Apparatus and system for configuring a wireless bridge for a computing device such as a game console. The wireless bridge must include a key (not known to the public) employed in producing a digest. The digest is passed to the game console to authenticate that the wireless bridge is compatible and can thus be configured by the game console. Once the wireless bridge proves its compatibility, a configuration procedure included in an operating system on the game console configures the wireless bridge to connect to a wireless network so that the game console can communicate through the wireless bridge with a gaming site that is accessed over the Internet. The configuration is done without using a web browser program or a configuration program that is specific to a particular model and manufacturer of the wireless bridge.

One of the more popular options available to users of Microsoft Corporation's XBOX™ game console is the ability to connect over the Internet to Microsoft Corporation's XBOX LIVE™ gaming service. Although the XBOX game console is a computing device that can be programmed to do much more than play electronic games, the game console is not provided with a web page browser program and is not designed for browsing web sites on the Internet, like a personal computer (PC). Instead, the game console is designed to connect via the Internet to the XBOX LIVE™ gaming service through a virtual private network (VPN) tunnel that provides a very secure communication link to enable user(s) of the game console to play online games with other XBOX game console users who are also subscribers to this online gaming service. The game console does not include any program for displaying a web page that includes hypertext markup language (HTML) code. To make a broadband connection to a local area network (LAN) for accessing the Internet, the XBOX game console includes an Ethernet port. This connection is intended to serve as the communication link for the game console to access the Internet through a digital subscriber line (DSL), a cable modem, or other network broadband connection. While certain games can be played at the communication speeds available through a plain old telephone service (POTS) connection, there is a benefit in requiring that all users use a broadband so that all users will then experience a similar low response latency and rapid download of data from the gaming service and from each other. For this reason, the game console is only able to connect to the XBOX LIVE gaming service through a broadband connection.
The growth of broadband connections for accessing the Internet has been remarkable; currently, a substantial number of homes in this country have a broadband connection for accessing the Internet. However, most homes do not have wired Ethernet networks installed. Instead, wireless (WiFi) networks have become very popular as an alternative to wired Ethernet networks for interconnecting computers and other types of computing devices in a home and for providing access to the Internet. WiFi networks offer a relatively low cost and effective alternative to installing Ethernet wiring throughout a house when creating a residential LAN. In a wireless network, a wireless base station or router typically has a wide area network (WAN) port that is coupled to a DSL interface or cable modem and serves as an access station for one or more computing devices that wirelessly connect to the wireless base station. Certain types of computing devices, such as game consoles, set top boxes, laptop computers, and other computing devices only have an Ethernet port for connecting to the Internet and cannot access the base station wirelessly.
To address this problem, several companies have developed wireless bridges that include an Ethernet port coupled to a radio with a wireless transmitter and receiver. The Ethernet port on the wireless bridge permits an XBOX game console or other computing device to connect to the wireless bridge via a conventional Ethernet cable and communicate over the wireless network through the bridge. An XBOX game console can thus form a VPN tunnel with the XBOX LIVE gaming service over the wireless network. Similarly, other types of computing devices with an Ethernet port can connect to the Internet through a wireless network using the wireless bridge. Example of such wireless bridges include D-Link Corporation's Model 810™ and Linksys Corporation's Model WGA54G™.
Each wireless bridge vendor will typically employ different setup techniques. For example, if a wireless bridge is used with a computing device that runs a web browser program such as INTERNET EXPLORER™ or NETSCAPE™, it is relatively straightforward to configure the wireless bridge produced by some manufacturers by entering a default network address assigned to the wireless bridge by its manufacturer in the browser program and then interacting with an HTML web page having appropriate dialog boxes or text entry boxes for entry of the parameters needed to configure the wireless bridge. The configuration web page and other related web pages are typically embedded in the firmware of the wireless bridge, along with the software for accessing these web pages for configuring the bridge. Since configuration of the bridge is done using a conventional web browser program, almost any PC that can directly connect to the Ethernet port of the bridge can configure it. Alternatively, for some bridges produced by other vendors, a wizard set-up program supplied with the bridge is run on a PC that is connected by an Ethernet cable to the bridge to configure the bridge for the user's wireless network. Typically, the configuration will require providing a name for the network, an Internet Protocol (IP) address for the bridge (if the network does not use dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP)), a gateway, a domain name server (DNS) IP address, an encryption keyword (if used), and other parameters and options. Once the bridge has been configured using the PC, the bridge can be moved and connected to any computing device that cannot itself readily be used to configure the bridge.
Many people are confused by the two step process that requires a bridge to be configured on a PC and then moved and connected to an XBOX™ game console or other computing device that is not readily usable to directly configure the bridge. Accordingly, what is needed is an approach that enables such a computing device to configure the bridge itself, without the need to first connect the bridge to a PC for the configuration before moving the bridge to the computing device for connecting the computing device to the wireless network.
One approach that might be used to address this problem is to provide a plurality of different configuration programs on the computing device for corresponding bridges produced by different manufacturers. The computing device might either automatically detect the model (and manufacturer) of the bridge coupled to the computing device or require that the user choose the appropriate configuration program by input of or selection of the model (and manufacturer) of the bridge being used from a list. However, other manufacturers may enter the market with such bridges. Maintaining an appropriate configuration for each of a plurality of different bridges that may change as new models are added or as changes are required to address firmware improvements is clearly impractical. Instead, what is needed is a single user interface for configuring bridges made by different manufacturers that is not affected by changes in the bridge firmware or the release of newer models. It should be possible to employ this single user interface to troubleshoot any problems arising in the configuration and to provide help in answering questions about the parameters and configuration options that are required. Although this approach might initially be implemented on a specific computing device such as the XBOX game console, it will be apparent that the same approach might be used for other types of computing devices, such as set top boxes, or computers without provision for adding a wireless PC card or other type of wireless station device.

Bridging a gaming console with a wireless network


An image forming apparatus with a plate having holes is described. An image forming apparatus includes image carriers, side walls, and a plate disposed below the image carriers. The plate includes a plurality of holes along the sides of the plate near the side walls. The image carriers, the side walls, and the plate form one or more passages for air to flow during operation of a cooling fan.

A known image forming apparatus may include some units that produce heat, such as an image formation unit having an image carrier, e.g. a photosensitive drum, and a scanner unit that is configured to expose the photosensitive drum to light. To prevent overheating in such units of the image forming apparatus, a variety of cooling methods by channeling air inside the apparatus have been proposed. For example, such a structure has been proposed that includes a passage that is configured to channel air between the image formation unit and the scanner unit, a duct that is configured to convey air to a lower part of the image formation unit, and a fan that is configured to produce air.

Image forming apparatus having air flow holes


A semiconductor package with a chip supporting structure is provided, including a lead frame having a die pad and a plurality of leads, and a plurality of chip supporting members mounted on the die pad. Each of the chip supporting members has a first surface and an opposing second surface and has an identical height. After the second surfaces of the chip supporting members are attached to the die pad, the first surfaces of the chip supporting members are coplanarly arranged, and a chip is mounted on the first surfaces of the chip supporting members, making the chip supporting members interposed between the chip and die pad. A molding resin for encapsulating the chip is allowed to penetrate through and fill into gaps between the chip and die pad, so as to prevent void formation and assure quality of fabricated products.

