A collapsible soccer goal for an athletic field having a matched pair of vertical side supporting frame sections, and a crossbar beam having a plurality of horizontal sections. All of the vertical and some of the horizontal sections comprising a locking hinge enabling some of the sections to be folded in half. The plurality of horizontal sections are detachably connected together by either locking and/or clamping means to form the overall 24 foot standard crossbar beam; and the vertical frame sections each having an overhead hinge removably connectable to a horizontal section for clamping and pulling together all sections of the horizontal crossbar beam to the two vertical goal posts.

Ball playing fields, such as for soccer and other sports are large in size and require considerable space. Many facilities, such as schools have limited funds or space, and consequently the same playing field is used for many different types of sports. Unfortunately, with such arrangements, considerable time is required to set up the field for each type of sport played. In the case of soccer, large, full size and uncollapsible goal posts are mounted on wheels for rolling same into position at opposite ends of the field, and these goal posts can only be transported from field to field on a flat bed truck. These movable goals are heavy and bulky, requiring considerable manpower or power equipment to move them from a remote level storage area nearby to the goal lines. Also, as these movable goals are not collapsible, they must be stored out in the open, and thus are subjected to the elements as well as vandalism. Frequently, the equipment is in need of repair due to such conditions such rigid goal posts require considerable time for set up and removal when a field is changed from one sport to another. These full size goal posts are about 9 feet high as one foot of each vertical post is inserted into coverable holes at the goal lines. Such embedded goal post ends keep the goals securely in position at all times.
Other soccer goal posts comprise nothing more than a series of telescoping poles connected to form the standard rectangular goal area set by the professional leagues (8 feet by 24 feet size opening), with a pair of rearward extending supporting poles running from the top two corners of the vertical goal poles to the ground. A net is then supported from all poles and fastened to the ground for catching all balls driven into the net. One of the disadvantages of this type of goal construction is that it can be very dangerous as a death has been reported where an athlete was impaled by one of the poles when the goal was broken up in a collision on the field. A further soccer goal specification requires that the poles and crossbar be 4 inches, as required by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
Further goals are shown in the following literature:
______________________________________ U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS 5,048,844 9/91 Haseltine 2,220,158 9/35 Oakes, et al. 4,702,478 10/87 Kruse 4,420,158 12/83 Klock 2,449,708 9/48 Lindsay 4,083,561 4/78 Daffer, Jr. 4,127,272 11/78 Pennell 4,407,507 10/83 Caruso D 213,573 3/69 Adolph D 337,363 7/93 Pavonetti FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS 2,632,868 12/89 France 2,630,921 7/78 Germany 2,335,693 1/75 Germany 2,448,366 4/76 Germany ______________________________________
The above references have many deficiencies, including the use of support/anchoring guy wires which players invariably trip over and are injured in a fall on the field.
Many injuries and fatalities have occurred on athletic fields using existing soccer goal posts, and these accidents are due to a number of reasons, including improper installations, or the use of unanchored or poorly anchored goal posts. Many fatalities are reported by the New York State Department of Health (18) were due to falling soccer goal posts from 1979-1993. Thus, there is a need for improved goal posts for soccer which are normally not inclined to fall over due to its novel construction. In addition, some of the injuries and fatalities occurred when unused soccer goals toppled over due to persons climbing aboard same. A collapsible/portable soccer goal clearly avoids such problems of fixed wheeled soccer goals, etc.


Integrated circuits are provided that have sensitive circuitry such as programmable polysilicon fuses. Electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuitry is provided that prevents damage or undesired programming of the sensitive circuitry in the presence of an electrostatic discharge event. The electrostatic discharge protection circuitry may have a power ESD device that limits the voltage level across the sensitive circuitry to a maximum voltage and that draws current away from the sensitive circuitry when exposed to ESD signals. The electrostatic discharge protection circuitry may also have an ESD margin circuit that helps to prevent current flow through the sensitive circuitry when the maximum voltage is applied across the sensitive circuitry.

This invention relates to circuitry for protecting integrated circuit components such as fuses from damage due to electrostatic discharge.
Integrated circuits are often exposed to potentially damaging electrostatic charges. For example, a wafer of integrated circuits may be exposed to electric charges during fabrication. Such charges may arise from the use of plasma etching techniques or other processes that produce charged particles. As another example, a packaged integrated circuit may be exposed to electrostatic charges when a worker inadvertently touches exposed pins on the circuit's package or when the package becomes charged electrostatically due to movement of the package in a tray.
These electrostatic charges can damage sensitive circuitry. For example, transistors and other electrical devices on an integrated circuit can be damaged when exposed to excessive currents.
Some integrated circuits have programmable fuses or antifuses. Fuses and antifuses may be used, for example, to selective switch redundant circuitry into use in place of defective circuitry. Fuses and antifuses may also be used to store information on an integrated circuit (e.g., a secret key, a serial number, etc.). If exposed to unwanted currents, the fuses or antifuses on an integrated circuit may be inadvertently programmed. Inadvertent programming of the fuses or antifuses may render the circuit inoperable.
It would therefore be desirable to provide circuitry for protecting integrated circuits against the harmful effects of electrostatic discharge.

Electrostatic discharge protection circuit


A prism assembly and sighting target which are omni-directional in azimuth and which provide a plurality of prisms dispersed symmetrically around the radial wall of a cylinder for reflecting incident laser light from any direction over 360 degrees in azimuth. A uniquely shaped sighting target for use with the prism assembly of the invention provides a visible target pattern from any direction over 360 degrees in azimuth. A cylindrical housing portion of the invention provides receptacles for receiving six prisms spaced at 60 degree intervals so that irrespective of the angle of azimuth from which the laser light is incident, a sufficient amount of light energy is reflected back to the laser light instrument to permit distance measuring over a pre-selected minimum distance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to prism assemblies used in surveying and the like and more specifically to an omni-directional azimuth prism assembly designed to hold a plurality of retro-reflecting prisms distributed symmetrically about the radial wall of a cylinder for reflecting light received from any azimuth direction and over a preselected range of elevation.
2. Prior Art
Retro-reflecting prism assemblies have been used for many years as as adjunct to laser distance measuring instruments in surveying and civil engineering. All such prior art prism assemblies known to the applicant herein, typically provide one or a plurality of prisms all pointed in the same direction for retro-reflection of incident laser light over a limited angle of incidence in azimuth and elevation. Such a substantially uni-directional configuration is perfectly satisfactory for most applications where a measurement of distance between the position of a unitary source of light and the position of the retro-reflector is all that is required. Unfortunately, there occasionally arises the need to provide distance measurement to a fixed retro-reflective position from a variety of light source positions disbursed radially or in azimuth around the location of the retro-reflective prism. For example, one such need arises when the prism assembly is positioned at the center intersection of two or more streets or thoroughfares and it is desired to measure the distance to that center of intersections at displaced points in each of the intersecting streets or thoroughfares. In such applications, it is unlikely that the prism assembly will be properly positioned and directed for all desired positions of the laser light source. As a consequence thereof, each time the measurement is made from a different laser light source location, it is necessary to reorient the direction of the retro-reflective prisms. Thus for example, in a typical case of two streets intersecting at ninety (90) degrees, the prism assembly can be properly positioned only for one of the four possible directions from which the laser light may be emanating. As a result, each time the laser light source is repositioned, it is necessary for personnel to take the time and effort and incur the danger of going to the prism assembly location and reorienting the prism to be directed toward one of the other desired positions of the laser light source.
Typically, there is a sighting target which is associated with the retro-reflective prism assembly in order to reduce the difficulty of pointing the laser light source toward the prism assembly and which, for example, may be as far as a thousand yards from the prism assembly. Like the prism assemblies of the prior art, such sighting targets are also normally designed for unidirectional operation. More specifically, it is typical for such sighting targets to be oriented on the prism assembly in such a way that they face in the same direction as the unidirectional prisms. Accordingly, in applications requiring reorienting the prism assembly such as for the purpose previously described, it would also be necessary to reorient the sighting target to permit sighting of the prism assembly from the laser light source from each of the repositioned locations such as in the intersecting street scenario previously described.
There has therefore been a long felt need for a prism assembly which provides both prisms and sighting target capabilities which permit positioning of a laser light source instrument at any azimuth angle over a 360 degree dispersion relative to the prism assembly for use therewith without requiring reorientation of the prism assembly each time the laser light source is relocated.

Prism assembly having multi-directional reflectivity and targeting


The systems and methods enhance, or increase the strength of, signals collected from a target object, to facilitate identification of the object, by removing or suppressing signal variations or aberrations associated with the object or its surroundings.

