A method and system for managing contextual views within an application interface are disclosed. The method includes displaying a first view within an application interface that provides information about a user selected vehicle. The method also includes displaying a second view within an application interface that provides information about an environment. The second view may present an interactive three-dimensional model that provides an immersive experience. The application may switch between the first view and the second view according to user input.

The embodiments relate generally to methods and systems for managing contextual views within a user interface.
User interfaces can be utilized to display a wide variety of information for users. In the context of motor vehicles, user interfaces may be used to display vehicle controls, navigation information, and audio settings. However, existing UI interfaces for motor vehicles and related sales platforms can become cluttered with too much information. Furthermore, information may not be well organized, leading to confusion about where to find particular kinds of information within a given application.
There is a need in the art for a system and method that addresses the shortcomings discussed above.

Method and system for managing contextual views within a user interface


The invention provides a water-based low VOC shoe and leather care product having good product properties and characteristics, which can be formulated by making an appropriate and careful selection of ingredients and their amounts. A shoe and leather care product according to the invention has been found to give results in the treatment of leather (shoes) closely resembling the results found when using a conventional, high VOC shoe care product. Furthermore, such favourable results can be achieved while significantly reducing the amount of organic solvents in the product.

The invention relates to a shoe and leather care product, in particular a shoe and leather polish, to a process for preparing a shoe and leather care product and to the use of said shoe and leather care product for treating or cleaning shoes. More in particular, the invention relates to a shoe and leather care product having a reduced content of organic components, i.e. a low volatile organic content (VOC).
When the term shoe care is used in the context of the present invention it is intended to include both shoe and leather. Unless otherwise indicated herein, all percentages are percentages by weight calculated on the basis of the weight of the total shoe or leather care product.
The state of the art of the art of shoe care products, such as shoe polish, is well summarised by Peter A. Burke in Ullmann's encyclopaedia of Industrial Chemistry, Sixth edition, 2000 Electronic release on Shoe Polishes. Shoe care products are colourless or coloured pastes or fluids containing a wax phase. They are typically applied by polishing onto the leather surface of footwear such as shoes to provide a wax layer having a high gloss. Simply said, there are two classes of shoe care products: those that are oil based, and those that are based on an aqueous phase (emulsion based products).
Examples of oil based shoe care products are shoe creams and shoe polishes. A shoe polish typically consists of a mixture of waxes, such as Crude Montan wax and modified forms thereof (e.g. acid waxes, ester waxes and partly saponified waxes), Fisher Tropsch waxes and modified forms thereof (e.g. oxidised Fisher Tropsch waxes and partly saponified Fisher Tropsch waxes), polyethylene waxes and modified forms thereof (e.g. oxidised polyethylene waxes), metallocene waxes, micro waxes, ceresin, carnauba wax, candelilla wax, stearic acid, or synthetic waxes, and a mixture of solvents, such as terpene oil, mineral spirits, white spirit, aromatics free/desaromatized white spirit and the like. Oil based shoe care products are relatively hard and have a good consistency allowing an easy application to the leather.
Shoe care products based on an aqueous phase are most often made available in the form of paste or cream-like emulsions in tubes or jars, or in the form of fluids in bottles. Thickened emulsions are also known and are sold in tins or glass jars.
In the last decade environmental, toxicological and cost considerations have stimulated research into so called Low VOC Polishes. These are shoe polishes having a low (or no) content of organic solvents. The environmental considerations causing concern for volatile organic compound are rooted in ozone creating potential for these compounds and global warming. The toxicological concerns are based on the alleged risks of volatile organic compounds to human health.
In Europe as well as in the US, the use of volatile organic solvents (VOCs) is regulated. In Europe, a volatile organic compound is a compound that has a starting boiling point lower than 250 degrees Celsius at atmospheric pressure. For working environments volatile organic compounds are defined as having a vapour pressure equal to or larger then 0.01 kPa at 293.15 Kelvin. Originally in the United States VOCs were defined as volatile organic compounds having a vapour pressure of 0.1 mm Hg or larger at 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Currently an exempt list is used based on proven negligible photochemical reactivity. Within the scope of this invention a VOC is defined as a volatile organic compound that has a starting boiling point lower then 250° C. at atmospheric pressure.
