The present invention provides for improved compositions comprising a PEGsTNF-R1 which, in addition to having useful higher concentrations, demonstrate decreased viscosity (<400 cP) and improved stability.

Inflammation is the body's defense reaction to injuries such as those caused by mechanical damage, infection or antigenic stimulation. An inflammatory reaction may be expressed pathologically when inflammation is induced by an inappropriate stimulus such as an autoantigen, is expressed in an exaggerated manner, or persists well after the removal of the injurious agents. Such inflammatory reaction may include the production of certain cytokines.
While the etiology of inflammation is poorly understood, considerable information has recently been gained regarding the molecular aspects of inflammation. This research has led to identification of certain cytokines which are believed to figure prominently in the mediation of inflammation. Cytokines are extracellular proteins that modify the behavior of cells, particularly those cells that are in the immediate area of cytokine synthesis and release. Tumor necrosis factors (TNFs) are a class of cytokines produced by numerous cell types, including monocytes and macrophages.
At least two TNFs have been previously described, specifically TNF alpha (TNF-α) and TNF beta (TNF-β or lymphotoxin), and each is active as a trimeric molecule and is believed to initiate cellular signaling by crosslinking receptors; Engelmann et al., J. Biol. Chem., 265:14497-14504 (1990).
Several lines of evidence implicate TNF-α and TNF-β as major inflammatory cytokines. These known TNFs have important physiological effects on a number of different target cells which are involved in inflammatory responses to a variety of stimuli such as infection and injury. The proteins cause both fibroblasts and synovial cells to secrete latent collagenase and prostaglandin E2 and cause osteocyte cells to stimulate bone resorption. These proteins increase the surface adhesive properties of endothelial cells for neutrophils. They also cause endothelial cells to secrete coagulant activity and reduce their ability to lyse clots. In addition they redirect the activity of adipocytes away from the storage of lipids by inhibiting expression of the enzyme lipoprotein lipase. TNFs also cause hepatocytes to synthesize a class of proteins known as "acute phase reactants," which act on the hypothalamus as pyrogens; Selby et al., Lancet, 1(8583):483 (1988); Starnes, Jr. et al., J. Clin. Invest., 82:1321 (1988); Oliff et al., Cell, 50:555 (1987); and Waage et al., Lancet, 1(8529):355 (1987). Additionally, preclinical results with various predictive animal models of inflammation, including rheumatoid arthritis, have suggested that inhibition of TNF can have a major impact on disease progression and severity; Dayer et al., European Cytokine Network, 5(6):563-571 (1994) and Feldmann et al., Annals Of The New York Academy Of Sciences, 66:272-278 (1995). Moreover, recent preliminary human clinical trials in rheumatoid arthritis with inhibitors of TNF have shown promising results; Rankin et al., British Journal Of Rheumatology, 3(4):4334-4342 (1995); Elliott et al., Lancet, 344:1105-1110 (1995); Tak et al., Arthritis and Rheumatism, 39:1077-1081 (1996); and Paleolog et al., Arthritis and Rheumatism, 39:1082-1091 (1996).
Protein inhibitors of TNF are disclosed in the art. EP 308378 reports that a protein derived from the urine of fever patients has a TNF inhibiting activity. The effect of this protein is presumably due to a competitive mechanism at the level of the receptors. EP 308378 discloses a protein sufficiently pure to be characterized by its N-terminus. The reference, however, does not teach any DNA sequence or a recombinantly-produced TNF inhibitor.
Recombinantly-produced TNF inhibitors have also been taught in the art. For example, EP 393438 and EP 422339 teach the amino acid and nucleic acid sequences of a mature, recombinant human "30 kDa TNF inhibitor" (also known as a p55 receptor and as sTNFR-I) and a mature, recombinant human "40 kDa inhibitor" (also known as a p75 receptor and as sTNFR-II) as well as modified forms thereof, e.g., fragments, functional derivatives and variants. EP 393438 and EP 422339 also disclose methods for isolating the genes responsible for coding the inhibitors, cloning the gene in suitable vectors and cell types, and expressing the gene to produce the inhibitors. Mature recombinant human 30 kDa TNF inhibitor and mature recombinant human 40 kDa TNF inhibitor have been demonstrated to be capable of inhibiting TNF (EP 393438, EP 422339, PCT WO 92/16221 and PCT WO 95/34326).
sTNFR-I and sTNFR-II are members of the nerve growth factor/TNF receptor superfamily of receptors which includes the nerve growth factor receptor (NGF), the B cell antigen CD40, 4-1BB, the rat T-cell antigen MRC OX40, the Fas antigen, and the CD27 and CD30 antigens; Smith et al., Science, 248:1019-1023 (1990). The most conserved feature amongst this group of cell surface receptors is the cysteine-rich extracellular ligand binding domain, which can be divided into four repeating motifs of about forty amino acids and which contains 4-6 cysteine residues at positions which are well conserved; Smith et al., supra.
EP 393438 further teaches a 40 kDa TNF inhibitor •51 and a 40 kDa TNF inhibitor •53, which are truncated versions of the full-length recombinant 40 kDa TNF inhibitor protein wherein 51 or 53 amino acid residues, respectively, at the carboxyl terminus of the mature protein are removed. Accordingly, a skilled artisan would appreciate that the fourth domain of each of the 30 kDa TNF inhibitor and the 40 kDa inhibitor is not necessary for TNF inhibition. In fact, various groups have confirmed this understanding. Domain-deletion derivatives of the 30 kDa and 40 kDa TNF inhibitors have been generated, and those derivatives without the fourth domain retain full TNF binding activity while those derivatives without the first, second or third domain, respectively, do not retain TNF binding activity; Corcoran et al., Eur. J. Biochem., 223:831-840 (1994); Chih-Hsueh et al., The Journal of Biological Chemistry, 270(6):2874-2878 (1995); and Scallon et al., Cytokine, 7(8):759-770 (1995).
PCT WO US97/12244 describes functionally active truncated forms of sTNFR-I and sTNFR-II (referred to as "truncated sTNFR(s)). The truncated sTNFRs are modified forms of sTNFR-I and sTNFR-II which do not contain the fourth domain (amino acid residues Thr127-Asn161 of sTNFR-I and amino acid residues Pro141-Thr179 of sTNFR-II); a portion of the third domain (amino acid residues Asn111-Cys126 of sTNFR-I and amino acid residues Pro123-Lys140 of sTNFR-II); and, optionally, which do not contain a portion of the first domain (amino acid residues Asp1-Cys19 of sTNFR-I and amino acid residues Leu1-Cys32 of sTNFR-II).
PEG-rmet-Hu-sTNF-R (PEGsTNF-R) as described herein is a recombinant form of a functionally active truncated form of sTNFR-I and sTNFR-II which has been PEGylated at the N-terminus with, e.g., a 30 kDa polyethylene glycol molecule. In our preliminary studies with PEGsTNF-R1 it was found that as the PEGsTNF-R1 is concentrated, the viscosity of the solution increases exponentially. Large scale methods traditionally used for concentrating proteins are known to be unsatisfactory when working with such viscous solutions, and the increased viscosity may prevent concentrating the protein to high concentrations without damaging the final product. Because there may be instances in a commercial setting where it will be necessary to have the protein at a higher concentration (e.g., >45 mg/ml) in order to deliver to required therapeutic dose, there is a need to develop formulations which obtain such concentrations and with acceptable low viscosities (e.g., <400 cP) to allow for the use of the various delivery devices necessary for delivery of the therapeutic dose. For example, in order to deliver the required therapeutic dose of a PEGsTNF-R1 formulation wherein the PEGsTNF-R1 concentration is >45 mg/ml, and using a commercially available autoinjector and pre-filled syringe as the delivery device, the formulation should have a viscosity of <400 cP. Above this viscosity, the strong possibility exists for the device or container to fail. The present invention provides for PEGsTNF-R1 formulations having such concentrations and low viscosities, thereby allowing for use of delivery devices which are more convenient and patient-friendly.

Compositions of pegylated soluble tumor necrosis factor receptors and methods of preparing


