An improved portable shopping system with improved data presentation system for presenting customer desired data on a portable terminal. The portable terminal includes audio as well as video presentation components that are used to provide customer specific marketing files to promote the sale of identified items.

The use of data collecting portable computing terminals such as the PPT 4100 and the PPT 4600 manufactured by Symbol Technologies, Inc., the assignee of the present invention, has been adopted in many commercial applications. These terminal systems may include integrated bar code readers which permit the collection, storage and distribution of a high volume of data without the need for extensive keypad data entry. These terminal systems also provide full computing capabilities using standard PC architectures. These terminal systems may also be provided with wireless communication radio systems such as Symbol Technologies, Inc. local area network radio system "SPECTRUM24™". The SPECTRUM24™ radio network system permits hand-held terminals to share and retrieve data in the proximity of local area networks with a central host.
Hand-held computing terminals offering various computing functions have been previously used in consumer applications. Examples of such systems are described in Dutch Patent Application No. 9002296 ("the '296 application") and U.S. Pat. No. 5,468,942 to Oosterveen et al. ("the Oosterveen Patent"). The '296 application and the Oosterveen Patent describe systems in which an authorized customer is issued a terminal having an integrated bar code scanner to record merchandise purchases. The scanners maintain a list of merchandise selected for purchase by the customer within internal memory means. Prior to exiting the store, the information stored in the memory of a scanner is downloaded through a communication port attached to a terminal dispenser, and a printed ticket of the customer's purchases is printed on a printer. The customer then proceeds to a checkout register where the customer tenders payment for the purchased merchandise. The systems may provide for the occasional audit of customers using the system to ensure integrity of the self-service system.
Commercially available prior art self-checkout systems have employed relatively simple and unsophisticated consumer systems which have generally been limited to providing simple pricing and product identification information.

Method and system for presenting item information using a portable data terminal


The present invention provides siRNA specific for myocilin and mutant myocilin, and methods of treating ocular conditions and/or diseases.

Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of blindness in the world. It affects approximately 66.8 million people worldwide. At least 12,000 Americans are blinded by this disease each year (Kahn and Milton, 1980). Glaucoma is characterized by the degeneration of axons in the optic nerve head, primarily due to elevated intraocular pressure (IOP). One of the most common forms of glaucoma, known as primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), results from the increased resistance of aqueous humor outflow in the trabecular meshwork (TM), causing IOP elevation and eventual optic nerve damage.
Recent studies have linked POAG and juvenile open-angle glaucoma (JOAG) to the mutation of myocilin (Tamm et al., 2002; Jacobson et al., 2001). Myocilin, a secretory protein was first identified in cultured human TM cells treated with dexamethasome. In situ hybridization experiments revealed that myocilin is present in many ocular tissues including conjunctiva, sclera, TM and cornea and non-ocular tissues such as smooth muscle. In humans, the gene encoding myocilin is located in chromosome 1 (1q21-q31) and was initially named TIGR (TM-Inducible-Glucocorticoid-Response protein) (Jacobson et al., 2001).


A linearly aligned four-cylinder internal combustion engine system operated in a 1-3-4-2 sequence, comprising a cylinder head connected with a cylinder block wherein each cylinder has at least one exhaust port to discharge exhaust gasses via an exhaust gas discharge system, for which an exhaust gas pipe is connected at each exhaust port; wherein the exhaust gas pipes of the cylinders that merge in stages into a common exhaust gas pipe and the exhaust gas discharge system emerges outside of the cylinder head. Thus exhaust gas from consecutive ignitions in adjacent cylinders is separated for a distance throughout the engine head to reduce mutual influencing in adjacent cylinders with consecutive ignitions.

The multi-cylinder internal combustion engines of motor vehicles often include at least one cylinder head connected to the mounting face of a cylinder block and four cylinders arranged in line along the longitudinal axis of the cylinder head, wherein each cylinder is equipped with ignition devices to initiate external ignition. Each cylinder generally contains at least one exhaust port to discharge the exhaust gasses from the cylinder via the exhaust gas discharge system, wherein each exhaust gas pipe is connected at each exhaust port. In the context of the following specification the term "engine," in particular, comprises petrol engines equipped with external ignition. Engines have at least one cylinder head and one cylinder block which are connected together at their mounting faces to form the individual cylinders referred to as combustion chambers.
The cylinder head frequently serves to hold the valve actuating mechanism called the valve gear to control the charge change. In charge change, combustion gasses are expelled via the exhaust ports and a fresh mixture or fresh air is drawn in via the inlet ports, filling the combustion chamber. Reciprocating valves are often used as charge change control elements during operation of the engine to open and close the inlet and exhaust ports, wherein the aim is rapid opening of a flow cross-section large enough to keep choke losses low and maximize the fill of the cylinders. Therefore, cylinders are frequently fitted with two or more inlet or exhaust ports. Downstream of the manifold the exhaust gasses may then be sent to a turbine of the exhaust turbocharger and/or to one or more exhaust post-treatment systems. Power released by combustion is adjusted by changing the fill of the combustion chamber by adjusting the pressure in the aspirated air and varying the aspirated air mass. Lower loads rely upon a higher choking, so charge change losses are increased the low load region.
One approach for dechoking the working process of the petrol engine lies in the use of a variable valve gear with which the stroke of the valves and/or the control times can be varied to a greater or lesser extent. Varying the control times of the valves is achieved by use of a camshaft adjustment device with which the camshaft can be twisted through a certain angle in relation to the crankshaft allowing control times to be advanced or retarded without varying the opening duration of the valves. In this method of variable valve control, valve overlap depends on the crank angle range in which the exhaust is not yet closed while the inlet remains open. During valve overlap at high loads "flushing losses" can occur, wherein part of the aspirated fresh air flows through the cylinder without participating in the subsequent combustion. A variable valve control allows decreasing the valve overlap in response to increased rotation speed. For engines charged by means of exhaust turbocharging, at low rotation speeds a large valve overlap is suitable for raising the maximum torque and improving the unstable operating behavior. A pressure fall present at low rotation speeds between the inlet side and exhaust side supports an effective flushing of the cylinders with fresh air and ensures greater cylinder filling and hence higher power. A large valve overlap, possibly from late closure of the at least one exhaust valve, is also suitable for reducing the pumping and the resulting charge change losses.
Charge change has proved problematic for the exhaust pipes of the cylinders. Degradation can occur from the respective exhaust port through to the collection point in the exhaust gas discharge system at which the exhaust pipes merge into a common exhaust pipe and the hot exhaust gas from the cylinders is collected, this is compounded by the increasingly shorter exhaust pipe designs in modern engines. Increasingly often, the exhaust gas discharge system is integrated, at least partly, in the cylinder head in order to participate in the cooling provided in the cylinder head and reduce the need for expensive thermally heavy duty materials. Short exhaust pipes can lead to a mutual disadvantage of the cylinders of the engine on the effect on charge change, in particular, the effect achieved by residual gas flushing may be decreased. Thus in an in-line engine operated in a combustion sequence, the charge change of a cylinder can have a disadvantageous effect on the cylinder immediately preceding it in the ignition sequence due to different mechanisms competing to evacuate exhaust gas.
For example, exhaust gas emerging from the one cylinder entering another cylinder before its exhaust valves close resulting in two different mechanisms competing to evacuate combustion gasses from the fourth cylinder. Various approaches may be used to combat the problem arising from the short exhaust pipes, these approaches include shortening the opening duration of the exhaust valves by opening a valve later or closing a valve sooner. Use of large valve overlap is often heightened at low engine speeds by opening the valve later while maintaining closing time, this measure maintains engine torque at low engine rotation speeds; however, power disadvantages arise from shortened valve duration at high engine rotation speeds from the reduction in pumping in the low load range to reduce fuel consumption.
The inventors herein recognized this problem inherent in shortened exhaust pipes and recognized that some of the issues addressed above by providing some degree of isolation of the exhaust pipes of cylinders adjacent in the ignition sequence. Further, this method would alleviate the problems of mutual influence of adjacent cylinders on charge change while maintaining the benefits of a large valve overlap or long exhaust opening duration o minimize the power disadvantages arising with at high rotation speeds and/or with regard to the reduction of pumping in low load operation.

Multi-cylinder internal combustion engine and method for operating such a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine


In one example, a display includes an array of display pixels. Each display pixel includes at least one light-emitting diode. At least one of the display pixels includes an image sensor.

Displays based on light-emitting diodes (LEDs) such as organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) and/or inorganic micro light-emitting diodes (also referred to as micro LEDs or μLEDs) may be used for applications in emerging portable electronics and wearable computers (for example, computing devices, laptop computers, mobile devices, tablets, phones, head mounted displays, head worn displays, wristwatches, wearable watch displays, Virtual Reality displays, Augmented Reality displays, OLED displays, micro LED displays, etc).
In some cases, the same numbers are used throughout the disclosure and the figures to reference like components and features. In some cases, numbers in the 100 series refer to features originally found in FIG. 1; numbers in the 200 series refer to features originally found in FIG. 2; and so on.

