A method of retrieving security information in a media access control (MAC) header by a wireless station may include receiving a data unit, such as a protocol data unit (PDU), from a remote wireless station. The PDU may include the MAC header. The method may also include reading two encryption key sequence (EKS) bits in the MAC header that denote both whether the data unit is encrypted and a position in an encryption key sequence for the data unit.

Implementations of the claimed invention generally may relate to wireless communication, and in particular to security bits in media access control (MAC) headers.
Modern wireless data communication systems such as WiMAX, WiMAX-II, 3GPP LTE may be designed with security features included in their standard communication protocols. An example of this will be presented with regard to FIG. 1, which conceptually illustrates a wireless station (STA) 100, or communication module therein. STA 100 may be a base station (BS), a mobile station (MS), or some other type of node in a communication system or network. STA 100 may include a media access control (MAC) module 110, a physical layer (PHY) module 120, and an antenna 130. Although illustrated as separate module, MAC 110 and PHY 120 may in some implementations be implemented by the same processor and/or logic. Other typically present modules (e.g., higher communication layers) are purposely not illustrated for clarity of presentation, but may nonetheless be included in STA 100 if reasonably necessary for typical functionalities (e.g., features of a wireless protocol such as WiMAX, LTE, etc.) thereof.
MAC module 110 may generate data units, typically referred to as service data units when communicating with higher layers and protocol data units when communicating with lower layers (e.g., PHY module 120). One exemplary MAC data unit 140 is illustrated in FIG. 1, and it may include a MAC header 150, and optionally a payload and/or cyclic redundancy check (CRC). In some implementations, data unit 140 may be a MAC protocol data unit (MPDU), and header 150 may be a header thereof. Colloquially, header 150 may sometimes be referred to as a generic MAC header (GMH).
For security purposes, MAC header 150 typically may contain one encryption (EC) bit and two encryption key sequence (EKS) bits. The EC bit and the EKS bits need not be contiguous as long as they are in known positions in header 150. FIG. 2 illustrates possible state transitions of EC bit 210 and EKS bits 220. As is known, the state of EC bit 210 may indicate whether the payload of data unit 140 is encrypted or unencrypted (e.g., plaintext). In certain wireless protocols (e.g., WiMAX) there are overlapping encryption key updates, where while using one encryption key STA 100 may run a protocol to request the next encryption key in advance of receiving a data unit encrypted with such a key. EKS bits 220 may identify a current encryption key, and may also have directional state transitions (e.g., 00→01→10→11→00 as in FIG. 2) to enforce the forward application of new transient encryption keys (TEK) and to prevent old keys from being reused.
Because such thee bits of security information are transmitted for each data unit 140, however, it may contribute to the overhead of STA 100 and a corresponding reduction of bandwidth for any wireless system of which STA 100 is a part.

Optimizing security bits in a media access control (MAC) header


An image forming apparatus includes an image forming portion for forming an image, an image reading portion for reading an image, displaceable with respect to the image forming portion, and an open/closable member that can be opened or closed with respect to a main body of the image forming portion and displaced toward the image reading portion, wherein the displacement of the open/closable member is effected in relation to the displacement of the image reading portion. In this manner the open/closable member can be opened or closed by a simple operation, without increasing the dimension of the image forming apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and more particularly to an image forming apparatus of integrated type with an image forming portion and an image reading portion.
2. Related Background Art
An image forming apparatus utilizing for example an electrophotographic method is conventionally provided with an image forming portion for charging an electrophotographic photosensitive member (photosensitive member) serving as an image bearing member, executing an exposure according to image information to form an electrostatic image on the photosensitive member, developing the electrostatic image with a developer (toner) to obtain a developer image (toner image), then transferring the toner image onto a recording material and fixing it thereby forming a recorded image. Also there is widely popular an image forming apparatus (integrated apparatus) which is not only provided with such image forming portion functioning as a printer for forming an image in response to an image information signal transmitted from an external equipment but also which is provided with an image reading portion for optically reading image information of an original to provide an electrical signal thereby functioning as a copying machine for forming an image in the image forming portion according to image information read in the image reading portion or as a scanning apparatus for transmitting the information read in the image reading portion to an external equipment such as a host computer connected communicably with the image forming apparatus.
Also in the image forming apparatus utilizing the electrophotographic method, there is employed a process cartridge system in which a photosensitive member and process means acting on such photosensitive member are integrally constructed in a cartridge and such cartridge is detachably mounted on a main body of the apparatus. Such process cartridge system allows the maintenance of the apparatus to be executed not by a service personnel but by the user himself, thereby drastically improving the operability of the apparatus. For this reason, such process cartridge system is widely employed in the image forming apparatus. It is also known to construct a developing apparatus for developing the electrostatic image forming on the photosensitive member as an independent unit (developing cartridge) detachably mountable on the main body of the apparatus.
In a small-sized or medium-sized integrated apparatus provided for example with an image reading portion above an image forming portion and with a recording material discharging portion between the image forming portion and the image reading portion, there is required a configuration allowing to open the interior of the image forming portion for handling trouble in the image forming portion or performing maintenance work such as cleaning of the interior or a replacement of consumable part (replacement part) such as the cartridge.
There is generally employed a system in which the image reading portion is made to slide in a translational movement (lateral direction) with respect to the image forming portion provided thereunder, thereby opening the interior of the image forming portion.
However, in case the image reading portion slides in a translational movement with respect to the image forming portion, it is necessary to provide rail members, bearings etc. for slidably supporting the heavy image reading portion, thereby resulting in an increase in the number of components. Also the parallel sliding of the image reading portion relative to the image forming portion increases the area occupied by the main body of the apparatus, thereby requiring a large footprint for installation.
For this reason, there is employed a system of securing a space between the image forming portion and the fixed image reading portion positioned above the image forming portion, and opening an upper cover member provided on the image forming portion thereby opening the interior of the image forming portion.
However, in order to enable access to the interior of the image forming portion by securing a space between the image forming portion and the fixed image reading portion positioned above the image forming portion, and opening the upper cover member provided on the image forming portion, it is necessary to form a sufficiently large aperture between the image forming portion and the image reading portion, whereby the height of the apparatus has to be increased, thereby resulting in drawbacks of an increased height of the copy board of the image reading portion, a deterioration in the operability and an increase in the dimension of the main body of the apparatus.


A range cook top is provided with circular heating zones having a layer of resistive thin film thereon. Slots in the cook top separate the heating zones from the surrounding areas of the cook top. Tongues of cook top material interrupt the slots and support the heating zones. The slots have beveled or stepped edges and beveled or stepped plastic inserts fill the slots to provide a smooth cook top. Sealer also fills the slots. The resistive layer in the heating zone is divided into arcuate segments by insulating partitions. Power supply bus bars are disposed around the outside edge of the resistive layer. A common bus bar interconnects the segments at the inner edges. A dual heater has separately controlled inner and outer resistive layers.

This invention relates generally to the field of heating and cooking and specifically to a resistance heater.
Electrical resistance heating films are used in various applications. Typically, the resistive film is applied on a substrate, which may provide a heating surface or may be the surface to be heated. A controlled voltage or current is applied to the film to effect the creation of heat energy. Examples of film heaters and controllers therefor are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,233,497 to Lowell, U.S. Pat. No. 4,384,192 to Lowell, U.S. Pat. No. 4,973,826 to Baudry, U.S. Pat. No. 5,160,830 to Kicherer and U.S. Pat. No. 5,616,266 to Cooper.
Range cook tops for cooking food use electric heaters. It is desirable to provide a durable surface for supporting objects so that the objects can be heated efficiently and reliably. Heating of the surface should be limited to a desired area.

Circular film heater and porcelain enamel cooktop


An engine stop control device which is capable of stopping an engine without imparting an unpleasant sensation to the driver is provided. The device includes a fuel injection device for supplying fuel, an intake air amount adjustment device for adjusting an amount of intake air, an accessory controller for controlling operation of an accessory, a fuel injection controller for controlling a fuel injection amount from the fuel injection device, and an engine stop switch. When the engine stop switch is operated, driving of the accessory is stopped by the accessory controller, and the intake air is throttled by the intake air amount adjustment device, and further, when the engine rotational speed rises due to stoppage of the accessory, the engine is stopped while the fuel injection amount of the fuel injection device is controlled by the fuel injection controller such that the engine runs at a predetermined rotational speed.

Heretofore the following control systems for stopping an engine are known:
(1) The engine is made to stop by cutting fuel to the combustion chamber.
(2) The engine is made to stop by cutting air to the combustion chamber.
(3) The engine is made to stop by cutting both fuel and air to the combustion chamber.
(4) The engine is made to stop by cutting air to the combustion chamber while gradually reducing fuel to the combustion chamber.
Further, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-41072, in an automatic engine stop control, it is proposed to reduce shocks by gradually lowering engine torque.


A user apparatus communicating with a base station in a radio communication system including the base station and the user apparatus includes a first receiving unit to receive multiple first reference signals transmitted from the base station; a detection unit to detect a specific antenna port via which the plurality of first reference signals is received, or a specific directivity pattern, among a plurality of directivity patterns generated by a plurality of antenna ports, in which the plurality of first reference signals are received; a measuring unit to measure reception power of each of the first reference signals; and a transmission unit to group the reception power of each of the first reference signals into one of groups of the specific antenna port and the specific directivity pattern via which the first reference signals are received to transmit the groups of the reception power to the base station.