An x-ray computed tomography device and method for automatically setting scan conditions in order to substantially equalize a designated slice thickness with an effective slice thickness. The device according to the present invention preferably employs a helical scan method. While a rotatable frame portion is continuously rotated in a scanning operation, a detected object can be moved in a body longitudinal direction. A slice thickness designated by an x-ray optical mechanism including a slit and a beam trimming machine and a scan pitch of the helical scan are controlled so that the designated and effective slice thicknesses are substantially equal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an x-ray computed tomography device and method, and more particularly to a helically scanning x-ray computed tomography device and method where the effective slice thickness may be adjusted.
2. Discussion of the Background
As shown in FIG. 6, an x-ray computed tomography device (hereinafter, it is referred as "x-ray CT device") comprises an x-ray tube 42 for irradiating a beam of x-rays 41 and a detector 46 for detecting x-rays passed through a detected object, such as patient 43, wherein the detector 46 is positioned at a side opposite to the x-ray tube 42 with respect to the detected object and a tomography image can be obtained by rotating the x-ray tube 42 integrally with the detector 46 around the detected object (shown by arrow 45) in order to scan the detected object and reconstruct the projected data.
Such a tomographic image obtained by an x-ray CT device contains area information of the x-ray beam 41 having a predetermined width along a body longitudinal direction of the detected object, wherein the x-ray beam 41 passes through the detected body and is irradiated on detector 46 with a predetermined width along the same direction. The area is called the slice thickness and is indicated as 44. In general, slice thickness 44 is determined by a width of the x-ray beam 41 at a rotational center 47. The slice thickness is also determined by setting an x-ray optical mechanism including a beam trimming machine 40 located between x-ray tube 42 and the detected object and a beam trimming machine 48 located between the detected object and detector 46. In other words, a desirable slice thickness can be set by changing the settings of the x-ray optical mechanism. In an x-ray CT device utilized in the medical industry, a desirable slice thickness can be selected from a plurality of predetermined values (for example, one value, such as 2 mm, is selected from a set of values, i.e., 1 mm, 2 mm, 5 mm, 7 mm and 10 mm) by considering the desired diagnostic purpose and scanning period. Then, the x-ray optical mechanism is set to match the selected slice thickness.
As shown in FIG. 7, in a conventional x-ray CT device employing a helical scan method, a rotatable frame on which an x-ray tube 42 and a detector 46 are mounted is continuously rotated by connecting with a frame fixed portion through a slipping device (not shown). A bed on which a detected object is disposed is moved along a body longitudinal direction in order to scan helically, indicated as 49, and then projection data of the scanned detected object is obtained rapidly. In such a conventional x-ray CT device employing a helical scan method, actual data is interpolation processed in order to reconstruct a tomographic image at a slice portion. Therefore, an effective slice thickness of the tomographic image obtained by reconstruction (an effective slice thickness can be determined by a known method) is likely to be thicker than a thickness selected by the x-ray optical mechanism. The thicker an effective slice thickness becomes, the lower the spatial resolution capability becomes.

X-ray computed tomography device and method


A method for detecting a race condition using static analysis that includes determining a first permit set and a second permit set, and performing a static analysis, wherein the static analysis comprises using the first permit set and the second permit set to detect a race condition, wherein the static analysis is performed before accessing critical data and includes determining whether the intersection of the first permit set and the second permit set is empty, and if the intersection of the first permit set and the second permit set is empty, then outputting a value indicating the detection of a race condition.

A process is a series of actions, changes, or procedures that bring about a result. A process may be a thread in execution on a computer, an action being performed, or any other actions, series, changes or procedures which being about a result.
As a mechanism to provide greater throughput in execution, processes are often executed concurrently. Thus, during execution of one process another process may also execute. While concurrent execution leads to greater performance, if more than one process accesses a data element, then the data element may become inconsistent. Critical data is data which may become inconsistent. More formally, critical data is data that is accessible by multiple processes where at least one access to the data by a process changes the value of the data. A race condition on the critical data occurs when at least one process accesses the critical data without synchronization with the other processes and at least one process changes the value of the critical data.
A common example of a race condition occurring is when two people access the same bank account using automatic teller machines (ATM) located in different parts of town. For this example, suppose the first person wants to deposit $20 to the bank account (process A) and the second person wants to withdraw $5 from the bank account (process B). Also suppose the initial amount in the bank account is $40. In the first step, process A reads the bank account value (i.e., $40). In the second step, process A accepts the deposit and adds $20 to the amount process A read (i.e., $40). In this same second step, process B reads the bank account value (i.e., $40). In the third step, process A updates the bank account value to $60 and process B subtract $5 from the amount process B read (i.e., $40). In the fourth step, process B updates the bank account value to $35. The result of this execution is that rather than having a correct balance of $55, the final account balance is $35.
One method of preventing a race condition is through synchronization. In the above example, suppose that before process A starts executing, process A first informs process B that it is changing the critical data. B receives the information and waits until A informs B that A has finished accessing the critical data. A then executes while B waits. After receiving the message from A that A has completed executing, B begins. The result of this execution is that the final correct balance of $55 is achieved.
There are several mechanisms for synchronization. These mechanisms include the use of messages, locks, semaphores, monitors, etc. Basically synchronization requires that a process must first acquire the rights to access the critical data before accessing the critical data. This may be done through preventing access to the other processes or simply informing the other processes that it is accessing the critical data. This is not a requirement if all of the processes merely read the critical data.
Mechanisms for detecting a race condition are based on determining whether a process has acquired the rights to access the critical data before accessing the data. Past mechanisms for detecting a race condition are based upon a dynamic analysis of the system. Thus, these past mechanisms only detect a race condition during the execution of the processes.

Method of static analysis for race condition detection


The invention relates to a communication system comprising a terminal (10), a first device (1) adapted to exchange data with said terminal (10), a second device (2) adapted to exchange data with said terminal (10), characterized in that it comprises means for pairing said first (1) and second (2) devices so as said second device (2) exchanges data with said terminal (10) through said first device (1).

It is a good practice to constantly challenge a product or service in terms of costs, functionalities, etc. . . . . According to market constraints and user's requirements, some functionality may be reduced for the benefits of others. Functionality having the last market pressure or hidden from the user may disappear, integrated or limited to essential features.
Another trends highly demonstrated during the past years push the industry to offer more and more user friendly devices exposing intuitive usage. Some devices tend to concentrate more and more vector of services (telecommunication, payment, access control, . . . ) in a single device.
Any products having a one secure device as a smart card to one device's reader connection may at long term merge into a single element. There is then a need for keeping the essential credentials in a secure portable device such as a smart cart, and federate multiple secure elements in a device without physical constraints related to the legacy device accepting standard smart cards.
It is then an object of the invention to provide a communication system and a method in which a secure element such as a UICC is located outside the terminal as a secure physical component on which credentials may be managed.

Communications system having a secure credentials storage device


A vehicle barrier apparatus and corresponding methods include a base and a vehicle receiving member coupled to the base and having proximal and distal ends. Also included is a deployable element rotatably coupled to the base and coupled to the vehicle receiving member at a mechanical coupler located closer to the distal end than to the proximal end. The deployable element is configured to receive a transfer force, from the vehicle receiving member, via the mechanical coupler, responsive to the vehicle receiving member receiving an applied force from a vehicle at the proximal end. The deployable element configured to deploy from a stored orientation to a deployed orientation responsive to the transfer force. Accordingly, vehicle force can be transferred and used to deploy the device effectively in a self-triggered configuration without hazards of stored energy.

Security barriers may be installed around buildings, walkways, and other locations to prevent intrusion of vehicles that may pose a threat. Potential threats may include vehicles such as trucks laden with bombs or suicide bombers intending to attack security checkpoints, vehicles traveling at high rates of speed with an intent to cause injury to people or damage to property, and other vehicles being directed to targets for terrorist purposes. Existing vehicle barriers can include retractable metal spikes installed in pavement, large concrete blocks or stones placed around buildings, concrete barriers lifted into place by a crane and placed beside roadways and venues, and metal posts bored into sidewalks and streets.

Vehicle barrier apparatus and method with transfer force deployment


An information-processing method usable by an information-processing apparatus is provided. The information-processing-apparatus is used for editing state-transition information usable to construct a state-transition diagram including information on the operation in each of states, information on events each possibly occurring in each specific one of the states to result in a transition, and information on transition directions each indicating the direction of a transition caused by each of the events possibly occurring in the states. The method includes searching for a hardware event not assigned yet as any one of the events, assigning a hardware are event found in a search process carried out at the searching step as a shortcut event if the events include the software event, generating the state-transition diagram on the basis of the state-transition information, and displaying the state-transition diagram.

The present disclosure relates to an information processing method, an information-processing apparatus, a recording medium, and a program. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to an information processing method, an information-processing apparatus, a recording medium, and a program for recording the program capable of allowing a software event difficult to assign to a hardware event to be used in the same sense as a hardware event.
In general, a development tool for supporting development of an application program has been becoming popular. For example, there is a software development tool for supporting development of an object-oriented program. For more information on this software development tool, the reader is suggested to refer to Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei 6-110767.
In addition, there has also been proposed a software development tool for developing the UI (User Interface) of an application program using a state-transition diagram represented by a UML (Unified Modeling Language).
A state-transition diagram is a diagram showing a logical description of an operation to be carried out in every state and the direction of a transition caused by a predetermined event occurring in each specific state as a transition from the specific state to another. The aforementioned development tool for developing the UI (User Interface) of an application software program is a tool for editing the application program by showing the program as a state-transition diagram and reflecting the substance of an operation carried out on the state-transition diagram when the operation is carried out on the state-transition diagram.
An event occurring in each state mentioned above can be an event occurring due to a cause originated in hardware. Such an event is referred to as a hardware event. An example of the hardware event is an operation to press the 'A' character key of a keyboard. However, an event can also be an event other than a hardware event such as an operation to enter an input via a key of the keyboard described above. Examples of such an event are an operation to turn on the power supply and the arrival of a mail. Since these other events are not directly related to hardware, the same states as these other events are each generated by software in a pseudo manner, causing a transition to take place as if one of these other events had occurred. Since these other events are not directly related to hardware, they are each referred to as a software event.
In the apparatus in related art, software events each difficult to assign to a hardware event are collectively displayed on a separate window and manipulated separately from hardware events. By handling software events in this way, however, every time the user carries out an operation on a software event, the user needs change its line of sight to the separate window. Thus, the ease of operation deteriorates.

