Technologies are described for replicating selected changes to planned working time from a first system, such as an HR system, to a second system, such as a payroll system. For example, upon receiving an indication of a change to a planned working time for one or more workers on one or more days, the first system can evaluate the change to determine whether it should be replicated to the second system. The determination can be based on whether the change is a temporary change, as well as based on information read from a data replication configuration object, a data replication period object, and/or an in-sync work schedule object. Upon determining that the change should be replicated to the second system, a data replication proxy object can be created based on the change and used to transmit data regarding the change for replication at the second system.

Organizations such as businesses, schools, charities, and governments often utilize computer software to perform functions related to human resources (HR) administration. This can include storing information on work schedules for workers (e.g., employees) of the organization, and utilizing the stored information when processing a payroll for the workers.
In some examples, organizations utilize separate HR and payroll systems, both of which require access to work schedule information to perform their associated functions. Accordingly, an organization utilizing such software may store the same work schedule information at both the HR system and the payroll system. As work schedule information is typically input via the HR system, maintaining the same information at the payroll system may require replication of the information from the HR system to the payroll system.
To ensure that up-to-date work schedule information is maintained at the payroll system, the software may be required to perform resource-intensive processes at regular intervals to replicate any work schedule changes from the HR system to the payroll system, including temporary work schedule changes, changes to holiday calendars, etc. For organizations with numerous workers, and/or organizations with numerous workers spanning different jurisdictions, the process of ensuring that consistent work schedule information is maintained at both the HR system and the payroll system can be especially costly and unwieldy.

Replication of planned working time information


An improved wristsaver fishing rod handle and system having an improved ergonomic handle is described. The system includes an elongated pole having a plurality of spaced-apart downwardly extending line guides disposed along the length, with a distal tip and a proximal handle mounting portion for connecting to the ergonomic handle. The ergonomic handle has a mounting section for coupling to the pole, a first handle portion disposed at an angle to the mounting portion, and a second handle portion mounted at a second predetermined angle to the first handle. A spinning reel mount is associated with the first handle, to position the downwardly extending spinning reel in an operative relationship to the casting hand of a user. A first alternative embodiment describes an adjustment mechanism for adjusting the angle of the first handle portion with respect to the mounting portion. A second alternative embodiment includes a second adjustment mechanism to adjust the angle of the second handle with respect to the first handle.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to fishing apparatus; and, more particularly, to an improved handle and rod mount structure used with spinning reels and rods.
2. State of the Prior Art
Over the years a number of types of fishing rods have been developed to accommodate various fishing styles and bait presentations. These prior art fishing systems are well known and have differing rod requirements. Still-fishing systems characteristically utilized relatively long heavy duty rods with a fixed relationship of the length of the rod to the amount of line used. Trolling systems characteristically utilize relatively short stiff rods in conjunction with heavy duty line and reel combinations. Systems for the presentation of artificial flies and the like primarily utilize the combination of an elongated rod in combination with line that matches the action of the rod. The foregoing types of fishing systems do not usually place undue repeated stress on the hands or wrists of the user during presentation of the various baits employed.
Other types of fishing rod and reel combinations include the well known bait casting and spin casting systems wherein the respective reels are mounted on top of the handle portion and positioned forward of the casting hand. The somewhat sloped handles, in combination with the positioning of the hand and wrist during the casting operation does not tend to unduly stress the wrist of the use in that the hand characteristically does not rotate the wrist much beyond the normal hand shake position.
Spinning fishing systems utilize rods that have the line guides downwardly positioned, and characteristically have handles longitudinally aligned with the rod. The handle characteristically includes a distal portion for mounting to the rod, a central portion serving as a reel mount and casting handle, and a proximal portion that in some models can be used for two-handed presentation. The so-called spinning reels can be either open faced or closed-faced, and during the bait presentation both allow line to flow freely from a stationary longitudinally positioned spool. During retrieval, a bail in open-faced systems or a pin in closed-faced systems engage the line and cause it to be wound onto the spool. During the casting operation the open-faced bail or closed-face pin are withdrawn from engagement with the line, and the line must be controlled by the casting hand of the user. Spinning reels characteristically are mounted vertically beneath the handle portion and are positioned such that the line can be controlled by a finger of the user during the presentation process while allowing the line to flow freely to the nearest line guide during the presentation when released. Since the prior art spinning systems have the reel mounting portion axially aligned with the rod mounting portion, the hand of the user and operation of the system causes the wrist to be quite severally rotated in one direction on the back stroke and causes the wrist to be reverse rotated much beyond the normal handshake position in the forward casting or presentation motion. For users having existing physical conditions such as arthritis or conditions existing from repeated stress, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, these repeated presentation actions with spinning systems can cause pain or further injury to the user. For users without preexisting conditions, the repeated use of such systems can cause fatigue and pain in the wrist and may negatively impact the normal enjoyment of fishing. It is desirable to mitigate the ergonomic deficiencies of prior art spinning equipment systems that this invention is directed.

Wristsaver fishing rod handle and system


A portable headrest for sunbathing including a head support member having a generally U-shaped configuration. The head support member includes an outer material covering, an internal foam support cushion and a rigid support plate on the bottom thereof; a rigid base support member having a generally curved-shaped configuration for providing a stable support on sand, soft ground, or grass; a plurality of spaced-apart support connecting members for connecting the head support member to the base support member; and the plurality of spaced-apart support connecting members defining a plurality of air passageways between the bottom of the head support member and the top of the base support member for allowing the passage of air therethrough to the user's face when the face is embedded in the head support member.

The use of various U-shaped or horseshoe-shaped headrests, pads, pillows, cushions, bolsters, head supporting devices for sunbathing, massage therapy, chiropractic adjustment, medical examinations and operations are well known in the prior art. The prior art includes U-shaped headrests having a plurality of legs attached to the headrest to provide a level of elevation to the headrest for comfort and breathing when in a facedown position. In using these prior art devices in sand, soft ground or grass the legs and headrest sink into the sand, soft ground or grass and interfere with the user's breathing or receiving an ample amount of air in order to be comfortable when in a facedown position in the headrest.
There remains a need for a portable headrest for outdoor suntanning or sunbathing having a head support member, a plurality of support connecting members, a rigid base support member for sand, ground or grass contact, and a carrying strap. Additionally, the head support member and the rigid base support member should have support connecting members therebetween for defining a plurality of air passageways through which the user obtains an air supply when the user's face is in a downward position in the head support member while suntanning. Further, the base support member should be of sufficient size and area for preventing the sinking of the base support member and the head support member into sand, soft ground, or grass.

Portable headrest having a base support member with air passages for use while sunbathing


This disclosure is directed to an improved ballistic concrete barrier and methods of using the barrier for training with weapons using live ammunition or grenades or other fragmentation devices.