In LTE/LTE-Advanced, MIMO (multiple-input and multiple-output) technology that increases system capacity, cell edge user throughput, and the like is employed. In addition, a heterogeneous network technology that achieves high quality communication by reducing intercell interference while mixing different types of base stations (macrocells, small cells, etc.) has been studied.
Specifically, it is assumed that high frequency bands are used in small cells in heterogeneous networks. Note that propagation loss increases in high frequency bands. Hence, in order to compensate for such a propagation loss increase, application of massive MIMO that performs beam forming with a narrow beam width has been studied. In addition, massive MIMO has attracted attention as element technology in Fifth generation (5G) radio technology.
Massive MIMO is a large-scale MIMO with a large number (e.g., 100 elements) of antennas installed on the base station, which enables strength of the electric field to concentrate in a narrow area to reduce interference between users as a result.

User apparatus, base station, and communication method


A data reproducing method for reproducing data, upon an optical disk of rewritable type, having an alternated block management area, a data area, on which recording/reproducing of the information is conducted by a unit of block, and an alternation area, on which recording/reproducing of information including a defective sector therein is conducted by the unit of block, through an information recording/reproducing apparatus enabling to execute Read Modify Write operation thereon, comprising the following steps of, in case where said alternation areas are in a plural number thereof when executing Read Modify Write operation onto said optical disk of rewritable type: executing reproducing on said data area including the defective sector therein, by only one (1) time; executing reproducing on said alternation area, thereafter, so as to hold data reproduced; and thereby reproducing the data. With this, it is possible to increase speed (i.e., speedup) in the reproducing time thereof, in total, but without necessary of reproducing operation upon the data area by a plural number of times.

The present invention relates to an information recording/reproducing apparatus and a data reproducing method thereof, for enabling an alternation process of a defective sector in the recording operation, which is called by "read modify write", in particular, within recording onto an information recording medium, which enables recording with high density, such as, DVD, etc., as well as, an optical disk thereof, and in particular, it relates to a technology for achieving a reproducing process of an alternation block within such the apparatus.
An optical disk of being so-called a disc-like optical information recording medium, such as, DVD or the like, for example, is used widely as an information recording medium of being non-contact, a large memory capacity and a low cost, and also of enabling data access at high speed, for example, for the purpose of recording/reproducing digital audio data and/or digital video data, and further as an information recording medium for recording data of a personal computer.
In recent years, developments and researches are made actively, in particular, on the information recording medium, such as, DVD, etc., being characterized by high-density recording, and with such the information recording medium, i.e., the optical disk, there is defined an ECC (Error Correction Code) block by an assembly of a predetermined number of sector fields, for the purpose of securing a reliability of data recorded when recording the data on the recording surface thereof. However, in case when recording the data, which does not fulfill the ECC block, on such the information recording medium, readout to made on the ECC block, including a target sector field therein where the recording should be made, so as to substitute or alter write data from a host computer, for example, for the predetermined bytes of the target sector, and thereby recording them onto the original block, again. Such operation for recording is made by a unit of the sector field, and generally, it is called by "Read Modify Write".
On the other hand, differing from such the recording operation that is called by the "Read Modify Write" mentioned above, however, the following Patent Document 1, for example, discloses therein a technology for conducting reproduction of the data area or region after reproduction of the sectors within an alternation area or region, under the regulation or standard of Mt. Rainer. Also, the following Patent Document 2 discloses therein a technology for seeking into a sector within the alternation region, so as to reproduce the data corresponding to the defective sectors, after reproducing the sectors of the data requested, from the top to the end, including the defective sectors therein. Further, the following Patent Document 3 discloses therein a technology for reproducing data of the alternation sectors to be written into a buffer RAM when mounting a disk, and for reproducing thereof but skipping the sectors alternated or substituted when reproducing the data therefrom.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2004-303345 (2004);
[Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2004-171603 (2004); and
[Patent Document 3] Japanese Patent No. 3254340

Information recording/reproducing apparatus and a data reproducing method thereof, as well as an optical disk thereof


Improving the endurance of the beads (1) of a radial tire for a civil-engineering heavy vehicle by proposing a solution which blocks the propagation of the cracks initiated in the coating elastomer of the bead reinforcing layer (5), by inserting a cushion rubber (6) interposed between the coating elastomer of the carcass layer turn-up (312) and the coating elastomer of the bead reinforcing layer (5). The elastic modulus in extension of the cushion rubber (6) measured at 100% deformation must be less than the elastic modulus of the coating compound of the carcass layer. Still according to a disclosed embodiment, the thickness of the cushion rubber (6) is at least equal to the thickness of the bead reinforcing layer (5).

Although not restricted to this type of application, the invention will be more particularly described with reference to a radial tire intended to be mounted on a dumper, a vehicle for transporting materials extracted from quarries or open cast mines. The nominal diameter of the rim of such a tire, within the meaning of the European Tire and Rim Technical Organisation (ETRTO) standard, is a minimum of 25 inches.
The following definitions apply in what follows:                "Meridian plane": a plane containing the axis of rotation of the tire.        "Equatorial plane": the plane passing through the middle of the tire tread surface and perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the tire.        "Radial direction": a direction perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the tire.        "Axial direction": a direction parallel to the axis of rotation of the tire.        "Circumferential direction": a direction perpendicular to a meridian plane.        "Radial distance": a distance measured perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the tire and from the axis of rotation of the tire.        "Axial distance": a distance measured parallel to the axis of rotation of the tire and from the equatorial plane.        "Radially": in a radial direction.        "Axially": in an axial direction.        "Radially on the inside, or respectively radially on the outside": which is situated at a smaller or greater radial distance, respectively.        "Axially on the inside, or respectively axially on the outside": which is situated at a smaller or greater axial distance, respectively.
A tire comprises two beads which provide the mechanical connection between the tire and the rim on which it is mounted, the beads being joined respectively by two sidewalls to a tread intended to come into contact with the ground via a tread surface.
A radial tire more particularly comprises a reinforcement comprising a crown reinforcement radially on the inside of the tread and a carcass reinforcement radially on the inside of the crown reinforcement.
The carcass reinforcement of a radial tire for a civil-engineering heavy vehicle comprises at least one carcass layer made up of metallic reinforcing elements coated with an elastomeric coating material, most often a single carcass layer. In what follows, the carcass reinforcement is assumed to be made up of a single carcass layer. The metallic reinforcing elements of a carcass layer are substantially parallel to one another and form, with the circumferential direction, an angle of between 85° and 95°. The carcass layer comprises a main part connecting the two beads to one another and wrapping, in each bead, around a bead wire core. The bead wire core comprises a circumferential reinforcing element, usually made of metal, surrounded by at least one material, which, and this list is not exhaustive, may be made of polymer or textile. The wrapping of the carcass layer around the bead wire core goes from the inside to the outside of the tire to form a carcass layer turn-up, comprising a free end. The carcass layer turn-up, in each bead, allows the carcass layer to be anchored to the bead wire core of the bead.
Each bead comprises a filler element which extends the bead wire core radially outwards. The filler element has, in every meridian plane, a substantially triangular cross section and is made up of at least one elastomeric filler material. The filler element may be made up of a stack in the radial direction of at least two elastomeric filler materials which are in contact along a contact surface that intersects any meridian plane along a meridian line. The filler element axially separates the main carcass layer part and the carcass layer turn-up.
Each bead also comprises a protection element radially inwardly extending the sidewall and axially on the outside of the carcass layer turn-up. The protection element is also at least partially in contact via its axially outer face with the flange of the rim. The protection element is made up of at least one elastomeric protection material.
Each bead finally comprises a filling element axially on the inside of the sidewall and of the protection element and axially on the outside of the carcass layer turn-up. The filling element is made up of at least one elastomeric filling material.
To improve the endurance of the bead, it is usual practice to add a reinforcing layer which is at least partially in contact with the carcass layer turn-up. Said reinforcing layer is made up of reinforcers coated in an elastomeric compound and forms, with the radial direction (ZZ′), an angle at most equal to 45°.
An elastomeric material, after curing, is mechanically characterized by tensile stress-deformation characteristics which are determined by tensile testing. This tensile testing is carried out by a person skilled in the art, on a test specimen, according to a known method, for example in accordance with international standard ISO 37, and under standard temperature (23+ or −2° C.) and moisture (50+ or −5% relative humidity) conditions defined by international standard ISO 471. The elastic modulus at 100% elongation of an elastomeric compound, expressed in megapascals (MPa), is the name given to the tensile stress measured for a 100% elongation of the test specimen.
An elastomeric material, after curing, is also mechanically characterized by its hardness. The hardness is notably defined by the Shore A hardness determined in accordance with standard ASTM D 2240-86.
When the vehicle is being driven along, the tire, mounted on its rim, inflated and compressed under the load of the vehicle, is subjected to bending cycles, particularly in its beads and its sidewalls.
The bending cycles cause shear and compression stresses and deformations, in the elastomeric coating and filling materials, on the axially outer face of the carcass layer turn-up on account of the bending of the bead on the rim flange.
This mechanical loading on the bead is the cause of initiation of cracks in the coating elastomer of the reinforcing layer of the carcass reinforcement opposite the heel of the bead. These cracks propagate towards the protection element which is in contact with the rim, causing damage to the tire.