Information processing method, information-processing apparatus, recording medium, and program


High fluence charged-particle beams are generated in a vacuum or near vacuum environment. To use these beams in an atmospheric pressure environment, they must pass through some form of transmission window between the two environments. To date, thin single metal foils have been used for these transmission windows. The total practical fluence of such transmitted beams is limited by the ability of the window to dissipate the excess heat deposited in it by the transiting beam. Existing windows have relied only on simple radial heat conduction through the thin foil, radiative cooling from the foil faces, and/or flowing cooling fluids on the high-pressure face of the foil. The present invention, however, proposes to enclose one or more channels within a double foil window and to flow a cooling fluid through such channel(s). The window cooling rate is thus significantly improved over air convection because of fully-developed turbulent flow and a higher cooling mass transport through such channels(s). Calculations show that a 2-3 order-of-magnitude increase in the time-averaged particle beam current density can be realized while maintaining the physical integrity of the foil window by using the so cooled foil window of the present invention.

High fluence particle beams must be generated under vacuum or near-vacuum conditions. That is, major mechanisms for generating, ampere-to-kiloampere level particle beams must be immersed in a vacuum environment, with background gas pressures of, e.g. 0.0001 Torr or less. To transmit the particle beam to the open atmosphere or into a gas background at atmospheric pressure, it is necessary to pass the beam through some form of "interface" or "window", which is both strong enough to withstand a 14.7 pounds-per-square-inch pressure differential and thin enough to allow passage of the beam's particles with minimum degradation of particle energy and with minimum scattering. To-date this has been accomplished through the use of various thin foils of materials such as aluminum, titanium, beryllium, diamond, sapphire or a high tensile strength plastic such as polyester, e.g. "Mylar" or polyimide, e.g. "Kapton". Such window can typically sustain a steady-state electron beam current density of 10 microamperes per cm.sup.2 at 150 keV before its ability to dissipate the heat influx is surpassed. Unfortunately, such low current densities limit practical applications. Electron-beam welding, for example, requires a minimum of 5 ma of continuous current. (For in-air welding, expensive pumping systems are used to transport the beam through a hole to the workpiece.). Thus, any attempt to pass a continuous beam of greater current density through existing foil windows results in a heating, softening, and rupturing of the foil window which destroys the vacuum environment necessary in the beam's generation region. Such failures can occur on microsecond timescales depending upon the specific foil material and energy deposition rate.
Attempts have been made in the prior art to cool such transmission window by circulating coolant through conduits proximate such window, see for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,239 to Jacob et al (1993), e.g. FIGS. 2 and 5A. In each case, coolant is circulated near a transmission window for indirect conductive cooling thereof through intervening structural members as shown, which limits the cooling effect thereof on such window. Also per FIG. 5A, the coolant system is located in a grid of support bars that block or cast shadows on the transmission window and absorb a significant portion of a particle beam passed therethrough.
There is thus a need for a cooling system for such transmission window that overcomes the above prior art shortcomings.
There has now been discovered a transmission window cooling system in which coolant directly cools the foils of such window, e.g. via convective heat transport with minimal absorption of the particle beam transmitted therethrough. At the same time per the invention, the coolant system is enclosed and pressurized to permit circulation of coolant therethrough for more effective cooling of such window.

Fluid-cooled particle-beam transmission window

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force


A memory includes an insulating layer; a plurality of spaced-apart semiconductor lines formed on the insulating layer; and a plurality of spaced-apart conductive gate lines formed on the insulating layer. Each of the gate lines is disposed to intersect the plurality of semiconductor lines at a plurality of intersections. The semiconductor lines include a plurality of body regions disposed at the intersections, with each of the body regions including a channel formed from a silicon carbide material.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electronic devices, and in particular, to memory electronic devices.
2. Description of Related Art
Most common dynamic, random-access memories (DRAMs) cells store charge on a capacitor and use a single transistor for accessing the capacitor. More recently, a memory cell has been proposed which stores charge in a floating body of a transistor. In this memory cell, a back gate is biased to retain charge in the floating body. An oxide layer is formed on a silicon substrate and a silicon layer for the active devices is formed on the oxide layer. The silicon substrate is used as the back gate, and consequently, must be biased relative to the silicon layer. Unfortunately, the oxide layer is relatively thick, requiring a relatively high voltage for the bias. Several gate structures have been proposed to reduce this relatively high bias potential, including use of a double gate, a split-gate and silicon pillars. The double gate and silicon pillar structures are relatively difficult to fabricate.
Referring to FIG. 1, a double-gate, floating-body memory cell or transistor 10 is illustrated. The memory cell 10 is formed on a P-doped substrate 12 and includes an active region comprising an N+ type source 14, an N+ type drain 16, and a P type channel 18. The memory cell 10 further includes an N+ type front gate 20 disposed on one side of the channel 18 and a P+ type back gate 22 formed in a buried oxide layer 24 disposed on the other side of the channel 18. The buried oxide layer 24 is formed on top of the P-type silicon substrate 12. The active region is formed of silicon. A dynamic, random-access memory (DRAM) is formed from a memory array (not shown) of the memory cells 10. The memory array has rows of different word-lines formed by a plurality of interconnected front gates 20 of individual cells 10 and columns of different bit lines coupled to a plurality of drains 16 of individual cells 10 along each bit line, with all of the sources 14 of the cells 10 being commonly coupled.
The threshold voltage of the memory cell 10 is programmable or adjustable, based upon the charge stored on the back gate 22. The back gate 22 is used to create a potential where holes may accumulate. More specifically, a state "1" and a state "0" may be associated with charges and with no charges, respectively, being stored on the back gate 22. For the state "1", the back gate 22 is biased at a voltage to retain the charges. For the state "0", due to junction leakages, charges eventually build up in the back gate 22, making the state "0" indistinguishable from the state "1." Hence, the memory cell 10 needs to be periodically refreshed at sufficiently frequent intervals to avoid the states from becoming indistinguishable. The "retention time" may be defined as the time permitted between refreshing the back gate 22 before the state "0" is lost. The retention time of silicon may be longer than 1 second at room temperature. However, the retention time is degraded by more than 300 times from room temperature to 110 degrees C. due to the small energy bandgap in silicon. The retention time can be further reduced with small memory cells 10 due to surface defects. In summary, the retention time difficulty is an intrinsic problem of silicon; hence, application of a silicon-based memory cell 10 to sub-100 nm devices may be marginal.
Fabrication of the back gate 22 creates another difficulty with the floating body memory cell 10. Electrical contacts to the back gate 22 still take up quite a bit of cell area. The letter "F" designates the minimum line width of a feature size that may be patterned with lithography. The contacts to the back gate 22 prevent the memory cell 10 from having a cell memory area of 4 F2.
To fabricate the memory cell 10, Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) technology is used. Fabrication starts with a lightly doped silicon wafer having an insulating silicon dioxide (SiO2) layer 24, i.e., buried oxide layer, formed by use a SIMOC (Separation by Implantation of Oxygen) process or a BESOI (BondEd SOI) process. This creates a thin layer of silicon above the buried oxide layer 24 and a thick layer underneath which forms the P-substrate 12. The active region (source 14, drain 16, and channel 18) of the memory cell 10 is constructed on the thin layer of silicon above the buried oxide layer 24.
Silicon carbide (SiC)-on-insulator wafers have been made. MOS and bipolar devices have been made on a silicon carbide crystal for power applications and non-volatile memory. MOS and bipolar devices also have been demonstrated with silicon carbide-on-silicon (SiC-on-Si) materials.


An array substrate for use in an IPS-LCD device includes a gate electrode, a gate line, a common line, and a plurality of common electrodes that have zigzag shapes on a substrate. A gate insulation layer is formed over an entire surface of tha substrate, and an active layer and ohmic contact layers are formed in series on the gate insulation layer and over the gate electrode. Over the gate electrode and on the ohmic contact layers, source and drain electrodes are formed. At this time, a data line is formed on the gate insulation layer. A passivation layer covers an entire surface of the substrate and has a drain contact hole that expose a portion of the drain contact hole. On the passivation layer, a plurality of pixel electrodes are formed in substantially zigzag or bent shapes. These pixel electrodes correspond to the common electrodes and are spaced apart from each other. The common and pixel electrodes have a plurality of bend portions and each bend portion has an inner part that is filled with a conductive material. Since this bend portion controls a rotational direction of liquid crystal molecules, the IPS-LCD device of the present invention has a wide viewing angle and prevents the color-shift and the brightness deterioration.

