A skateboard tension strap is provided for temporarily connecting a skateboard to the body of the user in order to allow the user to perform “hands-free” stunts without having to use his or her hands to hold or control the skateboard. A waist belt is worn by the user. A tension strap resiliently and adjustably connects the waist belt to the skateboard. The tension strap includes an elastic section and has a first end anchored to the skateboard and a second, upper end for adjustably connecting the tension strap to the waist belt. A connector extends between the waist belt and the upper end of the tension strap to provide the adjustable connection. The tension strap and the waist belt are sufficiently wide and flat to allow the application of logos or other designs thereto.

The skateboard tension strap according to the present invention has its birth from the invention of the skateboard, itself, and will revolutionize the art of professional "extreme"-style skateboarding. Specifically, my invention relates to a particular set of devices, the skateboard strap design, itself, and the "tension" device, proportionate with the concept of professional freestyle skateboarding.
Aside from having to bend at the knees in doing "limited" (not more than two) 360 degree revolutions holding the skateboard, the "professional" extreme style skateboarder has not advanced to a "continuous" flow of gymnastic type, "high" degree of difficulty acrobatic stunts, during his "showmanship" of professional freestyle skateboarding. The professional industry of skateboarding has not seen even the best of seasoned riders do five or six 360 degree revolutions (as in professional iceskating) or "aerial," "death defying" stunts on his board with near perfect skill.
Moreover, the art of professional extreme skateboarding is a play of colorful showmanship. The particular design of my invention allows the professional to give more attention to the "mechanical" technique of difficult stunts, using virtually no energy to constantly "hold" the skateboard. My invention lets the professional do low-crouching (bending at the knees) or standing (fully erect) 360 degree revolutions with the aid of the specific "tension" portion of the skateboard strap. The showmanship of this invention comes into play when the rider can do other things with his hands, like salute the crowd, or hold both arms outstretched like a helicopter while in flight; and even still, with his hands akimbo (both hands on hips) in a gesture of pure perfection and confidence. All of this is enabled by the "tension" portion of my invention, allowing the professional raider freedom from holding the skateboard, thus alleviating any difficulty of constantly "maintaining" (holding) the skateboard, which can limit a continuous flow and succession of stunts.


A method and system for determining a heading of a vehicle. The method may include receiving, from a mobile computing device, a request for determining the heading of the vehicle. The method may also include retrieving, at least in response to the request, sensor data generated by a magnetometer of the mobile computing device within one or more first time slots, and obtaining a classifier trained to determine a predicted heading of the vehicle. The method may further include, for the sensor data of each of the one or more first time slots, obtaining a feature vector by extracting features from the sensor data, and determining, based on the obtained feature vector, a predicted heading by inputting the feature vector into the classifier. The method may also include determining the heading of the vehicle based on the obtained one or more predicted headings.

The determination of the heading of a vehicle during driving is very important for providing a transportation service, and may directly affect the route determination from a driver's location to the pick-up or drop-off location of a passenger. An incorrectly-determined heading may lead to a suboptimal route, which may cause a detour situation, a waste of time for both the driver and the passenger, and/or a reduction of the travel efficiency.
In the prior art, the heading of the vehicle is usually determined according to a "bearing" field in the current Global Positioning System (GPS) information of the vehicle. However, the heading may be accurately determined based on the bearing field only when the GPS signal is good and the vehicle is moving fast. When the vehicle is moving at a slow speed or at rest, or when the vehicle is in a poor GPS signal environment, a determination based on the bearing field may not provide valid heading information.

Method and system for heading determination

BEIJING DIDI INFINITY TECHNOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT CO., LTD.


The present invention relates to a resolver excitation signal generating apparatus for supplying a reference excitation signal to a resolver attached to a motor for driving a robot or a computer numerical control machine. When a sine-wave signal is transferred from a signal generator to the resolver, the signal is filtered by a low pass filter, amplified up to the rated voltage by means of a line driver and supplied to the resolver, thereby allowing the position of the motor to be controlled exactly.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a resolver for detecting positional information of a motor, more particularly, to a resolver-excitation signal generating apparatus for generating a reference excitation signal to be supplied to a resolver.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, a resolver has been known as a sensor capable of obtaining information relative to a position of a motor only when external reference signal is supplied thereto, from the viewpoint of a mechanical structure. Recently, a motor attached with such a resolver has been employed to control a position of automatic systems, such as a robot, a computer numerical control machine and the like.
Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a conventional signal generating apparatus for supplying a reference signal to the resolver, described in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,342,077.
Now, the operation of the conventional signal generator will be described in detail.
First, a clock signal having a predetermined frequency generated by an oscillator 1 is supplied to an address decoder 2 which converts the signal having a predetermined frequency into address data of a ROM table 3, for example, such as an EPROM (erasable and programable read only memory). Accordingly, sine and cosine digital data can periodically be output from the ROM table 3 and converted into analog values by means of a digital to analog converter 4. Thus, the digital to analog converter 4 produces the output signal to be supplied to the resolver through a line driver 5.
With the conventional construction as described above, however, there problems that the apparatus is high in price due to an increase in the number of parts such as the address decoder, ROM table, digital to analog convertor etc, and hence maintaining the apparatus is considerably difficult.

Resolver excitation signal generating apparatus


A magnetic doorstop including a first section consisting of a magnet secured with a retaining shim mounted on an elongated adjustment screw and a second section consisting of a magnet secured with a retaining shim mounted on an attachment screw. The first section is attached to an interior wall of a dwelling and the second section is attached to the interior door. When the door is opened, the first and second sections contact magnetically securing the door in an open position.

This invention relates to equipment associated with the interior door of a dwelling. When an interior door is placed in the open position, the door may swing partially or completely closed. This problem may be attributed to door alignment, installation problems, or dwelling settlement.
One difficulty with such a door may be the extent of repair, expense and inconvenience to correct this problem. Prior devices for securing such a door have had disadvantages. The use of a standard doorstop placed infront of the door must be removed and replaced each time the door is used.


A method and apparatus are disclosed for liquefaction of starch derived from cereal grain. A single-screw extruder is utilized to gelatinize a starch substrate providing significant advantage over prior art jet steam cookers. Liquefaction of the gelatinized starch substrate is completed by post-extrusion bioreaction of the starch with a static-mixer reactor. An alpha-amylase enzyme is utilized to facilitate the liquefaction process. The Liquefacted starch substrate is heated after bioreaction to achieve complete digestion of remaining starch inclusions. Liquefacted starch substrates utilizing the disclosed process significantly reduce the amount of energy required in the conversion of starch to fermentable sugars in the production of ethanol.

Liquefaction of starch derived from cereal grains is utilized in the production of a variety of grain derived products. Grain-derived products include common food products such as breakfast cereals, pet foods and livestock feed, for example. Liquefaction of grain-derived starches is also used in the production of ethanol which is utilized in the production of combustible fuels the most common of which is gasohol, a 10% blend of grain derived ethanol with petroleum derived gasoline.
The production of ethanol in the United States has dramatically increased in recent years. The mandated use of oxygenates such as ethanol in gasoline by the Environmental Protection Agency's Renewable Oxygenate Requirement will result in further increases in the production of ethanol in the near future.
In order to produce ethanol from a cereal grain substrate, the grain substrate must be gelatinized, liquefied and saccharified before being fermented into ethanol which often includes enzymatic hydrolysis. The conversion of cereal grain starch into fermentable sugars consumes 30% of the total energy required for alcohol fermentation and is one of the major problems encountered the ethanol production industry.
Methods for converting a grain substrate into a liquefied starch solution are known in the art. The most commonly utilized method for starch liquefaction is jet steam cooking. However, jet steam cooking requires the grain substrate slurry, which is to be cooked, first have a minimum moisture content of 60-70% m.c.w.b. Because jet steam cooking requires such a high moisture content, the jet steam cooking process consumes a considerable amount of energy to heat the water contained in the starch slurry solution. However, reducing the moisture content of the starch solution in a jet steam cooker results in an output product that is difficult to pump and process due to very high viscosities. Further processing with enzymes is also very difficult at lower moisture contents using a jet cooker. Thus, there lies a need for a low energy consuming method of grain liquefaction the grain solution is processed with low moisture contents that results in a product suitable for enzymatic hydrolysis.