Integrated image sensor and display pixel


A robot includes a face extracting section for extracting features of a face included in an image captured by a CCD camera, and a face recognition section for recognizing the face based on a result of face extraction by the face extracting section. The face extracting section is implemented by Gabor filters that filter images using a plurality of filters that have orientation selectivity and that are associated with different frequency components. The face recognition section is implemented by a support vector machine that maps the result of face recognition to a non-linear space and that obtains a hyperplane that separates in that space to discriminate a face from a non-face. The robot is allowed to recognize a face of a user within a predetermined time under a dynamically changing environment.

Techniques of face recognition can be widely applied to man-machine interfaces, for example, for a personal authentication system that does not impose a burden on users, and for distinction of gender. Although recognition techniques based on side faces have been considered initially, recognition techniques based on front images are now most common.
Researches on face recognition are considered as benchmarks for verifying theories of pattern recognition, and thus various methods there of face recognition have been developed. Most applications assumed in the development, such as authentication in security systems, and search for a person from a large-scale database, have required accuracy under static environments.
Recently, robot apparatuses for entertainment, with appearances similar to those of animals such as dogs, have been available. For example, on Nov. 25, 2000, Sony Corporation announced "SDR-3X", which is a two-legged mobile humanoid robot. Legged mobile robots of this type are unstable and it is difficult to control attitude and gait thereof; however, advantageously, the robots are allowed to go up and down stairs or ladders and to overcome obstacles, achieving flexible walking and running irrespective of distinction between leveled and unleveled grounds. Furthermore, with improved intelligence that allows robots to operate autonomously, it becomes not impossible for people and robots to live together in the same living space.
Intelligent robot apparatuses are capable of exhibiting animal-like behavior by autonomously operating eyes and legs in accordance with external information (e.g., information regarding circumstances), internal status (e.g., emotional status), etc.
The emergence of such robot apparatuses raised demand for human interface techniques that allow response within a predetermined time under a dynamically changing operating environment, one of which is face discrimination by a robot apparatus. For example, by using face discrimination, a robot apparatus is allowed to discriminate a user (owner, friend, or legitimate user) from among many, and a higher level of entertainment is achieved, for example, by changing reactions on the basis of individual users.
Techniques of face recognition in robot apparatuses, as opposed to applications to authentication in security systems and search for a person from a large-scale database, require response within a predetermined time under a dynamically changing operating environment even at the cost of somewhat less accuracy.
An application of face discrimination in such a robot apparatus needs to solve the following problems in addition to the problem of discriminating a person from a given scene.                (1) Since the robot apparatus itself moves, change in and diversity of environment must be accepted.        (2) Since the relative positions of a person and the robot apparatus change, the person must be kept in vision during interactions.        (3) An image that is useful for discrimination of a person must be selected from a large number of scenes, and a comprehensive judgment must be made.        (4) A response must take place within a predetermined time.
The mainstream of face recognition methods has been methods based on neural network and methods in which principal components analysis (PCA) is applied to a vector space composed of luminance values of a face image (eigenspace method). These conventional methods, however, have had the following shortcomings.
First, face recognition based on neural network does not allow incremental learning.
As for the methods based on eigenspace, although orthogonal piecewise-linear spaces are assumed (i.e., averaging two face images forms a human face), linearity is not actually provided in many cases, so that precise positioning called morphing or alignment is required. Some methods attempt to alleviate the effect by normalization with respect to position, rotation, and size in the pre-process; however, the processing does not necessarily work well. This has been a factor that deteriorates recognition performance. Furthermore, since the degrees of face space are significantly reduced to allow separation in that space, features of high degrees might be lost.
Furthermore, each of the recognition methods described above is susceptible to effects of change in lighting conditions, change in camera parameters, noise, position, and rotation, so that pre-processing such as noise filtering and morphing is required. Also, question remains regarding the ability of generalization.

Robot apparatus, face recognition method, and face recognition apparatus


The present invention supports container-provided EJB timer service that allows EJB instances dealing with timed events to create and register for a timer, which is scheduled to send notifications either at a specific time and/or after a specific elapsed duration, or at specific recurring intervals. When the timer expires, certain business logic inside the EJB instance will be invoked to handle the timeout event. When the cancel method of a timer is called, the timer may cease to exist. The timer is capable of retrying failed timeout under certain conditions when the current invocation of timeout logic fails. In addition, the timer is capable of monitoring the access from multiple registered EJB instances enrolled in transactions under multi-threaded environment, and restricting the access to the timer from EJB instances in certain threads until the current transaction accessing the timer commits to prevent a potential conflicting situation. This description is not intended to be a complete description of, or limit the scope of, the invention. Other features, aspects, and objects of the invention can be obtained from a review of the specification, the figures, and the claims.

Enterprise applications that model workflow-type business processes are dependent on notifications that certain temporal events have occurred in order to manage the semantic state transitions that are intrinsic to the business processes that they model. To fit this need, timer service for a programmable class can be added to and managed by a container to provide a reliable and transactional notification service for timed events. Here a programmable class (also referred to as class) can be but is not limited to, a Java bean, an Enterprise Java Bean (EJB), an interface, a module, and other suitable concepts, and EJB will be used to illustrate the various embodiments of the invention in the following context. One scenario of when the timer service may be used is to send out a notification when an EJB instance remains in a certain state for an elapsed amount of time. For example, an EJB instance representing an expense report that needs to be approved by a manager should be registered with a timer when it is created so that when the timer expires, the certain business logic handling timeout in the EJB instance is called back upon to email the manager and the employee that the expense report is still waiting for approval. If the expense report is approved before the reminder timer expires, the timer could be cancelled.
A timeout failure occurs when the business logic handling timeout event fails. Under such circumstance, the failed timeout logic should be retried for a number of times before an exception is thrown in order to minimize the impact of the timeout failure. However, the mechanism to support such retry feature is not currently provided by many timer service systems.
In addition, since a timer is typically created by an EJB instance within the scope of a transaction and can be associated with other EJB instances, such as instances of stateless session beans or message driven beans, it is possible that the timer may be accessed by multiple transactions under a multi-threaded environment. Many current timer service systems cannot adequately control the concurrent access to the timer, which often causes the mal-operation or failure of certain threads involved.


The present invention relates to a material intended for forming or printing images, comprising a support and at least one hydrophilic binder-based layer, and its manufacturing method, said method enabling the gelation process of the hydrophilic binder to be controlled. The material according to the invention is characterized in that in at least one of said hydrophilic binder-based layers, said hydrophilic binder is gelated by complexation with a complexing agent present on a heat-sensitive polymer or copolymer, that is hydrophobic at temperatures higher than its lower critical solution temperature LCST to protect the complexing agent, and water-soluble at temperatures less than its LCST to make the complexing agent accessible, the LCST of the heat-sensitive (co)polymer being higher than the setting temperature of said hydrophilic binder. The material according to the invention can be used as photographic material or as material taking aqueous ink compositions applied by the inkjet printing technique.

Conventionally, materials intended to receive water-based inks by the inkjet printing technique are obtained by coating different layers on a support. The absorber layer absorbs the liquid part of the water-based ink composition after imaging. Elimination of the liquid reduces the risk of ink migration to the surface. The ink fixing layer prevents any ink loss into the fibers of the paper base to obtain good color saturation while preventing excess ink that would promote the increase in size of the printing dots and reduce the image quality. The absorber layer and fixing layer can also constitute a single layer ensuring both functions. The protective layer is designed to ensure protection against fingerprints and the pressure marks of the printer feed rollers. Some of these layers have a hydrophilic binder base, such as poly(vinyl alcohol).
Coating technology is also used in the photographic field, where photographic materials are obtained by coating various hydrophilic binder-based layers onto a support, especially image-forming silver halide emulsion layers, but also protection layers, intermediate layers such as an antihalation layer, an antistatic layer, etc. Such arrangements are described in Research Disclosure, Item 38957, page 624, section XI (September 1996). Research Disclosure is a publication of K enneth Mason Publications Ltd., Dudley House, 12 North Street, Emsworth, Hampshire PO10 7DQ, United Kingdom.
The hydrophilic binder generally used in the photographic field is gelatin, known for its rapid setting properties after coating, which enables high-speed coating processes. Poly(vinyl alcohol) has the disadvantage of setting less rapidly than gelatin. Its use thus entails a reduction of the coating speed that does not enable either cost reductions or productivity increases.
There have been attempts to improve the setting properties of poly(vinyl alcohol), especially in order to be able to replace gelatin by poly(vinyl alcohol) or in order to be able to use conventional photographic material coating installations to produce materials for inkjet printing.
One solution to improve the setting properties of poly(vinyl alcohol) consisted in using hardeners. Thus, DHD (dihydroxydioxane) has been used as hardener to improve the physical properties of coating. However, not only can DHD present toxicity problems, but it is also not a rapid hardener. The results are thus not a good as predicted. Sodium tetraborate (borax) has also been used as a hardener. Such a compound, thanks to its borate anions, reacts as a dicomplexation reaction with the hydroxy groups of the hydrophilic binder, leading to the gelation of the hydrophilic binder via intra and interchained didiol complexes. As the dicomplexation reaction is very rapid, borax enables a coating with excellent setting properties to be obtained. However, as borax is very efficient, it is difficult to mix it with the hydrophilic binder before coating. Indeed, borax starts to react with the binder prior to coating, and strongly modifies the binder's viscosity, which causes it to gel before the coating of the required surface, resulting in a material having poor physical properties, the appearance of coating defects, or even the stopping of the coating by the blocking of the coating machine if the binder's viscosity becomes too high.
Therefore, there is a need for a new material intended for forming or printing images, comprising a hydrophilic binder-based layer, and its new manufacturing method, enabling the gelation process of said hydrophilic binder, such as poly(vinyl alcohol), to be optimized and better controlled in order to obtain a hydrophilic binder-based layer that is uniform and has good physical properties.