The invention relates generally to systems and method for enhancing movement related data to detect objects such as blood vessels.
Doppler processing techniques are commonly used in medical ultrasound machines for obtaining velocity information from moving objects. The velocity measured using ultrasound Doppler techniques is the radial component of the velocity directed toward or away from the ultrasound transducer. Two common modes are continuous wave (CW) and pulsed wave (PW) Doppler acquisitions. One advantage of the pulsed wave acquisition is the ability to produce velocities estimates at multiple depths along the beam direction locations allowing a two-dimensional image of the velocities to be formed. The pulsed wave data acquisition consists of transmitting a series of ultrasound pulses at a regular rate, referred to as the pulse repetition rate (PRF), in a given direction. For each transmitted pulse, the RF waveform of the returning echoes is collected as a function of time. Real-time processing techniques, such as the autocorrelation method, can be applied to the data from a PW Doppler acquisition to produce an estimate of the velocities. The depth of the object causing the backscattered echoes is found by converting the time in the RF waveforms to a distance along the direction of the ultrasound beam using the speed of sound in the medium. Previous attempts to use ultrasound data to detect blood vessels were insufficient.

Heart rate demodulation of periodic movement in ultrasound data for object identification


Various techniques are provided for performing garbage collection in a chunk store that is being used to implement a hierarchical file system. In general, the techniques involve a “trace” phase in which all chunks that correspond to current versions of files are marked, and then a sweep phase in which all chunks that were not marked during the trace phase are reclaimed. Various techniques are also described for using snapshots to avoid the need to halt operations on the file system while the trace phase is being performed. In addition, techniques are provided for using a cache of last-touched timestamps to avoid the need to mark all current chunks in each trace phase.

Information that is used to access a stored digital item is referred to herein as the "access key" of the stored item. In typical file systems, stored items are retrieved based on (a) the location at which the items are stored, and (b) a name or identifier of the items. For example, if a file named "foo.txt" is located in a directory named "c:\myfiles\text", then applications may use the pathname "c:\myfiles\text\foo.txt" as the access key to retrieve the file from the file system. Because conventional access keys are based on the location of the items being retrieved, the access keys change when the items are moved. In addition, each copy of an item has a different access key, because each copy is stored at a different location.
In contrast to conventional file systems, Content Addressable Storage (CAS) systems allow applications to retrieve items from storage based on a hash value that is generated from the content of the items. Because CAS systems perform storage-related operations on items based on the hash values generated for the items, and the hash values are based on the content of the items rather than where the items are stored, the applications that request the operations may do so without knowing the number or location of the stored copies of the items. For example, a CAS system may store multiple copies of an item X at locations A, B and C. An application that desires to retrieve item X would do so by sending to the CAS system a hash value that is based on the contents of item X. Based on that hash value, the CAS system would provide to the application a copy of item X retrieved from one of the locations A, B, and C. Thus, the application would obtain item X without knowing where item X was actually stored, how many copies of item X existed, or the specific location from which the retrieved copy was actually obtained.
Storing a digital item, such as a file or a message, often involves making a call to a "chunk storage system" or "chunk store". A chunk storage system is a storage system that performs storage operations without understanding the format or content of the digital information itself. Such storage systems are referred to as chuck storage systems or chunk stores because the systems treat all forms of digital items as if those items were merely opaque chunks of data. For example, the same chunk storage system may be used by word processing applications, image management applications, and calendaring systems to respectively store documents, images and appointments. However, from the perspective of the chunk storage system, only one type of item is being stored: opaque chunks of digital information.
Chunk storage systems may be implemented as CAS systems. For example, a chunk storage system may generate a hash value for a chunk by applying a cryptographic hash function (e.g. MD5, SHA-1 or SHA2) to the chunk. The chunk store may then store the chunk, and maintain an index that associates the hash value with the location at which the chunk is stored. When an application subsequently requests retrieval of the chunk, the application provides the hash value to the chunk storage system. The chunk storage system uses the index to locate the chunk associated with the hash value, and provides the chunk thus located to the requesting application.
Chunks may be used to represent a file system hierarchy, where some chunks correspond to folders/directories of the file system hierarchy, and other chunks correspond to files that are stored in those folders/directories. FIG. 1 illustrates such a hierarchy. The hierarchical relationship illustrated in FIG. 1 has two non-overlapping trees, one of which is rooted at chunk 104, and the other of which is rooted at chunk 106. However, it is also possible for any given chunk or sub-tree of chunks to belong to multiple trees within the hierarchy. A hierarchical arrangement in which any given node (e.g. chunk) may belong to multiple trees is referred to as a Direct Acyclic Graph ("DAG"). The techniques described herein are equally applicable to chunk stores that represent DAG hierarchies as chunk stores that represent non-overlapping tree hierarchies.
Referring to FIG. 1, it illustrates a file system hierarchy implemented by chunks. In FIG. 1, the chunks are arranged in a manner that reflects the hierarchical relationship between the files represented by the chunks. For example, in the hierarchy, a file B resides in the directory "PPTS" which is a child of the directory "DOCS", which in turn is a child of the directory "JACK", which is the root directory for Jack's account. Consequently, the chunk 122 that corresponds to File B is shown as a child of chunk 116 that corresponds to directory "PPTS". Similarly, chunk 116 is shown as a child of chunk 114 that corresponds to directory "DOCS", chuck 114 is shown as a child of chunk 104 that corresponds to root directory "JACK".
While the arrangement of chunks in FIG. 1 reflects the hierarchical relationship between the files to which the chunks correspond, the actual arrangement of the chunks within a chunk store may have no relationship to that hierarchy. For example, the chunks may be randomly distributed across several storage devices. Thus, the arrangement illustrated in FIG. 1 is merely to facilitate understanding of the techniques described herein.
When a file system hierarchy is implemented using a chunk store, the addition or modification of a single file may necessitate changes to every file that is above that file in the hierarchy. Specifically, because the files are implemented by chunks that are addressed based on content, the modification of the single file causes creation of new chunks for every file that is above the file in the hierarchy.
For example, assume that a user updates file B, represented by chunk 122. Because the update to file B changes the content of the chunk, and chunks are addressed based on content, the new chunk is not simply stored over the chunk 122 that had the prior version of file B. Rather, the modified version of file B constitutes a new chunk, which is stored separate from chunk 122.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram that illustrates the new chunks that are produced in response to the update to file B. Referring to FIG. 2, the new version of file B is stored in chunk 222. Because File B is stored in a new chunk, the chunk 116 that corresponds to the directory "PPTS" in which File B resides must also be updated to point to the new chunk 222 for File B. The updated file for the directory "PPTS" is stored as chunk 216. Similarly, the chunk 114 that corresponds to the directory "DOCS" that is the parent of "PPTS" must also be updated to point to the new chunk for the "PPTS" directory. The updated file for "DOCS" is stored as chunk 214. For similar reasons, a new chunk 204 is stored for the root directory "JACK" that is the parent of "DOCS".
As a consequence of the update to file B, several chunks have become "stale". A stale chunk is a chunk whose data no longer reflects the current state of the file system. In the example given above, the update to file B causes chunks 104, 114, 116 and 122 to become stale. The more updates that are performed, the more chunks become stale.
When a chunk store is used to implement a hierarchical file system, a name store may be used to maintain an association between each file name and the hash of the chunk that currently represents the file. For example, prior to the update to file B, the name store would include the following associations:                "JACK"=>hash of chunk 104        "DOCS"=>hash of chunk 114        "PPTS"=>hash of chunk 116        "FILE B"=>hash of chunk 122
After the update to file B, the name store would include the following associations:                "JACK"=>hash of chunk 204        "DOCS"=>hash of chunk 214        "PPTS"=>hash of chunk 216        "FILE B"=>hash of chunk 222
Because the name store only points to the chunks that correspond to the most recent versions of files, some stale chunks may become unused. The process of identifying which chunks are stale, and then recovering the space those stale chunks occupy so that it may be reused, is referred to as garbage collection (GC). Given the rate at which stale chunks may proliferate when a chunk store is used as a file system, it is critical that the garbage collection process used by the chunk store be fast and efficient.
The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.


A battery control device is provided that uses a discharge to adjust the capacitance of cells that form a bipolar battery and calculates the voltage increase value of the remaining cells that do not discharge to adjust capacitance if one or more cells, among all of the cells that form the bipolar battery, are discharged to adjust capacitance in a battery control device that controls voltage dispersion or volume dispersion between cells that form the bipolar battery; and setting the general discharge value when there is a discharge to adjust capacitance on the basis of the result of the voltage increase value calculation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a battery control device for a bipolar battery.
2. Background Information
A known bipolar battery comprises a plurality of cells formed between adjacent pairs of collectors, each of the cells comprising a plurality of bipolar electrodes connected in series with electrolyte layers in-between and each of the bipolar electrodes comprising a collector having a positive pole active material layer formed on one face and a negative pole active material layer formed on the other face. In this type of bipolar battery, a technology that involves discharging to adjust the capacitance of the cells that form the bipolar battery by providing voltage detection lines to the bipolar electrodes and using said voltage detection lines has been disclosed, for example, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2006-127857.

Bipolar battery control device for adjusting a voltage or capacitance in cells


A method and apparatus for exchanging a guide wire and for allowing blood perfusion through a body vessel in a procedure in which a guide wire is positioned in a body vessel with a proximal end of the guide wire extending out of the body and an intravascular device is positioned in the body vessel by passing a distal portion of the intravascular device over the guide wire while a proximal portion of the intravascular device is adjacent to the guide wire in the body vessel. A guide wire sheath is positioned over the guide wire so that a distal end of the sheath extends over the guide wire and into a lumen in the distal portion of the intravascular device. In another aspect, the guide wire can be withdrawn so that a distal end of the guide wire is located proximally of one or more openings in communicating with a lumen of the guide wire sheath so that blood can perfuse through the lumen of the guide wire sheath through the one or more openings and a distal opening communicating with the guide wire sheath lumen located distally of the one or more openings.