A lead-frame-based semiconductor package using a lead frame as a chip carrier usually renders a reliability issue in terms of thermal stresses being generated due to mismatch in CTE (coefficient of thermal expansion) between a chip and a silver paste for attaching the chip to the lead frame and between the silver paste and the lead frame. In particular, the chip is mounted on a die pad of the lead frame via the silver paste and encapsulated by an encapsulant; due to different CTEs (chip: about 4 ppm, silver paste: about 40 ppm, die pad: about 16 ppm), significant thermal stresses would be induced at interfaces between the chip and silver paste and between the silver paste and die pad, such that under temperature variation in a reliability test or practical operating environment, the semiconductor package may be subject to delamination and chip cracks by effect of thermal stresses, making quality of the semiconductor package undesirably degraded. This situation is more severe in the use of a larger die pad or chip in which contact area between the die pad and chip is increased and the die pad would suffer greater thermal stresses during a temperature cycle, thereby resulting in warpage and poor planarity of the die pad and further causing delamination between the chip and die pad.
In response to the above problems, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,233,222, 5,327,008 and 5,521,428 disclose a semiconductor package having a die pad being formed with at least an opening. As shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, this semiconductor package 4 utilizes a die pad 400 formed with at least an opening 402 of a flexible shape such as round, rectangle, square, etc. As such, when a chip 42 is mounted on the die pad 400 via a silver paste 45, the chip 42 covers the opening 402 with its non-active surface being partly exposed to the opening 402, making area applied with the silver paste 45 between the chip 42 and die pad 400 effectively reduced; this thereby reduces thermal stress effect on the chip 42 and die pad 400 so as to prevent delamination between the same or chip cracks from occurrence. In another aspect, with provision of the opening 402, the chip 42 would be indirect contact with a molding compound (CTE: about 14 ppm) used for forming an encapsulant 44 that encapsulates the chip 42; relatively smaller CTE mismatch between the chip 42 and encapsulant 44 helps prevent delamination and thereby assures structural intactness of the semiconductor package 4 during fabrication processes.
Besides the above benefits accomplished by the semiconductor package 4, however, during a process for applying the silver paste 45 used to attach the chip 42 to the die pad 400, it is necessary to precisely control an applied amount of the silver paste 45 in order not to affect subsequent packaging processes of the chip 42. As shown in FIG. 10A, if an excess amount of silver paste 45 is used, when the chip 42 is mounted to and presses on the silver paste 45, a portion of the silver paste 45 would leaks downwardly from a periphery of the opening 402 and flashes to a bottom surface of the die pad 400, which would adversely affect bonding between the bottom surface of the die pad 400 and the encapsulant 44. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 10B, if an insufficient amount of silver paste 45 is applied, gaps G may be formed between the chip 42 and die pad 400 and normally of a size smaller than 1 mil (about 25.4 μm). Such gaps G failed to be filled or penetrated by a resin compound whose filler size is usually larger than 1 mil during a molding process for fabricating the encapsulant 44. Moreover, these considerably small gaps G would impede flowing of the resin compound, making air trapped between the chip 42 and die pad 400 not capable of being dissipated and thus form voids, such that the encapsulant 44 may encounter popcorn effect by virtue of voids in a high temperature environment and thus damages structures of the chip 42 and semiconductor package 4. Therefore, either flashes of the silver paste 45 or formation of voids would undesirably affect yield and reliability of fabricated package products. However, in respect of precisely controlling a used amount of the silver paste 45, it requires improvement in process accuracy or preciseness and thereby increases fabrication costs, which still may not completely eliminate the occurrence of paste flashes or voids.
Moreover, the above die pad 400 formed with the opening 402 needs to be fabricated in compliance with size and shape of the chip 42, making fabrication costs undesirably increased. For a highly integrated chip of a larger size, if such a larger chip is directly attached to the die pad, this would increase contact area between the chip and die pad and thermal stress effect on the chip and die pad, making adhesion at interfaces between the chip and silver paste and between the silver paste and die pad adversely degraded.

Semiconductor package with chip supporting structure

Siliconware Precision Industries Co., Ltd.


Briefly, in accordance with one or more embodiments, a user may receive guidance information from a guidance support center via a location system.

People occasionally may desire some form of assistance to locate or verify their route or destination while moving from point-to-point. This desire for assistance may be heightened for the blind or visually impaired versus people with sight, because blind or visually impaired people may be unable or less able to fix their general direction based on visual object, such as, road signs, landmarks, the sun, or stars, for example.
Currently, the blind or visually impaired may rely on guide dogs, human guides, asking people for advice, calling someone via cellular phone, or using an existing support service while moving from point-to-point or from a stationary position. Some support services such as the Personal Navigation and Information System for Users of Public Transport (NOPPA) system in Finland, may operate with automated voice recognition and may provide an automated voice response derived by global positioning system (GPS) data & other mapping data.
The OnStar system provided by General Motors in their vehicles may use GPS and other mapping data to obtain location data for a client inside a car. OnStar may provide live human-to-human voice contact and support so that specific macro and micro data may be exchanged between the client inside the car and the OnStar live support technician.
Reference is made in the following detailed description to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof wherein like numerals may designate like parts throughout to indicate corresponding or analogous elements. It will be appreciated that for simplicity and/or clarity of illustration, elements illustrated in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural and/or logical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the claimed subject matter. It should also be noted that directions and references, for example, up, down, top, bottom, and so on, may be used to facilitate the discussion of the drawings and are not intended to restrict the application of the claimed subject matter. Therefore, the following detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense and the scope of the claimed subject matter defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.


A base plate is used to attach the head/gimbal assembly of a disc drive to an actuator arm. The base plate has a boss which fits into an opening in the actuator arm. In one embodiment, one of the inner surface of the opening in the actuator arm and the outer surface of the boss is constructed of polymer, and the other is constructed of metal. The base plate is secured to the actuator arm by swaging the raised portion of the base plate to the opening in the actuator arm. During swaging, the layer of polymer material yields to conform to the metal surface, thereby providing a swage connection with superior holding friction and retention torque. In another embodiment, the boss includes a plurality of raised portions defining a cylinder having a relaxed outer diameter greater than the inner diameter of the opening in the actuator arm. The outer surfaces of the plurality of portions engage the inner surface of the actuator arm to elastically deform and conform to and bias against the inner surface of the actuator arm, thereby providing a connection with superior holding friction, and retention torque.

The present invention relates to improvements in disc drive assemblies, and more particularly, the invention relates to an improved base plate for mounting the head/gimbal assembly of a magnetic disc drive to an actuator arm.
In disc drives, the head/gimbal assembly is attached to the actuator arm by swaging a base plate to the actuator arm. The base plate holds the head/gimbal assembly in place and restricts relative movement during subsequent assembly, transportation, shipping and operation of the disc drive. Typically, both the base plate and the actuator arm are constructed of metal materials. For example, a stainless steel base plate may be swaged to an extruded aluminum actuator arm.
In order to swage the base plate into the actuator arm, a tubular boss of the base plate is fit into an opening in the actuator arm. A ball is then driven through the tubular boss. Because the boss has an inner diameter smaller than the outer diameter of the ball, the ball exerts a deforming load on the boss. The boss plastically deforms to press against the opening walls in the actuator arm as the ball passes through the boss. To hold the head/gimbal assembly in place, the interface between the base plate and the actuator arm must develop a suitable minimum retention torque, preferably at least about ten inch-ounces. The amount of retention torque in a swage connection is dictated by the frictional force between the swaged members, which in turn is based on the friction between the boss material and the actuator arm material, the residual stresses in the boss of the swage, and the elastic stress in the actuator arm.
The frictional force developed between two surfaces depends on the coefficient of friction between the two surfaces, and the force perpendicular to the plane of relative motion between the two surfaces, or normal force. Thus, the friction between the outer surface of the boss and the inner surface of the opening in the actuator arm is dependant on the force exerted perpendicular to the interface (the normal force) between the boss and the actuator arm and the coefficient of friction between the two surfaces.
In the past the materials used to construct the actuator arm and the base plate were metal, such as aluminum and steel. In a swage connection, both the boss and the arm deformed during swaging, smoothing both metal surfaces, and creating a somewhat smooth interface between the metals. Neither the boss nor the arm returned to its original dimensions after the deforming load was released. As a result, no force is necessary to maintain the boss' and arm's newly deformed dimensions, once they have been deformed by the ball. The resulting smooth interface of the swage connection diminished the coefficient of friction between the boss and the actuator arm, a typical coefficient of friction between a stainless steel base plate and aluminum actuator arm that are swaged together is in the range of 0.1 to 0.3.

Base plate with improved torque retention


In a magnetron and a plasma waveguide through which a microwave oscillated from the magnetron moves, there is provided a plasma waveguide including a plurality of step parts formed at any one side on an inner side surface of the waveguide, and a block part of a predetermined height formed at any other side on the inner side surface of the waveguide, wherein the block part is formed at a side opposite to a boundary part between the plurality of step parts.

Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a plasma waveguide using a step part and a block part, and more particularly, to a plasma waveguide using a step part and a block part that may produce an effect of microwave matching while maximizing an effect of microwave concentration within the waveguide having a gradual reduction in height in a microwave propagation direction by using the step part simultaneously with the block part of a predetermined height provided at an inner side surface of the waveguide.
Description of the Related Art
A conventional plasma generator includes a waveguide to transmit electromagnetic waves, a 3-stub to tune a plasma impedance, and a plasma generation unit to generate a plasma, and the plasma generation unit is equipped with a discharge tube. When electromagnetic waves are transmitted to the waveguide, an electric field concentrates on the plasma generation unit of the waveguide where a plasma is generated.
Accordingly, how to concentrate an electric field effectively is an important design factor of a waveguide.
A waveguide has been developed on a trend toward gradual decrease in height from a traditional rectangular flat structure.
FIG. 1 is a full diagram illustrating a plasma reactor disclosed in Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2008-0033408 (hereinafter referred to as a related art).
Referring to FIG. 1, a plasma reactor according to the related art has a tapering shape with a height decreasing at a predetermined angle to concentrate an electric field (electromagnetic waves) being applied within a waveguide, and includes a reactor chamber at a rear end of the waveguide, in which a plasma is generated by application of the electric field. However, the related art discloses the tapered waveguide designed to minimize reflection of electromagnetic waves, but in practice, an effect of electric field concentration in the chamber where the plasma is generated, is lower than that of the rear end of the waveguide.
To solve this problem, Korean Patent No. 10-1196966 discloses a waveguide of a multi-taper structure. However, in this case, there is a problem—fine tuning of microwaves oscillated from a magnetron is difficult.
For fine tuning of microwaves, a 3-stub matching system 20 is used as shown in FIG. 1.
The 3-stub matching system has triple stubs installed at a stub interval of λg/4 when λg is a wavelength in a waveguide 18, and serves to match a characteristic impedance of the waveguide 18 with a load impedance of a low height part of the waveguide 18 to transmit maximum power to a load.
However, such a 3-stub matching system is designed for maximum power transfer to a load in applications of a waveguide of a flat structure. Also, by a structure of the 3-stub matching system penetrating through the waveguide, leaks of a weak electromagnetic field out of the waveguide and its resultant arcing occur. To solve this problem, a high-cost sealing apparatus is separately required to prevent an electromagnetic field from leaking out of the waveguide.