High crude oil cost price during the oil crises in the past decades has furthermore created the need for formulae that are less dependent on crude oil cost price that determines the cost of petroleum distillates used in paste shoe polish like mineral spirits, kerosene, Varnish Makers and Painters Naptha, Stoddard solvent, white spirit and aromatics free/desaromatised white spirit.
Organic solvents in solvent-based shoe polishes have multiple basic functions. They assist in achieving ease of application (ease of spreading of the product and ease of buffing) of the product. They assist in achieving maximum liquefaction during application. They perform a role in cleaning the leather and in driving the waxes and oils present in the shoe polish into the pores of the leather. They ensure that any remaining wax layers of previous treatments are redissolved and also that the wax component is solubilised in the product. They further plasticise and soften the wax and facilitate removal of excess wax applied. They provide for an adequate evaporation rate, adequate product structure and stability to ensure adequate shelf life in terms of solvent retention, absence of solvent syneresis, phase separation and the like. They furthermore contribute to product consistency, weight stability and product performance stability.
All of these functions provide and support the raw materials in the product in achieving desirable surface gloss, depth of gloss, gloss durability, cleaning, nourishing, conditioning, protecting, colouring and waterproofing properties of a shoe care product. Upon reduction or removal of solvents, all these various functions have to be provided for by balancing other components in the product to ensure and retain consumer satisfaction with the current product paste shoe polish.
Basically, the only realistic alternative to reduce the level of organic solvent is to exchange organic solvent with water. Water can be introduced as an external or water continuous phase in terms of an (o/w), or oil-in-water emulsion, an internal discontinuous phase in terms of a water-in-oil emulsion, also called inverse emulsion, also called oil continuous or w/o emulsion, or a mixture of the two afore mentioned approaches with a water continuous phase w/o/w emulsion or a multiple phase emulsion. In the context of the present invention, any emulsion belongs either to the class of the oil continuous emulsion systems or the class of the water continuous emulsion systems.
Clearly the state of the art of oil continuous emulsions (w/o) is such that in today's competitive environment manufacturers still are forced to revert to non-emulsion white spirit based formulation technology. Thus, producers, due to consumer preferences for white spirit based technology, do not employ oil continuous shoe polish emulsion technology.
Known problems with shoe care products of this type include the consistency of the product being too thick and thereby affecting the ease of application and spreadability of the product, drying out of the product in the tin, i.e. before use, a shine that requires a lot of work, and inferior waterproofing of the treated leather. Moreover the amount of water in the products is typically less then 56.4% and the level of white spirit not lower than 22%. It is an object of the current invention to lower use of VOCs below 22% for emulsions.
The water continuous phase approach has led to several proposed solutions. The German patent application 35 41 434 discloses a shoe care product in the form of an emulsion containing wax, emulsifier, water and an anionic polysaccharide as co-emulsifier. Although this product is free of organic solvents, it has a cream-like consistency, which does not provide the wax layer of high gloss, which is desired of a shoe polish. The European patent application 1 000 990 discloses a water based shoe care product in the form of an emulsion containing wax, water and an emulsifier. In essence, the disclosed shoe care product is based on a specific, non-ionic emulsifier, viz. an alcohol having 6 to 28 carbon atoms alkoxylated with an alkene oxide having 2 to 4 carbon atoms. It has been found that this product does not give satisfactory results when applied to a leather surface.
Thus, there is, still a need in the art for a water-based low VOC shoe or leather care product, achieving as much the same results as fully solvent based paste polishes as possible. The problem clearly is to achieve a sufficiently hard product with ingredients that result in optimally soft films to create the desired combination of product properties
The applied and remaining polish film thickness after polishing of water continuous polish increases as compared to solvent based polish. This has negative effects on gloss level, gloss durability and gloss type. In order to reduce the resulting film thickness of water-based low VOC polishes, a balance between the film plasticity and hardness, inherent film adhesion capacity and film elasticity has to be struck. Addition of wax phase softening agents reduces the hardness of the product, which result in application of too high amounts of polish on the shoe. Too low plasticity of product particles in the product film results in a low removal of excess product, while too high film plasticity results in limited gloss durability. Too low inherent adhesive capacity result in near to complete removal of the film and consequently a low gloss product. Too high film adhesive capacity leads to thick films, which result in short gloss durability.


