework components, as in the prior art document; WO 02/081837 A. With certain modifications, aiming to make use of the cavity inside the connector and to attach the framework components, that type of connectors can come out to be able to receive framework components without a disadvantage of over-sizing. Because of being composed of flat elements, they are relatively lighter than the connectors other than hollow formed ones, but most of them have significantly poor load bearing capacity, because of the relatively small contact surfaces between the flat elements. Another document; WO 0149950 A discloses another hollow formed connector, with relatively higher stability. But, however, that connector, together with the former one, has a limited capacity, when it comes to adding diagonal braces. Because, in the case of a diagonal brace, that is fixed to the plates and apply especially tensile forces thereto, the plates cannot withstand to the forces with a relatively high magnitude, without being ruptured. The option of increasing the thickness of the plates that those connectors are composed of, in most cases, gives away the other advantages of being hollow.
Most of the connectors other than hollow formed ones, generally don't have the disadvantage of poor loadability, but their problem is that, they attach the framework components, by means of certain modifications on the polyhedron shape, adding physical features, surface area or converting the polyhedron into another type of a polyhedron with additional faces to receive the framework components, when needed. So far, those solutions, failed to make their connectors to receive the framework components without getting oversized, especially for the cases with the same connectors in the system without that framework components. For example, in the prior art document, with the publication number US 2008/0175655 A, a cube shaped connector is suggested with a pair of extensions in the form of arms on a peripheral edge of each face of the connector, to form loops, wherein a diagonal connection with a hook-shaped end, is received and retained therein. But however, in order to locate the arms, the flat formed face elements are separated from each other and located at a distance at least the same as the length of the arms, increasing the overall size. The length of the arms must further be increased, for the cases the diagonal connection approaches to the surface of the bar, due to the angle therebetween, to prevent the end of the diagonal connection interfere with the surface of the bars. Furthermore, when a panel element with peripheral edges shaped in relation to the bars, is located in between a pair of bars, being surrounded thereby, the arms extend toward the panel element interfering therewith and brings a problem of making undesirable arrangements at the corners of that panels. That type of panel attachment is used frequently, especially in temporary framework systems like exhibition systems.
Therefore, the object of my invention is to produce a connection node, with a connector, connecting framework components and bars, especially bars with cross sections shaped circular or as a regular convex polygon, in a supporting framework system, substantially without being oversized, for both of the cases, the case with the framework components and the case, when those connectors are also used without the framework components.

Supporting framework having connection nodes


The relative height between two sets of magnetic head groups shared for recording and reproduction and mounted on actuators is adjusted at high accuracy, so that a track of a predetermined track width and track pitch can be formed. In a rotary head type magnetic recording/reproduction apparatus including two sets of magnetic head groups AT and BT of one or a plurality of magnetic heads displaceable in the track width direction by actuators 100A and 100B, a signal which becomes the reference for relative height adjustment of the heads is recorded by one of the magnetic head groups. Then, the magnetic tape is rewound, and the run of the magnetic tape is controlled by one of the magnetic head groups. Under this state, the relative height between the two sets of magnetic head groups is detected by the other magnetic head group, whereby the relative height of the two sets of magnetic head groups is adjusted according to that information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for adjusting the relative height between two sets of magnetic head groups mounted on actuators. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for adjusting the relative height between two sets of magnetic head groups at the time of recording in a rotary head type magnetic recording/reproduction apparatus such as a helical scan type video tape recorder (VTR).
2. Description of the Background Art
In recent years, there has been efforts to significantly increase the density of recorded information in a magnetic recording/reproduction apparatus, resulting in reduction of the track width. For example, the track width is 5 .mu.m in a LP mode of a home use digital VTR. Such reduction of the track width causes strict conditions on a magnetic head to carry out a satisfactory tracking operation. More specifically, when a signal is to be reproduced from a track having the width reduced in a conventional type of magnetic recording/reproduction apparatus having the magnetic head fixed to the rotary drum so that the magnetic head cannot move in the direction of the track width, deviation occurs in the tracking of the magnetic head, so that a sufficient reproduced output cannot be obtained from the magnetic head.
This deviation in tracking is considered to be caused by the so-called track bent that occurs during recording. Because this track bent is inherent in each magnetic recording/reproduction apparatus, deviation in tracking caused therefrom becomes too great to be neglected particularly when the relevant track is reproduced by a magnetic recording/reproduction apparatus different from that used for recording.
In view of the foregoing, a magnetic recording/reproduction apparatus is disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,237,399. According to this magnetic recording/reproduction apparatus including a dynamic tracking system, a magnetic head displaceable in the track width direction by an actuator such as of piezoelectric elements is used. The relative position error of a magnetic head with respect to a track on a magnetic tape is detected on the basis of a signal reproduced from the magnetic head, whereby the position of the magnetic head in the track width direction is controlled by a closed loop according to the detected relative position error.
There are various methods of detecting a relative position error signal of a head with respect to a track on a magnetic tape during reproduction. One typical method is the so-called pilot signal system. According to this pilot signal system, a pilot signal having a different frequency for each track is recorded to be superimposed on a main signal. At the time of reproduction, pilot signal crosstalk components are respectively extracted from tracks located at both sides of a certain track to compare these crosstalk components, whereby the amount of position error of the magnetic head and a polarity representing the direction of deviation of the magnetic head from the track can both be detected.
If a magnetic head is commonly used for recording and reproduction, the cost can be reduced by virtue of the smaller number of heads used and by simplifying the drum structure. However, when a magnetic head is provided on an actuator as described above, the height of the head cannot be determined at the time of recording. For example, when there is deviation in the relative height between the two sets of magnetic heads mounted on separate actuators, a track of a predetermined track width and a predetermined track pitch cannot be formed. As a result, sufficient reproduced output cannot be obtained from a track that has the track width reduced. This becomes more noticeable as the track width (track pitch) becomes smaller.
A method of adjusting the relative height of two sets of magnetic heads mounted on separate actuators is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2-44514.
FIG. 37 is a bottom view of a rotary drum showing the head arrangement of such a conventional magnetic recording/reproduction apparatus employing this head height adjusting method. Referring to FIG. 37, magnetic heads 200A and 200B are installed on actuators 201A and 201B, respectively, that are displaceable in the track width direction. FIG. 38 is a schematic diagram for describing the principle of a conventional method of adjusting the head height. A conventional method of adjusting the height of a head will be described hereinafter with reference to FIGS. 37 and 38.
First, a magnetic tape 202 is set to a running stop state. In this state, a record track 200a is formed on magnetic tape 202 at the first half of a scanning operation by magnetic head 200A. Then, a same record track 200a is reproduced at the first half of a scanning operation of the same track on magnetic tape 202 by magnetic head 200B. Here, actuator 201B on which magnetic head 200B is installed is displaced so that magnetic head 200B follows record track 200a. From this amount of displacement, the amount of track deviation , i.e. the amount of deviation of height of magnetic head 200B with respect to magnetic head 200A is obtained. Then, at the latter half of this scanning operation on magnetic tape 202 by magnetic head 200B, a record track 200b is formed. Then, magnetic head 200A scans the same track on magnetic tape 202. At the latter half of this scanning operation, record track 200b is reproduced by magnetic head 200A, and the amount of track deviation, i.e. the amount of deviation of height of magnetic head 200A with respect to magnetic head 200B is obtained in a similar manner.
By obtaining the average of these two height deviation amounts and displacing one magnetic head according to the obtained value, the relative height difference between magnetic heads 200A and 200B becomes zero. Therefore, a track can be formed that has a proper track width and a proper track pitch in recording a signal.
The above-described conventional method of adjusting the head height has the problems set forth in the following. Since detection of the amount of relative height deviation between heads is carried out on the basis of only one track, the detected error is not averaged and sufficient accuracy cannot be obtained.
Furthermore, because the magnetic tape is held in the run stop state, the contact between a magnetic tape and a magnetic head is often unstable. It cannot be identified whether a change in a reproduced output is caused by deviation in the relative height between the heads, or by unstable tape/head contact.
Furthermore, because a magnetic tape is held in the run stop state, the position in the width direction and the longitudinal direction of the magnetic tape is apt to become unstable. This causes a change in the position of a track to be used as a reference, resulting in degradation of the detected accuracy of the amount of relative height deviation between heads.