This invention relates to methods and devices used in intravascular therapeutic and diagnostic procedures and in particular to methods and devices to facilitate a guide wire exchange in conjunction with another device used for intravascular therapies and diagnostics.
Intravascular therapeutic techniques, such as angioplasty, atherectomy, and laser irradiation, have been developed as alternatives to surgery for treating vascular disease or other conditions that occlude or reduce the lumen size of portions of a patient's vascular system. Also, intravascular diagnostic techniques, such as ultrasonic imaging, and Doppler blood flow measurements, have been developed to measure or image the extent of an occlusion of a vessel, (e.g., stenosis). These intravascular diagnostic techniques may be used in conjunction with the aforementioned therapeutic techniques or may be used in conjunction with more invasive techniques such as coronary surgery.
These intravascular therapeutic and diagnostic techniques have achieved acceptance because of their effectiveness as well as the fact that they can be performed through a minor surgical procedure that is relatively non-disruptive to the patient compared to coronary surgery. The intravascular therapeutic and diagnostic procedures, mentioned above, rely on the positioning of a device into the vascular system of a patient via an incision at an accessible location which may be remote from the site of the occlusion or stenosis. The accessible location may be for example the femoral artery. The intravascular device is then advanced through the incision via one or more vessels to the desired distal site. The vessels in the distal sites into which the device may be advanced include the coronary arteries, branch vessels stemming from the external carotid artery such as the occipital and the arteries leading to the vessels of the head and brain, splenic, and the inferior mesenteric and renal arteries leading to the organs of the thorax as well as other vessels. Because of the small size of some of these vessels and the tortuous passages through the vessels, positioning of a device through a patient's vasculature can be a difficult and time consuming task requiring considerable skill on the part of the physician.
Several different approaches have been developed for positioning intravascular therapeutic or diagnostic devices such as those mentioned above through a patient's vasculature. In one approach, a guide wire tip is fixed on a distal end of the intravascular device to facilitate maneuvering the device to the desired distally remote vessel site. Another approach uses an over-the-wire construction in which a central lumen of the intravascular device can accommodate a guide wire that is movable in relation to the device to facilitate positioning the device in a remote vessel location over the guide wire. In the over-the-wire construction, the intravascular device includes a lumen adapted to receive the guide wire from a proximal end to the distal end of the device. A guide wire would initially be loaded through the over-the-wire device from the proximal end thereof. Then, the guide wire and the intravascular device are positioned in the vessel to the desired site. The guide wire may be advanced distally of the distal end of the device, as necessary, to traverse tortuous passages of the vessel. The guide wire may then be withdrawn proximally through the lumen of the device or may be left in place extending from the distal end of the device during the procedure.
With both fixed wire and the over-the-wire devices, an introducer sheath and/or a guiding catheter may also be employed. An introducer sheath is used to provide translumenal access to the femoral artery or another appropriate location. Then, with the access provided by the introducer sheath, a guiding catheter may be positioned in the patient's vessel. The guiding catheter may be advanced at least part of the way to the desired site, such as to the aortic arch. The guiding catheter has an internal lumen through which the intravascular device, including the guide wire in an over-the-wire construction, is advanced. One of the functions of the guiding catheter is to support the device. The guiding catheter may be approximately 100 to 106 cm in length. Alternatively, in certain situation, e.g. if positioning of the device does not involve traversing tortuous vessel passages, a guiding catheter may be employed to position an intravascular device without the use of a guide wire.
Intravascular therapeutic and diagnostic devices, such as angioplasty and atherectomy devices, come in various types and sizes suitable for the vessel size and location in which the treatment is to be performed. Sometimes, it becomes necessary to exchange a first therapeutic device for one of a different size after the first device has been positioned or after an unsuccessful attempt to position the first device. This may be necessitated because it becomes apparent that the first device is the wrong size or because it is determined that additional therapeutic or diagnostic procedures with a different size or type of device is required.
When it is required to exchange one device for another, it a disadvantage of a fixed wire device that it is necessary to remove the entire device and position another device to the desired site. As mentioned above, this can be sometimes a tedious and difficult procedure.
In order to exchange an intravascular device with an over-the-wire construction, it may also be necessary to remove both the device and the guide wire. This is because it is preferred not to lose a hold on the proximal end of the guide wire as the device is withdrawn over the proximal end of the guide wire. Then, in order to position a second over-the-wire device, a guide wire must again be positioned to the desired location all over again in a new procedure just as was done for the first device. This can be timeconsuming and thus requires the physician to perform again the sometimes difficult and tedious task of positioning the guide wire to the desired location. Replacement of both the device and the guide wire may also be necessary when the second device is to be advanced to a different vessel site requiring a guide wire of a different size or of different dimensions.
It is possible in some situations to exchange the intravascular device and leave the guide wire in place. This can greatly facilitate exchanging the device because the difficult task of positioning the guide wire need not be performed again. An intravascular device with an over-the-wire construction can be exchanged while leaving the distal tip of the guide wire in place according to several different methods. For example, one method is to use a guide wire having a long length (e.g. 300 cm) so that a sufficiently long proximal portion of the guide wire extends out of the proximal end of the guiding catheter in order that the entire intravascular device can be withdrawn out completely over the guide wire while maintaining a hold on a proximal portion of the guide wire. This method has the disadvantage that the long proximally extending portion of the long guide wire may be in the way during the procedure. Another method to exchange an intravascular device with an over-the-wire construction is by using a guide wire extension. A description of this method is in "Guide Wire Extension", by C. Cope, M.D., Radiology 1985; 157:263 (1985). A disadvantage of this method is that not all guide wires are adapted to connect to an extension wire, and moreover, the step of connecting the guide wire to the extension wire can sometimes be tedious and difficult to do.
One approach that is employed to facilitate exchange of intravascular devices is the "single-operator-exchange" construction. With the single-operator-exchange construction, a guide wire occupies a position adjacent to the intravascular device along proximal and middle portions of the device and enters into a lumen of the device via a laterally-oriented opening at a location close to a distal portion of the device. With this construction, the device can be positioned in the patient's vessel by positioning a guide wire in the desired location and advancing the device over the wire. However, in the event that it becomes necessary to exchange the single-operator-exchange device, the device can be withdrawn proximally while the distal tip of the guide wire is left in position in the vessel site. Because the proximal end of the guide wire and the proximal end of the device are adjacent to each other, the proximal end of the guide wire can be secured so that the position of the distal end of the guide wire in the patient's vessel can be maintained. With this type of device, it is necessary that the distance from the distal end of the device to the lateral proximal guide wire entrance is less than the proximal length of the guide wire that extends out of the guiding catheter.
Just as it sometimes becomes necessary to exchange the device, it also sometimes becomes necessary to exchange the guide wire. A guide wire exchange may be necessary for example when it is determined after the guide wire and the device are in the vessel that the guide wire must be advanced further and a guide wire of a different size or construction or with a different tip "bend" is necessary. With a device with an over-the-wire construction, the guide wire can be withdrawn through the lumen of the device and a second guide wire installed while leaving the device in position. However, with the single-operator-exchange construction, a guide wire exchange cannot readily be performed without withdrawing the device because once the distal end of the first guide wire is withdrawn proximally from the proximal guide wire lumen opening of the device, a second guide wire cannot readily be positioned in the proximal guide wire lumen opening without also withdrawing the device proximally at least so that the proximal guide wire lumen opening is outside the guiding catheter.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and device to facilitate a guide wire exchange in conjunction with intravascular devices that incorporate a single-operator-exchange construction.