Plasma wavguide using step part and block part


A dispenser expands paper web material by controlling the tracking of off-winding paper and holding it in place. Pulling the paper from one direction expands it in all directions simultaneously. The dispenser has a base, a mast, a cantilevered axle that holds a roll of cut paper web material for off-winding, and a roller assembly that controls the tracking of the off-wind paper web material and holds it in place. Advantageously, upon being pulled in one direction, the paper web material expands in all directions simultaneously in an efficient and reliable manner.

My Fence Tape Patent discloses a web material cut in such a manner that when pulled in both the longitudinal and transverse directions, a fence type barrier is formed. The web material is normally plastic or any resinous woven or non-woven material. One useful embodiment is to fabricate the web from paper. In this configuration, it is extremely useful as a packing material due to its spring-like cushioning and expansive properties. In this embodiment, it is very difficult to deploy the web material by hand simultaneously in the longitudinal and transverse directions so as to produce a large amount of expanded material. The Present Invention is a machine or apparatus to facilitate deployment of this material.

Apparatus to deploy and expand web material


Disclosed is a folding golf cart including a front frame having a bag bottom carrier, two rear wheel frames connected to the front frame via connecting bars, vertical pivot frames installed to the rear wheel frames so as to be pivotable upward and toward a front wheel, a bag support frame connected to the vertical pivot frames via pillars, the bag support frame having a bag support member and a pull handle, a longitudinal prop installed between the front frame and the bag support frame, and a transverse prop installed between the rear wheel frames. The golf cart ensures easy folding thereof, takes the form of a small volume box in a folded state thereof, and is convenient in handling owing to a relatively light weight.

Many golfers use manual pull golf carts that golfers pull around, or use carts that golfers ride on. Most golfers use manual pull golf carts. This is because electric-powered pull golf carts are not only relatively expensive, but also are heavy and have difficulty in folding, thereby having a great volume in a folded state. In particular, these electric-powered pull golf carts cause the old and the infirm to have trouble in loading or unloading the golf carts to or from cars and also make it difficult for several golfers to travel in a single car. In addition, conventional carts need to reduce a length of a wheelbase in terms of portability, which may cause a risk of overturn at complex topographical areas such as mountainous areas.


A grating is induced in the core of a hydrogen-loaded high-germanium-content optical fiber using near-UV (275 nm-390 nm) laser light. An interference pattern is generated at the core using a molded polymer phase mask with a square wave surface relief pattern. The light is directed through the phase mask, through a protective fiber coating, through the cladding, and into the core. The phase mask generates an interference pattern with a period half that of the surface relief pattern. Index of refraction changes occur at the bright fringes of the interference pattern--thus creating the grating. Advantages over existing mid-UV technology include lower fabrication costs for phase masks, simplified grating induction since fiber coatings do not need to be removed, and reduced infrared absorption caused by grating formation in the fiber.

The present invention relates to optical media and, more particularly, to the fabrication of gratings within optical media. A major objective of the invention is to provide for less absorptive refractive-index gratings in optical fibers and to make such gratings easier and more economical to fabricate.
Along with the increasing prominence of the Internet has come wideranging demand for increased communications capabilities, including more channels and greater bandwidth per channel. Optical media, such as optical fibers, promise an economical alternative to electrical conductors for high-bandwidth long-distance communications. A typical optical fiber includes a silica core, a silica cladding, and a protective coating. The index of refraction of the core is higher than the index of refraction of the cladding to promote internal reflection of light propagating down the core.
Optical fibers can carry information encoded as optical pulses over long distances. The advantages of optical media include vastly increased data rates, lower transmission losses, lower basic cost of materials, smaller cable sizes, and almost complete immunity from stray electrical fields. Other applications for optical fibers include guiding light to awkward places (as in surgery), image guiding for remote viewing, and sensing.
The signal carrying ability of optical fibers is due in part to the capability of producing long longitudinally-uniform optical fibers. However, longitudinal variations in index of refraction, e.g., those associated with refractive-index gratings, can be included in the optical fibers to affect throughgoing pulses in useful ways. Gratings can be grouped into short-period, e.g., about 0.5 micron (.mu.m), or long-period, e.g., about 200 .mu.m, gratings. Short-period gratings can reflect incident light of a particular wavelength back on itself in the fiber. (Short-period gratings are also called Bragg gratings or Hill gratings.) Long-period gratings can couple incident light of a particular wavelength into other co-propagating modes on the fiber. Some of these other co-propagating modes may be lossy, so the overall effect of the long-period grating can be to selectively block certain wavelengths from propagating efficiently through the fiber.
While there are many methods for establishing a refractive-index grating within a fiber, the most practical methods involve exposing photosensitive fibers to patterned light. The index of refraction of certain fiber-optic materials, such as germanium-doped silica, is changed upon exposure to mid-ultra-violet (mid-UV) light, e.g., wavelengths between 190 nanometers (nm) and 270 nm; the photo-sensitivity of such a fiber can be enhanced by hydrogen loading. Lasers for altering the refractive index of fibers that span the above mid-UV wavelength range include ArF excimer lasers with a laser output at 193 nm and the fourth harmonic of a 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser at 266 nm.
It has been believed that the mid-UV light dislodges electrons at germanium oxygen deficient centers (GODC) to cause the change in the index of refraction. Exposing a germanium-doped fiber to mid-UV light that varies in intensity periodically in space creates a corresponding spatially varying pattern of refractive index in the fiber. Such a spatially varying index of refraction is referred to as a refractive-index grating.
Methods of generating the desired light pattern can be distinguished according to whether or not they rely on interference. Methods not employing interference rely on amplitude masks. For example, a photoresist or metal amplitude mask can be photolithographically defined on the cladding of a waveguide or a fiber, the coating of which has been removed over the region where a grating is to be formed. However, diffraction effects limit the effectiveness of the amplitude mask, especially when applied to short-period gratings. In addition, the fine structure of the amplitude mask defining the dark regions can be burned off by absorbed laser energy.
Alternatively, a single slit can be stepped across the length of fiber in which the Bragg filter is to be defined. Such a method is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,105,209. The method has been extended recently to writing long period gratings using near-UV wavelengths using argon lasers with high-coherence. (E. M. Dianov, D. S. Starodubov, S. A. Vasiliev, A. A. Frolov, O. I. Medvedkov, Paper TuCC2, Vol. 1 of LEOS'96 Annual Meeting Proceedings, pp. 374-375, 1996). Generally, the time required for the step-by-step writing is lengthy and the mechanical precision required for the stepping can be prohibitive.
More practical methods of inducing a Bragg grating take advantage of interference. A coherent laser beam can be split and the resulting beam components can be made to intersect. Due to the wave nature of light, the intersecting components will add at some locations and cancel at other locations, creating a spatially alternating pattern of light and dark.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,474,427 to Hill discloses a method in which visible light is launched into the core of a fiber and reflected at an opposite end of the core. The result is a standing wave with a period corresponding to half the wavelength of the light. Through a photosensitive effect in the fiber, a refractive-index grating with this period is written into the core of the fiber. In this case, the light used was blue-green at around 480 nm. In this case, the gratings are created by two-photon absorption, corresponding to the energy associated with 240 nm light.
An important advantage of this core-launch approach is that neither the cladding nor the protective polymer coating needs to be removed for the grating to be induced. However, this method is limited to producing gratings for reflecting wavelengths close to that of the writing light. Furthermore, the core-launch approach does not provide for gratings with an arbitrary spatial variation of index amplitude and period imposed over the length of the grating itself; these include chirped and apodized gratings.
More flexibility in defining gratings can be achieved by directing interfering beams transversely. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,807,950 to Glenn et al., two beams directed transversely into a fiber can be made to interfere. The spatially varying interference pattern creates a spatially varying refractive-index pattern. By changing the angle of the two incident light beams it is possible to vary the spatial period of the intensity pattern, which alters the reflecting wavelength of the resulting grating. The interference pattern of two light beams can be created by the use of beamsplitters and mirrors, or with a prism by the technique of Lloyd's interferometer (U.S. Pat. No. 5,377,288).
To produce an interference pattern, a laser beam must be split and then recombined. Mirror vibrations and limits on coherence length can limit the visibility of the interference pattern formed when the beams recombine. Addressing this problem, U.S. Pat. No. 5,367,588 to Hill et al. uses a phase mask in close proximity to a fiber to split the beam and direct its components so that they interfere at the fiber core. The phase mask can be a block of material with a surface relief pattern that acts as a series of beam splitters. Even low-coherence lasers, such as excimer lasers, can be used with such a phase mask. So that it transmits 245 nm light, the phase mask is formed of fused silica.
The fused silica is etched with an appropriate square-wave surface relief pattern using electron-beam lithography. When a phase mask is used, the period of the induced grating is one-half that of the surface relief pattern when the mask and core are parallel. The grating period can be increased slightly by tilting the mask slightly relative to the core. (Larger tilts result in gratings that no longer reflect light into the fiber.) Disadvantages of this phase-mask method include the cost of the phase mask: the main expense being the cutting of the pattern using electron-beam lithography. The cost scales with the length of the phase mask; long gratings are very expensive. It is not practical to fabricate long gratings in this manner. Another expense is the fused silica which must be very pure to transmit mid-UV light.
There are also problems with obtaining an appropriate light. An excimer laser can provide the mid-UV light, but has a short coherence length. It also provides a pulsed rather than a preferred continuous output. A frequency-doubled argon laser can be used for a continuous output, but frequency doubling poses its own complications. Advances in semiconductor lasers promise better lasers in the desired frequency range, but these are not currently available. Thus, there remains room for more convenient and cost effective means for inducing gratings in an optical fiber.