Magnetic recording/reproduction apparatus and method for adjusting head height therein


One described aspect is an optical fiber comprising: a fiber core that extends along a fiber axis, is configured to transmit a laser energy along the fiber axis, and terminates at a distal end; a first cladding that extends along the fiber axis, is adjacent to the fiber core, and terminates at a distal end; a coating that extends along the fiber axis and terminates at a distal end, wherein the coating is a gold coating; a second cladding that surrounds a portion of the gold coating along the fiber axis, and terminates at a distal end; an outer jacket that extends along the fiber axis and terminates at a distal end; and a fiber tip. Associated laser systems are also disclosed.

Optical fibers may be used in medical laser systems to deliver a laser energy to a treatment site. Lasers have been used in, for example, urology, neurology, otorhinolaryngology, general anesthetic ophthalmology, dentistry, gastroenterology, cardiology, gynecology, thoracic, and orthopedic procedures. One example of a procedure that may be performed using a laser system is embolization of blood vessels using a microcatheter. Embolization of blood vessels involves inserting a catheter into a primary artery and advancing the catheter to a blood vessel or other area where the blood supply needs to be block. A laser may be used to clot and/or form a blockage at the targeted blood vessel or other area. In an embolization procedure, often maneuvering the catheter through the patient's body to the treatment site requires several sharp turns through the torturous vascular pathways. To navigate the vascular pathways, microcatheters are often used in embolization procedures and require strong turn-for-turn torque response. A smaller kink radius and smaller catheter diameter are required for the microcatheters used in embolization procedures compared to traditional catheters. Due to the tight kink radius and small diameter lumen required to complete procedures such as vascular embolization, microcatheters need to be stiff enough to prevent kinking yet flexible enough to navigate tortuous vascular pathways. These requirements present challenges for using microcatheters in combination with laser fibers for embolization or other procedures.
Conventional laser fiber construction consisting of a series of layers including an un-doped glass core, fluorinated glass cladding, polymer cladding and an outer jacket. Typically, conventional laser fibers have a bend radius of approximately 8 mm due to leaking laser energy through the bend and have diminished laser transmission with tight bends in the fiber. As described above, many procedures require laser fibers to have a tight kink radius and small diameter, while maintaining an effective transmission level.
The devices and methods of the current disclosure may rectify some of the deficiencies described above, or address other aspects of the prior art.


The Vibrato Block securely attaches a vibrato device to a guitar without permanent physical modifications to the guitar and provides clearance for the guitar's tailpiece mounting holes for utilization by other guitar accessories. The Vibrato Block consists of a body having a curved guitar contact surface with an attached non-marring, high-friction pad and a mounting plate contact surface corresponding to the vibrato devices mounting plate surface. The Vibrato Block is formed with an internal slot and a plurality of mounting holes. The thickness of the Vibrato Block and adjustability provided by the internal slot enables optimal placement of the vibrato device and unobstructed tailpiece mounting holes. The vibrato device is mounted to the Vibrato Block whereas the Vibrato Block is mounted to the guitar using only the guitar's rear strap button screw mounting point and a fastener, thereby avoiding any physical modifications to the guitar.

Since their invention in the 1930s, the electric guitar has been a mainstay in music and has been instrumental in the development of rock and roll and many other genres of music due to its ability to create a variety of sounds and styles. The unique combination of parts coupled with electronic amplification allows the electric guitar to produce their unique sounds and styles. Generally, the electric guitar comprises a body, a neck, headstock, tuning pegs, fret board, frets, pickups, bridge, tailpiece, guitar strings, and strap button screws. The head stock is connected to the neck which is connected to the body, creating the general shape and structure of the guitar. The guitar strings are strung from the headstock, down the neck across the fret board towards the body, passing over the pickups and bridge as they terminate at the tailpiece. At the headstock, the tension of the guitar strings can be adjusted by turning the tuning pegs. The pickups detect the movement of the strings and converts and transmit the string movements into electric signals which is then amplified and turned into sound by an electronic amplifier. Each pluck of a guitar string representing a musical note.
Achieving a vibrato effect, a change in pitch of a musical note, has always been desirable in guitars ever since its invention. Before the invention of vibrato devices for guitars, guitarist achieved the vibrato effect by using their fingers and pressing down on the string against a fret on the fret board and wobbling their fingers back and forth. To produce a wider vibrato effect, instead of wobbling their fingers in one location, guitarist slid their fingers up and down the neck while simultaneously pressing down on the string against the frets on the fret board. Using these methods, guitarists were able to achieve the vibrato effect on only the strings they were able to hold down with their fingers. The introduction of vibrato devices allowed guitarist to create a vibrato effect on all of the strings simultaneously. The vibrato device produces a vibrato effect by changing the tension of all the guitar strings simultaneously using a single control lever, also known as a whammy or a vibrato bar.
An exemplary example of a vibrato device is the Bigsby® B3 vibrato device comprising of only a single string bar serving as a tension and hold bar. The Vibrato device includes a spring loaded control lever (whammy/vibrato bar) fixedly attached to a string hold bar, housed in a solid body for attachment to a guitar. The vibrato device is attached towards the rear, top surface of the guitar by replacing the bridge, the tailpiece, or both. The guitar strings are then attached to the string hold bar of the vibrato device instead of the original tailpiece of the guitar. When the control lever is pushed downwards, the string bar rotates towards the direction of the guitar strings, relieving tension and creating a low pitch. When the control lever is pulled upwards, the string bar rotates away creating additional tension in the guitar strings resulting in a higher pitch. Releasing the control lever to its natural position returns the strings back to its normal tension resulting in the guitars normal pitch.
However, secure attachment of a Bigsby® B3 vibrato device or similar type vibrato devices to a guitar requires permanent physical modifications to the guitar. The attachment of vibrato devices to guitars requires the removal of the tailpiece, possible removal of the bridge and tapping a plurality of holes into the guitar body, ruining the finish and altering the guitars status as an original piece. Additionally, the tone of the instrument and the structural integrity of the guitar may also be compromised. Therefore, it is desirable and advantageous to provide an apparatus which enables the attachment of a Bigsby® B3 vibrato device or similar type vibrato devices to a guitar without permanent physical modifications while preserving the original guitar string dynamics by allowing perfect spacing and alignment of the guitar strings. It is further advantageous to provide a device that will not impede the original location of the tailpiece mounting holes for instances where additional accessories may be attached utilizing the tailpiece mounting points such as the Vibrato Retrofit String Tension Kit described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,973,226.