Guide wire and sheath for single operator exchange


A polymer-extruder screw has a mixing section with relatively deep channels between flight lands at a proximal end, progressively shallower channels with a progressively larger screw core of a central transition section, and finally a metering section having a plurality of at least three pressure channels juxtaposed helically between flight lands having channel interruptions comprised of helical inclines and constant-radii tops in helical progression to a distal end of the extruder screw where the pressure channels end with equal depth at an interface with a metering gate of an extruder. The pressure channels can be symmetrical or asymmetrical in angles of incline and decline at opposite helical sides of the channel interruptions for optimizing channel depths, for positioning of maximum channel depths in relation to tops of channel interruptions, for equalizing channel depths at the distal end of the extruder screw and for optimizing incline and decline advantages for polymers with different characteristics. Helical degrees of channel-interruption cycles can be different for different polymers. The screw core in the mixing section can be graduated in diameter and distance between flight lands can be designed as required for different polymers.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the field of polymer-extruder screws for plastic-extrusion machines and in particular to a three-stage-extruder screw.
II. Description of the Prior Art
Plastics are extruded from an extruder bore of a polymer extruder into which polymers in solid pellet and powder forms are fed into a hopper at a proximal end of an extruder bore. In the extruder bore, heat is added and extracted externally as necessary to maintain temperature at an even level while an extruder screw, similar in principle to a meat-grinder screw, mixes, pulverizes, liquefies, pressurizes and conveys the polymer material to a metering gate at a distal end of the extruder bore. It is a three-phase process of (1) mixing, (2) liquefying and (3) metering.
Providing an even flow of plastic in a desired fluid consistency is crucial to efficient and reliable extrusion. Achieving this even flow under dynamic phase-change conditions of the three-phase process has been a major problem in the plastics industry. Improvements are being sought constantly.
Plastic extrusion generally is referred to by originators of some extruder equipment as "plastication". The polymers are said to be "plasticated" by a polymer extruder, although neither of these terms are included in most standard dictionaries. A plastication process differs from plasticization and plasticizing primarily by (1) the use of pulverizing pressure that generates a portion of heat internally for melting the solid pellets, and (2) addition of melt or phase-change heat.
Related improvement steps were described in two U.S. patents, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,173,417 and 4,356,140 granted to Kruder and U.S. Pat. No. 4,201,481 granted to Iddon et al. The Kruder patents taught a distal-end mixing section of an extruder screw having pairs of two wave channels juxtaposed between helical thread flights of the extruder screw. Wave crests or peaks were offset from wave valleys symmetrically in helical progression.
Crests of the waves did not have constant radii nor near-constant radii in relation to an axis of the extruder screw as one of the features taught by this invention. Instead the Kruder crests were actual peaks having radii which decreased immediately on both helical sides of a maximum height of the crest.
Confirming unawareness of advantages of constant-radii or near-constant-radii crests relative to the axis of the extruder screw, the Kruder patents teach "relatively short" wave cycles. "At least four cycles along the helical length of such channel . . . " is a typical recommendation in the specification and claims of the Kruder patents. Although the option of wave cycles as long as 540 degrees is mentioned in the Kruder technology, there is no reference nor teaching of constant-radii or near-constant-radii crests, regardless of angular duration of wave valleys, whether flat-bottomed or arcuate in helical form.
Further emphasizing crests with radii which change relative to a position separated from the axis of the extruder screw, the second Kruder patent illustrates in its FIG. 6, a wave crest 68 having constant radii in relation to a center of a "protrusion" 62 instead constant radii in relation to a center of the extruder screw 47. Surfaces with changing radii 64 and 66 are shown as having an abruptness that teaches emphatically against graduated inclines of a crest. The inclines 64 and 66, both upstream and downstream helically from the wave crest 68, were circular protrusions, although described contradictorily and incorrectly as inclines. While the second Kruder patent claimed only methods, it was subsequent to the first Kruder patent and demonstrated a tendency not to recognize but to depart further from the channel interruptions and other teachings of this invention.
Although the Kruder description indicated the possibility of different numbers of offset channels side-by-side, its claims limited it to a pair of two. Neither the specifications nor the claims taught the advantages of three with the two outside channels having wave cycles offset from one in the center. To mention a possibility of different pluralities in a description and then to restrict to a particular plurality in claims evidences lack of awareness and, therefore, absence of the teaching of a different plurality, especially when the means for achieving the different plurality require different structure involving constant-radii or near-constant-radii crests as taught by this invention.
The Kruder patents made no mention of equal-depth termination of wave-cycle channels at a distal end of the extruder screw. This is highly advantageous to uniform metering. It is another difference from the Kruder technology.
Although the channels between screw flights in this invention have been referred to previously as channels with "wave-cycle crests and valleys", this is an incorrect and misleading characterization. It is a use of prior-art terms to define new features of the art that require different terms. Instead of wave cycles with crests and valleys in channels, there are channels with "interruptions" by "inclines", "interruption tops" and "core rounds" in helical progression selectively. In some portions of channel interruptions, there is symmetry of incline and decline and in other portions there is not. Also, in some portions of channels, inclines are combined with core rounds to form near-round or near-constant-radii inclines, particularly at top portions of channel interruptions.
Further, yet different, from the Kruder technology, the top portions of channel interruptions have no "secondary flights" between channel crests. Rather, the interruption tops in this invention have no "barrier flights". Barrier flights between channel interruptions are tapered away at channel interruptions to allow passage of materials inwardly towards a center channel or outwardly towards side channels at opposite ends of "interruption cycles". By contrast, the Kruder technology refers to its crests as channels with less depth than at other portions of channels. Its channels continue to be channels having barrier flights as walls in crest sections as in other channel sections of its wave cycles.
The structural differences taught by this invention cause substantial improvement in "plastication" for the following combined reasons. Polymer pellets and powders that have been partially processed in the mixing and transition portions of the extruder screw can be ground, compressed, melted and metered more thoroughly between extruder bores and inclined channel interruptions with this extruder screw than between extruder bores and peaks in shallow channels with the Kruder technology. Less clearance space for more thorough compression and shearing is possible between a channel interruption and an extruder bore than between a channel bottom and an extruder bore. Secondary barrier flights at edges of the channel crests of the Kruder technology prevent effective nearness of crest surfaces to an extruder bore.
Constant-radii channel interruptions taught by this invention provide a fine-grinding effect by selectively long, close relationship to the extruder bore. Near-constant radii of shallow-sloped channel-interruption tops of cycles can be employed to force remaining un-pulverized and un-melted particles more gradually for finer melt results. It is a geared-down rotational grinding effect. Remaining particles are contained over broader surfaces in a smaller clearance space between the channel interruptions and the inside periphery of the extruder bore.
Containment for finer rotational compression is achieved with broader surfaces instead of with secondary barrier-flight walls which necessitate greater space between wave crests and the extruder bore. Particles not trapped and compressed within broader and closer clearance between the interruption tops and the bore are allowed to escape linearly into a center channel or into side channels at alternate cycles for later compression at subsequent interruption tops.
Finally in the metering section, a more thorough, uniform and, consequently, a higher quality of melt without un-melted particles is fed evenly from channels. This is achieved with pressure channels having even depths at a distal end of the extruder screw.
Although employing the principle of an extruder screw as in meat grinders and in the Kruder technology, this is no meat-grinder screw. Nor is it a Kruder screw. Rather, it employs rotational compression much more effectively and for a higher proportion of the work-load of compression than either. A meat-grinder screw has nearly all linear compression which is not effective for plastication of polymer pellets and powders. Linear compression relies on forcing products through restrictions at a distal end of an extruder screw or linearly in reverse between flight tops and a bore in opposition to linear restrictions at the distal end.
By comparison, rotational compression relies on forcing products between a bore and "highs" of crests in the Kruder technology and between a bore and highs of inclines of channel interruptions in this invention. The longer, broader and closer clearances made possible with this invention, together with escape of un-melted particles in either direction for subsequent fine processing, together with other features, combine to provide plastication improvements that are highly significant to the plastics industry.
The Iddon patent taught constant-radii ramps between screw flights. In effect, it employed a plurality of flights having shorter radii between main flights for an extruder screw used in the rubber industry where crushing pellets is not a factor. The flights having smaller radii were bordered by channels extending to a screw core. The radii were constant throughout most of screw length such that there was only minimal if any rotational compression.

Three stage intermixing feed screw for polymers


A frame member for an article receptacle includes an annular member having formed thereon a protruding member and a recess or notch for receiving the protruding member of an identical frame. The protruding member and the recess or notch are disposed opposite to one another on the annular member. Also described is an article receptacle made with two such frame members.

The prior art is replete with various types of article receptacles and other articles of manufacture which include a frame. These articles of manufacture include compacts for mirrors and/or cosmetics, as well as article receptacles designed for carrying different types of items such as eyeglasses, pens, watches, rings, etc. Other article receptacles are designed as packaging receptacles for items such as computers, telephones, stereo equipment and the like. Still, other article receptacles are constructed as purses or hand bags. Some of these hand bags include hand straps, shoulder straps or waist straps, while others are simply intended to be hand carried without the use of a strap.
Article Receptacles constructed as purses and/or hand bags, are typically manufactured using natural and synthetic materials such as vinyl, leather, fabric, plastic and cardboard. Many of these article receptacles consist of two separate sections. In some designs, the two sections form the cover and base members of the article receptacle. In other designs, the two sections form tile side members of the article receptacle. Such article receptacles employ separately attached frame members along the opening edge of each article receptacle section. Generally, the frame members are placed along the opening edge of the article receptacle section for a variety of purposes. For example, the frame members serve as an ornamental trim to enhance the visual appeal of the article receptacle. The frame members also reinforce and strengthen the edge of the article receptacle section to help maintain its shape and to protect the edge of the article receptacle section from damage. Further, the frame members enable the article receptacle sections to be hinged to each other via hinges which are attached to each frame member. Still further, closures such as buckles, clasps, etc. for locking the article carrier sections closed can be attached to the frame members. Additionally, the frame members provide a location for attaching shoulder and hand straps to the article receptacle.
Prior art frame member designs generally include a male member for one of the two article receptacle sections and a female member for the other one of the two article receptacle sections. The male and female frame member arrangement is necessitated by the design of the hinges, clasps, etc. employed to enable the article receptacle to open and close. In particular, the hinge and/or clasp used in prior art designs typically include differently configured elements on each frame member. Thus, two separate molds must be employed for forming each of the two respective frame members, which increases the cost of fabricating the article receptacle.
Accordingly, a need exists for an article receptacle having frame members including a hinge, a clasp and other likes elements, wherein the frame members can be manufactured in and from a single mold having a single cavity.


