As a ½ wave plate constituted by laminating two wave plates, a wave plate where temperature dependence of a phase difference is reduced is provided. In a wave plate constituted by laminating a first wave plate having a phase difference τ1 (deg.) and an optical axis azimuth θ1 (deg.), and a second wave plate having a phase difference τ2 (deg.) and an optical axis azimuth θ2 (deg.), the phase difference τ1 (deg.) of the first wave plate and the phase difference τ2 (deg.) of the second wave plate are set to 360n+180 (n=0, 1, 2 . . . ), and an angle formed by polarization planes of incident light and emitted light is θ (deg.). In this case, the first wave plate and the second wave plate are laminated so as to satisfy θ1=(90+θ/2)/2 and θ2=θ1+90+θ/2.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wave plate to be used in an optical pickup unit, and particularly relates to the wave plate which compensates temperature dependence of a phase difference.
2. Background Art
In recent years, there is a need to process a vast amount of various information including characters, images, and the like at a higher speed along with the penetration of the multimedia. For this reason, there is an increasing demand for compact optical disks such as a CD and a DVD that can be read and written at a high speed with storage capacity remarkably larger than that of a conventional magnetic recording media. Optical pickup units are used to read digital signals of sounds, images, and the like written into the optical disks. The units emit laser beams onto optical disks and pick up their reflected light so as to read digital signals from recording media created as pits on surfaces of the optical disks. Wave plates which are used as optical parts of the optical pickup units change a polarizing state of light. Such wave plates include ¼ wave plates which shift a phase difference by 90 degrees so as to convert linear polarized light into circular polarized light or convert circular polarized light into linear polarized light, ½ wave plates which shift a phase difference by 180 degrees so as to rotate a polarization plane of linear polarized light, and the like. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a constitution of the ½ wave plate. Linear polarized light enters a ½ wave plate 11, and when an angle formed by the incident polarization plane and an optical axis of a board is assumed to be θ, emitted light rotates by 20 with respect to the incident polarization plane so as to become linear polarized light.
The ½ wave plates made of a crystalline material such as crystal include a ½ wave plate which is constituted by laminating two wave plates as well as the ½ wave plate constituted by a single plate. In such a ½ wave plate, two wave plates are laminated so that a phase difference is 180 degrees, and although the cost becomes higher than that of single-plate constitution, ½ wave plate having excellent incident angle dependence can be realized. FIGS. 6(a) and 6(b) are diagrams showing the constitution of the ½ wave plate where two wave plates are laminated. A wave plate A has 1080 degrees of a phase difference and 15 degrees of an optical axis azimuth, a wave plate B has 900 degrees of a phase difference and 105 degrees of an optical axis azimuth. The wave plates A and B are laminated so that an angle formed by the optical axes of the wave plates A and B becomes a right angle, thereby rotating an emitted light polarization plane by 30 degrees.
The temperature dependence of the wave plate is examined. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the temperature dependence of the phase difference of the wave plate. As shown in FIG. 7, the phase difference of the wave plate is 180 degrees under the condition of the room temperature 25° C., but when the temperature shifts from the room temperature, the phase difference shifts from 180 degrees. When the temperature dependence of the phase difference of the wave plate is high, the phase difference of the emitted light changes due to the temperature, and this phenomenon is not preferable for the optical pickup unit. The present invention solves the above problem, and its object is to provide a wave plate which is constituted by laminating two wave plates and where temperature dependence of a phase difference is small, and an optical pickup unit using the same.

Wave plate and optical pickup unit using the same


A vacuum evaporator according to the present invention comprises a vacuum chamber, a rod-like evaporation source provided to be liftable into and out of the vacuum chamber, and a work support means for supporting, relative to the evaporation source lowered into the vacuum chamber, works W arranged to surround the evaporation source. The vacuum chamber is formed of a fixed chamber part and a movable chamber part provided connectably to and disconnectably from the fixed chamber part and mounted with the work support means. Either one movable chamber part is horizontally moved and connected to the fixed chamber part in the state where the evaporation source is raised and retreated out of the vacuum chamber to perform vacuum evaporation treatment. According to such a structure, the maintenance of the vacuum evaporator can be performed without raising or lowering the lower plate or taking out the work support means from the vacuum chamber.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vacuum evaporator for coating the surface of a work with a film by depositing a material evaporated from an evaporation source in vacuum atmosphere on the work surface.
2. Description of the Related Art
Arc ion plating (AIP) method is a form of vacuum evaporation method, in which an evaporation source is provided in a vacuum chamber as a cathode to generate vacuum arc discharge with an anode, and a cathode material is evaporated from the evaporation source and accumulated on the surface of a work housed in the vacuum chamber to coat the surface of the work with a film.
Conventional vacuum evaporators for executing the AIP method include, for example, a device disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3195492. This device comprises a vacuum chamber, a rod-like evaporation source provided in the vacuum chamber, and work support means for supporting works arranged so as to surround the rod-like evaporation source. The vacuum chamber comprises a lower lid mounted on the work support means and a chamber body having the rod-like evaporation source fixed thereto, the lower lid being liftable relative to the body.
When recovering treated works in this device, the lower lid is lowered from the chamber body in a position not interfering therewith, and the work support means is horizontally moved from the lower lid to a recovery area. When supplying untreated works into the vacuum chamber, the untreated works are mounted on the work support means after recovery, the work support means is moved to above the lower lid, and the lower lid is raised and airtightly connected to the chamber body.
In this patent publication is also described, as another device form, a vacuum evaporator comprising a vacuum chamber, a rod-like evaporation source provided liftably into and out of the vacuum chamber, and work support means for supporting works arranged so as to surround the rod-like evaporation source, in which the vacuum chamber has an opening part airtightly openable by an opening and closing door. In this evaporator, the work support means loaded with the works can be moved in and out of the vacuum chamber through the opening part after the evaporation source is raised and retreated out of the vacuum chamber.
When recovering treated works in this device, the opening and closing door is opened after the evaporation source is raised and retreated out of the vacuum chamber, and the work support means is horizontally moved out of the vacuum chamber from the opening part. When supplying untreated works into the vacuum chamber, the untreated works are mounted on the work support means after recovery, and moved and housed in the vacuum chamber, and the opening and closing door is closed.
In each type of vacuum evaporator described above, the work support means generally has a rotary table rotating with works on board in order to uniformly coat the circumferential surface of the works, and the rotary table is driven by a drive mechanism provided on the lower lid side of the vacuum chamber.
The lower lid-raising/lowering type vacuum evaporator requires a large-scale lifting device in order to raise and lower the lower lid mounted on the work support means, and also a large lifting space. Further, the device structure becomes complicated because it is necessary to make the work support means movable from the lower lid and to interlock and connect the driving mechanism with the rotary table every recovery and supply of works.
On the other hand, in the evaporation source-raising/lowering type vacuum evaporator, the device structure also becomes complicated because it is necessary to move the work support means in and out of the vacuum chamber, although the large-scale lifting device or lifting space as in the above vacuum evaporator is not required.
Each type of vacuum evaporator has the problem of poor workability because of a limited working space in the cleaning of the inner surface of the vacuum chamber or the maintenance of various members such as anode provided in the vacuum chamber.


A thermal processing apparatus according to the present invention comprises a processing container having an opening part at a lower end thereof. The processing container can contain an object to be processed therein. The opening part can be opened and closed by a lid. A flange is provided at a periphery of the opening part. A gas-introducing part for introducing a gas into the processing container is provided in the flange. The object to be processed contained in the processing container is heated by a heating mechanism.

In the manufacturing of a semiconductor device, various kinds of apparatuses are used to conduct a process such as an oxidation, a diffusion, CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) and so on, to an object to be processed, for example, a semiconductor wafer. As one of them, a longitudinal type of thermal processing apparatus that is capable of conducting a thermal process to a plurality of objects to be processed at one time is known.
This longitudinal type of thermal processing apparatus is generally provided with a processing container made of quartz having an opening part at a lower end thereof. A holder for holding a plurality of objects to be processed is contained in the processing container. The opening part is dosed hermetically by a lid, and the plurality of objects to be processed are heated by a heating unit provided around the processing container, and thus a predetermined thermal process is conducted under a predetermined process-gas atmosphere (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-257958).
FIG. 10 represents a magnified cross-sectional view of a main part of a conventional longitudinal type of thermal processing apparatus. A processing container 102 shown in FIG. 10 has an opening part (a furnace opening) 103 at a lower end thereof and a flange portion 104 at a periphery of the lower end. The flange portion 104 is supported by a flange holder 105 made of a metal. An opening end 102a (a lower end) of the processing container 102 is made to come in contact with a lid 108 so as to be closed. The lid 108 is made of a metal, for example, a stainless steel. An O-ring 160 made of a heat-resistance resin is fitted on a fitting groove 161 of the lid 108 as an airtight material in order to seal between the lid 108 and the opening end 102a of the processing container 102.


A resonator-synchronized oscillator for resonance mode selection is disclosed. In one embodiment, the resonator-synchronized oscillator comprises an oscillation loop, at least one capacitor switching circuit coupled to the oscillation loop, and a multi-mode resonator having an output coupled to the at least one capacitor switching circuit. The output signal of the resonator is used to synchronize the oscillator using switched capacitor structures to instantaneously reset the phase of the resonator-synchronized oscillator.