An air-bag type passenger restraining device for a motor vehicle comprises a vehicle collision sensor which issues a first instruction signal when detecting a vehicle collision; an air-bag which is located in front of a seat of the vehicle and instantly inflated when receiving a second instruction signal; an air-bag retreating device which instantly retreats the air-bag in a direction away from the seat when receiving a third instruction signal; and a control unit for producing the second and third instruction signals upon receiving the first instruction signal. The control unit issues the third instruction signal for starting the air-bag retreating device after the air-bag is inflated to such a degree as to effect an initial restraint to a passenger on the seat due to issuance of the second instruction signal therefrom.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a vehicle device which restrains vehicle passengers in the event of a vehicle collision, and more particularly, to an air-bag type passenger restraining device which includes an air-bag mounted on a holder and means which, upon a vehicle collision, moves the air-bag holder away from a seated passenger.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In order to clarify the task of the present invention, one vehicle device of the above-mentioned type will be outlined with reference to FIG. 17, which device was proposed by the same applicant through Japanese Patent Application No. 3-64166.
The device comprises generally an air-bag 101 installed in a steering wheel 103, a steering wheel retreating device 104 and a controller which controls operation of the air-bag 101 and the retreating device 104. Upon a vehicle collision, the controller functions so that the air-bag 101 is instantly inflated and at the same time the retreating device 104 retreats the steering wheel 103 by a given distance in a direction to increase a space between the steering wheel 103 and the passenger (viz., driver). The controller comprises an ignition switch 105, a judge circuit 107, a front sensor switch 109, a center sensor switch 111, a column switch 113, a battery 115 and a mercury switch 117. As shown, these parts constitute a first circuit which controls the air-bag 101 and a second circuit which controls the steering wheel retreating device 104.
When, due to a vehicle collision or the like, the front and center sensor switches 109 and 111 are actuated, the judge circuit 107 judges the collision and instantly ignites an inflater (not shown) of the air-bag 101. At the same time, the column switch 113 is actuated to energize the steering wheel retreating device 104 and thus the steering wheel 103 (more specifically, the steering column) is retreated by a given degree.
Because of enlargement of the space between the steering wheel 103 and the passenger upon the vehicle collision, the air-bag 101 can be inflated freely and easily within the space.
In the above-mentioned air-bag type restraining device, the retreat of the steering wheel 103 starts when the air-bag inflater is ignited. However, such retreat tends to induce a phenomenon wherein the practical passenger restraint by the inflated air-bag 101 is effected after the air-bag 101 has come to the retreated position. In this case, the passenger is forced to strongly bump against the air-bag 101. In fact, under such condition, it is difficult to provide the air-bag 101 with a so-called "passenger soft holding" irrespective of the enlargement of the space for the air-bag 101.
Furthermore, due to its inherent arrangement, the size (or stroke) of the air-bag 101 (more specifically, the thickness of the inflated air-bag) must be increased in accordance with the enlargement of the space. This will be understood from FIG. 18 which shows, by broken and solid lines, two positions of the inflated air-bag 101 on the steering wheel 103. The position shown by the broken line is the position which is taken by the inflated air-bag 101 just before the retreat of the steering wheel 103, while the position shown by the solid line is the position which is taken by the inflated air-bag 101 upon completion of the retreat. The stroke of the air-bag 101 is denoted by reference "LA" and the degree of the retreat of the steering wheel 103 is denoted by reference "LB". As is seen from the drawing, in order to provide the inflated air-bag 101 with "a sufficient passenger soft holding function", it is necessary to increase the thickness of the inflated air-bag 101 by a degree corresponding to the retreat "LB" of the steering wheel 103. This induces a bulky construction of the air-bag system.