Method for liquefaction of cereal grain starch substrate and apparatus therefor


A lightweight part and process and device of making the same, the lightweight part including an inner core including a metal foam. A dense core surface layer is metallically joined to the inner core. An outer wall includes an essentially pore-free cast metal layer that is at least one of positively engaged with the dense core surface layer and surrounding the inner core, and metallically joined to the dense core surface layer and surrounding the inner core. The process includes creating a core part by forming the dense core surface layer, forming the inner core of a metal foam, and metallically joining together the inner core and the dense core surface layer. The process further includes creating a finished part by positioning the core part in a casting mold, feeding a melt material into the casting mold, and allowing the melt material to solidify so as to form the outer wall. This abstract is neither intended to define the invention disclosed in this specification nor intended to limit the scope of the invention in any way.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a lightweight part. The invention also relates to a process and a device for producing the lightweight part.
2. Discussion of Background Information
As a rule, lightweight parts are used, for example, in various supporting or holding functions. They are also used in construction or machine components. They are made to have mechanical and, if necessary, vibration-damping properties, and are also required to simultaneously have low weight. More precisely, such lightweight parts should feature a mass distribution (or material distribution) such that when the part is loaded (or subjected to loading), specific mechanical material stresses whose level is as equal as possible, prevail in all areas. Lightweight parts usually comprise a light metal or a light metal alloy and are advantageously produced by casting. Such parts are also used as so-called crash parts, which exhibit high energy absorption during a deformation.
In principle, lightweight parts are embodied as hollow bodies with thin walls. However, such parts can optionally feature reinforcements in order to counter a slight and/or premature buckling or bulging of the same. These parts may even include reinforcements which are formed by the walls of the part. Such reinforcements can be embodied as curved or waved portions which are arranged transverse to a main load direction. Unfortunately, such complicated internal shapes of cast parts typically require the sand cores used in their production. These must be removed from the cavity after the casting. Such a process is very labor intensive.
To produce simple hollow bodies with, for example, a cylindrical or rectangular cross section cavity shape, reusable metal cores can be used to produce cast lightweight parts. However, there are a number of disadvantages with this method. These relate to limitations relating to shape and thicker wall areas. Moreover, one must also have to accept parts which are heavier than is desired.

Lightweight part, as well as a process and device for its production

Huette Klein-Reichenbach Gesellschaft m.b.H


A compliant cantilevered three-dimensional micromold is provided. The compliant cantilevered micromold is suitable for use in the replication of cantilevered microparts and greatly simplifies the replication of such cantilevered parts. The compliant cantilevered micromold may be used to fabricate microparts using casting or electroforming techniques. When the compliant micromold is used to fabricate electroformed cantilevered parts, the micromold will also comprise an electrically conducting base formed by a porous metal substrate that is embedded within the compliant cantilevered micromold. Methods for fabricating the compliant cantilevered micromold as well as methods of replicating cantilevered microparts using the compliant cantilevered micromold are also provided.

Micromechanical systems (commonly referred to as "MEMS") include, for example, microsensors, microactuators, microinstruments, microoptics, and the like. Many MEMS fabrication processes exist, which include silicon lithographic and etching technologies (silicon MEMS) and non-silicon based lithographic technologies such as LIGA as well as other micro-machining processes which all provide a range of part sizes and materials. All these micro-fabrication technologies can be used to directly produce the desired microparts or to produce masters or molds for replication via other processes. Replication is often desirable to provide a faster and more economical production rate.
Unfortunately, there is no currently known way to easily and economically replicate cantilevered multilevel microparts. Such microparts are difficult to replicate as they contain features that overhang recessed areas within the part. When trying to create or use a replication mold for such microparts, the recessed areas may mechanically lock the master or the replicated parts inside the mold. Replication of larger cantilevered designs, as in many commercial injection molded items, often involves the use of specialized molds which can be partially disassembled or split to allow removal of the replicated part or the use of retractable, angled or collapsible cores. These technologies are clearly more difficult to implement in the replication of microscale parts.
Standard micro-fabrication processes and simple plastic replication processes can only fabricate microparts that are essentially extrusions of two-dimensional designs. In other words, current micropart replication techniques produce prismatic microparts. In order to fabricate a cantilevered micropart, prismatic components are often microfabricated separately and then glued or diffusion-bonded together in the proper configuration. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,735,985 and 5,793,519 to Ghosh et al. disclose the use of poly(dimethylsiloxane) molds to fabricate such prismatic ceramic microparts. In the method of Ghosh et al., however, cantilevered portions must be molded separately and then joined prior to sintering. Such post-fabrication assembly raises the cost of the device considerably.
Other attempts at manufacturing cantilevered multilayered microstructures, such as those discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,378,583 to Guckel et al., involve repetitive bonding and exposure of PMMA resist layers in a LIGA process. LIGA involves the deposition of a relatively thick layer of an x-ray resist on a conductive substrate, e.g., metallized silicon, followed by exposure to high-energy x-ray radiation through an x-ray mask, and then removal of the irradiated resist portions using a chemical developer. The mold so provided can be used to prepare structures having horizontal dimensions (i.e., diameters or widths) on the order of micrometers. The PMMA mold with its conducting base is then used to prepare metallic micro-components by electroplating in the cavities (i.e., the developed regions) of the LIGA mold. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,190,637 and 5,576,147 to Guckel et al., and Becker et al. (1986), "Fabrication of microstructures with high aspect ratios and great structural heights by synchrotron radiation lithography, galvanoforming, and plastic molding (LIGA Process)," Microelectronic Engineering 4(1):35–36.
While the methods disclosed by Guckel et al. for forming cantilevered parts are suitable for fabricating individual batches of parts in a repetitive, multi-step process, those methods do not provide for either the fabrication or use of molds which can be used to replicate cantilevered microparts. There exists, therefore, a need for a quick and efficient way to fabricate cantilevered micromolds and to replicate cantilevered microparts, without the need for extensive post-fabrication assembly.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A cleaning device comprises at least one cleaning tub containing a cleaning liquid, a chamber housing the cleaning tub, a mechanism for taking an article to be cleaned in/out of the cleaning liquid in the cleaning tub, and a shutter for shutting the inside of the chamber from the outside thereof. The shutter opens when a cleaned material is conveyed in/out of the chamber, thereby passing the cleaned material there through. A clean air supplying unit for forming downflow of clean air around the cleaning tub is provided on the upper portion of the chamber. A exhausting unit for sucking the clean air passing around the cleaning tub and exhausting the air out of the chamber is provided on the lower portion of the chamber.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a cleaning device for cleaning an article to be cleaned, such as a semiconductor wafer in a cleaning tub, and more particularly to such a cleaning device that can always keep clean atmosphere around the cleaning tub.
2. Description of the Related Art
A semiconductor wafer is subjected to various cleaning processes, such as a washing process, an ammonia process, fluoric acid process, and so forth. A device in which such processes are performed has a cleaning tub for a cleaning liquid, such as pure water. In the cleaning liquid contained in the cleaning tub, a semiconductor wafer is dipped and washed.
Some cleaning devices of this type have cleaning tubs in their chambers in order to prevent an cleaning liquids from being scattered on the outside of the chamber and prevent external fine particles, etc. from entering the chamber. A shutter which can be opened/closed is installed at the entrance portion of each chamber so that the semiconductor wafer can be taken in/out.
In this case, however, when the shutter is opened to take the wafer in/out of the chamber, an atmosphere can easily leak out of the chamber. In particular, in the case of using chemicals, as a cleaning liquid, heated at about 80.degree. C., the vapor of the chemicals may cause environmental pollution. Moreover, fine particles are generated from a mechanical portion which carries the semiconductor wafer in the chamber and conveys it in/out of the cleaning tub, and an atmosphere containing the fine particles can easily enter in the chamber. As a result, many foreign objects are adhered on the semiconductor wafer and the yield of semiconductor products is decreased.


A system and method for deduplicating messages is provided. Duplicate copies of messages are excluded from a set of deduplicated messages. The set of deduplicated messages can then be sampled to obtain a sample set usable for ensuring compliance according to a set of rules. One method for deduplicating messages involves receiving a message, determining whether the message is a duplicate copy, and adding the message to the set of deduplicated messages, if it is determined that the message is not a duplicate copy.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to compliance monitoring, and more particularly, to removing duplicate messages from a set of messages to be reviewed by a compliance monitoring product.
2. Description of the Related Art
Organizations typically implement review procedures for reviewing electronic messages sent to and from employees of the organization. Such review procedures are performed in order to comply with regulations mandated by the federal government, particularly in the financial arena.
Sometimes, the set of electronic messages to be reviewed by an organization may include duplicate copies of a single message. For example, a set of emails to be reviewed by an organization may include duplicate copies of the same email, such as when a single email has multiple recipients. Having duplicate copies of an electronic message introduces several difficulties for an organization. These difficulties may include duplicate efforts in the review of electronic messages and an organization's failure to comply with federal regulations.
It is thus desirable to remove duplicate copies of electronic messages from a set of electronic messages to be reviewed by an organization.