Bead for a tire for a civil-engineering heavy vehicle

COMPAGNIE GENERALE DES ETABLISSEMENTS MICHELIN


Components for use in hollow organ irrigation systems are provided, including collapsible and expandable liquid reservoirs, self-supporting liquid containers for liquid reservoirs, and retaining elements for rectal catheters, which may be inflatable or un-inflatable.

Hollow organ irrigation is a process by which an individual introduces an irrigant fluid into a hollow organ, such as, for example, the rectum, colon or other sections of the intestines. Trans-anal irrigation ("TAI") is an exemplary hollow organ irrigation process used by individuals who have bowel management issues, such as incontinence, constipation, or other neurogenic bowel dysfunction (NBD). Alternatively, TAI may be used for regular bowel evacuations by individuals who are incapacitated due to illness or other medical conditions or injuries (such as spinal cord injury) and thus lack the mobility to access a toilet. During TAI, water or other lavage liquid is introduced into the rectum and colon through a device positioned in the anus so that feces are flushed and evacuated. This creates pseudo-continence for the patient/user. Furthermore, individuals that are bedridden may develop fecal impaction. Such bowel obstructions may be removed via TAI.
Systems for performing TAI currently on the market allow the user to introduce water into the bowel through a rectal catheter while the user sits on a toilet or a commode/shower chair or lies in a bed. The user introduces an amount of water or other liquid into the bowel (typically 500-700 mL) in order to flush out stool located in the bowel passage. The user typically introduces the water, waits for a period of time and then allows gravity to flush the water and stool out of the body. The rectal catheter may have a retention member such as an inflatable/deflatable balloon or cuff to assist in retention of the catheter during water introduction.
TAI is merely one exemplary type of hollow organ/cavity irrigation, with other examples involving the introduction of an irrigant fluid into other hollow organs (e.g., the stomach and/or intestines) via other bodily openings, including a surgically created opening or stoma. For hollow organ irrigation users, independence, dexterity, and ease of use are important needs that must be addressed by hollow organ irrigation systems and methods.


An electronic lock utilizes two microprocessors remote from each other for enhanced security. The first microprocessor is disposed close to an input device such as a keypad, and the second microprocessor is disposed close to the lock mechanism and well protected from external access. The first microprocessor transmits a communication code to the second microprocessor when it receives via the input device an access code that matches a preset access code. The second microprocessor opens the lock if the transmitted communication code matches a preset communication code. The dual-microprocessor arrangement is advantageously used in a voice controlled access control system and in a motorcycle ignition control system. The present invention further provides an electronic access control system which has a master electronic key having a preset number of access, and an electronic alarm system for a bicycle that has a remote control mounted in the helmet of the rider.

An electronic access control device, such as an electronic combination lock or an electronic alarm system, allows the user to activate or deactivate the access control without the use of the conventional key and mechanical lock mechanism. With the development of microprocessor integrated circuits, it is becoming common to implement microprocessor-based control circuitry in electronic access control devices. Electronic access control devices are known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 5,021,776. In this device, and other common electronic access control devices, a microprocessor is used in combination with a keypad and an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM). The microprocessor compares the combination entered in the keypad by the operator with the combination stored in the EPROM. If the two combinations match, the microprocessor opens the lock.
There are problems associated with previous electronic access control devices. One area of problems concerns the manufacture of the devices, including the difficulty in programming the non-volatile memory, such as the EPROM, for storing the access code and other useful information for the operation of the device. EPROMs, which usually require parallel programming, interrupt the manufacturing process in that they restrict when the manufacturer can program the device. A manufacturer would prefer to program the access code into the EPROM as the last step in the manufacturing process. However, with parallel EPROMs, burning in the code after the device has manufactured is difficult. After the device is soldered together, the manufacturer must contend with integrated circuit pin clips and must worry about interference with other circuitry on the manufactured device. Further, manufacturing, with known electronic access control devices, requires many pin connections which increase manufacturing cost.
Related to the problems associated with the pin connections of the microprocessor integrated circuit (IC) is the concern of device reliability and ease of use. When the device contains a significant number of pin connections, the reliability of the device decreases. Further, serial access to the EPROM to determine the electronic access code is easier than parallel access in terms of pin connections. When the user forgets or loses the access code in the EPROM, a locksmith could plug into the device and retrieve the access code serially without breaking into the safe. However, with parallel EPROMs, serial access is not available.
One common problem associated with previous electronic locks is their potential vulnerability to tampering. A conventional electronic lock receives an access code via an input device such as a keypad or electronic key reader, verifies the access code, and then energizes a solenoid, relay, motor, or the like to open the lock. This arrangement is vulnerable to tampering because if the control circuit is somehow broken in or removed, one can open the lock by "hot-wiring" the control lines for activating the lock-opening mechanism.
Another technically challenging problem is related to the need to provide electrical energy to power the operation of the electronic access control device. For many applications, it is desirable to use a portable energy source, such as a battery, to power the access control device. A battery, however, has a rather limited amount of electrical energy stored therein. Thus, it is extremely important to reduce the power consumption of the control circuit and peripheral devices of the access control device to extend the service life of the batteries.
For instance, it is typical to use a solenoid-operated lock in an electronic lock. The power consumed by the solenoid in opening the lock is quite significant. Thus, the battery can be rapidly drained by the repeated operation of the solenoid. As another example, it is common to include a low-battery detection circuit in an electronic lock to provide a warning signal to the user when the battery voltage falls below a predetermined level. The operation of the low-battery detection circuit, however, also consumes electrical energy and contributes to the draining of the battery.
Some electronic locks are provided with electronic keys. When an electronic key is presented to a key reader of an associated electronic lock, it transmits an access code to the electronic lock. By using an electronic key, the user does not have to enter manually the access code by means of a keypad. In certain applications, a remote control unit is used which has a radio transmitter to send the access code to the lock without direct electrical contact with the electronic lock.
Although electronic keys are a convenient feature, they have their associated problems. One problem is related to the unauthorized use of the keys. For example, many hotels provide safes equipped with electronic locks in their hotel rooms. Such safes typically allow the hotel guests to set their own access codes. In cases where the hotel guests forget the access codes they set, the hotel management has to send someone with a master key which has a master access code stored therein to open the safes. There is a danger that such a master key may be used for unauthorized opening of other safes in the hotel.
Another problem associated with the use of an electronic key or a wireless access code transmitter is that the key or the transmitter may be lost easily, or the user may simply forget to bring the key or transmitter. This problem is especially serious if the electronic access control device does not provide other means, such as a keypad, for entering the access code.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


The invention is based on the discovery that the presence of a discordant helix in a protein or peptide is predictive of that protein or peptide's ability to form amyloid. The invention includes methods for detecting discordant helices and methods of screening for compounds that stabilize the α-helix of a discordant helix-containing polypeptide. Compounds discovered using these methods are useful for treating or preventing disorders in which amyloid is produced. Such disorders include Alzheimer's disease and prion-associated disorders.

Alzheimer's disease and spongiform encephalopathies are examples of conditions in which specific proteins transform from their native states into bundles of ordered fibrils termed amyloid. Protein concentration, point mutations, and solvent composition influence fibril formation, but a structural feature unique to amyloid-forming protein has not been detected.
Amyloid fibrils can be formed from different proteins. They are associated with neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and the prion diseases (e.g., Creutzfeld-Jakob disease in humans, scrapie in sheep, and bovine spongiform encephalopathy), as well as other organ-specific and systemic amyloidoses (The Merck Manual, 16th ed., Merck Research Laboratories, Rahway, N.J., 1992, pp. 1052-1053; Kelly, 1996, Curr. Op. Struct. Biol. 6:11-17). The proteins involved in forming amyloid are constitutively present in a soluble state, but form insoluble aggregates under certain conditions (Chiti et al., 1999, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96:3590-3594). There are no obvious common properties in amino acid sequence, three dimensional structure, or function among the approximately 20 proteins that are known to be specifically associated with amyloid diseases (Sipe, 1992, Annu. Rev. Biochem. 61:947-975). In spite of the differences in native structures, the amyloid fibrils are similar, irrespective of the protein from which they originate (Dobson, 1999, TIBS 24:329-332). Amyloid fibrils are built up from a cross-β-scaffold, with β-strands perpendicular and β-sheets parallel to the fiber axis.
Amyloid diseases mostly occur without known precipitating factors (Lansbury, 1999, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96:3342-3344). Destabilizing point mutations can cause fibril formation of an otherwise stable protein, e.g., in lysozyme (Booth et al., 1997, Nature 385:787-793), but point mutations related to inherited forms of human prion diseases do not induce PrPSc (the disease-associated form of a prion) in vitro and are not generally destabilizing (Liemann et al., 1999, Biochemistry 38:3258-3267). The so-called Aβ (e.g., 142 residue) peptide associated with Alzheimer's disease is highly fibrillogenic, while peptides lacking residues 14-23 are not (Tjernberg et al., 1999, J. Biol. Chem. 274:12619-12625).

