A coupler for coupling two standard bicycles together to form a tandem tricycle. The coupler includes a clamp for clamping the coupler to one of the tines of the seat stays of the leading bicycle and further includes a quick release clamp for releasably gripping one of the tines of the front fork of the trailing bicycle. The quick release clamp is rotatable about a transverse axis relative to the clamp, so the trailing bicycle is likewise rotatable about a transverse axis relative to the leading bicycle. This permits the trailing bicycle to pitch independently of the leading bicycle, thereby allowing the two bicycles to smoothly traverse uneven terrain.

1. Field of The Invention
This invention relates to the field of bicycles, tandem tricycles, and to bicycle accessories. Specifically, the present invention is an attachment that enables the rapid conversion of two standard two-wheeled, single rider bicycles into one double rider, three in-line wheeled, tandem tricycle.
Two problems arise when touring or simply riding in groups of two or more cyclists. First, it is difficult to speak to fellow riders while maintaining a safe distance. Second, riders often become separated due to differences in fitness, cycling capability, and equipment. Tandem bicycles, i.e., the well known two-wheeled, bicycle-built-for-two, overcome these problems for two riders. Tandems also have the advantage of increased speed as a result of reduced drag as compared to two individual bicycles. However, tandems are expensive, difficult to store, and can only accommodate two cyclists. Tandems also do not offer the individual freedom and maneuverability of a solo bicycle. It is desirable to be able to enjoy the benefits of each at a moment's notice, by being able to switch from a single rider bicycle to a double rider tandem, and vice versa, easily and economically. Two or more people could then cycle to a destination, linked together, conversing easily on the way, and arrive together, regardless of their respective pedaling speeds. Upon arrival, they would have the option of remaining in tandem or of detaching their bicycles and enjoying the advantages of solo cycling on individual bicycles.
The present invention therefore relates to an accessory which would allow two or more conventional bicycles to be quickly and easily linked together to create a tandem and which would allow the reverse to be accomplished in the same manner.
2. Description of Related Art
The desire for a tandem relationship between riders without the necessity of buying and storing a conventional tandem bicycle has been around for a long time. Inventions therefor have taken various styles and constructions. They can be roughly grouped in three classes: trailers, major reconstructions, and adapted bicycles.
In the most rudimentary tandems, the trailing vehicle is merely towed, and the trailing person is no more than a spectator, inasmuch as there is no motive power, pedals, etc., provided for the trailing vehicle. The trailers are attached by some sort of trailer hitch to either the seat posts, the seat stays, or the chain stay of the lead bicycle, or the equivalent elements on a motor scooter or motorcycle. Typical of this class are the British patent to Gyro et al, 422,768, 1-1935, the French patent to Picot, 873,105, 6-1942, the French patent to Passera et al., 1,091,332, 4-1955, and the U.S. Pat. Nos. to Manngarn (2,756,069), Mc Clellan (3,387,859), Howard (3,653,679), Vanderhorst et al. (4,274,649), and Fake (5,076,600).
A second class of tandem tricycles provides a motive means for the trailing vehicle. The trailing vehicle resembles a bicycle, but is either a major modification thereof, such as by a complete removal of the trailing bicycle's handlebars, front fork, and front wheel, or a reconstruction thereof by manufacturing a special bicycle, in reality a monocycle, since it has but one wheel. Usually they are attached to the leading bicycle's seat post or seat post housing by an elongated frame member. Representative of this class are the U.S. Pat. Nos. to Humber (305,690), Jakobson (552,907), O'Connor (5,067,738), and Adams (5,470,088), and the Swiss patent to Fritschi, 185,820, 8-1936. The U.S. Pat. No. to Du Bois (2,271,255), and the Soviet Union patent 1,756,196, 9-1992, add a structural brace between the frame of the trailing monocycle and the leading bicycle's rear axle.
Finally, there are the various tandem tricycles comprising two almost-conventional bicycles, in which the front fork of the trailing bicycle is attached to the rear axle of the leading bicycle. This class is characterized by the necessity to modify the rear axle and/or the front fork. The standard rear axle is either replaced by a longer one in order to permit mounting of the front fork thereon e.g., Hunt (598,872), Straub (658,406), Strong (4,458,908), and Teel (5,522,610)! or an extension is attached to the rear axle to accommodate the front fork e.g., Larson (5,372,371)!. Tandem tricycles which attach the trailing bicycle to the rear axle of the leading bicycle have to cope with the fact that the rear wheel axle mechanism includes the gear transmission, e.g., a derailleur, which makes the rear fork and rear wheel axle bigger and wider than the front wheel fork and axle. To compensate therefor, the front fork is replaced with a modified fork, wider than the original fork, and specially formed to fit around the leading bicycle's transmission (Strong, Larson, and Teel, supra, are examples). Both of these modifications are undesirable. Axle extensions are potentially hazardous, particularly during trail or mountain biking. Further, any modification of the front fork assembly is costly and thereafter requires a complementary modification of the front wheel used therewith.
Jakobson (579,982), and Carswell (1,300,343) retain unchanged the conventional leading bicycle's rear axle and the trailing bicycle's front fork. Instead of modifying them, they provide an adapter which is rotatably mounted for limited movement on the leading bicycle's rear axle and which is rotatably attached to the front fork of the trailing bicycle. Their solutions were acceptable for single speed bicycles but will not likely work on modern multi-speed bicycles. Also, although neither Jakobson nor Carswell mentioned it, attachment of their adapters would seem to require longer rear axles, with the concomitant disadvantage mentioned before.
There are other examples of conversions of two bicycles into a tandem, but they embody isolated concepts. For example, Busseuil (4,261,592) attaches a tow bar between the two bicycles, producing a four-wheeled tandem which each cyclist steered independently.
There remains a need, therefore, for a means whereby two standard single rider, multi-speed bicycles can be rapidly converted into a single tandem tricycle without major, costly modifications to either bicycle. The present invention satisfies that need.


An electrical power cable for high temperature environments comprises two or more sheathed conductors; each sheathed conductor comprising an electrical conductor, an electrical insulator surrounding the electrical conductor, and a sheath surrounding the electrical insulator; and a bonding material interconnecting the sheaths of the two or more sheathed conductors positioned adjacent to one another to form a cable.

This section provides background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the invention. It should be understood that the statements in this section of this document are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Power cables are utilized in various applications to transmit power, such as electricity, between distal locations. For example, power cables are utilized to transmit electrical power to electric submersible pumps (ESPs). ESPs and power cables that are deployed in wellbores, for example, may encounter high temperatures which degrade convention power cables resulting in the premature failure of the power cables.

Power cable for high temperature environments


Optics and optical devices and systems are disclosed that employ a plurality of refractive and/or reflective optical elements, such as lenses and mirrors, with different shapes to achieve a desired illumination pattern. In various aspects, a plurality of lenses in which at least two of the lenses have different boundary shapes are arranged, e.g., according to a predefined pattern, to receive light from one or more light sources and to redirect the received light to form collectively a desired far-field illumination pattern. For example, the lenses can be configured such that the far-field illumination pattern has a boundary shape that is different from the boundary shape of a far-field illumination pattern that can be provided individually by the lenses.

The present invention is generally directed to optics, optical devices and systems in which a plurality of optical elements, e.g., lenses and/or mirrors, having different shapes are employed to obtain, for example, a desired far-field illumination pattern.
Microlens arrays are employed for diffusing light exiting an optic. In many such optics, a far-field illumination pattern generated by the microlens arrays can exhibit intensity variations due to the shapes of the microlenses. Further, the boundary shape of the far-field illumination pattern can carry the shapes of the microlenses. In some applications, such influence of the microlens arrays on the intensity distribution and overall shape of the far-field illumination pattern can be undesirable.

Tiling of multiple polygons for micro-lens array


A sintered metal mould formed by plastically forming a material consisting of a metal powder or ceramic powder being mixed with a binder consisting of agar powder, and sintering the material.

The present invention relates to a metal mould for use in a moulding process, and particularly to a porous metal mould obtained by sintering metal powder, and a method for producing such a metal mould. Further, this invention relates to a sintered metal mould or a sintered porous metal mould for use in a moulding process and which is moulded from metal powder by a pressure forming method, and to a method for producing the same.
Heretofore, in producing a production type metal mould for use in a vacuum forming process, pressure forming process, blow forming process, injection forming process and the like, a mould for trial production is first formed and, thereafter, moulds for mass production are formed based on the trial production mould. The following two procedures are used in forming the mould for trial manufacture.
The first method is as follows: the manufacturer of the metal mould makes a master model having the shape of the final product, said master model being based on the drawings supplied from the client and made from timber, plaster, synthetic resin or easily machineable metal and the like. Next, by utilizing a pouring type epoxy resin containing metal powder, a mould for trial production having a reversed form to the master model is formed.
According to the second method, the manufacturer of the metal mould, based on the drawings supplied from the client, makes directly the mould for trial manufacture, by machining a material such as easily machineable aluminum or bronze.
The first method is, compared with the second method, advantageous in that the method is simple and that the time for producing the mould for trial manufacture is short. However, the mould of the first method is inferior to the mould of the second method in respect of pressure resistivity, thermal resistivity, abrasion resistivity and thermal conductivity. Thus, the first method cannot be applied to the mould of a material such as polycarbonate resin or a compound material including glass fiber in which the injection should be performed at high pressure and high temperature. Further, the heat conductivity of the mould itself is very poor, thus, a long time is required to cool the mould sufficiently. As a result, the characteristics of the article formed by utilizing the mould of the first method is inferior to the article formed by utilizing the mould of the second method which utilizes a metallic material having excellent thermal conductivity.
Accordingly, the maker of the mould first utilizes the epoxy resin and the like in making the mould of the trial production and produces a trial product utilizing a material which permits injection moulding at a lower pressure and temperature than that of the final product, which material is different from that of the final product namely a compound material of polycarbonate resin. The maker then sends the trial product to the purchaser to confirm the configuration and the function of the trial product and, if required, corrects the mould of the trial production and re-confirms. Thereafter, the drawings for the final mould are determined.
When the drawings of the final mould are determined, a mould for use in production is prepared. Usually, such a mould is formed of a well known metal for use in a metallic mould by processing means such as an electric discharge machining technique and the like.