Deduplicating messages for improving message sampling quality


A rocking hinge bearing system is provided. The rocking hinge bearing system comprises a first base plate, a second base plate, and a compressible member. A pintle mechanism is required to align the first base plate, the second base plate and the compressible member and to prevent relative horizontal movement between the first base plate, the second base plate and the compressible member. A tensioning mechanism inhibits axial separation of the first base plate relative to the second base plate and helps to return the first base plate into its original position relative to the second base plate after rocking.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to bearing systems which isolate structures from motions produced by dynamic loads and, more particularly, it relates to a rocking hinge bearing system which inhibits instability of the structure when subjected to dynamic loads including seismic, wind, vehicle impact, or all other transient loads.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Bents for structural frames usually consist of a cap beam supported by multiple columns or a single pier wall to resist lateral loads transversely (in the plane of the bent) and longitudinally (perpendicular to the plane of the bent). Pier walls are stiffer in the transverse direction because they act as shear walls in that direction. Likewise, multiple column bents are generally stiffer in the transverse direction because the frame action in the plane of the bent is usually more rigid than the longitudinal frame action.
In the past, many devices have been created to soften dynamic excitation by either isolating the structure from the force of dynamic excitation or dissipating and absorbing energy. Included among these devices are laminated elastomeric bearings which typically consist of rubber or resilient pads laminated between steel shims. While the laminated elastomeric bearings support the axial load of the structure and will, to some extent, attenuate the motion of the structure, these bearings are too flexible and have a low shearing resistance which limits their ability to take large lateral loads without displaying excessive horizontal deflections or failing in shear.
Another type of device to soften dynamic excitation is laminated lead-rubber bearings. The laminated lead-rubber bearings are similar to the laminated elastomeric bearings except that the laminated lead-rubber bearing has a lead core to stiffen the horizontal movement of the bearing and to better maintain the integrity of the resilient pads. However, the lead core reduces the opportunity for the bearing to recenter itself after being subjected to a horizontal load because the remaining inertial or static forces within the structural system may not be large enough to deform the lead core back to its original configuration.
Other types of bearings include friction pendulum bearings, steel hysteretic dampers, hydraulic dampers, and lead or rubber extrusion dampers. From an economic viewpoint, it is desirable to avoid the use of bearings by using monolithic construction that incorporates columns that are capable of developing plastic hinges where they connect to the rest of the structure. Unfortunately, conventional plastic hinge columns are only average performers in both hard soils/rocks and soft soils whereas some of the seismic isolation bearings have a clear advantage in either hard soils/rocks or soft soils. In particular, lead rubber bearings seem to have a clear advantage in soft soils but under perform in hard soils/rocks. Hence, the indiscriminate use of seismic isolation devices can lead to reduced performance.
Accordingly, there exists a need for bearing systems with natural recentering capabilities which can isolate structures from ground motions produced by dynamic loads. Additionally, a need exists for a structurally stable bearing system that can limit the moment transfer from a column to its supports in order to reduce structural damage as the structure rocks during a dynamic excitation.

Rocking hinge bearing system for isolating structures from dynamic/seismic loads


An image quality control apparatus having an image divider, a converter, an image analyzer, an image output property circuit, a quantization method selector, a quantizer and a coder. The image divider divides an input image into a plurality of divided images including a predetermined number of picture elements. The converter converts the divided images into converted coefficients. Then, the image analyzer determines a property of the divided images which is output by the image output property output circuit. A quantization selector selects a quantization method in response to the divided image property that was found by the image analyzer and the image output property output circuit. The quantizer quantizes the conversion coefficients found by the converter in accordance with the quantization methods selected by the quantization selector. A coder then codes the conversion coefficients quantized by the quantizer.

This invention relates to control techniques of the image quality of a decoded image and prediction techniques of the image quality of a decoded image when image compression is executed.
In recent years, images have been compressed for reducing the storage media capacity or the transmission time. In the description that follows, image coding is used in the same meaning as image compression.
As shown in FIG. 41, input images are compressed, transmitted, and stored in a system wherein image input machines such as scanners or image generation machines such as computers and image output machines such as printers are connected by a network. In recent years, images used in such a system have become high definition, colored, and a large capacity, thus it becomes important to raise the image compression ratio.
The image compression systems are classified into reversible and non-reversible systems. In the reversible compression system, if an image is decompressed after it is compressed, the original image can be restored completely. In the non-reversible compression system, a compression ratio higher than that in the reversible compression system can be expected, but if a compressed image is decompressed, it cannot completely be restored to the original image, causing degradation of the image quality.
Generally, to execute image compression, inversely proportional relationship would exist between the compression ratio and the image quality under the same coding conditions, because the non-reversible compression system realizes a high compression ratio by discarding information considered to be hard to affect the sight sense in an image. Thus, if the compression ratio is small, a small amount of information is discarded and the image quality is good; if the compression ratio is enlarged, discarded information is increased and the image quality is degraded.
When image compression is executed, it is desired to maintain a predetermined image quality and realize a high compression ratio as much as possible. That is, the coded image quality needs to be controlled so as to become the maximum permissible image quality.
Conventional non-reversible compression systems for controlling the coded image quality will be discussed below:

Image quality prediction apparatus and method, and image quality control apparatus and method


In a semiconductor integrated circuit for a DC—DC converter, an nMOS-type transistor Qn of a CMOS inverter 1c constituting a driver 1 is electrically floated from a substrate 12 through an n-type well region 11. Thus, the nMOS-type transistor Qn is electrically insulated from other transistors such as an npn-type transistor Q1 and an L-pnp-type transistor Q2 constituting a feedback control system 9 through the n-type well region 11. Stable operation is performed with a minute current without producing a malfunction caused by the influence of a parasitic current, even if the drain potential of an nMOS-type transistor is reduced to the ground potential or lower at the time of switching by a driver constituted from a CMOS inverter, to facilitate lower power consumption and higher efficiency, and also to eliminate a constraint on layout design of components.

As a direct current source used in electronic devices such as a cellar phone, a DC input DC output DC—DC converter, for example, is widely employed. A synchronous rectifying DC—DC converter of a step-down type hitherto known as a type of this DC—DC converter (which will be simply referred to as a DC—DC converter as well). The driver is constituted from a CMOS inverter for switching a power supply voltage (DC input voltage) Vcc. The filter circuit smoothes the output of the driver and outputs a preset desired DC voltage (set DC voltage), and a control circuit controls the CMOS inverter.
In the DC—DC converter of the configuration described above, other components except for the filter circuit are integrated into the circuit and manufactured as the semiconductor integrated circuit for the DC—DC converter.
In a semiconductor integrated circuit for the DC—DC converter, there is a problem that a parasitic transistor is created, so that the DC—DC converter malfunctions due to a parasitic current.
An example of a semiconductor integrated circuit for a negative step-up circuit used in nonvolatile semiconductor storage devices such as a flash EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory) is disclosed in Patent Document 1, for example. The semiconductor integrated circuit serves to prevent creation of a parasitic NPN transistor, and as shown in FIG. 9, the semiconductor integrated circuit is configured using an NMOS-type transistor of a triple-well structure. A Deep-N-well 202 is formed on a P-type silicon wafer 201, a P-well 203 is formed on this Deep-N-well 202, and a Deep-N-well terminal 209 having a floating potential is formed over this Deep-N-well 202. An NMOS-type transistor M201 is formed over the P-well 203, and nodes N202 and N203 are also formed over the P-well 203. To the nodes N202 and N203, capacitances C201 and C202 are connected, respectively.
According to the semiconductor integrated circuit of the configuration as described above, the P-well 203 and the Deep-N-well 202 are separated. Thus, each of their potentials can be set to a specific potential or the floating potential. Thus, it is described that even if a parasitic NPN transistor Q201 is created, potentials of a base and a collector thereof become floating ones, so that even if a base current Ib flows from the P-well 203 to the node N202 due to a step-up operation, a constant collector current Ie is not generated, and the parasitic NPN transistor Q201 can be thereby made to be ineffective.
[Patent Document 1]
JP Patent Kokai Publication No. JP-P2001-43690A

Semiconductor circuit for DC-DC converter


A focused image is taken around the focal point by a confocal displacement meter. In a measurement apparatus, a confocal displacement meter system OPT-A includes a laser diode 1, a collimator lens 4, an objective lens 6, a half mirror 3, a diaphragm plate 31, and a photodiode 2. An observation image imaging system OPT-B is a telecentric light receiving optical system, and the observation image imaging system OPT-B includes a white light source 94, an objective lens 6, a dichroic mirror 5, a diaphragm plate 81, an image formation lens 82, and an image sensor 9. The collimator lens 4 is swept by an oscillator 7 in a two-headed arrow direction. A diameter of a diaphragm hole of the diaphragm plate 81 is set such that a depth of field of the objective lens 6 is not lower than sweep amplitude of the collimator lens 4.