In standard electronic systems, resonator oscillators are designed by using the known negative-impedance structure, such as is described for example, in the PhD thesis entitled 'Design of High-Performance Negative-Feedback Oscillators' by C. A. M. Boon and in the paper entitled 'Low-Noise Oscillators' published in 'Analog Circuit Design' by J. H. Huijsing et al., Kluwer Academic Publishers 1996. Selection of the desired resonance mode of a resonator is usually done using tuned circuits to enable discrimination of the different modes in the frequency domain.
Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown an electrical model of two single resonance-mode resonators in the prior art. FIG. 1 depicts both a series and a parallel resonator, having a resonance frequency ω0:
            ω              0        ,        s              =          1                                    L            s                                          C            s                                          ω              0        ,        p              =          1                                    L            p                                          C            p                              for the series resonator, andfor the parallel resonator.
In case of a series resonance the impedance is very low at resonance, while in the parallel resonator the impedance is very high at resonance. In both resonators, the impedance at resonance is purely resistive and given by:Z(ω0)series=RsZ(ω0)parallel=Qp2RsThe quality factor Qp is given by:
      Q    p    =            ω      0                          L        p                    R        s
It is well known in the prior art that to construct an oscillator with this kind of resonator, the losses that are present in the resistive element have to be counteracted to sustain oscillation. This is typically accomplished by connecting the resonator to an amplifier that behaves like a negative resistance. This circuit will supply the energy that is lost during each cycle to sustain oscillation. Amplitude control of the oscillation can be performed by adjusting the value of the negative impedance circuit.
In multi-mode resonators, more than one parallel or series resonance modes is present, of which usually only one is the desired mode. A well known and often used example of the multi-mode resonator is the overtone crystal resonator. In a prior art crystal resonator, the first overtone, or fundamental is established when the crystal is resonating in its ground harmonic frequency. Although every crystal can be excited to resonate in an (odd) overtone like 3rd 5th or 7th overtone, crystal manufacturers usually provide crystals that are specifically cut for this purpose.
Overtone crystal oscillators usually use a crystal specifically intended to be used as an overtone resonator, together with the negative impedance circuit and an extra frequency selective (tuned) circuit to select the desired overtone as shown in FIG. 2.
Other examples of multi-mode resonators include micro-machined structures that are specifically intended for this purpose, like micro-machined accellerometers.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,225,872 a method of selecting a desired resonance mode in the time domain is introduced, using a synchronized first-order, or relaxation oscillator as the time-selective element. The prior art patent describes how a first-order, or relaxation oscillator can be used to select a resonance mode in a resonator using selectivity in the time domain. It is described how the square wave output of a first-order oscillator, oscillating at frequency ω1 is fed into a multi-mode resonator as shown in FIG. 3. When the frequency ω1 is close to the desired resonance at frequency ω0 of the multi-mode resonator, the desired resonance will be excited. The sine-wave at the output of the multi-mode resonator can be used to synchronize the first-order oscillator, enabling sustained oscillation at coo.
Referring now to FIG. 4, there is shown how reference levels El and Eh in the prior art circuit are modulated with the amplified output of the multi-mode resonator in order to make the first-order oscillator lock to the desired resonance mode of the multi-mode resonator. When the oscillator is locked, the first-order oscillation is in complete lock with the desired resonance mode, as shown in FIG. 5.
There are several disadvantages with this prior art oscillator. One problem of the first-order oscillator of the prior art is that it always excites the multi-mode resonator with a square or sawtooth shaped waveform. However, when high spectral purity is required, it is advantageous for the multi-mode resonator to be excited by a sine wave. To enable locking, a required feature of an oscillator implementing the timing reference is the ability to perform an instantaneous phase reset when synchronized to an external signal. Therefore, in oscillators having a high spectral purity from a multi-mode resonator, without the need for (external) tuning circuits, the need exists for a system in which an oscillator is implemented using a sine-wave oscillator with resettable phase.

Resonance mode selection using a resonator-synchronized second-order oscillator


An image forming apparatus includes a document box, a communication unit, a console unit, a referencing entity management table, and a control unit. The console unit accepts a delete operation of inputting a delete instruction to delete document data stored in the document box. The referencing entity management table allows information about another image forming apparatus referencing document data stored in the document box to be registered therein as referencing entity information. The control unit determines whether or not the document data to be deleted designated by the delete instruction input by the delete operation is referenced by another image forming apparatus, based on the referencing entity management table. The control unit, if the document data to be deleted is referenced by another image forming apparatus, causes the communication unit to transmit the document data to be deleted to the another image forming apparatus based on the referencing entity information.

The present disclosure relates to image forming apparatuses, such as a copy machine, a multifunction peripheral (MFP), etc., which have the document box function of storing document data, and document management methods which are performed using a plurality of such image forming apparatuses.
Image forming apparatuses with the document box function of storing document data have in recent years been developed. In this type of image forming apparatuses, document data stored in a document box can be printed on demand. Also, the following technique has been proposed. Specifically, in this technique, a plurality of image forming apparatuses having a document box are connected together via a network. Document data stored in the document box of each image forming apparatus can be referenced by the other image forming apparatuses. When document data stored in one image forming apparatus (a referenced image forming apparatus or a referenced entity) is referenced by another one (a referencing image forming apparatus or a referencing entity), the referenced document data is registered as a reference document in a document box of the referencing image forming apparatus. In this technique, the document data registered as a reference document is not stored in the referencing image forming apparatus. When the referencing image forming apparatus is instructed to print the reference document, the document data of the reference document is transmitted from the referenced image forming apparatus storing the document data of the reference document via the network to the referencing image forming apparatus. After receiving the transmitted document data, the referencing image forming apparatus prints the document data.


A wire stripping tool includes a shaft having a handle at a distal end and a wire cutting device at a proximal end. The wire cutting device is a circular metallic form the plane of which is secured centrally and perpendicular to the shaft. A plurality of notches is disposed about the circumference of the circular metallic form.

When performing electrical work using insulated wires, it is often required to strip a portion of the insulation to make the electrical connection. Most devices for stripping insulation or jacket layers from electrical conductors work by clamping or holding the insulated wire or cord, severing the insulation or jacket layer and removing a length of the severed insulation or jacket layer from the wire.
For the most part, such wire strippers include a means for clamping holding the wire and insulation prior to stripping the insulation off the wire by using moveable stripper blades to sever the insulation or jacket layer, and means for moving the stripping blades longitudinally along the wire so as to remove the severed insulation.
The known apparatus or devices for stripping insulation or jacket layers from electrical wires, while being generally acceptable for their intended purposes, exhibit significant drawbacks in respect to their size and inability to fit into very confined areas commonly occurring when rewiring or remolding. A suitable solution is desired.
Various attempts have been made to solve problems found in electrical wire devices. Among these are found in: U.S. Patent and Publication Nos. U.S. Pat. No. 2,978,934 to Bradley; U.S. Pat. No. 4,083,105 to ViPond; and 2013/0326882 to Harvey. These prior art references are representative of wire stripping devices.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the invention as claimed. Thus, a need exists for a reliable wire stripping tool, and to avoid the above-mentioned problems.


The present invention is a job scheduling system and method that provides enhanced on-time delivery (OTD) of a fabrication process. The present invention provides on-time delivery (OTD) of a fabrication process. A scheduling heuristic, referred to as Weighted Forward Algorithm (WFA), is applied to a set of fabrication jobs to reduce the weighted number of late delivery of a single machine with a setup. Certain exemplary embodiments can provide a system and method for scheduling a fabrication process, comprising the activities of: initializing a set of fabrication jobs to create a set of on time jobs, a set of late jobs and a set of jobs to be scheduled; normalizing job set by due date order and processing requirements; and determining if the set of on time jobs will meet scheduled due dates, and if not, then determining which job to move from the set of on time jobs and moving that job from the set of on time jobs to the set of late jobs.

An entire fabrication process, for example the fabrication of sheet metal, consists of many machines and is considered as having a job-shop environment, where jobs have their own process routings visiting these machines. However, the decision as to which jobs are to be processed on which individual machine is made via the company's production routings. Setups on machines incur when machines change from processing one job to another. Thus, the problem is defined here as a single machine-scheduling problem with setup. Moreover, jobs often have different levels of importance (priorities). The levels of importance are assigned by weight numbers, the higher the weights, the more important the jobs are. The company measures its performance by means of weighted number of late delivery. Currently, the Weighted Shortest Processing Time (WSPT) heuristic is used by conventional fabrication scheduling systems to address this fabrication problem. However, these conventional fabrication systems yield poor or inconsistent results

System and method for scheduling a fabrication process


There are provided a resin composition and hardened products thereof for use in resistors, phosphors, conductors, patterns and the like, which can be developed with water or a dilute alkaline aqueous solution, show good pattern accuracy, give small residual organic matter after baking and have excellent adhesiveness. The resin composition which comprises (A) an unsaturated group-containing resin which is an epoxy methacrylate resulting from the reaction of (a) an epoxy resin having at least two epoxy groups in its molecule with (b) a compound having one unsaturated double bond and one carboxyl group in one molecule and (c) a saturated monocarboxylic acid as an optional component, the reaction product epoxy (meth)acrylate being allowed to react with (d) a polybasic acid anhydride as occasion demands, (B) a diluent, (C) a photopolymerization initiator and (D) one or more substances selected from metal powders, metal oxides, metal sulfides or glass.