Discordant helix stabilization for prevention of amyloid formation


A multi-purpose golf tool having a round recess with a surrounding wall. A magnetic post in the center of the recess holds a round metallic ball marker in the recess. By pushing down on one edge of the marker an opposite edge is lifted up over the adjacent wall and the marker can be slid forward off of the tool body into a ball marking position. A ribbed or jagged front edge allows the tool to fit into and clean golf club grooves. A pair of elongate rearwardly-extending elongate prongs are uniquely dimensioned and configured to function as both a turf repair tool and as a cleat or spike wrench.

The present invention relates to golf tools and accessories and more particularly to golf tools having multiple applications and constructed in a single compact apparatus, and to methods of using same.
Numerous different golfers tools have been developed over the years to help the golfer with different activities experienced during golfing play. While some of the tools have only one function, others have multiple functions. The functions can include ball marker holder, club groove cleaner, cleat wrench, cigarette holder, golf club rest, knife and so forth. Examples of some of the prior golf tools are shown in the following patents (each of whose entire disclosure is hereby incorporated by reference): U.S. Pat. Nos. Des. 218,836 (Watanabe), Des. 237,516 (Yaudes), Des. 247,686 (Desjardins), Des. 285,233 (Owen), Des. 290,985 (Dikoff) and Des. 361,815 (Fazekas); and 3,049,182 (Pelow), 3,203,700 (Antonious), 3,744,542 (Stephens et al.), 3,774,913 (Dien), 3,763,515 (Voss), 4,063,731 (Kitay), 4,315,624 (Buckman) and 4,535,987 (Dikoff).
No golf tool has been designed, however, which provides for multiple functions to be conducted efficiently with a simple compact and attractive construction.


A modular bicycle and board apparatus having a buoyant board, a front wheel, a rear wheel and handlebars mountable and usable in a first configuration as a bicycle in which the buoyant board is the bicycle's frame and in a second configuration as a surfboard by changing the orientation of the front wheel and handlebars with 90 degrees with respect to the buoyant board, the surfboard being steerable from the handlebars.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to electric vehicles and more specifically to electric bicycles and boards for use in water.
2. Description of the Related Art
Paddle boards, boogie boards, and the like are popular for recreational activities in the water. Some people may also like to use bicycles to get to the water. However, it may be difficult to transport a paddle board, boogie board, or other equipment when traveling on a bicycle. When reaching a body of water, the bicycle may need to be locked up while using the paddle board or boogie board in the water. If it is desired to take the bicycle onto the water, some floatation systems may be available, but it is not possible to use the bicycle as an apparatus for paddle boarding or other similar recreational water activities. Thus, there is a need for a more convenient way to travel to the water and transport equipment for recreation in the water. There is also a need for a way to use the same equipment on land and water, decreasing the amount of equipment that must be carried, stored, or transported.
The problems and the associated solutions presented in this section could be or could have been pursued, but they are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches presented in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their presence in this section of the application.

Convertible electric bike and board apparatus


A MC-CDMA transmitter and an MC-CDMA receiver are provided, which use a novel orthogonal spreading code that allows an effect by a delay wave to appear in only a specific user. An MC-CDMA system includes: a transmitter which multiplies a transmitting signal by a sinusoidal signal which has an amplitude of r and is orthogonal as a result that the frequency periods are different among users, in a frequency domain to be spread and split into orthogonal sub-carriers, and multiplexes the sub-carriers; and a receiver for receiving a transmitting signal from the transmitter in a manner that a sinusoidal signal, which has an amplitude of r and is orthogonal as a result that the frequency periods are different among users, is multiplied by the transmitting signal in a frequency domain, and the resultant is inversely spread.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transmitter and a receiver, which are used for an MC-CDMA system based on a multi-carrier CDMA (hereinafter referred to as MC-CDMA) method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a mobile radio communication, attention is focused, as an ultra-high speed radio access technology in a frequency selectivity fading environment, to the MC-CDMA system which results from the merging of the OFDM method and the CDMA method. This system is a system in which to transmit a transmitting signal, it is multiplied by the code sequence, proper to each user, in a frequency domain to be spread and split into a plurality of subcarriers (see "Application of OFDM Modulation Method", written by Wataru Matsumoto and Hideki Ochiai, Triceps Corporation, 2001).
A conventional configuration containing a transmitter and a receiver in this system is shown in FIG. 4.
In FIG. 4, d(k) represents the data of a user k. At this time point, the data is digital data. Each QPSK modulator part receives data of 2 bits and output the data in a form of one symbol. Each copy part copies the data by a spreading ratio on the frequency axis. L represents spreading ratio. The copying operation is performed the number of times corresponding to the number of spreading codes. Cm, k represents a spreading code of the m-th subcarrier of a k-th user. The spreading code used is the Walsh spreading code shown in FIG. 1. Cm, k indicates a spreading code at the m row and the k column in FIG. 1. Each multiplexing part multiplexes spreaded signal of users. A pilot symbol insertion part inserts a pilot symbol for checking conditions of a propagation path in a demodulator side to the output signal from the multiplexing part. Generally, when transmission data is restored into its original data, even if the process in the transmission side is reversely executed, the data is not restored to the original one since the data has undergone the delay and the fading phenamenon. To cope with this, a known pilot symbol is inserted, and the receiving side estimates conditions of the propagation path on the basis of the pilot symbol received. And, the receiving side demodulates the receiving data by using the estimated information (the delay profile and the frequency response of the propagation path). An IFF (Inverse Fast Fourier Transform) part performs the IFFT to convert the frequency spectrum to a time signal. A guard interval addition part is provided for taking a measure for delay waves, and prevents the previous symbol from entering the sample when the demodulation side performs the FFT (fast Fourier transform). With provision of the guard interval, when delay occurs, the trailing part of a signal is located at the leading part of the signal. From this, it is recognized that the signal has been cyclically shifted by the delay. In the receiving side, the guard interval addition part removes the guard interval from the receiving data and executes the FFT process to converts the time signal to the frequency spectrum. The receiver extracts the pilot symbol for estimation from the spectrum, and a propagation path estimation part estimates a frequency response hm of the propagation path on the basis of the extracted pilot symbol and a reception pilot symbol. Then, a weight factor computing part weights a spreading code Cm, k and frequency response hm, to obtain the k-th user and a weighting factor Gk, m of the m-th subcarrier, and to convert one symbol that is input in the QPSK modulator part into 2-bit data.
In the MC-CDMA system thus constructed, the Walsh code has been used for the spreading code. Where such a spreading signal is used, however, when it receives the influence of the delay wave, the spreading codes of the users lose their orthogonality. Its influence affects plural users, and the error rate characteristic is deteriorated. To cope with this, there are proposed an orthogonality restoring combining (ORC) method which uses for composition the weight factors at the time of demodulation, and a minimum mean square error combining (MMSEC) method. And it is confirmed that those proposals are effective for the measure  (see, N. Yee, and J P. Linnartz," Controlled Equalization of Multicarrier CDMA In Indoor Rician Fading Channel", "Proc. IEEE VTC" 94, pp. 1665-1669, 1994; A. Chouly, A. Brajal, and S. Jourdan, "Orthogonal multicarrier techniques applied to direct sequence spread spectrum CDMA systems," Proc. IEEE GLOBECOM, '93, pp 1723-1728, September 1999; and S. Hara and R. Prasad, "Design and Performance of Multicarrier CDMA systems in Frequency-Selective Rayleigh Fading Channels", "IEEE Trans. Veh. Technol., Vol. 48, pp 1584-1595, September 1999).
Also in such methods, however, in case where the multiplex number increases, it is impossible to completely keep orthogonality, and the BER characteristic is deteriorated by the inter-channel interference.

MC-CDMA system, transmitter and receiver


Thermoplastic monofilament sutures having improved flexibility and handling characteristics are obtained by a melt spinning process which includes the step of drawing the filaments in a heated zone maintained at a temperature above the melting temperature of the filament. The resulting monofilament sutures have a higher elongation and lower modulus than comparable monofilament sutures obtained without the heated drawing step, and are characterized by a crystalline structure which is more highly ordered in the core of the monofilament suture than in a surrounding annular area.