Sintered metal mould and method for producing the same


A method of storing data from a whiteboard application executed on a computing system including an interactive display device is provided. The method comprises storing, in a memory of the computing system, whiteboard data input to the whiteboard application in response to user interaction with the interactive display device, displaying a login selector on the interactive display device, upon detecting actuation of the login selector, identifying the user based on credentials of the user; and in response to identifying the user, (i) retrieving previews of stored whiteboard files from a user account in a cloud-based storage system corresponding to the identity of the user, (ii) displaying the previews on the interactive display device, and (iii) uploading the whiteboard data as a whiteboard file from the memory of the computing system to the user account.

Prior whiteboard applications have been used via computer systems, enabling displayed content to be drawn upon or otherwise manipulated via input devices such as mice, trackpads, touchscreens, etc. In this way, the whiteboard application can provide the functionality of a physical dry-erase or chalkboard in a computing context. Whiteboard applications are commonly used in collaborative settings such as meetings, brainstorming sessions, classrooms, etc. Therefore, in some instances a plurality of users may manipulate content presented via the whiteboard application in one or more sessions. The data associated with the manipulation of the content may be saved locally by the computing system. However, the computing system using the whiteboard application may be used by a number of users. Therefore, storing the data locally may create security concerns. Furthermore, storing the data locally may increase the amount of storage needed in the computing system. Therefore, offloading the content may be desirable to alleviate the security concerns and decrease local storage needs. However, offloading the content to a portable storage device (e.g., thumbdrive), for example, can be cumbersome and require many awkward steps involving numerous input commands. Consequently, it may be inefficient for one or more users to offload the content quickly during a collaborative session. As a result, users may find interaction with the whiteboard application slow and awkward. Moreover, it may be difficult to upload the offloaded content for use in a subsequent whiteboard session, leading to additional interactive inefficiency.


Method and apparatus for uplink transmission using multiple antennas are disclosed. A wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) performs space time transmit diversity (STTD) encoding on an input stream of a physical channel configured for STTD. Each physical channel may be mapped to either an in-phase (I) branch or a quadrature-phase (Q) branch. The WTRU may perform the STTD encoding either in a binary domain or in a complex domain. Additionally, the WTRU may perform pre-coding on at least one physical channel including the E-DPDCH with the pre-coding weights, and transmitting the pre-coded output streams via a plurality of antennas. The pre-coding may be performed either after or before spreading operation.

Techniques for using multiple antennas have been used in cellular wireless communication systems as an effective means to improve robustness of data transmission and achieve higher data throughput. One of the multiple antenna techniques is space-time block coding (STBC). STBC is based on introducing joint correlations in transmitted signals in both the space and time domains to provide transmit diversity to combat fading channels.
The Alamouti scheme is the space-time block code to provide transmit diversity for systems with two transmit antennas. The Alamouti-based space-time block code has been widely used because of its simplicity and no need for the transmitter to know the channel state information (CSI) and therefore no need of channel feedback. Due to its effectiveness and easy implementation, the Alamouti-based space-time block code has been adopted into many wireless systems, such as WiMAX and WiFi. In third generation partnership project (3GPP), it was introduced in downlink transmissions in universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS) since Release 99 and also adopted in downlink high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) over higher speed data channels in Release 5. In the 3GPP standard, the implementation of Alamouti scheme is known as space time transmit diversity (STTD).
Enhanced uplink (EU), (also known as high speed uplink packet access (HSUPA)), is a feature that was introduced in 3GPP Release 6 to provide higher data rates in the uplink of UMTS wireless systems. The HSUPA may be configured to allow for much faster scheduling of uplink transmissions as well as lower overall data transmission latency.
Multiple antenna transmission/reception techniques with advanced signal processing are often referred to as multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO). MIMO has been widely studied and may significantly improve the performance of wireless communication systems.
Multiple antenna techniques have been widely adopted in many wireless communication systems such as IEEE 802.11n based wireless local area network access points and cellular systems like wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA)/high speed packet access (HSPA) and long term evolution (LTE). MIMO is introduced in WiMAX as well as in 3GPP. More advanced MIMO enhancements are currently being studied for 3GPP Release 9 and 10. Currently, only downlink (DL) MIMO is specified in 3GPP WCDMA standard.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for multi-antenna transmission in uplink


This invention relates to a method for improving image quality of a digital image captured with an imaging module comprising at least imaging optics and an image sensor, where the image is formed through the imaging optics, the image consisting of at least one color component. In the method degradation information of each color component of the image is found and is used for obtaining a degradation function. Each color component is restored by said degradation function. The image is unprocessed image data, and the degradation information of each color component can be found by a point-spread function. The invention also relates to a device, to a module, to a system and to a computer program product and to a program module.

Blurring or degradation of an image can be caused by various factors, e.g. out-of-focus optics, or any other aberrations that result from the use of a wide-angle lens, or the combination of inadequate aperture value, focal length and lens positioning. During the image capture process, when long exposure times are used, the movement of the camera, or the imaged subject, can result in motion blurring of the picture. Also, when short exposure time is used, the number of photons being captured is reduced, this results in high noise levels, as well as poor contrast in the captured image.
Various methods for restoring images that contain defects, e.g. blurring, are known from related art. For example spatial error concealment techniques attempt to hide a defect by forming a good reconstruction of the missing or corrupted pixels. One of the methods is to find a mean of the pixels in an area surrounding the defect and to replace the defect with the mean pixel value. A requirement for the variance of the reconstruction can be added to equal the variance of the area around the defect.
Different interpolation methods can also be used for restoration. For example a bilinear interpolation can be applied to pixels on four corners of the defect rectangle. This makes a linear, smooth transition of pixel values across the defect area. Bilinear interpolation is defined by the pixel value being reconstructed, pixels at corners of the reconstructed pixel and a horizontal and vertical distance from the reconstructed pixel to the corner pixels. Another method is edge-sensitive nonlinear filtering, which interpolates missing samples in an image.
The defect block can be replaced also with the average of some of all of the surrounding blocks. One example is to use three blocks that are situated above the defect. Further there is a method called "best neighbours matching" which restores images by taking a sliding block the same size as the defect region and moves it through the image. At each position, except for ones where the sliding block overlaps the defect, the pixels around the border of the sliding block are placed in a vector. The pixel values around the border of the defect are placed in another vector and the mean squared error between them is computed. The defect region is then replaced by the block that has the lowest border-pixel.
The purpose of image restoration is to remove those degradations so that the restored images look as close as possible to the original scene. In general, if the degradation process is known; the restored image can be obtained as the inverse process of the degradation. Several methods to solve for this inverse mathematical problem are known from the prior art. However, most of these techniques do not consider the image reconstruction process in the modelling of the problem, and assume simplistic linear models. Typically, the solutions in implementations are quite complicated and computationally demanding.
The methods from related art are typically applied in restoration of images in high-end applications such as astronomy and medical imaging. Their use in consumer products is limited, due to the difficulty of quantifying the image gathering process and the typical complexity and computational power needed to implement these algorithms. Some of the approaches have been used in devices that have limited computational and memory resources. The methods from the related art are typically designed as a post-processing operation, which means that the restoration is applied to the image, after it has been acquired and stored. In a post-processing operation each colour component has a different point spread function that is an important criteria that can be used to evaluate the performance of imaging systems. If the restoration is applied as post-processing, the information about the different blurring in each colour component is not relevant anymore. The exact modelling of the image acquisition process is more difficult and (in most cases) is not linear. So the "inverse" solution is less precise. Most often, the output of the digital cameras is compressed to .jpeg-format. If the restoration is applied after the compression (which is typically lossy), the result can amplify unwanted blocking artefacts.

Restoration of color components in an image model


An object of the present invention is to provide a ribbon feeder to prevent a ribbon from slackening when a sheet is back-fed in a thermal printer. When a ribbon is fed from a ribbon feed roller, resistance is imparted to the rotation of the ribbon feed roller by a first spring. Further, resilient force is stored in a second spring by tension produced when the ribbon is fed from the ribbon feed roller. The ribbon tends to slacken when the sheet is back-fed, such slackening ribbon is rewound by reversely rotating the ribbon feed roller by the stored resilient force.