This application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2009-061636 filed with the Japanese Patent Office on Mar. 13, 2009, the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a displacement sensor with a confocal optical system, in which a displacement of a measurement object is measured in a noncontact manner and obtains an image around a measuring point.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3513817, the displacement sensor in which the confocal optical system is used includes an imaging device that takes an image of an object whose displacement is measured thereby.
Specifically as illustrated in FIG. 16, the displacement sensor includes a light source 901 that emits light to an object to be measured 900, an imaging light source 913 that emits light having a wavelength different from that of the light emitted from the light source 901 to the object to be measured 900, an objective lens 906 through which the reflected light of the light source 901 from the object to be measured 900 and the reflected light of the imaging light source 913 from the object to be measured 900 pass, a beam splitter 905 to which each pieces of reflected light passing through the objective lens 906 is incident, an imaging device 909 that takes an surface image of the object to be measured with the light reflected from the beam splitter 905, a light receiving device 902 that receives light transmitted through the beam splitter 905, the light being the light reflected from the object to be measured 900, and a beam splitter 903 that leads the light transmitted through the beam splitter 905 to the light receiving device 902.
In the displacement sensor, the objective lens 906 is oscillated with predetermined amplitude using an excitation coil, and the imaging device 909 takes an image in a position of the objective lens 906, in which a light receiving amount becomes the maximum in the light receiving device 902. Therefore, the imaging device 909 can take the image when the light is collected onto the surface of the object to be measured 900.
However, in the conventional displacement meter, when irregularity exists in the surface of the object to be measured 900 as illustrated in FIG. 16, the image that is taken with the imaging device 909 at the time the light is collected on the surface of the object to be measured becomes the image that is out of focus at levels except the displacement measuring point as illustrated in FIG. 17.
In the displacement sensor, there is a demand for a function of being able to confirm the measuring point using the clear image within the measurement range in the irregular object to be measured.


A guide rail support assembly for use with a conveyor having a transport chain or belt for transporting articles from one location to another. The guide rail support comprises the combination of guide rail holding assembly for holding a guide rail adjacent the transporter of a conveyor, a support assembly for supporting the guide rail holding assembly, and cam lever mounted on the support and having a first position for securing the holding assembly against movement relative to the support and a second position for releasing the holding assembly for movement relative to the support whereby movement of the cam lever between its first and second positions permits rapid repositioning of the guide rail relative to the transport chain of a conveyor without the use of tools.

This invention relates to conveying machines and more particularly to conveying machine guide rail supports.
Conveying machines, and particularly those employed for transporting food containers such as bottles and cans, generally include a moving belt or chain on which the containers are transported from one location to another. Guide rails are positioned along the sides of the moving belt to keep the containers from falling off the sides of the conveyor as they are transported. As the containers move along the conveyor, a substantial sidewise force is exerted against the guide rails resulting in an equal and opposite reaction force on the container. Accordingly, it is desirable that the guide rails be positioned at an optimum height relative to the container so that the containers remain upright as they are conveyed. Moreover, in the case of relatively taller containers, two or more guide rails are commonly employed. In addition, for bottles having a reduced diameter neck, specially configured guide rails are often employed above and generally inboard of the guide rails which engage the body of the container. The position of the guide rails may also be determined by the location of paper labels on the container.
If a conveyor is switched from one type of container to another having a different size or shape, it is often necessary to reposition the guide rails. Conventional guide rail supports generally include threaded fasteners for securing the guide rail clamps to the supports mounted on the conveying machine. As a result, these fasteners must be loosened and retightened when it is necessary to reposition the guide rails. This is a time consuming and labor intensive procedure since a large number of such brackets must be repositioned on conveying machines which are commonly several hundred feet in length.
It is an object of the invention to provide a new and improved support for conveying machine guide rails.
Another object of the invention is to provide a conveying machine guide rail support which permits the rapid and accurate repositioning of the guide rails without the use of tools.
These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the detailed description thereof taken with the accompanying drawings.
In general terms, the invention comprises a guide rail support assembly for use with a conveyor having transport means for transporting articles from one location to another. The guide rail support comprises the combination of guide rail holding means for holding a guide rail adjacent the transport means of a conveyor, support means for supporting the guide rail holding means and clamping means mounted on one of the holding means and the support means and having a first position for securing the holding means against movement relative to the support means and a second position in which the holding means is free for movement relative to the support means whereby movement of the clamping means between its first and second positions permits rapid repositioning of the guide rail relative to the transport means of a conveyor without the use of tools.


A process for applying an adhesion primer to a window. The process includes the steps of directing light (11) onto the window (10) to illuminate a portion (13) of the window and then applying an adhesion primer along the illuminated portion of the window. If the adhesion primer contains a component that evaporates, then the process can further include the step of forming an infrared image (19) of the window as the component evaporates to indicate the area of application (20) of the adhesion primer. If the adhesion primer contains a component that fluoresces when illuminated by ultraviolet light, then the process can further include the step of illuminating the window with ultraviolet light (22) to indicate the area of application (23) of the adhesion primer.

As discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,792,811, the fixed glass windows (such as the windshield) of a modern automobile are bonded to the painted steel body of the automobile using an adhesive (such as a urethane adhesive). The periphery of the window is usually already coated with black cosmetic paint called the "enamel band". A primer is applied to the enamel band along the area of the window to be bonded to the automobile to improve the strength of the bond between the enamel band and the cured adhesive.
The area of the enamel band to be primed can be controlled using a mechanical means, such as an edge guide or a template. Alternatively, the area of the enamel band to be primed can be indicated by a pattern printed or otherwise marked on the enamel band. If the primer is applied robotically, then the robot can be programmed to apply the primer to the desired area of the enamel band.
The primer is often not visually detectable after it has been applied to the enamel band. Thus, it is difficult to determine if an area of the enamel band requiring the primer has been properly primed. It would be an advance in the art of applying an adhesion primer to the enamel band of such a window if a process were developed that indicated the area to be primed and then confirmed that such area had been primed.

Process for applying an adhesion primer to a window


Aspects of the disclosure relate to a cognitive automation based compliance management system. A computing platform may receive, via a network, an alert notification indicative of a change to a legal framework applicable to an enterprise organization. Subsequently, the computing platform may, in response to the alert notification, detect a task that may be impacted by the change. Then, the computing platform may, upon detecting the task, identify at least one task parameter associated with the task. Then, the computing platform may compare the at least one task parameter with the change to determine whether the task is impacted by the change. Subsequently, the computing platform may, upon a determination that the task is impacted by the change, recommend, via the network, one or more actions associated with the task.

Aspects of the disclosure relate to deploying digital data processing systems to manage network resources. In particular, one or more aspects of the disclosure relate to a cognitive automation based compliance management system.
Enterprise organizations may be governed by a variety of laws and/or regulations. In some instances, the laws and/or regulations may differ by jurisdiction. For large enterprise organizations, maintaining, updating, and managing compliance of various enterprise resources with changing laws and/or regulations may be of significant importance in maintaining an efficient and updated computing infrastructure. It may be helpful to automatically detect changes, and bring the enterprise resources into compliance with the changes. Ensuring that monitoring of laws and/or regulations is conducted in real-time, and that compliance with changes in such laws and/or regulations is performed in a timely manner, in real-time with speed and accuracy, may be particularly advantageous to ensure a smooth running of an enterprise infrastructure. In many instances, however, it may be difficult to detect changes in laws and/or regulations, identify an impact on enterprise resources, and maintain compliance of the impacted enterprise resources, in an organization's complex network comprising a vast number of network devices, services, vendors, and users, while also attempting to optimize network resources, bandwidth utilization, and efficient operations of the computing infrastructure.