This invention relates to a resin composition which is suitably used in a process for the production of resistor patterns, conductor circuit patterns or phosphor patterns, ribs or the like to be used in plasma displays, vacuum fluorescent displays, cathode ray tubes, electronic parts and the like and forms excellent resistor patterns for sending a stable electric current, circuit patterns having excellent conductive property, phosphor patterns, ribs or the like when it is exposed to ultraviolet rays, developed with water or a diluted alkaline aqueous solution and then baked at 400 to 1,000.degree. C., and to films thereof, hardened products thereof and baked moldings thereof.
In the currently known resistors, phosphors, ribs or conductors for circuits for plasma display, resistor patterns, phosphor patterns and rib patterns or conductor circuit patterns are formed by a method in which a resistor paste (prepared by making a resistor into a paste form), a phosphor paste (prepared by making a phosphor into a paste form), a rib paste (prepared by making a material for rib use into a paste form) or a conductor paste (prepared by making a conductive material, such as copper powder, silver powder or the like, into a paste form) is subjected to pattern printing by e.g. a screen printing and then to baking, but they cannot cope with the recent demand for the high density and thin width pattern of resistor patterns, phosphor patterns, rib patterns or conductor circuit patterns. Because of this,, development of a photoprocess has been examined making use of photopolymers, but having a difficulty in obtaining high sensitivity.
By resolving the aforementioned problems, the present invention provides a resin composition from which thin width patterns can be prepared with high sensitivity, so that it forms excellent resistor patterns, phosphor patterns, rib patterns or conductor circuit patterns when it is hardened with ultraviolet rays and then developed with water or an alkaline aqueous solution.

(Oxide or sulfide) powder epoxy (meth) acrylate w/glass and/or metal


Provided is a binocular loupe capable of adapting to current vision of a worker of a medical operation or precise operation in operating.

Binocular loupes have conventionally been used widely in each field such as the medical field, precision work, jewel processing and the like, as means for magnifying a local visual subject at hand to visually identify. In these fields, high precision is required in the work and operation, and particularly, in the medical field, since the field involves human lives, vision correction and astigmatism correction of the binocular loupe is required to precisely adapt to the vision of a worker.
Further, in addition to excellent resolution, wide viewing diameter, deep focal length and the like, since bright clear image quality is required, and ease in handling and ease in maintenance is demanded, waterproof processing enabling water washing, and anti-corrosion processing is needed. Further, it is necessary to configure adjustments of magnification of a main-glass loupe to be adjustable according to the use.
As an example of such a binocular loupe, Patent Document 1 discloses a structure of a binocular loupe enabling adjustments of a pupil distance i.e. attachment positions in the horizontal direction of eyepiece barrels.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Publication No. 2005-257802

Abstract: The binocular loupe has frame means, a pair of binocular loupe bodies, attaching means for fixing the binocular loupe bodies to the frame means, focus adjusting means for adjusting a focal length of each of the binocular loupe bodies, and supporting means for detachably attaching the focus adjusting means to eyepiece portions of the binocular loupe bodies.


The present invention is directed to novel tissue protective peptides. The tissue protective peptides of the invention may bind to a tissue protective receptor complex. In particular, the present invention is drawn to tissue protective peptides derived from or sharing consensus sequences with portions of cytokine receptor ligands, including Erythropoietin (EPO), that are not involved in the binding of the ligand to the receptor complex, e.g., to the EPO receptor homodimer. Accordingly, the tissue protective peptides of the invention are derived from the amino acid sequences of regions of cytokine receptor ligands that are generally located on or within the region of the ligand protein that is opposite of the receptor complex, i.e., are generally derived from amino acid sequences of regions of the ligand protein that face away from the receptor complex while the ligand is bound to the receptor. The invention is further directed to the consensus sequences for use in engineering a synthetic tissue protective peptide. These tissue protective peptides also include fragments, chimeras, as well as peptides designed to mimic the spatial localization of key amino acid residues within the tissue protective receptor ligands, e.g., EPO. The invention further encompasses methods for treating or preventing a disease or disorder using tissue protective peptides of the current invention. The invention also encompasses methods for enhancing excitable tissue function using tissue protective peptides of the current invention.

Erythropoietin ("EPO") is a glycoprotein hormone commonly associated with the maintenance of hematocrit and, more recently, tissue protection. Mature human EPO protein comprises 165 amino acids and has a molecular weight of 34 kDa, with glycosyl residues contributing about 40% of the weight of the molecule. The EPO molecule comprises four helices that interact via their hydrophobic domains to form a predominantly globular structure within an aqueous environment (Cheetham et al., 1998, Nat. Struct. Biol. 5:861-866, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety). The invention derives from the discovery that certain amino acids facing the aqueous environment (i.e., away from the hydrophobic, globular central core) mediate tissue protection. Peptides can be derived or designed from an understanding of the tissue protective regions that have been identified by the Applicants.
As noted above, EPO is pluripotent. In its hormonal role, EPO regulates hematocrit through its role in the maturation of erythroid progenitor cells into erythrocytes. EPO acts as an anti-apoptotic agent during the maturation process of erythroid progenitor cells, permitting progenitor cells to mature into erythrocytes. Decreased levels of tissue oxygen (hypoxia) trigger an increased production of erythropoietin by the kidney, which results in increased erythropoiesis. Given that the kidney normally produces the majority of the serum erythropoietin, the loss of kidney function, such as in chronic renal failure, results in decreased production of EPO and often anemia. Similarly, anemia may result from other chronic conditions, such as cancer, or treatments associated with these illnesses, such as chemotherapy, which directly suppress the production of EPO. Commercially available recombinant erythropoietin has been available under the trademarks of PROCRIT, available from Ortho Biotech Inc., Raritan, N.J., and EPOGEN, available from Amgen, Inc., Thousand Oaks, Calif. and has been used to treat anemia resulting from end stage renal disease, therapy with AZT (zidovudine) in HIV-infected patients, oncology patients, and chemotherapy. Currently a hyperglycosylated erythropoietin, ARANESP™ (Amgen, Thousand Oaks, Calif.), is available for the treatment of anemia. Additionally, these compounds have been used to increase the hematocrits of patients undergoing surgery to reduce the need for allogenic blood transfusions.
Recently, several lines of evidence have suggested that EPO also functions locally in a paracrine-autocrine manner to minimize tissue damage. For example, EPO improves an hypoxic cellular microenvironment and decreases programmed cell death caused by metabolic stress. Both of these activities are moderated, in part, through EPO's interaction with a specific cell surface receptor comprised, in part, by the erythropoietin receptor ("EPOR") protein. EPOR is an approximately 66 kDa protein and is a member of the Type-1 cytokine receptor family. This family comprises receptors that are grouped together based on the shared homology of their extracellular domains and includes receptors for interleukin IL-2, IL3, IL4, IL5, IL6, IL7, IL9, IL11, granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), leukemia inhibiting factor (LIF), ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF), thrombopoietin, growth hormone and prolactin. The conserved extracellular domain of these receptors has a length of approximately 200 amino acids, comprises four positionally conserved cysteine residues in the amino-terminal region (Cys 294, Cys 283, Cys 248, and Cys 238, which appear to be critical to the maintenance and the structural integrity of the receptors (Murray, 1996, Harpers Biochemistry 24th ed. pp. 524-526, Appilion & Lange, Ltd.; Caravella et al., 1996, Protein: Struct. Funct. Gen. 24:394-401, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety)), and a Trp-Ser-X-Trp-Ser (SEQ ID NO:58) motif located proximal to the transmembrane domain.
In connection with erythropoiesis, EPOR functions in a manner similar to other receptors within the Type-1 cytokine receptor family. First, the receptor ligand, e.g., EPO, binds to a preformed dimer of EPOR, (EPOR)2. It has been determined that EPO interacts with the extracellular domain of the classic (EPOR)2 homodimer receptor via two distinct regions on the ligand surface: a high affinity receptor binding site (site 1) and a low affinity receptor binding site (site 2). The amino acid sequences of EPO associated with site 1 are TKVNFY, SEQ ID NO:2, corresponding to amino acids 44-49 of SEQ ID NO:1, and SNFLRG, SEQ ID NO:3, corresponding to amino acids 146-151 of SEQ ID NO:1; the sequences associated with site 2 are VLERY, SEQ ID NO:4, corresponding to amino acids 11-15 of SEQ ID NO:1, and SGLRS, SEQ ID NO:5, corresponding to amino acids 100-104 of SEQ ID NO:1 (Cheetham et al., 1998, Nature Structural Biology 5:861-866, hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety). EPOR homodimer activation leads to tyrosine phosphorylation of signaling proteins that are associated with EPOR, e.g., Jak2 tyrosine kinases, that may in turn activate several different pathways including, for example, the phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase pathway, the Ras/MAP kinase pathway, and/or the STAT pathway. These pathways trigger the anti-apoptotic functions necessary for erythropoiesis that are mediated by erythropoietin (Kirito et al., 2002, Blood 99:102-110; Livnah et al., 1999, Science 283:987-990; Naranda et al., 2002, Endocrinology 143:2293-2302; Remy et al., 1999, Science 283:990-993; and Yoshimura et al., 1996, The Oncologist 1:337-339, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety).
Recently, Applicants have discovered that the tissue protective properties of EPO are mediated by a receptor that comprises not only EPOR but also another receptor protein, the beta common receptor ("βc"). The EPOR/βc receptor is, in contrast to the homodimer (EPOR)2, a heterocomplex (see infra) and is known to play a role in the protection of excitable tissues. See, e.g., WO 2004/096148 and PCT no. PCT/US01/49479, filed Dec. 28, 2001, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/753,132, filed Dec. 29, 2000, and 10/188,905, filed Jul. 3, 2002, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Although Applicants had established that the PC receptor is central to the tissue protective pathways in these excitable tissues, the structure of the activating ligands for the receptors was still unknown.