Optical fiber having core segment with refractive-index grating


Methods and apparatus provide for commutating windings of a polyphase machine such that electromagnetic fields of stator and rotor phases of the polyphase machine produce at least one of motoring and generating torque, wherein the controller is operable to automatically vary at least one of a lead angle measured between the electromagnetic fields of the stator and rotor phases and rotor excitation parameters as a function of a rotational speed of the polyphase machine.

The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for controlling the torque/speed characteristics of a polyphase motor and/or generator.
Polyphase machines, such as permanent magnet machines, synchronous machines, and wound rotor machines must be driven such that the windings thereof are energized as a function of the rotor position (and, thus, the rotor flux) in order to obtain driving torque from the machine (for motoring) and/or to obtain opposing torque to from the machine (for generating).
Polyphase machines may be utilized as variable starter-generator machines for an engine, such as a turbine engine. A turbine engine is started by using the polyphase machine to apply torque to a main shaft of the turbine engine, while also providing fuel and other combustion elements to the engine. When the polyphase machine is controlled to produce a suitable torque verses speed characteristic, the turbine engine will start. At or some time after the start event, the polyphase machine may stop applying torque to rotate the turbine engine and the polyphase machine may be controlled in such a way as to generate electricity in response to torque applied to the polyphase machine by the turbine engine.
A desirable torque verses speed characteristic of the polyphase machine acting as a motor to start a turbine engine includes a particular peak torque (or range of torques) substantially at the ignition speed of the turbine engine. When the torque produced by the polyphase machine is too high at the ignition speed, then any number of mechanical linkages of the turbine engine may be overstressed. Conversely, when the peak torque produced by the polyphase machine is too low at the ignition speed, it may take an excessive period of time to reach the start event. An excessive torque or an insufficient torque condition at the ignition speed leads to undesirable results. For example, overstressing mechanical linkages within the turbine engine reduces engine life and decreases the mean time between failures (MTBF). Similarly, excessively long engine start conditions result in increased engine temperature (as it is typical that no air venting in the engine exists during startup), wasted fuel, reduced engine life, decreased MTBF, and false starts.
The conventional approach to designing the polyphase machine and a control system therefore is to optimize the design of the polyphase machine as a generator. This is so because, for example, in aeronautics the polyphase machine is utilized as a generator on the order of 99% of the time and is used as a motor 1% of the time or less. Unfortunately, optimizing the characteristics of the polyphase machine as a generator does not result in an optimum design of the polyphase machine as a motor. The conventional design approach also dictates that the control of the polyphase machine as a motor establishes a fixed lead angle of the electromagnetic field of a stator of the polyphase machine as compared with the electromagnetic field of a rotor of the polyphase machine. Thus, the electrical characteristics of the polyphase machine acting as a motor are carried over and accepted as a necessary result of optimizing the polyphase machine as a generator. However, this leads to undesirable results in connection with controlling the polyphase machine as a motor. For example, a controller and driver of the polyphase machine may need to be relatively oversized as compared with a controller and driver designed for an optimized motor (instead of a generator). Alternatively, the proper peak torque at ignition characteristic might not be achievable in a polyphase machine that has been optimized as a generator. In this situation, the characteristics of the polyphase machine as a generator may need to be sacrificed for achieving a desirable torque verses speed motoring characteristic. Unfortunately, this may cause undesirable results during a generating mode (which is the more likely mode of operation), and increased machine weight.
The conventional control techniques of polyphase machines have also been unsatisfactory in connection with starting the polyphase machine at zero speed. Indeed, many kick start techniques involve complex closed loop circuit configurations that are costly.
Another shortcoming of the conventional control techniques of wound rotor polyphase machines involves the excitation voltage for the rotor. Conventional techniques call for relatively high peak-to-peak AC characteristics with corresponding high peak currents, to drive the rotor winding. This creates relatively high power losses and electromagnetic interference profiles.
Conventional control techniques of polyphase machines have also been unsatisfactory in connection with so-called soft start techniques and so-called soft stop techniques inasmuch as the control technologies have been somewhat complex and costly. Without soft start and soft stop control technologies, the polyphase machine may introduce sharp mechanical impulses during ignition, which reduces the useful life of engine bearings.
The conventional polyphase machine control techniques have also been deficient in the area of battery usage during motoring. In particular, the conventional control techniques call for the same torque/speed control profile for the polyphase machine during startup no matter how many startup attempts are made. Unfortunately, a single startup attempt may utilize 50% or more of the battery capacity in an aircraft. Thus, multiple start attempts could easily deplete the battery. A related problem is that a lower battery voltage requires an increase in the current drawn from the battery to achieve the same torque/speed profile, thereby invoking undesirable circumstances resulting from increased current draw from the battery.
Accordingly, there are needs in the art of new methods and apparatus for controlling a polyphase motor that produce more optimum torque versus speed characteristics from the polyphase machine during motoring and/or generating.

Methods and apparatus for controlling a motor/generator


Process for forming physical gate length dependent implanted regions in a semiconductor substrate. The process includes steps of first providing a semiconductor substrate (e.g. a silicon wafer) with a gate oxide layer on its surface, followed by the formation of a polysilicon gate layer on the gate oxide layer. An additional oxide layer is subsequently formed on the polysilicon gate layer. The resulting oxide/polysilicon stack is then patterned to form a patterned oxide/polysilicon stack layer that includes a patterned additional oxide layer and a patterned polysilicon gate layer. Next, a conformal silicon nitride layer is formed over the patterned oxide/polysilicon stack layer. The conformal silicon nitride layer is then etched (e.g. by an anisotropic etch) to form silicon nitride spacers on the sidewalls of the patterned oxide/polysilicon stack layer. After removal of the patterned additional oxide layer to leave the silicon nitride spacers extending above the patterned polysilicon gate layer, an additional polysilicon layer is deposited. The additional polysilicon layer is then etched (e.g. by an anisotropic plasma etch) to create dual (i.e. internal and external) polysilicon spacers on the sidewalls of the silicon nitride spacers. Next, dopant atoms (e.g. dopant atoms chosen to serve as a physical gate length dependent V.sub.T adjust implant) are implanted, through the patterned polysilicon gate layer, into the semiconductor substrate to create an implanted region while using the dual polysilicon spacers (the pitch and profile of their internal portions being dependent on the physical gate length) as an implant mask.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to semiconductor device fabrication processes and, in particular, to processes for the formation of dopant atom implanted regions.
2. Description of the Related Art
The fabrication of semiconductor devices often involves the processing of a semiconductor substrate (e.g. a silicon wafer) through a series of steps. Typically, this series of steps includes multiple ion implantation processes during which dopant atoms are introduced into and beyond the semiconductor substrate. The dopant atoms are added to the semiconductor substrate to form various semiconductor device regions, such as well regions, source and drain regions, and Lightly Doped Drain (LDD) extension regions. The dopant atoms are also added to modify the electrical characteristics of the semiconductor device, as in the case of Threshold Voltage (V.sub.T) adjust implants. See S. Wolf and R. N. Tauber, Silicon Processing for the VLSI Era, Volume 1--Process Technology, 280-283 (Lattice Press 1986), which is hereby incorporated by reference, for a further discussion of ion implantation processes.
V.sub.T adjust implant processes involve implanting dopant atoms into a channel region of an MOS transistor device to increase or decrease the net dopant atom concentration therein. It is well known in the semiconductor device fabrication field that V.sub.T adjust implants can be used to control the threshold voltage of the semiconductor device. See S. Wolf, Silicon Processing for the VLSI Era, Volume 2--Process Integration, 325 (Lattice Press 1990), and S. Wolf, Silicon Processing for the VLSI Era, Volume 3--The Submicron MOSFET, 183-187 (Lattice Press 1995), both of which are hereby incorporated by reference. As the length of a channel region (i.e. "channel length") of an MOS transistor device is reduced, however, the MOS transistor device becomes more susceptible to unwanted "punch-through" that results from a merging of source and drain depletion regions. Further, as the channel length is decreased, the MOS transistor device can experience two competing threshold voltage (V.sub.T) effects: one known as "V.sub.T roll-up" or "reverse short channel effect (RSCE)," and the other known as "V.sub.T roll-off." V.sub.T roll-up causes the V.sub.T of the MOS transistor device to increase with decreasing channel length, while V.sub.T roll-off causes the V.sub.T to decrease after reaching its maximum RSCE induced value. For a further discussion of punch-through and the RSCE, see S. Wolf, Silicon Processing for the VLSI Era, Volume 3--The Submicron MOSFET, 226 and 232-240 (Lattice Press 1995), which is hereby incorporated by reference. The result of these effects is that as the physical gate length (i.e. the width of the patterned polysilicon gate layer), and hence the channel length, of an MOS transistor device decreases, the electrical behavior of the MOS transistor device becomes more difficult to control. Conventional V.sub.T adjust implant processes can not address these V.sub.T roll-up and V.sub.T roll-off effects since they are conducted prior to the formation of the patterned polysilicon gate layer and are, therefore, independent of physical gate length.
There is, therefore, a need in the field for an implant process that forms physical gate length dependent dopant implanted regions and thereby provides for improved control of MOS transistor device performance (e.g. V.sub.T control).