Monofilaments are prepared from many different thermoplastic polymers for a variety of industrial and professional applications. The physical properties of such monofilaments, such as tensile strength, elongation and modulus, depend on the particular polymer composition and on the method of manufacture. It is known, for example, that melt spun nylon and polyethylene terephthalate polymers produce monofilaments of higher tenacity than, for example, the polyolefins, and that the tenacity of such monofilaments is increased while elongation is decreased by drawing the filaments under conditions to increase molecular orientation.
The use of thermoplastic monofilaments as surgical sutures is well established. Monofilament sutures formed of isotactic polypropylene are described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,630,205, and monofilament sutures of poly-dioxanone are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,052,988.
Copolymers of p-dioxanone and glycolide useful in preparing monofilament sutures are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,635,497, while sutures comprising poly [tetramethylene terephthalate-co-(alkenyl or alkyl) succinate] are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,388,426. Other polymers suggested for use as synthetic absorbable sutures are disclosed in the literature and are well-known to those skilled in the art.
It is generally desirable for surgical sutures to Posses high tenacity (greater than 50,000 psi), low to moderate elongation (from 20-60%), and low modulus (less than 500,000 psi). Low modulus values signify a high degree of filament flexibility and limpness as opposed to a stiff, wiry material, a particularly desirable and even essential feature of a surgical suture. U.S. Pat. No. 3,630,205 describes a process whereby the flexibility of polypropylene sutures may be improved with little sacrifice in tensile strength by stretching the monofilament about 6.6.times. under controlled conditions and then relaxing to 76-91% of the stretched length.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,246,904 describes a surgical suture prepared from a segmented polyether-ester block copolymer which is reported to have excellent strength and flexibility compared to prior art monofilament sutures. The sutures of poly(p-dioxane) described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,052,988 are also characterized as possessing good tensile and knot strength and a high level of flexibility and softness.
The desirability of suture flexibility and softness as indicated by low modulus values is well recognized by the surgical profession and is a physical property constantly sought after in connection with the development of new surgical suture products. Some suture materials, such polylactide, polyglycolide, and copolymers of lactide and glycolide are generally considered to be too stiff and wiry to be used as monofilaments in all but the smallest suture sizes, and have found commercial acceptance in the larger sizes only as braided sutures, which are more flexible by virtue of their physical construction.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a process whereby monofilament sutures having improved softness and flexibility may be prepared. It is a further object of this invention to provide a process for reducing the modulus of existing monofilament suture materials with little or no loss of tensile strength. It is yet a further object of this invention to provide improved surgical monofilament sutures of poly(p-dioxanone) and other suitable polymeric materials characterized by reduced values of Young's modulus. A further object of this invention is to provide a method whereby the surface characteristics of thermoplastic suture monofilaments may be modified to enhance the properties of such suture monofilaments, particularly surface smoothness and integrity. These and other objects will be apparent from the ensuing description and claims.

Thermal treatment of theraplastic filaments for the preparation of surgical sutures


A solar cell includes a first semiconductor region of a P type, a second semiconductor region of an N type in contact with the first semiconductor region so as to form a PN junction therebetween, and a third semiconductor region of a P.sup.+ type in contact with both the first and second semiconductor regions and having a higher impurity concentration than that of the first semiconductor region.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to solar cells and, more particularly, to a solar cell which enables prevention of an accident caused by a reverse bias voltage generated, for example, when a solar cell module is shaded.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 12 is a top plan view showing a typical example of a solar cell of the prior art; FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 13--13' of FIG. 12; and FIG. 14 is a bottom view of the solar cell of FIG. 12. As can be seen in FIGS. 12, 13, and 14, a light receiving surface of the solar cell is coated with a transparent anti-reflection film 8. Comb tooth or grid-like from electrodes 7 are provided beneath the anti-reflection film 8. One end of each of the from electrodes 7 is connected to an electrode connecting portion 5 which is a so-called bus bar or contact electrode. Further, the solar cell includes a P type region 1 occupying a large part of a silicon substrate, an N type region 2 formed on an upper side surface of the P type region 1, and a P.sup.+ region 3 for a BSF (back surface field) effect, foraged on a lower side surface of the P type region 1. A back electrode 6 is provided to cover approximately the entire lower side surface of the P.sup.+ region 3.
The solar cell of FIG. 13 can be manufactured, for example, by the following process:
First, a P type silicon substrate 1 shown in FIG. 15A is prepared.
With reference to FIG. 15B, a P.sup.+ region 3 is formed by diffusion into the overall surface area of the P type silicon substrate 1 of FIG. 15A.
Referring to FIG. 15C, the P.sup.+ region 3 on the upper surface of the silicon substrate 1 is then removed by etching.
After that, an N type region 2 is formed on the upper surface of the P type silicon substrate 1 as shown in FIG. 15D.
With reference to FIG. 15E, comb tooth-like front electrodes 7 (not shown) and an electrode connecting portion 5 are formed on the N type region 2. At least the N type region 2 is coated with an anti-reflection film 8. A back electrode 6 is provided on the lower surface of the P.sup.+ region 3. With the resultant structure cut along the broken lines indicated on opposite sides of FIG. 15E, the solar cell shown in FIG. 13 is obtained.
It is rare that the solar cell shown in FIG. 12 is used alone. Normally, in order to obtain a desired output voltage and current, a solar cell module M in which a plurality of solar cells are connected in series and in parallel is formed, as shown in FIG. 16A.
When the solar cell module M is in practical use, a part of the module M is sometimes shaded. In the case with a solar cell module M for use in space, it is possible that the shadow of a part of a main body of a satellite or the shadow of a structure such as an antenna is cast on the solar cell module M during, for example, attitude control of the satellite. Further, in the case with a solar cell module M for terrestrial use, it sometimes happens that the shadows of trees or buildings are cast on the solar cell module M and that droppings of birds obscure part(s) of the solar cell module M.
Referring to FIGS. 16A and 16B, solar cell module M in which some of the solar cells are shaded is illustrated. That is, a shadow is cast on a submodule 10 including a plurality of solar cells arranged in parallel. With reference to FIG. 16A, a voltage V.sub.11 generated from another submodule 11 which unshaded is applied as a reverse bias voltage to the shaded submodule 10 in a shunt mode in which the opposite ends of the solar cell module M are almost short-circuited. A relation V.sub.10 =-V.sub.11 is satisfied where the voltage of the submodule 10 is V.sub.10. When the solar cell module M is connected with an external power supply V.sub.B, a relation V.sub.10 =V.sub.B -V.sub.11 is satisfied as shown in FIG. 16B.
That is to say, when a positive voltage is applied to the front electrodes of the shaded submodule 10 of the solar cell module M and the reverse bias voltage of the applied positive voltage exceeds the reverse breakdown voltage of the solar cell, the solar cells in the submodule 10 incur short-circuit damage, thereby deteriorating the output characteristics of the entire solar battery module M.
In order to prevent such an accident caused by the reverse bias voltage in the solar battery module M, a bypass diode is typically connected for each solar cell or each submodule including a certain number of solar cells. In addition, so-called diode integrated solar cells are employed in which the bypass diodes are integrated with the solar cells themselves.
The method of connecting the bypass diodes has problems such that the manufacturing cost of the solar cell module increases in proportion to the number of bypass diodes to be used and the light receiving area on the solar cell decreases in proportion to the area necessary for connection of the bypass diodes.
In addition, in the diode integrated solar cell, since both the diodes and the solar cells must be integrated in the same silicon substrate, its manufacturing method becomes complicated. That is, the manufacturing cost of the diode integrated solar cell becomes higher as compared to that of a normal solar cell.


An internal circuit, which is constituted by one of a printed circuit board and an FPC, and has small-current conductive paths arranged at a small pitch, is provided within a casing and of the electric connection box, and a small integrated fuse is mounted on the printed circuit board or the FPC, and fuses of the small integrated fuse are connected respectively to the small-current conductive paths, and electronic devices are mounted on the printed circuit board or the FPC.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electric connection box such as a junction box used for wire harnesses in an automobile, and more particularly to a construction in which a small integrated fuse (multifuse) is mounted within an electric connection box, and fuses of the small integrated fuse arranged at a small pitch can be connected to an internal circuit of the electric connection box.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional fuse used as an electric protection part, a plurality of loads are connected to one fuse as shown in FIG. 8. For example, a fuse F1 of 7.5 A (ampere) is connected to loads A1 and A2, and a fuse F2 of 10 A is connected to loads A3 and A4. When one fuse is thus connected to the plurality of loads, it is necessary that the size of wires, connected to the fuse, should match the capacity of the fuse. The minimum capacity of the conventionally-used fuses is 5 A, and therefore the cross-sectional area of a conductor of the wire is 0.3 mm.sup.2, and it is not possible to make the wire thinner or narrower. And besides, when the fuse melts, a plurality of loads, connected to this fuse, fail to be energized, thus inviting a problem that the loads can not be protected independently of each other. Furthermore, when the fuse of the minimum capacity of 5 A is used, a connector can not be formed into a small-pitch design, and a 3 mm pitch is a limit, and this is the reason why the electric connection box can not be formed into a compact size.
In view of the above problems, the present Applicant has earlier proposed a small integrated fuse (multifuse) having a number of integrated fuses of not more than 2 A, and wires, connected respectively to the fuses, can be made thinner, and each of the fuses is connected to a respective one of loads so that the loads can be protected independently of each other.
In the above integrated fuse, however, the pitch of the fuses is small, and therefore there has been encountered a problem that bus bars, used as an internal circuit of a conventional electric connection box, can not be connected to the fuses arranged at such a small pitch. When wires and press-connecting terminals, connected respectively to these wires, are used as an internal circuit, the press-connecting terminals can not be connected to the respective wires at a small pitch, which invites a problem that the wires can not be connected to the small integrated fuse.

Electric connection box for housing wire harness

Harness System Technologies Research, Ltd.