The invention relates to a thermal printer having a ribbon feeder.
Thermal printers with a cutter generally forward-feed a sheet to the cutter position after printing and then back-feed the cut end of the sheet to the print start position. In this case, the sheet, being in contact with a ribbon is back-fed, so that the ribbon is made to be back-fed together with the sheet. When the ribbon is back-fed, the ribbon becomes slack. This may cause abnormal feeding of the ribbon for the next printing or wrinkling the ribbon, which may lead to undesired problems such as defective printing.
In order to overcome such problems, the following techniques have been conventionally employed. In a first technique, a platen roller is separated from a thermal head to thereby stop the ribbon and back-feed only the sheet. In a second technique, a ribbon feed roller is reversely rotated simultaneously with the back-feeding of the sheet to thereby return the ribbon in an direction opposite to the ribbon feed direction. However, such techniques also have problems, such as making the control system of the thermal printer complicated and increasing the size of the thermal printer.

Ribbon feeder for a printer having a tension mechanism


In the continuous cooking of comminuted cellulosic fibrous material (e.g. wood chips) to produce paper pulp, the material is subjected to a minimum of mechanical action, especially under high temperature and pressure conditions, so as to increase the quality of the pulp. Also, even for large digesters the uniformity of treatment is enhanced, and scaling may be reduced while energy efficiency is increased. Material is fed without significant steaming to a feeder screw within a perforated cylinder mounted at the bottom of an impregnation vessel. The material flows upwardly in the impregnation vessel, with screens adjacent the top of the vessel thickening the slurry before it is discharged into the top of a continuous digester. The discharge from the impregnation vessel to the continuous digester is made with a minimum of mechanical action on the pulp. The impregnation vessel may be disposed within, and concentric with, the digester, or it may located exteriorly of the digester and supply more than one digester. Conduits mounted on the exterior of the impregnation vessel, when concentric with the digester, can supply treatment liquid at various locations along the height of the digester.

In the production of paper pulp from comminuted cellulosic fibrous material, such as wood chips, by using a continuous digester, it has been found that the quality of the chemical pulp produced is significantly affected by how much mechanical action the chips are subjected to during the treatment process. Mechanical handling of, and mechanical action on, the chips damages them, and reduces their size. This is especially so when high temperature or pressure conditions exist, or chemicals are present, as the chips are being acted upon by a mechanical device. For example, a conveying screw that slants at 30.degree. to the horizontal, and such as utilized conventionally at the top of some vapor phase/liquid phase digesters, increases the amount of pinchips (which is an indicator of material damage) greater than 1.4%, while a horizontal conveying screw (if there is no significant adverse pressure or temperature condition) would increase the number of pinchips by less than 0.4%. This increase in damage to the material is just a visible increase in damage, and in fact there is additional damage to the chips that is not readily noticeable.
In the production of chemical pulp from continuous digesters, the trend----since the beginning of continuous cooking----has been toward larger and larger vessels. As a matter of fact, the size of some conventional digesters has increased to the point where uniform treatment is extremely difficult to achieve. This is so since every time the digester diameter is doubled, the distance for displacement of liquid is doubled, the cross-sectional area is quadrupled, and the volume is increased 8 times. This has resulted in the utilization of "cheater flows" in some large digesters, and even with "cheater flows" desired results are not necessarily achieved since the wash efficiency is significantly decreased and quality and yield may still be unacceptable.
The most common conventional digester systems utilized are the hydraulic digester, steam phase digester, two vessel steam phase digester, two vessel hydraulic digester, and two vessel hydraulic with modified continuous cooking. All of these systems are subject to the quality problems mentioned above, and are limited by the size difficulties also discussed above. While the hydraulic digester often has good heat economy and minimizes damage to the chips since it has just one top separator and a cold blow (which neutralizes the damaging effect of the digester outlet), it is sensitive to poor furnish which provokes "hang-ups", heater flow is less than desirable, and the dependability and quality are questionable past a capacity of 1,000 tons per day.
Conventional steam phase digesters are typically easy to operate, and less dependent on furnish hang-ups than hydraulic digesters, but there is reduced heat economy due to the use of direct steam, and there can be quality problems associated with the way that the chips are steamed in a conventional horizontal steaming vessel, and there is a risk of hammering. The two vessel steam please digester systems reduce tailings and therefore increases the uniformity of the product, and possibly improves the heat balance, but does so at a loss of strength and quality since the chips are subjected to more mechanical action. Two vessel hydraulic systems have advantages over conventional hydraulic digesters, however heating is effected by mixing rather than displacement so that the chips are heated to about 4.degree.-7.degree. C. above the final cooking temperature, resulting in increased pressure, and undesirable action on the chips, and undesirable complications for the system. Two vessel hydraulic systems with modified continuous cooking allow the production to be increased so that 1,500 tons per day capacity is not unusual, however when the chips are mechanically acted upon this often is in the presence of white liquor, or higher concentrations of white liquor than in other systems, resulting in increased chip degradation.
According to the present invention, a continuous cooking apparatus and method are provided that address the quality drawbacks, size limitations, and energy efficiency problems that are inherent in modern continuous systems. According to the present invention, quality is enhanced by reducing the mechanical action on the chips, especially under temperature, pressure, and consistency conditions which result in the most severe degradation. Quality is further addressed by enhancing the uniformity of the treatment. Size limitations are also addressed in some embodiments by effectively minimizing the displacement distances. Energy efficiency is also dealt with by minimizing heat loss. The desirable results achievable according to the present invention can be achieved in a relatively simple manner, with only minor changes to existing configurations, utilizing only conventional components, and at a reasonable price.
According to one aspect of the present invention, an apparatus for the continuous cooking of wood chips to produce paper pulp is provided which includes a generally vertically disposed impregnation vessel having a top and a bottom, and a generally vertically disposed digester having a top and a bottom with an inlet at the top. Means are provided for feeding a liquid slurry of wood chips to the bottom of the impregnation vessel, and at the bottom of the impregnation vessel a mechanical separating means for separating the chips from some of the liquid (so as to decrease the liquid to material ratio of the slurry) is provided. Such mechanical separating means preferably takes the form of a feeder screw rotatable in a perforated cylinder (i.e. a conventional "top separator"). The top of the impregnation vessel is adjacent the top of the digester, and means are provided for transferring the material from the top of the impregnation vessel to the top of the digesting vessel with a minimum of mechanical action on the material. Typically, a small rotating distributor will be provided, but it is also possible to effect transfer utilizing only means for establishing fluid flows. Extraction screens are disposed in the digester, which may be "live" screens, and the pulp is discharged from the bottom of the digester, as is conventional.
According to the preferred embodiment, the impregnation vessel is located within, and generally concentric with, the digester. Not only does this increase pulp quality by providing the bulk of the mechanical action on the chips when they are the coolest, under the least pressure, and at a relatively high liquor to material ratio, but it addresses the size and energy efficiency problems at the same time. By locating the impregnation vessel within the digester, energy efficiency is enhanced, and also smaller volumes for displacement are provided since the material moving in the digester moves in a ring shape, the center of the digester being occupied by the impregnation vessel. Treatment liquid (typically white liquor) is added in the digester at various points along its length by conduits which are attached to the exterior of the impregnation vessel, and terminate at different heights along its length, uniformly adding the liquor at those points. The apparatus may comprise either a steam digester or an hydraulic digester; in the former, high pressure steam is preferably added at the top of the digester, and there is no need to use a conventional horizontal steaming vessel prior to the impregnation vessel.
The impregnation vessel also may be separate from the digester, and it may be insulated (e.g. double walled) in order to improve energy efficiency.
According to the present invention there also is provided a method of continuously digesting comminuted cellulosic fibrous material to produce paper pulp by practicing----substantially sequentially and continuously----the following steps: (a) Feeding a liquid slurry of comminuted cellulosic fibrous material at a liquid to material ratio of about 20-25/1 to the bottom of the impregnation vessel. (b) Separating some of the liquid from the slurry at the bottom of the impregnation vessel to provide a liquid to material ratio in the impregnation vessel of about 5-8/1. (c) Impregnating the material with liquid as it flows upwardly in the impregnation vessel from the bottom to the top thereof. (d) Moving the material from the top of the impregnation vessel to the top of the digesting vessel with a minimum of mechanical action on the material. (e) Digesting the material in the digesting vessel, utilizing digesting liquid, at a liquid to material ratio of about 3-5/1; and (f) withdrawing pulp from the bottom of the digesting vessel. The typical residence time in the impregnation vessel is about 20 to 30 minutes.
The invention also contemplates a system, in general, for pulp treatment. According to this aspect of the invention there is provided: A first generally vertically disposed impregnation vessel having a top and a bottom. A second generally vertically disposed vessel having a top and a bottom. The tops of the two vessels being located adjacent each other, and interconnected so that slurry may flow from one to the other, with the first vessel located within, and generally concentric with, the second vessel. A liquid/material separating means located at the bottom of the first vessel, comprising a feeder screw mounted within a perforated screen cylinder, and rotatable with respect to the cylinder; and, screen means located adjacent the top of the first vessel for removing some liquid from the slurry at the top of the first vessel.
It is the primary object of the present invention to enhance the quality of chemical pulps produced by continuous digestion. This and other objects of the invention will become clear from the detailed description of the invention, and from the appended claims.