Tissue protective peptides and uses thereof


An autonomous vehicle comprises at least one distance measurement means for measuring a distance to a road surface disposed in a vehicle main body, inclination calculation means for calculating an inclination of the vehicle main body based on the distance measured by the distance measurement means, posture calculation means including a sensor that detects at least one of an angular speed and an acceleration of the vehicle main body, the posture calculation means being configured to calculate the inclination of the vehicle main body based on a sensor value detected by the sensor, and failure determination means for determining a failure in each distance measurement means and the posture calculation means by comparing the inclination of the vehicle main body calculated by the inclination calculation means with the inclination of the vehicle main body calculated by the posture calculation means.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an autonomous vehicle that autonomously moves based on a distance measured by distance measurement means, and its failure determination method.
2. Description of Related Art
An autonomous vehicle that includes a posture detection sensor that detects the posture of the vehicle main body and an inclination detection sensor that detects the inclination of the vehicle main body relative to the road surface, and autonomously moves has been known (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-146560).
The present inventors have found the following problem. In the above-described autonomous vehicle, for example, when one of the posture detection sensor and the inclination detection sensor becomes out of order, it is very difficult to determine the occurrence of the failure in the sensor without using any special inspection apparatus.
The present invention has been made in view of such problem, and a main object thereof is to provide an autonomous vehicle and its failure determination method capable of determining occurrence of a failure of a sensor without using any special inspection apparatus.

Autonomous vehicle and its failure determination method


A press machine for attachment of eyelets including a simple die configuration capable of allowing the user to easily carry out an eyelet attachment process on a table. The press machine includes a die that enables the dual operation of punching the sheet or fabric for the eyelet as well as attaching the eyelet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to eyelets and a press for attachment of such eyelets, and more particularly to a press machine for attachment of eyelets which is capable of allowing the eyelet attachment to be carried out using a single die, thereby achieving an improvement in the efficiency of the eyelet attachment. The present invention also relates to an eyelet having a configuration capable of not only allowing the eyelet to be firmly attached to a cloth without being separated from the cloth due to an external force repeatedly applied to the eyelet or cloth, but also allowing the eyelet to be made of a material containing a large amount of polycarbonate, thereby eliminating the requirement of disposing the eyelet separately from the cloth upon disposal of the cloth and pollution of the environment caused by the eyelet disposed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Eyelets are generally attached to waterproof cloths used to cover articles placed in a storehouse or on a quay, beach, or pleasure ground, in order to firmly hold those waterproof cloths using wires. Such eyelets may also be attached to tents or covers for vehicles.
For attachment of such eyelets, press machines have been used. An example of a conventional press machine is disclosed in Korean Utility Model Publication No. 94-2209, which is incorporated herein by this reference thereto.
The press machine disclosed in the publication includes a table arranged at the front portion of a body of the machine. A die, which is used when punching a cloth to be attached with eyelets, is arranged on the table. Another die, which is used when attaching eyelets to the cloth, is arranged on the table. Rods are connected to the dies to transmit a drive force from a drive means mounted on the machine body to those dies, thereby laterally moving the dies, respectively.
A punch adapted to perforate a hole through the cloth and a press adapted to attach an is eyelet to the cloth are arranged above the dies, respectively, in such a fashion that they can slide laterally together. The punch and press can also move vertically by a drive force transmitted thereto from another drive means.
The present invention provides a press machine for attachment of eyelets including a simple die configuration capable of allowing the user to easily carry out an eyelet attachment process on a table. The press machine includes a die having a rest room for receiving a washer fed from a washer box, a guide hole vertically formed through the rest room, and guide means for guiding the washer to the rest room, a table received in the rest room in such a fashion that it is vertically slidable, the table serving as a punch die for punching a cloth to be attached with eyelets while serving as a support for supporting the washer received in the rest room during an operation for attaching an eyelet to the cloth, a rack vertically mounted to a lower surface of the table in such a fashion that it is vertically slidable through the guide hole of the die in the rest room, a drive motor adapted to provide a drive force to the rack, the drive motor having a pinion engaged with the rack, and a control unit for controlling the drive motor. An eyelet is also provided which has a configuration capable of not only allowing the eyelet to be firmly attached to a cloth without being separated from the cloth due to an external force repeatedly applied to the eyelet or cloth, but also allowing the eyelet to be made of a material containing a large amount of polycarbonate.
The operation of the press machine having the above-mentioned configuration is herein described. First, a cloth is laid on the punching die. When the press machine then operates, the punch perforates a hole through the cloth while moving downwardly. After the punching operation, the base of an eyelet is laid on the cloth in such a fashion that it is vertically aligned with the hole. The washer of the eyelet is also arranged in the second die in such a fashion that it is vertically aligned with the hole.
As the press machine further operates, the rods advance by virtue of a drive force transmitted from the drive means, thereby causing the punching die to be laterally shifted. At the same time, the second die, which serves to couple the elements of the eyelet, is disposed beneath the press.
When the press machine further operates under the condition in which the dies are adjusted in position as mentioned above, both the punch and press move downwardly, thereby depressing the upper surface of the base. As a result, the lower end of the base passes through the hole of the cloth and then fits around the washer. Thus, the eyelet is firmly fixed to the cloth.
A plurality of eyelets is attached to the cloth in the above-mentioned manner while being uniformly spaced from one another in accordance with the using purpose thereof.
However, the above-mentioned conventional pressing machine has a complicated arrangement in which a pair of laterally slidable dies is used to attach an eyelet to a cloth. As a result, there is a drawback in that a degradation in workability occurs.
Since the dies serve to attach an eyelet to a cloth while sliding laterally, the resulting attachment of the eyelet may be unstable. This may result in an easy separation of the eyelet from the cloth.
Meanwhile, a variety of eyelet configurations have been proposed. An example of a conventional eyelet configuration is disclosed in Korean Utility Model Laid-open Publication No. 95-14715.
The eyelet disclosed in the publication includes a flange member and a cap both made of a metal. The flange member is provided at its upper surface with repeated grooves and protrusions. The flange member is also provided at its central portion with a vertically extending bushing. The bushing is integral with the flange member and has a central through hole. An annular engaging protrusion is also formed on the outer surface of the bushing.
The cap is provided at its lower surface with repeated grooves and protrusions engageable with the grooves and protrusions of the flange member. The cap also has, at its central portion, a through hole communicating with the through hole of the flange member.
An annular engaging groove is formed at the inner surface of the through hole of the cap. The engaging protrusion of the bushing is engageable with the engaging groove.
The procedure for attaching the eyelet having the above-mentioned configuration to a cloth will now be described.
First, the bushing of the flange member is fixed to a punched portion of the cloth in such a fashion that the grooves and protrusions formed at the upper surface of the flange member are in close contact with the lower surface of the cloth.
Thereafter, the cap is fitted around the bushing of the flange member fixed to the cloth in such a fashion that the bushing is inserted into the through hole of the cap until the engaging protrusion of the bushing engages with the engaging groove of the cap. In this state, the grooves and protrusions formed at the lower surface of the cap are in close contact with the upper surface of the cloth.
Since the eyelet has a configuration in which the engaging protrusion of the bushing engages with the engaging groove of the cap, there is a problem in that the engaging protrusion may be easily disengaged from the engaging groove due to an external force repeatedly applied to the eyelet. In this case, the eyelet may be separated from the cloth.
Meanwhile, the eyelet attached to the cloth may be in an upright state when the cloth is folded. In this state, if the cloth is forcibly folded while being pressed, the upright cloth may then cause the cloth to be damaged. The user, who holds the cloth, may also receive injury to his hand by the eyelet.
Where the cloth is disposed of at the end of the life span thereof, unless the eyelet is separated from the cloth, the eyelet may cause pollution of the environment because it is made of a metal. Although this problem may be solved by disposing the eyelet separately from the cloth, this separation work is troublesome.
Therefore, an object of the invention is to provide a press machine for eyelets including a simple die configuration capable of allowing the user to easily carry out an eyelet attachment process on a table.
Another object of the invention is to provide an eyelet having a configuration capable of not only allowing the eyelet to be firmly attached to a cloth without being separated from the cloth due to an external force repeatedly applied to the eyelet or cloth, but also allowing the eyelet to be made of a material containing a large amount of polycarbonate, thereby eliminating the requirement of disposing the eyelet separately from the cloth upon disposal of the cloth and pollution of the environment caused by the eyelet disposed.
Another object of the invention is to provide an eyelet having a configuration capable of preventing the eyelet from damaging the cloth or the hand of the user when the cloth is folded for storage thereof.
In accordance with one aspect, the present invention provides a press machine for attachment of eyelets comprising: a body having a rest room for receiving a washer fed from a washer box, a guide hole vertically formed through the rest room, and guide means for guiding the washer to the rest room; a table received in the rest room in such a fashion that it is vertically slidable, the table serving as a punch die for punching a cloth to be attached with eyelets while serving as a support for supporting the washer received in the rest room during an operation for attaching an eyelet to the cloth; a rack vertically mounted to a lower surface of the table in such a fashion that it is vertically slidable through the guide hole of the die in the rest room; a drive motor adapted to provide a drive force to the rack, the drive motor having a pinion engaged with the rack; and a control unit for controlling the drive motor.
In accordance with another aspect, the present invention provides an eyelet comprising: an annular rim adapted to be in close contact with an upper surface of a cloth, to be attached with the eyelet, in an urging state; a plurality of uniformly spaced prongs downwardly protruded from a lower surface of the rim and adapted to be stuck in the cloth, each of the prongs having a radially outwardly inclined shape; a boss extending downwardly from an inner edge of the rim, the boss being fitted in a hole formed through the cloth; a flange adapted to be in close contact with a lower surface of the cloth; and a plurality of pushing protrusions upwardly protruded from an upper surface of the flange and arranged radially inwardly of the prongs, the pushing protrusions serving to push the lower surface of the cloth.
Other objects and aspects of the invention will become apparent from the following description of embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Eyelet and press machine and method for attachment of eyelets and method