A vehicular engine assembly includes an engine, a panel, and a snorkel. The panel is associated with the engine and includes a panel surface, a first side wall, and a second side wall. The first and second side walls extend substantially upwardly from the panel surface and define a channel. The channel is configured to receive an elongated member. The snorkel includes an attachment tab having a leg member and a foot portion. The foot portion is adjacent to and overlies at least a portion of each of the first and second side walls. The foot portion cooperates with the first and second side walls to constrain the elongated member within the channel.

Many conventional vehicles, such as saddle-type vehicles, include an engine which is positioned upon the vehicle and configured to power the vehicle. Conventionally, cables that are routed near the engine are sometimes coupled to locations around the engine in a manner that can chafe the cables and can result in premature cable failure.

Vehicular engine assembly having snorkel and vehicle including same


A display device includes; a touch panel device including; a touch panel and a touch controller connected to the touch panel, the touch controller including; a sampling unit which samples a sensing output signal input thereto from the touch panel to generate a sampled signal, and an analog/digital converter which converts the sampled signal to generate contact information, and a display panel device including; a display panel, a gate driver which applies a gate signal to the display panel, and a data driver which applies a data voltage to the display panel, wherein the sampling unit samples a portion of the sensing output signal which does not include a coupling noise.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device including a touch panel device, and a method for eliminating a coupling noise between the display device and the touch panel device.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A display device of a liquid crystal display ("LCD") and an organic light emitting device ("OLED"), a portable transmitting device, and other types of information processing devices execute a function thereof using various input devices, e.g., keyboards, mice, etc. Recently, the use of touch panels as an input device has increased.
The typical touch panel is a device for allowing a machine such as a computer to perform a desired command by writing a character, drawing a picture, or executing an icon through touching a finger or a touch pen (such as a stylus) on a screen. A display device to which the touch panel is attached can determine whether the finger of a user or a touch pen, etc., touches a screen, and touch position information thereof (the touch determination, i.e., the determination of whether a touch event occurred, and the positional information regarding the touch event may collectively be referred to as a "touch input"). The display device may then display images according to the position of the touch input.
These touch panels are typically classified as a resistive type, a capacitive type and an electro-magnetic ("EM") type according to the method by which the touch is sensed.
Among the various types of touch panels, the resistive type of touch panel typically includes upper and lower transparent electrodes separated from each other by a spacer. If an upper plate formed with the upper transparent electrode is depressed by external contact such that the upper transparent electrode and the lower transparent electrode physically contact each other, the contact and the position of the contact may be determined by measuring a voltage change according to the resistance of the depressed position. The resistive type of touch panel may be operated regardless of the conductivity of the contact matter, however when several positions are simultaneously touched, the values of the changed voltages are recognized jointly as one contact such that it is difficult to obtain simultaneous touch information from the several positions.
The capacitance type of touch panel typically includes a film formed with a transparent electrode, and touch determination and touch positions may be determined by measuring a voltage change of the conductive matter by the user contact after applying a voltage to the transparent electrode. The user contact in this type of touch panel is typically supplied by the finger of the user. This capacitance type touch panel may determine the contact existence and the contact position even if various positions are simultaneously contacted, however the voltage change is not generated when an insulator, such as gloves or other non-conductive surface, contact the touch panel such that the contact information may not be obtained.
The touch panel may be further classified into an external type in which the touch panel is attached to an outside of the display device and an embedded type in which the touch panel is located inside the display device itself.
A display panel of the display device may include a plurality of switching elements for switching a data voltage, and a plurality of signal lines, such as gate lines and data lines, for applying the data voltage to a plurality of pixels by controlling the switching elements. The gate lines transmit a gate signal including a gate-on voltage Von and a gate-off voltage Voff. Signals applied to the display panel, and especially signals having relatively large widths such as the gate signal, influence a sensing output signal of both the embedded and external touch panel, thereby generating unwanted coupling noise which deteriorates the quality of the associated display.

Display device including touch panel device, and coupling-noise eliminating method


A megafunction block is provided that includes a serial interface enabling a user to specify settings of a configurable block of a programmable logic device. The megafunction block includes a register array having the capability of translating address information into actual addresses for a memory of the configurable block. Thus, as future configurations/standards are developed that a programmable logic device with the megafunction block will interfaces with, the settings for interfacing with the standards may be added to the register array. Consequently, the pin count will not need to increase as the megafunction block is scalable through the register map. Control logic verifies that the translated address is a valid address and the control logic will generate a selection signal based on whether a read or write operation is to be performed.

Programmable logic devices are desirable because of the flexibility these devices offer. However, with this flexibility comes challenges with regard to interfacing with the numerous interfaces that are currently available and features that will be developed in the future. As there are a number of configurable options depending on the user's situation, these various options may become unmanageable, especially with regard to the Input/Output (I/O) port count needed to support the plurality of configurable options. That is, if a set of I/O ports are used for each configurable option, the interface becomes overcrowded with I/O ports needed to support each configurable option.
As a result, there is a need to solve the problems of the prior art to provide a hardware block for a PLD that is capable of managing a large number of configurable options and a large number of I/O ports. In addition, the hardware block should be expandable and backward compatible.