Disclosed herein, amongst other things is a first stack portion (112, 212) of a mold stack (110, 210) for use in an injection mold (100, 200). The first stack portion (112, 212) includes a first stack member that is configured to define a molding cavity (116, 216) in cooperation with a second stack portion (114, 214) of the mold stack (110, 210), a second stack member that is movable relative to the first stack member, and an air valve (160, 260) is defined between the first stack member and the second stack member, the air valve (160, 260) being selectively actuatable with relative movement of the first stack member and the second stack member.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,255,824 to CERNY et al., published on Aug. 14, 2007 discloses an apparatus for molding a plastic closure that includes a male mold assembly including a forming pin and an outer pin sleeve which cooperate with a female mold for defining a mold cavity. To facilitate mechanical stripping of a molded closure from the forming pin, pressurized air is introduced into the molded closure through at least one air passageway which extends axially between the forming pin and pin sleeve. By outwardly expanding and forming the plastic closure during ejection from the forming pin, forces to which the closure is subjected during ejection are significantly reduced, thereby desirably reducing the amount of cooling of the closure that is required during the molding cycle prior to ejection. Significantly increased operating speeds for the compression molding apparatus can thus be achieved.


An air bag is stored in a folded state in a space in a door or an arm rest, laterally of a passenger in a cabin. An inflator for generating a flow of gas is also stored inside the door or the arm rest. When a collision occurs, the inflator discharges a flow of gas directed upward and introduced into the air bag, which causes the air bag to be inflated so that the inflated air bag occupies a space between a passenger and the door or the vehicle body, laterally of passenger. As a result, the passenger is cushioned from any shock caused by the collision, to thereby protect the passenger from injury.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air bag apparatus mounted to a vehicle, such as an automobile, and capable of protecting a passenger in an accident such as a side body collision.
2. Description of Related Art
To ensure the safety of passengers upon a vehicle collision, such as between automobiles or with a fixed object, in addition to a seat belt device usually employed, an air bag device has recently been proposed and used in automobiles. This device includes an air bag which, upon a collision, is inflated so that the inflated bag occupies a space between the passenger and a dashboard and/or a steering wheel of the vehicle, to cushion the passenger and prevent the passenger from being injured.
In such a device, the air bag is arranged in front of the passenger, and this is effective for protection during an accident such as a head-on collision, where the collision occurs in the direction of the movement of the vehicle. Nevertheless, passenger safety would be improved if provisions are made to protect the passenger during a side body collision of the vehicle since the passenger may collide with a side door or wall of the vehicle (e.g., when the vehicle side-swipes a fixed object or another vehicle or the vehicle is overturned at a high speed). Namely, the provision of the seat belt is very effective during a head-on collision, but is usually not effective when a side body collision occurs. Thus there is a strong demand for the provision of an additional means able to effectively function to protect the passenger even during a side body collision.
Accordingly, an air bag apparatus has been proposed wherein an air bag is arranged in a side door, laterally of a passenger, and when a side body collision occurs, is inflated so that the inflated air bag occupies a space between the side door and the passenger. (See U.S. Pat. No. 4,966,388). In this prior art, the air bag is stored in a space inside a door, laterally of a passenger, and a hinged cushion panel is provided for confining the air bag in the door. When a collision occurs, an inflator ejects air laterally of the door and causes the air bag to be inflated. The inflated air bag pushes against hinged panel so that the panel is pivoted about the bottom axis thereof, which causes a space to be created at the top end of the panel through which the air bag is inflated to thereby occupy the space between the door and the passenger.
In this prior art, the gas initially ejected laterally of the plane of the door, to pivot the panel about the bottom end thereof and create a space at the top of the panel through which the air bag is extended, but this means that only a poor use of the energy of the ejected gas flow is made, and thus it is difficult to ensure that the inflated air bag quickly occupies the space between the door and the passenger when a collision occurs.


A coupling frame formed at a connecting portion on an out-port side of a first safety valve, and a coupling frame formed at a connecting portion on an in-port side of a second safety valve are brought into contact with each other, directly or by causing a plate-shaped member to intervene in between. Coupling projections, facing each other, formed in the coupling frame of both the safety valves are sandwiched between a pair of latch portions of a latch member, and a pair of latch members facing each other, are mutually drawn by tightening rod members. The coupling projections of both the safety valves are thereby pressed in a mutually approaching direction with the latch portions of each of both the latch members, and thereby both the safety valves are coupled.

In order to improve safety of a machine, operated by an air pressure actuator, a combined safety valve of high safety is put into practical use, in which safety valves formed of a pilot-type single action three-port valve are doubly installed, and in which the supply of air to an actuator is assuredly enabled to block off even when the safety valve on the other side is normal, in a case that a failure occurs on one safety valve side.
In a patent document 1 (Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Registration Application Publication No. 7-32269) described as an example, a dual safety valve for use in press, in which two sets of main valves (two-position three-port valve) are embedded in parallel in a valve body, and in which a housing where two sets of pilot valves of an electromagnetic-type are embedded is disposed on an upside of the valve body, and in which a position detecting device of the main valve is disposed on a downside of the valve body, is disclosed. The position detecting device of the main valve is configured such that a detecting pin fixed on the two sets of main valve is projected to the downside of the valve body, a magnet moves in an interlocking manner with a movement of the detecting pin, and the movement of the magnet is detected by means of a magnetic sensitivity-type switch.
In the dual safety valve, when both the pilot valves are inoperative, both the main valves are located at an upper position and an operating port is allowed to communicate with a discharge port, and each of the detecting pins of both the main valves is located at an upper position, and thereby both switches are turned off. When both the pilot valves are operated, both the main valves move to a lower position, an intake port and an operation port are allowed to communicate with each other and air is supplied to a press, and each of the detecting pins of both the main valves moves to a lower position, and thereby both the switches are turned on. During the time when both the pilot valves are operated, and when the main valve of one side does not move to the lower position due to a failure thereof, the switch of one main valve is turned off and the switch of the other main valve is turned on. A control circuit detects an erroneous operation and returns the other main valve to the non-operating position so that the air is not supplied to the press.
However, in the dual safety valve in the patent document 1, since two sets of the pilot valves, the main valves, and the position detecting devices of respective main valves are respectively disposed in the single housing, the single valve body, and a single lower chassis, there is a problem that the dual safety valves have to be entirely exchanged even when the failure occurs only on one side of the pilot valves, the main valves, and the position detecting devices.


An article comprising a substrate; a bond layer disposed on the substrate, the bond layer comprising one or more bonding segments and at least one reinforcing segment; at least one protective layer disposed on the bond layer; and at least one cooling hole extending through the substrate, the at least one reinforcing segment and the at least one protective layer, wherein the at least one reinforcing segment reduces cracking and/or delamination at the interface between the substrate and the bond layer, and methods of making the same.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to reinforced articles, such as gas turbine engine components, and more particularly to reinforced articles which are resistant to cracking and/or delamination, and methods of making the same.
Gas turbine engines accelerate gases, forcing the gases into a combustion chamber where heat is added to increase the volume of the gases. The expanded gases are then directed toward a turbine to extract the energy generated by the expanded gases. In order to endure the high temperatures and extreme operating conditions in gas turbine engines, gas turbine engine components, such as turbine blades, are fabricated from metal, ceramic or ceramic matrix composite materials.
Thermal barrier coatings are applied to the surface of gas turbine engine components to provide added protection and to thermally insulate the gas turbine engine components during operation of the gas turbine engine at high temperatures. A thermal barrier coating has at least one protective layer and a bond layer. The at least one protective layer is applied to a substrate, such as a gas turbine engine component, via the bond layer. The protective layer is a ceramic material and can include multiple layers.
Cooling holes are incorporated into gas turbine engine components in order to allow for more efficient operation at higher operating temperatures. Cooling holes are drilled into the gas turbine engine component, for example, using laser drilling. In gas turbine engine components having a thermal barrier coating, the cooling holes extend through the at least one protective layer, the bond layer and the substrate of the gas turbine engine component.
During operation of the gas turbine engine, the areas surrounding these cooling holes undergo cracking and/or delamination. The process of drilling the cooling holes results in degradation at the interface between the bond layer and the substrate and/or the bond layer and the at least one protective layer. In addition, the hot gas environment in gas turbine engines results in oxidation of the bond layer and formation of a thermally grown oxide (TGO) layer. The TGO layer creeps into the at least one protective layer as a result of shear stress due to, for example, centrifugal load or mismatch of thermal expansion between adjacent layers or between a layer and the substrate. The formation and creep of the TGO layer causes cracking and/or delamination at the interface between the substrate and the bond layer and/or at the interface between the bond layer and the at least one protective layer, thereby increasing the frequency of repairs and/or reducing the overall lifetime of the component.
It is therefore desirable to provide reinforced articles having improved cracking and/or delamination resistance, and methods of making the same, which solve one or more of the aforementioned problems.