This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2000-45636, filed on Aug. 7, 2000, which is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device, and more particularly to a liquid crystal display device implementing in-plane switching (IPS) where an electric field to be applied to liquid crystal is generated in a plane parallel to a substrate.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display device uses the optical anisotropy and polarization properties of liquid crystal molecules to produce an image. Liquid crystal molecules have a definite orientational alignment as a result of their long, thin shapes. That orientational alignment can be controlled by an applied electric field. In other words, as an applied electric field changes, so does the alignment of the liquid crystal molecules. Due to the optical anisotropy, the refraction of incident light depends on the orientational alignment of the liquid crystal molecules. Thus, by properly controlling an applied electric field a desired light image can be produced.
While various types of liquid crystal display devices are known, active matrix LCDs having thin film transistors and pixel electrodes arranged in a matrix are probably the most common. This is because such active matrix LCDs can produce high quality images at reasonable cost.
Recently, liquid crystal display (LCD) devices that are light and thin and have low power consumption characteristics are used in office automation equipment and video units and the like. Driving methods for such LCDs typically include a twisted nematic (TN) mode and a super twisted nematic (STN) mode. Although TN-LCDs and STN-LCDs have been put to practical use, they have a drawback in that they have a very narrow viewing angle. In order to solve the problem of narrow viewing angle, in-plane switching liquid crystal display (IPS-LCD) devices have been proposed. The IPS-LCD devices typically include a lower substrate where a pixel electrode and a common electrode are disposed, an upper substrate having no electrode, and a liquid crystal interposed between the upper and lower substrates.
A detailed explanation about operation modes of a typical IPS-LCD panel will be provided referring to FIGS. 1 to 3.
As shown in FIG. 1, upper and lower substrates 1 and 2 are spaced apart from each other, and a liquid crystal layer 3 is interposed therebetween. The upper and lower substrates 1 and 2 are called color filter substrate and array substrate, respectively. Pixel and common electrodes 4 and 5 are disposed on the lower substrate 2. The pixel and common electrodes 4 and 5 are parallel with and spaced apart from each other. The pixel and common electrodes 4 and 5 apply a horizontal electric field 6 to the liquid crystal layer 3. The liquid crystal layer 3 has a negative or positive dielectric anisotropy, and thus it is aligned parallel with or perpendicular to the horizontal electric field 6.
FIGS. 2A and 2B conceptually illustrate operation modes of a conventional IPS-LCD device. When there is no electric field between the pixel and common electrodes 4 and 5, as shown in FIG. 2A, the long axes of the liquid crystal molecules maintain an angle from a line perpendicular to the parallel pixel and common electrodes 4 and 5. Herein, the angle is 45 degrees, for example.
On the contrary, when there is an electric field between the pixel and common electrodes 4 and 5, as shown FIG. 2B, there is an in-plane horizontal electric field 6 parallel with the surface of the lower substrate 2 between the pixel and common electrodes 4 and 5. The in-plane horizontal electric field 6 is parallel with the surface of the lower substrate 2 because the pixel and common electrodes 4 and 5 are formed on the lower substrate 2. Accordingly, the liquid crystal molecules are twisted so as to align, for example, the long axes thereof with the direction of the horizontal electric field 6, thereby the liquid crystal molecules are aligned such that the long axes thereof are parallel with the line perpendicular to the pixel and common electrodes 4 and 5.
By the above-mentioned operation modes and with additional parts such as polarizers and alignment layers, the IPS-LCD device displays images. The IPS-LCD device has wide viewing angles since the pixel and common electrodes are together placed on the lower substrate. Moreover, the fabricating processes of this IPS-LCD device are simpler than those of other various LCD devices.
However in the IPS-LCD device, a color-shift which depends on the viewing angle still remains. It is already known that this color-shift is not acceptable for full color-image display. This color-shift is related to a rotational direction of the liquid crystal molecules under application of electric field when the applied voltage is greater than a threshold voltage. Moreover this color-shift is caused by increasing or decreasing of an optical retardation xcex94n d of the liquid crystal layer with viewing angle.
For the sake of discussing the above-mentioned problem of the IPS-LCD device, with reference to FIG. 3, a specific pixel structure of the IPS-LCD device is used and will be described in detail.
As shown in FIG. 3, the pixel and common electrodes have bend angle xcex1. This bent electrode structure permits rotation of the liquid crystal molecules 9 in opposite directions in each pixel when voltage is supplied to the bent electrodes. Therefore, the bent electrodes and the oppositely directed liquid crystal molecules divide the pixel into two different regions with different viewing angle characteristics. And thus, the color-shift can be effectively compensated by this multi domain structure.
However, since the IPS-LCD device has the above-mentioned bent electrodes, the liquid crystal molecules around the bend portions of the bent electrodes are not properly rotated, i.e, an abnormal arrangement, when the voltage is supplied to the electrodes. Namely, the liquid crystal molecules, which are arranged parallel with the horizontal electric field when the voltage is applied, are disordered in the boundary between two domains because of these bent electrodes. Therefore, light cannot appropriately pass through this portion of the liquid crystal layer, and thus the brightness is lowered.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to an IPS-LCD device that substantially obviates one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
An object of the present invention is to provide an array substrate for use in an IPS-LCD device which depresses a color-shift.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an array substrate for use in an IPS-LCD device which prevents a deterioration of the brightness.
In order to achieve the above object, the first preferred embodiment of the present invention provides an array substrate for use in an in-plane switching liquid crystal display device including a gate line on a substrate; a data line over the substrate, the data line being perpendicular to the gate line; a common line on the substrate, the common line being parallel with and spaced apart from the gate line; a plurality of common electrodes extended from the common line, wherein each common electrode has a plurality of bend portions, and wherein each inner part of the bend portions is filled with a conductive material; a plurality of pixel electrodes spaced apart from the common electrodes, wherein each pixel electrode has a plurality of bend portions and corresponds to each common electrode; and a switching element electrically connected to the gate and data lines, the switching element supplying voltage to the pixel electrodes.
The present invention also provides, in another aspect, an array substrate for use in an in-plane switching liquid crystal display device including a gate line on a substrate; a data line over the substrate, the data line being perpendicular to the gate line; a common line on the substrate, the common line being parallel with and spaced apart from the gate line; a plurality of common electrodes extended from the common line, wherein each common electrode has a plurality of bend portions; a plurality of pixel electrodes spaced apart from the common electrodes, wherein each pixel electrode has a plurality of bend portions and corresponds to each common electrode, and wherein each inner part of the bend portions is filled with a conductive material; and a switching element electrically connected to the gate and data lines, the switching element supplying voltage to the pixel electrodes.
The present invention also provides, in another aspect, an array substrate for use in an in-plane switching liquid crystal display device including a gate line on a substrate; a data line over the substrate, the data line being perpendicular to the gate line; a common line on the substrate, the common line being parallel with and spaced apart from the gate line; a plurality of common electrodes extended from the common line, wherein each common electrode has a plurality of bend portions, and wherein each inner part of the bend portions is filled with a conductive material; a plurality of pixel electrodes spaced apart from the common electrodes, wherein each pixel electrode has a plurality of bend portions and corresponds to each common electrode, and wherein each inner part of the bend portions is filled with a conductive material; and a switching element electrically connected to the gate and data lines, the switching element supplying voltage to the pixel electrodes.
A side of each common electrode forms an angle xcex2 with a line extended from a side of the inner part of the bend portion, wherein the side of the each common electrode forms an angle {circle around (-)} with a vertical line that is parallel with the data line, wherein the angle xcex2 is greater than 0xc2x0, and wherein the angle xcex2 is less than or equal to the angle {circle around (-)}.
A side of each pixel electrode forms an angle xcex2 with a line extended from a side of the inner part of the bend portion, wherein the side of the each pixel electrode forms an angle {circle around (-)} with a vertical line that is parallel with the data line, wherein the angle xcex2 is greater than 0xc2x0, and wherein the angle xcex2 is less than or equal to the angle {circle around (-)}.
The present invention also provides, in another aspect, an array substrate for use in an in-plane switching liquid crystal display device including a gate line on a substrate; a data line over the substrate, the data line being perpendicular to the gate line; a common line on the substrate, the common line being parallel with and spaced apart from the gate line; a plurality of common electrodes extended from the common line, wherein each common electrode has a plurality of bend portions, and wherein each inner part of the bend portions has a round shape; a plurality of pixel electrodes spaced apart from the common electrodes, wherein each pixel electrode has a plurality of bend portions and corresponds to each common electrode; and a switching element electrically connected to the gate and data lines, the switching element supplying voltage to the pixel electrodes.
The present invention also provides, in another aspect, an array substrate for use in an in-plane switching liquid crystal display device including a gate line on a substrate; a data line over the substrate, the data line being perpendicular to the gate line; a common line on the substrate, the common line being parallel with and spaced apart from the gate line; a plurality of common electrodes extended from the common line, wherein each common electrode has a plurality of bend portions, and wherein each inner part of the bend portions has a round shape; a plurality of pixel electrodes spaced apart from the common electrodes, wherein each pixel electrode has a plurality of bend portions and corresponds to each common electrode; and a switching element electrically connected to the gate and data lines, the switching element supplying voltage to the pixel electrodes.
The present invention also provides, in another aspect, an array substrate for use in an in-plane switching liquid crystal display device including a gate line on a substrate; a data line over the substrate, the data line being perpendicular to the gate line; a common line on the substrate, the common line being parallel with and spaced apart from the gate line; a plurality of common electrodes extended from the common line, wherein each common electrode has a plurality of bend portions, and wherein each inner part of the bend portions has a round shape; a plurality of pixel electrodes spaced apart from the common electrodes, wherein each pixel electrode has a plurality of bend portions and corresponds to each common electrode, and wherein each inner part of the bend portions has a round shape; and a switching element electrically connected to the gate and data lines, the switching element supplying voltage to the pixel electrodes.
The round shape of each bend portion satisfies a condition defined by a diameter of a circle that is abutted on an arc of the said round shape.
The diameter beneficially ranges from 7 xcexcm to 170 xcexcm.
The diameter also ranges from 30 xcexcm to 170 xcexcm.
The diameter also ranges from 70 xcexcm to 100 xcexcm.
Each outer part of the bend portions of the said common electrodes has a round shape, and each outer part of the bend portions of the said pixel electrodes also has a round shape.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

Liquid crystal display device with wide viewing angle


A polyester resin is described which includes bio-based, cyclohexadiene Diels-Alder reaction adduct monomer for use in toner for imaging devices.