Material intended for forming or printing images and its manufacturing method


An apparatus for depositing a selected pattern of solder onto a substrate comprising a substrate support, a solder ejector, and a gas-delivery system associated with the solder ejector. The substrate support has structure for bearing a substrate on which one or more electronic components are to be mounted. The solder ejector has a housing that defines an orifice for producing a stream of molten solder droplets along a selected trajectory relative to the substrate support to deposit molten solder onto the substrate in a selected pattern. The gas delivery system has an input for receiving pressurized inert gas and an output aligned with the directed stream of molten droplets for discharging from the orifice of the solder ejector a flow of inert gas aligned with the ejected molten solder droplets. A method for depositing a selected pattern of solder onto a substrate is also described.

This invention relates to a jet soldering system and method.
Various soldering schemes have been developed for bonding semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) chips to a substrate (e.g., a printed circuit board). In some schemes, a semiconductor IC chip is bonded to a substrate by applying a small solder bump to the bottom surface of the chip, aligning the solder bump with a bond pad on the surface of the substrate, and heating the solder bump until it reflows. In some other schemes, solder bumps are applied to bonding pads on a substrate; afterwards, electronic components are bonded to the substrate by positioning the components over the solder bumps and by heating and reflowing the solder bumps. Some schemes bond IC chips to a patterned layer of solder created by applying a thin layer of solder paste to a substrate through holes in a stencil, leaving a selected solder pattern on the substrate. Recently, solder jet systems have been proposed for depositing solder droplets onto a substrate in a selected pattern. Such systems include a solder droplet ejector, which may eject solder droplets on-demand or continuously. In one proposed continuous solder jet system, a droplet generator vibrates to form a stream of solder droplets; an electrical charge is applied to the droplets and the charged droplets are passed between charged deflection plates which selectively direct the droplets to a target surface or to a catcher system.


Embodiments of this application disclose a data transmission method and a communications apparatus. A method in an embodiment includes: sending, by a network device, first data to a terminal in a first subframe through a first channel, where the first channel is a channel occupied in a channel system by a service between the network device and the terminal; performing, by the network device, channel listening on a channel that is not occupied in the channel system by the service; and when there is a second channel in an idle state, sending, by the network device, second data of the service to the terminal in a second subframe through the first channel and the second channel, where the second subframe is after the first subframe. The service includes the first data and the second data, and a data frame of the service includes the first subframe and the second subframe.

There are abundant spectrum resources on an unlicensed spectrum. Therefore, development and utilization of the unlicensed spectrum has drawn an increasing attention from operators and equipment vendors. Due to an unlicensed feature of the unlicensed spectrum, a plurality of systems may operate on the frequency band, for example, a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi for short) system, a licensed-assisted access (LAA for short) system, an enhanced licensed-assisted access (eLAA for short) system, a Bluetooth system, and the like. To ensure fair and effective use of the unlicensed spectrum by the plurality of systems, a system operating on the frequency band needs to meet a spectrum etiquette. For example, a distributed channel contention access mechanism is designed for the Wi-Fi system, and the Wi-Fi system coordinates, in a distributed manner, a plurality of systems to access the unlicensed spectrum in a listen before talk (LBT) manner, to avoid interference between a plurality of nodes while ensuring access fairness.
Specifically, before data transmission is initiated for a service, a channel that is currently in an idle state is determined through channel listening, and then the data transmission is performed on the channel in the idle state. After the service accesses a transmission channel through contention, there is a maximum channel occupancy time or a transmission opportunity, to ensure that the plurality of systems fairly access the unlicensed spectrum.
Currently, in the maximum channel occupancy time or the transmission opportunity, a service cannot adjust a channel bandwidth at any time based on a channel status. Consequently, when another channel not occupied by the service is idle, the another channel cannot be effectively used, thereby reducing channel resource utilization.

Data transmission method and communications apparatus


An RF power circuit comprises a power transistor having a gate and drain, an output matching network coupled to the drain and an input matching network coupled to the gate. A closed-loop bias circuit is integrated with the power transistor on the same die and coupled to the gate for biasing the RF power transistor based on a reference voltage applied to the bias circuit.

Lateral diffused metal-oxide-semiconductor (LDMOS) transistors provide for excellent power performance and linearity and are therefore often the transistor of choice in Radio frequency (RF) power devices in applications in the GHz range and microwave range. LDMOS transistors, thus, have begun in the past few years to dominate cellular base station applications. Linearity is provided by properly biasing these devices. Typically, these devices are operated in the so-called "AB" mode which requires proper setting of the gate voltage to achieve a desired quiescent current. In conventional circuits, this is often done by a simple potentiometer with or without temperature and/or hot electron compensation. However, incorporating a simple potentiometer with an LDMOS transistor is not feasible in cost-effective high volume manufacturing.

Semiconductor power device with bias circuit


The present invention provides an apparatus comprising a passive optical transmission fiber. The passive optical transmission fiber comprises a passive glass fiber core, a glass optical inner cladding surrounding the core and a glass optical outer cladding surrounding the inner cladding. The inner cladding has a lower index of refraction than the passive glass fiber core and the outer cladding has a lower index of refraction than the inner cladding. The passive optical transmission fiber also comprises a second optical segment coupled to the optical fiber. The second optical segment is configured to dissipate light in the inner cladding.

A common problem where light is coupled into an optical fiber is that there is a loss of light. For instance, even with careful design to match the input numerical aperture to that of the fiber, there is usually a lateral or angular misalignment with respect to the downstream fiber. This misalignment can result in light being coupled into the cladding rather than into the core, as intended. Light escaping from the core is commonly referred to as cladding mode light, or simply cladding light.
Cladding light can be present in a variety of devices: a laser diode, a splice, in a free space optical device, or a tapered fiber device. Cladding light can also appear in intentionally bent fiber, in periodical structures, such as fiber gratings, or at inadvertent micro-bends in a fiber. It is desirable to remove the cladding light before the next discontinuity in the fiber path for a number of reasons, among them because the cladding light can couple back into the fiber's core, generating multi-path interference.
The removal of cladding light, however, can cause unacceptable heating within an apparatus containing or coupled to the optical fiber. In particular, heating caused by the dissipation of cladding light can be very detrimental to the operation of high optical throughput apparatus. This problem is becoming increasingly important as the industry trends toward high power applications. As the amount of power carried in optical fiber increases from levels of a few watts up to kilowatts, conventional approaches to remove cladding light become inadequate.
For example, the removal of cladding light into polymeric coatings can be problematic in high power applications where the amount of cladding light is greatly increased. The removal of such light can cause excessive heating of the polymer coating as it absorbs the light, causing accelerated aging, and sometimes failure, of the coating and then the fiber. Additionally, in situations where the use of a polymer coating is unacceptable, there can be insufficient space in a device package to couple adequate numbers of heat sinks to the optical fiber to dissipate heat.
The present invention overcomes these problems by providing a light guiding structure in a glass cladding that facilitates the controlled dissipation of heat associated with the removal of cladding light from an optical fiber.

Optical transmission fiber with a glass guiding cladding


A method of performing a money transfer send transaction comprises receiving information at a call center from a sender for a send transaction, including a proposed send amount, and responsive to the information from the sender received at the call center, building a staging record for the send transaction. The staging record includes compliance data responsive to the proposed send amount and to compliance rules. A data center receives information from an agent provided by the sender to the agent, with the information including a retrieval key to identify the staging record, a requested send amount and agent location information. Responsive to the requested send amount and the agent location information, the data center identifies in the compliance rules at least one applicable compliance window and tests the requested send transaction and compliance data in the staging record for consistency with the at least one applicable compliance window. Responsive to an affirmative test for consistency, the data center prompts the agent to collect from the sender payment of the requested send amount and any transaction fee and, responsive to the agent's confirmation of receipt of payment, prepares a send transaction record. Finally, the data center provides the agent a send transaction identifier for communication to the sender.