Control of a vehicle restraining system having an air bag in a retractable steering column


Data for engine conditions such as engine speed (r.p.m.), a flow rate of air taken in each of a plurality of cylinders of the engine, etc. are detected by various sensors; an amount of fuel to be injected into each engine cylinder is calculated repeatedly on the basis of the detected data at fixed time intervals; the calculated amount of fuel is injected into each engine cylinder, wherein the calculated fuel injection amount is injected each cylinder at an optimum fuel injection time in an engine cycle and the calculated fuel amount can be renewed at least once in a time from starting of fuel injection until completion of the fuel injection in an load operation of the engine in which an engine load is larger than in idling.

The present invention relates to a method of and apparatus for controlling an internal combustion engine using fuel injection valves and, more particularly, to a method of and apparatus for controlling fuel injection of an engine, which method and apparatus are suitable for a multi-point fuel injection type internal combustion engine.
There is a known control method of controlling a fuel injection valve through detection of engine conditions with various sensors, and repeated calculation of a necessary fuel injection amount with a microcomputer on the basis of detected data of the engine conditions.
The fuel injection amount calculation is based on data representative of engine conditions such as values of the intake air flow rate and the engine speed (r.p.m.) N which are inputted to a microcomputer at prescribed crank angles of the engine, so that calculation is effected in synchronism with engine rotation.
This method has a defect in that calculation cycles or intervals are long when the engine is in an idling condition, so that the control delay is remarkable and a precise calculation of a fuel injection amount can not be effected. Further, the method has a defect in that fuel injection to some cylinders is effected always in specific strokes, such as the suction and expansion strokes, and the other cylinders have fuel injected always in compression and exhaust strokes, for example. Therefore, the mixing condition of the fuel air mixture introduced into the cylinders and the staying time of the mixture in the manifold are different for each cylinder, which causes a difference in the fuel-air mixing degree at each cylinder and a variation in engine characteristics for each cylinder. As a whole, the efficiency and performance of the engine are lowered with the conventional method.
JP-A-55-128630 (1980) discloses an engine control method in which the above-mentioned defects are eliminated. In JP-A-55-128630, fuel is injected at fixed time intervals irrespective of the engine rotation, and the fuel injection amount also is calculated at constant intervals of time. With respect to the fuel injection at fixed time intervals according to the method disclosed in this publication, when the method is used in a multi-point fuel injection system, the fuel injection start point from a suction stroke, for example, is not constant, but changes widely, that is, in some cases fuel is injected at the compression stroke, and in other cases fuel is injected in the suction stroke, for instance. When the fuel is injected in the compression stroke, there is a relatively large time interval between a time at which a fuel injection amount is calculated for fuel injection of the compression stroke and a time at which the fuel amount is sucked into the cylinder, which means that the injected fuel amount is based on relatively old data such as the intake air flow rate and engine speed (r.p.m.). Although, when the engine runs at a low engine speed such as during idling, there is substantially no control delay, in case of a high speed operation of the engine, particularly in case of acceleration of the engine, a sufficiently precise fuel injection amount can not be calculated according to the prior art. Therefore, the calculated air ratio sometimes deviates from the theoretical fuel-air ratio, so that purification of exhaust gas is not sufficient even if a three way catalyst is used, and the engine according to the prior art can not keep to the recent strict regulation of exhaust gas.