Emulsion aggregation (EA) toner particles may comprise a polyester resin. The polyester resin may be produced from monomers derived from renewable resources. However, the range of bio-based, commercially available diols and diacids is limited, and the available chemical structures are mostly small, aliphatic, linear molecules with low carbon-oxygen ratios. When used to prepare polyesters for toner, such diacids and diesters yield toner with low glass transition temperature (Tg) and high equilibrium moisture content, which adversely affect charging and fusing properties of the resulting toners. Petroleum-based monomers, such as, terephthalic acid (TA), naphthalene dicarboxylic acid (NDC) and cyclohexene dicarboxylic acid (CHDA) are thus often included in resin formulations. While not, "green," those monomers are hydrophobic (high carbon-oxygen ratio) and structurally rigid, bringing charge and fusing properties close to existing polyester toner specifications.
There remains a need for bio-based monomers that share those advantageous physico-chemical properties.


A porous article of a nickel-titanium alloy, said article having a porosity of 8 to 90% and said porosity being defined by a network of interconnected passageways extending throughout said member, said network exhibiting a permeability of fluid material effective to permit complete migration of the fluid material throughout said network, said permeability being isotropic, and said member being elastically deformable; the porous article is useful as a biomedical implant and in other non-medical applications including the working element of cryogenic surgical instruments.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a porous article of a nickel-titanium alloy having medical and non-medical applications.
2. Description of Prior Art
Nickel-titanium alloys are known shape memory alloys which have been proposed for use in various environments including robotics and in memory devices of medical implants.
Soviet Union Patent Specification 1,381,764 dated 1982 proposes implants for facial reconstruction fabricated from a nickel-titanium alloy having a porosity of 8-60%, but the disclosure is very limited and there has been no commercial development of the material described.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,206,516; 4,101,984; 4,017,911 and 3,855,638 all describe composite implants having a solid substrate with a thin porous surface coating. U.S. Pat. No. 3,852,045 describes a bone implant element of porous structure in which the pores are developed by means of solid expendable void former elements which are arranged in a selected spatial pattern in a form cavity; metallic particles are packed about the void former elements, the mix is densified, the void former elements are removed, such as by vaporization and the metallic particles are sintered.
The search continues for materials suitable for fabricating medical implants, and for materials of improved physical characteristics.


An ink jet channel wafer for an ink jet printer has a first surface in which a plurality of anisotropically etched ink channels and an anisotropically etched ink reservoir are directly connected to one another. The ink jet channel wafer is etched using an admixture of at least one alkali metal hydroxide and at least one alcohol compound.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a thermal ink jet printhead. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a thermal ink jet printhead fabrication process utilizing orientation dependent etching (ODE).
2. Background
Thermal ink jet printing is a type of drop-on-demand ink jet systems, wherein an ink jet printhead expels ink droplets on demand by the selective application of electrical pulses to thermal energy generators, usually resistors, located one each in capillary-filled, parallel ink channels a predetermined distance upstream from the channel nozzles or orifices. The channel end opposite the nozzles are in communication with a small ink reservoir to which a larger external ink supply is connected.
U.S. Pat. Reissue No. 32,572 to Hawkins et al. discloses a thermal ink jet printhead and several fabrication processes therefor. Each printhead is composed of two parts aligned and bonded together. One part is a substantially flat substrate that contains on the surface thereof a linear array of heating elements and addressing electrodes, and the second part is a silicon substrate having at least one recess anisotropically etched therein to serve as an ink supply reservoir when the two parts are bonded together. A linear array of parallel grooves are also formed in the second part, so that one end of the grooves communicate with the reservoir recess and the other end of the grooves are open for use as ink droplet expelling nozzles. Many printheads can be made simultaneously by producing a plurality of sets of heating element arrays with their addressing electrodes on a silicon wafer and by placing alignment marks thereon at predetermined locations. A corresponding plurality of sets of channel grooves and associated reservoir are produced in a second silicon wafer. In one embodiment, alignment openings are etched in the second silicon wafer at predetermined locations. The two wafers are aligned via the alignment openings and alignment marks, then bonded together and diced into many separate printheads.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,638,337 to Torpey et al. discloses an improved thermal ink jet printhead similar to that of Hawkins et al., but has each of its heating elements located in a recess. The recess walls containing the heating elements prevent the lateral movement of the bubbles through the nozzle and therefore the sudden release of vaporized ink to the atmosphere, known as blow-out, which causes ingestion of air and interrupts the printhead operation when this event occurs. In this patent a thick film organic structure such as Riston.RTM. or Vacrel.RTM. is interposed between the heater plate and the channel plate. The purpose of this layer is to have recesses formed therein directly above the heating elements to contain the bubble, thus eliminating the occurrence of vapor blow-out and concomitant air ingestion.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,774,530 to Hawkins discloses the use of a patterned thick film insulative layer to provide the flow path between the ink channels and the reservoir, thereby eliminating the fabrication steps required to open the channel groove closed ends to the reservoir recess, so that the printhead fabrication process is simplified.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,786,357 to Campanelli et al. discloses the use of a patterned thick film insulative layer between mated and bonded substrates. One substrate has a plurality of heating element arrays and addressing electrodes formed on the surface thereof and the other being a silicon wafer having a plurality of etched reservoirs, with each reservoir having a set of ink channels. The patterned thick film layer provides a clearance space above each set of bonding pads of the addressing electrodes to enable the removal of the unwanted silicon material of the wafer by dicing without the need for etched recesses therein. The individual printheads are produced subsequently by dicing the assembled substrates.
As disclosed in the above-discussed patents, thermal ink jet printheads are fabricated from two substrates. One substrate contains the heating element and the other contains ink reservoirs/channels. When these two substrates are aligned and bonded together, the reservoirs/channels serve as ink passageways. A plurality of printhead components are formed on separate substrates, so that the substrate pairs may be aligned, mated, and diced into many individual printheads. The substrate for the plurality of sets of reservoir/channels is silicon and the features are formed by an anisotropic etching process. The anisotropic or orientation dependent etching (ODE) has been shown to be a high yielding fabrication process for precise, miniature channel plates. Such printheads are usually about 1/4" to 1" wide and print small swaths of information while being translated across a stationary recording medium such as paper. The paper is then stepped the distance of one swath and the printing process continued until the entire page of paper is printed. This is a low speed process.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,774,530 to Hawkins discloses a two-part ink jet printhead comprising a mated channel plate and a heater plate, which sandwiches a thick film insulative layer that was previously deposited on the heater plate and patterned to provide an ink bypass recess for ink flow from the reservoir to the channels and recesses or pits over each heating element for placement of the heating elements in pits to prevent the vapor bubbles from blowing out the nozzles and causing ingestion of air. This is a typical ink jet printhead configuration and is discussed later with respect to FIG. 2.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,863,560 to Hawkins discloses a three dimensional silicon structure, such as an ink jet printhead, fabricated from (100) silicon wafers by a single side, multiple step ODE etching process. All etching masks are formed sequentially prior to the initiation of etching, with the coarsest mask formed last and etched first. Once the coarse anisotropic etching is completed, the coarse etch mask is removed and the anisotropic etching is resumed on the finer features.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,096,535 to Hawkins et al. discloses the fabrication of a printhead, wherein each of the ink channels is formed by segmenting the channel mask into a series of closely adjacent vias, such that during the subsequent anisotropic etching of the silicon wafer, the thin walls between the segments are eroded away before the completion of the etching step to produce continuous channels from the connected segments. Thus, mask alignment errors that would cause the channels to be greatly widened when the channels are one long recess are greatly reduced.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,196,378 to Bean et al. describes a method for separating semi-conductor dice formed in a semi-conductor wafer by scribing and etching the wafer. An orientation dependent etch (ODE) or an anisotropic etch is utilized to separate the dice. The orientation dependent etch may be conducted utilizing a KOH-propanol etchant. Other anisotropic etchants include, but are not exclusive of, Tetramethyl Ammonium Hydroxide (TMAH) ethylenediamine pyrocatechol (EDP) and hydroxides of cesium and potassium as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,600,934 to Anie et al.
The thermal ink jet printheads mentioned above require the formation of heater pits and bypass pits in a thick film insulative layer deposited on the heating element wafer. The bypass pits are formed in the thick film insulative layer to allow ink to pass from the reservoir to the individual channels.
The geometrical parameters and/or configurations of the ink flow paths in ink jet printheads are factors that determine the frequency of the droplet ejection and thus the printing speed. Orientation dependent etching restricts etched shapes to rectangles where fine dimensional control is required. With typical ODE etchants, convex corners are etched in a less controllable fashion. Some of the important geometrical parameters are the size of the nozzles relative to the cross-sectional area of the channels, and the size of the ink flow area at the bypass pit relative to the nozzles, for these dimensions influence capillary refill times from the ink supply in printhead reservoir. The cross-sectional area of the nozzle greatly influences latency. As fluid evaporates from the nozzle end the viscosity increases, eventually plugging the channel. Latency refers to the length of time before this plugging occurs.
Because the channels are isolated from the reservoir, the ink jet printheads require a thick insulative film with bypass pits formed therein to allow ink communication from the reservoir to the channels. Therefore, there is a need for more flexibility in the design and fabrication of silicon channel structures in ink jet printheads.
The presence of bypass and heater pits also generally results in an increase in a problem known as "dropout" caused by trapped air bubbles in the ink channels. These air bubbles get trapped in these pits, thus blocking ink flow.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for an ink jet printhead that limits the occurrence of dropout problems.
Moreover, thick insulative films formed on the heater element wafer severely limit the ink design latitude (e.g., pH, hydrolysis, viscosity, etc.). It also complicates front face wetting problems by introducing a second material (i.e., the insulation film material) on the front face of the printhead. Thus, there is a need for an ink jet printhead that allows for more flexibility in ink design latitude while limiting front face wetting problems.