A body (6) of a heat exchanger is provided with a plurality of heat receiving fluid passages (10A) having openings directed upward. A header (1) is fitted to the top of the body (6). The header (1) has a bottom plate (1B) having a plurality of through holes (4) communicating with the openings of the passages (10A), a top plate (1A) fixed to the bottom plate (1B). In the header (1), a plurality of fluid passages (5) communicating with the through holes (4) and a fuel distribution space (8) communicating with the fluid conducting passages (5) are partitioned. By supplying heat receiving fluid from a fuel supply member (3) fixed to a lateral face of the header (1) to the fuel distribution space (8), the heat receiving fluid is supplied to the heat receiving fluid passages (10A) quickly and uniformly.

This invention relates to a heat exchanger applied to, for example, a vaporizer for a fuel cell system.
Tokkai Hei 9-79694 issued by the Japanese Patent Office in 1997 discloses a heat exchanger provided with a plurality of fuel supply nozzles on a header to uniformly distribute liquid in the heat exchanger.
Tokkai 2000-111244 issued by the Japanese Patent Office in 2000 discloses a heat exchanger provided with a liquid distribution layer made of sintered material or a liquid distribution layer using a serrated fin on the bottom surface of a box type container for the same purpose.
The container is disposed on the top of the main body of the heat exchanger. The liquid distribution layer of the above construction allows liquid in the container to drop uniformly to the main body of the heat exchanger.
The former device requires a large space for mounting nozzles on the header, as a result, the header becomes larger. In the latter device, because a lag time is generated between start and stop of liquid supply to the container, and start and stop of operation of the heat exchanger due to a considerable amount of liquid stored in the liquid distribution layer and in the container, the control response of the heat exchanger is poor.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a compact liquid supply mechanism for a heat exchanger which has a good response in liquid supply control.
In order to achieve the above object, this invention provides a heat exchanger comprising a body in which a plurality of heat rendering fluid passages in which heat rendering fluid flows and a plurality of heat receiving fluid passages in which heat receiving fluid flows are formed, a header disposed on the top of the body, and a fuel supply member fitted to a lateral face of the header.
The heat receiving fluid passages have openings directed upward. The header comprises a bottom plate having a plurality of through holes communicating with the openings of the heat receiving fluid passages, and a top plate fixed to the bottom plate. The bottom plate and the top plate partitions a plurality of fluid conducting passages communicating with the through holes and a fluid distribution space communicating with the fluid conducting passages therebetween. The fuel supply member supplies the heat receiving fluid to the fluid distribution space.
The details as well as other features and advantages of this invention are set forth in the remainder of the specification and are shown in the accompanying drawings.


An apparatus for air-treatment of products comprises an endless conveyor belt following through part of its length a helical path forming a stack of tiers. Side plates at one longitudinal edge of the conveyor belt form an outer cylinder wall delimiting the stack radially outwards. An inner cylinder wall delimits the stack radially inwards. Thereby, a central space is defined by the inner cylinder wall and an annular space is defined between the outer cylinder wall and the inner cylinder wall. An end closure substantially adjoins the outer cylinder wall at one end of the stack. Means are provided for blowing air through the central space towards the end closure and back through the annular space between the outer and inner cylinder walls for air-treatment of products carried by the conveyor belt in the helical path. The air is conditioned and blown through the annular space between the outer and inner cylinder walls.

The present invention relates to air-treatment of products, primarily food products and the like, using appropriately conditioned air.
The prior art includes several types of apparatuses for such treatment where the conditioned air is substantially different from the air surrounding the apparatus. Therefore, it is important that the conditioned air is recirculated within the apparatus, i.e. the apparatus should be as air-tight as possible and this often makes the apparatus complex and expensive.
When the difference between the conditioned air and the surrounding air is not very extreme, a less complicated apparatus would be preferable.


The present invention is directed to a method for testing the leakage rate of an encapsulated device comprising the step: bombing the device with a neon and/or argon atmosphere using a bombing pressure of at least more than environmental pressure and measuring the quality factor before and after bombing. Preferably, the bombing time is about 10 to 100 hours, and the bombing pressure is 1.5 to 100 bar, more preferably 1.5 to 5 bar and most preferably about 4 bar. With this test, the leakage rate of fine leaks of the device may be determined.

Vacuum wafer bonding technology provides a number of very effective techniques to produce low-cost, hermetically sealed packages for micromachined sensors and actuators. Besides the protection of the device from outside environmental stresses, the package must also provide a cavity ambient compatible with the device performance and reliability. This invention is directed to remove or alleviate the shortcomings of existing fine leak tests to assess the stability of the cavity atmosphere over long time. A new ultra-fine leak test based on quality factor (Q-factor) monitoring has been developed that has the potential to be used for in-line critical leak rate testing on wafer level before or after device singulation. With the example of a poly-silicon resonating microsensor, it is shown that the test is sensitive enough to predict the cavity pressure for a demanded device lifetime of fifteen years, independent of whether or not an integrated thin film getter is used for stabilizing the cavity vacuum and extending device lifetime.
Microsensor packaging is one of the most important and challenging technology areas (W. Reinert et al., "Vacuum Wafer Bonding Technology", IMAPS Nordic 2004). In particular, hermetic packaging on wafer level is a key technology of many microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). The hermetic sealing protects them from harmful environmental influences, significantly increasing their reliability and lifetime. In addition some MEMS need a specific gas or pressure environment for damping of the resonating structure within the package to function as specified, see table 1. A number of technological topics are to be considered to produce hermetically sealed, micromachined devices on wafer level with controlled cavity pressures ("vacuum pressures") ranging from 10−4 mbar to 1000 mbar.
TABLE 1Required vacuum level for different MEMS.sensor/device typevacuum levelaccelerometer300-700mbarabsolute pressure sensor1-10mbarresonator (angular rate)10−1mbarbolometer<10−4mbarRF-switch<10−4mbar
Wafer-level processes are particularly interesting for the MEMS packaging since they can reduce the fabrication costs and open up possibilities for batch processing. Various wafer level sealing technologies may be used, including wafer bonding, cavity sealing by thin-film deposition, and reactive sealing, see table 2.
TABLE 2Vacuum wafer level sealing technologies.SealingtechnologycharacteristicsWafer bondingEstablished, effective technologiesLarge cavity volumeDamping atmosphere controlGetter integration possibleRobust cap withstands moldingLimited device density on waferThin film cappingVery high device densityNo getter integration possibleVery small cavity volumeNo atmosphere controlCap may bend under molding press.Cap transferNot an established technologyDamping atmosphere controlGetter integration possibleParallel processThin caps reduce device thicknessIndividualVery large cavity volume possiblecappingCeramic caps for RF applicationsSequential placement processGetter integration possible

Method for testing the leakage rate of vacuum encapsulated devices

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foederung der Angewandten Forschung E.V.


The present invention relates to an improved security control barrier for use in controlling ingress and egress to entranceways, exit ways, driveways, and parking spots. The device consists of a telescoping bollard inserted into a casing imbedded below ground and a locking mechanism for securing the telescoping bollard in the extended and retracted positions. The invention also serves as an effective anti-theft device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved security control barrier for use in controlling ingress and egress to entranceways, exit ways, driveways, and parking spots. The device consists of a telescoping bollard inserted into a casing imbedded below ground and a locking mechanism for securing the telescoping bollard in the extended and retracted positions. The invention also serves as an effective anti-theft device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various devices employed to control access to parking spaces and ingress/egress to entranceways have been proposed. Often found are retractable or articulating devices which consists of a post or barrier frame that is pivotally connected to a fixed base. The post or barrier frame is then raised from a near horizontal position when retracted, to a vertical position when employed. U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,328 issued to Ellgass is one such device. A disadvantage of such devices is that they are exposed above ground making them subject to vandalism and excessive damage from vehicles transgressing over them, and therefore require frequent repair or replacement.
Other prior art include systems which employ bollards encased below the surface. U.S. Pat. No. 4,919,563 issued to Stice and U.S. Pat. No. 5,476,338 issued to Alberts are exemplary of this art. The Stice and Alberts devices are relatively complicated employing a worm gear/screw lift mechanisms and are dependent upon underground motors and external power sources (Electrical Current or Battery) for their operation. Underground environmental exposure to subterranean electronic devices is undesirable. Both devices contain a large number of parts and components. Maintenance for these type of devices is rather extensive.
Prior art such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,003,161 issued to Collins is designed as a retractable barrier without a lift assistance mechanism and is employed using human power. As a result devices of this art are disadvantaged by being of lighter less sturdy construction so as to enable a human to raise the device solely with manual power.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,576,508 issued to Dickenson is described as an anti-terror barricade capable of stopping the movement of vehicles. This art employs a below the surface bollard raised by a hydraulic lift mechanism. The hydraulic lift mechanism is activated through an electrical control system. Again, underground environmental exposure to a subterranean electronic device and subterranean hydraulic system is undesirable. Maintenance for hydraulic systems is extensive. Operation based upon two dependent power sources (electrical power and hydraulic power) degrades reliability. U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,742 issued to Dickinson is also an anti-terror barricade intended to stop the movement of vehicles. This below the surface bollard is raised by the stored energy of a metal coil spring. The coil spring is released and locked through an electronically or manually engaged bolt. The bolt and the control box which houses the bolt are recessed just below grade level. Access to the control is through a locked cover. Both the bolt and the cover to the control box are located too close to the surface and could result in sabotage or vandalism to the device. Both of these Dickinson systems are anti-terror devices and as such are intended to withstand severe impacts. As a result, the increased costs of creating this capability make widespread use of the devices as general vehicle parking or passageway security barriers impracticable.
Further art also include telescoping posts which are raised exclusively through the stored energy of pneumatic or hydraulic springs. These devices are affected often by temperature variations. They are disadvantaged, in that in extremely cold temperatures the stored energy of the spring is severely degraded to the point where effective operation of the device through the exclusive power of the spring may not be feasible or to the point where an extremely powerful spring is required to operate in cold temperatures. Such a powerful spring would require extreme manual pressure to retract the device making the retraction very difficult.
An object of the present invention is to provide a gas spring lift assisted telescoping security bollard that is functional within a wide temperature range, a telescoping bollard which displays great strength and stability, and one that is easy to operate and install. Accordingly, there is also a need for such a device that has few parts and is easy to repair.
Another object of the bollard is to provide an anti-theft device which is extremely sturdy, stable, and one which would require a very long time to defeat thus resulting in a prolonged exposure of someone committing a criminal act.
A further intent of the present art is to provide a stable security bollard that is easily installed, and easy to maintain and reliable in its employment.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a security bollard that is of simple design, has few parts and components, and one that is economically priced.
Still a further object of this invention is to provide a telescoping bollard that guarantees proper drainage and one that will not have its operation be adversely affected by dirt and debris or extreme climatic conditions.
Still a further object of the present invention is to present a telescoping bollard that is locked in both the extended and retracted positions.
These and other objects are satisfied by the device of the present invention.