There is another method of fuel injection control disclosed in JP-B-62-7380 (published February of 1987), wherein fuel injection valves driven at the same time as each other are driven so as to be forcibly opened for a short fixed time period at a fuel injection time, an optimum fuel injection time is calculated according to engine conditions to establish the opening time of the valves, and then the fuel injection valves are closed after lapse of the time of the short fixed time period and the optimum fuel injection time period. According to this method, in usual operation of the engine, the optimum injection time is calculated on the basis of engine condition data obtained only in the short fixed time, and is not calculated after the short fixed time. Further, according to this method, since the injection valves (the number of which are 4 in four cylinder engine) are driven simultaneously to inject fuel, even if one of the valves is opened at an optimum injection time for that engine cylinder in an engine cycle, the injection time for the others may not be optimum. Summary of the Invention
An object of the present invention is to provide an engine control method and apparatus wherein a precise fuel injection amount for each engine cylinder can be calculated even if there is a large change in intake air flow rate during acceleration or deceleration, whereby emission of exhaust contamination can be strictly restricted.
According to an aspect of the present invention, data for engine conditions, such as engine speed (r.p.m.) and flow rate of air taken in each of a plurality of cylinders of the engine, is detected by various sensors; an amount of fuel to be injected into each engine cylinder is calculated repeatedly on the basis of the detected data at fixed time intervals; the calculated amount of fuel is injected into each engine cylinder, so that the calculated fuel injection amount is injected into each cylinder at an optimum fuel injection time in an engine cycle and the calculated fuel amount can be renewed at least once in a time period from the start of fuel injection until completion of the fuel injection in a load operation of the engine in which the engine load is larger than that which occurs during idling.
According to the aspect of the invention, when the engine is in a condition in which the flow rate of air sucked into the engine cylinder changes, a calculated value of the fuel injection amount can be renewed and the fuel of renewed value is injected at the optimum injection time, so that fuel in an amount very close to that really required for the engine is injected. Therefore, the fuel-air mixture ratio is not significantly different from the theoretical fuel air ratio and the exhaust gas can be purified sufficiently by a catalyst, for example.
According to our experimental investigation, when the time interval of calculation of fuel injection amount is 5 msec or less, the deviation in air-fuel ratio from a theoretical ratio can be kept within a prescribed value in which the exhaust gas can be purified so as to keep to a strict regulation of exhaust gas, although a time interval of 2 msec is more preferable.
The optimum fuel injection time or position is a position which is close to a starting point of an intake stroke in an engine cycle, such that the fuel injected at the position is fully sucked into the cylinder during the intake stroke of this engine cycle.
In a multi-cylinder type engine, an optimum fuel injection period differs for each cylinder, namely, each cylinder has an optimum fuel injection period with respect to an intake stroke of an engine cycle. According to the present invention, fuel in an amount which is calculated on the basis of newest engine condition data in an engine cycle is injected in each cylinder of the engine at the optimum fuel injection time for each cylinder, so that fuel can be combusted at an optimum fuel-air ratio in each cylinder, and so that the exhaust gas can be purified by a suitable catalyst which is known to be high in conversion rate of CO, HC and NOx at a suitable fuel air ratio.