Reinforced articles and methods of making the same


A preform production apparatus for precision press molding, which is downsized but can produce preforms at a lower cost, and a production method thereof using the apparatus are provided. The production method of a preform for precision press molding includes forming a molten glass body C by way of receiving and cutting molten glass A, being flowed continuously from a discharge nozzle 2, by a support member 1 or by way of allowing molten glass to fall in drops from a discharge nozzle 2 and receiving thereof by a support member 1, and transferring the molten glass body C from the support member 1 to a mold 5 by way of displacing the support member to near the mold 5, disposed not to be beneath the discharge nozzle 2, while increasing the viscosity of the molten glass body C on the support member 1.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a preform production apparatus, for producing preforms from molten glass in a step of producing an optical element, for example, and to a method of producing the same.
2. Related Art
In recent years, reductions in size and weight has progressed in the field of optical apparatuses, and aspherical lenses made of glass have often been used for the purpose of decreasing the number of lenses constructing optical systems of optical apparatuses. Aspherical lenses made of glass are produced mainly by precision press molding, i.e. press-molding a heated and softened glass preform (hereinafter referred to as "preform") by use of a mold with a highly precise molding face, thereby transferring the shape of the molding surface of the mold to the preform.
This method provides advantages such as optical elements being able to be mass-produced in a short period of time while maintaining their highly precise dimensions, since optical lenses are shaped through a preform from molten glass, compared to conventional methods of producing optical lenses from plate glass through multiple steps such as cutting, processing, press, grinding and polishing.
There are a variety of methods to produce preforms for precision press molding; in recent years, float-shaping methods are frequently employed in which molten glass flowing is discharged from a nozzle, the molten glass flowing is received by a mold, and then float-shaped over a porous mold (see Patent Document 1). This method has been tried for various optical glasses since this method can produce preforms having a smooth surface in a short time and a high yield without cold-working such as cutting and polishing.
However, in recent years, the float-shaping has tended to be difficult to apply to high refractive index glasses, which are required as a material of aspherical lenses, etc. That is, optical glass having a special optical constant often exhibits an excessively low viscosity at the temperature where the glass can flow out without generating devitrification (so called, low-viscosity glass material), which makes it difficult to adjust shape using float-shaping with gas.
In order to solve the problems, a publicly known method holds molten glass flowing once on a support member, before transferring to a mold, to cool until a viscosity suitable for shaping is achieved, and then transfers thereof to a mold (see Patent Document 2).
However, in recent years, the viscosity of molten glass has been further decreasing and discharge velocity from nozzles has been of increasing significance, which requires very complicated motions, out of the assumption in conventional apparatuses, such as a plurality of support members preliminarily stands by per discharge nozzle, receives glass flow in series, and immediately moves at a high velocity or with changing the velocity to make the receiving site available to another support member. In a trend to require these complicated motions, a system has been demanded in which a degree of freedom in motion of support members considerably increases, the occupying area of support members decreases, and a number of support members can coexist in an apparatus.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2002-97023
Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2006-265085

Preform production apparatus for precision press molding, production method of a preform for precision press molding and production method of an optical element


An underwater station including: a transmitter means located on a flotation means connected to the station, and a tracking means to determine the relative location of the flotation means.

The Applicant has described an underwater positioning system in co-pending Australian Patent Application number claiming priority from Australian Provisional Application No. PR3894, the contents of which are herein disclosed by way of reference. In an underwater environment, such as that disclosed in the Applicant's co-pending application, it is necessary for signals transmitted from an underwater station to be received with sufficient signal power.
One of the main factors reducing the effectiveness of underwater communications is that of ray bending. Ray bending occurs in a long-range deep water tracking system, (i.e. Horizontal propagation of acoustic signals). Non-uniform water density causes horizontal acoustic signals to refract vertically to the surface or to the ocean bottom. This effect limits the maximum horizontal range of deep-water tracking. If a beacon is deployed on the bottom of the ocean, ray bending will limit the maximum range, as the acoustic signal will refract to the bottom of the ocean well before the acoustic signal reaches the surface. The traditional solution to this problem is to deploy a series of beacons closer together, which has obvious increased cost and maintenance implications.
An alternative solution to the ray-bending problem is to transmit very high power beacon signals. When the acoustic signal refracts into the ocean floor a small proportion of this signal will be reflected up towards the surface of the ocean. If the acoustic signal is loud enough the signal will be detectable at the surface. This type of tracking is unreliable and it is difficult to predict the power of the acoustic signal at the receiver. The other problem with high power signals is that a larger energy source is required at the beacon. Either a large and expensive energy source is used or the operational life of the beacon is reduced, as approximately a ten times increase in power is required.


A method and apparatus is for inserting a flat flexible bag having a rigid fitment into a bottle through a small bottle finish, and expanding the bag inside the bottle. The flat flexible bag can be grasped and oriented via the fitment utilizing a friction chuck. The fitment also enables the bag to be sealed to the bottle in an air-tight manner by interference fit. A biased plunger extends into the bag through the fitment. The plunger helps push the bag through a funnel while a vacuum is applied to the bag through the plunger. The funnel includes two angled plows which cause the bag to fold in a "C" shaped configuration. This insures reliable expansion of the bag upon releasing a blast of air into the bag. During the expansion process an air vent channel permits escape of the air between the bag and the bottle. An exemplary package formed utilizing this method and apparatus is a squeeze pump package having a thin film beam spring vent valve. The valve includes a thin film beam spring located against a substantially cylindrical interior surface of the bottle over an aperture. A method and apparatus for assembling a beam spring vent valve is also discussed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to packages having an outer bottle and an inner, flexible bag; and more particularly, to methods and apparatus for inserting flexible bags into outer bottles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Packages having an outer container and an inner, flexible bag are fairly common in the prior art. One class of such packages are commonly referred to as "squeeze pump" packages. Squeeze pump packages typically have a resilient outer bottle and a flexible inner bag. As the resilient outer bottle is squeezed, a positive pressure develops in the space between the flexible bag and the squeeze bottle. This increased air pressure around the flexible bag causes the bag to collapse against the product. Fluid product is then typically forced to flow through a fluid product valve and out of the squeeze pump package through a discharge orifice. Upon releasing the squeeze force, a vent valve is often utilized to permit atmospheric air to be drawn into the space between the flexible bag and the squeeze bottle as the outer bottle returns towards its original shape.
Despite significant functional advantages, typical squeeze pumps have had to overcome very real economic obstacles to successful commercialization. Exemplary economic obstacles have included increased cost due to the relatively large number of components, the structural complexity; and importantly, the lack of an economical method and apparatus for assembling squeeze pump packages.
The present invention provides one way to reduce many of these costs by utilization of a flexible inner bag which is inserted into the outer bottle through the relatively small finish of an essentially standard outer bottle. The present invention provides a method and apparatus for such insertion which can be performed at speeds common to typical high speed commercial equipment (i.e., 100 bottles per minute or more). In addition, the present invention enables the outer resilient bottles to rest upright throughout the entire assembly and filling process. The assembly and filling line includes, e.g., assembly equipment of the present invention, filling equipment, bottle capping equipment, bottle labeling equipment and case packing equipment.

Method and apparatus for inserting a bag into a bottle


An office partition panel is electrically attached to an adjacent panel and/or a power source line. The panel has a body to be mounted upright on a lower edge having an elongated weldment forming a channel opening upwardly. Frame elements engage between the body and the weldment, spacing the channel from the body and from a lowermost channel forming the lower edge of the panel. The weldment provides lateral access to the channel for laying in wiring. An electrical fixture such as an outlet receptacle is mounted along the channel, and the channel supports the electrical wiring terminating at the electrical fixture. The wiring path leads from the channel in one panel to an adjacent panel and a bridge channel element attaches to the weldment to extend the channel across a gap between the adjacent panels. A cover strip removably mountable on the lower edge covers the channel laterally for enclosing the electrical wiring, and a bridge cover strip covers the bridge channel element across the gap. The electrical wiring can be installed laterally into the channel, and terminated at the electrical fixture, for hardwiring the partition system, whereupon the channel is closed to safely enclose the wiring.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of electrical connections made in temporarily installed structures such as wiring for electrical power installed between office partition panels. In particular the invention concerns a wiring raceway for adapting vertical wall panels to be hardwired between electrical power outlets, rather than being connected by modular pre-wired conduit, plug connectors or the like.
2. Prior Art
Office partitions are very useful for subdividing an open floor space into work areas. The partitions provide privacy without the expense and permanence of structural walls, and are inexpensive and versatile as to the choice of particular configuration of panels used to enclose a particular work area. Typically the partitions comprise flat modular panels about 2-5 feet wide (0.6-1.5 m) and 3.5-5.5 feet high (1.1-1.7 m). Adjacent coplanar panels are attached edgewise, and panels also can be joined at right angle L or tee joints, forming a square or rectangular area of the desired floor area, for containing a desk or other worksurface.
Work areas usually require electrical service for operating equipment such as computers, calculators, lamps and so forth. Electrical power outlets or receptacles can be provided in the partition panels, for example along the lower edge of the panels, at an elevation slightly above a desktop, along vertical lines, etc. Any number of panels can be attached at any desired configuration of straight lengths, right angle or other angular bends, joints and the like, a typically varied arrangement being shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,685,255--Kelley. Some provision must be made to attend to electrical connections between a source of electrical power and the electrical outlet receptacles (as well as other services such as installed lighting and the like).
Apart from electric power conductors, data transmission cables for computer networks and the like, telephone cables and other signalling wiring may be advantageously installed in and between partition panels. Whereas currents in power cables can induce currents in signalling wiring, it is advantageous either to shield between power and signalling wiring or to keep them well spaced from one another.
Electrical receptacles or mountings for electrical receptacles can by provided in an edge structure of the panels such as along a lower edge where the electrical receptacles as well as adjustable levelling legs are disposed. Typically, the electrical receptacles are mounted in enclosures such as standard receptacle boxes, connected to conduit through which wires must be fished. Alternatively flexible armored cable (e.g., BX cable) is used, with the armor being mechanically attached to the box and forming a sort of conduit. The electrical circuits are thus enclosed for safety.
According to one arrangement, the partition panel has two structural legs at the opposite lower corners, attached to an upwardly opening channel such that the channel is spaced from the panel. The channel defines the lowermost edge of the partition panel. Threaded leveling legs attach to the structural legs and/or to the lowermost edge channel. The area between the lowermost edge channel and the panel is used for routing conduits or modular wiring, and is covered by snap-on cover strips on both sides, for cosmetic purposes. Examples are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,381,994--Welch; U.S. Pat. No. 5,357,055--Sireci; U.S. Pat. No. 5,349,135--Mollenkopf et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,214,889--Nienhuis et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,209,035--Hodges et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,135,755--Driscoll.
To employ pre-mounted receptacles or standard mounts for receptacles, electrical conductors are needed between the receptacles, which are wired in parallel, and to a circuit breaker panel. One known arrangement uses modular flexible cables of a length sufficient to reach from an electrical outlet in one panel to the electrical outlet in the next panel, or alternatively from an electrical outlet to the edge of the associated panel. End plugs terminate the cables and mate with the electrical outlets or with one another. The flexible cables can simply be stretched from one junction to the next, occupying the area at the bottom of the partition panel that is covered by the cover strip. Alternatively, flexible conduit can be run from connection to connection, around angles and the like, the conduit being mechanically attached at its ends to some point adjacent to the electrical connections.
According to some electrical building codes, for example in Chicago, modular connector cable arrangements for such partition panels are prohibited. All electrical outlets must be hardwired by licensed electricians. Also, where conduits are required or used, fitting and mechanically mounting the conduits is inconvenient and time consuming, and after placing the conduits the conductor wires must be fished endwise through each conduit length. What is needed is a modular panel arrangement that is better suited for hardwiring, and has features leading to convenience and speed of installation in a system of modular partition panels. What is also needed is a way in which the conventional partition panel arrangement of a panel on legs with a lowermost edge channel, can be modified optimally to suit the needs of hardwired partition systems.