In a system for the control of several appliances (1-5), in particular light fittings distributed in several rooms (A, B, C), from a central command generator (10, 11), and with a method for setting this system into operation, one of the appliances (5) is selected and monitored for the issue of an externally detectable identification signal. All appliances (1-5) already have, before installation of the system, an original address (U4, U2, U1, U5, U3) and are installed without regard to these original addresses. After the installation, the original addresses (U4, U2, U1, U5, U3) are chosen one after the other, and the associated appliances (1-5) instructed to identify themselves. When the selected appliance (5) identifies itself, there is transmitted thereto a preset operational address (B5). This method is then repeated with other selected appliances (1-5), until all appliances have operational addresses (B1-B5). The appliances (1-5) can then be purposively selected, with regard to the site of installation or in terms of groups, using this operational address (B1-B5).

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a control system for several appliances in distributed arrangement, in particular lighting fittings in one or more rooms, and a method for setting such a control system into operation.
The present invention relates to an improvement of the known system and method.
2. Description of the Related Art
From EP 0 433 527 there is known a method of setting into operation a control system for several appliances in distributed arrangement, in particular light fittings in one or more rooms, which appliances contain a stored original address and, after their installation has taken place without regard to the original address, are to be controllable from at least one command generator via a common control line, having the following steps:
a) the command generator instructs all appliances to transmit their original addresses and stores these original addresses; PA1 b) one of the stored original addresses is chosen by the command generator with the command that the associated appliance should deliver an externally detectable identification signal, PA1 c) all of the appliances are externally monitored for the identification of the one appliance, PA1 d) after identification of the one appliance there is entered into the command generator an operational address associated with this appliance, which takes into account a particular grouping and/or arrangement of the appliances after the installation of the system, PA1 e) the identified appliance is selected by the command generator by way of its original address, and there is transferred to the appliance, for storage, the entered operational address, PA1 f) steps a) to e) are repeated until operational addresses have been transferred to all appliances.
The main advantage of the known control system, and of the method of setting into operation such a control system, is that the appliances--although they can be installed without consideration being given to their original addresses--can, after the setting into operation of the system, be selected in an aimed manner via their operational addresses taking into consideration various selection criteria.
However, the known system and the method for setting the system into operation have the disadvantage, in particular in the case of large buildings with many appliances, that an appliance which has identified itself--e.g. a light fitting that has been controlled to be brighter--must be sought over the whole building and there is no indication where the search should be begun, since the selection of the appliances by the command generator via their original addresses in accordance with step b) of the known method occurs practically randomly.

Control system for several appliances in distributed arrangement, and method for setting such a control system into operation


The present invention provides an image compensating device for a joint display. The image compensating device includes a light incident surface, a parallel light emitting surface, and a plurality of light guiding channels extending from the light incident surface to the light emitting surface. The light emitting surface of image compensating device is greater than the light incident surface. The section area of each light guiding channel is gradually increased from the light incident surface to the light emitting surface, by which to extend the image provided by the peripheral region of each cell of the joint display and provide a seamless joint image.

As the development of technology, display becomes an indispensable part of most of consumer electronic devices. In some compact designed devices such as mobile phones, displays are required to be brighter, thinner, and narrower boarder to make the display as large as possible. On the other hand, in large-sized display such as TVs or display walls for public information displays larger than 200 inch, narrower boarder or zero boarder technique becomes a must for these kinds of applications because the non-display boarders of two adjacent panels may be too obvious and greatly degrade display quality. Although there must be some limitations to minimize boarders of the display, there is still a need to narrower or eliminate the boarders of two adjacent displays of a joint display wall and improve the display quality thereof.

Apparatus for compensating image, display device and joint display


A pen recorder comprises a hollow pen body having a proximal end and a distal end a solid state audio recorder in its interior. A retractable pen mechanism is mounted on the distal end of the pen body, and a microphone transducer and speaker transducer are mounted at the proximal end. The speaker transducer is transversely mounted across an open proximal end of the pen body so that the interior of the pen body acts as a resonator improving the sound quality of the speaker.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to audio recording and playback apparatus. More particularly, the present invention comprises a pen mechanism having an integral solid state audio recorder with separate microphone and speaker transducers at a proximal end thereof.
A variety of devices have been used over the years for keeping notes and short messages for reference at a later time. Most simply, many individuals carry paper notepads on which they can write short messages as the need or desire arises. Although suitable for many purposes, the need to stop, find a writing surface, take out the notepad, take out a separate pen, and the like, can at times be inconvenient.
In many cases, it would be more desirable to simply record an audio message on a conveniently transportable device. Portable recording devices have long been available, typically in the form of small, portable dictating machines which utilize magnetic recording tape. While again very useful for many purposes, such dictating machines can be relatively bulky (the need to incorporate a tape cartridge limits the minimum size of the units) and are usually not routinely carried around by individuals.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide recording devices which are even more portable and which can be carried by user as a matter of routine. It would be particularly desirable if such recording devices served a dual purpose, such as being in the form of a pen which incorporates an audio recording mechanism.
2. Description of the Background Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,180, discloses a pen having a side speaker at one end and a side microphone at the other end. The design is intended to permit a user to hold the pen in the manner of a conventional telephone hand set U.S. Pat. No. 4,791,741, comprises a solid state recorder in a flat card. The structure permits placement of a relatively large speaker transducer. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,971,141 and 4,949,327, describe other apparatus which permit audio recording and playback.


An electronic image pick-up apparatus acquires auto-focus data from each of an AF sensor module and an image sensor disposed in conjugate positions in a test mode, stores data on any relative deviation between those items of auto-focus data and drives a photographic lens based on the data of relative deviation of auto-focus in a normal mode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic image pick-up apparatus which performs photographic operations utilizing a solid-state image pick-up device.
2. Related Art Statement
In general, TTL phase difference type focus detection methods have been used for single-lens reflex cameras capable of photographing utilizing silver salt films. However, it is difficult to match a focal position detected by such a phase differential method with an actual film surface. This is attributable to various factors including errors that occur when a phase difference type sensor module is attached to a camera body and dimensional errors of an optical system that makes up the sensor module.
In general, steps for manufacturing a camera include an operation of adjusting any deviation between a focal position detected using a phase differential method and a film surface. Such an adjusting operation is carried out during a step provided near the final step for manufacturing a camera, and adjustment of the photographic lens is first carried out using an automatic collimator such that an image of an object at a predetermined distance is formed on a film surface. Next, a phase difference type focus detecting operation is performed in this state to determine parameters required for correcting the above-described deviation.
Specifically, rays from an object located equivalently at infinity are projected upon the photographic lens using the automatic collimator, and a sensor is temporarily provided to detect the contrast of an image formed by the photographic lens on the film surface of the camera. The photographic lens is then retracted to the extremity, and the position of the maximum contrast is thereafter detected from the sensor output while protruding the photographic lens to use the amount of protrusion at this time as infinity position information.
In a single-lens reflex camera utilizing a silver salt film, adjustment using an automatic collimator as described above can be easily carried out because the exposed surface of the film is exposed by opening the rear cover.
However, an electronic camera has no rear cover because it is loaded with no film. Therefore, the sensor for detecting contrast can not be temporarily attached.
Further, since an image pick-up device such as a CCD is provided in the position corresponding to the film surface, it is difficult to perform the adjusting operation using an automatic collimator.
It has been therefore necessary to perform an adjustment as described above using a different method in a camera system like an electronic camera in which a surface corresponding to a film surface is not exposed.