Ink jet channel wafer for a thermal ink jet printhead


A new and distinct Gaura lindheimeri cultivar named ‘BARGAU’ is disclosed, characterized by compact plants, immature stems and foliage flushed with red-purple coloration. Foliage becomes green and yellow variegated with age and plants branch easily. The new variety is a Gaura, and is normally used as an ornamental garden or container plant.

The new cultivar is a product of chance discovery. The variety was discovered as a naturally occuring whole plant mutation at a commercial nursery by the inventor, Michel Barrault, a citizen of France. The new variety was discovered among a commercial population of the unpatented variety Gaura lindheimeri 'Siskyou Pink', during 2010.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar 'BARGAU' was first performed by vegetative stem cuttings in Possonniere, France at a commercial nursery. 'BARGAU' has since produced more than 5 generations by vegetative cuttings and has shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type.


A large scale LCD device has a plurality of LCD modules coupled together to form a single screen of the LCD panel. Each module has a plurality of top holes, bottom protrusions, left protrusions and right holes on respective sides of the module. The top hole has a longitudinal section and a transverse section for guiding the bottom protrusion in a horizontal direction for locking the bottom protrusion with the top hole. In the movement of the module for guiding the protrusion for locking operation, the left protrusions advance to the right holes to be received therein and locked with locking pins.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display module and, more particularly, to a liquid crystal display module having a structure for facilitating coupling and decoupling between modules.
(b) Description of the Related Art
As a display device for desktop personal computers, it is required to reduce the space therefor, to assure safety to users and to solve the earth environmental problems by replacing the CRT display devices having cathode-ray tubes with liquid crystal display (LCD) devices. In addition, the demand for a larger screen is increased due to the increase in the amount of information to be displayed on the screen for the personal computer.
It is difficult to fabricate a liquid crystal display panel having a screen size exceeding 1 m.sup.2 (square meters) by using a single liquid crystal display device. For providing a larger screen of the liquid crystal display, a display device having a plurality of liquid crystal display modules coupled in the vertical and horizontal direction (referred to as "large screen display device", hereinafter) is studied and described in, for instance, JP-A-4(1992)-292087, JP-A-2-275490 and JP-A-2-275491.
FIG. 1 is a front view of a large screen display device described in JP-A-4-292087. The liquid crystal display module, in general, has a horizontal driver 52 and a vertical driver 54 for driving the liquid crystal display panel on the horizontal side and a vertical side of the panel, respectively. That is, when the liquid crystal display modules are coupled together, a non-display part exists between the adjacent liquid crystal display modules due to the existence of the horizontal driver 52 and the vertical driver 54 to deteriorate the continuity of the screen. JP-A-4-292087 proposes for solving the above problem, a liquid crystal display module having the horizontal driver 52 on a side wall and the vertical drivers 54 on the side wall adjacent to the horizontal drivers. Two liquid crystal display modules are connected to each other on the other side walls not having the horizontal driver 52 and the vertical drivers 54, thereby forming a single large screen display device similar to the display device shown in FIG. 1.
FIG. 2 is a front view of another large screen display device described in JP-A-2-275490. The display device has a plurality of frames 56 and a plurality of liquid crystal display modules 57 adhered to one another through the frame 56 by adhesive to implement a large screen display device. JP-A-2-275491 reduces the number of inlets for filling the liquid crystal into the liquid crystal panel as small as possible, to reduce the width of the non-display part for improving the structure described in JP-A-2-275490, thereby reducing the width of the lattice body.
When a large screen display device exhibits a failure, it is necessary to repair and exchange the defective parts such as a liquid crystal panel, a printed circuit board, or a driver. The large screen display device fabricated by using conventional liquid crystal display modules has a problem in that it requires a large amount of work for removing the defective liquid crystal display modules from the large screen display device to repair and exchange the defective module. In addition, when the liquid crystal display modules are assembled again after the repair and exchange of the parts, exact coupling of the connectors is difficult to achieve. Moreover, since the liquid crystal display module is designed as a dedicated module for the large screen display device, the single module cannot be used as a liquid crystal display panel for a small sized personal computer by extracting the same from the large screen display device.


An improved rheometer and rotatable sensing shaft sub-assembly therefor with flexural pivot support at two ends of the shaft, and means for allowing limited axial movement of the shaft while maintaining rigid radial support, with transducer means for extracting and signaling rotational position of the shaft based on shear stress of a fluent material contacting a spindle, cone/plate or other extension of the shaft and/or a related motor-driven member such as a cylinder.

The present invention relates to rheometer instruments and similar apparatus for measuring visco-elastic properties of fluent materials (e.g. viscometers), such as liquids, gels, slurries, powder masses, plastics, elastomers, clays, foodstuffs and the like, and more particularly to enabling a new paradigm of the field of achieving low friction and high sensitivity without a complex or expensive apparatus arrangement. The sensing shaft control sub-assembly of the invention is also useful for shaft elements of other kinds including, e.g. probes, rotors or float parts, delicate medical and scientific instruments.
Rheometers measure flows of fluent materials (liquids, slurries, suspensions, elastomers, plastics, gels, melts, (powdery masses), plastics, elastomers, clays, foodstuffs and the like where adequate characterization demands more than a viscosity measurement that can be made by a viscometer. The field of rheometers includes instruments using well known per se rotational cylinders and cone-plate devices contacting the materials to be measured and other forms (e.g. extrusional and capillary forms).
State of the art is summarized and advanced in U.S. Pat. No. 7,207,210 of D. J. Moonay and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,167,143 and 4,175,425 (all of common assignment with the present application) and references cited therein, all incorporated herein by reference as though set out at length herein.

Brookfield Engineering Laboratories, Inc.


A card edge connector for electrically connects a mother board with a daughter board. The card edge connector includes an upper card edge connector with an insulating housing provided with a daughter board receiving recess. Latch arms extend from the insulating housing at both ends of the daughter board receiving recess. Each of the latch arms has a holding arm extending substantially parallel to a support arm. The holding arm is connected to the support arm by a folded portion. At least a portion of the support arm is divided into a first support section and a second support section. The first support section and the second support section each has an inclined portion extending diagonally away from the holding arm.