Method and system for preventing copying of textual images during display on a screen. The method includes randomly adding bits to the bitmapped background of the textual image to produce two random bitmapped textual images. The random bitmapped images are then alternately displayed on the screen so that the instantaneous display of the on screen textual images is unreadable. By a second method, the bits that form the bitmapped image of the text bits are randomly modified to produce a pair of random bitmapped texts. The random bit mapped text pairs are then alternately flickered on the display screen. Again, by this second method, the instantaneous display of the on screen textual images is unreadable. Although in both cases the instantaneous display is unreadable, the human eye averages the two different bitmapped images as they alternate on screen so that the text is human readable.

Historically, a key problem in protecting copyrighted works online has been that, even if the user is forced to read something using a particular program, the letters on the screen can always be captured by the user "screenscraping" and then reusing the material without the publisher's knowledge. As a result, publishers are often afraid of providing online information for fear that it will be stolen and reused. Computer scientists give talks with phrases like "the nationwide file system," and publishers fear that this means that everyone in the country, or perhaps the world, will be able to access one electronic copy of their material, and as a result, the first sale will be the only one.
Further, publishers remember the collapse of the software game market in the early 1980s due to illegal copying, and are aware of the software piracy problems in many countries. The Software Publisher's Association estimates that piracy costs the software industry $15 billion per year. See, for example, Elizabeth Corcoran, In Hot Pursuit of Software Pirates, Washington Post, Aug. 23, 1995, at F1. In some countries, more than 95% of the copies of software in use are illegally made, with almost no legal copies in use. Worse yet, others are re-exporting illegal copies, cutting into the software market in places that have made great progress at eliminating locally made illegal copies. Book publishers are afraid of the same thing happening to them and are looking for a technological fix.
Traditionally, the large databases have avoided the worst of these problems by their method of operation. Users of a system like NEXIS or Dialog may well be able to capture a screenfull of output, representing a single article or abstract; but they are not likely to be able to find somebody else who wants that particular item and is willing to pay for it. Thus, piracy of such a system, which provides only the tiniest fraction of its content on each interaction, is not an insuperable problem.
Book publishers, however, who would like to deliver an entire book online, do not feel that same confidence. They know that an undergraduate who has purchased the right to a textbook for one of his classes, for example, has easy access to his fellow students who also need the same textbook, and they fear unauthorized duplication. Current statistics on library theft, for example, would not reassure them as to the honesty of current undergraduates. These concerns for online display are also applicable to display provided by a compact disk, read-only memory (CD-ROM).
The techniques of "digital watermarking" or "steganography" are often recommended to deal with this problem. These methods involve the concealment of a special code within a digital object; this code does not interfere with reading or viewing the object, but can be used to track copies. See N. Komatsu and H. Tominaga, A proposal on digital watermark in document image communication and its application to realizing a signature, Electronics and Communications in Japan, Part 1 (Communications), vol. 73, no. 5, 1990, at 22-23.
With watermarks, each copy sold is labeled with a different identification number, and illegal copies can thus be tracked back to the original purchaser so that legal remedies may be sought against that purchaser. However, these codes may be easily removed, and they may be hard to insert. See K. Matsui and K. Tanaka, Video-Steganography: How to Secretly Embed a Signature in a Picture, Technological Strategies for Protecting Intellectual Property in the Networked Multimedia Environment, January 1994, at 187-206. Unfortunately, even if the proposed law against protection-breaking software passes, it is going to be hard to outlaw low-pass spatial Fourier transforms, which would attack many of the proposed picture labeling schemes. Further, it is easier to find spare places to put extra bits in a picture (where low-order detail can be adjusted with little notice) than in text, and thus the watermark method has little use with text.
The most serious difficulty with digital watermarking for those who wish to display text is that it is particularly hard to find a way to put such codes in ASCII text. For this reason there have been suggestions that publishers wishing to send ordinary text should code it as bitmaps and send those despite their greater bulk. See M. Lesk, How Can Digital Information Be Protected, Research Challenges in the Economics of Information, CNRS, July 1993. Perhaps the most imaginative solution is that of J. T. Brassil, et al., at Bell Laboratories, which used such techniques as adjusting the space between letters and words in Postscript to hide extra codes. If the user copies the exact bitmap, this will permit tracking of the copy. See J. T. Brassil, S. Low, N. Maxemchuk, and L. O'Gorman, Marking of Document Images with Code-words to Deter Illicit Dissemination, Proc. INFOCOM 94 Conference on Computer Communications, 1994, at 1278-87.
Digital watermarking also does not actually prevent copying; it merely makes it possible to track the source of an illegal copy back to the first purchaser. However, since the Business Software Alliance estimates that 90% of illegal software use in the United States is unorganized and individual, any legal action against the copiers may well be expensive and unrewarding. See Steve Lohr, Pirates Are Circling The Good Ship Windows 95, New York Times, Aug. 24, 1995, at D6. It is for this reason, of course, that the proposed White Paper on "Intellectual Property and the National Information Infrastructure (NII)" suggests that online service providers be responsible for policing copyright violation; however, it remains to be seen whether this will be enacted. For the moment, legal techniques are expensive when used against a myriad of individuals, many of whom may have small financial resources.
Another technique used in the software industry to control illegal use of software is the "dongle," a special-purpose hardware device that must be present on the machine involved for the software to work. These devices are relatively cheap and prevent software from running on a different processor. However, these devices meet some consumer resistance since they prevent someone from moving their work quickly from one machine to another (as is of course their intent) and also just seem to produce a higher level of hassle for users than software alone.
Although transmitting bitmaps and controlling the software and or hardware that is used to display them help prevent people from copying the material they access, these methods do not provide a complete solution. The user can always just take a screen dump, capture the bits off the screen, and run these bits through an optical character recognition (OCR) program. The publisher will then be thrown back on legal remedies for copyright violation.

Method and system for copy protection of on-screen display of text


Methods for forming, modifying, and drug loading of a copolymer are provided, along with the resulting products. The method can include polymerizing 2-(pyridin-2-yldisulfanyl)ethyl acrylate with poly(ethylene glycol)methacrylate via free radical polymerization to form the copolymer. The molar ratio of 2-(pyridin-2-yldisulfanyl)ethyl acrylate to poly(ethylene glycol)methacrylate is about 100:1 to about 1:100. After polymerizing, the copolymer can be reacted with a thiol monomer that contains a carbon-bonded sulfhydryl to modify end groups on a first portion of the 2-(pyridin-2-yldisulfanyl)ethyl acrylate repeating units. Thereafter, the copolymer can be crosslinked, and a drug can then be loaded into the crosslinked copolymer.