Shock Absorbing Concrete (SACON®)
Training is essential for both the military and civilian police forces. However, designing adequate backstops for military training, police, or civilian target practice, has been difficult. There are many difficulties associated with preparing such backstops. For example, a material must be strong enough to stop bullets, yet also must not cause ricochets because of risk to a shooter or bystander and must minimize the creation of lead dust from bullets spalling or fragmenting on impact. Wood backstops are problematic because insect or vermin infestation may lead to degradation and breakdown. Chemical treatment of wood creates additional environmental hazards associated with biocides or other toxins. Earthen barriers are difficult to move and stage in different settings, such as different lighting conditions. Over time earthen barriers may erode or wash away. Historically, fiber reinforced foamed concrete provided some benefits for training structures as a material that (1) resisted breakdown, (2) stopped bullets, and (3) prevented ricochets.
Lead from bullets is another fundamental problem. Lead is a heavy metal neurotoxin that accumulates over time in soft tissues, blood and bone. Exposures to extremely low concentrations of lead have been documented to cause learning disabilities and other neurological damage. Thus, lead is hazard with a potential for long-term harm. Lead from bullets may enter the environment as either elemental lead dust generated from the impact of bullets with the backstop or lead salts which may leach from the backstop into water supplies.
To address many of these concerns, researchers at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) invented SACON® ballistic concrete, a low-leaching, foamed concrete. SACON® ballistic concrete is effective absorbing low power projectiles and eliminating ricochets. As currently formulated it is a fiber-reinforced concrete with high concentrations of calcium phosphate and aluminum hydroxide to prevent leaching of lead fragments. U.S. Pat. No. 6,264,735 (Bean et al., "the '735 patent") describes SACON® and the reduced lead-leaching from the SACON® ballistic concrete blocks. U.S. Pat. No. 6,620,236 (Huntsman et al., "the '236 patent") describes an improvement of the '735 patent formulation that includes an aluminum hydroxide additive to reduce or eliminate the erosion of heavy metals such as lead from the foamed concrete. The contents of both the '735 and the '236 patents are hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
SACON® ballistic concrete is prepared using an air compressor by adding a wet foam that contains a foaming agent and a foam stabilizing agent such as hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose. The wet foam is added to the concrete mixture to achieve the appropriate density required by the military specifications. SACON® ballistic concrete has been widely used by the military on bases in the U.S. and abroad. It has been used by other government agencies, e.g., police forces or the Drug Enforcement Agency. It is effective in stopping bullets from conventional small arms such as rifles (0.22 caliber, M16 (5.56 mm)) or pistols (0.38 caliber, 0.45 caliber, and 9 mm) The reported penetration depths range from 1 inch (25 mm) for a 0.38 caliber pistol to 2.55 inches (63 mm) for 5.56 mm (M16 rifle), see Hudson et al., Final Report Demonstration of Shock-Absorbing Concrete (SACON) Bullet Trap Technology, August 1999.
Training facilities use a number of barriers made from precast panels or other shapes to form backstops, simulated buildings, villages, or other structures such as a tank. When combining precast panels together to make a barrier such as a wall or other structure, the precast panel will include features to allow the precast panels to be connected to one another. However, the majority of the precast panel will be bullet absorbing structural components which are intended to capture live fire bullets or projectiles from other munitions such as grenades.
Process for Making Traditional SACON® Ballistic Concrete
Traditional SACON® ballistic concrete is prepared following ERDC specifications. By ERDC specifications it is meant the "Technical Specification for Shock Absorbing Concrete (SACON®)—Shock Absorbing Concrete for Constructing Live-Fire Training Facilities. This 25 page specification with reference to 35 other detailed specifications sets forth in great detail a process for creating a ballistic concrete and using the ballistic concrete to create panels and other structures using the ballistic concrete. The precision of this specification and the requirement for testing involving shooting live ammunition and measuring the depth of penetration of the bullet is a recognition of those in skill in the art of the great difficulties in creating a ballistic concrete that is capable of stopping penetration of a bullet within an acceptable depth without allowing the bullet to ricochet off the surface of the panel.
ERDC Specifications require the following ingredients:
IngredientCubic MeterCubic YardPortland Cement577 kg (1272 lbs.)972 lbs. (441 kg)Fine Aggregate (SSD)577kg (1272 lbs.)972lbs. (441 kg)Water277 kg (611 lbs.)466 lbs. (211 kg)Calcium Phosphate5.78kg (12.7 lbs.)9.72lbs. (4.4 kg)Aluminum Hydroxide5.78kg (12.7 lbs.)9.72 lbs. (4.4 kg)Foam Stabilizer0.15 kg (0.33 lbs.)0.25 lbs. (0.11 kg)Foam (Void System)0.33 m3 (11.7 cu ft.)9.0 cu ft. (0.25 m3)Fiber (choice of)Polypropylene8.8 kg (19.4 lbs.)14.8lbs. (6.7 kg)Steel115 kg (254 lbs.)193lbs. (88 kg)
ERDC requires the use of a foaming agent and foam stabilizing agents. Specifically they require:                Section 2.4.1 Foaming Agents: Foaming agent shall comply with ASTM C 869, tested in accordance with ASTM 796; and        Section 2.4.2 Foam Stabilizing Agents: The stabilizing agent shall contain hydroxypropyl methylcellulose powder limited to 19.0 to 24.0% methoxy and 7.0 to 12.0% hydroxypropoxyl, similar to Dow Chemical Co. K100M.
Traditional SACON® ballistic concrete uses an air compressor and water to generate pre-formed foam.
Traditional SACON® ballistic concrete specifications require meeting the following density standards:
Density
(Without fibers) 1442 kg/m3 (90-pcf)
(With polypropylene fibers) 1458 kg/m3 (91-pcf)
(With steel fibers) 1554 kg/m3 (97-pcf)
The foam is added to the mix, as follows using the ERDC specifications. The void material, pre-formed foam shall be added to the cement slurry to obtain the required density. The material shall be added in increments to reduce the possibility of moving outside the SACON® ballistic concrete density tolerances. The recommended procedure is to add the foam in half increments, i.e., add half of the foam initially by time of insertion and calculate the density. If the density remains above the upper tolerance, add half of the remaining foam and re-calculate the density. If the density continues to remain above the upper tolerance, then add half of remaining foam until the density tolerance of +48 kg/m3 (3-pcf) relative to the target density (based on fiber use) has been achieved.
SACON® ballistic concrete is traditionally installed in modular panels that are typically 24″ to 30″ thick. Panels may be considered compromised when they have been penetrated by greater than 50% of the thickness of the panel, both because of the danger of collapse of the panel and because of the danger of shoot through if the panel is hit at the same point a second time. The panel may be repaired with ballistic concrete or replaced.
FIG. 1 sets forth the prior art process 1000 for making SACON® ballistic concrete.
Step 1004—Create mix without foam.
Step 1008—Create foam (this step could be completed before creating the mix).
Step 1012—Add half the foam to the mix.
Step 1016—Check density of mix plus added foam to see if the density is in range. Note that the target range for density is a pre-fiber target. Anecdotal reports indicate that frequently it is difficult to get the mix into the pre-fiber density range.
Step 1020—Add half of remaining foam if needed to reduce density.
Step 1024—Check density of mix plus added foam to see the density is in desired pre-fiber density range.
Step 1028—If density is too high, go to 1020. If density is now in range, go to 1032.
Step 1032—Add the prescribed fiber and mix.
Step 1036—Test final density. Adding fiber increases the density of the ballistic concrete. Thus, a pre-fiber density of 90 pounds per cubic foot may be increased to a target of 91 pounds per cubic foot when using polypropylene fibers or 97 pounds per cubic foot when using steel fibers.
Step 1040—Branch based on whether the final density has reached the density for the particular fiber. If not, go to 1036. If the density has been reached then proceed to step 1044.
Step 1044—Pour the ballistic concrete into the mold.
Note—Due to the fragility of the foam bubbles within the prior art ballistic concrete mix, the Technical Specifications for Shock Absorbing Concrete (SACON®)-Shock Absorbing Concrete for Constructing Live-Fire Training Facilities has a number of limitations on how the mixed ballistic concrete material is handled. For example, in section 3.6.1 Placement Operations—there is a prohibition against any vertical drops of 2 feet or more absent special authorization and special equipment. The concern from a drop is that a drop larger than 2 feet may destroy a large percentage of the foamed bubbles.
Likewise a horizontal layer shall not exceed more than 2 feet. Here the concern is that the weight of the ballistic concrete on the lower portions of a deep pour would destroy an unacceptable percentage of the foam bubbles. This depth of pour limitation means that wall panels that will be more than two feet tall need to be poured with the height of the final wall in a horizontal plane. This limitation combined with the depth of drop limit precludes pouring a wall in place as the wall cannot be oriented with the height dimension arranged in a vertical orientation. To pour a panel with a thickness of more than two feet, the panel is poured on its side with a trough to lower the ballistic concrete into the form.
Yet another limitation on the treatment of the prior art ballistic concrete material is a requirement that poured SACON® panels are not to be moved for a period of 14 days. The sides of forms may be removed after 3 days. There is a fear of internal cracking in the poured panels if the forms are removed early. Given that wall panels will need to be poured with the long dimensions (wall height and width) placed in a horizontal plane, so that the short dimension (wall thickness) is in the vertical orientation—the large panel sized bottom portions of the mold are tied up for 14 days at a time.
Penetration Test.
The Technical Specification For Shock Absorbing Concrete (SACON®)—Shock Absorbing Concrete For Constructing Live-Fire Training Facilities has a penetration test for ballistic structures. Section 22.214.171.124 Penetration Test reads:                All SACON® wall panels and other cast objects shall be individually tested with a live-fire test of an M855 round fired from an M16A2 rifle at a distance of 25-m (82-ft) and measured for penetration depth to the back of the bullet. Any penetration depth less than 25-mm (1-in.) or greater than 125-mm (5-in.) shall constitute a failure. Those objects failing to meet the penetration depth requirement shall be discarded without further testing or modifications.        For SACON® wall panels and other cast objects that are intended for close quarter usage (distances less than 25-m (82-ft)), the live-fire test shall be conducted with an M855 round fired from a remotely fired M16A2 rifle from the usage distance. Any penetration depth less than 25-mm (1-in.) or greater than 125-mm (5-in.) shall constitute a failure. Those objects failing to meet the penetration depth requirement shall be discarded without further testing or modifications.
Those of skill in the art will recognize that the term M855 round is the United States military name for the cartridge called the 5.56 NATO round or more specifically, the 5.56 NATO, 62 grain, green tip round. Those of skill in the art will recognize that a bullet is a projectile that is fired from a round (sometimes cartridge) that includes the bullet, casing, propellant, and primer.

Barrier for absorbing live fire ammunition and uses thereof


The device is based on using a thrust bolt in a modified C-clamp design to push a pressure plate to pry apart two intersecting flanges of a profile. The device is primarily used for on-boat repairing of aluminum extrusion profile boat toe rails that have segments of their vertical flanges crushed inward. It has utility for bending any flanges apart that are greater than 20 and less than 160 degrees apart to start with. It has utility for bending flanges apart that are made from any material, such as metal, that has an elastic limit and enough plastic flow to permanently bend without rupture.