A grain-oriented electrical steel sheet having excellent iron loss property is produced from a steel slab containing, by mass %, C: 0.002-0.15%, Si: 2.5-6.0%, Mn: 0.01-0.80%, Al: 0.010-0.050% and N: 0.003-0.020%, when: a heating rate between 500-700° C. in decarburization annealing is not less than 80° C./s, a surface roughness Ra of a work roll in final cold rolling is 0.01-3.0 μm, a total content of alkaline earth metals to MgO in annealing separator is 0-5 mass %, an average length L in rolling direction of passed crystal grains is not more than 25 mm, a ratio of crystal grains having a length in rolling direction of not more than 5 mm is 40-90%, and an existence ratio of alkaline earth metal sulfides having a size corresponding to circle of not less than 0.5 μm in a cross section of forsterite film is not more than 0.2/μm per unit length in sheet width direction.

An electrical steel sheet is a soft magnetic material widely used as an iron core material for transformers, motors and the like and includes a non-oriented electrical steel sheet and a grain-oriented electrical steel sheet. The grain-oriented electrical steel sheet particularly indicates excellent magnetic properties because crystal orientation is highly aligned into {110}<001> orientation called as Goss orientation, and is mainly used as an iron core material for large-size transformers. Therefore, the grain-oriented electrical steel sheet is required to be low in loss by magnetic excitation, or iron loss in order to reduce energy loss caused in the excitation of the transformer.
The iron loss of the grain-oriented electrical steel sheet can be divided into hysteresis loss and eddy current loss. The hysteresis loss can be reduced by increasing the accumulation degree of the crystal orientation into Goss orientation. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a method for producing a grain-oriented electrical steel sheet with a high orientation accumulation degree by causing fine precipitation of AIN in the production process and using the resultant as an inhibitor for pinning grain boundary in finish annealing to preferentially secondary-recrystallize Goss orientation.
Known techniques for reducing the eddy current loss include increasing specific resistance of steel by adding Si to reduce an eddy current produced in the excitation of a product. However, adding an excessive amount of Si leads to decrease in a saturated magnetic flux density and increase in a size of an iron core, so that there is a limit to the amount of Si to be added.
Another known technique for reducing the eddy current loss is to utilize film tension to subdivide magnetic domain width produced in the steel sheet or refine crystal grains. The former technique of utilizing film tension includes a method of forming a film composed mainly of forsterite onto the surface of the steel sheet, and a method of using the forsterite film as an underlying film and forming an insulation film composed mainly of phosphate and colloidal silica thereon. This method allows tensile stress to be applied to the steel sheet surface by utilizing the fact that the thermal expansion coefficient of forsterite and insulation film is smaller than that of a base metal. In particular, it is known that tensile stress in the rolling direction is effective for subdividing magnetic domain to reduce the iron loss.
The latter technique of refining the crystal grains includes, for example, a method disclosed in Patent Literature 2 that rapid heating is conducted in the heating process of decarburization annealing to promote primary recrystallization of Goss grains so that the grain size after secondary recrystallization is made fine. Also, Patent Literature 3 proposes a technique of reducing the iron loss by irradiating a high-temperature spot laser or pulse laser from the middle of primary recrystallization annealing to the start of secondary recrystallization and artificially forming a region in the interior of the steel sheet where a driving force of crystal growth is increased to form fine grains having a particle size of not more than 3 mm in the secondary recrystallization.

Grain-oriented electrical steel sheet and method for producing the same


Illustrative embodiments provide a computer implemented method, an apparatus, and a computer program product for error detection and recovery using an asynchronous transaction journal. In an illustrative embodiment the computer implemented method receives a request message from a requester, stores the request message in the asynchronous transaction journal and determines whether a sequence number contained within the request message is equal to a predetermined number. When the sequence number is equal, the computer implemented method performs a request in the request message to obtain a result and returns the result to the requester; otherwise the computer implemented method detects an error. The computer implemented method then attempts recovery from the error; otherwise the computer implemented method notifies the requestee.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system and in particular to, a computer implemented method, apparatus, and a computer program product for error detection and recovery using an asynchronous transaction journal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX), or Ajax, is a technique used by web application developers to create interactive web applications. The intent of the developers using AJAX is to make the resulting web pages more responsive by sending to and receiving from the server, small packets of data in the background eliminating the need to reload the entire web page each time a user requests a change. Use of AJAX typically increases the interaction, speed, function, and usability of a web page.
The advent of AJAX and Web 2.0 has enabled a new breed of highly dynamic, web-based applications. Web 2.0 may be viewed as considering the World Wide Web, or the Internet and the Web as an application platform. With such a platform there are associated "web services," with ad serving as an example of a widely deployed web service. Many such applications now use AJAX to post changes in a hypertext markup language based user interface to server-side application logic. The response to these posted changes often contains instructions that are used to update the graphical user interface to reflect the resulting changes in the application's logic.
In these applications, it is reasonable to say that AJAX messages are used to synchronize changes in a hypertext markup language based graphical user interface with a server-based application environment. For example, in a hypertext markup language based time-sheet system, a hypertext markup language form representing a time sheet to a user might use AJAX to interact with server-side application logic to create a dynamic user experience. In such a system, user changes made to the hypertext markup language form, such as a change in the "hours worked" Monday, might be transmitted to the server and resulting graphical user interface changes, such as to the "total hours worked this week" field, would be propagated back down to the graphical user interface. As the user continues to work with the time-sheet graphical user interface, more messages are produced to propagate those changes to the server and the responses to the messages cause further updates to the timesheet graphical user interface.
Such systems provide a dynamic and interactive user experience, but have the potential to become unpredictable if the hypertext markup language based graphical user interface and the server-side logic are no longer synchronized. For example, a condition that may lead to a server-based application to no longer be synchronized with the associated hypertext markup language based graphical user interface is when an AJAX message becomes lost during transmission or execution. Network failure could make it impossible for an AJAX transaction to be completed. The network might fail either before or after the state of the server-side logic was updated. In this case, it may be possible for the server-side logic to no longer be synchronized with the state of the hypertext markup language display.
In another example, a server could fail in a clustered application scenario. When the application is a clustered application using several application servers and one of the servers fails before the failing server can propagate state information to the remaining servers in the cluster, there is a possibility that the hypertext markup language based graphical user interface and the state of the failover application server could no longer be synchronized.
In another example, a server could encounter an error during the processing of an AJAX request. Again, depending on the architecture of the application, this could cause the state of the server-side application to no longer be synchronized with the hypertext markup language based graphical user interface.
Clearly, AJAX-based Web 2.0 applications require a mechanism to help detect and recover from these failure conditions.

Error detection and recovery using an asynchronous transaction journal

International Business Machines Corporation


Provided are a remote control apparatus and method that remotely control an operation of an AVN system through a virtual touch panel generated by using a stylus pen and a sensor equipped in the AVN system. Therefore, the AVN system is remotely controlled by using the virtual touch panel generated in a vehicle, thus enhancing a user's convenience.

A related art AVN system, as illustrated in FIG. 1, includes a remote controller application 110, a controller 120, a near field communication module 130, and a display unit 140, and a manipulator 150. The related art AVN system is a smartphone including a near field communication function such as Bluetooth communication, and controls an AVN 200 through the Bluetooth communication.
The remote controller application 110 downloads remote controller screen data from the AVN 200, for displaying a screen and operation state, and transfers the remote screen data to the display unit 140. Also, the remote controller application 110 builds and stores a database of the remote controller screen data. In this case, the download is performed only when remote controller screen data retained by the AVN control apparatus 100 has a version different from that of remote controller screen data retained by the AVN 200.
Moreover, the remote controller application 110 receives a touch panel coordinate value and a button code value from the controller 120 to generate remote controller control information to be transmitted to the AVN 200.
Here, the database of the remote controller screen data includes a plurality of remote controller screen identifiers (IDs) and a remote controller screen that is an image file (a compressed file such as joint photographic experts group (JPEG)) having an AVN menu form and corresponding to each of the remote controller screen IDs.
While the display unit 140 is displaying the remote controller screen, if a user manipulates a touch panel or a button which is included in the manipulator 150, the controller 120 transfers touch panel coordinate value or button value information to the remote controller application 110, and controls the near field communication module 130 so as to enable the Bluetooth communication between the AVN 200 and the remote controller application 110.
The near field communication module 130 transmits the remote controller control information generated by the remote controller application 110 to the AVN 200 through the Bluetooth communication according to control by the controller 120.
The AVN 200 includes a user interface (UI) application 210, a controller 220, a near field communication module 230, and a display unit 240.
The UI application 210 retains the remote controller screen data to be transmitted to the AVN control apparatus 100 and a version of the remote controller screen data, and each time a screen of the display unit 240 is changed, the UI application 210 transmits a remote controller screen ID, which is intended to be displayed, to the AVN control apparatus 100.
Moreover, the UI application 210 analyzes the remote controller control information received from the AVN control apparatus 100 and a current remote controller screen to generate an AVN control command.
The controller 220 controls the AVN 200 so as to perform a relevant operation according to the AVN control command generated by the UI application 210.
The near field communication module 230 receives the remote controller control information from the AVN control apparatus 100 through the Bluetooth communication.
A main feature of the related art will now be described.
The related art AVN control apparatus 100 controls the AVN 200 by using the remote controller application 110, and transmits and receives information/command used to control the AVN 200 by using the near field communication module 130 performing the Bluetooth communication.
The remote controller application 110 downloads the remote controller screen data corresponding to various menus from the AVN 200, and stores the downloaded remote controller screen data.
Here, the download of the remote controller screen data is performed when the remote controller application 110 is executed, and only when the remote controller application 110 and the AVN 200 have different versions, the download of the remote controller screen data is performed.
Moreover, information about manipulation by a user includes a touch panel input (push) coordinate value. Regarding buttons such as increase/decrease, cancel, and end buttons, the manipulation information may include a code value of a corresponding button, in addition to the touch panel input coordinate value. When the AVN 200 displays "navigation destination search/input" or "media file search/input", the manipulation information may include a keyboard code value.
The touch panel input coordinate value and the button code value are transmitted to the AVN 200, analyzed along with the remote controller screen data retained by the AVN 200, and used to generate the AVN control command.
As described above, the related art AVN control apparatus 100 downloads the remote controller application 110 from the AVN 200 to control the AVN 200 from the inside of a vehicle.