Process for forming physical gate length dependent implanted regions using dual polysilicon spacers


A small center distance is provided between a crankshaft and a gearshift shaft disposed in parallel. A power unit is built compactly in a direction of arrangement of the crankshaft and the gearshift shaft for supporting reliably the gearshift shaft on which heavy, first and second gearshift clutches are supported. A transmission includes a main shaft, disposed in parallel with a crankshaft and rotatably supported in a crankcase, and first and second gearshift clutches. The first and second gearshift clutches change a gearshift position in a first gearshift portion and a gearshift position in a second gearshift portion, respectively. The main shaft includes an outer shaft portion that extends from the crankcase and supports the first and second gearshift clutches. The outer shaft portion is supported by a bearing portion disposed in a front cover on a side opposite to the crankcase across the first and second gearshift clutches.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power unit that includes an engine and a transmission, in which gears are changed using first and second gearshift clutches.
2. Description of Background Art
A power unit is known that includes a transmission having first and second gearshift clutches. The first and second gearshift clutches transmit or disconnect power from an engine to first and second gearshift portions, respectively. These gearshift clutches achieve a change of gears. See, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-357267.
In the power unit having the transmission that includes the first and the second gearshift clutches, the transmission may be arranged to have a gearshift shaft disposed in parallel with an output shaft (e.g., a crankshaft) of the engine in order to build a smaller power unit in an axial direction of the engine output shaft. If, at this time, the gearshift clutches are disposed inside a crankcase that rotatably supports the crankshaft, the gearshift shaft that supports the heavy gearshift clutches is reliably supported by the crankcase at a position of sandwiching the gearshift clutches. Contrary to this advantage of the known art, a center distance between the crankshaft and the gearshift shaft becomes greater so that interference can be avoided between the crankshaft and the gearshift clutches having a relatively large diameter. This results in the power unit becoming larger in a direction of arranging the crankshaft and the gearshift shaft.


The present invention relates to a clamping device comprising two end plates (2, 7), springs (1), and tension rods (8), wherein the springs (1) are arranged on a supporting element to distribute clamping forces on one or more flow module plates, one or more reactor plates, one or more heat exchanger plates, or combinations thereof, which plates (6) are placed between the two end plates (2, 7). The present invention relates also to a method for opening and closing a plate reactor or a flow module, and uses of the clamping device.

Flow modules or reactors, which comprise plates stacked together and with plates manufactured in materials having large temperature expansion coefficient and low modulus of elasticity, operate over a wide temperature range. The large temperature expansion coefficient and low modulus of elasticity of the materials of the plates, compared to framework, screws, tension rods and end plates etc. can cause damages or leakage. Thus, one problem is to keep the tension over the whole construction within limits over the whole temperature range without causing leakage or damage on any of the parts in the module or reactor.
Another problem that occurs when working with plates is to distribute contact pressure as equal as possible over the plates to prevent unevenness and thus leakage or damaging any of the stacked plates.

Clamping device for flow module plates, reactor plates or heat exchanger plates


A hemostasis analyzer, such as the Thrombelastograph® (TEG®) hemostasis analyzer is utilized to measure continuously in real time, the hemostasis process from the initial fibrin formation, through platelet-fibrin interaction and lysis to generate blood hemostasis parameters. The measured blood hemostasis parameters permit evaluation of a patient hemostasis condition.

Blood is the circulating tissue of an organism that carries oxygen and nutritive materials to the tissues and removes carbon dioxide and various metabolic products for excretion. Whole blood consists of a pale yellow or gray yellow fluid, plasma, in which are suspended red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets.
An accurate measurement of hemostasis, i.e., the ability of a patient's blood to coagulate and dissolve, in a timely and effective fashion is crucial to certain surgical and medical procedures. Accelerated (rapid) and accurate detection of abnormal hemostasis is also of particular importance in respect of appropriate treatment to be given to patients suffering from hemostasis disorders and to whom it may be necessary to administer anti-coagulants, antifibrinolytic agents, thrombolytic agents, anti-platelet agents, or blood components in a quantity which must clearly be determined after taking into account the abnormal components, cells or "factors" of the patient's blood which may be contributing to the hemostasis disorder.
Hemostasis is a dynamic, extremely complex process involving many interacting factors, which include coagulation and fibrinolytic proteins, activators, inhibitors and cellular elements, such as platelet cytoskeleton, platelet cytoplasmic granules and platelet cell surfaces. As a result, during activation, no factor remains static or works in isolation. Thus, to be complete, it is necessary to measure continuously all phases of patient hemostasis as a net product of whole blood components in a non-isolated, or static fashion. To give an example of the consequences of the measuring of an isolated part of hemostasis, assume that a patient developed fibrinolysis, which is caused by the activation of plasminogen into plasmin, an enzyme that breaks down the clot. In this scenario, a byproduct of this process of fibrinogen degrading product (FDP), which behaves as an anticoagulant. If the patient is tested only for anticoagulation and is treated accordingly, this patient may remain at risk due to not being treated with antifibrinolytic agents.
The end result of the hemostasis process is a three-dimensional network of polymerized fibrin(ogen) fibers which together with platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa (GPIIb/IIIa) receptor bonding forms the final clot (FIG. 1). A unique property of this network structure is that it behaves as a rigid elastic solid, capable of resisting deforming shear stress of the circulating blood. The strength of the final clot to resist deforming shear stress is determined by the structure and density of the fibrin fiber network and by the forces exerted by the participating platelets.
Platelets have been shown to effect the mechanical strength of fibrin in at least two ways. First, by acting as node branching points, they significantly enhance fibrin structure rigidity. Secondly, by exerting a "tugging" force on fibers, by the contractability of platelet actomyosin, a muscle protein that is a part of a cytoskeleton-mediated contractability apparatus. The force of this contractability further enhances the strength of the fibrin structure. The platelet receptor GPIIb/IIIa appears crucial in anchoring polymerizing fibers to the underlying cytoskeleton contractile apparatus in activated platelets, thereby mediating the transfer of mechanical force.
Thus, the clot that develops and adheres to the damaged vascular system as a result of activated hemostasis and resists the deforming shear stress of the circulating blood is, in essence a mechanical device, formed to provide a "temporary stopper," that resists the shear force of circulating blood during vascular recovery. The kinetics, strength, and stability of the clot, that is its physical property to resist the deforming shear force of the circulating blood, determine its capacity to do the work of hemostasis, which is to stop hemorrhage without permitting inappropriate thrombosis. This is exactly what the Thrombelastograph® (TEG®) system, described below, was designed to measure, which is the time it takes for initial fibrin formation, the time it takes for the clot to reach its maximum strength, the actual maximum strength, and the clot's stability.
Hemostasis analyzer instruments have been known since Professor Helmut Hartert developed such a device in Germany in the 1940's. One type of hemostasis analyzer is described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,223,227, the disclosure of which is hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference. This instrument, the TEG® hemostasis analyzer, monitors the elastic properties of blood as it is induced to clot under a low shear environment resembling sluggish venous blood flow. The patterns of changes in shear elasticity of the developing clot enable the determination of the kinetics of clot formation, as well as the strength and stability of the formed clot; in short, the mechanical properties of the developing clot. As described above, the kinetics, strength and stability of the clot provides information about the ability of the clot to perform "mechanical work," i.e., resisting the deforming shear stress of the circulating blood; in essence, the clot is the elementary machine of hemostasis, and the TEG® analyzer measures the ability of the clot to perform mechanical work throughout its structural development. The TEG® system measures continuously all phases of patient hemostasis as a net product of whole blood components in a non-isolated, or static fashion from the time of test initiation until initial fibrin formation, through clot rate strengthening and ultimately clot strength through fibrin platelet bonding via platelet GPIIb/IIIa receptors and clot lysis.
Platelets play a critical role in mediating ischemic complications in prothrombotic (thrombophilic) patients. The use of GPIIb/IIIa inhibitor agents in thrombophilic patients or as an adjunct to percutaneous coronary angioplasty (PTCA) is rapidly becoming the standard of care. Inhibition of the GPIIb/IIIa receptor is an extremely potent form of antiplatelet therapy that can result in reduction of risk of death and myocardial infarction, but can also result in a dramatic risk of hemorrhage. The reason for the potential of bleeding or non-attainment of adequate therapeutic level of platelet inhibition is the weight-adjusted platelet blocker treatment algorithm that is used in spite of the fact that there is considerable person-to-person variability. This is an issue in part due to differences in platelet count and variability in the number of GPIIb/IIIa receptors per platelet and their ligand binding functions.
Since the clinical introduction of the murine/human chimeric antibody fragment c7E3 Fab (abciximab, ReoPro®), several synthetic forms of GPIIb/IIIa antagonists have also been approved such as Aggrastat® (tirofiban) and Integrilin® (eptifibatide), resulting in widespread and increasing use of GPIIb/IIIa inhibitor therapy in interventional cardiology procedures.
Before the introduction of the method and apparatus described in the afore-mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 6,613,573 there was no rapid, reliable, quantitative, point-of-care test for monitoring therapeutic platelet blockade. Although the turbidimetric aggregation test has been used to measure the degree of platelet GPIIb/IIIa receptor blockade in small clinical studies and dose-finding studies, its routine clinical use for dosing GPIIb/IIIa receptor antagonists in individual patients has not been feasible. Aggregation is time-consuming (more than one hour), expensive to run, requires specialized personnel for its performance, and is not readily available around the clock; therefore it cannot be employed at the point-of-care for routine patient monitoring and dose individualization. To be clinically useful, an assay of platelet inhibition must provide rapid and reliable information regarding receptor blockade at the bedside, thereby permitting dose modification to achieve the desired anti-platelet effect.
The turbidimetric aggregation test is based on the photometric principle, which monitors the change in the specimen's optical density. Initially, a minimal amount of light passes through the specimen, as functional platelets are activated by the turbidimetric test, platelet aggregation occurs via platelet GPIIb/IIIa receptor and fibrin(ogen) bonding as illustrated in FIG. 1, and thus light transmission increases. When platelets are inhibited through GPIIb/IIIa receptor blockade, light transmission increases proportionally.
Another commercially available system measures fibrinogen-platelet bonding using beads coated with a fixed amount of an outside source of "normal" fibrinogen. Therefore, this system uses a non-patient source of "normal" fibrinogen and cannot detect a patient in a prothrombotic state (hypercoagulable) due to a higher patient level of fibrinogen, or detect a hemorrhagic state (hypocoagulability) due to a low patient level of fibrinogen. Additionally, this system shows only bonding without detection of the breakdown of that bonding. Therefore, in the presence of thrombolysis, the assessment of platelet GPIIb/IIIa receptor blockade by the system may not be accurate.
Fibrinogen-platelet GPIIb/IIIa bonding is the initial phase of platelet aggregation, or a primary hemostasis platelet plug, which goes on to form the final fibrin-platelet bonding. Thus it is not sufficient to measure only the initial stage of fibrinogen-platelet bonding, which may not accurately reflect final fibrin-platelet bonding via the GPIIb/IIIa receptor. While the turbidimetric and other photometric systems do detect initiation of platelet aggregation via fibrinogen-platelet GPIIb/IIIa receptor bonding, it may not accurately reflect final fibrin-platelet bonding via the GPIIb/IIIa receptor.
Significant among the limitations of systems that use beads coated with "normal" fibrinogen is that this "normal" fibrinogen may not reflect either the quantity or the functionality of a specific patient's own fibrinogen. Therefore, fibrinogen-platelet GPIIb/IIIa receptor blockade as measured by such systems is but a rough estimate of the patient's individual fibrinogen-platelet GPIIb/IIIa blockade of the initial phase of platelet aggregation.
This is a significant limitation in certain high risk patient subgroups, which may need treatment with a platelet inhibition agent, may have a higher or lower level of fibrinogen and thus would need an accurate assessment of platelet GPIIb/IIIa receptor blockade to reduce bleeding complications due to under assessment of platelet GPIIb/IIIa receptor blockade, or ischemic events due to over assessment of platelet GPIIb/IIIa receptor blockade. In addition, fibrinogen level and functionality may change during the trauma of interventional procedures. At this time it is imperative to make an accurate assessment of platelet GPIIb/IIIa receptor blockade in real time, during and following the procedure.
Thus, there is a need for a method and apparatus for evaluating contributors to patient hemostasis both in the presence and absence of therapies affecting hemostasis such as platelet inhibiting agents, thrombin inhibiting agents and the like.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