Many fiberglass boats are constructed by attaching two main moldings, the hull 18 and the deck 16 as shown in FIG. 16. The deck molding is often attached to a lip around the top edge of the hull molding. A plate 15 on top of the edge of the deck is often used as the top of a three piece structure: plate, deck and lip of the hull. This structure is often connected with bolts 19 and nuts 20, or such fasteners, that are often four or six inches apart around the edge of the deck piece 16.
The plate 15, described above, is often part of an aluminum extrusion profile that is in the shape of a modified 'L' or 'T', that is lying on its side. The horizontal surface serves as the connecting plate 15, above. The vertical surface is called a toe rail 14 and serves to help prevent objects, including people, from sliding off the boat deck 16 and into the water. NOTE: the term 'toe rail' is used somewhat interchangeably in boating to sometimes define the vertical flange 14 and sometime to define the aluminum profile extrusion that comprises the vertical flange 14 at the edge of a boat deck 16.
Fenders are often the edge of an automobile and as such are often damage points. A toe rail is often the edge of a boat, and as such is often damaged when contact is made with things like pilings, when the boat is heeled (canted), like in a storm wind.
The damage is often in the form of segments of toe rails 14 that are bent inward towards the center of the boat as shown in FIG. 17. Toe rails 14 are continuous pieces so the amount of bending varies along the length of the damage from the deepest damage point out to where the rails are still straight. The damaged segments can be from a few inches to several feet long. Toe rail damage is rarely more than 45 degrees of inward bending. Aluminum toe rail extrusions often have a vertical flange 14 that is thicker at the lip than at the base. The bending damage is usually at that base, near the flange root, where the bending stresses are the greatest and where the wall thickness is the lowest.
Repair requires replacement of the aluminum extrusion profile or spreading the vertical flange 14 (the toe tail), FIG. 17, back away from the horizontal flange 15 (the hull/deck connection plate). The replacement option is exceedingly laborious as much permanently installed interior often has to be removed to get to the interior side of the connections, such as the bolt nuts 20. The interior includes items such as headliners (ceilings) and cabinetry. The replacement option is further complicated with older boats and 'out of business' boat builders and/or profile providers.
Pounding the vertical toe rail 14 back into a straight position is sometimes done and sometimes successfully. The strength of the aluminum profile extrusions makes it difficult to apply enough pounding impact to straighten the profiles, much less do so in a controlled manner. Control is important because the continuous profiles make it difficult to isolate repairs. Pushing one flange location also affects adjacent portions of the profile. The pounding action also puts impact tensile stress (prying force) on the hull-deck connection and may cause damage to this critical connection. The major problem with the pounding approach is that the repair can be readily seen. Damage to hull-deck connections and seals 17 can not be so readily seen until leaks enter the boat or major hull-deck separation occurs in a storm.
The pounding action also has potential for warping a toe rail 14, lip to root, while it is being straightened along its length down the boat. Using a piece of 2×4 to spread out the pounding still puts prying stress on the horizontal flange 15 and still has warpage potential. But as mentioned above, it sometimes works, insofar as what can be seen.
A prying action to straighten the toe rail flange 14 has the same problem as pounding the toe rail 14, in that the prying action also puts prying stress on the deck plate flange 15 and its hull-deck connection. The potential for damaging hull-deck connections and seals 17 is the same as described above.
Boat toe rail aluminum extrusions often have vertical flanges 14 that are near, or less than, two inches high. The thickness of the root of the vertical flanges 14 is generally ⅛ to ¼ inch thick. The flange fillets are usually in the range of 3/16 inch radii.
There are a range of different boat toe rail profile geometries. This influences where a hooking action is needed on the outside of the profile, the side on the outside of the hull.
Some of the profile geometries have relatively delicate surfaces where hooking action would occur. For example, a SAGA 43 sailboat uses a profile (dark area in FIG. 16) with an open rectangular slot for insertion of a rubber rub rail (bumper). There is a 3/32 inch thick aluminum part to that slot that could be damaged by excessive local compression from a C-clamp device at that point.
The fiberglass deck surfaces 16 under the toe rail extrusion profiles, the hull-deck connector flange 15, are easily gouged by metal bolt heads or bolt turning tools. Easily gouged, if trust bolt 5 lengths, geometries and/or thrust angles cause bolt head or tool interfere with such fiberglass.
Repair equipment can be designed with engineering principles, but such calculations are exceedingly laborious, if possible, for some applications. For example the many different profile shapes for boats' aluminum toe rail extrusions would require significant calculations for what stresses to direct and where for each repair application. The almost infinite variability of crushing damage further complicates the ability to use calculations alone to design precise repair equipment. Force and stress calculation difficulties are further exacerbated by the unknown effect of the portions of the continuous profiles that extend beyond the sides of a straightening device or action. The profiles are often designed with thickened lips to reinforce the profiles, which add yet more to the stress prediction complications.
The normal procedure of overdesign to accommodate uncertainties is complicated by the small geometry available inside tight angles between crushed flanges.
Archimedes, a Greek engineer, described screwing circa 1250 B.C.
A screwing action is described in a C-clamp device by Perrin's April 1864 U.S. Pat. No. 42,222. Perrin's device is used to press planking into place for wooden boat construction. It has a 'C' plate to permit the device to reach around the object being pressed. The pressing, or pressing together, action of Perrin's device is a common characteristic of C-clamps. The small pressure pad at the end of the thrust bolt is in common usage for C-clamps and distributes the load enough to avoid damaging the surface of the piece being acted upon. However the pressure pad does not distribute the force enough to control deformation of the piece being acted upon. The location of the piece's deformation(s) is instead controlled by the geometry of the piece and/or the geometry of whatever the piece is being forced against. For example, the piece being deflected in Perrin's illustration shows wooden ship planking that is warping under clamping stress, as would be expected, as it is bent around a frame, versus being bent as a straight piece.
Perrin's C-clamp has adjustable hooking action to accommodate variations in the geometry of the boats' ribs. The adjustable nature of the hooking action is somewhat unusual as most C-clamp hooking action is another simple contact pad that again distributes the load just enough to avoid damage to the surface being contacted as illustrated in Adt's January 1870 U.S. Pat. No. 98,656.
A more linear hooking action is described in Payne's October 1932 U.S. Pat. No. 1,882,297. However Payne's device has two problems for repairing bent toe rails. One: if it is used to grip the end of a flange, it would have the same deformation situation as described above for Perrin's U.S. Pat. No. 42,222. The piece being straightened would still be subject to warping from root to lip while the lip was being pulled away from the other flange.
Payne's device has an offset design that can impart a twisting/straightening force. Payne described a use of the device for straightening door frames. One could also visualize using this design for prying flanges apart if one of the flanges were secured to something else. However, Payne's device's second problem is that such prying action would also put prying stress on the secured flange. In the case of a boat's hull-deck connecting plate 15, such prying stress may damage that securing connection, as discussed earlier.
Hoffman's October 1922 U.S. Pat. No. 1,433,617 describes a hanger support (clamp) on a flange. It could be modified with pressure plates, versus the pressure points in Hoffman's patent description, and could be used to straighten a flange. The other parts of the profile would have to be secured to something substantial. Again, the approach would provide problems for boat toe rail repairs because of the collateral transfer of the prying stresses to the deck flange 15.
Pivoting beams or plates are commonly used to bend metal into flanges. Latta's March 1843 U.S. Pat. No. 3,022 described the use of pivoted bending pieces to force a flat plate into a U shape for steamboat water-wheel stirrups.
Smith's August 1954 U.S. Pat. No. 2,687,162 describes several useful concepts that aid the design of metal bending equipment. He utilizes a bolt driven pivoting block or pressure plate to force the piece being bent around a die that fits the corner of the piece being bent. The plate negates some of the flange warping problems, described above under the discussion about Perrin's U.S. Pat. No. 42,222. The pivoting action negates more of the warping concern. A pressure plate that only contacts the lip of the flange has the same warping problems described above under the discussion about Payne's U.S. Pat. No. 1,882,297. Whereas the pivoting plate in Smith's device description supports the entire piece to be bent, as it is bent around a pivot point. Smith describes C-shaped side walls or dual 'C' plates. The dual structure provides a convenient location for mounting a pivoting housing unit for a thrust bolt. He secures the 'C' plates with a combination of welded cross pieces and a pivoting piece.
Stott's October 1950 U.S. Pat. No. 2,525,625 for bending metal uses a rotating clamp that secures the metal between plates as the metal is bent to form a flange. Such a device also avoids lip to root warpage as the metal is bent to form a flange.
Latta's, Smith's and Stott's patents all describe how to create flanges from flat stock. In all three cases the base materials/stock is bent with compressive bending forces from outside the flanges being formed. Likewise the backing forces against the bending compression are outside the flanges being formed. However, prying flanges apart requires bracing in the opposite direction, and against prying forces versus against compressive, forces. While there are some overlapping mechanical concepts, prying flange faces apart versus pressing flange faces toward each other presents a different set of needs than the three inventions, above, were created to address. All three inventions have limitations to straighten bent flanges back apart, especially with on-board repairs of bent-in boat toe rails.
Prying flanges apart, like in a repair operation, requires the bending force be able to get inside between the flanges. The three flange forming inventions above, designed for flange manufacture, have the bending force applied from the opposite direction, outside the flanges. There is little interior space available at the intersection of two flanges that have been crushed together, versus the space available to produce flanges from flat stock. The descriptions in the three flange forming inventions, above, make it difficult to visualize how they would get pivoting thrust plates into tight flange intersections.
If one also has to get the opposing backing force into those intersections of bent together flanges, then the geometry problem of using the three flange manufacturing methods, above, become even more difficult to visualize as a method to repair bent-together flanges.
One could visualize avoiding the need for a backing force inside the flanges by using a secured flange as the opposing backing force for a bent flange repair. In the case of a boat toe rail the unmoving flange 15 can be the deck plate/flange 15 used to secure (and seal 17) the fiberglass deck 16 to the fiberglass hull 18. However the prying stresses will also apply to the securing system used to secure the unmoving flange 15 to the other structure. Serious prying stresses are to be avoided with these connections as such stresses may damage critical hull-deck connections/seals.
The prying action to repair bent flanges also has to face the problem described earlier of prevention of the opposing forces from pushing the device out of the flange intersection versus forcing the flanges back apart. The need for a hooking action opposite of the flange intersection was described earlier. The concept of multiple connection/pressure points is illustrated in Hewat's June 1953 U.S. Pat. No. 2,642,905. He grips an item with compression at two ends and then has a pivoting thrust bolt available for further metal clamping or moving. This invention does not lend itself to prying a boat's bent toe rail flange 14 back from the toe rail's deck plate 15. Deck plates 15 are often chamfered or rounded at their ends, FIGS. 16 and 8. The deck plate 15 is left with no place to attach a compression clamp at its outer end that squeezes into the plane of the plate 15. This also creates problems with using the preceding three flange manufacturing inventions, if their application was attempted for repair of crushed-in flanges.
McAleenan's July 1929 U.S. Pat. No. 1,721,964 describes a machine to adjust the shape of profiles. The invention describes putting a 'T' shaped profile beam into a dual biaxial press and retaining the 'T' shape while forming a longitudinal contour around a vertical axis. A flat die comes down and protects the top of the 'T' from deforming as a die is moved horizontally against a facing static die. The system depends on the ability to have dies and backing dies in two planes. This is a reasonable concept for manufacturing curved profiles of the same design from straight beams.
One could visualize how McAleenan's concept could be used to straighten bent flanges as the closing of the dies would force the flanges into straight positions. The first problem with using McAleenan's double die concept for bent boat toe rail repair is the definition of straight. Two straight dies coming together will not necessarily produce a straight flange 14 like in FIG. 16. A bent flange 14, like in FIG. 17, has to be overstraightened enough past its yield point to elastically recover to a straight position. The random bending amount of damaged toe rails and the variability of toe rail profiles conspire to make it exceedingly difficult to calculate the necessary angle offsets for die designs. The calculations are further complicated by how straight/curved the dies have to be from root to flange tip to ensure the final straight die is not warped in the process.
One could use shims to achieve the necessary overbending beyond the yield points. For a repair operation, a shim approach substitutes a repetitive, laborious cut and fit activity for 'some' of the angle calculations. The repetitive shim cutting, flange bending, recutting and rebending, etc. pushes costs and quality.
However, a second, bigger problem with McAleenan's dual axis, dual die system is the collection of geometry problems to apply such a system to an on-board boat toe rail that has to be straightened. A horizontally moving die to straighten a toe rail flange 14 would have to have some opposing force behind it and attached to the profile. Otherwise, the moving horizontal die would just be another lever action with its attendant problems, as described above in the discussion of Payne's U.S. Pat. No. 1,882,297. But as discussed above with Hewat's U.S. Pat. No. 2,642,905, there is rarely a reasonable place on boats' toe rails to apply such an opposing force behind the horizontally moving straightening die.
If the horizontally opposing force is moved to the opposite side of the profile, behind the profile and opposite to the deck flange 15, the horizontal die becomes a prying lever that also applies undesirable collateral prying force to the deck plate/flange 15.
But McAleenan's concept could be applied in part by compressing a bent toe rail between two beams, using just a horizontal axis of compression against a bent toe rail and no constraining vertical forces. The double die/beam procedure would apply some prying forces to deck plate 15 areas on the damaged toe rail 15 sections that would be matched by compression forces on the deck plate 15 areas of adjoining undamaged segments.
The bigger issue with the dual die single axis approach is that it has more potential for averaging the bend angle along a length of the toe rail extrusion that straightening per se. Specifically, for the dual die approach to be successful the compression beams have to be long enough that the resultant average bend angle would have the damaged sections near their original right angle. This would necessitate long, strong beams of the exact horizontal curvature of the boat and with the right amount of overstraightening built in at the right places. Such custom made die beams would require even more effort and expense that the laborious task of just replacing the toe rails.
One of the repair techniques in practice today for straightening bent toe rails is to accommodate hull curvature by using straight and shorter versions of the double die/beam concept above, sometimes with a shimming action included. The repair results require skill and often still end up 'good nuff' in the eyes of the repairman as the bend damage is 'averaged' out more than it was initially, maybe to the satisfaction of the boat owner, maybe not.
There are devices that are designed to pry items apart. Healy's April 2001 U.S. Pat. No. 6,209,427 B1 describes a device for prying open parts of an automobile suspension. The device depends on the ability to push items apart that are roughly parallel to each other. That is not the case with intersecting reasonably straight flanges that are bent towards each other like boats' bent toe rails. Application of prying force in Healy's device would tend to force the device out from between the flanges versus forcing them apart.
Clamps on the ends of Healy's prying surface might work with intersecting flanges if they were strong enough. However, the end of a boat toe rail profile deck plate 15 has no way to attach such a clamp, while the profile is attached to the boat 16.
Incorporate all references in their entirety.