Electronic camera comprising an automatic focus device using a phase-difference sensor and method thereof


A modularized probe head assembly mainly includes a probe head, an interposer and a probe head carrier with guide pins. The probe head has a plurality of first through holes. The interposer has a plurality of second through holes corresponding in location to the first through holes. The probe head carrier is configured to secure the PCB of a probe card and jointing the probe head with the interposer. A via is formed under a pad on the interposer. A plurality of stud bumps are formed on the pad. After assembling of the probe card, the guide pins pass through the first and second through holes and the stud bumps electrically contact the interconnect pad of the probe head.

During a semiconductor fabrication process, integrated circuits are formed on a wafer. The wafer is a semiconductor substrate made of silicon or gallium arsenide. The wafer contains a plurality of chips. These chips are designed with different circuits for various functions, such as microprocessor, memory circuits and logic circuits. After the fabrication process and before it is singulated, the wafer will need to pass functional test to verify their electrical performance within design specification. Conventionally, a test head of a tester for chip probing usually mounts a probe card with a plurality of probe needles or other contact members for contacting with electrodes, such as bonding pads or bumps, of a wafer. The probe card provides temporarily electrical transmission between the tester and the wafer under test. As new semiconductor products varies from generations to generations, the conventional probe card will also need to be modified and redesigned.
A conventional modular probe head assembly is disclosed in the ROC Taiwan Patent publication No. 547,643. As shown in FIG. 1, the probe card includes a printed circuit board 10, a probe head 20, a flexible printed circuit board 30, and a pressure plate 40. The probe head 20 includes a silicon substrate 21 which is installed in a holder 22. The silicon substrate 21 has an upper surface and a lower surface, wherein the upper surface is arranged with a plurality of probe pads 23, conductive circuits and contact pads 24 at the periphery. The conductive circuits provide electrical connection between probe pads 23 and contact pads 24. The pressure plate 40 is formed with at least an opening corresponding in location to silicon substrate 21. The pressure plate 40 presses the flexible printed circuit board 30 to acquire electrical contact between the contact terminal 31 and the contact pads 24 of the silicon substrate 21. Nevertheless, if the probe head 20 and flexible printed circuit board are mal-alignment, it is unable to provide electrical connection between the contact terminal 31 of flexible printed circuit board 30 and the contact pads 24 of the probe head 20 by compression of the pressure plate 40. Furthermore, the pressure plate 40 and the flexible printed circuit board 30 provides a certain height above the probe head 20 so that a long probe needles 25 are required to fabricated on the probe pads 23 to contact with the wafer under test for chip probing.


A circuit for generating a threshold voltage level from a time division duplex analog data signal. The circuit comprises a sample/hold circuit and an amplifier. The sample/hold circuit is arranged to sample the threshold voltage level during a reception interval and hold the threshold voltage level during a transmission interval. The amplifier includes an operational amplifier coupled to the sample/hold circuit for amplifying the analog data signal during a reception interval and amplifying the threshold voltage level during a transmission interval. A transconductance device is coupled to the operational amplifier, and a plurality of load legs are respectively coupled to a plurality of bias legs. A first selected pair of the respectively coupled load legs and bias legs is coupled to the transconductance device, and a second selected pair of the respectively coupled load legs and bias legs coupled to the output of the amplifier to provide the threshold voltage level.

The invention relates to electronic circuits and, more particularly, to a low-pass filter that can be easily manufactured to precise bandwidth specifications and that has a changeable, programmable bandwidth for use in applications such as a threshold detector for a radio signal data slicer.
Low pass filters are circuits used in many signal processing applications, including many different types of wireless or radio telecommunications. For example, cordless telephones require wireless communications between a first and second unit such as a handset and base. The communications are often in the form of an analog data signal passed back and forth between the two units. Typically, the analog data signal utilizes a single center frequency by allocating alternating time intervals for transmission from each unit. Both units include a receiver circuit and a transmitter circuit for receiving and transmitting the analog data signals, respectively, and the low-pass filter is commonly used in a data slicer of the receiver circuit. In particular, the low-pass filter is used to determine a threshold, or "middle", voltage level of the signal by taking a long term average of the signal. In this way, the data slicer can interpret excursions of the analog data signal below the threshold level as digital "0" symbols, and those above the threshold level as digital "1" symbols. Such operation of a low-pass filter in a data slicer is described in U.S. application Ser. No. 08/864,651 (Attorney Docket No. TT1069, by Alan Hendrickson), entitled "Data Slicer for Demodulated Binary FSK Signals in a Time Division Duplex Radio Environment", which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Referring to FIG. 1, an analog data signal 10, such as may be used in the cordless telephone example described above, has certain inherent characteristics. For one, the analog data signal 10 is separated into discrete time frames, such as time division duplex ("TDD") frames 12 and 14. Each of the frames includes a transmission interval TX, during which the first unit transmits data to the second unit, and a reception interval RX, during which the first unit receives data from the second unit. As seen by a receiver circuit of one of the units (not shown), the analog data signal 10 contains "invalid", or meaningless, data during the transmission intervals TX and may contain "valid" data during the reception intervals RX. Groups of valid data in the analog data signal 10 are referred to as signal components, such as the signal component 16, and signal components are grouped in sequences. A sequence of signal components may start ("initial operation") at the beginning of a reception interval RX (such as the signal component 16 illustrated in FIG. 1), or at a midpoint of the reception interval (not shown).
These characteristics of the analog data signal 10 complicate the determination of the threshold level for the signal. For one, invalid data, such as during the transmission interval TX or during the reception interval RX when no signal component exists, adversely affects the determination of the threshold level. During the transmission interval TX, the analog data signal 10 may be near a zero-level voltage, for power-saving purposes. This zero-level voltage dramatically affects the long term average of the analog signal, and thus the threshold level. In addition, during the reception interval RX when no signal component exists, the analog data signal 10 may drift, thereby adversely affecting the threshold level. Therefore what is need is a low-pass filter that can be responsive to whether or not valid data exists in the analog data signal.
Furthermore, certain signal components of the analog data signal 10 have characteristics that are directly beneficial in determining the threshold level. For example, in normal operation, several signal components are received sequentially. Due to their location in the sequence, certain characteristics of the signal components are known or can be readily determined. For example, the first of a sequence of signal components is always strictly "balanced", i.e., it does not have long series of "1's" or "0's". In addition, other signal components in the sequence are strictly balanced, some are balanced statistically, and some are not balanced at all. Unbalanced signal components are unreliable for the determination of the threshold level, while balanced signal components are particularly advantageous for determination of the threshold level. Therefore, what is need is a low-pass filter that is responsive to the characteristics of the signal components of the analog data signal 10.
Further still, the analog data signal 10 may be distorted due to the operation of the transmitter circuit. Such distortion may be a result of phase lock loop ripple, or other well understood types of demodulator distortion. The analog signal 10, therefore, may contain distortion in the form of a slow varying component, as illustrated by reference arrow 18. Distortion in the analog data signal 10, such as the slow varying component 18, is problematic for determining the threshold level of the analog data signal 10, and therefore what is need is a low-pass filter that is responsive to slow varying components of the analog data signal.