The present invention relates to an apparatus and methods for transferring money or monetary value. More specifically, the present invention relates to a system for managing data to effect send, receive and payment transactions for money transfers.
It is increasingly common for funds to be transferred electronically This can occur from individual to individual or from business to business or between an individual and a business. The transfers may occur within one country or across borders, from one country into another, and thus may involve a currency change.
In some cases one or both of the individuals or businesses involved may lack an account at a bank or a credit card. Thus, the funds for the transfer often must be provided in cash (or equivalent) and the payout to the recipient may also preferably be in cash (or equivalent).
Large bank and non-bank financial institutions are involved in money transfers. To extend their geographical coverage, the institutions engage agents and may equip them with specialized terminals or other facilities. The personnel of such agents may not be well educated or highly trained and may do several other tasks (such as service as retail sales clerks). This requires a system that is easy to use, deters mistakes and fraud and minimizes agent personnel time.
Although the convenience and need for non-bank money transfers is well recognized and most transactions are entirely legitimate, governments have become concerned about transfers of these kinds being used to fund terrorism or to assist in various criminal enterprises. Governments are also concerned about consumer protection. Increasingly, governments regulate such money transfers. These laws and regulations include both state and federal levels, which may differ. The applicable laws and regulations may involve more than one nation's legal system. Thus, entities involved in money transfers must introduce complex procedural disciplines and keep records to conform to the laws and regulations.
To be economically efficient, companies involved in money transfers must follow the market for fees and, if they perform transfers involving a change in currency, they must use highly current rates of exchange. For money transfer transactions the timing for bringing together current, necessary fee and exchange rate information relative to when payment is made by the sender may be important.
To make money transfers efficient and to handle the large volume, electronic systems are used and personnel time is minimized. Thus, there is a need for improved money transfer systems and methods that assist the parties involving in conforming to government regulations, that provide procedures to minimize the amount of personnel time per transaction and that are otherwise economically efficient.


A folding top having changeable cover tension includes a cover stretched over a frame which is movable to move the cover between closed and opened positions. A tension bow is swung by a landau bar between a tensioning position and a non-tensioning position. Part of the rear portion of the cover is held in a narrow groove in the tension bow. The tension bow applies tension to this part of the cover when tension bow is in either of the tensioning or non-tensioning positions. Another part of the rear portion of the cover can slide into and out of a wide groove of the tension bow. The tension bow applies tension to this part of the cover when the tension bow is in the tensioning position but does not apply tension to this part of the cover when the tension bow is in the non-tensioning position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a folding top having a flexible cover such as a top cloth supported on a frame assembly and fastened at the rear to a tension bow in which tension provided to the cover by the tension bow is changeable.
2. Background Art
Folding tops (i.e., convertible tops) for vehicles have a flexible cover such as a top cloth that is stretched over a frame assembly. The frame assembly is movably connected to the vehicle body to move the folding top between closed and opened positions. The frame assembly has a tension bow which is fastened to a rear portion of the cover. The tension bow tensions the cover and lies on the vehicle body in taut position. The tension bow swings to release tension in the cover during closing and opening of the folding top. The cover remains solidly connected with the tension bow as the tension bow swings.
DE 41 04 658 C2 describes a folding top in which the ends of the tension bow have retaining angle pieces which form the boundary of a side window cutout of the cover. Elastic fabric straps under low tension connect lower edges of the side wings of the cover with the tension bow. This fastening achieves a change in the length of the cover during closing and opening of the folding top.
EP 1 680 300 B1 (corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 7,517,000) describes a folding top in which the tension bow is fastened to a rear portion of the cover and pivots through different centers of motion according to its direction of movement (i.e., swinging up and down) in order to vary tension of the cover during closing and opening of the folding top. The tension bow undergoes motion in the vehicle's longitudinal direction, in addition to its swiveling motion, to reduce tension in the cover. When the folding top is closed, the tension bow is pushed opposite the direction of forward vehicle travel (i.e., rearwardly) to tighten the cover. The cover remains solidly connected with the tension bow.
EP 1 314 601 B1 (corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 6,729,673) describes a folding top in which the tension bar is fastened to a rear portion of the cover. Lowering the tension bow tightens the cover. A landau bar having two parts arranged between a main control arm and the tension bow fixes the lowered position of the tension bow and thus maintains the tension of the cover.