Mechanical device for spreading flanges apart


A method predicts trajectories of traffic objects to avoid collisions. The method estimates the probability for at least two traffic objects to collide, and predicts a potential movement of the traffic objects presumably involved in the collision after the collision. This information about a potential movement of the traffic objects can be used to plan a suitable trajectory path of an evasion maneuver for a host-vehicle employing the method. A system detects the collision situation and applies crash situation models to predict the future dynamic properties of other traffic objects that collide or are about to collide with each other. The method and system applies specific crash models like collision models, models derived from crash simulations and tests or models of human reactions in emergency situations.

Field
The present invention relates to the field of automated, computerized driver assistance systems for air, land or sea vehicles, where for example a sensor of a host vehicle physically senses the environment of the host vehicle to acquire data describing a traffic environment, and a computing unit which computes, based on acquired data, information which assists the driver in the guidance of the host vehicle. The invention is in particular in the area of predictive emergency automated driver assistance systems (ADAS) that predict future trajectories of other traffic participants in order to enable the host vehicle driver to evade collisions with the other traffic participants or enable the ADAS system of the host vehicle to evade the collisions autonomously.
Description of the Related Art
Driver assistance systems such as "Adaptive Cruise Control" increase driver comfort and safety. They are currently especially used for carrying out longitudinal control of a host vehicle, for example with respect to a velocity specified by the driver and ranging to other traffic objects such as other land, air or sea vehicles (cars, motorbikes, bikes, trucks, etc.), pedestrians, . . . . The host vehicle is provided with ("hosts") a sensor physically sensing the host vehicle's environment and a computing unit processing an output signal of the at least one sensor. Lateral control of the host vehicle in combination with the longitudinal control is of particular importance for avoiding collisions with other traffic participants. Avoiding collisions is one of the central aims of future ADAS. When emergency situations such as a close-to-crash situation or an exceptional situation such as a crash directly in front of the own vehicle arise, drivers appreciate the assistance of ADAS components such as a collision-mitigation-and-brake system (CMBS). A CMBS system that controls autonomously decelerating the host vehicle to a stand-still or evading other traffic objects by steering commands to avoid or mitigate collisions of the host vehicle with other traffic objects.
When a close-to-crash situation arises, the earlier reactions of the host vehicle to the traffic situation are initiated, the higher is the probability of effectively avoiding a collision. If the host vehicle starts applying a brake or executing an evasion manoeuvre earlier, required actions are less extreme and the probability for avoiding the collision is altogether increased. In order to be able to react earlier, a reliable prediction of the movement of other traffic objects is of high importance. This especially applies in the case of two other traffic objects colliding and suddenly and abruptly changing both their velocity and their direction after the collision occurred.
Under this circumstance a host vehicle is a vehicle in a traffic situation which has the driver assistance system according to the invention mounted thereon and which is equipped with data acquiring means and a computing system that allows the computation of a likely future behavior of other traffic vehicles. The host vehicle is sometimes also referenced as ego-vehicle.
A sensor may be any means that can deliver information suitable for describing at least some aspects of a traffic scene at a point in time. Such sensors may be cameras, radar, lidar that are different types and may form part of or the entire data acquisition means which may comprise even communications means as discussed later with respect to an embodiment.
A target object that may be a target vehicle is an object being observed by generating information by at least one sensor and for which a future behavior shall be estimated. Other objects may be pedestrians, bicyclists or the like.
In prior art there are mentioned systems which evaluate the current state of other traffic participants in a traffic scene to detect critical situations and to trigger an appropriate action in response to the detected critical situation. Appropriate actions are for example warnings or emergency braking in order to avoid or to mitigate a crash with another traffic object.
A further category of assistance systems is configured to apply traffic situation models to acquire data describing a traffic environment (sensor data) in order to generate prediction information describing the future movement of the other traffic objects in usual traffic situations. Based on this prediction information on future movements those systems plan or initiate further actions like warning or calculating an evasion trajectory for the host vehicle.
All systems described in the related work base their recommended actions such as warnings, braking or evasion manoeuvres solely on information available at the host vehicle and conventional knowledge on vehicle agility. Only those manoeuvres of the other traffic objects are taken into consideration which appear suitable to avoid a crash.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,260,538 B2 describes a system detecting an obstacle, determining the current distance and relative velocity to the obstacle and based on a time-to-contact (TTC) until colliding with the obstacle, initiating multiple staged actions comprising warning and different levels of braking. A future movement of the obstacle is not taken into consideration.
WO 2010/000521 describes a system that detects traffic relevant objects in the vicinity of the host vehicle and predicts the future trajectory of the host vehicle as well as of at least one other traffic object. Using the perceived environment it determines the criticality of the traffic object in order to predict an evasion trajectory for the host vehicle. Based on this predicted evasion trajectory the system can initiate at least one of the following actions: showing a permanent path recommendation to the driver, warning the driver, applying a vehicle brake and steering.
None of the cited documents makes a prediction for a movement of the colliding traffic objects after a crash and therefore the state of the art lacks any perception of the dynamics of the crash for movement prediction of traffic objects involved in such collision.
The discussed state of the art requires improved collision avoidance capabilities when compared to the known methods available today.