Remote control apparatus and method of audio video navigation system


A dual damascene structure and method of fabrication thereof. An insulating layer comprises a first dielectric material and a second dielectric material, the second dielectric material being different from the first dielectric material. First conductive regions having a first pattern are formed in the first dielectric material, and second conductive regions having a second pattern are formed in the second dielectric material, the second pattern being different from the first pattern. One of the first dielectric material and the second dielectric material comprises an organic material, and the other dielectric material comprises an inorganic material. One of the first and second dielectric materials is etchable selective to the other dielectric material. A method of cleaning a semiconductor wafer processing chamber while a wafer remains residing within the chamber is also disclosed.

Semiconductor devices are fabricated by sequentially depositing insulating (or dielectric) layers, conductive layers and semiconductive layers of material over a semiconductor substrate, and patterning the various layers using lithography to form circuit components and elements thereon. A common conductive material used in the past for conductive lines was aluminum, which can be directly etched. For example, a layer of aluminum or aluminum alloy is deposited, a photoresist layer is deposited over the aluminum, the photoresist is patterned and developed, and the photoresist is used as a mask while exposed areas of the aluminum layer are etched away.
There is a trend in the semiconductor industry towards the use of copper for conductive lines and metallization layers. Copper introduces new challenges in semiconductor device fabrication. While copper is more conductive than aluminum, which is an advantage, it has a tendency to diffuse through dielectric layers, causing shorts and device failures. Therefore, liners are used to prevent this diffusion. Also, copper cannot be directly etched, particularly in small minimum feature sizes, which leads to the use of damascene methods to form copper conductive lines.
In a damascene method of forming conductive lines, an insulating layer is deposited over a semiconductor substrate, and the insulating layer is patterned, e.g. by depositing a photoresist, patterning and developing the photoresist, and using the photoresist as a mask for the insulating layer while exposed portions of the insulating layer are etched away. A conductive material (such as copper) is deposited over the patterned insulating layer, e.g. by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), electroplating or electro-less plating, or other deposition methods. The semiconductor substrate is chemically-mechanically polished (CMP) to remove excess conductive material from over the top surface of the insulating layer, leaving conductive lines or regions formed in the insulating layer.
If one pattern is formed in the insulating layer, the process is referred to as a single damascene process. However, two patterns may also be formed in the insulating layer, with one pattern typically being etched deeper into the insulating layer than the other pattern. The two pattern process is referred to in the art as a dual damascene process. A dual damascene process may be used to form a first layer of vias to connect to underlying conductive lines or elements, for example, and a second layer of conductive lines or regions may be formed over the vias.
In the prior art, typically either the vias are first patterned in the insulating layer through the entire thickness of the insulating layer, and then the conductive lines are patterned in a top portion of the insulating layer, often referred to as a "via-first" dual damascene patterning method. Or, the conductive lines may alternatively be patterned in a top portion of the insulating layer first, followed by the patterning of the vias through the entire thickness of the insulating layer, called a "line-first" dual damascene method.
As semiconductor device sizes decrease and the minimum feature size of the electrical components and conductive lines decrease, patterning an insulating layer in a dual damascene process becomes more and more difficult. In a dual damascene patterning process, one of the patterning steps etches through the entire thickness of the insulating layer (forming the vias, for example), and the other patterning step etches only through part of the insulating layer (forming the conductive lines), using a timed etch, for example. There is a trend in the semiconductor industry towards the use of low-dielectric constant (low-k) dielectric materials, particularly used in conjunction with copper conductive lines, to reduce the RC time delay of the conductive lines. Some low-k dielectric materials are porous and/or etch very quickly, and it can be difficult to adequately control the etch process, particularly in a dual damascene structure and process.
Another problem in dual damascene patterning is photoresist poisoning, which can occur during a patterning process when etch chemistries containing nitrogen are used to pattern insulating layers comprising SiCOH-type (materials containing silicon, carbon, oxygen, and/or hydrogen) materials, which are often used as insulators. The nitrogen-containing etch chemistries, in conjunction with the SiCOH-type materials, liberate amines that can interact with or migrate into the photoresist during a subsequent lithography step. Photoresist poisoning causes depth of focus problems and/or delamination of the photoresist, resulting in loss of control of the critical dimensions and the inability to print, which leads to device failures and decreased yields. Photoresist poisoning tends to be a problem in via-first dual damascene patterning methods and also in line-first dual damascene patterning methods because the subsequent application of photoresist is exposed to the amines generated during the previous etch process.
Therefore, what is needed in the art is a dual damascene structure and method with improved control of patterning a damascene structure that avoids photoresist poisoning.


Systems and methods for detecting radio frequency (“RF”) signals and corresponding origination locations are disclosed. An RF sensor device includes a software-defined radio and an antenna pair for receiving RF signals. Furthermore the RF sensor device may include a processing unit for processing/analyzing the RF signals, or the processing unit may be remote. The system calculates a phase difference between an RF signal received at two separate antennas of an antenna pair. The phase difference, the distance between the antennas, and the frequency of the RF signal are used for determining the origination direction of the RF signal. In various embodiments, the origination direction may indicate the location of a UAV controller or base station. The software-defined radio may include more than one antenna pair, connected to multiplexers, for efficiently scanning different frequencies by alternating active antenna pairs. Moreover, the system may execute packet-based processing on the RF signal data.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), often referred to as "drones", are generally aircrafts operated without the presence of a pilot on board. UAVs vary in size and may be controlled in real time from a remote location, or configured to operate autonomously. The introduction and growing popularity of UAVs in the airspace has raised issues regarding government regulations and the allowable usage of UAVs.
The anonymous nature of UAVs has introduced problems in areas where accountability and identity are of the utmost importance. Locations such as airports, prisons, sporting venues, residential homes, etc., are among these areas that require a safe and regulated airspace around their perimeters, and UAVs compromise the ability to ensure the safety of such airspaces. Therefore, there is a long-felt but unresolved need for a system, method, and/or apparatus that is designed to detect, identify, and track UAVs in order to better protect airspaces and the areas they surround.

Systems and methods for detecting unmanned aerial vehicles via radio frequency analysis


The disclosure is directed to a system and method for inspecting a spinning sample by substantially simultaneously scanning multiple spots on a surface of the sample utilizing a plurality of illumination beams. Portions of illumination reflected, scattered, or radiated from respective spots on the surface of the sample are collected by at least one detector array. Information associated with at least one defect of the sample is determined by at least one computing system in communication with the detector array. According to various embodiments, at least one of scan pitch, spot size, spot separation, and spin rate is controlled to compensate pitch error due to tangential spot separation.

Several defect inspection systems are known in the art, typically relying on a single-spot scan of a sample surface. Scanning the sample with a single illumination beam is appropriate in many applications. However, emerging technologies constantly require higher sampling rates and defect sensitivity than single-spot inspections systems are capable of providing. Accordingly, multi-spot inspection systems have been proposed to improve throughput and sensitivity by substantially simultaneously scanning the sample with a plurality of illumination beams and processing the resulting scan information in parallel.
The multi-spot inspection systems currently known to the art suffer from various complexities. For example, pitch error is a prevalent problem is multi-spot scans of a spinning wafer. Radially spaced spot patterns are less prone to pitch error because a tilt angle between spot path and scan direction is avoided. However, radial spot patterns present are difficult to generate and will typically require a much more complex optical designs than those required for generating tangential spot patterns.