Threshold voltage level generator for time division duplex communications


A developing unit includes a developing bath, rollers used for developing an image, and a rotary body for exhausting developing powder out of the developing bath through an exhaust outlet. The rollers and the rotary body are rotatably fitted to the developing bath. When developing an image, the rotary body is rotated in an opposite direction to the rotating direction when exhausting the developing powder.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a developing unit provided in an image forming apparatus of an electronic photography type and more particularly to a control unit for rotary components used for exhausting developing powder out of a developing bath in the developing unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
The inventors of the present application know a mechanism for adjustably feeding developing powder to a developing unit. The known mechanism includes a toner density sensor and is constructed so that when the sensor senses the absence of developing powder being recovered in the developing unit, the rotary system for recovering the developing powder is deactivated and the feeding unit is activated in response to the sensing signal, for feeding a necessary amount of new developing powder into the developing unit. This mechanism has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Lying Open No. 61-39061.
In the known mechanism, the rotary system such as rollers and screws provided in the developing unit is driven at a constant speed needed in a developing process. The same speed has been maintained in feeding new developing powder, exhausting waste developing powder, and developing an image.
As such, it may take a long time to exchange the developing powder. Since no work can be done for an image forming apparatus during the exchanging time, the long wasteful time is consumed in exchanging the developing powder.
As a prior art for solving the foregoing disadvantage, the applicant of the present application has proposed in the Japanese Patent Application No. 3-284558 that the rotary speed of the rollers and the screw given in exhausting the developing powder is faster than the speed given in developing an image.
In this prior art, the screw is constantly driven. Hence, the developing powder is forced to constantly travel toward an exhaust outlet, so that the developing powder is jammed around the exhaust outlet and causes the shaft of the screw to be locked with its bearing.

Developing unit having capability of preventing developing powder from being jammed around exhaust outlet


The invention facilitates browsing of an indexed collection of electronic content by displaying information identifying a current location within the collection of electronic content using a non-visual display (e.g., audio display and/or haptic display). The information identifying the current location can be displayed with variable resolution and the content of the display of the information identifying the current location can be dependent on the resolution. The invention can be used to browse any type of electronic content, including, for example, audio content, visual content, text content or some combination of such content. The invention can be used to browse electronic content that is indexed in any way, such as, for example, electronic content that is indexed (partly or entirely) alphabetically, numerically or by date.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to browsing an indexed collection of electronic content. In particular, the invention relates to the display to a user of information identifying a current location within the collection of electronic content as the user browses through the collection of electronic content, and, even more particularly, to the non-visual display of such identifying information.
2. Related Art
The increasing presence of devices for displaying and/or storing electronic content has resulted in an increase in collections of electronic content and the size of collections of electronic content for display and/or storage by those devices. A collection of electronic content can include audio electronic content (e.g., MP3 recordings, voicemail, computer-generated audio files in formats such as .wav or .aiff, audio books), visual electronic content (e.g., digital photographs, .gif files, jpeg files), audiovisual electronic content (e.g., DVD recordings), and/or text electronic content (phone or address lists, electronic mail, Web pages, favorites lists).
Browsing a large collection of electronic content can be tedious or difficult. Current approaches to facilitating browsing of a collection of electronic content use a visual interface. The use of a visual interface for browsing a collection of electronic content can be desirable for some applications. For example, a visual interface can be useful when used with devices that are stationary and/or large, or when the user can devote a large amount of attention to use of the interface, as is often the case in home and office applications, in which the interface is frequently used in conjunction with a television or personal computer. However, the characteristics of a visual interface can make the use of a visual interface for browsing a collection of electronic content undesirable for some applications. For example, a visual interface can require an undesirably large amount of attention (e.g., more attention than can safely be expended if the user is walking or driving, or more attention than a user engaged in another activity may want to expend), consume an undesirably large amount of power (e.g., require an undesirably large power supply), and/or be difficult to view and/or use if implemented in small display apparatus. A visual interface demands the visual attention of the user. If the user is using a visual interface to browse electronic content, the visual interface can compete with the user's understanding, enjoyment or comprehension of the electronic content. The use of a portable electronic device is an example of an application for which the use of a visual interface to enable browsing of a collection of electronic content can be undesirable, since such a device is typically small (which may make the use of a sufficiently large display apparatus and/or power supply impossible or impractical) and is often intended for use in situations in which, or in a manner such that, the user's attention may or must be focused other than on the portable electronic device (e.g., a hand-held cell phone is often used in such situations).
A previous interface for use with a cell phone has been used to browse an electronic telephone list that is sorted alphabetically by the name of a person or entity associated with each phone number in the list. A slider control is used to scroll through the list. A visual interface displays information identifying a location in the list during scrolling. The granularity of the visual display is controlled in accordance with the amount of pressure applied to the slider control during scrolling. Lightly pressing the slider control causes the full name associated with each phone number to be displayed during scrolling, while pressing the slider control harder causes only the initial letter(s) of each name to be displayed during scrolling. This interface suffers from the limitations of a visual interface discussed above.
Some MP3 players (e.g., Diamond RIO) use large dials to enable selection of audio tracks discretely. However, there is no display of high-level track identifying information to facilitate browsing and the rate of advance through the tracks is at a fixed rate, tied to the resolution of the encoder wheel, potentiometer and/or mechanical stops of the player.
Some home audio equipment and cell phones have included an encoder wheel that is used as an adjunct to a visual display, enabling a user to scroll through a list of audio tracks, names or menu items, or to adjust volume. A haptic interface provides haptic feedback during scrolling. However, the haptic feedback is provide at fixed intervals unrelated to the collection of electronic content being scrolled through, so that the haptic feedback does not facilitate browsing of the content based on an identification of individual records within the collection of electronic content. The rate of scrolling or adjustment cannot be varied.
Previously, hand-held dials or other user input interface mechanisms have been used to fast-forward through a collection of electronic content. However, since these mechanisms are not used to display index terms, but, rather, all of the electronic content (albeit at a rapid rate), the utility of such mechanisms in browsing a collection of electronic content is limited and, in any event, inferior to an interface which displays index terms during browsing.