Method and system for post-collision manoeuvre planning and vehicle equipped with such system


A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device having a dual-damascene gate including forming LDD regions by forming a gate oxide film on a semiconductor substrate, and by implanting lowly-concentrated impurities in the semiconductor substrate in accordance with a predetermined LDD pattern, and forming a nitride film on the gate oxide film, and forming a wide nitride film in accordance with the wide nitride pattern. The method also includes forming a narrow nitride film by a narrow etching process on the wide nitride film in accordance with a predetermined narrow nitride film pattern, forming a dual-damascene gate by depositing a polysilicon layer on an exposed entire surface and smoothing the deposited polysilicon layer to a top surface of the nitride film, and forming a gate electrode by removing a predetermined region of the polysilicon layer. The method further includes forming a sidewall nitride film on the gate electrode by etching the exposed nitride film in accordance with a nitride film pattern, and forming source/drain regions by performing an ion implantation process on the source/drain regions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device with a dual-damascene gate and a method of manufacturing the semiconductor device, and more particularly, to a semiconductor device having a dual-damascene gate capable of miniaturizing a gate pattern.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hereinafter, a related art method of manufacturing a semiconductor device having a gate will be schematically described with reference to FIGS. 1A to 1G.
FIGS. 1A to 1G are flowcharts showing the related art method of manufacturing a semiconductor device having a gate.
In general, in the related art method of manufacturing the semiconductor device having a gate, a pad oxide film or a gate oxide film 12 is formed on a semiconductor substrate or a silicon wafer 11, as shown in FIG. 1A. As shown in FIG. 1B, an N+ polysilicon layer 13 is deposited. As shown in FIG. 1C, a polysilicon layer gate 13′ is formed by a photolithography process. Lightly doped drain (LDD) regions 14a and 14b are formed by implanting impurities on an active region where source/drain regions are formed.
As shown in FIG. 1D, the gate oxide film 12 on the LDD regions 14a and 14b is removed. An insulating film, for example a nitride film, is deposited. A sidewall nitride film 15 is formed on a sidewall of the polysilicon gate 13′ by etching the nitride film.
As shown in FIG. 1E, highly-concentrated impurities are implanted in the source/drain active regions to form source/drain regions 16a and 16b.
As shown FIG. 1F, titanium (Ti) is deposited by a sputtering method to form a Ti film 17.
As shown in FIG. 1G, a Ti silicide 17′ is formed by reacting Ti ions of the Ti film with Si ions. The Ti silicide film 17′ is selectively removed using a wet etchant from a portion of the Ti film 17 where the Ti ions do not react with the Si ions.
However, there is problem in that, in a related art gate profile forming method using patterning and dry etching processes, it is difficult to control a critical dimension (CD) of a gate and effectively implement the gate profile as the design size is reduced with improvement in a semiconductor technology.

Semiconductor device having a dual-damascene gate and manufacturing method thereof


A system and method for pushing information from a host system to a mobile data communication device upon sensing a triggering event is provided. A redirector program operating at the host system enables a user to continuously redirect certain user-selected data items from the host system to the user's mobile data communication device upon detecting that one or more user-defined triggering events has occurred. The redirector program operates in connection with event generating applications and repackaging systems at the host system to configure and detect a particular user-defined event, and then to repackage the user-selected data items in an electronic wrapper prior to pushing the data items to the mobile device. Included in the system is a program to manage information moved by the user within the host system or the mobile data communication device so that the move is made on both the host system and the mobile data communication device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed toward the field of replicating information from a host system where the information is normally stored to a mobile data communication device. In particular, the system and method of the present invention provide an event-driven redirection computer program ("redirector program") operating at the host system, which, upon sensing a particular user-defined event has occurred, redirects user-selected data items from the host system to the user's mobile data communication device. The mobile data communication device is preferably coupled to the host system via a wireless network and one or more landline networks. Due to the bandwidth limitations of wireless networks, only a portion of a user-selected data item is generally redirected to the user's mobile device, with the user given the option of then retrieving the entire data item (or some other portion of the data item) from the host system.
Instead of warehousing (or storing) the user's data items at the host system and then "synchronizing" the mobile data communication device to data items stored at the host system when the mobile device requests that such items of information be communicated to it, the present invention employs a "push" paradigm that continuously packages and retransmits the user-selected items of information to the mobile data communication device in response to a triggering event detected at the host system. Wireless mobile data communications devices, especially those that can return a confirmation signal to the host that the pushed data has been received are especially well suited for this type of push paradigm.
2. Description of the Related Art
Present systems and methods for replicating information from a host system to a user's mobile data communication device are typically "synchronization" systems in which the user's data items are warehoused (or stored) at the host system for an indefinite period of time and then transmitted in bulk only in response to a user request. In these types of systems and methods, when replication of the warehoused data items to the mobile device is desired, the user typically places the mobile device in an interface cradle that is electrically connected to the host system via some form of local, dedicated communication, such as a serial cable or an infrared or other type of wireless link. Software executing on the mobile data communication device then transmits commands via the local communications link to the host system to cause the host to begin transmitting the user's data items for storage in a memory bank of the mobile device. In these synchronization schemes, the mobile unit "pulls" the warehoused information from the host system in a batch each time the user desires to replicate information between the two devices. Therefore, the two systems (host and mobile) only maintain the same data items after a user-initiated command sequence that causes the mobile device to download the data items from the host system.
A general problem with these known synchronization systems is that the only time that the user data items are replicated between the host system and the mobile data communication device is when the user commands the mobile device to download or pull the user data from the host system. Five minutes later a new message could be sent to the user, but the user would not receive that message until the next time the user fetches the user data items. Thus, a user may fail to respond to an emergency update or message because the user only periodically synchronizes the system, such as once per day.
Other problems with these systems include: (1) the amount of data to be reconciled between the host and the mobile device can become large if the user does not "synchronize" on a daily or hourly basis, leading to bandwidth difficulties, particularly when the mobile device is communicating via a wireless packet-switched network; and (2) reconciling large amounts of data, as can accrue in these batch-mode synchronization systems, can require a great deal of communication between the host and the mobile device, thus leading to a more complex, costly and energy-inefficient system. A more automated, continuous, efficient and reliable system of ensuring that user data items are replicated at the user's mobile device is therefore needed.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for pushing information from a host system to a mobile data communication device


A tongue cleaner apparatus having a elongate body with a gripping area at one end thereof and a tablet receiving area adjacent an opposite end thereof, a cleaning edge formed at the opposite end of the elongate body, and a tablet affixed within the tablet receiving area of the elongate body. The tablet has a plurality of protrusions or a plurality of indentations on a surface of the tablet. The protrusions or indentations extend from the surface of the tablet that contacts the tongue. The tablet increases the abrasiveness and surface area of contact on the tongue.