Folding top with changeable tension in the cover


A memory control device for controlling writing and reading data in and from a line memory made up of a plurality of FIFO memories. Writing clocks are circularly applied to the plurality of FIFO memories of the line memory. Also, reading clocks are circularly applied to the plurality of FIFO memories. Thus, although data written in the FIFO memories are discrete, data circularly read from the plurality of FIFO memories are sequential in such order as they are written in the line memory.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a memory control device interposed between a pair of function circuits, such as image processing circuits in a digital copying machine, for controlling a memory, such as a line memory storing a single line of data.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There has been commonly used a digital copying machine where an image scanner, for example, optically reads an image on an original sheet to obtain image data, and then, after the image data is processed in various ways, such as outline emphasizing, black and white inverting, and the like, an image is reproduced on a copying sheet. Image formation in such a copying machine, for example, is accomplished by scanning a surface of a photoconductor with laser light modulated in accordance with the image data to form an electrostatic latent image, developing the electrostatic latent image into a toner image, and translating and fixing the toner image on a copying sheet.
Original image data corresponding to an output signal from the image scanner is generally processed in any of several ways, such as outline emphasizing, black and white inverting, shading and the like. In order to perform such various ways of image processing, an image processor may include a page memory which can store a page of image data and implement a series of operations to process the image data stored in the page memory. However, it is undesirable to use a large capacity page memory, because this causes an increase in manufacturing cost for the device. Hence, usually such a page memory is not used, and instead a pipeline organization is employed in which image data that has been processed in an image processing circuit is directly transferred to another image processing circuit for the next step of image processing, and in this way, the image data is processed by stages.
With such a pipeline organization, a line memory, which has a single line of storage capacity corresponding to a single scanning line along which an image scanner scans an original sheet, is interposed between the image processing circuits. The reason for this is that in image processing in a digital copying machine, for example, a horizontal synchronizing signal, which provides timing for the start of processing each single line of data, acts as a reference signal. The image processing circuits are reset in accordance with the horizontal synchronizing signal, and thereafter, processing of a single line of image data is started. If any image processing circuit is reset by the horizontal synchronizing signal in the course of processing a single line of image data, the processing of the single line of image data is interrupted, and the desired image processing may not be completed. Hence, it is necessary for the image processing circuit to take data at a specified timing related to the horizontal synchronizing signal to complete the processing of the single line of image data before it is reset in accordance with the horizontal synchronizing signal. It is also necessary to save a single line of image data for a period when the image processing circuit is reset in accordance with the horizontal synchronizing signal. Thus, it is required to provide a line memory which can save a single line of data at the previous and subsequent stages of each image processing circuit.
On the other hand, complicated image processing such as moving an image can be implemented by combining various functions all of which can be completed within a period corresponding to a single cycle of the horizontal synchronizing signal. In this case, the image processing circuits for implementing various functions are generally designed individually. Thus, it is preferable that each image processing circuit be separated from other image processing circuits at its previous and subsequent stages. In view of this, it is necessary to provide a line memory between each pair of the image processing circuits.
FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary structure where a line memory is interposed between each pair of adjacent image processing circuits. Line memories 3 and 4 are installed before and after image processing circuits 1 and 2. For the line memories 3 and 4, a first-in first-out memory (referred to as "FIFO memory" hereinafter) is generally used. The reason for this is that both the device structure and processing procedure can be simplified since there is no need to generate addresses for FIFO memories and writing and reading data can be simultaneously performed in and from a single memory.
The line memories 3 and 4 write and read image data based upon a system clock SCLK to control transfer of the image data. The line memories 3 and 4 commonly receive a reading authorizing signal MRE having a fixed timing related to the above-mentioned horizontal synchronizing signal, and the image data is read from the line memories 3 and 4 with common timing. The image processing circuits 1 and 2 also commonly receive the reading authorizing signal MRE and produce a writing authorizing signal MWE of which timing is determined based upon the reading authorizing signal MRE and the time required for an inside processing.
When the image processing circuit 1 is designed to conduct an inversion operation for inverting black and white, for example, the image processing circuit 1 is constructed as illustrated in FIG. 7. As can be seen, 8 bit data delivered by a line 6 is temporarily latched by a latch circuit 7A, based upon a system clock SCLK, and then is inverted by an inverting circuit 8, and thereafter, is latched by a latch circuit 7B and then output to a line 9. It takes two clocks to complete this inverting procedure through the latch circuits 7A and 7B. Hence, the image processing circuit 1 includes latch circuits 10A and 10B for delaying the reading authorizing signal MRE by two clocks, and a signal passing through the latch circuits 10A and 10B is applied to a line memory 4 at the next stage to act as the writing authorizing signal MWE. Thus, two clocks after the reading authorizing signal MRE is produced and the first data is input to the image processing circuit 1 from the line 6, the writing authorizing signal MWE is produced, and the first data processed on the basis of black and white inversion is delivered by the line 9 to write it in the line memory 4 at the next stage.
FIG. 8 is a timing chart illustrating operation of the structure shown in FIG. 6. The horizontal synchronizing signal HSYNC is a negative logic signal (marked with overline in FIG. 8), and in response to its falling, the image processing circuits 1 and 2 are reset. A fixed time .DELTA.T1 after the rising of the horizontal synchronizing signal HSYNC, the reading authorizing signal MRE rises. For a period the reading authorizing signal MRE is at High level, data stored in the line memories 3 and 4 are sequentially read based upon the system clock SCLK.
The image processing circuit 1 permits the writing authorizing signal MWE to rise at time t42 two system clocks SCLK after time t41 at which the reading authorizing signal MRE rises. This results in image data processed for the two-clock period being written in the line memory 4 at the next stage in a period subsequent to time t42.
The reading authorizing signal MRE maintains a status of High level over a period AT2 required for reading a single line of data. When the reading authorizing signal MRE falls at time t43, the writing authorizing signal MWE falls at time t44 two clocks later the falling. Thus, a single line of data is processed on the basis of the black and white inversion which requires two clocks, and the data processed in this way is stored in the line memory 4.
Although the number of clocks spent for the processing varies from one image processing circuit to another, it is necessary to complete a sequence of processing steps from reading data from the line memory at the previous stage to writing data in the line memory at the next stage in a period .DELTA.TH before the horizontal signal HSYNC again falls, because all of the image processing circuits are reset when the horizontal synchronizing signal HSYNC falls, as stated above. On or before the time the horizontal synchronizing signal HSYNC falls, the image data must be saved in the line memory.
Thus, the number of clocks used in the processing steps in the image processing circuits must be determined so that falling of the writing authorizing signal MWE, which is caused the same number of clocks after falling of the reading authorizing signal MRE, is caused before to falling of the horizontal synchronizing signal HSYNC. In other words, the maximum period of time which can be required for the image processing circuits to complete the required processing is a period corresponding to a period AT3 from the falling of the reading authorizing signal MRE to the falling of the horizontal synchronizing signal HSYNC.
In the case of a digital copying machine capable of copying an original sheet of Japan Industrial Standard Line A, Number 0 (referred to as "A0 size" hereinafter) at its maximum, for line memories 3 and 4, a memory must be used which can store image data consisting of dots corresponding in number to a length of a longer side (corresponding to the length of the shorter side of an A0 size sheet) of a sheet of Japan Industrial Standard Line A, Number 1 (referred to as "A1 size" hereinafter). To constitute such a line memory having a large capacity, a single FIFO memory having a storage capacity corresponding to the number of dots contained in the A1 size sheet may be used, and otherwise a special FIFO memory which can allow a signal for memory extension to be output may be used, arranged in cascade connection. However, such large capacity FIFO memory and special FIFO memory are expensive, and therefore, there lies the disadvantage that the intended apparatus costs more.
Accordingly, there has been proposed a low-priced large-capacity line memory in which a plurality of ordinary FIFO memories which cannot output a signal for memory extension are used, and a memory control device regulates the timing of operations of the plurality of FIFO memories.
FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a basic structure of the memory control device in the case where a line memory is comprised of three FIFO memories. In FIG. 9, an overline is added to symbols designating signals and the like to show that those signals are in a status of negative logic, but such drawing overline is omitted in this description. A digital copying machine capable of copying an A0 size original sheet would require a storage capacity of about 15,000 dots so as to cover the number of dots of a longer side of an A1 size sheet. Therefore, each of the three FIFO memories has a storage capacity of about 5,000 dots. For example, in reading an image at a density of 400 dots per inch (25.4 mm), the required storage capacity for reading 840 mm length of the shorter side of an A0 size sheet is as follows: EQU 840.times.400.div.25.4=13,228 (dots)
In this case, for example, an image scanner having 14,848 dots for reading may be used. Thus, it is calculated that the line memory must have a storage capacity of about 15,000 dots.
Corresponding to each line memory interposed between each pair of the image processing circuits, memory control circuits 5-1, 5-2, . . . , 5-k (referred to as "memory control circuit 5" en bloc; k is an integer 1 smaller than the number of the image processing circuits) are provided. Each of the memory control circuits 5 includes a counter 11 capable of counting the system clock SCLK and counting 15,000 or more. Also, each of the memory control circuits 5 includes three comparators 12A, 12B and 12C for comparing reference values "4,998", "9,998" and "14,998" with the count value of the counter 11, respectively, to produce a signal at High level upon coincidence.
Signals output from the comparators 12A, 12B, 12C are applied through OR gates 13A, 13B, 13C to input terminals of flip flops 14A, 14B, 14C, respectively. The signals output from the OR gates 13A, 13B, 13C are latched by the flip flops 14A, 14B, 14C, respectively, synchronizing with the rising of the system clock SCLK. Q bar output signals (inverted output signals) of the flip flops 14A, 14B, 14C are applied through AND gates 15A, 15B, 15C to data input terminals of the flip flops 16A, 16B, 16C, respectively. The signals output from the AND gates 15A, 15B, 15C are latched by the flip flops 16A, 16B, 16C, respectively, synchronizing with the rising of the system clock SCLK. Q output signals (noninverted output signals) from the flip flops 16A, 16B, 16C are to act as writing authorizing signals RST1, RST2, RST3 for three FIFO memories, respectively. Those FIFO memories corresponding to the writing authorizing signals RST1, RST2, RST3, are named below "first FIFO memory", "second FIFO memory" and "third FIFO memory", respectively (not shown).
Output signals from the flip flops 14A, 14B, 14C are fed back to the OR gates 13A, 13B, 13C, respectively. This is why once a signal at High level is input to the flip flops 14A, 14B, 14C, the Q bar output signals from those flip flops maintain Low level independent of signals input thereto.
On the other hand, the writing authorizing signal MWE is applied from the image processing circuit at the previous stage to the AND gate 15A, the Q output signal from the flip flop 14A is applied to the AND gate 15B, and the Q output signal from the flip flop 14B is applied to the AND gate 15C. The writing authorizing signal MWE is applied to clear input terminals of the counter 11 and the flip flops 14A, 14B, 14C, 16A, 16B and 16C. They are all maintain clear status for a period when the writing authorizing signal MWE is Low.
FIG. 10 is a timing chart illustrating operation of the memory control circuit. When the writing authorizing signal MWE rises at time t1, the output of the AND gate 15A turns to High while the clear status of the flip flops 14A, 14B, 14C, 16A, 16B and 16C is canceled. When the system clock SCLK rises at time t2, output from the AND gate 15A is latched by the flip flop 16A, and consequently, the writing authorizing signal RST1, corresponding to the first FIFO memory turns to High. This allows the first FIFO memory to receive image data in series from the image processing circuit at the previous stage, synchronizing with the system clock SCLK.
At time t1 the clear status of the counter 11 is also canceled, the system clock SCLK is counted for a period from time t2. When a counting value by the counter 11 coincide with the reference value "4,998" in the comparator 12A, the output from the comparator 12A is inverted from Low to High. Then, once output delivered from the comparator 12A through the OR gate 13A is latched by the flip flop 14A in accordance with the following 4999th system clock SCLK, the Q output from the flip flop 14A becomes High while its Q bar output becomes Low. In this state, the output from the AND gate 15A turns to Low, while the output from the AND gate 15B turns to High. Thus, in accordance with the following 5,000th system clocks SCLK, the Q output from the flip flop 16A is inverted to Low, while the Q output from the flip flop 16B is inverted to High.
In this way, at time t3, 5,000 times input of the system clock SCLK after time t1, the writing authorizing signal RST1 corresponding to the first FIFO memory is inverted to Low, and the writing authorizing signal RST2 corresponding to the second FIFO memory is inverted to High. As a result, instead of the writing in the first FIFO memory, writing in the second FIFO memory is started.
With a similar procedure, at time t4 10,000 times input of the system clock SCLK on and after time t1, the writing authorizing signal RST2 corresponding to the second FIFO memory is inverted to Low, and the writing authorizing signal RST3 corresponding to the third FIFO memory is inverted to High. Thus, writing image data in the third FIFO memory is started. At time t5 15,000 times input of the system clock SCLK after time t1 (or when the writing authorizing signal MWE falls), the writing authorizing signal RST3 is inverted to Low, and thus, writing a single line of image data is completed.
After that, at time t6 a period corresponding to one cycle for processing a single line of image data (e.g., 15,240 clocks) after time t1, the writing authorizing signal MWE rises again, and the operation described above is again performed.
Reading image data from the line memory can be effected with a structure similar to the above, and in this case, the reading authorizing signal MRE may be substituted for the writing authorizing signal MWE.
In the above-mentioned structure, each line memory interposed between each pair of the image processing circuits needs a memory control circuit 5 for controlling writing of image data. Specifically, in the structure shown in FIG. 6, for example, a couple of the memory control circuits 5 are needed to control writing image data in the line memories 3 and 4, and additionally, a further memory control circuit is needed to commonly control reading image data from the line memories 3 and 4. Each line memory needs the memory control circuit 5 to write image data in each line memory because a rising timing of the writing authorizing signal MWE input to each line memory from the image processing circuit at the previous stage varies from one image processing circuit to another. In other words, it is necessary to control FIFO memories constituting each line memory with different timings. With many memory control circuits 5 being used as in the above, however, the device structure is complicated and causes an increase in manufacturing cost.
Moreover, each memory control circuit 5 must have a counter 11 which can count a large value corresponding to the A0 size. A circuit structure of the counter 11 is complicated and the cost is high, thereby making the device structure complicated and the intended device cost more.