An arranging structure of print wire driving units in print head utilized in a shuttle printer is disclosed. In such structure, a plurality of head units U each of which comprises the row R1 and the row R2 of the print wire driving units 10a, 10b, are arranged in the print head H1. The rows 10a, 10b are positioned at both sides (left and right sides) in the print head H1 with reference to a line passing through the wire guide plate 22. Here, the first driving unit 10a has a construction in which the arm 12a is supported by the plate springs S in a direction vertical to a longitudinal direction of the frame F in the unit 10a and the print wire 14a is fixed to the top portion of the arm 12a so that it is extended to the longitudinal direction of the frame F in the unit 10a. And the second print wire driving unit 10 b has s construction in which the arm 12b is supported by the plate springs S in the same direction as the longitudinal direction of the frame F in the unit 10b and the print wire 14b is fixed to the top portion of the arm 12b so that it is extended to a direction vertical to the longitudinal direction of the frame F in the unit 10b. In both rows R1, R2, the first driving units 10a and the second driving units 10b are alternately arranged each other with right angle, thus, the arms 12a, 12b are arranged with parallel relationship therebetween and the print wires 14a, 14b are arrayed in a straight line on the wire guide plate 22.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an arranging structure of print wire driving units in a print head installed in a dot printer, particularly in a shuttle printer.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional shuttle printer is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,941,051. The shuttle printer includes a print head having a plurality of hammers which are arranged in a direction along a longitudinal direction of a platen. The plurality of hammers are individually moved between an impact position and a retract position by a plurality of electromagnetic actuators.

Arranging structure of print wire driving units utilized in a dot impact print head


An opaque silica comprises silica and at least one second phase solid material. The at least one second phase solid material is essentially uniformly dispersed in the silica. A cut surface formed through the silica is free from surface defects since the at least one second phase solid material forms an opaque silica that is free from porosity.

Silica, otherwise known as silicon dioxide, is a wellknown material with desirable properties. Silica has many known uses, such as but not limited to, glasses, ceramics, abrasives, semiconductors and semiconductor devices.
Several different processes can be used to produce silica. The particular process used to produce silica depends on the intended end use and desired purity of the end silica composition.
Some silica compositions possess substantial optical clarity, almost to the point of being a transparent silica composition. A transparent silica material can be made opaque if, for example the silica material contains light scattering centers, such as voids.
However, if an end use of a porous opaque silica necessitates the machining, cutting or otherwise working of the porous opaque silica, voids therein may be exposed on the machined or cut surface. Further, the silica itself may be damaged by the machining, cutting and working process, especially at the voids, where there exists a substantial possibility of cracking, fracture or other undesirable side effects due to the machining, cutting and working process.
The machining, cutting or otherwise working the porous opaque silica results in open porosity on the machined or cut surface of the porous opaque silica, where the surface most probably comprises exposed and damaged voids on the machined or cut surface of the porous opaque silica. This exposed surface with exposed and damaged voids, otherwise known as surface defects, on the machined or cut surface of the porous opaque silica is not desirable, since the exposed, damaged and impaired voids will trap and hold foreign matter. Therefore, porous opaque silica, as it is now produced, is not well suited for some applications, especially where cutting, working or machining of the porous opaque silica is needed.
Performance of porous opaque silica, resulting from machining or otherwise working the porous opaque silica, may be initially adequate for some porous opaque silica applications. For example, porous opaque silica may be initially adequate for applications, such as but not limited to, heat baffles, infra-red blockers and flanges, which are commonly used in the semi-conductor processing industries. However, during use the parts made from porous opaque material can develop undesirable characteristics as the surface of the part erodes and exposes new void surfaces.
For example, in a heat baffle application of porous opaque silica, porous opaque silica may initially perform acceptably. However, in a heat baffle application of porous opaque silica, continued and repeated acid etching, which is for cleaning and removal of impurities that have been deposited as a result of an end-user's process, of the porous opaque silica will result in a substantial amount of open porosity on an exposed surface of the porous opaque silica. The open porosity on the exposed surface of the porous opaque silica can trap undesirable debris, dirt and other foreign matter. This trapping, of course, is undesirable since the foreign matter may significantly alter properties of the porous opaque silica. Accordingly, porous opaque silica is not an ideal and desirable material for a heat baffle application.
Further, a porous opaque silica is not an ideal material for a sealing application, for example in a flange usage. Machined silica parts are often subjected to a finishing step. The finishing step comprises at least one step selected from glazing and flame polishing. Glazing comprises impinging a hot flame to the part, thereby melting a surface layer of the part. The glazed surface of the finished part should be mostly free of porosity. However, there are often at least two problems associated with achieving a glazed surface free of porosity. First, repeated etching can open up a closed pore and cause the surface to have porosity. Second, if the pores in the material are large, even a glazed surface would be "bumpy." Such a "bumpy" surface would not provide a good vacuum sealing surface. Therefore, machined porous opaque silica or finished porous opaque silica is not normally ideal for sealing purposes in a flange application.


In a drive unit which has an axial piston pump and an electronic control unit, the axial piston pump is pivoted with a method in which pressure-reducing valves which act in opposition to one another are suddenly energized. Since in this respect no orifices are provided in the adjustment device, a so-called initiation jump of the excited current gives rise to a sudden reduction in the assigned actuating pressure or the actuating pressure difference formed therefrom. Then, a zero crossover jump of the excited current or of the excited currents is carried out in order to overcome the centering spring and therefore ensure a continuous zero crossover of the axial piston pump. Furthermore, a hydrostatic traction drive includes such a drive unit.

From the prior art it is known to adjust the swept volume of pivotable axial piston pumps for hydrostatic traction drives for mobile working machines (e.g. for wheel loaders) by means of an actuating cylinder, in order thereby to select the velocity and change the direction of travel. In this context, the actuating cylinder can be embodied as a synchronizing cylinder with two actuating chambers, to whose actuating chambers actuating pressure can be applied on opposite sides and therefore in opposite adjustment directions. The actuating pressure in the two actuating chambers is respectively regulated by means of an electroproportional pressure-reducing valve.
The actuating piston is prestressed into a central position by means of two centering springs which act in opposition to one another. In this context, the two centering springs on the actuating piston act counter to the pivoting out or pivoting of the axial piston pump. Each centering spring has a stop so that its restoring force does not act beyond the central position. The minimum current of the pressure-reducing valves is typically set in such a way that with this current the axial piston pump just pivots counter to the restoring force, acting on the actuating piston, of the respective centering spring.
In the dynamic change of direction of travel or reversing of the hydrostatic traction drive which is driven with such an axial piston pump it is known that the respective mobile working machine changes directly from deceleration into acceleration and does not stay in a stationary state in the process.
According to the prior art, adjustment devices are used with orifices through which the actuating pressure medium flows during the pivoting. The orifices can be arranged either in the inflow to the actuating chambers or in the outflow to the tank. Owing to the pivoting dynamics (high volume flow into the one actuating chamber, identical volume flow out of the other actuating chamber) a ram pressure which is sufficient for the axial piston pump to be able to pivot through the zero position virtually without a stationary state is produced at the orifices. While the axial piston pump is pivoting, a pressure at the orifice drops. As soon as the axial piston pump remains stationary at the zero crossover even for only a fraction of a second, the volume flow of the actuating pressure medium via the orifice becomes zero and a pressure equalization takes place.
For example, in each case an orifice is arranged in the inflow to the two actuating chambers, and reversing from forward travel into reverse travel is to take place. During the pivoting back from the forward delivery of the axial piston pump, the actuating pressure builds up in a slowed-down fashion on this side. Therefore, the energization of the reverse pressure-reducing valve already begins before the axial piston pump is actually pivoted into the zero position. The reverse pressure-reducing valve builds up a pressure (of e.g. 13 bar) at the orifice from the reverse side. However, owing to the volume flow via the orifice a relatively low actuating pressure (e.g. just 3 bar) builds up in the reversing actuating chamber. As soon as the axial piston pump remains stationary in the zero position, the full actuating pressure (e.g. 13 bar) is also present in the reversing actuating chamber and the adjustment can only then overcome the centering.
The orifices of the adjustment devices according to the prior art continue to have the following disadvantages:
1. The orifices have to be selected for the application of the machine.
2. The orifices increase the product variance considerably.
3. Installation space has to be provided for orifices which can be replaced/applied.
4. The orifices reduce the pivoting dynamics and therefore make the precise highly dynamic control of the pump more difficult.
5. The orifice diameter is only optimum for one operating point/one pivoting dynamic. If the ram pressure at the orifice is sufficient for a continuous zero crossover even at low pivoting speeds, the dynamics of the axial piston pump are greatly restricted.