Tongue cleaning is carried out in many areas of the world for the cleaning of mouth and dental areas. In particular, the cleaning of tongues is carried out so as to remove volatile sulfur compounds. This accumulation of bacteria is the most common cause of bad breath, affecting up to 85% of halitosis sufferers. Tongue cleaning is recommended by the American Dental Association and dental professionals nationwide for the treatment of chronic halitosis.
FIGS. 1 and 2 show a prior art tongue cleaner device known as the SAKOOL (™) tongue cleaner device. This tongue cleaner device 10 is illustrated, with particularity, in FIG. 1. The tongue cleaner device 10 includes a flexible strip 12 which is suitable for conforming to the surface of the tongue for quick and easy cleaning. The strip 12 has a narrow width for avoiding the gag reflex. The strip 12 can be spearmint or cinnamon scented. FIG. 2 shows the tongue cleaner device 10 as utilized for the cleaning of the tongue 14 of person 16. As can be seen, the ends 18 and 20 are gripped by the fingers 22 of person 16. The ends 18 and 20 are bent toward each other so as to form an internal region 24. The tongue 14 is then stuck out of the mouth 26 of person 16 so as to enter the interior area 24 of the device 10. The bottom edge of the strip 12 will then pass over the upper surface of the tongue 14 so as to effectively scrape the tongue of person 16. Following the use, the tongue cleaner device 10 can be washed off and reused again. This prior art tongue cleaner is a purely physical process involving direct contact between the edge of the strip and the surface of the tongue.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,735,864, issued on Apr. 7, 1998 to C. G. Heisinger, Jr., teaches a disposable oral-hygiene instrument for loosening, collecting, and removing debris from the surface of the tongue. The device has a handle at one end with a textured surface at the other end for scrubbing the dorsal surface of the tongue. Along the distal perimeter edge of the scrubbing surface extends a cleaner for removing debris from the back to the front of the tongue. An absorbent material for collecting and removing debris is affixed to the same end of the instrument as the scrubbing surface. Although this device can be effective for the scrubbing of tongues, it requires extra manufacturing operations and is relatively expensive. A flavoring is applied to the scrubbing surface so as to minimize the gag reflects. However, the adding of flavoring to the roughened scrubbing surface will tend to reduce the impact and effect of the scrubbing surface. The scrubbing surface has a plurality of molded bumps formed thereon. In conventional injection molding procedures, these bumps will have a considerable size in order to have a cavity formed of metal in the injection molding machine. This device also lacks suitable openings for facilitating saliva circulation over and around the flavored surface and the scrubbing surface.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a tongue cleaning apparatus which employs both physical and chemical processes for the cleaning of the tongue.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a tongue cleaning apparatus which deposits an aesthetic-type mint flavoring and antiseptic solution onto the tongue of the user.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a tongue cleaner apparatus which uses a flavored tablet for the purpose of providing a scrubbing action in both a micro- and macro-textured manner.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a tongue cleaner apparatus with increased surface area contact between the tablet and the tongue.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a tongue cleaner apparatus with improved abrasive contact between the tablet and the tongue.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a tongue cleaner apparatus which is easy to manufacture, easy to use, and relatively inexpensive.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a reading of the attached specification and appended claims.

Tongue cleaner apparatus with an abrasive tablet


A video processing system is provided. A video signal processor receives a video signal, processes the video signal to obtain video images and program information and stores the program information in a program information buffer. A microprocessor issues an on screen display (OSD) paint command and accesses the program information buffer to obtain the program information. An OSD control module receives the OSD paint command and acquires the program information from the microprocessor, and converts the program information and initial attributes to form an OSD image in response to the OSD paint command.

Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for generating an on screen display (OSD) image.
Description of the Related Art
A digital television (DTV) displays not only a digital video signal on a screen, but also program information related to the digital video signal. Generally, the on screen display (OSD) data displayed on screen for showing program information to users may include, but not limited to, program guides, channel lists, and OSD banners. FIG. 1 shows an exemplary OSD image (i.e. an OSD banner) displayed on a screen. The OSD banner includes a frame and the program information. The frame defines an area of the screen for displaying the OSD banner. The frame can be described by its relevant attributes, e.g. position on the screen, frame width, frame height, and frame color etc. In the exemplary image shown in FIG. 1, the OSD banner includes program information revealed by three textual strings, including channel name, period, and close caption information. The channel name, e.g. NBC, represents the currently displayed channel. The period, e.g. 19:00-21:00, represents the start time and the end time of the currently displayed program. The close caption information, e.g. CC1, is a predefined string representing that a type of close caption has been displayed on the screen. The string "CC1" may be replaced by a representation signal, e.g. "eng" reprinting English, which could be retrieved from the broadcast digital video signal.
In the following paragraphs, a novel method for generating an on screen display (OSD) image is provided.

Video processing method and video processing system


An object is to provide a semiconductor device in which even in the case where a plurality of antennas are provided, there is no limitation on the layout of the antennas so that disconnection between an integrated circuit portion and the antenna and reduction in a communication distance from a communication device can be prevented. An integrated circuit portion which includes a thin film transistor is provided on a first surface of an insulating base. A first antenna is provided over the integrated circuit portion. A second antenna is provided over a second surface of the base. The first antenna is connected to the integrated circuit potion. The second antenna is connected to the integrated circuit portion through a through hole formed in the base. The first antenna and the second antenna overlap with the integrated circuit portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, and particularly relates to a semiconductor device which performs wireless communication by using electromagnetic waves.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, an individual identification technology using electromagnetic waves for wireless communication has attracted attention. In particular, as a semiconductor device which communicates data by wireless communication, an individual identification technology using a semiconductor device (also referred to as an RFID tag, an IC (integrated circuit) tag, an IC chip, an RF tag, a wireless tag, or an electronic tag) utilizing RFID (radio frequency identification) has attracted attention. The individual identification technology using such a semiconductor device utilizing RFID has been useful for production, management, or the like of an individual object, and application to personal authentication has been promoted. Further, recently, a tag which reads and writes data by using a plurality of frequencies has been proposed (for example, Patent Document 1: Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2005-252853).
Such a semiconductor device includes an antenna and an integrated circuit portion which has a signal processing circuit provided with a memory circuit or the like. In general, a plurality of chips each including an integrated circuit portion which is included in a semiconductor device are manufactured from one silicon substrate, and the chips are finely formed so that cost reduction is achieved. For example, Patent Document 2: Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2004-78991 discloses that it is advantageous to manufacture a plurality of chips each under 0.5 mm on a side over a silicon wafer, economically and in terms of the yield.

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd


A self-propelled fishing lure which includes a head to which a watertight housing is secured. A propulsion mechanism is located within the housing and is driven by a battery source. Secured over the housing is a resilient body, a portion of which defines a passageway that permits the introduction of water to and the expulsion of water from the propulsion mechanism. At least a portion of the body is provided in a first orientation relative to the head and that portion is movable from the first orientation into a second orientation upon actuation of the propulsion mechanism and the expulsion of water out through the passageway. As a result of the expulsion of water and the movement of the body portion into the second orientation, the lure is propelled through the water under its own power.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to fishing lures. More specifically, the invention relates to an artificial lure and still more specifically to one which is self-propelled through water in a fish attracting manner.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many fishermen, both men and women, prefer the challenge of catching fish on artificial lures to that of using live or other types of bait. The reason for this preference varies from fisherman to fisherman, but perhaps the two most common reasons given are that, to some, it is more of a challenge to catch fish by artificial means and it simplifies the effort and time required for "getting on the water". No longer is it necessary for the fisherman capture, purchase, prepare or otherwise obtain bait, transport the bait (usually in its own separate container), and handle the bait (which can be messy).
Since they are widely used under a variety of fishing conditions, artificial fishing lures (hereinafter just "lures") have evolved into a number of different styles. These include plugs, jigs, spinners, spoons, flies and others. One common trait between these lures is that they all depend upon the fisherman's skill to catch fish. This skill manifests itself in how the fisherman manipulates the presentation and retrieval of the lure to attract and catch fish. The action of the lure in the water during retrieval is imparted by a combination of factors, including, not only the forces of the water on the lure, but also the lure's shape, buoyancy, weight and the fisherman's ability to control the presentation of the lure, both initially and during retrieval. In this regard, the fisherman's skill and experience is of the upmost importance.
While artificial lures all depend in a large part on the skill of the fishermen for their effectiveness, there is an additional lure subset which is less dependent on that skill level. These lures aid the fishermen by at least partially providing for their own movement and action. The movement can be of two types. The first is self-propulsion of the lure through the water. The other merely causes the lure to move in place while not particularly being propelled. An example of the latter type includes worm-type lures where a mechanism causes the worm body to "wriggle". The former type has been seen to include numerous types of varieties on the motor driven propeller.
Natural bait, which includes healthy, injured and dying prey, is quite animated in its movements and this movement is, more often than not, in the form of a periodic quick body movement. Previous self-propelled lures, however, have failed to mimic this natural movement of gamefish prey. For example, in the propeller type of self-propelled lures, the propeller causes the lure body to be pulled or pushed through the water without animation. To the contrary, natural prey moves as a result of the movement of the prey's body. It is this propelling movement of the prey's body which has not been mimicked.
In view of the foregoing limitations of the prior art devices, as well as other disadvantages not specifically mentioned above, it should be apparent that there still exists a need for an improved self-propelled artificial fishing lure.
It is therefore a primary object of this invention to fulfill that need by providing a self-propelled artificial fishing lure which more closely mimics the natural movement of prey through water.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a self-propelled artificial fishing lure in which the body of the lure is manipulated to assist in propelling the lure through water.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a self-propelled artificial fishing lure having a resilient body which moves as a result of water being expelled out through an opening in the body.
A further object of this invention is to provide a self-propelled artificial fishing lure which does not rely upon external propellers to move it through the water.
Another object of this invention is to provide a self-propelled artificial fishing lure whose rate of movement is dependent upon water temperature.