A toner cartridge is supported on a supporting apparatus and includes a chamber that holds toner therein. A shutter has a first engagement portion and is slidably mounted on the toner cartridge and is configured to open and close the opening. A second engagement portion is formed on a body of the toner cartridge. The supporting apparatus includes a supporting surface that supports the toner cartridge thereon. A first limiting element limits movement of the toner cartridge in an insertion direction of the toner cartridge. A stopper limits movement of the shutter in the insertion direction when the toner cartridge is inserted into the supporting apparatus. A second limiting element engages the first engagement portion and the second engagement portion to limit movement of the toner cartridge in a pull-out direction of the toner cartridge and movement of the shutter in the pull-out direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a developer material holding apparatus that holds a developer material therein, a supporting apparatus that receives the developer material holding apparatus therein, and an image forming apparatus that incorporates the supporting apparatus that holds the developer material holding apparatus. The developer material holding apparatus and the supporting apparatus are used in electrophotographic apparatus such as printers, facsimile machines, and copying machines.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic color recording apparatus incorporate image forming sections aligned in order, each image forming section forming images of a corresponding color. Each image forming section incorporates, for example, a photoconductor on which an electrostatic latent image is formed in accordance with image information and is then developed into a visible image. Each of the image forming sections includes a developing unit and a developer material holding apparatus detachably attached into the image forming apparatus. The image forming section has a toner supplying path located between the developer material holding apparatus and the developing unit. The developing unit includes a supply roller disposed to face a developer roller which is in pressure contact with the photoconductor. The developing unit receives the developer material from the developer material holding apparatus through an opening formed in the developer holding material apparatus.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 2007-93697 discloses one such image recording apparatus. When the developer material holding apparatus is attached to the developing unit, the developer material holding apparatus is first inserted into the developing unit for a locking engagement with the developing unit, and then the lever of the developer material holding apparatus is operated to open the opening formed in the developer material holding apparatus, thereby supplying the developer material into the developing unit. When the developer material holding apparatus is detached from the developing unit, the lever is operated so that the developer material holding apparatus moves out of the locking engagement with the developing unit and then the developing material holding apparatus can be taken out of the developing unit.
The conventional apparatus is configured such that when the developer material holding apparatus is attached to the image recording apparatus, a two-step mounting process is involved: inserting the developer material holding apparatus into the developing unit and then opening the developer material discharging opening of the developer material holding apparatus, and such that when the developer material holding apparatus is detached from the developing unit, another two-step demounting process is involved: closing the developer material discharging opening to unlock the developer material holding apparatus from the developing unit and taking out the developer material holding apparatus from the developing unit. These cumbersome processes may cause the operator to forget to complete the processes.

Developer material holding apparatus, supporting apparatus that supports the developer material holding apparatus, and image forming apparatus


A method and system supporting location based services for a mobile electronic device that supports multiple wireless communication technologies. The mobile device contains a resource proxy for dynamically storing a set of resources that are available to the electronic device and that are location specific, e.g., accessible via a point that is near the electronic device. The resource proxy contains a resource table recording the available resources and a gateway table indicating a pathway for reaching the data. The resource proxy definitions are technology independent with respect to the communication mechanisms required to obtain the data. Resources are added to the resource proxy via a resource discovery mechanism automatically performed by the mobile device. Multiple network gateways can be defined and each is responsible for requesting and retrieving information for the resource proxy. Network gateways are coupled to network interfaces which provide the logic required to perform wireless communication using particular communication mechanisms, e.g., Bluetooth or wireless LAN, etc. Applications interface with the resource proxy using technology independent commands in order to obtain information from the available resources recorded in the resource proxy. Using the system of the invention, available resources for a particular location are collected via a single process/database on the mobile device and presented to the applications in a uniform way.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of data processing. More specifically, embodiments of the present invention relate to providing a mechanism for a mobile wireless electronic device (e.g., a portable computer system, a palmtop computer system, or any other hand-held electronic device that utilizes a display screen, such as a cell phone, a pager, etc.) to provide and process location based information.
2. Related Art
As the components required to build a computer system have reduced in size, new categories of electronic devices and computer systems have emerged. One of the new categories of computer systems is the "palmtop" computer system. A palmtop computer system is a computer that is small enough to be held in the hand of a user and can therefore be "palm-sized." Most palmtop computer systems are used to implement various Personal Information Management (PIM) applications such as an address book, a daily organizer (calendar, datebook, etc.) and electronic notepads, to name a few. Palmtop computers with PIM software have been know as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). Many PDAs have a small and flat display screen associated therewith.
In addition to PDAs, other portable electronic devices have display screens, such as cell phones, electronic pagers, remote control devices and other wireless portable devices. All of these devices have been adapted to display short lists of information on the display screens to help the user organize and display information, e.g., phone records.
User convenience is a very important factor for portable electronic devices. Typically, portable electronic devices are employed while the user is on the run, e.g., in business meetings, on business travel, personal travel, in a vehicle, on foot, etc. Because the user may be occupied or busy while using the portable electronic device, the number of user steps or user tasks required in order to access information from an electronic device (or to store information into the electronic device) is crucial for producing a commercially successful and useful product. That is, the more difficult it is to access data from an electronic device, the less likely the user will perform those tasks to obtain the information. Likewise, the easier information is to obtain, the more likely the portable electronic device will be used to obtain that information and the more likely the portable electronic device will become a part of the user's everyday activities.
Similarly, the more useful the device, the more the device will be used. The functionality of mobile wireless devices is undergoing a transition. Mobile devices are evolving from a single application device with dedicated specific purpose communication channel (for example, a cell phone or pager), to more general-purpose devices with more flexible data communication capabilities. These changes are providing a platform that can be used to convey location relevant information to a mobile user.
More specifically, wireless technology is advancing, both in the number of options that are available for providing connectivity, and in their flexibility to provide general purpose data communication. Different technologies such as cellular technologies (e.g., CDMA, TDMA), LAN access technologies (e.g., IEEE 802.11, HomeRF) and PAN technologies (e.g., BLUETOOTH®, IR) each address a different set of needs, and provide a different set of potential services. Mobile devices are no longer restricted to one communication channel. Modular mobile devices allow network interfaces to be attached, allowing for unlimited communications configurations. In addition, BLUETOOTH® technology allows a single mobile device to simultaneously participate in multiple piconets through a single interface.
The above are relevant because the new wireless technologies are changing the ways in which wireless networks will be deployed. For instance, unlike cellular technologies which provide coverage to large geographical areas at expense to both carrier (e.g., equipment, spectrum) and user (e.g., subscription/air time charges), PAN and LAN wireless technologies are cheap and easy to deploy. Range will be limited, coverage will be spotty, but wireless service will be offered free of charge in enterprise and retail environments where the goal is not to collect connection charges, but to provide services to people.
Therefore, the changing wireless environment creates opportunities and challenges for mobile devices to make them more useful in the every day life of their users. The opportunity is to create new services, including location aware services and location aware information delivery. By providing wireless location dependent or location aware services, users with their mobile electronic devices can be made aware of services that are relevant for their location.