Method for controlling an axial piston pump and drive unit with such an axial piston pump and hydrostatic traction drive with such a drive unit


In a particle detecting method, a light beam is projected on a surface of a workpiece. By a microscope focused on a spot of the light beam, formed is an image of irregularly reflected light irregularly reflected by a minute dust particle lying on the surface of the workpiece. The image of the irregularly reflected light is taken by an image pickup tube disposed at a position corresponding to the eyepiece unit of the microscope. The image of the irregularly reflected light is displayed on a screen of a display tube. The image is analyzed by a computer to determine the position of the minute dust particle on the workpiece in an X-Y plane. Further, the workpiece or the microscope is moved in an X-Y plane to inspect the entire surface of the workpiece.

1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates to a particle detecting method which projects a light beam on the surface of a workpiece and determines the position of a minute dust particle on the surface of the workpiece through the observation of changes in the light beam caused by the minute dust particle. The present invention also relates to a particle detecting system which carries out the above particle detecting method.
2. Discussion Of The Background
Defects attributable to dust particles adhering to semiconductor wafers are principal factors which reduce Integrated Circuit (IC) yield in the manufacture of Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) circuits, such as 16-Mb DRAMs. Although some minute dust particles may have not been causes of problems in the past, those minute dust particles introduced in the manufacturing process adhere to wafers and have become sources of contamination with the progressive reduction of the width of lines forming patterns. Generally, the size of minute dust particles which will cause problems is a fraction of the minimum width of lines of a VLSI circuit to be fabricated. It is a generally accepted idea that minute dust particles of diameters on the order of 0.1 .mu.m can not be ignored when fabricating 16-Mb DRAMs, in which the width of the narrowest lines is 0.5 .mu.m. Such minute dust particles contaminate VLSI circuits, causing the disconnection of circuit patterns and short-circuiting, make VLSI circuits defective and reduce the quality and the reliability of VLSI circuits. Accordingly, it is a key to the improvement of IC yield to detect minute dust particles, to measure and grip accurately and quantitatively the actual state of existence of dust particles on workpieces, and to control dust particles.
A dust particle inspection system capable of detecting dust particles on the surface of a flat workpiece, such as a silicon wafer, and determining the positions of the dust particles has been used for inspecting workpieces. A dust particle detecting method by which a conventional dust particle inspection system detects dust particles will be described hereinafter.
A light-scattering dust particle detecting method is employed by a dust particle inspection system for detecting dust particles. The light-scattering dust particle detecting method scans the surface of a wafer with a light beam, measures the variation of intensity of scattered light with time linearly by a photo-multiplier tube, and detects a dust particle and determines the position of the dust particle from the relation between a moment when a scatter signal is generated upon the reception of scattered light scattered by a fine particle and the position of the scanning light beam on the surface of the wafer at the same moment. Dust particle inspection systems IS-200 and LS-6000 available from Hitachi Electronics Engineering Ltd., Surfscan 6200 available from TENCOR, and dust particle inspection system WIS-9000 available from ESTEK are known as dust particle inspection systems. Measuring principles on which those known dust particle inspection systems operates and the configuration of those dust particle inspection systems are explained in, for example, "ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION TECHNIQUE FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE SEMICONDUCTOR PROCESS", by Semiconductor Basic Technology Research, REALIZE INC., pp. 111-129.
The accuracy of measurement of fine particles of the conventional measuring method using scattered light is limited by noise generated in a measuring system and included in a scatter signal representing light scattered by fine particles. Noise attributable to the surface roughness of a silicon wafer, which is called haze, makes the detection of fine dust particles of 0.10 .mu.m or below in particle size on the surface of the silicon wafer very difficult. This problem is explained in detail in, "SEMICONDUCTOR MEASUREMENT AND EVALUATION HANDBOOK", by SCIENCE FORUM, pp. 474-479. However, there has not been established any method of detecting minute dust particles of 0.07 .mu.m, 0.04 .mu.m and 0.03 .mu.m in particle size which must be controlled in the manufacture of VLSI circuits, such as 64-Mb, 256-Mb and 1-Gb DRAMs, although those VLSI circuits are expected to be developed and mass-produced in the future, in which the width of the narrowest lines is 0.35 .mu.m, 0.20 .mu.m and 0.15 .mu.m, respectively.
A fine particle measuring method using the scattering of light, which is carried out by the conventional dust particle inspection system, scans the surface of a workpiece, such as a silicon wafer, with a light beam, and detects the variation of the quantity of scattered light linearly by a photodetector, such as a photo-multiplier tube. Therefore, the measured position of a minute dust particle includes an error corresponding to the area of a pixel dependent on the area of a spot formed by the light beam on the surface of the workpiece, and hence a precise determination of the position of the dust particle is impossible. The light beam must be focused on the surface of the workpiece in the smallest possible spot to achieve the highly accurate determination of the position of a dust particle on the surface of the workpiece. However, there is a limit to the reduction of the spot of the light beam. If the light beam is focused in a very small spot, the total length of scanning lines for scanning the entire surface of the workpiece increases, and an increased measuring time is necessary. Usually, the pixel of the current system is 20.times.200 .mu.m.sup.2. The area of a focused laser beam used by the conventional dust particle inspection system is explained in detail in "ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION TECHNIQUE FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE SEMICONDUCTOR PROCESS", by Semiconductor Basic Technology Research, pp. 111-129.
When detecting a minute dust particle of 0.10 .mu.m or below in particle size, the minute dust particle must be detected at a high sensitivity and at a high S/N ratio, and the position of the dust particle must be determined in a high accuracy. Dust particle detecting methods disclosed in Japan Laid Open Patent Publications (JP-A) Nos. 8-29354 and 7-325041 may be effective in achieving such dust particle detection. These dust particle detecting methods project a light beam on the surface of a wafer, focuses a microscope on a spot formed on the surface of the wafer by the light beam, enlarge scattered light by the microscope, and observe (detect) two-dimensionally a region of the surface of the wafer in the field of view of the microscope by a highly sensitive CCD camera or the like disposed at a dark field position and provided with an image intensifier. Since these methods detect haze, i.e., noise attributable to light scattered by the surface of the wafer, two-dimensionally, the S/N ratio of a detection signal obtained by these methods is higher than that of a detection signal provided by a conventional dust particle inspection system which measures the haze by a photomultiplier tube by detecting integrated light scattered from minute disorder of the surface of the wafer
FIG. 5 shows a particle detecting system disclosed in JP-A Nos. 7-325041 and 8-29354. Shown in FIG. 5 are an X-Y stage 1, a workpiece (silicon wafer) 2, an Ar laser 3 for projecting a laser beam on the workpiece 2, a detecting light beam 4 for detecting minute dust particles, reflected light beam 5 reflected by the workpiece 2, a microscope 8 for observing the workpiece 2, a CCD camera 9 with an image intensifier for taking an image of a portion of the workpiece 2 observed by the microscope 8, and a CRT 10 for displaying an image taken by the CCD camera 9. The detecting light beam 4 can be polarized by a polarizing plate 11. FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate a mode of projecting the detecting light beam 4 on the workpiece. Shown in FIG. 6 and 7 are a dust particle 6 on the workpiece 2, irregularly reflected light 7, and a spot 12 of the detecting light beam 4.
In operation, the silicon wafer 2, i.e., a workpiece, is mounted on the X-Y stage 1. An imaginary coordinate system is set on the silicon wafer 2 on the X-Y stage 1 with reference to a feature in shape of the silicon wafer 2, such as an orientation flat or a notch formed on the silicon wafer 2. A method of setting a coordinate system is described in detail in JP-A No. 7-25118. The detecting light beam 4 is projected on the silicon wafer 2 to form the spot 12 as shown in FIG. 7 on the surface of the silicon wafer 2. An image of the spot 12 magnified by the microscope 8 disposed in a dark field region is taken by the CCD camera 9, and the image of the spot 12 is displayed on the CRT 10 for observation. The microscope 8 is focused on a surface on which the spot 12 is formed. If there are dust particles 6 in the field of view of the microscope 8, i.e., in the spot 12, irregularly reflected light 7 is observed with the X-Y stage 1 at a position represented by coordinates (x, y) (FIG. 7). If any dust particle is not found in the spot 12, the detecting light beam 4 is reflected regularly and the reflected light beam 5 cannot be observed from the dark field position.
In an observation system shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 7, the field of view A of the microscope 8 disposed at the dark field position includes the spot 12 formed by the detecting light beam 4 on the silicon wafer 2. Since the dust particles 6 in the spot 12 reflect light irregularly in irregularly reflected light 7, the positions of the dust particles 6 can be determined through the observation of the irregularly reflected light 7 by the microscope 8. Experiments proved that the contrast between a portion from which the irregularly reflected light 7 is reflected and a portion from which no irregularly reflected light is reflected is very high, so dust particles of particle sizes of 0.03 .mu.m or below can clearly be identified, and a detection signal of a satisfactorily high S/N ratio can be obtained. If there is no dust particle 6 in the spot 12, the detecting light beam 4 is substantially perfectly regularly, and hence practically nothing can be observed by the microscope 8 disposed at the dark field position. Therefore, the irregularly reflected light 7 reflected by the dust particles 6 can be observed by the microscope disposed at the dark field position even if the detecting light beam 4 forms the spot 12 in a size far greater than that of the dust particles 6 and, consequently, the positions of the dust particles 6 in the spot 12 can easily be determined in a high accuracy.
As described above, the dust particle detecting system is constructed to observe a portion of a workpiece. Therefore, the method employing the CCD camera needs an additional system which enables the observation of the entire surface of the workpiece if the detection of dust particles on the entire surface of the workpiece is desired.