c/o Mita Industrial Co., Ltd., 2-28, 1-chome, Tamatsukuri, Chuo-ku


An elastic plate that is supported at both ends by a pair of supporting pieces of a supporting part functions as the load bending part. A portion of a load beam base plate that is positioned on a distal end side from a load bending center line of the elastic plate includes a parallel region that is fixed to the elastic plate, an intermediate region that extends to a distal end side through a proximal-side bending line along a suspension widthwise direction, and a distal region that extends to a distal end side through a distal-side bending line and is formed with a dimple with which a head-mounting region of a flexure part is brought into contact. The distal-side bending line is positioned in the vicinity of an intermediate point between the load bending center line and the dimple in a suspension lengthwise direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic head suspension for supporting a magnetic head slider that reads and/or writes data from and to a recording medium such as a hard disk drive.
2. Related Art
In recent years, data storage devices for reading and/or writing data from and to recording mediums through a magnetic head slider have been widely used in mobile devices such as notebook-type personal computers and portable music players and, along therewith, these data storage devices have been required to have a higher impact resistance.
More specifically, in such a case where the data storage device in operation is dropped on to the ground, the magnetic head suspension is desired to prevent the magnetic head slider from damaging a disk surface as much as possible.
For example, in a case where the data storage device in operation is applied with an impact force having such a direction that presses the magnetic head slider toward the disk surface, an air film existing between the magnetic head slider and the disk surface prevents to some extent the magnetic head slider from hitting the disk surface.
However, on the other hand, in a case where the data storage device in operation is applied with an impact force having such a direction that presses the magnetic head slider away from the disk surface and having a strength exceeding a predetermined level, the magnetic head slider jumps away from the disk surface and then swings back to hit the disk surface, which will result in damages to the disk surface as well as to the magnetic head slider.
Accordingly, in order to improve the impact resistance of the data storage device, it is required to prevent the jumping motion of the magnetic head slider as much as possible when the impact force is applied from the outside, that is, it is required to raise as much as possible acceleration (critical acceleration) of the impact force that causes the jumping motion of the magnetic head slider.
The magnetic head slider is supported by the magnetic head suspension that is mounted to the data storage device.
More specifically, the magnetic head suspension includes a load bending part that generates a load to press the magnetic head slider toward the disk surface, a load beam part that transmits the load to the magnetic head slider, a supporting part that supports the load beam part with the load bending part interposed between the supporting part and the load beam part, and a flexure part that has a head-mounting region to which the magnetic head slider is mounted and that is welded to the load beam part.
The critical acceleration can be increased by, for example, increasing the load that is generated by the load bending part.
However, the load needs to be set within a range appropriate for controlling the height by which the magnetic head slider flies above the disk surface. Accordingly, there is obviously a limitation in the method of increasing the load to increase the critical acceleration.
It is also possible to increase the critical acceleration by reduction in weight of the load beam part so as to reduce an inertial force that is applied to the load beam part upon application of an impact force.
However, such reduction in weight of the load beam part requires reduction in thickness of the load beam part or provision of a hole in the load beam part, which will result in deterioration in rigidity of the load beam part and therefore deterioration in vibration property as well as in load/unload property.
There has been proposed still another configuration to inhibit the jumping motion of the magnetic head slider upon application of an impact force. In such a configuration, the load beam part is provided with an extension portion that extends toward a base end beyond a portion joined to the load bending part (refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications Nos. 09-082052, 11-039808, 2004-348804, 2005-174506, and the like).
The conventional structure described in these the patent documents is configured so as to make a mass of a portion of the load beam part which is positioned on a base-end side in a suspension lengthwise direction from the load bending part to be as equal as possible to a mass of a portion thereof which is positioned on a tip-end side of the suspension lengthwise direction from the load bending part so that the jumping motion of the magnetic head slider is suppressed at a time when the external impulsive force is applied. The structure is advantageous in causing no deterioration in rigidity of the load beam part.
However, in the magnetic head suspension described in these patent documents, the load beam part is joined to a free end of the load bending part that is supported by the supporting part in a cantilevered manner. Accordingly, in this configuration, a support point of the load bending part (that is, a joint point between the load beam part and the load bending part) is remarkably fluctuated in a direction perpendicular to the disk surface upon application of an external impact force.
Therefore, although the magnetic head suspension described in these patent documents does not cause deterioration in rigidity of the load beam part, it is incapable of allowing the critical acceleration to be sufficiently increased.
The magnetic head suspension is a member that rapidly moves the magnetic head slider in a radial direction (a seek direction) above the recording medium such as a hard disk in accordance with driving of an actuator so as to accurately position the magnetic head slider on a target track. Thus, the magnetic head suspension is also desired to accurately control its vibration property, particularly a vibration property in the seek direction in parallel with the disk surface.
More specifically, the magnetic head suspension needs to have a resonant frequency in the SWAY mode that is equal to none of the resonant frequencies of the magnetic head suspension in any other modes and the resonant frequencies of any components of the data storage device other than the suspension.
Furthermore, the magnetic head suspension is desired to effectively prevent or reduce displacement of the magnetic head slider in the seek direction due to vibration of the magnetic head suspension in the torsion mode.


An electrical connector that includes a plug insert having a dielectric body and having a pair of contact channels. The contact channels have central axes that extend parallel to each other in a common direction. The contact channels are defined by respective channel walls and are separated by an inter-channel portion of the dielectric body. The channel walls have wall perimeters that extend around the corresponding central axes. The electrical connector also has a contact sub-assembly that includes mating contacts that are received in the contact channels and retention clips that are positioned within the contact channels between the mating contacts and the channel walls. Each of the retention clips has a concave body with an open side. The concave body extends partially about the wall perimeter with the open side positioned along a portion of the wall perimeter. The retention clips are oriented to face one another.

The invention relates generally to electrical connectors, and more particularly to electrical connectors for high-speed signal transmission.
Electrical connectors used to plug a communication cable into an electrical system may include a housing that contains several conductors that form differential pairs. The differential pairs are configured to connect with corresponding differential pairs in a mating connector of the electrical system when the pluggable and mating connectors are engaged. However, pluggable connectors that are currently used may have certain limitations due to unwanted electromagnetic coupling between the differential pairs. For example, the operating speeds of some known pluggable connectors are limited to transmission rates of less than those of gigabit Ethernet. If these pluggable connectors were to operate at speeds above gigabit Ethernet, unwanted electromagnetic coupling between the differential pairs would harm signal integrity and the performance of the connector. More specifically, increasing the operating speeds of the pluggable connectors may increase unwanted near-end crosstalk (NEXT), far-end crosstalk, and/or return loss such that the connector is unable to meet industry requirements for applications, such as gigabit Ethernet.
Accordingly, there is a need for pluggable connectors that are configured to reduce the negative effects of electromagnetic coupling. There is also a general need for pluggable connectors that are capable of operating at higher signal-transmission speeds and/or obtaining desired electrical performances.

Electrical contact assemblies and connectors including retention clips


A method for analyzing an application involving obtaining a thread dump of a plurality of threads executing the application, analyzing the thread dump to obtain a result using an aggregation mechanism, and determining a potential error location in source code of the application using the result.

Production applications running in a large-scale data center sometimes encounter performance degradation, which may lead to a complete system halt. Large data centers typically employ monitoring tools to monitor system resources used by the production applications and to raise red flags if the application consumes too many system resources. These monitoring tools detect potentially troublesome situations and perform various tasks, such as sending alerts or executing recovery jobs, to prevent a complete system halt. Conventionally, these tools can be configured to automatically take actions (e.g., restarting applications) to restore application availability and to return resource consumption to normal levels.
With the introduction of various component level architectures (e.g., applications executing within containers, where each container is allocated system resources), the relationship between various production applications in a data center is becoming more difficult to determine. For example, a typical scenario may be one in which applications execute inside multiple containers, and each application uses services available to other applications executing inside a different container or inside a cluster of containers. Further, each container may be executing several threads associated with the application in the container. In some instances, the application may run out of threads (i.e., all the threads are consumed in processes and are not returned to the thread pool), causing the container to lock up (i.e., the container cannot respond to any incoming requests due to the lack of threads).
A conventional mechanism for monitoring applications in component level architectures is profiling. Profiling involves the ability to trace executing functions and identify resources used by these functions. Typically, a profiler is called by the system during the execution of a particular function or process. The profiler subsequently receives notices every time an event of interest occurs within the executing function or process. The profiler then gathers statistical data on various events. By gathering statistical data on executing functions, the profiler can build a comprehensive picture of which functions or processes use the most system resources, which functions or process use the least amount of system resources, etc.
Production issues are often non-deterministic, impacting system performance and availability without warning. Almost invariably, these issues occur under peak system load. In some instances, production issues may occur when it is too late to turn on profiling; other times it is difficult to determine which events of an application to trace using profiling. To complicate matters further, in many cases, symptoms of the problem show up in one application while the root cause of the problem may be hidden in another application.

Method and apparatus for analyzing an application


A nano-structured light-emitting device including a first semiconductor layer; a nano structure formed on the first semiconductor layer. The nano structure includes a nanocore, and an active layer and a second semiconductor layer that are formed on a surface of the nanocore, and of which the surface is planarized. A conductive layer surrounds sides of the nano structure, a first electrode is electrically connected to the first semiconductor layer and a second electrode is electrically connected to the conductive layer.