Conventionally, there has been a known card edge connector which connects a daughter board such as a memory module to a printed circuit board as a mother board incorporated in equipment such as a personal computer. For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-190354 describes a card edge connector having an insulation housing mounted on a mother board and a pair of latch arms mounted on the housing which holds a daughter board. The latch arms are formed by stamping and bending a metal plate. The latch arms hold the daughter board utilizing its own elasticity.
In recent years, it has been known to connect a plurality of daughter boards to a mother board. For example, to increase the memory capacity of a personal computer, it is known to connect a plurality of memory modules to a mother board. On the other hand, in the case of equipment which is required to be reduced in size, it is desired to reduce the amount of space occupied by the memory module connected to the mother board.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,126,472 describes a connector assembly including an edge connector having a resin latch arm which is integrally molded together with a housing. The connector assembly includes an upper card edge connector and a lower card edge connector. Both the upper card edge connector and the lower card edge connector include a housing which receives from a front thereof a dual inline memory module (DIMM) as a daughter board and passages that extend forward from both sides of the housing. The upper card edge connector is at a position lifted up by a lifting member, and the passages are superposed on the lower card edge connector and positioned rearward. Therefore, the DIMM received by the upper card edge connector is superposed on the lower card edge connector and the area occupied on the mother board is small.
FIGS. 1(a)-(b) show another conventional example of card edge connectors having metal latch arms wherein two daughter boards D1, D2 can be disposed such that they are superposed on each other. In FIGS. 1(a)-(b), the two card edge connectors can be used as one set or can be used independently from each other. As shown in FIGS. 1(a)-(b), the lower card edge connector 1 and the upper card edge connector 2 are mounted on a mother board M, and memory modules, as daughter boards D1, D2, both having the same shapes are attached to the lower card edge connector 1 and the upper card edge connector 2. In the following description, a side of the mother board M is defined as down D, its opposite side is defined as up U, a side where the daughter board D1, D2 is received is defined as front F, its opposite side is defined as back B, right moving forward from is defined as right R, and left side is defined as left L.
First, a structure which is common for the lower card edge connector 1 and the upper card edge connector 2 will be described collectively. The lower card edge connector 1 and the upper card edge connector 2 respectively include insulating housings 11, 21 that receive daughter boards D1, D2, a plurality of contacts 12, 22, a pair of latch arms 13, and a pair of latch arms 23. The insulating housings 11, 21 are provided with daughter board receiving recesses 111, 211 that receive the daughter boards D1, D2 from the front F. The contacts 12, 22 are disposed along a longitudinal direction of the daughter board receiving recesses 111, 211 (only a few of the contacts 12, 22 are shown). The latch arms 13, 23 project forward F from both left and right ends in the longitudinal direction of the insulating housings 11, 21, i.e., in the lateral direction. The latch arms 13, 23 are formed in a bilateral symmetrical manner wherein left and right structures thereof are in common.
The latch arms 13, 23 include holding arms 131, 231 which support the daughter boards D1, D2, support arms 133, 233 which support the holding arms 131, 231, folded portions 132, 232 folded back from the holding arms 131, 231, and press-fit sections 135, 235 which are press-fitted into the insulating housings 11, 21. Each of the latch arms 13, 23 is formed by stamping and bending one metal plate. That is, the holding arm 131, the support arm 133, the folded portion 132 and the press-fit section 135 are integrally formed together, and the holding arm 231, the support arm 233, the folded portion 232 and the press-fit section 235 are integrally formed together. The holding arms 131, 231 and the support arms 133, 233 are bifurcated through the folded portions 132, 232, and the press-fit sections 135, 235 located at root sides of the bifurcated portions are fixed to the insulating housings 11, 21.
The holding arms 131, 231 extend forward F, and the folded portions 132, 232 are folded back outward by about 180 degrees from upper edges of rear ends of the holding arms 131, 231. The support arms 133, 233 extend forward from the folded portions 132, 232. The fixed sections 134, 234 project from lower edges of the support arms 133, 233. Mother board attachment members 15, 25 soldered to the mother board M are mounted on the fixed sections 134, 234. The press-fit sections 135, 235 extend backward B from the support arms 133, 233. The holding arms 131, 231 are provided at tip ends with first locking members 131a, 231a which are engaged with notches formed in the daughter board D1, D2, and second locking members 131b, 231b which prevent the daughter board D1, D2 from floating up and coming out from the first locking members 131a, 231a.
The press-fit sections 135, 235 of the latch arms 13, 23 are press-fitted into the insulating housings 11, 21. The holding arms 131, 231 are supported by the insulating housings 11, 21 in a cantilever spring manner through the press-fit sections 135, 235 and the folded portions 132, 232. The holding arms 131, 231 themselves are elastically deformed so that tip ends thereof are displaced in the lateral direction LR. When the daughter boards D1, D2 are attached to the lower card edge connector 1 and the upper card edge connector 2, the holding arms 131, 231 are once elastically deformed outward by manual operation. After the edges of the daughter boards D1, D2 are received by the insulating housings 11, 21, the holding arms 131, 231 return inward and the holding arms 131, 231 sandwich the daughter boards D1, D2 from both end edges in the lateral direction LR by their elasticity. The first locking members 131a, 231a of the holding arms 131, 231 are engaged with edges of the daughter boards D1, D2.
The support arms 133, 233 are formed with inclined portions 133a, 233a which bend at positions in front of front edges of the folded portions. The inclined portions 133a, 233a are inclined forward and diagonally outward. The support arms 133, 233 are again bent at positions forward F of the inclined portions 133a, 233a and extend forward substantially in parallel to the holding arms 131, 231. A stopper 133c is provided on a tip end of the support arm 133 of the lower card edge connector 1 to prevent the holding arm 131 from being bent excessively. In addition, a pair of stoppers 233b, 233c is provided on a tip end of the support arm 233 of the upper card edge connector 2 to prevent the holding arm 231 from being bent excessively. The holding arm 231 is disposed between the stoppers 233b, 233c. Further, the fixed sections 134, 234 project from lower edges of tip ends of the support arms 133, 233. The fixed sections 134, 234 extend in the lateral direction LR. The mother board attachment members 15, 25 are arranged on the fixed sections 134, 234.
The lengths of the holding arms 131, 231 of the latch arms 13, 23 are determined in accordance with the size specifications of a daughter board D1, D2 to be attached. A force required for deforming the holding arms 131, 231 outward, and forces of the holding arms 131, 231 for pinching the daughter board D1, D2 are determined by the lengths of the folded portions 132, 232. Portions of the holding arms 131, 231 which are provided at their upper edges in the folded portions 132, 232 have higher rigidity as compared with other portions of the holding arms 131, 231 which do not have the folded portions 132, 232. The holding arms 131, 231 are in communication with the support arms 133, 233 to be fixed to the mother board M and the insulating housings 11, 21 through the press-fit sections 135, 235 and the fixed sections 134 and 234 by the folded portions 132, 232. As the lengths of the folded portions 132, 232 are longer, the rigidities of the entirety of the holding arms 131, 231 are higher. The lengths of the folded portions 132, 232 of the lower card edge connector 1 and the upper card edge connector 2 shown in FIG. 1 are adjusted to such a level that the holding arms 131, 231 can appropriately be bent outward with finger's force and the daughter board D1, D2 is pinched between the holding arms 131, 231 with such a force that the daughter board D1, D2 is not pulled out.
Next, a difference between the lower card edge connector 1 and the upper card edge connector 2 will be described. The height of the insulating housing 21 of the upper card edge connector 2 is about two times of that of the insulating housing 11 of the lower card edge connector 1. The daughter board receiving recess 211 is formed at a position twice as high as the daughter board receiving recess 111 of the lower card edge connector 1 as measured from the mother board M. The holding arm 231 of the upper card edge connector 2 is disposed at the same height as the daughter board receiving recess 211.
As shown in FIG. 3, the support arm 233 of the upper card edge connector 2 is about two times as high as the support arm 133 of the lower card edge connector 1 in accordance with the height of the insulating housing 21. The fixed section 134 of the lower card edge connector 1 is bent inward, but the fixed section 234 of the upper card edge connector 2 is bent outward. Therefore, the lower card edge connector 1 can be disposed between the pair of the latch arms 23 in front of the inclined portion 233a of the upper card edge connector 2.
As shown in FIG. 4, the lower card edge connector 1 and the upper card edge connector 2 are mounted on a surface of the mother board M by soldering. The insulating housing 11 of the lower card edge connector 1 is disposed between the pair of the latch arms 23 of the upper card edge connector 2 on the mother board M. The latch arms 13 and the latch arms 23 are press fitted in both ends of the insulating housings 11, 21 in the lateral direction LR, and the insulating housing 21 of the upper card edge connector 2 has the same length as that of the insulating housing 11 of the lower card edge connector 1 in the lateral direction LR. The insulating housing 11 of the lower card edge connector 1 is disposed in front of the inclined portion 233a formed on the latch arm 23.
In a state where the daughter boards D1, D2 are mounted on the lower card edge connector 1 and the upper card edge connector 2, the insulating housing 11 of the lower card edge connector 1 and a portion of the daughter board D1 mounted on the lower card edge connector 1 are superposed on the daughter board D2 mounted on the upper card edge connector 2, as viewed from above. Therefore, according to the lower card edge connector 1 and the upper card edge connector 2 shown in FIG. 4, the occupied area on the mother board M is reduced by the superposed portion as compared with a case in which the daughter board D1, D2 and the lower card edge connector 1 and the upper card edge connector 2 are not superposed on each other and the mother board M can be utilized effectively.
In recent years, as can be seen in notebook personal computer, it is required that an area of a mother board M occupied by a part is further reduced as the equipment is reduced in size and the performance thereof becomes high. In a connector to which the daughter board is attached, it is also required to increase an area of superposed portion and to reduce an area occupied by the connector. In the lower card edge connector 1 and the upper card edge connector 2 shown in FIG. 4, if a disposition distance W1 between the lower card edge connector 1 and the upper card edge connector 2 is reduced, the area of the superposed portion is increased. As a method for reducing the disposition distance W1 between the lower card edge connector 1 and the upper card edge connector 2, it is conceivable to shorten the length of the folded portion 232 in the upper card edge connector 2, and to form the inclined portion 233a rearward B as compared with the position shown in FIG. 4, i.e., closer to the insulating housing 21.
However, if the length of the folded portion 232 is changed, the rigidity of the holding arm 231 is changed. That is, if the folded portion 232 is shortened, there is an adverse possibility that the folded portion 232 can not hold the daughter board D1, D2. In addition, the folded portion 232 connects the holding arm 231 and the support arm 233 to each other. Thus, if the length of the folded portion 232 is shortened, there is a possibility that the folded portion 232 is damaged when an excessive force is applied to the holding arm 231 or when a force is repeatedly applied.

Housing for a card edge connector assembly


An electrical connection assembly is provided to electrically connect with at least one electrical contact of an electronic apparatus. The electrical connection assembly includes an insulating casing, a circuit board and a resilient conductive element. An inner space is defined in the insulating casing, and at least one opening is defined on the insulating casing for communicating the inner space and the exterior of the insulating casing. The circuit board is disposed in the inner space of the insulating casing. The resilient conductive element includes a connecting side for fixing on and electrically connecting with the circuit board. The resilient conductive element further includes a compressible side for facing the opening and being exposed therethrough. The thickness of the resilient conductive element is reduced when an external force is applied thereon and recovers when the external force is removed.

1. Technical Field
The disclosure relates to an electrical connection assembly, in particular to an electrical connection assembly for preventing electricity interruption, a battery device with such electrical connection assembly, and an electronic apparatus with such battery device.
2. Related Art
Portable electronic apparatuses, such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants, portable navigating devices, use batteries as their power sources. To facilitate a continuous operation of the electronic apparatus, these batteries are usually replaceable. Generally the battery is assembled in a battery base and connected to a power receiving end of the portable electronic apparatus through the battery base.
To maintain a good electrical connection between the replaceable battery and the electronic apparatus, the electrical contacts of the battery and the electrical contacts of the electronic apparatus contact each other elastically to remain tight while contacting between the electrical contacts for transmitting electricity and electrical signals. In the prior art, the "elastic contacting" is achieved by the contacting between retractable pogo pin(s) of the electronic apparatus and contact pad(s) of the battery. The retractable pogo pin retracts when contacting the contact pad and being pressed, and in the meantime an elastic force is generated to keep the tip of the retractable pogo pin continuously contacting the contact pad.
However, under the impact of an external force, the electronic apparatus is easily affected by the external force. For example, when the electronic apparatus is dropped or rolling, and vibrations or impacts are generated, an instant relative displacement of the battery easily occurs with respect to the electronic apparatus. Or, the pin tip of the retractable pogo pin over-retracts when its inner spring is compressed due to the instant acceleration. At the moment, the pin tip of the retractable pogo pin temporarily separates from the contact pad of the battery, which results in the interruptions of electricity transmission or electrical signal transmission. Such electricity interruption causes an abnormal shutdown to the electronic apparatus upon operation, which is easy to damage the hardware circuits or the software programs of the electronic apparatus.
To resolve this problem, TW Patent No. I354890 introduces a portable electronic apparatus capable of detecting housing separation. The electronic apparatus includes two housings (the main body and the battery of the electronic apparatus). When the two housing are separated from each other, a control module stops supplying power to the electronic apparatus. The solution introduced by TW Patent No. I354890 can only achieve a normal shutdown procedure under possible abnormal states of power supply, but is unable to prevent the problem of electricity interruption.