Particle detecting method and system for detecting minute particles on a workpiece


A protective element is provided with a flat first material layer of a low-fold material and a flat second material layer of a folded cut-retardant material. A surface area of the second material layer in a stretched-out state is 1.2 to 2.5 times greater than a surface area of the first material layer in a stretched-out state. The second material layer is placed in a gathered state onto the first material layer. The first material layer forms a gliding layer for the second material layer.

The invention relates to a protective element comprising at least two flat material layers which are used as an insert in a protective element or in protective clothing.
When operating hand-guided power tools such as hedge trimmers, the cutting teeth may damage the clothing of the user in case of improper power tool handling. For safety reasons, it is therefore recommended that the user wear protective clothing with cut-retardant function.
When operating hedge trimmers, the cutting blades of the cutter bar perform a complex movement sequence and thereby clamp and cut the object to be cut, for example, branches and twigs of a hedge or the like, so that finally the object is cut through. When in operation the moving cutting blades contact protective clothing, the cutting blades of the cutter bar are blocked by a cut-retardant insert so that cutting through the protective clothing is substantially prevented. Under unfavorable conditions, however, fabric layers that are underneath the cut-retardant protective material may be gripped and damaged during blockage of the cutting blades.
The object of the invention is therefore to configure a protective element of the aforementioned kind such that, while a high wearing comfort is provided, seizing or gripping of a fabric layer that is underneath the protective element is prevented upon engagement of the cutting blade.


A gaze monitoring system comprising: an eye tracker comprising; a camera having an optical axis; a first IR source configured to illuminate a user's eyes; the first IR source located relatively near the optical axis of the camera; and at least one second IR source configured to illuminate the user's eyes, the at least one second IR source located relatively far from the camera's optical axis, in a position such that when the gaze angle is too large to get corneal reflection images of the first IR source, the image reflection of the at least one second IR source is visible by the camera, as a corneal reflection.

Eye trackers (ET) are used for various applications such as market research, software application usability evaluation and communication tool for disabled people. In many of the applications eye trackers are used in a configuration where the ET is attached to the bottom part of a display and is used to track the gazing point of the user on the display. Examples of such eye trackers are EyeX available from Tobii AB, Danderyd, Sweden and RED250 available from SensoMotoric Instruments GmbH (SMI), Teltow, GERMANY. Such eye trackers typically include one or two cameras and infrared light sources (IR). The IRs are typically located near the optical axis of the camera, sometimes on the optical axis. The IRs are used both to illuminate the eyes and the face of the user to enable the identification of the pupils of the user and also enable the reflection of these IR light source from the cornea, thus, providing an image of the IR light source within the region of the cornea (this is the reflection from the outer surface of the cornea also known as first Purkinje image) in the received images and termed here also "corneal reflection". Algorithms analyze the relations between the corneal reflection and the pupil to determine the gaze angle and thus, the gaze point on the display. The display information and a calibration process where during which the user looks at a few calibration points on the display provide the algorithms with the specific information required for an accurate evaluation of the gaze point on the display.
Two illumination approaches are common with such eye trackers: bright pupil and dark pupil. For bright pupil the IR is located as close as possible to the optical axis of the camera, so as to get a red-eye effect, where the pupil appears bright in the image. This technique is useful for bright pupil detection algorithms but corneal reflection of the IR within the bright pupil image, makes the corneal reflection image harder to detect and process. Dark pupil is achieves by moving the IR just far enough from the optical axis to avoid the red-eye effect and get a pupil image that is relatively dark, making the detection and processing of a corneal reflection image that is in the pupil, much easier. In any case the motivation to keep the IR as near as possible to the optical axis is maintained so as to minimize the dimensions of the eye tracking device.
The range of gaze angles that can be monitored is limited by the requirement for the IR reflection image to be within the cornea region. This is because the cornea surface provides good optical characteristics for a specular reflection resulting in a good reflection image of the IR illumination. If the gaze angle of the eye is such that the position of the eye area participating in reflection of the IR light to the camera is outside the cornea region, the sclera, the image of the IR will become degraded and difficult for detection from the camera image and thus difficult to use for eye tracking. Therefore, as a result of the structure of the human eye, this limits that gaze angle that can be monitored by such eye trackers to 35-40 degrees from the eye tracker.


The invention presents an optimum method and mean for reducing the side robes of microwave antennas whether mounted or through the serrated-roll treatment of their edges. The reduction of side robes leads to the enhancement of the main robe, the suppression of the unwanted electromagnetic interference, the improvement of antenna performance, as well as lowering the size of antenna.

Microwave antennas are primarily used for transmitting and receiving microwave radiation from free space. The shapes of microwave antennas depend upon their configuration: dish or horn shaped for single feed, and flat or conformed patch for multiple feed phased arrays. The finite size of these antennas creates appreciable side lobes which lead to performance degradation. These side lobes are the result of edge diffraction of the radiation from the feed. The diffraction spreads the radiation into unwanted directions and causes interference with other electronic systems. A proper edge treatment will reduce the strength of these side lobes and enhance antenna performance. Many methods have been suggested. The two most common are serrated edge and rolled back edge. The present invention is an improvement on both.
The edges of widely used microwave antennas have not been properly treated. These antennas have shapes which can be categorized as, horns, dishes, or patches. Two current methods of serrated edge and rolled back edge are closely related to the present invention. Both modify the characteristic of the antenna edges by adding skirts along the rim, yet still maintain the basic structure of the antennas. This form of modification is usually referred to as the edge treatment.
The theoretical foundations and designs for microwave antennas with serrated or rolled back edges are widely publicized and were intensively debated at the Annual Meetings and Symposiums of the Antenna Measurement and Techniques Association for at least past ten years. The supporters of both camp have repeatedly argued the advantage and superiority of these two distinctive designs.
There are considerable differences between these two designs. The serrated edge treatment simply extends the surface of a microwave antenna. The surface curvature remains the same, but the extended surface area is gradually reduced to zero during the extension. The controlling variable is the surface area in the edge diffraction reduction. The rolled edge treatment takes a different approach. While extending the edge, the surface curvature changes gradually and the added skirt as a whole is rolled back. The latter treatment emphasizes the control of the curvature variable.
The surface area and curvature of the added skirt are two independent variables which can be varied simultaneously or individually. The edge diffraction reduction is an optimization process. The serrated edge treatment emphasizes the importance of the added skirt area, and the rolled edge treatment emphasizes the skirt curvature. These two treatments are both single-variable optimization procedures.
A microwave antenna projects a traveling microwave onto an aperture in free space. The electromagnetic field at each point as define by the projection becomes a new source of a secondary spherical wave and is known as Huygens' wavelet. The envelope of all Huygens' wavelets emanating from the antenna aperture at any instant of time is then used to describe the transmitting electromagnetic radiation from the antenna at a later instant of time. The above mechanism is known as the famed Huygens-Fresnel Principle. Mathematically, this principle can be represented by the Rayleigh-Sommerfeld diffraction formula which is a Fourier type integration.
The aperture of any antenna must be finite in size. This restriction imposes a rectangular window on the Rayleigh-Sommerfeld diffraction formula for an untreated microwave antenna. It is well known in Fourier analysis that a rectangular window leads to high side lobes. These side lobes can be properly reduced by employing smooth tapered windows before evaluating the Fourier transformation. The edge treatment of microwave antennas corresponds to imposing a smooth tapered window onto the Rayleigh-Sommerfeld diffraction formula. The serrated and rolled edge treatments differ in methods of tapering. The former is restricted to the magnitude tapering of the electromagnetic field at the aperture of a microwave antenna, and the latter is mainly confined to phase tapering with little controls on the magnitude. The electromagnetic field has two independent components--magnitude and phase. Any abrupt change in either component will lead to high sidelobes. Both serrated and rolled edge treatments are restricted to a single component, neglecting the other. The abrupt change can not be optimally removed with either of these two methods. The present invention treats both two components simultaneously, hence provide a better optimum method than either of them, therefore leading to much better side lobe reduction and a smaller size of the added skirt.