Anticancer drug combinations have attracted much attention and have been extensively explored in clinical studies for the treatment of various types of cancer. Due to the heterogeneity of a tumor, cancer cells exist at different cell cycles. Delivery of multiple therapeutic agents using a single carrier system can suppress the cancer growth, since the drugs can have specific activity based on the different growth cycle of a cancer cell. A drug cocktail, such as a combination of drugs with different anticancer mechanisms that act synergistically, should exhibit superior response and patient survival rate than any single agent. However, the translation of this theoretical advantage to benefit the patient is hindered by their associated side effects, which can include (i) the potent toxic drug combination can damage normal cells while it kills cancer cells, (ii) the potential drug-drug interaction can deteriorate patient health condition, and (iii) the consequence of side effect results in poor patient compliance.
In order to enhance the efficacy of anticancer drugs while attenuating their associated side effects, nanotechnology was introduced into the treatment of cancer. Nanoparticle related cancer targeting is mainly achieved by passive accumulation of drug-loaded nanoparticles through the leaky blood capillaries in the tumor tissue. It has been shown that those vasculature pore sizes could be as large as 400 nm, which allows the extravagation of nanoparticles to the cancer tissues. In addition, lymphatic deficiency develops during cancer's progression; as a consequence, the lymphatic drainage of the nanoparticles from the tumor tissue is inadequate. The synergic effect of the above mentioned characteristics of tumor tissue results in the passive accumulation of nano-sized particles. This phenomenon is referred to as enhanced permeability and retention effect (EPR) of cancer. It has been demonstrated that by taking advantage of the EPR effect, nanoparticles can preferentially deliver drugs to cancer tissues, and therefore significantly enhance the therapeutic efficacy while substantially reducing drug side effects. As such, a need exists for a nanocarrier that is stable in a physiological environment during circulation while intracellularly releasing its payload in a timely manner after entering the cancer cell.

Polymers and the preparation of nanogel drug cocktails


A component of aluminum nitride metallized with a metallizing paste containing: (i) a pulverulent glass of the MnO--Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 --SiO.sub.2 system as an adhesion promotor having a mean particle size of 2-15 .mu.m; (ii) a refractory metal powder having a mean particle size of 1-4 .mu.m; and (iii) an organic resin dissolved in a suitable solvent and/or a screen printing oil is disclosed. The metallizing paste preferably has a viscosity of 50-100 Pa.multidot.s when applied by screen printing, and a viscosity of <5 Pa.multidot.s when applied by dipping. The component of aluminum nitride metallized with the metallizing paste has at least one metal layer deposited on the metallizing paste, and the at least one metal layer applied has a bonding strength given by mean pull-off values of .gtoreq.3.5 kN/cm.sup.2.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for producing a metal-coated, metallized component of aluminum nitride ceramic, a metallizing paste for carrying out the process and also the metal-coated component obtained thereby.
2. Description of Related Art
In electronics it is prior art to metallize components of ceramic materials containing mostly aluminum oxide or aluminum nitride with high-melting metals and then to further reinforce these metallized components by application of further metal layers. Further components such as diodes, resistors and the like can then be applied to these uppermost metal layers by means of soft soldering, for example in the production of electronic circuits. High-melting metals (refractory metals) used are preferably tungsten and molybdenum. The uppermost metal layers can then be deposited on the metallized components, preferably by means of electrolytic processes.
In microelectronics, aluminum nitride components, especially substrates, are preferably used because of their highly thermally conductive properties. For this purpose, no SiO.sub.2 -containing glass phase is added as sintering aid to the aluminum nitride powder prior to firing, as is known in the production of aluminum oxide components. On the other hand, it is known in the prior art that a firmly adhering metallization with high-melting metals such as tungsten or molybdenum is only possible if certain amounts of SiO.sub.2 -containing glass phase (at least 1.5% by weight) are present in the fired ceramic (Bronnes, R. L., Die Herstellung geloteter Keramik-Metallverbindungen mit Kathodenzerstaubung als Metallisierungstechnik, Philips Technische Rundschau 35, 227 (1975) and Cooper, D., The Development of High Quality Alumina Substrates, Industrial Ceramics 9, 115 (1989)). If the proportion of the glass phase is too low, it is also possible, as an alternative, to mix an addition of glass into the metallizing paste (Fulrath, R. M., Ceramic Bulletin 47, 493 (1968)). However, when using components of aluminum nitride ceramic it has to be noted that aluminum nitride is thermodynamically unstable toward many oxidic compounds, for example ZnO, PbO, Bi.sub.2 O.sub.3, B.sub.2 O.sub.3. Lowering of the free enthalpy is achieved by the formation of aluminum oxide, metal and nitrogen in a solid-state reaction. This reaction results in the destruction of the particle bonding in the ceramic, which lowers the strength (Kageyama, M., IMC Proceedings 1988, 161 (1988) and Kubota, T., IMC Proceedings 1988, 137 (1988)) . In contrast, silicon dioxide is inert toward aluminum nitride.
To increase the bonding strength between metallizing layer and the ceramic component, use has been made in the prior art of substances such as TiN, Ti, CaO, A1.sub.2 O.sub.3, Si, SiO.sub.2, Al, Ta, Cr, which form crystalline phases on the surface of the aluminum nitride and thus adhere well (EP 0 433 992 A1, EP 0 305 295 B1, EP 0 276 788 B1, U.S. Pat. No. 5,063,121 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,840,853). Such pulverulent additives are, however, very expensive, for example tantalum, titanium, titanium nitride, or the particle size of the powder can be set only with great difficulty, for example in the case of aluminum. The firing temperatures in the case of such additions are usually 1500.degree.-1700.degree. C. and are thus extraordinarily high.

Process for producing a metal-coated, metallized component of aluminum nitride ceramic and metal-coated component obtained thereby


There are provided an image processing apparatus and method which can reliably and quickly prevent forgery. To accomplish this, an image processing apparatus includes a discrimination circuit (111) for discriminating using a plurality of different discrimination processes whether or not image data is a specific image, and a control circuit (112) for controlling the process of the image data in accordance with the discrimination result of the discrimination circuit. The discrimination circuit (111) has a digital watermark detection unit (111a) for discriminating whether or not specific digital watermark information is embedded in image data, and a feature extraction unit (112a) for discriminating similarity between the feature obtained from the image data, and that of a specific image which is set in advance. The presence/absence of execution of operations and execution order of the digital watermark detection unit and feature extraction unit are set.

In recent years, with the advent of color copying machines with higher image quality, documents such as securities, bank notes, and the like, which should not be illicitly copied, may be forged.
Various kinds of documents, which should not be illicitly copied are present, must be accurately discriminated without any errors. Furthermore, the copying speed for normal documents must be prevented from being considerably reduced due to discrimination function of such specific documents.

Image processing apparatus and method with forgery and/or fraud control


To provide a single crystal component comprising a single crystal substrate whose surface portion and depth direction are defined, a tapered groove formed on the surface portion of the single crystal substrate and having an opening and a cross-sectional shape gradually narrowed along the depth direction, and a protrusion formed on the groove nearby the surface portion of the single crystal substrate.