Cognitive automation based compliance management system


A noncontact-reading type IC card image receiving material useful for sublimation thermal transfer recording is provided which is made by forming a resin cover film overlying a substrate including an IC chip and an antenna and in which an image is recorded on a surface of the receiving material or a receiving layer optionally formed on the receiving material by imagewise heating a sublimation thermal transfer recording material having an ink layer which contacts the receiving material or the receiving layer, wherein the resin cover film is formed by an injection and compression molding method. The receiving material is preferably subjected to a heat treatment after an image is formed thereon.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sublimation thermal transfer image receiving material and an image recording method therefor, and more particularly, to a card type sublimation thermal transfer image receiving material having good recording properties and good image qualities and durability of a recorded image, as well as to an image recording method which cost-efficiently produces a good image on such a card type sublimation thermal transfer image receiving material.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Recently, the demand for full color recording has increased year by year. There have been known various full color recording methods including electrophotographic recording methods, ink jet recording methods and sublimation thermal transfer recording methods. Among these methods, sublimation thermal transfer recording methods are widely employed because of having the following advantages over the other recording methods:
(1) a full color image having excellent image qualities can be obtained; PA0 (2) recording speed is relatively high; and PA0 (3) operation and maintenance of the recording apparatus are relatively easy. PA0 (1) a card merely made of a resin plate such as polyvinyl chloride, polyester, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer (ABS) or the like and having a print image thereon; PA0 (2) a card having a resin plate and a magnetic stripe which is formed on the resin plate and in which a small amount of information such as a personal identification number is stored; and PA0 (3) a card having a resin plate and an IC chip which is mounted on or in the resin plate and which can store a relatively large amount of information compared to the magnetic stripe. PA0 (1) a resin cover film which is recessed corresponding to the projection of an antenna coil, an IC chip, a condenser and the like which are formed on a resin film substrate is overlaid on the resin film substrate (resin cover film overlaying method); and PA0 (2) a resin cover film is formed on a resin film substrate having an antenna coil, an IC chip, a condenser and the like by an injection molding method (resin cover film injection molding method). PA0 (1) a circuit and an antenna are printed with silver paste on resin film substrate such as polyester film or the like having thickness of from about 20 to about 500 .mu.m, and preferably from about 100 to about 250 .mu.m, and then an IC chip, a condenser and the like are mounted on the film substrate with an adhesive agent to form a main functional part on the film substrate(the circuit and the antenna may be previously formed and mounted on the resin film substrate with an adhesive agent); and PA0 (2) a resin cover film is formed on the resin film substrate having the main functional part by "an injection and compression molding method" so that the total thickness of the IC card is in the above-mentioned range. PA0 (1) a melted resin material is injected under low pressure into a cavity of a die which contains a resin film substrate having a main functional part and which is slightly opened or loosely fastened so as to contain an excessive amount of the injected resin material, the die is then closed to compress the melted resin material in the cavity after or during the injection of the melted resin material, and then the die is cooled while compressing the injected resin material to solidify the resin material so that there is no camber or shrink marks on the surface of the formed resin cover film; and PA0 (2) a melted resin material is injected into a cavity of a die which contains a resin film substrate having a main functional part and which is fastened, and the injected resin material is cooled while at least one part of the injected resin material is pressed by a cylinder which acts on the inside of the die to exert pressure on the injected resin material to smooth the surface of the resultant resin cover film. PA0 (1) a resin including hollow particles is coated on the IC card and dried to form a porous intermediate layer; PA0 (2) a resin including a foaming agent is coated on the IC card, dried and heated to form air bubbles in the resin layer, resulting in formation of a porous intermediate layer; PA0 (3) a resin dissolved in solvents including a solvent which hardly dissolves the resin is coated on the IC card and dried to form a porous intermediate layer; and PA0 (4) a porous resin film including hollow particles or air bubbles therein is adhered to the IC card to form a porous intermediate layer. PA0 (1) a porous resin film in which a foaming agent included in a resin film is foamed to obtain a porous resin film; and PA0 (2) a porous resin film such as synthetic paper in which a resin film including an additive is drawn biaxially or uniaxially to form air bubbles therein. PA0 (1) a resin film which includes an ultraviolet absorbing agent and on which, if desired, a layer of metal is formed by evaporation is superimposed on the image recorded receiving material and adhered with an adhesive agent which is thermosensitive or pressure sensitive; PA0 (2) a transferable protective layer including an ultraviolet absorbing agent which is formed on a heat resistant substrate and which, if desired, has a thermosensitive or pressure sensitive adhesive layer thereon is transferred onto the image recorded receiving material by heating the back side of the substrate; PA0 (3) a transferable protective layer including an ultraviolet absorbing agent which is formed on a temporary substrate with a releasing layer therebetween is transferred onto the image recorded receiving layer; or PA0 (4) a transferable protective layer including an ultraviolet absorbing agent which is repeatedly formed on an area adjacent to each of ink layers which are repeatedly formed in a recording material is transferred onto the image recorded receiving layer by heating the back side, i.e., a heat resistant layer side, of the recording material after the image is recorded on the receiving layer using the ink layer of the recording material. PA0 C.I. Disperse Yellows 1, 3, 8, 9, 16, 41, 54, 60, 77 and 116; PA0 C.I. Disperse Reds 1, 4, 6, 11, 15, 17, 55, 59, 60, 73 and 83; PA0 C.I. Disperse Blues 3, 14, 19, 26, 56, 60, 64, 72, 99 and 108; PA0 C.I. Solvent Yellows 77 and 116; PA0 C.I. Solvent Reds 23, 25 and 27; and PA0 C.I. Solvent Blues 36, 63, 83 and 105. PA0 (1) a recording method in which an image is formed on a receiving material using a one-time recording method but the recording material is repeatedly used n-times (referred to as an n-time mode multiple recording method); and PA0 (2) a recording method in which an image is formed on a receiving material while the recording material is fed at a speed of 1/n that of the receiving material (referred to as an n-fold speed mode multiple recording method). PA0 (1) the recording material and the receiving material perfectly adhere to each other by the heat for recording images, resulting in occurrence of transfer of the ink layer to the receiving material; or PA0 (2) the recording material and the receiving material adhere to each other for a moment, resulting in occurrence of an undesirable horizontal white line in a recorded image. PA0 (1) both of a dye supplying layer coating liquid and a dye transferring layer coating liquid are coated on a respective sheet made of the same substrate and dried to form two sheets of single-ink-layer type recording materials so that each coating weight of the dye supplying layer and the dye transferring layer is the same; PA0 (2) each of the prepared recording materials is superimposed on a respective sheet of the same receiving materials so that the coated surface of each recording material contacts the receiving layer of the receiving material, and heat is applied from the back side of each recording material, namely, heat is applied from the side of the substrate opposed to the ink layer, to record an image on the receiving layer; and PA0 (3) the image density of each recorded image is measured, and the recording material having the higher image density has higher dye transferability. PA0 (1) the dye concentration in the dye supplying layer is higher than that in the dye transferring layer; and/or PA0 (2) the diffusion coefficient of the dye supplying layer is greater than that of the dye transferring layer. PA0 (1) preparing a coating liquid by mixing a resin solution having a solid content of 5 to 20% by weight and a silicone oil which is a mixture of SF8417 and SF8411 (both of which are manufactured by Toray Silicone Industries Inc.) mixed in a ratio of 1/1 so that the ratio of the silicone oil to the solid of the resin is 0.3; PA0 (2) coating the coating liquid on a sheet of synthetic paper, Yupo FPG#95 manufactured by Oji Yuka Synthetic Paper Co., Ltd., and drying the coated liquid for 1 minute to form a receiving layer so that the thickness of the receiving layer is 10 .mu.m on a dry basis; PA0 (3) aging the thus obtained receiving material at room temperature for more than 1 day; PA0 (4) superimposing a cyan colored recording material, e.g., Ck2LB used for Mitsubishi Color Video Copy Processor, on the receiving layer of the receiving material and recording an image on the receiving layer by imagewise heating the back side of the recording material using a thermal printhead, e.g., KMT-85-6MPD4 (manufactured by Kyocera Corp.), having a dot density of 6dots/mm and an average electric resistance of 542 .OMEGA., under a condition of applied energy of 2.00 mJ/dot; and PA0 (5) measuring the image density of the recorded image with a Macbeth reflection densitometer RD-918. PA0 (1) measuring the coating weight of the receiving layer when the receiving layer is formed; PA0 (2) cutting a sheet of the receiving material 50 mm wide and 100 mm long, and measuring the weight of the sheet; PA0 (3) dipping the sheet into 500 g of the methyl ethyl ketone (or a good solvent for the binder resin in the receiving layer) for ten minutes; PA0 (4) pulling up the sheet from the methyl ethyl ketone and measuring the weight of the sheet after drying the solvent included in the sheet; and PA0 (5) obtaining the degree of gelation by the following equation: (degree of gelation)={1 -(weight difference between the sheet before dipping and after dipping)/(coating weight of the receiving layer of 50 mm wide and 100 mm long)} .times.100 (%). PA0 (1) forming a semiconductive layer on a substrate which includes a heat resistant resin such as, polyester, polycarbonate, triacetyl cellulose, nylon, polyimide and aromatic polyamide, and powder of a metal such as, aluminum, copper, iron, tin, nickel, molybdenum and silver which is dispersed in the heat resistant resin, and forming an ink layer including a sublimable dye on the semiconductive layer; or PA0 (2) forming a semiconductive layer including powder of the above-mentioned metal described in method (1) on a substrate by an evaporation or a sputtering method and forming an ink layer including a sublimable dye on the semiconductive layer.
In sublimation thermal transfer recording, an image can be obtained on a sublimation thermal transfer image receiving material (referred to as a receiving material) upon application of heat to the back side of a sublimation thermal transfer image recording material (referred to as a recording material) whose ink layer contacts the receiving material. The recording material includes a substrate and an ink layer which is formed on the substrate and includes a thermo-diffusional dye (hereinafter referred to as a sublimable dye) dispersed in a binder resin. The recording material may include a heat resistant layer on the back side thereof. The receiving material includes a substrate and optionally an image receiving layer (referred to as a receiving layer) which is formed on the substrate. When heat is applied to the recording material, the sublimable dye diffuses into the receiving material or the receiving layer of the receiving material, so that an image is formed on the receiving material.
Currently, various cards such as credit cards, cash cards, identification cards, cards bearing personal medical data, membership cards or the like are widely used.
Cards are roughly classified as follows:
The card having an IC chip (referred to as an IC card) is predicted to be widely used in the future.
Types of IC card include a noncontact-reading type IC card in which an antenna, an IC chip, a coil and the like are mounted in a card, and a contact-reading type IC card in which an IC chip and a coil are mounted on a card and terminals are exposed on the surface of the card.
Currently, there is a tendency to mount a portrait of an owner on these cards to prevent other persons from using the cards. A suitable method for mounting a portrait on a card is a sublimation thermal transfer recording method in which an image can be directly recorded on a card material having a relatively low softening point such as polyvinyl chloride by imagewise heating a recording material, whose ink layer is contacting the surface of the card, using a thermal printhead. The sublimation thermal transfer recording method is widely employed for this application because of having the above-mentioned advantages, and particularly, being a dry image forming process and easily producing an image having excellent image qualities as good as those of a photograph using silver halide. Card materials for the card type receiving material have also been studied in which a receiving layer which can be easily dyed with a sublimable dye is formed on the entire surface or an area of a resin card material which is safer in environmental pollution than polyvinyl chloride.
Methods for making a noncontact-reading type IC card include the following methods:
An IC card manufactured by the resin cover film overlaying method is expensive because it takes much expense in time to manufacture the IC card. In contrast, an IC card manufactured by the resin cover film injection molding method is not expensive; however, the resultant IC card has a drawback in that the surface of the formed resin cover film is relatively roughened compared to the surface of the IC card manufactured by the resin cover film overlaying method because the IC card manufactured by the injection molding method tends to have camber and/or shrink marks compared to cards having a magnetic stripe which are manufactured by a blanking method.
When an image is recorded on a card having such a rough surface by a sublimation thermal transfer recording method, the recorded image has defects such as white spots, white lines or unevenness of image density. This is because an image cannot be recorded or is unevenly recorded on a recess of the rough surface of the resin cover film. In attempting to solve this problem, when a card is made by an improved injection molding method in which the cooling time after the injection of the resin cover film is prolonged, the resultant card has a smooth surface; however the card is expensive because it takes much expense in time to manufacture the card.
Because of these reasons, a need exists for a noncontact-reading type IC card receiving material on which images having good image qualities can be cost-efficiently recorded by a sublimation thermal transfer recording method.