As one embodiment, a paper feeding device is provided with a pickup roller for pulling out an uppermost positioned sheet of loaded sheets, and a paper feeding roller for transporting the sheet pulled out by the pickup roller. Spanning between the pickup roller and the paper feeding roller, a roller belt is provided that is capable of moving relatively in a circumferential direction with respect to an outer circumferential surface of the paper feeding roller. The roller belt obtains rotational drive from the pickup roller.

The present invention relates to paper feeding devices that can be applied in apparatuses such as image forming apparatuses that carry out predetermined processing on sheets such as papers, and particularly relates to paper feeding devices in which a pickup roller pulls out an uppermost positioned sheet of loaded sheets and a paper feeding roller transports the sheet pulled out by the pickup roller, and image forming apparatuses provided with these paper feeding devices.
Generally, a paper feeding device is provided in an apparatus such as an image forming apparatus that carries out predetermined processing on sheets, and this paper feeding device is provided with a paper feeding mechanism that feeds the sheet positioned at an uppermost portion of the loaded sheets in order sheet by sheet toward a transport path.
The paper feeding mechanism may be provided with a pickup roller for pulling out an uppermost positioned sheet of the loaded sheets, and a paper feeding roller for transporting the sheet pulled out by the pickup roller.
In this regard, when sheets such as papers are left exposed to open air or for example, when sheets are left loaded in a sheet housing portion, the sheets sometimes curl due to the effects of humidity or temperature or the like. Furthermore, for example, curling may occur in which edge portions become gradually higher than a central area in a sheet transport direction. When this happens, the following problems may occur.
Generally, curling occurs easily in sheets depending on ordinary ambient environment conditions. For example, there are cases of environment conditions of a low temperature and low humidity or a high temperature and high humidity, more specifically, there are cases of a low temperature and low humidity of 10° C., 20% RH, or a high temperature and high humidity of 30° C., 85% RH. In particular, in cases where curling has occurred in sheets of a certain thickness having a basis weight (grammage) of 100 g/m2 or greater such as firm cardboards and glossy papers or the like, problems occur of sheet blockages (hereinafter referred to as jamming).
Hereinafter, description is given regarding problems in feeding caused by sheet curling according to a paper feeding device provided with a pickup roller and a paper feeding roller. It should be noted that the following description sets forth an example of a case using a rotating board as a loading member capable of being loaded with sheets that is rotatable on an axis along a horizontal direction orthogonal to a sheet transport direction.
FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B and FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B are schematic views for describing a conventional paper feeding device 120 provided with a pickup roller 202 and a paper feeding roller 203. FIG. 7A shows a state in which sheets P, which are not curled, have been lowered within a sheet housing unit 80 and FIG. 7B shows a state in which the uncurled sheets P are being transported after being raised in the sheet housing unit 80. Furthermore, FIG. 8A shows a state in which sheets P, which have curled, have been lowered within the sheet housing unit 80 and FIG. 8B shows a state in which the curled sheets P are being transported after being raised in the sheet housing unit 80. It should be noted that the dashed line in FIG. 8B shows a transport trajectory of the sheet P leading edge.
In the paper feeding device 120, when the rotating board 121 is caused to rotate from a state shown in FIG. 7A so as to approach the pickup roller 202 and a bundle of regular, uncurled sheets P is raised by the rotating board 121, an uppermost positioned sheet P contacts the pickup roller 202, and when the sheets P are further raised, a detector piece 207, which is a second detection member that moves integrally with the pickup roller 202 is detected as shown in FIG. 7B by a photosensor 208, which is a first detection member, and the raising of the sheets P stops. Then, the pickup roller 202 feeds out the sheet P from the sheet housing unit 80 to a nip portion γ between the paper feeding roller 203 and a separator roller 204, and the sheets P are transported sheet by sheet.
In this regard, a transport guide member 206 for example is sometimes provided between the pickup roller 202 and the paper feeding roller 203 to smoothly guide the paper P from the pickup roller 202 to the paper feeding roller 203.
Accordingly, when the sheet P has curled due to the effects of humidity or temperature or the like, the sheet P may contact a portion of the transport guide member 206 during transport of the sheet P as shown in FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B (see a portion in FIG. 8B). With a downstream side edge portion in the transport direction of the sheet P given as leading edge portion P1, when the leading edge portion P1 of the curled sheet P is transported while in contact with the transport guide member 206, there is a risk that the transport force will be reduced due to the frictional load at the contact portion α between the sheet P and the transport guide member 206. Due to this, paper feeding problems may occur such as paper feeding delays or jamming due the leading edge portion P1 of the sheet P being obstructed.
In order to improve the transport force of the sheets, JP 2003-171026A (patent document 1) proposes a paper feeding device that is provided with various paper feeding rollers for separation and for drawing in sheets, which are rotationally driven while pressing against an upper surface of the sheets loaded on the paper feeding platform and arranged with intervals in the paper feeding direction, and these paper feeding rollers are arranged in a width direction central area of the paper, and assistive paper feeding rollers of a lower rigidity than the paper feeding rollers for drawing in are arranged on a same axis with intervals in the paper width direction at the end sides of the paper feeding rollers for drawing in.
However, in the paper feeding device described in patent document 1, in the case where the transport guide member is provided between the paper feeding roller for drawing in and the paper feeding roller for separation as in the configuration shown in FIG. 7A, even if the assistive paper feeding rollers are provided on a same axis as the pickup roller, contact of the curled papers to the transport guide member is not avoided, and it is difficult to prevent occurrences of paper feeding problems such as paper feeding delays or jamming or the like caused by curling.
Furthermore, configurations have been proposed in which a roller belt is attached at an outer circumferential region between the paper feeding roller and the pickup roller, thereby applying a transport force to the curled sheets by the belt transport. In paper feeding devices having this configuration, by attaching the roller belt at an outer circumferential region between the paper feeding roller and the pickup roller, curled sheets move with the roller belt when contact is made with the roller belt, and in this way a transport force can be applied to the sheet.
Further still, JP 2002-37465A (patent document 2) proposes a paper feeding device in which a transport belt is wound around a transport direction downstream side pulley and an upstream side pulley so as to surround a negative pressure generating device that generates a negative pressure at a bottom surface, and the recording papers are drawn in and transported due to the negative pressure.
However, in conventional paper feeding devices in which a roller belt is attached between the paper feeding roller and the pickup roller, although a transport force can be applied to curled sheets, there is also a problem such as the following.
Namely, the paper feeding roller and the pickup roller are rotated in synchronization due to the roller belt attached therebetween. For this reason, even after the sheet has passed it, the pickup roller continues to rotate in cooperation with the rotation of the paper feeding roller. Consequently, since it unfortunately rotates in cooperation with the paper feeding roller even after the uppermost positioned sheet has been fed by the pickup roller, a new problem occurs in that a next sheet loaded on the loading member is picked up by the rotation of the pickup roller working in cooperation with the paper feeding roller.