The method uses an XRF instrument for identifying a specified element on a jewelry sample by illuminating its surface with excitation radiation and measuring first and second intensities of characteristic emission lines of a specified element and calculating the ratio between the intensities to establish a measured thickness and to determine based on a certain range criteria whether the sample can be considered to be plated jewelry.

Jewelry identification and testing has long been a challenge in the human history. The challenges, among others, are mainly to identify if a target test piece contains certain desirable alloys, and if so, the concentration and thickness of each of them, and further if the desirable elements are present in the bulk of the test piece or are merely plated on the surface of the test piece.
In the last few decades, x-ray florescence (XRF) technologies have been more often used for jewelry analysis. XRF is now a widely used, proven, and accepted method of chemistry analysis and used in karating of precious metals samples, including for purity and fineness. XRF analysis provides a less expensive, quicker testing alternative to fire assay and chemical tests, and on-the-spot analysis of silver, platinum, or other materials, making it an easy way to boost customer confidence and ensure dealer reliability.
However, a method and instrument for accurate and fast identification of whether a piece of jewelry is plated with certain precious metal has seen lagging the market needs. The challenges remain due to a few considerations, among them, the need to address deviating standard of thickness or cut-off threshold for defining whether a piece of jewelry is plated or not. For example, the thickness of identified gold on the surface of necklace in a range of 5 to 10 micron would render the conclusion that the necklace is gold plated. However, for bracelets, the same thickness of 5 to 10 microns might not render the same conclusion that the bracelets are gold-plated.
Some prior teachings shown to use XRF for measuring concentrations of certain elements, in surface-covering layers, such as paint, can be found with reference to U.S. Patents, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,396,529 and 7,702,067, both by Grodzins, (herein collectively as "Grodzins"). Grodzins teaches measurement of the concentration of lead in paint on the basis of inducing and detecting fluorescence of the x-rays of lead.
The contents of the foregoing Grodzins U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,396,529 and 7,702,067 are incorporated herein by reference.
The previous teachings as mentioned above all include the following steps using XRF for identifying a specified element on the surface of an object:                a. illuminating a surface of the sample with x-ray excitation radiation;        b. measuring a first intensity of a characteristic emission line of the specified element at a first energy;        c. measuring a second intensity of a characteristic emission line of the specified element at a second energy;        d. calculating the ratio between the first intensity to the second intensity to establish the possible thickness of the specified element disposed above the bulk of the sample.
It therefore can be understood that the thickness can be quite accurately measured in existing practice as discussed above. However, existing methods do not address sufficiently what the measured thickness should be compared to, in order to obtain a confident conclusion whether the sample is to be considered plated with the precious metal or not. A predetermined cut-off thickness threshold to determine whether the sample meets the criterion qualifying the sample to be considered to be plated needs to be further defined for each functional category, i.e., chains, bracelets; and for each types of metal, i.e., silver, gold, etc. Therefore, an improved method and instrument is needed to more accurately and confidently provide customers with a reliable indication and/or quantitative measure indicative of whether a piece of jewelry is plated with the desirable metal or is not.

Method and instrument for identifying jewelry with plated element using x-ray florescence


A pressure swing adsorption cycle designed to reduce the variations in ozone concentration, and produce a higher average ozone concentration, in a product gas stream throughout the cycle. The cycle includes a relatively long air sweep stage and provides for the overlapping of the air sweep stage in two adsorber vessels. Effluent from an adsorber vessel in a feed rinse stage is routed to another adsorber vessel that is in an air sweep stage.

Ozone is a reactive triatomic allotrope of oxygen that has applications in chemical production, disinfection, drinking water treatment, air purification, bleaching of fabrics and wood pulp, wastewater treatment, and food processing. Most of the ozone used in these applications is produced by corona discharge systems using air or high-purity oxygen as the feed gas. Ozone also may be produced from air or oxygen by the action of ultraviolet light or by cold plasma generators.
High purity oxygen is used as the ozone generator feed gas in most large industrial applications of ozone. The conversion of oxygen into ozone in commercial corona discharge generators is typically between 4 and 13%, and in certain applications the resulting oxygen-ozone mixture is provided as product directly to the downstream user without further treatment. Because the cost of the unreacted oxygen is a major part of the ozone system operating cost, it is desirable in many situations to recover the oxygen from the oxygen-ozone mixture for recycling to the ozone generator. This can be accomplished, for example, by pressure swing adsorption (PSA) in which ozone is selectively adsorbed from the ozone generator outlet stream, and the recovered ozone-depleted oxygen is recycled to the ozone generator. The adsorbed ozone is desorbed by a sweep gas such as air or nitrogen, and the mixture of ozone and sweep gas is provided as product to the downstream user.
Ozone-oxygen PSA systems often use zeolite adsorbents for the selective adsorption of ozone from oxygen. It is known that zeolite adsorbents can promote the decomposition of ozone, and the degree of ozone decomposition can adversely affect ozone cost and increase the operating cost of the ozone-consuming process. The degree of ozone decomposition can be reduced by using a zeolite that contains pre-adsorbed components such as water, carbon dioxide, argon, or sulfur hexafluoride as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,810,910. These components, which are non-reactive with ozone, are adsorbed on the adsorbent prior to ozone adsorption.
One problem with current adsorption cycles used in PSA systems, such as the adsorption cycle disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,030,598, is large swings in the concentration of ozone in the product gas steam, which can impair the ability of the process that utilizes the product gas stream to operate at a steady state. Accordingly, there is a need for an improved adsorption cycle that provides a more consistent concentration of ozone in the product gas stream.

Pressure swing adsorption cycle for ozone production


A dynamically adjustable rate sulfur recovery process continuously calculates and adjusts sour gas stream operating pressure and/or flow rate to maximize sweet gas output, thereby improving efficiency. A corresponding desulfurization system may include a fixed-sized pressure vessel, a flow control valve that controls the rate of flow of a sour gas stream into the pressure vessel, a sensor that measures sulfur concentration in the sour gas stream, a reagent tank, an oxidizer tank, and a phase separator that separates sweet gas as a gaseous phase after hydrogen sulfide in the sour gas stream in the pressure vessel is converted to elemental sulfur, sulfur species, or both by contact with reagent from the reagent tank and oxidizer from the oxidizer tank. A PLC (programmable logic controller) continuously calculates updated flow rates based on sulfur concentration measurements from the sensor to achieve maximum sweet gas production.

Raw natural gas streams from oil wells, gas wells, and condensate wells include methane mixed with other hydrocarbons, e.g. ethane, propane, and butane, and other compounds and contaminants, e.g. water vapor, hydrogen sulfide (H2S), carbon dioxide, helium, and nitrogen. Hydrogen sulfide is a highly toxic contaminant that should be removed by field processing at or near the well head. Desulfurization processes using aqueous sulfur reactants are known but require significant contact time which is problematic because reducing flow rate to achieve adequate contact time reduces the production rate. Further, the pressure is lowered when the flow rate is reduced so the gas stream must be re-pressurized after desulfurization.

Field processing natural gas for sulfur recovery with dynamically adjustable flow rate control


A sliding-action slam latch includes an integrally molded actuator having a rigid portion and an flexible portion, the flexible portion serving to bias the actuator closed. Pins extending from the rigid portion of the actuator contact guide surfaces on the latch body to limit travel of the actuator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to latching devices, and more particularly to systems for latching hinged doors or panels and the like.
2. Background of the Invention
Various types of latching devices for fastening doors, panels and the like are known.
Door-mounted "slam" latches employ a camming surface on the end of a sliding-bolt element that cooperates with a striker on the door frame to cause a bolt action to secure the door when it is closed against the frame. Such latches are activated to secure the door when the door is merely pushed shut or slammed. However, to open the door, operation of the latch mechanism is required to release the latch. In some slam latches, as the door is being closed, the bolt is urged against a spring force by the action of a camming surface cooperating with the striker to slide into the latch housing. Once the camming surface has passed the door frame inner surface, the spring force then urges the bolt element to engage behind the door frame, or to engage a keeper mounted on the door frame. In order to open the door, the bolt is manually operated, usually through a grip, to withdraw the bolt from engagement with the keeper.
Examples of prior art slam latches are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,841,674, 3,850,464, 5,482,333 and 5,628,634.
The spring force for such latches can be provided through separate spring elements, such as a torsion bar spring (FIGS. 8–9, U.S. Pat. No. 3,841,674), a torsion coil spring (FIGS. 11–13, U.S. Pat. No. 3,841,674), or a compression coil spring (FIG. 13, U.S. Pat. No. 3,841,674). Alternatively, the spring element can be integrally molded with a latch body made from an appropriate plastic or polymeric material (FIGS. 1–7, U.S. Pat. No. 3,841,674; U.S. Pat. No. 5,842,333; FIG. 6A–6E, U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,534).
Slam latches with integrally molded spring elements have a number of advantages over slam latches that use separate metal springs. First, slam latches with integrally molded spring elements tend to be less expensive because fewer parts are required to be made and assembled for each latch. Further, during manufacture metal springs may become embrittled and thus subject to breakage.
On the other hand, prior art latches with integrally molded spring elements may not have the same life expectancy as those that use separate metal springs. Elements formed from polymeric materials that are subjected to cyclic stresses, such as integrally molded spring elements in slam latches, sometimes fail at stress levels far below their yield stress, due to fatigue failure.
Prior slam latches have employed generally planar integrally molded spring elements. Examples include those shown in FIGS. 1–7 of U.S. Pat. No. 3,850,464, and FIGS. 6B–6E of U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,534. A variation is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,482,333, in which the spring member 5 includes two pairs of integrally hinged generally planar elements, molded from a suitable resin, such as polypropylene, in a relaxed configuration. In each of these designs, when the latch is operated stresses are generated primarily proximate the portion of the latch where the spring extends from the latch body.
There is a need for a simple, inexpensive slam latch having an integrally molded spring element that resists cyclic stresses and fatigue failure.