The present disclosure relates to a nano-structured light-emitting device, and more particularly, to a nano-structured light-emitting device that has a structure that may improve luminescence efficiency.
A semiconductor light-emitting device such as a light emitting diode (LED) or a laser diode (LD) employs electroluminescence, that is, light emission from a semiconductor material according to application of electrical current or a voltage. As an electron and a hole combine at an active layer in the semiconductor light-emitting device, energy amounting to an energy band gap of the active layer, may be emitted in the form of light. Accordingly, a wavelength of light, generated from the light-emitting device, may vary with an amount of the energy band gap of the active layer.
Semiconductor light-emitting devices may be classified into a two-dimensional (2D) light-emitting device, that is, a thin-film light-emitting device in which an active layer is formed in two dimensions, and a three-dimensional (3D) light-emitting device in which an active layer is formed in three dimensions. In a case of the 3D light-emitting device, for example, a light-emitting device with structure including a plurality of nanorods, an active layer is formed in three dimensions. Thus, a light-emitting area of the 3D light-emitting device may be larger in comparison to the 2D light-emitting device. Accordingly, luminescent efficiency may be improved, and colors may be displayed relatively freely throughout the light-emitting device.
Compared to the increase in the light-emitting area, the 3D light-emitting device may provide a relatively low increase in luminescent efficiency. In a case of an LED with a structure, from among 3D structures, of a nano pyramid when electrical current is injected to the LED, the electrical current may be concentrated on the top of the structure. Accordingly, light may be emitted only from the top.
Accordingly, a need exists for an LED with an improved luminescent efficiency.

Nano-structured light-emitting device and methods for manufacturing the same


A portable computer is disclosed. A triple-hinged supporting assembly, which is employed to connect a display unit with a mainframe unit in the portable computer, can easily change various operation positions of the display unit and even rotate 180° to horizontal, so as to fill different requirements of a user.

Consequent of advancements in optical technology and semiconductor processing techniques, liquid crystal displays (LCD) have become widely applied to electronic devices, such as display devices of consumer electronics or computer products including portable computers, portable televisions, mobile phones, video cameras, desktop displays and projection televisions, and have become the primary trend of display technology because of advantages including high picture quality, small volume, light weight, low voltage driving, low consumption power and wide applicability.
Typically, a liquid crystal display of a portable computer is fixed to a top cover of the portable computer. When using the portable computer, the liquid crystal display can be shown when the top cover is opened. The top cover is usually connected with the computer mainframe by a shaft. The liquid crystal display of the portable computer can be adjusted to the desired viewing angle of a user by adjusting the angle of the top cover.
Because it is easily carried, the user usually carries the portable computer with him for dealing with daily work. Different working environments require the portable computer to embody various displays to increase the presentation ability of the user. However, the portable computer is limited to a specific display angle range, so the audience nearby and especially seated laterally to the computer cannot clearly see an image shown on the display. In addition, as the software industry has continually changed, computer operating systems have combined a touch-sensitive writing input function, so many companies have produced various tablet computers with touch-sensitive screens. The writing input directly communicates the operation instructions into the computer system (e.g. a display monitor) by a writing device (e.g. a writing pen). The recently developed convertible tablet computer offers an innovative writing input function that has changed the usage habits of the computer and has made the information industry reach a whole new milestone. The convertible tablet computer combines the human pen-writing function of the tablet computer and the keyboard-inputting function and the easy mobility of the portable computer. The convertible tablet computer is effectively designed according to the user that needs to move about often and includes a human input interface and a liquid crystal monitor that can rotate by 180 degrees, so the convertible tablet computer can be easily carried and the persons watching nearby can easily read the data shown on the display.
The rotating of the monitor of the tablet computer typically is achieved in two ways. FIG. 1 is a three-dimensional diagram of a conventional portable computer. A conventional portable computer 10 comprises a mainframe unit 20 and a display unit 30, wherein the display unit 30 rotates about an axis 40 and along the direction designated by an arrowhead 45, so as to convert between a keyboard-inputting state and a writing-inputting state.
FIG. 2A is a cross-sectional view of another conventional portable computer. A conventional portable computer 50 comprises a mainframe unit 60, a display unit 70 and a supporting assembly 80, wherein two ends of the supporting assembly 80 are respectively installed on two sides of the mainframe unit 60 and two sides of the display unit 70 to connect the mainframe unit 60 and the display unit 70.
FIGS. 2B and 2C are cross-sectional views of the portable computer in FIG. 2A in a keyboard-inputting state. In FIG. 2B, in the keyboard-inputting state, the display unit 70 rotates following the supporting assembly 80 and along the direction designated by an arrowhead 91. Then, a display surface 71 of the display unit 70 is obliquely deposed over an operation interface 61 of the mainframe unit 60, such as shown in FIG. 2C.
FIG. 2D is cross-sectional view of the portable computer in FIG. 2A in a writing-inputting state. In the writing-inputting state, the display unit 70 rotates up and down along the direction designated by an arrowhead 93 by using the supporting assembly 80 as a fulcrum, so as to make a backside surface 73 of the display unit 70 stack on the operation interface 61 of the mainframe unit 60 and to levelly depose and expose the display surface 71 of the display unit 70 for written input.
However, the aforementioned portable computers have the following disadvantages. The display of the portable computer in FIG. 1 has a flipping function; however, the liquid crystal display usually shakes in practical operation, resulting in unstable displaying. The display of the portable computer shown in FIGS. 2A through 2D rotates up and down by using the supporting assembly installed in the two sides of the portable computer; however, the operation of the supporting assembly installed in the two sides is inconvenient, and the aesthetic design of the portable computer is hampered.
Therefore, designers, manufacturers and users desire to improve the supporting assembly used to connect the mainframe unit and the display unit such that it can easily change various operation positions of the display unit to provide a stable inputting and displaying environment for the users.


Low water silicone-containing elastomers are based on a hydroxy- or amino-terminated prepolymer derived from an ethylenically unsaturated silicon-containing monomer, and at least one monomer reactive with hydroxyl- or amino-functional radicals of the prepolymer. The elastomers are especially useful as contact lens materials.

The present invention generally relates to silicone-containing materials useful as a contact lens material.
Polymeric silicone materials for contact lens applications include hydrogels and non-hydrogels. The non-hydrogels may include rigid materials, useful for rigid gas permeable contact lenses, or flexible materials useful for soft contact lenses. Whereas hydrogels typically include appreciable amounts of hydrophilic monomers and/or internal wetting agents and absorb and retain appreciable amounts of water, the non-hydrogel silicone materials do not include appreciable amounts of such hydrophilic monomers or wetting agents. Therefore, these "low water" non-hydrogel silicone materials do not absorb or retain appreciable amounts of water, for example, less than about 5 weight percent, and more typically less than about 1 or 2 weight percent.
It is important that low water silicone compositions, especially for soft contact lens applications, have desirable oxygen permeability, modulus and elastic recovery characteristics. This is particularly important in the formation of soft contact lenses, as the modulus (Young's modulus of elasticity) and elastic recovery of the lens material can have a significant impact upon lens "comfort". Lenses possessing high modulus often have a perceived stiffness; lenses with too high elastic recovery can exhibit a "suction cup" effect on the eye.
One class of silicone monomers commonly used in silicone-containing contact lens materials are bulky polysiloxanylalkyl methacrylates, e.g. methacryloxypropyl tris (trimethylsiloxy) silane (commonly referred to as "TRIS"). Since these "bulky" monomers contain a large amount of silicon per molecule, they are useful for increasing oxygen permeability of materials, a desirable property for contact lens and other biomedical device applications. However, although TRIS is known to reduce the modulus of some silicone hydrogels, i.e., polyurethane-polysiloxane hydrogel compositions, (see for example; Lai, Yu Chin, The Role of Bulky Polysiloxanylalkyl Methacrylates in Polyurethane-polysiloxane Hvdrogels, Proceedings of the American Chemical Society Division of Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering, Vol. 72, pg. 118-119, (1995)), the use of TRIS monomeric units within "low water" silicone compositions generally increases the modulus of the resulting material. As such, TRIS monomeric units are not generally helpful in reducing the modulus of low water silicone materials.
Another class of silicone monomers known for silicone-containing contact lens materials are elastomers based on ethylenically endcapped polydimethylsiloxanes, such as the polydimethylsiloxanes disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,153,641. These materials usually provide elastomers with relatively low modulus.
In summary, low water silicone materials are sought for soft contact lens applications which possess relatively low modulus, for example from 20 g/mm.sup.2 to about 150 g/mm.sup.2, and with a suitable elastic recovery rate. Furthermore, for such applications, the materials must be optically clear, manufacturable (e.g., capable of being molded or machined), have acceptable oxygen permeability, biocompatibility and resist deposit formation. Moreover, low water materials are desired that can be cast into articles such as contact lenses by methods other than free radical polymerization, for example, by injection molding.

Silicone-containing prepolymers and low water materials


Intranasal dosage units for promoting sleep in a mammal are disclosed. The dosage units are in the form of an aqueous buffered solution having a pH greater than 7.0, a sleep-promoting amount of Doxylamine, and an effective amount of an anionic surfactant. The anionic surfactant amount is an amount effective to provide a peak plasma concentration of Doxylamine to be reached within 30 minutes of administering the dosage unit to the nasal mucosa of a mammal. The dosage units are particularly suitable for administration to humans.