Paper feeding device and image forming apparatus


A snow shovel that has a shaft, a handle, and a scoop to allow the user to remove unwanted snow and ice from a surface. This shovel includes a heated bottom edge with a vibrating motor to melt and dislodge ice or snow from a surface. The shovel also includes a vibration-reducing mechanism to dampen the vibrations that a user might feel during the use of this shovel, along with sensors that detect when the heated edge and motor should be turned on or off.

This section introduces aspects that may help facilitate a better understanding of the disclosure. Accordingly, these statements are to be read in this light and are not to be understood as admissions about what is or is not prior art.
Snow shovel devices are used frequently to clear snow from driveways, walkways, and other surfaces. However, many standard snow shovels are inconsistent and inefficient in their ability to clear a patch of ice from a surface. Thus, some snow shovels have incorporated the use of heat to clear ice, typically through electrical means. However, these designs employ inefficient techniques when applied to remove ice from a surface.
Looking at devices similar to that of Jeff Glassman in US patent application 20110139763, a combination of a snow shovel with an ice chopper that are separated into two different scoops and electrically heated via a removable and rechargeable battery pack is seen. Although the second scoop for a vibrating ice chopper poses an interesting solution, the vibrations felt by a user and the use of two different scoops makes this device difficult for a user to properly control. Furthermore, a conventional battery pack is not able to store enough power for extended use. This poses a problem to users with longer driveways or other large surfaces.
Other, more traditional heated snow shovels, such as that shown by John F. Hughes, Jr. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,034,489, uses an electrical circuit to heat the entire scoop and are powered by an external source via a power cord. This is inefficient because there are parts of the shovel scoop that are being heated which will never come into contact with the surface on which the ice resides, and devices such as these are constantly draining power from their source when it may not be necessary. Furthermore, storing the power cord within the device increases its weight and makes the device burdensome for a user.
Therefore, there is an unmet need for a novel approach to solve the aforementioned problems of a snow shovel that clears ice from a surface.


A fuel tank mounting system for movable machine is disclosed. The mounting system may include a fuel tank connected to a frame of the movable machine in such a manner as to allow vertical motion of the tank relative to the frame. The fuel tank may be mounted to the frame using a spring and/or a shock absorber. The fuel tank may be a cryogenic fuel tank for storage of liquid natural gas. The shock absorbers may be tunable so that the level of dampening provided by the shock absorber is tailored to the type of machine and the specific mode of operation of the machine.

The use of liquid natural gas (LNG) for powering movable machines is becoming increasingly popular. Among other things, LNG engines have a reduced carbon output and thus are viewed as more environmentally friendly than conventional diesel and other internal combustion engines powered by gasoline. In addition, given the prevalence of LNG (primarily methane), the cost associated with such fuel is lower than other fuel products and thus consumer demand for such machines is increasing. LNG machines can not only be used to power movable machines such as automobiles for over the highway use, but also to power many work machines used in industrial, construction, and agricultural settings such as, but not limited to, dump trucks, loaders, excavators, and the like.
While effective, LNG powered machines are currently not provided without difficulties. For example, for storage of the liquid natural gas onboard a machine, a specialized fuel tank needs to be provided. Such tanks include an inner chamber or tank which is cryogenically cooled to a temperature at which the natural gas is maintained in liquid form. For example, such tanks often need to be cooled to −160° C. or less. In order to protect that inner tank from damage, and to assist with insulating the inner tank from heat loss, an outer tank is often provided around the inner tank with a vacuum insulation layer being provided therebetween.
With conventional movable machines, the ING tanks are fixably mounted to the outside frame of the machine. For example, rigid mechanical brackets may extend from the frame and be attached to the fuel tank. In so doing, the outer tank is exposed to vibration transmitted to the tank during the normal course of operation of the machine. As a result of the transmitted vibration and shock loads and inner structure damage that may result from such loading, the inner tank may not be able to be maintained at the low temperature desired, or if it is able to maintain such a temperature, can do so only at a lesser efficiency than prior to the damage. As liquefied natural gas takes up about 1/600th the volume of gaseous natural gas, if the lower temperature cannot be maintained, the tank will be subjected to elevated internal pressures and will vent to atmosphere.
Such damage is particularly likely with movable machines subjected to very large vertical loads. For example, with a large mining truck (LMT) used in large scale mining operations, the payload of such LMTs may be upwards of 400 tons. In order to efficiently load such trucks, loaders are often provided with a lifting capacity of 130 tons or more so as to ensure loading of the truck within three passes. By dumping 130 ton loads into such trucks, the trucks are subjected to extreme vertical loads and in so doing so are the liquid natural gas storage tanks rigidly attached thereto. With conventional LNG storage tank mounting systems, no dedicated structure of system is specifically provided to enable the tank to handle such vertical loads and thus the 130 ton load exerted against the trucks accelerates the truck rapidly enough to induce large loads against the ING storage tank. Accordingly, it can be seen that a need exists for a liquid natural gas storage tank mounting system for movable machines which is better able to isolate the tank from such large vertical loads.

Liquid natural gas storage tank mounting system


A method of clinical evaluation of a cardiology patient includes the providing of a computer having a database and a user interface that includes a display screen. One or more images are displayed on the display screen, each being an anatomical representation of a part of a human heart which are a portion of a human heart, there is displayed on the screen patient data that corresponds to the part that is displayed on the screen. Such data can be for example prior or present test data. One embodiment includes a graphical medical generation system for replacing the dictation and transcription process of a cardiology health care professionals. A graphical display is provided which processes user input in conjunction with pre-defined cardiology reporting options to generate user-defined cardiology reports. A method and apparatus 10 is described for controlling, via a relational databases, the selection of pre-defined character strings to be inserted into the generated cardiology report. An option is provided for the user to customize character strings for insertion into the cardiology report. Another option is provided for the method and apparatus 10 to include comparisons with earlier cardiology reports and data testing to assist the user in generating a conclusion.

The present invention relates to cardiology and more particularly to a method of evaluating a heart patient wherein a computer has a database and a user interface connected thereto that includes a display screen.
Even more particularly, the present invention relates to a method of evaluating a heart patient that employs a computer and a display screen, the display screen having multiple images that are displayed to a user, each image being an anatomical representation of a portion of a human heart, wherein multiple of the images depict different portions of the human heart and the display screen simultaneously displays data next to one or more of the images, the data being specific to the patient in the display data relating to at least one of the portions of the human heart that is represented by the display.
Currently, the practice of cardiology in the United States uses disparate modalities and systems for documentation. This includes for example handwritten notes, scanned images, document management systems, and fully integrated electronic medical systems.
The current state of the practice of cardiology includes: (1) Era of increasing demand; (2) Time constraints; (3) More complex procedures; (4) Increased imaging requirements; (5) Decrease allotted time per patient visit; and (6) Decreased reimbursement. Cardiologists can average of 8-10 minutes per patient.
Traditionally, the practice of dictating and transcribing cardiology reports has been used by cardiologists. Cardiologists have been increasingly burdened by the need to quickly and accurately generate cardiology reports after reviewing the results of heart studies.
Additionally, cardiologists must fill out forms for submission to insurance companies and provide information to regulatory agencies. To gather and produce all of this information, cardiologists must spend a significant portion of their work day dictating the needed information. Additionally, cardiologists must maintain a staff to transcribe the information into reports and to fill out required forms.
A cardiologists typically dictates a report reviewing the results of a heart study, which, subsequently, must be typed by a transcriber. This process is time consuming and repetitive. Using traditional manual methods of record keeping, patient data is not readily available for fast and easy review. A patient's medical record cannot be easily combined with other studies and/or reports, and/or other patient data for analysis and reporting.
There is a need to automate the report generation process to free up more time in the practice of cardiologists.