Resource proxy for mobile wireless electronic devices


A processor-oriented system, such as a microcontroller or computer system, supports a programmable address decoder used to redirect accesses to unassigned I/O address space. I/O accesses to unassigned addresses or address holes can be directed to multiple busses. If a programmable switch associated with the programmable address decoder is set to a first predetermined value, then certain I/O addresses are directed to a first bus. If the programmable switch associated with the programmable address decoder is set to a second predetermined value, then certain I/O addresses are directed to a second bus. If the first bus is coupled to PC/AT compatible peripheral devices and the second bus is coupled to non-PC/AT compatible devices, then the I/O address redirection capability selectively supports a PC/AT compatible mode or a non-PC/AT compatible mode. Certain integrated devices coupled to the second bus can be bypassed or disabled as desired to allow redirection of I/O to external devices coupled to the first bus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to processor-oriented systems with a direct mapped I/O architecture.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional computer systems provide an I/O address space, which can be accessed with machine instructions such as IN and OUT via addresses in the I/O address space, usually referred to as xe2x80x9cports.xe2x80x9d The standard PC architecture supports an I/O address space of 64K ports using the addresses 0000h to FFFFh. The ports in I/O address space are mostly used for addressing registers in peripheral devices. The IN and OUT instructions transfer data between a processor and the peripheral device registers. When a conventional computer system performs an I/O mapped input or output, the registers have been located in the I/O address space, in contrast to memory mapped I/O, where the peripheral device registers are located in the conventional memory address space. When an I/O mapped input or output is to be performed, a processor usually sends an address signal to an address decoder which decodes the address and then addresses the proper port.
The IBM PC/AT architecture defined a set of ports which has become an industry standard. These ports provide standard I/O addresses for such devices as Direct Memory Access (DMA) controllers, keyboards, interrupt controllers, programmable interval timers and serial I/O. In modem microprocessors, many of these devices are often integrated into the processor chipset. However, not all addresses in the 64K I/O address space are assigned by the PC/AT standard. I/O to unassigned ports is typically sent to a bus controller where either some device will respond to the I/O attempt or an error will be generated.
Even for computer systems providing a peripheral bus such as a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, ports have not typically been directly mapped to the peripheral bus. New devices built for such a peripheral bus therefore have been indirectly mapped, at a cost of performance. While I/O to a direct mapped device is sent directly one or more of the ports assigned to the direct mapped device with an I/O instruction, I/O to an indirectly mapped device has typically been performed by sending both the address and the data to one or more ports assigned to the device or to a bus controller. For example, PCI bus devices are typically indirectly mapped using a pair of I/O ports at 0CF8h and 0CFCh. To write a PCI device register, systems load an address in one port, and then data to the other port.
Many conventional computer systems have provided integrated I/O devices to which standard ports are permanently assigned. In conventional computer systems, I/O to unassigned ports has been sent to a peripheral bus, typically an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, for decoding.
Briefly, a processor-oriented system provides a flexible way to send accesses to ports not assigned to integrated I/O devices to one of two busses, as controlled by a programmable address decoder. The programmable address decoder includes a programmable address router to route I/O addresses to the two busses under the control of a programmable switch. When the programmable switch provides a first predetermined value, the programmable address router routes I/O addresses to the first bus. When the programmable switch provides a second predetermined value, the programmable address router routes I/O addresses to the second bus. One advantage of such a mechanism is that new devices built for a second bus can be directly mapped to the relevant ports, avoiding performance penalties.
Another aspect of such a system allows disabling integrated I/O devices coupled to the first bus and allowing I/O for the associated ports to be passed to other devices on the bus by the bus controller. In one aspect, the first bus may have an internal and an external portion. One advantage of this aspect is that this allows connection of external devices such as a standard Super I/O chip, in place of integrated I/O devices.


A wireless-enabled tension meter is disclosed. The wireless-enabled tension meter can include a pulley arrangement through which a portion of a guiding member is routed for use during a pull of conductor through a conduit network. A tension force is exerted on the guiding member during the pull as the guiding member is pulled through the pulley arrangement. The wireless-enabled tension meter can also include a sensor for measuring the tension force, a wireless network interface, and a control module for performing operations. The operations performed by the control module can include capturing data corresponding to the tension force and causing the wireless network interface to send the data to a wireless communication device.

The present disclosure is directed to methods and apparatuses for pulling conductors through conduit installations. More particularly, the present disclosure is directed to a wireless-enabled tension meter for measuring tension exerted by a puller system on a guiding member, such as a cable, rope, or wire, used to pull conductors through conduit installations.
During construction of houses, apartment buildings, warehouses, manufacturing facilities, office buildings, and the like, conduit is often run between electrical panels and power consumption sites to comply with various building codes and/or for safety or energy efficiency considerations. After the conduit is installed, a guiding member, such as a cable, rope, wire, or other flexible material, is threaded through the conduit and attached to the end of a number of conductors with tape or other attachment mechanisms. The guiding member is then pulled back through the conduit with the conductors attached thereto. In some practices, the guiding member is manually pulled through the conduit, but in an effort to expedite the process or for larger installations that are infeasible using manpower alone, a puller system ("puller") is often used to pull the guiding member and therefore the conductor through the conduit to a desired location. In addition to the puller, a feeder system ("feeder") is often used to feed the conductors into the conduit to prevent tangling, snagging, and/or damage to the conductors. The feeder may be provided by one or more people or automated by a machine.
The force exerted on the guiding member during a pull is referred to as tension or tension force. It is possible for the magnitude of the tension force to exceed a threshold at which the guiding member breaks, which may result in the conductors being stranded within the conduit installation, and thereby complicating the completion of the pull. Furthermore, pulling conductors and guiding members through conduit creates friction that can wear the conduit, the conductors, and/or the guiding members. The severity of the wear depends upon several factors such as the frictional characteristics of the conductors and guiding members (e.g., lubricated or dry), the layout of the conduit (e.g., the number of bends and the sharpness/radius of the bends), and the speed with which the guiding member and the conductors are pulled through the conduit. Friction, in addition to potentially causing tears or other damage to the conductors and/or the guiding member, results in increased tension on the guiding member, which may result in failure. Failure can be prevented, however, by measuring tension of the guiding member with a running line tension meter and controlling the power to the puller based on the tension measurement.
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the disclosure made herein is presented.


A heatsink includes a heatsink base, an elastomeric base, multiple slider pins and an alignment frame coupled to the heatsink base. The elastomeric base includes multiple holes, the elastomeric base coupled to the perimeter of the heatsink base. Each of the slider pins secured in one of the holes in the elastomeric base. The alignment frame supporting and aligning the slider pins as the slider pins move in a direction substantially perpendicular to the heatsink base. A method of assembling a heat spreader is also described.

The present invention relates generally to packaging semiconductor devices and more specifically systems and methods for packaging multiple semiconductor devices using a single heatsink.
The demand for increased performance from computer hardware often requires processor (CPU) and application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designers to place multiple components (e.g., memory controllers, caches, DC-DC converters, ASICs, application specific standard product (ASSPs) etc.) in close proximity to CPUs on specialized "daughter" module circuit cards. The daughter module circuit cards interface with the system motherboards.
FIG. 1 shows a typical multi-package module (MPM) 100. The MPM includes multiple components 102A-C, 104, 106, 108, 110 mounted on the module circuit card 130. Each of the components has a corresponding, individual packaging (i.e., substrate 112, 116, 118, 120, lid 122, 126, 128, respectively, etc.). FIG. 2 shows a typical multi-chip module (MCM) 200. The MCM includes multiple components 202, 204, 206, 208 mounted on a module circuit card 230. Each of the components 202, 204, 206, 208 are individually unpackaged (i.e., do not include a corresponding lid, full heatsink, etc.). The use of MCM/MPM technologies helps hardware designers leverage advances in technology while also using high speed data and power buses without compromising on signal trace lengths, thereby delivering compute performance.
One of the key challenges facing the thermal engineer in designing cooling solutions for MPMs/MCMs is the ability to transfer the heat away from each of the multiple, closely placed sources 102A-110 and 202-208. FIG. 3 shows a typical cooling solution 300 for the MPM 100. The cooling solution 300 accounts for normal manufacturing and assembly tolerances in the various package and module stacks by having varying thermal interface material (TIM) 302, 304, 306, 308, 310 thicknesses (referred to as bondline thickness). Unfortunately, an optimal bondline thickness of the TIM 302, 304, 306, 308, 310 cannot be maintained due to the various package heights. The optimal bondline thickness is the thickness in which the TIM 302, 304, 306, 308, 310 can best conduct the thermal energy from the respective sources 102A-110 to the heatsink 330. As a result, the respective sources 102A-110 are not reliably and consistently cooled. This problem is significantly exacerbated when the physical dimensions of the MPM 100 or the MCM 200 are relatively large (e.g., when there are multiple heat-producing devices that are closely placed over a large area).
The preceding problem of ineffective heat transfer is not restricted to the MPM 100 or the MCM 200. Similar problems also exist for packages and dies mounted to circuit boards. For example, due to the assembly process a package interface (i.e., lid surface for lidded packages, die surface for lidless packages) through which heat transfer must occur may not be coplanar with the heatsink base. The lack of co-planarity with the heatsink base can be caused by normal production tolerances.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for an easily produced cooling solution that can be used for multiple package thicknesses and multiple package areas and distributions throughout a single larger area while substantially compensating for any lack of co-planarity and also substantially maintaining an optimum bondline thickness for the TIM.

Heatspreader for single-device and multi-device modules