Doxylamine, and more particularly Doxylamine Succinate, has been widely used throughout the years to promote sleep in humans. Typically, Doxylamine Succinate is administered orally in tablet form at dosages ranging from 12.5 to 25 milligrams (mg).
However, two disadvantages have become evident with the oral administration of Doxylamine. First, oral administration provides the subject with a slow onset of sleepiness due to its pharmokinetic profile. Thus, the time frame for sleep to be achieved is usually 45 to 60 minutes after oral administration.
A second disadvantage with oral administration is that a peak blood plasma concentration of Doxylamine is not reached until usually 90 minutes from administration. This continued to rise in plasma levels after the onset of sleep is additionally exacerbated by a slow gradual reduction in plasma levels. Thus, the subject upon awakening after a typical eight hours of sleep still has relatively high plasma levels of Doxylamine. The result of these two characteristics of oral administration is the common occurrence of grogginess associated with orally administered Doxylamine.
Suitable alternatives to oral administration include, inter alia, nasal delivery. In fact, U.S. Pat. No. 4,749,700 to Wenig teaches intranasal formulations for delivering systemic amounts of antihistamines, including Doxylamine Succinate, to a mammal. However, while this patent teaches intranasal formulations containing Doxylamine Succinate, these formulations have been found to exhibit a pharmokinetic profile that mimics oral administration.
Accordingly there is a need in the art for pharmaceutical formulations containing Doxylamine, and more particularly Doxylamine Succinate, that provide a shorter onset of sleep-promoting Doxylamine plasma levels as compared to oral administration.
In addition, there is a need in the art for sleep-promoting pharmaceutical formulations of Doxylamine that do not exhibit continually increasing plasma levels once sleep has been induced, therefore, minimizing grogginess associated with Doxylamine administration.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide Doxylamine pharmaceutical formulations that promote sleep, while providing the subject with a faster onset of sleep-promoting plasma levels of the drug as compared to oral administration. It is also an object of the present invention to provide Doxylamine pharmaceutical formulations that do not exhibit continually increasing plasma levels once sleep has been induced.

Intranasal formulations for promoting sleep and method of using the same


A motor vehicle exhaust emission control system has two adsorber parts connected in parallel for alternate adsorption and desorption of nitrogen oxides contained in the exhaust from an internal combustion engine and components for conducting further downstream the exhaust that emerges in the adsorber part that is operating at any given time in the adsorption mode and for returning the exhaust that emerges from the other adsorber part that is then operating in the desorption mode, to an intake line of the engine. An oxidizing converter is located upstream of the adsorber part and near the engine for oxidation of the NO contained in the exhaust to form NO.sub.2, so as to permit an increase in the NO.sub.X adsorption rate for the nitrogen adsorber parts.

This application claims the priority of 196 28 796.0, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention relates to an exhaust emission control system with at least two nitrogen oxide adsorber parts alternately operated in adsorption and desorption modes, and apparatus for conducting further downstream, the exhaust stream emerging from the adsorber part that is currently operating in the adsorption mode. The adsorber part currently operated in the desorption mode recycles the emerging exhaust gas stream into an intake line of the engine.
A known emission control system is described in DE 43 19 294 C1. In one of the systems shown therein, the exhaust line runs from the exhaust outlet of the engine to a control valve that conducts the exhaust stream alternately into one of two exhaust line branches connected downstream. Each of the branches contains an adsorber for nitrogen oxides. Alternative systems are proposed containing only one adsorber for nitrogen oxides and a three-way catalytic converter. In a first such alternative version, the catalytic converter and adsorber are located in two parallel exhaust lines, and a cross line containing an associated control valve is provided between the two branches to connect the catalytic converter output with the adsorber input during adsorption operation. During desorption mode, the exhaust is scrubbed only by the catalytic converter. In a second alternative version the catalytic converter is located downstream from a connector where an exhaust line branch containing the adsorber for nitrogen oxides merges with a bypass line branch. To reinforce the desorption process, provision of a hot gas or inclusion of an electrically operated heating device is proposed.
An object of the present invention is to provide an exhaust emission control system with an exhaust scrubbing function that is further improved over the above-described known systems.
In an exhaust emission control system disclosed in JP 5-195756 (A) for an internal combustion engine, an oxidizing converter located near the engine oxidizes nitrogen oxides. In the flow direction of the exhaust downstream from the nitrogen oxide oxidizing converter, a jet injects a supplied reducing agent into the exhaust stream. Downstream from the jet there are then provided, in sequence, a nitrogen oxide converter and another oxidizing converter that oxidizes the hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide contained in the exhaust.
This object has been achieved by an exhaust emission control system in which oxidizing converter located near the engine and upstream from adsorber parts is provided for oxidation of at least the NO contained in the exhaust to NO.sub.2 and an exhaust line section located upstream of adsorber parts is divided into a main line branch and a partial line branch that is parallel to the main line branch, shorter than the latter, and/or thermally insulated to a greater degree.
The two adsorber parts are connected by control valves to the main line branch and the partial line branch in such fashion that the adsorber part that is operating in the adsorption mode is fed by the exhaust stream from the main line branch and the other adsorber part that is operating in the desorption mode is supplied by the exhaust stream from the partial line branch or an oxidizing converter located near the engine and upstream from adsorber parts is provided for oxidation of at least the NO contained in the exhaust to NO.sub.2.
The two adsorber parts are formed as integral parts of a cylindrical adsorber body through which the flow passes in the lengthwise direction, said body being divided into the two adsorber parts by at least one sector-dividing diaphragm located on the inlet side, with a relative rotary movement being provided around a rotational axis parallel to the flow direction between the sector-dividing diaphragm, provided at least on the inlet side, and the adsorber body.
In this new and advantageous system, an oxidizing converter is located downstream from the parts that adsorb nitrogen oxides near the engine, with the catalytic converter oxidizing the exhaust component NO to NO.sub.2 comparatively soon following an engine start. Because many adsorber materials adsorb NO.sub.2 much better than they absorb NO, higher NO.sub.x absorption rates can be achieved by adsorber parts connected downstream that adsorb nitrogen oxides. Also, the oxidizing converter can be used to oxidize other exhaust components such as carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons. Locating the adsorber parts that. adsorb nitrogen oxides as far away from the engine as possible is advantageous for achieving a low temperature level for NO.sub.x adsorption so that adsorption materials can be used that are not resistant to high exhaust temperatures, and hence to high desorption temperatures as well, or which have little or no ability to adsorb NO.sub.x at high temperatures.
In the exhaust emission control system according to one advantageous embodiment of the present invention, an exhaust line section located upstream from the adsorber parts is divided advantageously into a main flow line branch and a partial flow line branch. As a result of the shorter length and/or better thermal insulation of the partial flow line branch, its exhaust temperature at the outlet, and hence the temperature of the exhaust partial stream fed from this branch into the respective adsorber parts, is clearly above the corresponding temperature of the main exhaust stream guided through the main flow branch. Also, the colder exhaust main stream is fed to the respective adsorber part in the adsorption mode and the warmer exhaust partial stream is supplied during the desorption mode. Consequently, in the desorption mode the adsorber part is heated by the partial stream of exhaust so that the nitrogen oxides stored in it are desorbed and recycled into the intake line of the engine. Separate heating of the adsorber parts in the desorption mode is therefore not necessary at all or only to a slight degree, thus improving the energy balance of the system. As a result of the use of the partial exhaust stream, no additional stream of purge air is required for the desorption mode of the adsorber parts.
The oxidizing converter is favorably positioned inside an exhaust line section that is common to main line branch and partial line branch and is located upstream of both of them, or is located within an inlet area of main line branch. When the oxidizing converter is located within the main flow line branch, the hydrocarbons in the exhaust partial stream used for desorption of the nitrogen oxides the respective adsorber part are not oxidized. This can be utilized in the case of adsorption materials in which competing adsorption takes place between the hydrocarbons and the nitrogen oxides. The nitrogen oxides stored in the respective adsorber part in this case are more easily desorbed in the desorption mode because of the competing adsorption.
As an alternative configuring the two adsorber parts as separate absorber bodies, the other embodiment of the exhaust emission control system integrally combines them within a common absorber body. The body is in turn divided into the two adsorber parts by a suitable sector-dividing diaphragm located on the inlet side and preferably by a corresponding diaphragm on the outlet side. A relative rotary movement between the sector-dividing diaphragm provided at least on the inlet side and the adsorber body, with a rotational axis running parallel to the exhaust flow direction, allows each partial volume of the adsorber body to be in the sector range for the adsorption mode for an adjustable period of time and then in the sector area for the desorption mode.
According to another aspect of the present invention, desorption is supported by adding a desorption additive, so that effective desorption can take place even at comparatively low temperatures. As a desorption-promoting component, this additive contains at least hydrocarbons and possibly other components that can be obtained when used in a motor vehicle for example, from the fuel provided for the engine.
In a further system improvement according to the present invention, at least a part of the heat energy is supplied to the adsorber part operating in desorption mode by burning the fuel provided for the engine. The fuel is carried along in any event for use in, for example, a motor vehicle. In this connection, the burner is advantageously operated so that the hot gas produced has a desorption-promoting composition, i.e. it contains little or no oxygen, but unburned hydrocarbons.

Internal combustion engine exhaust emission control system with adsorbers for nitrogen oxides