Sublimation thermal transfer image receiving material and image recording method therefor


A switch integrated type housing includes a housing body, a switch button sheet, a conductor and a cover sheet. The housing body is provided with a plurality of concave sections on an outer surface of the housing body. The switch button sheet is provided on the outer surface to cover the plurality of concave sections. The conductor has a dome shape downwardly projecting and is provided in each of the plurality of concave sections to contact the switch button sheet. The cover sheet is provided between the switch button sheet and the outer surface of the housing body in a portion of the outer surface of the housing body other than the plurality of concave sections and to cover a lower surface of the conductor in each of the plurality of concave sections.

In a small mobile terminal such as mobile phone, a PHS (Personal Handy Phone System), and a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), tendency of a small size and a thin structure is accelerating. For the purpose of realization of a small mobile terminal with the small size and thin structure, the small size and thin structure of a functional part, the thin structure of a printed circuit board on which the functional parts are mounted, the small size of an antenna, and the thin structure of a housing which accommodates the functional parts and the printed circuit board and so on are carried forward.
FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view of a conventional small mobile terminal. As shown in FIG. 1, in the conventional small mobile terminal, generally, a front housing 501, switch buttons 525, a key sheet 502, switch domes 524, a switch board 555, a printed circuit board 504 on which electronic parts 503 are mounted are stacked in the direction of the thickness to be fixed on a back housing 558. Many through-holes exist in the front housing 501 and the switch buttons 525 are provided for the through-holes. Wiring line patterns 522A and 522B are formed on the surface of the switch board 555. The switch dome 524 is formed of an elastically deformable conductive material and the periphery of the switch dome 524 is connected with the wiring line pattern 522A. When the switch button 525 is pushed, the switch dome 524 transforms elastically through the key sheet 502, and the center portion of the switch dome 524 contacts the wiring line pattern 522B so that the wiring line patterns 522A and 522B are set to an electrically conductive state. In this way, predetermined data can be inputted. With the housing, the structure is demanded in which the thickness of the whole mobile equipment is made thin while maintaining mechanical strength. Conventionally, for the purpose of maintenance of the housing stiffness, reinforcement ribs are increased and reinforcement is carried out using components, as described in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-P2000-151136A).
In the conventional small mobile terminal shown in FIG. 1, many through-holes exist in the housing as described above. This causes large degradation of the stiffness of the front housing 501. Also, as shown in FIG. 1, generally, the switch button 525 has the thickness of about 1.4 mm, the key sheet 502 has the thickness of about 0.7 mm, the switch dome 524 has the height of about 0.3 mm, and the switch board 555 has the thickness of about 0.8 mm. The total thickness t2 of them is about 3.2 mm. These components tend to be made thin for the thin structure of the small mobile terminal. However, the thin structure degrades flexural rigidity and twisting stiffness of those components and these components have a possibility to be transformed or damaged. Especially, the housing is easy to transform through a switch operation by a user or by external force, because it has many through-holes for the switch buttons 525, in spite that the housing has an important function to prevent its own transformation and the transformation of the board 504. Thus, the transformation of the housing results in the transformation of the components mechanically connected with the housing. Especially, when the board 504 is transformed, peeling of solders from the electronic part 503 and the wiring line occurs because many electronic parts 503 are mounted on the board 504 and the wiring lines are provided. As a result, there is a possibility of occurrence of a trouble in the mobile terminal. Also, to use a rib and so on to prevent the occurrence of such a situation is a factor that hinders the thin structure of the equipment.
In conjunction with the above description, an operation unit of a mobile phone is disclosed in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-A-Heisei 7-58815). In this conventional example, a main board is accommodated in a cabinet body. An operation section concave section is formed on the cabinet body. On an operation section printed circuit board, a plurality of operation contacts are printed and LEDs are mounted. An operation button sheet is formed of a material having a light transmitting property and elasticity, and has a key top, on which light shielding print is carried out to leave predetermined numbers or characters, in positions corresponding to the operation contacts. An operation button cover has an opening in a location corresponding to the key top and has a pushing rib to push the operation button sheet on a lower surface of the button cover in the opening.
Also, a portable phone is disclosed in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-A-Heisei 10-276249). The portable phone of this conventional example is composed of an upper stage printed circuit board and a lower stage printed circuit board in a flat casing. A shield chassis is interposed between the printed circuit boards. A switch sheet has a plurality of switches for key input of a telephone number and is supported by a shield and sheet support board. A cell box has an upwardly projecting portion on the side of the upper stage printed circuit board and is provided below the lower stage printed circuit board. The shield chassis and the lower stage printed circuit board have blanked portions corresponding to the upwardly projecting portion of the cell box. The cell box is provided in a part non-existing region on the back side of the upper stage printed circuit board through the blanked portions of the shield chassis and the lower stage printed circuit board.
Also, a data input key is disclosed in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-A-Heisei 11-149841). The data input key of this conventional example has a key top formed of a light transmissible resin, and a light transmissible resin sheet on which a print is carried out and the key top is provided on the light transmissible resin sheet.
Also, a mobile terminal apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-P2000-151136A). The mobile terminal apparatus of this conventional example has a printed circuit board on which parts are mounted, a lower case which has ribs to receive the parts in correspondence to the arrangement positions of the parts, and a battery case provided below the lower case to prevent the transformation of the lower case.
Also, a housing structure of a mobile terminal is disclosed in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-P2001-119455A). In this conventional example, the housing structure of the mobile terminal has a front case and a rear case. A printed circuit board is accommodated into a cavity formed between the front case and the rear case and the rear case has a concave section on the surface of the outside of the rear case. The side wall of the rear case is formed to have the thick thickness and form a concave section. The concave section is portioned into a cell room and an antenna room by ribs extending from the side wall.

Switch integrated casing and electronic equipment having the casing


An apparatus for brewing an alcoholic beverage includes a plurality of wooden barrels including at least one first wooden barrel, at least one second wooden barrel, and at least one third wooden barrel; an enclosed trough; a plurality of first conduits providing flow communication between each of the plurality of wooden barrels and the enclosed trough; an enclosed catch pot in flow communication with the enclosed trough; a plurality of second conduits providing flow communication between the enclosed catch pot and each of the plurality of wooden barrels; and devices, such as valves, for controlling flow between each of the plurality of wooden barrels and the second conduit. The at least one first wooden barrel is a new barrel that has been filled with an alcoholic beverage up to 5 times, the at least one second wooden barrel is a middle aged barrel that has been filled with an alcoholic beverage from 6 to 12 times, and the at least one third wooden barrel is an old barrel that has been filled with an alcoholic beverage from 13 to 30 times.