Systems and methods for designing storage area network fabric. Preferably included are an arrangement for collecting user requirements on data flows to be supported by the fabric, an arrangement for grouping the data flows into flow groups according to at least one physical location parameter, an arrangement for designing components of fabric for the flow groups, the components being associated with at least one geographical region, and an arrangement for obtaining fabric by joining the fabric components via interconnection fabric, whereby flow groups over a plurality of geographical regions are supported.

A basic function of a SAN is to support the flow of data between hosts and storage devices. However, apart from flow constraints, a SAN design also needs to take into account user specified RAS (reliability, availability, and serviceability) and physical constraints such as location and size of devices and their heat dissipation. Furthermore, the fiber channel switches, host bus adapters (HBAs), and storage devices used in a SAN often have interoperability constraints that are documented by each vendor. As a result, there may be hundreds or even thousands of implicit constraints in a particular SAN design problem. For a SAN to operate smoothly, all these constraints should be taken into account by the design process.
The most popular approach to design SANs is "by hand" by experts in the field. A field practitioner would follow conservative best practices to design a SAN. An example of such conservative best practices is to use equipment built by a single vendor so that most interoperability constraints can be avoided. However, the design "by hand" often results in excessive caution leading to overprovisioning and lock-in with a particular manufacturer. On the other hand, the manual SAN design process can be further assisted by software SAN design tools (such as EMC SAN Architect), which provide simple design to human operators. For example, such tools can provide guidance on device interoperability by filtering out devices that are incompatible with the devices selected so far. However, such a tool still relies on a human operator's expert knowledge in selecting designs and coming up with the SAN configuration.
Recently, a few approaches to automate SAN design have been proposed that rely upon conventional optimization techniques and heuristics. However, conventional automated approaches ignore a part of RAS requirements since such constraints are difficult to incorporate into conventional optimization algorithms even for medium scale SAN design. It is also observed that conventional automated SAN fabric design does not have the capability of generating SAN fabric spanning across multiple geographical regions. Furthermore, none of the automated SAN fabric generation tools takes physical constraints into account when designing SAN fabric. Considering physical constraints in SAN design process may be important because such physical constraints may require grouping of certain devices separate from other devices (e.g. certain hosts must be placed in a room with security access).
Accordingly, a need has been recognized in connection with providing a SAN design that would respect all user requirements including RAS/physical constraints and design SAN without significant overprovisioning and by following best practices in the field. A need has also been recognized in connection with providing a SAN fabric design methodology that decomposes total flow requirements into multiple flow groups (e.g. based on geographic location) and generates SAN fabric for each flow group while connecting these SAN fabrics by interconnection technologies to generate a total SAN fabric that can accommodate the entire flow requirement.

Systems and methods for storage area network design

International Business Machines Corporation


A head cleaning mechanism for a read/write device includes an arm with serially connected arm members that supports a cleaning component. The arm members fold as the arm is wound about a shaft formed on a guide plate which guides a stud attached to the arm as it is wound in a dead space of a corner of the device.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a mechanism for a read/write device (e.g.,. a magnetic tape device, an optical disk device, a web device, etc.). Exemplarily, the present invention relates in particular to a cleaning mechanism for cleaning a read/write head of a device.
2. Related Art
The cleaning mechanism for magnetic heads of magnetic tape devices of the Related art are described using FIGS. 14-16C. FIG. 14 is an overall perspective view of the magnetic tape device of the related art. FIGS. 15A-15B show the operation of an arm section 102 of FIG. 14. FIGS. 16A-16C are views showing the arm section 102 of FIG. 14, and specifically FIG. 16A is an upper view of the arm section 102, FIG. 16B is a frontal view of the arm section 102, and FIG. 16C is a perspective view of the arm section 102.
Insertion slot 101 is an opening on the side of the magnetic tape device, as shown in FIG. 14, for inserting a tape cartridge holding magnetic tape in a spiral state. Arm section 102 of a cleaning mechanism for cleaning the magnetic head is mounted on one side of the magnetic tape device.
One end of arm section 102 of the cleaning mechanism pivots freely to allow a swinging motion. The other end of arm section 102 is mounted on brush 103. The other end of the arm section 102 extends towards magnetic head 104.
One side of the magnetic tape device contains bearing 105 capable of horizontal movement. During loading of the tape cartridge into the device from the insertion slot 101, bearing 105 moves horizontally in the loading direction. When extracting the tape cartridge from the device, bearing 105 moves horizontally towards the extraction direction. (See FIGS. 15A and 15B).
Cam surfaces 102a and 102b are installed on arm section 102 of the cleaning mechanism and make (See FIGS. 16A-16C) sliding contact with bearing 105 that moves in an action linked with loading of the tape cartridge into the device.
When there is no tape cartridge loaded in the magnetic tape device as shown in FIG. 15A, bearing 105 makes contact with cam surface 102b on arm section 102, and arm section 102 is positioned at a location where brush 103 attached to arm section 102 makes direct contact with the uppermost edge of the read/write surface of magnetic head 104.
When there is a tape cartridge loaded in the magnetic tape device as shown in FIG. 15B, bearing 105 makes contact with cam surface 102a on arm section 102, and arm section 102 centered on that moving axis is pressed downwards towards the lower part of the device, and brush 103 stops at a position separated from the magnetic tape guide path in front of magnetic head 104.
In other words, when the tape cartridge is placed within the device (hereafter called "loading"), brush 103 attached to arm section 102, moves from the uppermost edge of the read/write surface of magnetic head 104 to below the mounting surface of magnetic head 104, and rubs against the read/write surface of magnetic head 104. When the tape cartridge is extracted from the device, brush 103 separated from the magnetic tape guide path in front of magnetic head 104, returns to the uppermost edge of the read/write surface of magnetic head 104 while rubbing against the read/write surface of magnetic head 104. This operation cleans magnetic head 104.
In the above method of the related art, a brush is moved upwardly and downwardly along the magnetic head to clean the magnetic head. On the other hand, another method for cleaning magnetic heads utilized in the magnetic tape device as disclosed in JP-A No. 328635/1999, makes the brush contact the magnetic head, and then utilizes a read-track-position alignment means to move the magnetic head relative to the brush.

Mechanism for read/write device, read/write device, and method of cleaning read/write head


A method and system for indicating a breathing pattern is disclosed. The system comprises a plurality of smart wearable devices, a plurality of mobile devices, an application server and a database. The plurality of smart wearable devices is either connected to the mobile devices or directly connected to the application server. The database is connected to the application server to store the data transmitted by the smart wearable device or the mobile device. The plurality of smart wearable devices is capable of monitoring the health index and identifying the variation in health conditions of the user, in real-time and activating a suitable breathing pattern to normalize such medical condition.

A hectic and a chaotic life schedule have gifted human beings many undesirable and nonessential medical and psychological conditions. As a result, human beings face stress, anger, frustration, anxiety and a disturbed emotional environment in a continuous manner. Few people have relied on allopathy medicines to address the disturbed emotional environment. However, the allopathy medicines are not suitable for everyone and typically have some side effects.
Other people have started performing breathing exercises such as Yoga to address such disturbed emotional environment. Generally, these people practice the breathing exercise at a specific interval during a day. Whenever a person experiences the disturbed emotional environment such as anger, the person is required to perform a set of actions which includes breathing exercises to control his anger. Similarly, when the person is going through another medical condition such as the stress, the person can perform another set of actions and related breathing exercises to overcome the stress. At many instances, the person must perform specific breathing exercises regularly so that preventive actions are taken to avoid serious medical conditions such as drastic change or abnormalities in heart rates, blood flow etc.
In view of foregoing discussion, there exists a need for a method and a system for guiding the person to perform the breathing exercise in a real time to encounter the disturbed emotional environment and normalize such emotional environment.