One inductive sensor is configured to maintain a fixed frequency in a resonant circuit. One apparatus includes an inductance-to-digital converter (LDC). The LDC includes a digital filter to measure an inductance change of a sensor and convert the inductance change to a digital value. The LDC further includes a digital control loop to maintain a fixed frequency in the sensor. The sensor forms an oscillator in the digital control loop. An output of the digital control loop is representative of the inductance change of the sensor.

An inductive sensor may be used to detect the presence and location of an object or the proximity of an object within a sensing area of the inductive sensor. For example, inductive sensing circuitry may detect the presence and location of an object proximate to an inductive sensor. There are a number of different types of inductive sensors. Inductive sensing may allow for linear encoding, rotary encoding, linear variable differential transformer (LVDT) sensing, and the like. Inductive sensing technology may enable touch and proximity detection for human interface on a wide variety of materials including both ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Detection occurs by measuring small deflections of conductive targets. Inductive sensing over metal overlays may provide the ability to design aesthetic user interfaces for products.

High performance inductive sensing all digital phase locked loop


The wheel locations for wireless tire pressure monitoring sensors are automatically learned by comparing the timing of sensor message transmissions to directly measured wheel rotation, such as from an anti-lock brake system. In order to synchronize the data to be detected and compared across a distributed electronic system, first timestamps are applied to RF sensor messages upon reception in a receiver. Second timestamps are applied to decoded sensor data in the receiver when transmission of the data and the first timestamps to a control module begins. The control module applies third timestamps upon reception by the control module. The control module calculates sensor message times by subtracting a difference of the first and second timestamps from the third timestamp.

The present invention relates in general to tire pressure monitoring systems in automobiles, and, more specifically, to automatically learning to associate transmissions from identified wheel-mounted sensors with the wheel locations where the respective wheels are installed.
Monitoring of tire pressure provides a useful safety feature as the result of being able to automatically inform a driver when a low pressure appears in any tire. A typical tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) sensor unit includes a battery-powered device that is remotely mounted on each respective wheel. Pressure data from a transducer is wirelessly transmitted (e.g., via RF) to a vehicle-mounted receiver for analyzing the transmitted messages and to associate the measurements with respective wheel locations. Each sensor unit includes a unique identifier or serial number which is included in each message that the receiver can learn to associate with respective wheel positions so that the location of a tire experiencing low pressure can be reported to the driver. Because of the possibility of tire rotation (i.e., swapping of wheel locations for evening out the tire wear) or the replacement of a tire with a spare or new tire on a different wheel, these associations must be continually re-learned during vehicle operation.
One technique for learning the wheel location for data obtained from wheel-mounted TPMS sensors involves time correlation between data received from the TPMS sensors with data received from an anti-lock brake system (ABS) that directly monitors wheel positions. More specifically, the sensor unit may include an orientation sensor such as an accelerometer in order to time the broadcasting of messages according to a particular rotational position of the wheel, such as at the top of a wheel rotation. By triggering the transmission of messages once per wheel rotation, the timing of a string of tire pressure messages can be compared with direct measurements from each of the wheel locations in the ABS data. Since tire slippage, vehicle trajectory, and other factors result in differential overall rotation between the individual wheels, timing information from each respective TP MS sensor unit eventually matches only one of the sets of corresponding ABS data measurements. This general technique for learning the wheel associations is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 7,336,161 to Walraet, U.S. Pat. No. 8,528,393 to Craig et al., and U.S. patent application publication 2014/0019035 to Fink et al., for example.
In order to reliably associate the TPMS sensor ID's with respective wheel locations within a reasonable period of time, a high accuracy of the measured time of occurrence for each TPMS sensor message is needed. In an electrical architecture wherein the TPMS data and ABS data is received and processed by the same microprocessor or microcontroller based on a single timing reference (e.g., clock), synchronization between the data sets and the overall accuracy of the timing data itself is fairly straightforward to obtain. In a typical electrical architecture of an automotive vehicle, however, a distributed architecture is employed wherein the RF receiving and decoding circuits are located in one module and the processing (e.g., comparison) of the TPMS data with the ABS data in order to find the wheel associations is performed by circuits located in a different module (e.g., a body control module). The detection and decoding of the RF messages from the TPMS sensors in the RF module may take an amount of time that varies from one message to another. When the decoded messages are repackaged and sent to the other module doing the comparison, the time at which the message arrives at the comparing module is not sufficiently accurate for purposes of the comparison because of the variable delay between the time that the sensor unit was at the reference position and the time that the comparing module receives the corresponding message. Walraet '161 discloses a shared clock signal generated in one module and coupled directly to other modules for use in detecting the times for the TPMS data and ABS data. However, the dedicated provisioning of wiring for sharing a clock signal is undesirable.
Synchronization of separate clock references with different modules over existing communication lines (such as a multiplex bus) has provided limited accuracy due to bus delays for the associated messages and due to clock drift that continues to occur between synchronization messages. Therefore, improved timing measurements are needed in the context of a distributed processing system.

Automatic wheel to tire pressure sensor correlation in distributed architecture


An organic electroluminescence (EL) display panel includes a substrate, a thin film transistor on the substrate, an overcoat layer on the thin film transistor and containing an organic material, a first electrode on the overcoat layer, an organic light emitting layer on the first electrode, a second electrode on the organic light emitting layer, and a barrier layer between the overcoat layer and the first electrode and including a first region formed of a single layer and a second region formed of a multilayer.

1. Field
The present invention relates to an organic electroluminescence (EL) display panel and a display device including the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
As portable display devices (such as notebooks, mobile phones and portable media players (PMPs)) as well as display devices for homes (such as TVs and monitors) become lighter and thinner, various flat panel display devices are being used. A flat panel display device includes a display panel which displays images. Flat panel display devices may be referred to as liquid crystal display devices, organic electroluminescence (EL) display devices, and electrophoretic display devices according to the type of the display panel.
An organic EL display device includes an organic EL display panel. The organic EL display panel includes an organic light emitting layer which is disposed between a first electrode and a second electrode and emits light corresponding to a current flowing therethrough. The organic EL display panel includes a thin film transistor connected to the first electrode or the second electrode and controls the current flowing through the organic light emitting layer using the thin film transistor. An overcoat layer may be disposed between the thin film transistor and the first or second electrode connected to the thin film transistor in order to planarize a top surface of the thin film transistor.
The organic light emitting layer may emit red light, blue light, or green light according to the type of the organic EL display panel. Otherwise, the organic light emitting layer may emit white light. If the organic light emitting layer emits the white light, the organic EL display panel may further include a color filter.

Organic electroluminescence display panel structured to reduce or prevent outgassing from an organic material, and display device including the same


An electronic holographic display device includes: a beam emitting device; a plurality of polarizing beam splitters; a plurality of spatial light modulators, each of which is disposed with prescribed distances therebetween and modulates a beam vertically made incident from the corresponding polarizing beam splitter; a magnifying optical system; and a reducing optical system. The magnifying optical system includes a first lens array and a second lens array. The reducing optical system includes a third lens array and a fourth lens array. A distance “a” between the spatial light modulator and the first lens is represented by a=(k+2)f0/(k+1), wherein a ratio “k” is a distance between two adjacent spatial light modulators, to a size of the spatial light modulator, and f0 is a focal point distance of the first lens.

Binocular-type stereoscopic televisions and movies using eyeglasses have become popular in recent years. Multi-eye type stereoscopic displays without a need of eyeglasses have also been developed. A technique of displaying a 3D image of binocular type or of multi-eye type uses, however, only part of factors which enables stereoscopy (such as binocular parallax, convergence, focusing, and motion parallax). Without effect of the focusing, in particular, such problems may occur that viewers of a stereoscopic image displayed with the above-described techniques feel fatigued, have headache, or the like.
In the meantime, a 3D image displayed using a technique of electronic holography satisfies all of the above-described factors for stereoscopy, and is thus considered to be capable of providing a 3D image which is naturally acceptable and has less burden on a human body. The electronic holography displays a 3D reconstructed image in such a manner that: data on a hologram is acquired with a method of directly photographing a hologram using an electrical imaging element such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) or with a CGH (Computer Generated Hologram) which computes a hologram based on 3D spatial information of an object; and a spatial light modulator (SLM) such as a liquid crystal panel displays the hologram.

National Institute of Information and Communications Technology