The brewing of beer and other alcoholic beverages is an ancient art. The brewing of beer using cask fermentation systems is disclosed in the following references. U.S. Pat. No. 504,145 to Zwietusch discloses closed loop manufacturing of beer using casks in which a component of the loop, pipe r, provides for pressure equalization as beer flows from a cask A through a filter apparatus D into a cask C. U.S. Pat. No. 485,012 to Kreusler discloses routing carbonic-acid (CO.sub.2) gas that would otherwise escape to the atmosphere carrying volatile flavor components with it from a first series of interconnected casks to a second series of interconnected casks. The second series of interconnected casks contains a fluid not saturated or fully impregnated with carbonic-acid gas. The contents of the two series of casks are then intermixed. U.S. Pat. No. 490,056 to Zwietusch discloses another closed loop beer making system that incorporates the use of casks. Specifically, beer from casks labeled A is fed through a filter and into casks labeled C, under a first pressure and against a counter pressure which is greater than the inherent pressure exerted by the carbonic-acid gas within the beer, but less than the first pressure. U.S. Pat. No. 1,099,746 to Heuser discloses using chip casks in a closed loop system.
The use of the "Burton-Union" in England in the last century is known. The Burton-Union utilized 154 gallon oak barrels linked together in rows (a "Union") of pairs. A swan-neck tube from the bung hole of each barrel led to an open trough, or "barm-back," that ran the length of the 12 rows, centered above the barrels. At one end of the trough, and a few inches lower, sat a feeder which led to side rods on either side of the Union and which ran the length of the 12 rows and made connections to each barrel via side taps. The process began with fermenting wort being transferred to the Union after spending 30-50 hours in a primary fermenter. Once in the Union, the CO.sub.2 produced in the barrels forced yeast and beer up through the swan-neck and into the open barm-back. The open barm-back, at a slight decline and attemporated, allowed the yeast to settle, while beer ran to the feeder and back to the barrels via the side rods under the force of gravity. Eventually most of the yeast settled into the open barm-back and fermentation ceased. The result was a "cleansing," or a separation of the yeast from the beer, and excellent pitching yeast for further brews. One hundred years later, very few if any brewers still use the Burton Union. The demise of the Union is explainable by the brewing industry's increasing reliance on more sanitary fermentation materials such as stainless steel. In contrast, wood is more absorbent and therefore more difficult to properly clean and sanitize when compared to stainless steel. Thus, despite the unique flavors obtained through wooden barrel fermentation, higher maintenance and cleaning costs forced the end of a great tradition.
Accordingly, there is a need for an apparatus and methods for brewing beer which utilizes wooden barrels to impart a pleasant flavor to the beer that a metal container or container of another type of material would not provide. There is also a need to provide a modern, sanitary, closed system for transferring the fermenting beer to and from the wooden barrels in the process off cleansing the beer during wooden barrel fermentation.

Apparatus and method for brewing an alcoholic beverage and beverage brewed by same


Sondes provided with magnets are used in wells fitted with a metallic casing. The sondes are pressed at the surface against the inner wall of the casing and taken down towards the bottom by means of a stiff driving element such as a tubing provided with thrust driving means for the longitudinal drive and lateral extensions for the lateral positioning of the sonde, or using pulling slings, etc. The wall of the sonde pressed against the casing can have the same bending radius as the casing in order to improve the coupling. The sonde can be associated with an electronic data acquisition and transmission box fastened to the tubing. Before any intervention is performed, the tubing is moved sufficiently in order to suppress any mechanical coupling with the sonde. After it has been used, the sonde can be displaced towards another point of measurement or taken up to the surface by moving the tubing.

The present invention relates to a method and a device for temporarily setting up one or several sondes against the inner wall of a cased well. The well sonde according to the invention can be installed in a well for example for various operations connected with the production of hydrocarbons.
A well equipped for petroleum production for example comprises a casing set up during the drilling operations. It is held in position with cement injected into the annular space between the casing and the wellbore. A tubing for the flowing of the fluids outside the producing zone is set up in the cased well.
The well sonde according to the invention can be used in this case for containing seismic or acoustic sensors (accelerometers, geophones, piezoelectric sensors, etc) which are to be coupled with the casing for the passive monitoring of the zone in production to determine the evolution thereof in time for example.
The well sonde according to the invention can also be used for example within the framework of operations for the hydraulic fracturing of a petroliferous zone where a fluid under pressure is injected into a confined well portion to generate fractures therein, in order to favour the production thereof. It is well-known that, in this type of operations, it is useful to set up in the well a sonde fitted with directional sensors sensitive to the noises transmitted by the rocks subjected to the fracturing fluid, in order to determine the directions of propagation of the fractures. Temperature and pressure sensors can also be included in such a sonde.
Various sondes which can be used within the framework of hydraulic fracturing operations are well-known through U.S. Pat. No. 4,690,214 4;898,237 4,898,240 and 4,898,241 assigned to the same assignee. They are taken down as far as the intervention zone by means of a tubing constituted by interconnecting tubular sections and linked to a surface control and recording installation by an electric carrying cable which can possibly be connected when the sonde has already been taken down into the well. Using such a tubing sometimes presents drawbacks for some applications. It is the case for fracturing operations where propping agents must be injected through the tubing, which, as can be noticed, tend to erode the electric carrying cable and sometimes to obstruct the tubing, which sometimes prevents from taking up the sonde after using it.
A process and a device for installing a reception array in a well, which essentially consists in arranging sensors outside the casing and in drowning them in the cement injected into the annular space between the casing and the well, are well-known through U.S. Pat. No. 4,775,009. This process provides a particularly good coupling of the sensors with the surrounding formations. It is suitable for a stationary installation because of the irreversible nature thereof.

Method and device for setting up sondes against the wall of a cased well


A head including a write element for writing data to a magnetic media, and methods for its production are provided. A write element of the invention includes one or more of a recessed first pole, a heat sink layer, and a shortened yoke length. A method of the invention provides forming an anti-reflective layer before forming a mask layer. During photolithography the anti-reflective layer suppresses undesirable reflections off of features, such as vertical sidewalls, that otherwise limit how closely to such features portions of the mask layer can be formed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of magnetic disk drives, and more particularly to aspects of a write element of a disk drive head and methods of fabricating the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Magnetic disk drives are used to store and retrieve data for digital electronic apparatuses such as computers. In FIGS. 1 and 2, a magnetic disk data storage system 10 includes an enclosure 12, a disk drive motor 14, and a magnetic disk, or media, 16 supported for rotation by a drive spindle 17 of motor 14. Also included are an actuator 18 and an arm 20 attached to an actuator spindle 21 of actuator 18. A suspension 22 is coupled at one end to the arm 20 and at another end to a head 24. The suspension 22 and the head 24 are commonly collectively referred to as a head gimbal assembly (HGA). The head 24 typically includes a slider and a transducer that includes an inductive write element and a magnetoresistive read element. As the motor 14 rotates the magnetic disk 16, as indicated by the arrow R, an air bearing is formed under an air bearing surface (ABS) of the slider causing the head 24 to lift slightly off of the surface of the magnetic disk 16, or, as it is commonly termed in the art, to "fly" above the magnetic disk 16. Data bits can be written or read along a magnetic "track" of the magnetic disk 16 as the magnetic disk 16 rotates past the head 24. The actuator 18 moves the head 24 from one magnetic track to another by pivoting the arm 20 and the suspension 22 in an arc indicated by arrows P. The design of magnetic disk data storage system 10 is well known to those skilled in the art.
The magnetic disk data storage industry has been very successful at achieving ever greater data densities on magnetic disks 16. Increasing data densities, measured typically in gigabits per square inch GB/in2, have been accomplished, in part, by writing increasingly narrower tracks and writing the tracks more closely together. Increasing data densities have also been achieved by writing more data bits in each track. This can be accomplished by increasing the frequency of the write element, where frequency is a measure of how many data bits the write element can write per second.
In order to continue to provide magnetic disk drives with still greater data densities, what is needed is a write element that is operable at still higher frequencies and that can write tracks more closely together.

Write element with reduced yoke length for ultra-high density writing


The database is populated with target chemicals, corresponding listings of reagent chemicals, corresponding listings of equipment and corresponding listings of procedures. The database is then searched in response to user identification of a target chemical. In response, a listing is displayed of reagent chemicals that are used to synthesize the target chemical, equipment that is used to synthesize the target chemical, and a procedure that is used to synthesize the target chemical by reacting the reagent chemicals in the equipment according to the procedure. An icon-based reaction editor and/or context-sensitive Boolean query option generators may be provided. A reaction template may be used to perform predictive chemistry. A reaction relay may be used to graphically display related chemicals and procedures using a hub and spoke arrangement.

Chemicals are synthesized for various applications in commercial and academic environments. In chemical synthesis, a plurality of reagent chemicals are used to synthesize a target chemical, by reacting the reagent chemicals in predefined equipment according to a predefined procedure. The reagent chemicals, the target chemical, the equipment and the procedure provide the parameters for chemical synthesis.
The identification of the reagent chemicals, the equipment and the procedures to synthesize the target chemical may be contained within laboratory notebooks that are maintained by a commercial or academic organization. Moreover, the open literature also contains many references that can identify reagent chemicals, equipment and procedures that can be used to synthesize a target chemical. As one example, see Wolfe et al., Highly Active Palladium Catalysts for Suzuki Coupling Reaction, J. Am. Chem. Soc., Vol. 121, 1999, pp. 9550-9561. In the "Experimental Section" of this publication, various procedures are described for synthesizing aryl halides.
Unfortunately, it may be difficult to find an appropriate procedure for synthesizing a desired target chemical, and it also may be difficult and/or time consuming to identify and procure the reagent chemicals and/or equipment that are used to synthesize the desired target chemical.