Interface including non-visual display for use in browsing an indexed collection of electronic content


An apparatus for atomizing a liquid product using a propellant, which may be integrated into aerosol packs, for atomization of a liquid product. The liquid product may have a high viscosity. The total flow rate ranges from about 0.5 grams per second to about 0.01 grams per second through a single capillary tube. The liquid product is atomized within a capillary tube. The apparatus may be designed as a handheld unit or as a stationary or mobile unit using a plurality of capillary tubes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus for atomizing a liquid product which can be integrated into aerosol packs, which may be pre-pressurized. Such an apparatus may be integrated into a spray can, which is operable by simply pushing a closure mechanism to open valves for dispensing the contents of the can.
2. Background of the Invention
A conventional apparatus for atomizing a liquid product containing the actual active ingredient uses pressure from a propellant, which is contained within a conventional storage container connected thereto or alternatively a pump to pressurize the storage container. Such known devices use a tube to transport the liquid product to be atomized to an atomizing nozzle where droplets are formed from the liquid product. In order to effectively atomize a liquid product by a conventional atomizing apparatus, comparatively large volumes of propellant, diluents and/or solvent, in relation to the liquid product are necessary, both for providing sufficient pressure for the atomization process and for reducing the viscosity of the liquid product, that has the actual active ingredient of the system. The propellant is conventionally used in a volumetric ratio of 2000:1 to 20,000:1 of gas to liquid product, when determined at atmospheric pressure. The propellant may be compressed air, nitrogen, or, conventionally a volatile organic compound such as butane and chlorinated or fluorinated hydrocarbons, which are liquid in a compressed state.
In conventional systems, the liquid product has to be diluted further by additional solvents, or diluents (such as, for example, liquefied natural gas), which also act as the propellant and reduce the amount of active ingredient atomized at the conventional high flow rates and/or reduces the viscosity of the active ingredient. The propellant itself may act as a solvent and/or diluents for the liquid product when contained within the same compartment as the liquid product, (such as, for example, when the propellant is liquefied natural gas, butane, chlorinated hydrocarbons, or fluorinated hydrocarbons). When both liquid product and propellant are contained within the same storage container, such as in the conventional "dip tube" systems, some of the propellant may disperse or dissolve into the liquid product. In order to reduce such high total flow rates of known dip-tube systems, they conventionally need a so-called vapor tap to allow inflow of additional propellant in its gaseous state, which reduces the flow rate of liquid mixture up the dip-tube. This reduction of the flow rate by additional gaseous propellant is used in conventional systems to reduce the amount of liquid product which is dispensed while maintaining a sufficiently high total flow rate which is necessary for a stable atomization.
In conventional systems, when liquid product is being dispensed, the effect of the propellant to act as a solvent or diluent for the liquid product is significantly reduced as the propellant changes into its gaseous phase, and becomes no longer available as a liquid solvent.
An apparatus for atomizing liquid product is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,921,439, which uses a nozzle to atomize a mixture of pressuring gas and liquid product. The liquid product and pressurizing gas form a mixture immediately before entering the atomizing nozzle, but are delivered to the mixing compartment by separate tubes. In the storage compartments, the pressurizing gas exerts its pressure also on the liquid product, which is isolated from the pressurizing gas within a collapsible bag, surrounded by pressurizing gas.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,918,817 discloses a two-fluid cleaning jet nozzle, which has an atomizing unit by which pressurized gas can atomize a liquid into droplets. The cleaning jet nozzle in U.S. Pat. No. 5,918,817 consists of two portions, namely a so-called atomizing tube and a cross-sectional area of 7–200 mm2 into which the liquid and gas are introduced. This atomizing tube is provided with one exit port, which continues into an accelerating tube having a smaller diameter than the atomizing tube, namely 3–15 mm2. As a result of the smaller cross-sectional area of the accelerating tube being fed from the atomizing tube which has a larger cross-sectional area, the velocity of the exiting fluid droplets is much higher than for conventional nozzles without a smaller diameter accelerating tube adjacent to the atomizing tube. This two-compartment jet nozzle provides almost double the exit velocity of atomized fluids at the same pressure of the propellant gas in comparison to the conventional jet nozzle, i.e., approaching the speed of sound at a supply pressure of gas about 3 bar. It becomes clear from the drawing, that the entrance port for the gas is always of a bigger cross section than the entrance port for liquid. U.S. Pat. No. 5,918,817 emphasizes the importance of a high velocity and a high volume to be obtained for the stream of liquid droplets in order to effectively remove contamination from the surface of silicon wafers.
Conventional aerosol spray systems typically produce flow rates of 0.5 to 3 grams-per-second (g/s) of product, where the product is a mixture of liquefied propellant gas, a diluent or solvent and a small amount of active ingredient. In these systems, both the propellant gas and the diluent or solvent are often volatile organic compounds, such as butane and ethanol. These volatile organic compounds are included to produce a spray with a "cool feel" as they quickly evaporate leaving behind just the active ingredient on the sprayed surface (such as, for example the skin) or suspended in the air. Conventionally, a mixture of organic compounds is needed for adjusting the viscosity and solvency of the active ingredient (i.e., a liquid product without added volatile organic compounds). The volumetric ratio of gas (at atmospheric pressure) to active liquid product is typically between 2000:1 and 20,000:1. The propellant gas, the solvents and diluents are released into the atmosphere, which generates environmental problems.
It has been shown that conventional valve arrangements for atomizing apparatuses necessitate the use of flow rates of propellant and liquid product including any diluents in the order of 0.5 grams per second to 1.5 grams per second in order to avoid unstable (i.e., oscillating) flow. With lower total flow rates, the flow at the exit port becomes unstable and discontinuous, i.e., it oscillates. In order to reduce such high flow rates of propellant, dip-tube systems conventionally need a so-called vapor tap to allow inflow of additional propellant in its gaseous state.
The design of conventional atomizing valves usually has an internal cavity volume arranged between afferent pathways for delivering liquid product and/or propellant and the exit. For example, the atomizing nozzle is at least 100 mm3 and the total cavity volume, including valve body, stem and actuator, is between 100 and 300 mm3.