Method and apparatus for evaluating a heart patient


A carrier housing for a turbocharger arrangement to be fastened at an internal combustion engine includes first, second and third fastening flanges for fastening to turbines of a respective one of a high-pressure turbocharger, a first low-pressure turbocharger, and a second low-pressure turbocharger. The carrier housing is configured such that exhaust can be guided to the turbines of the high-pressure turbocharger, the first low-pressure turbocharger and the second low-pressure turbocharger via a respective one of the first, second and third fastening flanges. The carrier housing includes at least one connection flange by which the fastening flanges are directly in a fluid-guiding connection, with the connection flange being further connected to an exhaust guidance such that exhaust flows from the internal combustion engine through the first and second connection flanges and directly to the carrier housing.

From the German translation of a European patent publication with publication number DE 695 20 866 T2, a carrier housing is known for a turbocharger arrangement to be fastened at an internal combustion engine, which is fastened via a fastening section at the internal combustion engine. A first fastening flange is provided, at which a high-pressure turbocharger is mechanically fastened. A second fastening flange at the carrier housing serves for the mechanic fastening of a first low-pressure turbocharger, with a third fastening flange serving for the mechanic fastening of a second low-pressure turbocharger. The carrier housing here allows a mechanical fastening of a turbocharger arrangement at an internal combustion engine, with this allowing a two-step charging process, by both low-pressure turbochargers being switched parallel in reference to each other and being arranged serially with the high-pressure turbocharger, particularly arranged downstream thereof, seen in the direction of flow of the exhaust. Here, particularly for large internal combustion engines, such two-step turbocharger arrangements are preferred with two parallel low-pressure turbochargers, compared to arrangements with only one low-pressure turbocharger, because they can be built smaller and connected to each other in a more compact fashion than a single, comparatively large low-pressure turbocharger.
At the carrier housing of prior art, the turbochargers are arranged such that they are supplied with exhaust via separated line sections, extending at least sectionally inside the housing. The carrier housing therefore represents only a type of mechanical cover for the turbocharger arrangement, which itself serves no exhaust guidance but instead accepts additional guidance elements for this purpose, which must be guided separately out of said housing. This way, the carrier housing of prior art requires a relatively large structural space and cannot be arranged at the internal combustion engine in an optimally space-saving fashion. Furthermore, it shows a relatively high weight, which is even further increased by the additional pipeline sections for guiding the exhaust.

Carrier housing for a turbocharger arrangement


Methods and systems for detecting activation of a virtual sensor in a scene are proposed, wherein the virtual sensor comprises data representing a geometric form, data representing a position in the scene and data representing one or several trigger conditions. A data representation of the scene is captured, and a determination of whether a virtual sensor trigger condition is fulfilled is made, based on an analysis of the captured data representation in an area corresponding to the geometric form and position of the virtual sensor.

1. Field of the Invention
The subject disclosure relates to the field of human-machine interface technologies.
2. Background
Human-machine interface (HMI) technologies have rapidly developed over the recent years. For example, technologies such as touchscreen to control devices such as computers, tablets, smartphones have been massively expanding to an ever-increasing variety of devices and developing to include emerging technologies such as tactile touchscreens. New types of sensors have appeared, redefining the way people interface with devices and, in particular, opening the way for new fields of home automation. An example is the control of lights, devices such as door opening systems, or software such as window locking systems, which today can involve the use of switches, motion sensors, dimmers, or even smartphones.
Current HMI technologies however require several sensors and connection links to be used and setup in order to control objects. For example, switching a light requires a switching system or, in more complex systems, a computer or a smartphone. In these last cases, interface devices such as a keyboard will be necessary to interact with the control device. These technologies are therefore limited in that adding new interactions often requires adding new sensors and corresponding electronic or modifying a computer-based or smartphone-based application. Said otherwise, evolution of those technologies can require significant additional material and software development.
Hence, HMI technologies have evolved through the development of sensors (such as, for instance touchscreen) designed to be triggered upon detection of a gesture thus defining new ways of interacting with a device. Such sensors require analysis of the user's gesture.
There remains a need therefore for improved human-machine interface technologies, in particular with respect to the flexibility and ease of evolution.


To obtain a conversion condition which enables color reproduction with high precision based on a nonlinear output characteristic of an output device. In order to generate a conversion condition for converting data in a color space independent of a device into data in a color space dependent on a device, a condition for restricting the amount of recording material is set, an output value of a solid on which a color reproducible by an output device in a three-dimensional color space is defined is computed based on the set condition, and the conversion condition is generated based on the colorimetry value of the color reproduced by the output device corresponding to the computed output value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for processing an image to obtain a conversion condition based on a colorimetry result.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally, a color masking method of obtaining an output color space by performing a matrix calculation on an input color space, and a method of obtaining an output color space from an input color space using a lookup table (LUT), have been widely used as methods of correcting color to improve a color reproduction effect in a color reproduction process on a printer.
However, since the output characteristic of a color printer includes strong nonlinearity, a global method such as the color masking method, that is, a method in which the entire output color space is affected by a change of a matrix value, has difficulty in adequately approximating the characteristic of a color printer in all color ranges. Also, in the method using the LUT, table values are often determined according to the masking method, so that the same difficulty in color reproducibility is found.

Color processing method and apparatus for generating a conversion condition for converting data in a device independent color space into data in a device dependent color space


In the present invention, image data from an image input device, including differences of tone levels of picture elements constituting these image data from surrounding picture elements, are figured out and the distribution of these differences of tone levels is prepared. Then, integrated processing, based on this distribution, makes it possible to determine whether each picture element is an edge picture element, a moiré picture element or an intermediate picture element. According to the determination, a sharpening filter is applied if the picture elements are edge picture elements, a smoothing filter is applied if they are moiré picture elements, or the tones of the original image are held if they are intermediate picture elements. This way of image data retouching makes it possible to carry out the whole execution from determination to retouching in a serial process.

In order to improve the quality of images picked up by a scanner or a digital camera, image data on these images are subjected to retouching. More specifically, digital data are put into a computer, on which a photo-retouching application is actuated to emphasize desired color contents and/or contrast. Or prescribed color contents are removed to weaken their influence. These are some of the various retouching options that are available.
For document images of which the data to be retouched mainly consist of characters or photographic images mainly composed of photographic elements, it is sufficient to retouch the image data constituting their principal parts, and the required processing is relatively simple. On the other hand, as DTP techniques have become highly developed to make possible ready preparation of presentation documents, in which characters and color graphics are integrated, or album images, in which characters and photographs are similarly arranged, there emerge frequent needs for so-called mixed images, in which characters and photographic elements are mixed.
Character elements of image data in such mixed images tend to have intermediate tones on their borders with the background, and consequently the characters often become blurred and poor in readability. On the other hand, photographic elements are subject to periodic noise attributable to high-frequency components, and this noise sometimes invites visually perceivable deterioration of picture quality.
Accordingly, when image data in mixed images are to be retouched, the contrast on borders between characters and their background is emphasized to clear the blurring of character elements. This can serve to enhance the readability of the characters. To do this, prescribed sharpening to emphasize contrast is executed on each picture element on the borders.
On the other hand for photographic elements, as the aforementioned noise consists of high-frequency components, each picture element with noise is subjected to a prescribed smoothing procedure to reduce high-frequency components.
In this context, border zones of character elements are generally referred to as edge picture elements, and the periodic noise attributable high-frequency components arising in photographic elements, as moiré picture elements.
Image data retouching applicable to such mixed images will be outlined below. First, image data of images picked up by a scanner or a digital camera are acquired as image data which express picture elements in a dot matrix form in multiple tones, and picture elements constituting these image data are successively scanned to compute differences of tone levels from surrounding picture elements in a prescribed range with reference to a criterion picture element. If there are many picture elements with large differences of tone levels, such elements are extracted as edge picture elements. With the positions of these extracted edge picture elements being taken into consideration, the range of edge picture elements to be sharpened are demarcated and determined.
Then, the picture elements constituting the image data are successively scanned again to compute differences of tone levels of picture elements in the prescribed range from the surrounding picture elements with reference to a criterion picture element, and if there are many picture elements whose differences of tone levels are relatively small, they are extracted as moiré picture elements. With the positions of these extracted moiré picture elements being taken into consideration, the range of moiré picture elements to be smoothed are demarcated and determined. Once the range of edge picture elements and that of moiré picture elements are determined in this manner, sharpening and smoothing are executed. In this case, the sequence is that sharpening is executed first, followed by smoothing.
At the sharpening step, the range of edge picture elements is extracted and sharpened, and the sharpened range of edge picture elements is held.
At the smoothing step, the range of moiré picture elements is extracted and smoothed, and the smoothed range of moiré picture elements is held. Thus, ranges to be sharpened and ranges to be smoothed, both distinguished element by element, are extracted individually, and processed individually.
And image data in each range having been appropriately processed and held are relatively positioned for integration, and retouched image data are thereby generated.

Image data retouching apparatus, image data retouching method, and medium on which image data retouching program is recorded