Systems, methods and computer program products for determining parameters for chemical synthesis


An operation input device that has multi jointed arms includes: a holding unit that holds proximal ends of the multi-jointed arms in a state in which a relative positional relationship between the proximal ends is fixed; a detection unit that detects a joint movement amount that represents a movement of a joint by a rotation angle or a translational displacement from an unknown initial joint value; engagement units that are provided in distal ends of the multi jointed arms; a data acquisition unit that acquires a plurality of sets of joint movement amounts detected by the detection unit in a time series when engaging and moving the distal ends; and an initial value calculation unit that calculates the unknown initial joint value under a condition that a relative positional relationship between the distal ends is fixed via the engagement units.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an operation input device and a method of initializing the operation input device. The present invention relates to, for example, an operation input device that has a plurality of multi-jointed arms and performs an operation input by moving the plurality of multi-jointed arms, and a method of initializing the operation input device.
2. Description of Related Art
In the related art, in an apparatus (for example, a remote control robot, an operation input device for performing a surgical assistant of a surgical operation or the like) in which an actuating unit is held in a plurality of multi-jointed robots, there has been known a configuration that uses an operation input device including an multi-jointed arm having the same degree of freedom as that of the actuating unit, when performing the movement operation of the actuating unit. For example, in a medical manipulator system of a master-slave type, a master manipulator, which inputs the movement of the slave manipulator, constitutes such an operation input device.
Such the operation input device detects a rotation angle of the joint detected by each joint of the multi-jointed arm, the length of the arm between the joints or the like, and detects the position and the orientation of an operation unit provided on the multi-jointed arm corresponding to the actuating unit and transmits the detected data to a control device of the multi-jointed robot. The control device of the multi-jointed robot performs the control of driving the actuating unit in accordance with the position and the orientation that is transmitted from the operation input device.
The joint of the multi-jointed arm of the operation input device is equipped with a sensor that detects a rotation angle of the joint and a translation amount of the arm between the adjacent joints. However, in order to promote a low cost, in many cases, an encoder which cannot detect an absolute value is used.
In such an operation input device, in an initial state, a relationship between an output value of the encoder and the angle or the length of the joint is indefinite. For this reason, in order to perform the accurate operation input, there is a need for the initialization that performs an identification task between the output value of the encoder and the value of a physical joint angle or joint length.
For example, Published Japanese Translation No. 2007-510232 of the PCT International Publication discloses a force reflecting haptic interface that includes a docking station fixed to a base, and a rod-like user interface having a distal end capable of being held in a cylinder portion provided in the docking station.
In the force reflecting haptic interface, it is possible to set (initialize) a rest point and a home position of the distal end to a zero position or a user-designated home position, by holding the distal end of the user interface in the cylinder portion of the docking station of the fixed position.

Operation input device and method of initializing operation input device


Methods, systems, and computer program products analyze asphalt samples for anti-stripping agents by: obtaining a sample comprising asphalt binder material; sensing a selected parameter associated with the sample (such as the acidity and/or alkalinity of the sample); and analyzing the sensed parameter to assess at least one of: (a) the presence of at least one anti-stripping agent in the sample; and (b) the level of at least one anti-stripping agent in the sample. The sample can be heated so that it emits exhaust gas and the exhaust gas (directly or indirectly) interrogated to determine its pH, or other constituents or properties, such as ammonia. Pre-defined mathematical relationships can be used to correlate the measured sensed data to the concentrations of the anti-stripping agent(s) in the sample undergoing analysis. The evaluation can be carried out in a generally automated rapid manner so that the test can be completed in about 10 minutes or less. Related devices and kits are also described.

Asphalt pavements include asphalt binders combined with aggregates compacted to a known and/or desired density. Asphalt binders have been described to function as a water-resistant thermoplastic adhesive that "glues" the aggregates together. The asphalt binder is commonly a residue from petroleum refining chosen from certain crude oil blends processed to have suitable endurance and other functional properties. Additives (such as polymers) can be blended or reacted with the binder (to modify binder properties and enhance performance as is well known to those of skill in the art). See Anderson et al., Asphalt Binders, A2D01: Committee on Characteristics of Bituminous Materials, at URL,
nas.edu/gulliver.trb/publications/millennium/00006.pdf.
Asphalt binders (as well as the selection of aggregates) can be customized for each site or project. The asphalt binders may be selected for a particular application, expected climate of operation/use, established maximum and minimum temperatures within a cycle, and/or other desired characteristics when designing a pavement mixture. Asphalt binders may be graded under the PG (performance graded) binder specification standard developed by the Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP). In this grading system, the first two digits of the binder identifier can present an average 7-day maximum pavement design temperature and the last two digits can reflect an average 7-day minimum pavement design temperature. Thus, for example, a binder identified as PG 64-22 binder reflects an average 7-day maximum temperature of 64° C. and an average 7-day minimum of 22° C. The temperatures can be established using the SUPERPAVE (an acronym for "SUperior PERforming ashpalt PAVEments") weather database, which includes over 5,000 weather stations across the United States. The pavement temperatures can be calculated using air temperatures measured at the weather stations using well-known models.
Most paved roads in the United States are surface-paved with hot-mix formulations of asphalt containing generally about at least 93–96% aggregate and 4–7% asphalt binder (and typically including some number of air voids after compaction, such as between about 3–10%).
Stripping is a phenomenon of the loss of the bond between asphalt binder and the aggregate resulting in physical separation and degradation of the pavement. One of the common causes of stripping is the presence of water or moisture on and/or in the pavement. The potential for stripping due to moisture can be reduced by using anti-stripping additives in asphalt mixtures or asphalt binders. Examples of anti-stripping additives are hydrated lime, cement, polymer based and/or other liquid chemicals. Anti-stripping agents can be added in lesser amounts than either the aggregates or asphalt binder, such as between about 0.1–3%, and typically about 0.5–2% percent, of the total asphalt binder weight. For example, when hydrated lime is used, between about 1–2% of anti-stripping agents are used as compared to between about 0.5–1.0% for when other liquid chemicals are used, of the total asphalt binder weight.
In the past, the anti-stripping additives in the mixture could be indirectly evaluated through the performance of the asphalt pavement, such as by using standard test method AASHTO T283. Unfortunately, this method generally takes several days to obtain results. This delay and/or inconvenience may limit the number of inspections performed to verify the presence or level of anti-stripping agents in the asphalt mixtures. In addition, the potential variability in the dosage of anti-stripping additives employed, batch to batch, can introduce uncertainties in the quality of the paved roadway and may cause or contribute to premature degradation of the roadway surface.
In view of the above, there remains a need to provide economical methods and devices that can assess the presence and/or level of anti-stripping agents in asphalt related materials. There is also a need to provide anti-stripping agent tests that can be readily obtained and completed in reduced time so as to provide prompt reporting of the test results to facilitate increased numbers of inspection opportunities and/or increased control of the content of anti-stripping agents in asphalt binders or asphalt mixtures when delivered to construction sites.

Systems and methods for assessing the presence of and/or the level of anti-stripping constituents in asphalt binders or asphalt mixtures


A device management service of a provider network maintain a device repository that is accessible to a remote managed network. The device management service assigns different service credentials for different edge devices indicated by the device repository. For a particular edge device, the device management service provides, based on the service credentials assigned for the edge device, secure transmission of a message between the device management service and a network manager of the managed network. The network manager of the managed network provides secure transmission of the message between the network manager and the edge device based on local credentials assigned for the edge device.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a phrase given for the interconnection of computing devices scattered around the globe within the existing internet infrastructure. IoT devices may be used for a variety of consumer and commercial applications. For example, IoT devices may be embedded into personal devices of home IoT networks such as doorbell cameras and baby monitors as well as industrial devices of manufacturing IoT networks such as sensors and controllers at an automotive plant.
IoT networks may implement custom or vendor-specific device management techniques to accomplish various goals. For example, certain types of edge devices designed for use in low-powered wide-area (LPWA) networks may implement customized communication techniques for IoT devices in order to reduce power consumption by the IoT devices. These self-managed IoT networks may implement their own local security credentials to securely transmit messages within the network to and from IoT devices. They may also include their own IoT device repositories to track and manage edge devices.
Due to the use of local security credentials in self-managed IoT networks, it may be difficult or infeasible to remotely manage security and access control for the IoT devices (e.g., using a remote IoT management service in the cloud). Furthermore, remotely managing such a network would require duplicating information in the device repository of the IoT network, which may be costly and lead to data conflicts. Therefore, attempts to remotely manage such IoT networks may lead to numerous communication failures and inadequate security management of the IoT network.
While embodiments are described herein by way of example for several embodiments and illustrative drawings, those skilled in the art will recognize that embodiments are not limited to the embodiments or drawings described. It should be understood, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit embodiments to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope as defined by the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word "may" is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words "include," "including," and "includes" mean including, but not limited to.

Secure communication with individual edge devices of remote networks that use local security credentials