Method and system for indicating a breathing pattern


A wearable electronic data collection and storage device is used for recording field medical data. The device is small, portable and easily worn, similar to a watch or medallion and is capable of interfacing with a large, external accessing system. The device includes an application specific integrated circuit card which is received in and is removable from a wearable/portable data entry, storage and retrieval device. The card includes a programmable memory for storing data. These two elements, when combined, form the MEDTAG unit. This unit also includes a memory for storing software, and a microprocessor for reading and entering data, and executing the software. The wearable/portable data entry storage and retrieval device includes an electrical connection to the removable card, a display for showing menus and data to a user, and two manual input buttons allowing the user to select from the menus and enter data into the programmable memory of the card.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic data storage device which is small, portable, easily worn, and capable of interfacing with an external accessing system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Currently, in order to obtain battlefield medical data, a field medical card (DD Form 1380) is used. The field medical card is carried in a booklet by corpsmen and medics along with some type of writing implement. Once treatment has been performed, the field medical card is used to record patient identification information and pertinent medical data. Once completed, the form must be attached to the patient.
A number of obvious problems exist with this current method. For example, the form takes too long to complete, it is difficult to perform documentation at night, handwriting is often illegible, and writing instruments are highly susceptible to being lost or broken. In addition, the form is often subjected to intense environmental abuse which can obliterate that documentation which has been completed. As a result, combat casualty information recorded with the current system is generally inaccurate and incomplete.
Considering some of the patented art in this field, U.S. Pat. No. 5,012,229 to LENNON et al. discloses a wearable personal/medical information device which includes a data display. Items of personal and/or medical information are stored in the device. Switches are used to display different storage data.
The device includes a detachably mounted read-only memory (ROM) unit for storing personal or medical information which is not subject to change as well as preset display data. The information stored on the ROMs of this unit may only be altered at a remote facility. Items of information which a wearer may want to change periodically are loaded in an internal RAM which may be laboriously altered using a push button to select characters one at a time, or requires a jack and a hand-held keyboard.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,025,374 to ROIZEN et al. discloses an interactive medical test selector for use by a patient having a screen for displaying questions to the patient, a limited number of keys by which the patient can enter answers, and a memory device for storing the patient's answers. A portion of the device is easily removable for updating the questions or altering the language of the questions. This removable portion consists of a ROM providing the operating program in the text for the device, but does not store data. The ROM does not include any individualized information about the patient.
More generally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,591,974 to DORNBUSH et al. discloses a system for recording data about a patient under treatment using a hand-held computer and transferring that data to a host computer. The hand-held computer is merely used to update information on the host computer and does not itself contain a complete patient history. Further, the few details provided about the hand-held computer indicate that it has no easily removable parts and only uses conventional data entry.

Portable, wearable read/write data device

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


A low profile, vehicle mounted, in-motion tracking, satellite antenna includes a pair of antenna assemblies mounted in parallel on a rotatable platform. Each antenna assembly includes two subreflectors with a plastic matching element. The outputs of the two antenna assemblies are coupled with a single phase shifter. The combined outputs are retransmitted to a receiver inside the vehicle. The satellite antenna also includes a receiver for receiving channel selection data and/or for providing two-way communication with equipment inside the vehicle. The antennae, transmitter and receiver are self-powered by a storage device which is charged by a wind driven generator. A retractable radome lowers to a lower profile when the antenna is not in use.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to vehicle mounted satellite antennae. More particularly, the invention relates to a vehicle mounted satellite antenna which is easy to install, has a low profile, and which is operable while the vehicle is in motion.
2. State of the Art
It has long been known to mount a satellite antenna (dish) atop a vehicle for purposes of communicating with a geostationary or other type of satellite. The initial applications for mounting a satellite dish on a vehicle were military communication and remote television news broadcasting. Consequently, the first methods of mounting a satellite dish included a telescoping mast which was hingedly coupled to the vehicle. When the vehicle was in motion, the mast would be retracted and folded with the satellite dish lying end up on the roof or a side wall of the vehicle. The dish would be deployed only when the vehicle was stationary. Such a deployable vehicle mounted satellite dish is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,961,092 to Coffield. Until recently, no vehicle mounted satellite antennae were operable while the vehicle was in motion. The relatively large size of a conventional satellite dish antenna presents significant wind resistance if deployed on a vehicle in motion. This wind resistance adversely affects the operation of the vehicle and subjects the satellite dish to potential wind damage. Moreover, satellite dishes must be accurately aimed at a satellite within a relatively narrow aperture or "look window". In order to operate a satellite dish mounted on a vehicle in motion, it would be necessary to constantly re-aim the dish in order to maintain communication with the satellite.
Recently, satellite antennae have been developed which may be deployed on a vehicle and operated while the vehicle is in motion. Such antennae are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,398,035 to Densmore et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,982,333 to Stillinger, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,049,306 to Amarillas. These antenna systems generally include a satellite antenna of reduced size and a solenoid system for aiming the antenna. The solenoid system is coupled to a feedback system and/or vehicle motion detectors in order to automatically re-aim the antenna as the vehicle is in motion. In order to reduce aerodynamic drag and protect the antenna from wind damage, an aerodynamic radome is often used to cover the antenna.
Vehicle mounted satellite antennae which are operable while the vehicle is in motion, can provide one-way or two-way satellite communications. Some applications for such antennae include satellite television reception, telephony in remote locations where cellular telephone service is unavailable, and broadband data communications. The application of television reception may be advantageously applied in common carrier transportation such as long distance buses, in recreational vehicles including boats, and in the rear seats of family mini-vans. The application of remote telephony may be applied in the same situations as well as in various other governmental and commercial settings. The application of broadband data communication may also be applied in many personal, commercial, and governmental settings.
Broadband satellite communication, such as television reception or broadband data communication, requires a high gain antenna with high cross-polarization isolation and low signal sidelobes. Satellite antenna gain is proportional to the aperture area of the reflector. Stationary satellite antennae typically utilize a circular parabolic reflector. Satellite antennae designed for use on a moving vehicle have a low profile. In order to maintain gain, these low profile antenna are short but wide so that the overall aperture area is kept high. However, this design strategy only works to a point. When the width to height ratio exceeds a certain value such as 2, the efficiency of the antenna is adversely affected. The presently available vehicle mountable satellite antenna for commercial and personal use are no shorter than approximately fifteen inches in height.
In addition to the issue of providing low profile tracking antennae, the process of installing a satellite antenna on a vehicle is not trivial. Holes must be drilled through the roof (or body panel) of the vehicle; coaxial cable must be routed from the antenna to a receiver or transceiver; and power cables must be routed to the antenna's tracking system. The installation process is therefore time consuming and costly.

Easy set-up, vehicle mounted, in-motion tracking, satellite antenna


Power operated caulking gun having a housing, a cradle extending from the housing for receiving a cartridge of fluent material, a push rod for engagement with a cartridge in the cradle for dispensing the fluent material from the cartridge, a drive shaft extending from the housing and adapted to be received in the chuck of a drive tool, drive means interconnecting the drive shaft and the push rod, and a stabilizer extending from the housing for engagement with an abutment on the barrel of the drive tool to prevent rotation of the caulking gun relative to the drive tool. In some embodiments, the cradle is adapted to hold a cartridge having two tubes of fluent material positioned side-by-side, and the caulking gun includes a second push rod for dispensing material from the second tube in the cartridge.

This invention pertains generally to the application of fluent materials such as sealants and adhesives and, more particularly, to a power operated caulking gun for applying caulk and other fluent materials packaged in tubular cartridges.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,341,958 and the references cited therein disclose a number of power operated caulking guns for dispensing fluent materials such as sealants and adhesives from tubular cartridges. Such materials are widely used in construction, and the power operated caulkers allow them to be applied much faster and more easily than conventional, manually operated caulking guns.
The power operated caulking guns heretofore provided have had certain limitations and disadvantages such as a relatively complex and expensive drive mechanism which is an integral part of the gun. With pneumatically operated caulking guns, the need for an internal drive motor is eliminated, but compressors are required.
Another problem with the power caulkers heretofore provided is that they can dispense a fluent material from only one tube at a time. Consequently, they are not suitable for use with materials such as epoxies which require the use of a second component such as a hardener.
It is in general an object of the invention to provide a new and improved caulking gun.
Another object of the invention is to provide a caulking gun of the above character which can be used with an existing driving tool such as a cordless electric drill.
Another object of the invention is to provide a caulking gun of the above character which is readily attached to and detached from the driving tool.
Another object of the invention is to provide a caulking gun of the above character which can is suitable for use with materials such as epoxies which have different components in separate tubes.
These and other objects are achieved in accordance with the invention by providing a power operated caulking gun having a housing, a cradle extending from the housing for receiving a cartridge of fluent material, a push rod for engagement with a cartridge in the cradle for dispensing the fluent material from the cartridge, a drive shaft extending from the housing and adapted to be received in the chuck of a drive tool, drive means interconnecting the drive shaft and the push rod, and a stabilizer extending from the housing for engagement with an abutment on the barrel of the drive tool to prevent rotation of the caulking gun relative to the drive tool. In some embodiments, the cradle is adapted to hold a cartridge having two tubes of fluent material positioned side-by-side, and the caulking gun includes a second push rod for dispensing material from the second tube in the cartridge.