Electrical connection assembly, battery device and electronic apparatus


A continuous miner including a support frame having a support frame front, and a sumping frame mounted on the support frame for forward and rearward movement relative to the support frame. The sumping frame has a sumping frame front, and the miner further includes a cutting drum pivotally mounted on the sumping frame, the cutting drum being positioned near the sumping frame front. The miner also includes a gathering head for gathering mined minerals pivotally mounted on the sumping frame front, and a hydraulic cylinder for pivoting and fixing the gathering head relative to the sumping frame in both the raising and lowering directions. The continuous miner also includes a first drilling platform pivotally mounted on the support frame front, a second drilling platform pivotally mounted on the support frame front and spaced apart from the first drilling platform, a hydraulic cylinder for pivoting and fixing the first drilling platform relative to the support frame independently of the second drilling platform, and a hydraulic cylinder for pivoting and fixing the second drilling platform relative to the support frame independently of the first drilling platform.

This invention relates to mining machines including a cutting drum mounted on a sumping frame, and more particularly, to such machines with mechanisms to improve the stability of the mining machine as the cutting drum sumps forward.
In the art of underground mining such as applied to the mining of coal from underground seams it is well known to mine solid mineral by providing mobile mining apparatus having mining head adapted by means of articulated mountings for dislodging the mineral in a substantially continuous manner. In practice such continuous mining operations often have comprised alternating sump and shear cutting cycles wherein the mining head is first actuated through a sump or horizontal cut into the mine face preparatory to a shear cut, and then through the shear or vertical cut across the face surface to dislodge mineral there from and to provide clearance for the advancing mining apparatus to pass. Subsequently the mining apparatus is trammed forward into the clearance cut by the mining head on tracks or the like to again position the apparatus adjacent the face surface for another sump and shear cutting sequence. Commonly, such continuous mining apparatus has also been adapted to automatically gather and load the mineral dislodged by the repeated cutting sequences into haulage means such as shuttle cars.


An apparatus, and method of use, for reducing the operable width of the inclined slide of a gravity fed sorting machine includes an upper section for reducing the flow rate into the slide and for directing the reduced flow to the operable portion of the slide and a lower section for delimiting the operable portion of the slide. The upper section includes a body proximate the gravity fed sorting machine and which is connected to a product flow rate adjustment assembly and a partition so the product flow into the slide may be controlled and the flow of materials directed to the operable portion of the lower section, which includes a slide width control guide to limit the operable width of the inclined slide.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to a system for adjustably reducing the effective width of a slide for a gravity-fed machine intended for sorting a high volume of product.
2. Description of the Related Art
A typical sorting machine of the type using the present invention may generally be characterized as a gravity-fed sorter. A gravity-fed sorter incorporates at least one slide or chute positioned at a steep angle that may have one or more channels across the width of each slide. A hopper or other feed system is positioned to dispense product to the top of the slide or slides. Typically a near-horizontal surface, a tray, exists between the hopper, or feed system, and each slide. Some system, such as a vibratory feeder, may be associated with this tray to encourage product to flow from the hopper to the slide. If sorting with multiple channels is desired, the slide is divided across its width into channels to provide a uniform number of dispensed products to each channel. Techniques for distributing the proper amount of product to each channel of the slide are well-known in the art. When divided a slide may have any number of channels, limited only by the width of the slide and the channel width necessary to permit the desired product to pass.
In operation, each slide of these sorters presents a single-layer stream of product approaching distribution across the full width of the slide to the sorting machine's viewer system, which may view one or opposite sides of the passing product. The viewer system images the entire width of the passing product stream at a location referred to as the scan line to permit identification of the horizontal position of a particular product to be removed from the passing flow. Located below the viewer system is an ejector system that may include one or more rows of ejectors permitting removal of the selected product from the passing flow. As is known in the art, activation of the individual ejector or group of ejectors associated with the last known horizontal position of the product to be removed is delayed for a time period equal to that necessary for the product to be removed to pass from the scan line to the ejector. The individual ejector or group of ejectors activated thereby deflects the selected product from the stream of product. As can be appreciated for the effectiveness of the viewer, it is critical for each product to pass through the scan line and to do so visible to all viewers employed. Likewise as can be appreciated for the effectiveness of the ejector system, it is critical that each product to not to move laterally between the viewer and ejector system. Finally, it is also critical for the effectiveness of both components that each product follow a common trajectory.
Thus it is the purpose of the slide to accelerate and singulate the product flow so that each product has the same downward velocity and no lateral velocity, i.e. the same trajectory, and to present the product uniformly to the scan line. One manner of encouraging singulation is to pass product down the slide in sufficient volume to fill the slide to at least a minimum density. However, if product is supplied at less than the operating capacity of the single channel slide, then singulation may not be reached and product may travel laterally between the scan line and ejector system. Additionally, when product is not laterally constrained, either by full chute capacity or by channels, a smooth chute will not achieve singulation due to the lateral movement of the product. Thus a further manner of encouraging singulation is by locating multiple channels across the surface of the slide so that once product enters a channel, its lateral travel is reduced or eliminated. However, even if singulation is reached, a channeled chute will not operate at its highest efficiency if the slide is not run at capacity as substantial gaps will occur among products passing or in a flow to pass the scan line.
Often a flow rate is desired that is lower than that provided by the original slide. A lower flow rate may be desired for machine testing or for sorting of a volume of product below the flow rate optimal for the slide in the sorting machine, particularly in connection with small product volumes such as testing or new seed development. Logically, singulation may be achieved for such lower flow rates by reducing the width of the slide, thus increasing the density of the product. In the prior art, reducing the slide width has required removal of the original slide and installation of a slide having a width sized to or near to the desired flow rate. Thus changing slides has required the physical disassembly of the sorting machine. Moreover, as the width of the slide controls the flow rate, operators have been able to select from a limited number of flow rates absent a wide variety of slides.
By eliminating the need for disassembly and reassembly, and the time associated with the reconfiguration, the sorting machine may be made more productive. Likewise, by providing a greater number of potential flow rates, the sorting machine may be made more productive. However, merely changing the slide width would create further difficulties. The product is supplied to the tray at a flow rate consistent with the slide supplied with the sorting machine. Thus the flow rate of product to the tray must also be reduced to avoid overfilling the slide. Moreover, as the tray is sized with a width equal to the slide, the effective width of the tray must be reduced to avoid loss of product beyond the slide width or the need to recycle unprocessed product.
Thus there exists a need for a process and apparatus for rapidly reconfiguring the slide of a gravity slide sorter to various widths, for ensuring product is supplied only to the operable width of the slide sorter, and for reducing the flow rate from the product supply to the maximum capacity of the reduced slide width.

Adjustable slide width reducer for gravity slide sorter


Fish processing machines and methods for realigning fish during processing are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a fish processing machine in accordance with the invention includes a fish processing unit for use with a processing machine having a fillet assembly and/or a skinner assembly. The processing unit includes an inspection assembly with a conveyor system operably coupled to the fillet assembly and/or skinner assembly and an alignment device operably coupled to the conveyor system. The conveyor system extends along a processing path to transport a fillet of fish that has been sliced from a trunk of the fish. The alignment device is positioned to automatically realign the fillet with respect to the processing path without manually manipulating the fillet before the fillet is transferred from the conveyor system to an inspection table.

Commercial fish processing operations commonly process, package, and freeze fish on marine vessels immediately after harvesting the fish. Typical commercial processing vessels, for example, have a processing deck where fish are sorted by size and run through a fillet process line. The fillet process line typically includes equipment to sort, process, package, and store the fillets. For example, the fillet line first separates the waste body parts, such as bones, tails, heads, and organs, from the trunks of the fish. The trunks are then filleted, and the individual fillets are inspected, packaged, and frozen in a freezing hold.
One difficulty currently facing commercial fish processors is that it requires a significant amount of time and manpower to process the fish. Although a variety of the tasks are performed using automated equipment, a significant number of processing operations are performed manually. For example, one conventional processing operation includes preparing the fillets for inspection. In many instances, this process includes manually realigning the fish for inspection and further handling. The manual realignment process can require a significant amount of labor. In a typical operation, for example, four people are required just to realign the fillets. Such manual processing is particularly expensive because the commercial processors must provide living quarters and meals on board the vessel in addition to paying salaries and benefits. Thus, to be more competitive, commercial fish processors are seeking procedures and equipment to increase the efficiency and reduce the cost of fish processing operations.

Fish processing machine with alignment devices and methods for realigning fish during processing