Serrated-roll edge for microwave antennas


The synchronization of trunk failover between two FC-AL switches when a primary trunk failure occurs is disclosed. If primary trunk T1 should fail, S1 bypasses the cascade port and sends a MaRK (MRK) ordered set out over duplicate trunk T2 to switch S2. In response, S2 sends an acknowledgement MRK ordered set over T2 back to S1. S1 then reconfigures the switch to establish T2 as the primary trunk, and acts as a masters in the failover process and initiates LIP ordered sets which are communicated to all devices in the system to initialize them. Note that when S2 receives the MRK ordered set and acknowledges it by sending an acknowledgement MRK back to S1, it acts as a slave in the failover process and does not attempt to initiate LIPs, thereby eliminating the possibility of multiple Loop Initialization cycles and reducing the time in which data cannot be transmitted.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary Storage Area Network (SAN) 100 comprised of two FC-AL switches S1 and S2, each of which may be a Switch On a Chip (SOC). A number of drives 102 and initiators I1 and I2 are attached to each FC-AL switch S1 and S2 through node ports 104. Each FC-AL switch S1 and S2, when connected to drives and initiators, may form a Switched Bunch Of Disks (SBOD) 120. A processor 108 is also coupled to each switch for executing firmware 122 to perform operations on the switch, among other things.
In addition, cascade ports 106 on the FC-AL switches S1 and S2 enable the switches to be interconnected via two trunks T1 and T2. Trunking involves the use of multiple inter-switch connections for increased throughput and redundancy. In the example of FIG. 1, trunk T1 is designated as the primary trunk, and trunk T2 is designated as the duplicate trunk. Note that the designation of trunks as primary and duplicate does not merely represent a difference in names, but represents substantive differences between the two trunks. In the exemplary configuration of FIG. 1, the initiators I1 and I2 connected to S1 are able to communicate with devices connected to S2 (e.g. drive D1) through the trunks T1 and T2.
However, primary trunk T1 may fail (see 110 in FIG. 1) for a number of reasons. In conventional FC-AL switches, each FC-AL switch (switch S1 and S2 in the example of FIG. 1) responds to the failure independently. When hardware in S1 recognizes the failure, it enters a failover mode and initiates a failover event. Trunk failover and failback is the ability to redirect traffic from a failed trunk to a working trunk and/or back to the original primary trunk once it is re-established. Failover and fail back is managed and driven by an Application Programming Interface (API) 124, which is used to manage each of the switches independently in separate enclosures.
When the failover event is initiated, a bypass event occurs in which the cascade port 106 coupled to the trunk T1 is changed from an "inserted" state (i.e. device connected) to a "bypass" state (i.e. device not connected) according to FC protocols well-understood by those skilled in the art. The hardware in S1 also generates and sends an interrupt to the processor 108 connected to S1, which recognizes that T1 is no longer available but that duplicate trunk T2 exists, and reconfigures the switch to establish T2 as the primary trunk. The processor 108 then initiates a Loop Initialization process to all devices in the SAN 100 to initialize them. When devices receive the Loop Initialization Primitive (LIP) ordered sets at the start of the Loop Initialization cycle, they cease normal communications and enter an initialization state by sending specific ordered sets and frames out over the loop and actively reserving an address, which is necessary to establish subsequent normal communications with other devices on the loop. Normal communications may be resumed only when the Loop Initialization has completed and the participating devices have reserved a new address.
Because each switch is managed by a separate instance of the API, installed in separate enclosures, trunk failures and re-inserts between two enclosures may not be detected simultaneously by the APIs. As a result, failover and fail back may not take place simultaneously; instead, these often occur sequentially, separated by up to approximately 40 ms of time, depending on the rate at which firmware accesses the API. These sequential failover or fail back events cause multiple loop initializations to be triggered which can lead to multiple system issues.
If S1 recognizes the failure before S2, it is possible that the LIP ordered sets generated by S1 may cause all devices attached to S1 to be initialized before switch S2 recognizes the failure and enters a failover mode. However, because S2 has not yet recognized the failure and reconfigured itself to establish T2 as the primary trunk, when S1 tries to send LIP ordered sets down the duplicate trunk T2 (see 112 in FIG. 1), they will be blocked. (Note that duplicate trunks are not allowed to participate in loop initialization, and therefore block LIP primitives and loop initialization frames.) When S2 finally recognizes the failure and enters the failover mode, it reconfigures itself to establish T2 as the primary trunk, and may generate its own LIP ordered sets which causes all devices attached to S2 to be initialized. Furthermore, because S1 had already recognized the failure and had established T2 as the primary trunk, S2 is able to send LIP ordered sets up T2 (see 114 in FIG. 1), which results in the devices connected to S1 to be initialized a second time, a duplication of effort with respect to the devices connected to S1.
In the scenario described above, two independent failover events including multiple LIP ordered sets are generated. During a failover event, no data can be communicated between devices attached to the switches S1 and S2. This time period where no regular communication is possible is approximately the time difference between when the first switch recognized the failure and when the second switch recognized the failure (which is somewhat random and non-deterministic), plus the time it takes for Loop Initialization to complete in both switches, and may represent a potentially severe disruption to data communications.
Note that the possibility of multiple failover events caused by a trunk down event only occurs when the switches are FC-AL switches that act like hubs to connect the devices as though they were in a regular shared arbitrated loop, yet allow multiple switches to be cascaded using trunks. Multiple failover events are a side effect of the capability of the FC-AL switches, and occur because the devices connected to the switches were not designed to handle non-deterministic failover modes.
Therefore, there is a need to be able to synchronize and coordinate trunk failover and failback between the two FC-AL switches when a trunk failure occurs and the primary trunk designation is changed in order to minimize the disruption to data communications caused by multiple unnecessary loop initialization cycles.

Method for synchronized trunk failover and failback in a FC-AL switching environment

Emulex Design & Manufacturing Corporation


A motorized head supporting and positioning apparatus is disclosed, such as is useful for eye examination or treatment. The apparatus includes head-receiving supports, which can include a forehead rest and a chinrest, which can be linked by a single arm assembly. A main assembly of the apparatus contains a motor assembly, which can include three motors driven in a coupled manner to guide a head along a three-dimensional path at a speed that is comfortable to the patient. The apparatus can be relatively compact, owing at least in part to a pivoted approximate Z-axis movement along the optical axis. In addition to open-loop operation, the apparatus can be used with a tracking subsystem to achieve closed-loop positioning in real time, as well as to enable the activation of an examination/treatment instrument when the eye is brought within an acceptable tolerance of a desired position.

An apparatus for eye examination and treatment requires that a patient's eye be fixed in position with respect to the eye examination or treatment instrument. There is thus a need to initially and preliminarily position the patient head to approximately align the eye, and then to engage some fine adjustment to accurately align the selected eye (or both eyes) with the eye examination or treatment instrument.
Due to the fact that the head size and the relative position of the eye(s) with respect to the chin are different for different patients, it is necessary to adjust the head support to accommodate the various physical characteristics of a patient's head. Some prior art solutions are based on a relative positional adjustment of the chinrest with respect to the forehead rest, which could be followed by a positional adjustment of chinrest/forehead-rest assembly with respect to the eye examination/treatment instrument, or a positional adjustment of the eye examination/treatment instrument with respect to the assembly. Generally speaking, these movements are realized using manual adjustments (with the help of, for example, a joystick), which typically are inaccurate, repetitive, and time-consuming. Meanwhile, these movements also require a locking mechanism, or locking mechanisms, which typically require manual input from the operator to fix the relative position of the patient's head with respect to the instrument, which incurs more expense (see for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,594,072; 4,128,317; 4,139,280; 4,431,279; 4,790,647; 5,000,563; 5,125,731; 5,220,361; 5,907,387; 6,481,848; European Pat. No. EP 0054273; U.K. Patent No. 268,771; and PCT Pat. No. WO 01/49223, each of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference).
In spite of the fact that motorized movement may be more expensive, it can provide much better movement and positioning accuracy. At the same time, the need for locking the movable part(s) in position can be eliminated. When the motor stops at the correct position, the motor drive can be designed such that the movable part is locked in position. Existing references disclose such motorized movement, restricted to one- or two-dimensional movement of the patient support only (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,757 and Japanese Pat. No. JP11225958, hereby incorporated herein by reference), or to the three-dimensional movement of the eye examination/treatment instrument with respect to the chinrest/forehead rest assembly (see for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,475,075; 5,907,387; and 6,575,575, hereby incorporated herein by reference).
Motorized movement of the eye examination/treatment instrument is typically more costly than motorized movement of the chinrest or forehead rest, due to the fact that the eye examination/treatment instrument typically has a multitude of cables that need to be routed between the moving parts of the instrument. A motorized eye examination/treatment instrument is also significantly bulkier due to the internal space requirement to accommodate the relative movement of the components. Moreover, conventional motorized mechanical systems generally are not very compact.
A major issue associated with eye examination or treatment is that a patient generally cannot maintain his or her head pressed against the chinrest and forehead rest, and hence fixed in position for a long time, due to fatigue, anxiety, loss of concentration, and other reasons. In general, an operator has to repeatedly discern whether the patient head is in position, and has to repeatedly remind the patient to reposition his or her head. This practice can be bothersome for both the operator and the patient, such that a solution is desired. Previous solutions have proposed that a headband is used to force the patient to fix his or her head to rest against the chinrest/forehead-rest assembly. This is, of course, intimidating and uncomfortable for the patient and is hence generally not practiced. The most recent solution is the use of sensors to give off a signal when the patient's head is moved away from the chinrest or forehead-rest, thereby automatically and politely reminding the patient to move his or her head back in position (see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,387,952; 5,591,175; and PCT Pat. No. WO 00/13571, hereby incorporated herein by reference). One problem associated with these sensor based solutions is that, even though the patient is reminded to reposition his or her head back in contact with the chinrest and the forehead-rest, there is still no guarantee that his or her eye is in exactly the same original position as required.

Motorized patient support for eye examination or treatment