Apparatus for dispensing an atomized liquid product


The present invention is a method circuit and system for erasing one or more non-volatile memory (“NVM”) cells in an NVM array. One or more NVM cells of a memory array may be erased using an erase pulse produced by a controller and/or erase pulse source adapted to induce and/or invoke a substantially stable channel current in the one or more NVM cells during an erasure procedure. The voltage profile of an erase pulse may be predefined or the voltage profile of the erase pulse may be dynamically adjusted based on feedback from a current sensor during an erase procedure.

Non-volatile memory ("NVM") cells are fabricated in a large variety of structures, including but not limited to Poly-silicon floating gate, as shown in FIG. 2A, and Nitride Read Only Memory ("NROM"), as shown in FIG. 2B As is well known, an NVM cell's state may be defined and determined by its threshold voltage ("Vt"), the gate to source/drain voltage at which the cell begins to significantly conduct current
Different threshold voltage ranges are associated with different logical states, and a NVM cell's threshold voltage level may be correlated to the amount of charge (e g electrons) stored in a charge storage region of the cell. FIG. 1A shows a voltage distribution graph depicting possible threshold voltage distributions of a binary non-volatile memory cell, wherein vertical lines depict boundary voltage values correlated with each of the cell's possible states Cells having Vt Lower than EV level may be said to be erased verified Cells having Vt Higher than PV may be said to be program verified. These two limits define the completion of programming and erase sequences that may be performed on a cell. A Program sequence of programming pulses may be used to drive the Vt of a cell higher than PV, while an erase sequence may drive the cell's Vt lower than EV. Also visible in FIG. 1A are vertical lines designating a Read Verify (RV) level and an Intermediate Program Verify voltage, PV1, designating the start of regions before the Program Verify threshold
FIG. 1B shows a voltage distribution graph depicting possible threshold voltage distributions in the charge storage region of a multi-level non-volatile memory cell ("MLC"), wherein one set of vertical lines depict boundary values correlated with each of the cell's possible Program Verify Threshold Voltages (PV00, PV01, etc), another set of vertical lines depict boundary values correlated with the Read Verify level of each of the cell's possible Program states (RV00, RV01, etc), and yet another set depict boundary lines for Intermediate Program Verify voltages (PV100, PV101, etc.) associated with each of the states
The amount of charge stored in a charge storage region of an NVM cell, may be increased by applying one or more programming pulses to the cell. While the amount of charge in the cell may decrease by applying an erase pulse to the NVM cell which may force the charge reduction in the cell's charge storage region, and consequently may decrease the NVM's threshold is voltage
A simple method used for operating NVM cells (e.g. programming, reading, and erasing) uses one or more reference structures such as reference cells to generate the reference levels (i.e. PVs, EVs) Each of the one or more reference structures may be compared against a memory cell being operated in order to determine a condition or state of the memory cell being operated. Generally, in order to determine whether an NVM cell is at a specific state, for example erased, programmed, or programmed at one of multiple possible program states within a multi-level cell ("MLC"), the cell's threshold level is compared to that of a reference structure whose threshold level is preset and known to be at a voltage level associated with the specific state being tested for Comparing the threshold voltage of an NVM cell to that of a reference cell is often accomplished using a sense amplifier. Various techniques for comparing an NVM's threshold voltage against those of one or more reference cells, in order to determine the state(s) of the NVM's cells, are well known
When programming an NVM cell to a desired state, a reference cell with a threshold voltage set at a voltage level defined as a "program verify" level for the given state may be compared to the threshold voltage of the cell being programmed in order to determine whether a charge storage area or region of the cell being programmed has been sufficiently charged so as to be considered "programmed" at the desired state If after a programming pulse has been applied to a cell, it has been determined that a cell has not been sufficiently charged in order for its threshold voltage to be at or above a "program verify" level (i e the threshold voltage of the relevant reference cell) associated with the target program state, the cell is typically hit with another programming pulse to try to inject more charge into its charge storage region Once a cell's threshold value reaches or exceeds the "program verify" level to which it is being programmed, no further programming pulse should be applied to the cell
Groups or sets of cells within an NVM array may be programmed and/or erased concurrently The group or set of NVM cells may consist of cells being programmed to (or erased from) the same logical state, or may consist of cells being programmed to (or erased from) each of several possible states, such as may be the case with MLC arrays. Since not all cells have the same susceptibility to being programmed and/or being erased, cells within a set of cells receiving programming or erasing pulses may not program or erase at the same rate Some cells may reach a target program state, or an erased state, before other cells in the same set of cells that are receiving programming or erasing pulses concurrently
A further issue associated with the erasure of one or more NVM cells within a set of cells being erased, is that channel current invoked during NVM (e g NROM) cell erasure using constant voltages pulses is characterized by a high peak, which quickly subsides (See FIG. 3). The cause of such a channel current profile is carriers created by band-to-band tunneling at the surface of the deeply depleted drain junction (associated with Gate Induce Drain Leakage) More specifically, in a NVM cell, including but not limited to NROM cells, carries may be injected into the gate dielectric stack (or floating gate, if such exists), thereby reducing the vertical electric field which facilitates current flow and causing the current to subside, as evident from the current graph of FIG. 3.
One of the drawbacks of such a channel current profile during erasure is that the channel current peak in each of the NVM cells being erased limits the amount of cells that can be erased simultaneously, either due to current consumption limits imposed on memory product and/or due to limitations on the circuits implemented in the NVM product (e.g. charge pump failures) Furthermore, the efficiency of the constant voltage erase pulse also subsides with time, as is evident from the graphs in FIG. 4, which FIG. 4 shows the reduction of channel current, along with the reduction of the highest threshold voltage, within an NVM array population receiving a 3 ms constant voltage erase pulse as a function of time As evident from FIG. 4, both the channel current and the rate of the downward threshold voltage shift subsides shortly after the beginning of the erasure pulse and the erasure process becomes significantly less efficient during the latter portion of the pulse (i.e. current continues flowing −04 mA in this example, yet the threshold voltage is downward shift is very slow)
Although during the second half of a constant voltage erase pulse a current may still flow through the cells, erasure of the cells becomes very slow and weak Thus, the result of a channel current profile associated with a constant voltage erase pulse is, (1) relatively large current consumption during cell erasure, and (2) erasure inefficiency. These two drawbacks translate into reduced erase rates in many NVM (e g NROM) memory product (or any other memory technology incorporating tunnel assisted hot carrier injection), also reducing the number of cells which can be erased simultaneously and requiring that the duration of erase pulses be sufficiently long to compensate for erasure inefficiency By comparison, whereas a typical programming pulse may have a duration of several hundred nanoseconds, a typical erase pulse may have a duration of several microseconds.
There is a need in the field of NVM production for improved methods, circuits and systems of erasing one or more NVM cells.

Method, circuit and system for erasing one or more non-volatile memory cells