The present invention relates to a single-crystal component to be applied to an optical component such as an optical module and its fabrication method.
A single-crystal substrate made of Si or the like has the crystal orientation dependency of an etching rate due to the anisotropy of an atomic arrangement. Because of this characteristic, the single-crystal substrate makes it possible to form a geometric shape reflecting a crystal structure through etching by selecting a proper etching species. This is the so-called anisotropic etching which is practically used for various semiconductor processes and the micro-machining art for fabricating a micro mechanism on a substrate.
The anisotropic etching has been recently noticed as a technique for machining an optical mounting component requiring a high-accuracy machining. As an example of applying the anisotropic etching to an optical mounting component, there is an example of working a V-groove for holding an optical fiber on an Si substrate. This example has a feature that it is superior in working accuracy and mass productivity compared to an example of using mechanical cutting. As the reasons, it is possible to perform control in submicrons because a semiconductor process is used and work a lot of Si wafers at the same time because tens of Si wafers can be treated (worked) at the same time by incorporating a lot of workpieces into the Si wafers similarly to the case of an IC chip. Moreover, because the semiconductor process is used, it is possible to easily form a wiring electrode on a substrate and there is an advantage that machining and electrical wiring can be performed at the same time or in a series of processes.
However, these arts have problems caused by using a semiconductor process. That is, because the semiconductor process mainly performs the so-called thin-film formation, there is a practical restriction in the forming range and therefore, the process is not suitable for the machining having a large step. In general, a step in a substrate allowed in the semiconductor process is 10 .mu.m or less. Even when only forming a mask pattern on the surface to form a groove, the semiconductor process is restricted to the machining for a step of up to approx. 100 .mu.m in most cases. This is because the semiconductor process purposes the machining of micron order and thereby, it cannot correspond to an extremely large step machining.
In general, dry etching frequently used for the semiconductor process cannot perform a very deep etching because the etching rate is relatively small and due to an economic restriction on working time because treatment is performed in accordance with the single wafer processing. In this case, a practically possible etching depth is approx. 50 to 100 .mu.m. Moreover, in the case of the wet etching having a relatively large etching rate and easily allowing batch processing, a very deep etching is theoretically possible. In this case, however, there is a problem that a micro shape deformation due to etching irregularity or crystal defect spreads as etching progresses. Therefore, an etching depth is restricted to a certain value in view of the working yield. The then depth is approx. 100 .mu.m as described above and this is described while referring to the accompanying drawings.
FIGS. 1A to 1C are sectional views of processes showing a working example according to the conventional anisotropic etching. FIGS. 1A to 1C show a case in which a single crystal substrate uses Si as a typical example used for micro-machining. In FIGS. 1A to 1C, symbol 1 denotes a single-crystal Si substrate, 2 denotes an etching mask, and 3 denotes an etched portion. In the case of the anisotropic etching of Si, the mask 2 uses an oxide film or nitride film such as SiO.sub.2 or Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 and an etching solution uses a KOH solution or hydrazine having a high crystal-orientation dependency of etching rate. FIGS. 1A to 1C show sectional views when the surface of the Si substrate 1 has (100) plane and the etched portion 3 has a rectangular opening having <110> and <1-10> directions on the surface of a Si substrate.
First, FIG. 1A shows a state in which the mask 2 is formed on the Si substrate 1 and patterning of photoresist and transfer of the pattern to the mask are completed. FIG. 1B shows a state in which the mask 2 is put in an etching solution and etching is currently performed. Single-crystal Si has a property that the etching rate on (111) plane is smaller than that of other crystal planes. Therefore, when starting etching from (100) plane, etching progresses in a shape exposing (111) slope continued from a mask boundary as shown in FIG. 1B.
In this case, symbol 4 denotes an abnormally etched portion caused by etching irregularity or crystal defect, which is an etching defect produced when the boundary between the mask 2 and the substrate surface is locally quickly etched. This abnormal etching is observed when a foreign matter enters the boundary between a substrate and a mask or there is a crystal defect on a substrate or when an etching solution is irregularly agitated or the solution causes an abnormal flow due to bubbles, and occurs though there is no mask shape defect apparently. It is a matter of course that an etching shape is deformed when there is a defect on a mask pattern. However, this factor is another problem because it is related to imperfect formation of a mask pattern.
Moreover, when the linear portion of the above mask has a deviation from the crystal orientation, a cyclic discontinuous boundary for eliminating a directional deviation between the crystal plane and the mask appears on the etching slope, causing the same result as the case of the abnormal etching. However, this is also another problem. Therefore, an etching yield represents a factor due to abnormal etching. Thus, description is hereafter made by omitting a defect and orientational deviation of a mask pattern.
FIG. 1C shows a state in which etching is further progressed up to a depth where (111) planes at the both sides of the mask collide with each other. In this case, a normal portion becomes a V shape symmetric to the mask 2 at right and left. However, at a portion (4') formed because the shape deformation shown by symbol 4 due to abnormal etching is progressed, not only the center of the V shape is deviated but also the width of the V-groove is increased. Moreover, the abnormal etching not only locally progresses in the depth direction but also causes a critical problem that the entire shape is deformed by actually progressing in the transverse direction. This is described by referring to FIGS. 2A to 2C to FIGS. 6A to 6C.
FIGS. 2A to 2C to FIGS. 6A to 6C are illustrations showing the etching states shown in FIGS. 1A to 1C viewed from the upper sides and by making the cross sections of abnormal and normal portions correspond to the states respectively and moreover show the cross sections of A (abnormally etched portion) and B (normally etched portion) attached to the upper sides of the drawings at the right respectively. Moreover, a portion same as that in FIGS. 1A to 1C is provided with the same symbol.
FIGS. 2A to 2C show a state in which a mask is formed similarly to the case of FIG. 1A, FIGS. 3A to 3C show a state in which etching is currently performed similarly to the case of FIG. 1B, and FIGS. 3A to 3C show an initial state in which the defect 4 (abnormally etched portion) is produced. Though the degree of collapse of the etching shape is small at this stage, the etching rate is easily accelerated because the cross section of the abnormally etched portion protruded beyond (111) plane (4") extended from a mask end.
Therefore, the abnormally etched portion does not spread proportionally to the entire etching progress but it first progresses in the depth direction (FIGS. 4A to 4C) and simultaneously spreads in the transverse direction. Moreover, when the spread of the abnormally etched portion reaches to a certain extent, the etching in the depth direction catches up with the depth of the normally etched portion (FIGS. 5A to 5C). Thereafter, etching progresses in the depth direction at the abnormally etched portion similarly to the normally etched portion. In this case, however, spread in the transverse direction also progresses at the abnormally etched portion.
Finally, even when the normally etched portion completely becomes V-shape, etching progresses so as to form an eccentric deeper V-groove at the abnormally etched portion. Even after the abnormally etched portion becomes V-shape, spread in the transverse direction progresses (FIGS. 6A to 6C). If the etching is continued under the above state, a single V-groove whose center is deviated as a whole is finally formed at the width of the V-shape of the abnormally etched portion. Therefore, an initial slight abnormal etching would finally result in an essential problem causing a predetermined etching shape to greatly deform.
Though the above abnormal etching does not frequently occur when etching is relatively shallow, it occurs considerably frequently when deep etching is performed. Though depending on an etching condition, abnormal etching does not frequently occur up to approx. 100 .mu.m. However, abnormal etching occurs considerably frequently in the case of deep etching such as 300 .mu.m or more. Moreover, abnormal etching does not occur at a single portion as described above but it may occur at many portions in most cases once it starts. Therefore, it is frequently possible to decide whether abnormal etching occurs even through relatively macro observation of an etching state.
FIG. 7 shows an optical mounting component using anisotropic etching, which is an example for specifically showing the influence of the above abnormal etching. In FIG. 7, symbol 1 denotes a Si substrate, 3 denotes a relatively deep V-groove, 5 denotes a relatively shallow V-groove, and 7 denotes an electrode metal for mounting an optical device. In this case, the relatively deep V-groove 3 and the relatively shallow V-groove 5 are used to mount different members requiring position matching each other on the same substrate and aligning them and moreover, the shallow V-groove 5 is used to hold an optical fiber and the deep V-groove 3 is used to hold a guide pin of an optical connector. For example, an optical fiber having a diameter of 125 .mu.m is combined with a guide pin having a diameter of 700 .mu.m. In this case, when assuming the surface of the Si substrate as a reference position, the shallow groove requires a depth of 62.5 .mu.m or more and the deep groove requires a depth of 350 .mu.m or more.
FIGS. 8A to 8C show a case of simply etching two groove at the same time. To make the centers of the optical fiber and guide pin level with the Si substrate surface on the basis of the Si substrate surface, it is necessary that the surface width of the V-groove is set to approx. 153 .mu.m for the optical fiber and approx. 857 .mu.m for the guide pin.
Moreover, it is necessary to set the etching mask 2 to a value obtained by subtracting an undercut value of the etching corresponding to an etching time from the above width.
An etching mask is patterned in accordance with the above design as shown in FIG. 8A to apply anisotropic etching. In the case of the above setting, a narrow V-groove is completely formed into a V shape before 108 .mu.m when the etching depth reaches approx. 108 .mu.m or the mask width 5 is slightly narrowed by considering the subsequent undercut (FIG. 8B). At this stage, most portions are normal because etching is relatively shallow and therefore, the yield of etching hardly becomes an issue.
The above-described abnormal etching is frequently recognized when the etching depth is approx. 200 .mu.m from experiences. Therefore, it is estimated that a portion serving as the species of abnormal etching is produced at the point of time in FIG. 8B or earlier point of time after the point of time in FIG. 8B. Hereafter, etching is continued until a wide V-groove has a depth of at least 350 .mu.m. However, because etching is deep, the abnormal-etching occurrence rate also increases and the number of wide V-grooves having an abnormally etched portion 4' increases as shown in FIG. 8C. Also, the number of narrow V-grooves 5 having an abnormally etched portion increases because they are exposed to an etching solution for a long time. As the result of experiments by the present inventor et al., though a test of simultaneously etching 10 or more Si wafers was performed more than ten times, the percent non-defective in which both grooves were normally etched did not reach several percents. Though changing several etching conditions, the same result was obtained and the correlations between wafer planes, between wafers, and between lots were not very significant.
FIGS. 9A to 9D show an improved example for preventing the yield from decreasing due to defects of the narrow V-grooves of the related art shown in FIGS. 8A to 8C. As shown in FIGS. 9A to 9D, a narrow V-groove 5 and a wide V-groove 3 are separately worked and there is a feature that a trouble due to a defect of the narrow V-groove 3 though the wide V-groove 5 is normal can be eliminated. In this case, it is necessary to form an etching mask two times. However, because the narrow V-groove 5 is protected by the second-time etching mask 2' after relatively wide etching, it is almost prevented to cause abnormal etching due to exposure to an etching solution for a long time. Therefore, the percent defective of the narrow (shallow) V-groove 5 can be extremely decreased and the overall yield can be improved.
However, even in the case of this method, the yield of the wide (deep) V-groove did not change. Therefore, the overall etching yield was not very large and a percent non-defective of only approx. 10% was obtained even in a relatively preferable case. Moreover, in the case of this method, the etching time increases and the process cost increases because the grooves are worked separately from each other and furthermore, a trouble may occur due to misalignment between the fist-time and second-time masks.
To shorten the etching time, there is a method of providing the second-time mask for the portion in FIG. 8B and shifting to FIGS. 9C and 9D. However, the problem of misalignment is the same as the case of the conventional example in FIGS. 9A to 9D and the yield of the deep groove 3 is still a problem. In any case, in the case of the conventional anisotropic etching method, the process yield due to abnormal etching become an issue when deep etching of 300 .mu.m or more is necessary.
Thus, conventionally, there is a problem that working requiring a deep groove is very difficult because a practical etching depth is up to approx. 100 .mu.m even by using anisotropic etching to form a single-crystal component.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a single-crystal component and its fabrication method making it possible to realize deep etching of 300 .mu.m or more at a preferable reproducibility and a high yield in the case of single crystal Si and improve the working accuracy of a groove through etching, and moreover provide an optical component and an optical module.

Single-crystal component to be applied to optical module and its fabrication method