Hitachi Automotive Engineering Co., Ltd.


In an NMOS active clamp device and an NMOS active clamp array with multiple source and drain contacts, the robustness against ESD events is increased by reducing channel resistance through the inclusion of one or more p+ regions formed at least partially in the source and electrically connected to the one or more source contacts.

Numerous devices have been developed for handling electrostatic discharge (ESD) events. In the case of NMOS devices the ESD clamps fall into two groups: the active clamps that work in normal operating mode, and the snapback devices which are designed to be triggered and operate in snapback mode during an ESD event and then turn off again as voltage drops below the holding voltage of the device.
The present invention deals with active clamp NMOS devices. These are typically larger than snapback devices but have the advantage of being usable as self-protecting devices, where they are functional even during non-ESD situations. While these devices typically are meant not to go into snapback, local overstresses due to current crowding can cause these devices to go into snapback, thereby damaging the device.
The present invention seeks to reduce such snapback in active NMOS clamps.

ESD clamps and NMOS arrays with increased electrical overstress robustness


The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of alkylated dihydroxybenzene by alkylating dihydroxy benzene with tertiary butyl alcohol in the presence of a solid acid/solid polymer catalyst.

Friedel Crafts catalysis is one of the major industrially important processes that is widely used in the synthesis of low and high volume chemicals. Acylations, benzylations, alkylations and sulphonylations giving a wide range of useful products like ketones, alcohols, alkyl aromatics and sulphones are included in this reaction. The petrochemical industry wherein a large number of alkyl hydrocarbons are produced by alkylation reactions is also a beneficiary of this reaction mechanism. The conventional catalysts used in this reaction mechanism include AlCl3, HF, H2SO4, BF3 and BPO4. Most batch processes use AlCl3 as the soluble acid catalyst since it is a powerful Lewis acid and also inexpensive. However, it is difficult to handle AlCl3 and other similar metal halides since they get easily hydrolysed. Very often these catalysts are required in stoichiometric amounts. A large inventory of these materials pose health, safety and storage problems. The traditional route of liquid phase alkylation using mineral acids and AlCl3 as catalyst suffer from the disadvantage of high capital costs, reactor corrosion, formation of by-products and the difficulty in catalyst regeneration. In recent times, attention is being focused on development of environmentally friendly catalysts for the production of intrinsically important chemicals and chemical intermediates.
The use of safe solid acids in the place of traditional Friedel Crafts catalysts and mineral acids have become important. Several alkylation reactions of aromatic hydrocarbons and functional aromatic hydrocarbons have been tried over zeolites, oxides, mixed oxides and supported oxides. Clays such as montmorillonite with an acidic function are also being considered as alternative catalysts for these reactions. Clays have also been modified for this purpose by pillaring with polyhydroxy metal cations such as Zr, Al, Cr, Ga, etc, acid activation, ion exchange with transition metals and by metal oxide impregnation.
Alkylation of phenols is important in chemicals industries particularly in the agrochemical and pharmaceutical industries. (Fiege et al, in Gerhartz W., et al eds. 1987—Valmann Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, 5th edition, Wemheim, VCH Verlagsglsellaschaf; Lowenheim F. A. et al, 1975, Industrial Chemicals, A. Wiley InterScience, New York, Kirk, J., et al, 1981, Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, 3rd edition, Wiley, New York). Alkylation of phenol methanol over various catalysts has been studied (Nozaka et al, Bull. Chem. Soc. Japan, 50, 1997, 614; Narayanan et al, J. Mol. Catal., 52, 1987, 129; Velu et al, React. Kinetic Catal. Lett. 62(2), 1997, 339 and Appl. Catal. A. General, 119, 1994, 241). Karuppanasamy et al report the alkylation of phenol with alcohol over thoria (J. Catal. 63, 1980, 433). Klemm et al report the alkylation of phenol with 2-propanol (J. Org. Chem., 45, 1980, 4326). Alkylation of isopropanol over zeolite catalyst is reported in Guo Changwan et al (Beinjing Huagon Yanjuyuan, 27(3), 1998, 163). Tertiary butylation of phenol was carried out over acid catalyst (Corma et al, J. Catal. 134, 1992, 58 and Appl. Catal. 105, 1993, 271). Peimo et al report the tertiary butylation of phenol over zeolite solid acid catalyst in vapour phase (Huadong Huadong Xueynan Xuebao, 14(4), 1998, 476; See also Chang et al—U.S. Pat. No. 5,288,927 and Kuizhang et al., Appl. Catal. A. General, 166, 1998, 89).
Alkylation of dihydroxy benzene with tertiary butyl alcohol using mineral acids was investigated by Komeev et al (USSR Patent 1583407, 1990).
The prior art processes above suffer from the following disadvantages:    1. Catalyst cannot be reused    2. Disposal of the acids used is not environmentally safe and/or economical    3. The selectivity is frequently observed to be low    4. Corrosion of the reactors and the reaction vessel    5. The process and the reactants are not easily handled    6. Large amounts of catalyst are required
It is therefore necessary to develop a process that overcomes the drawbacks enumerated above.

Process for preparing alkylated dihydroxybenzene

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research


A system comprising a SIP failure chandler, wherein the SIP failure handler monitors SIP failures and issues an alert and reroutes call traffic based on a service group number if a SIP failure threshold is exceeded wherein the service group number is associated with a detected failure, where the service group comprises a plurality of IP addresses.

In recent years the Internet and the Internet Protocol have played a larger role in the field of telecommunications. Packet data protocols, such as the Internet Protocol (IP), have been used to deliver packet and voice services to subscribers. Voice over IP is one example of a packet data protocol being used to deliver voice services to telecommunications subscribers. Telecommunications networks, however, must be configured to support this new paradigm of providing voice services.
In the past, an area receiving telecommunications service may receive the service through a dedicated circuit or circuit group of some type. In the wired world, this dedicated circuit may take the form of a trunk or a dedicated time-slot on a trunk. Because each call is allocated a dedicated circuit, there was a high degree of predictability of bandwidth once a circuit was allocated for a communication session. There were also a predictable number of voice circuits available once a circuit group was established. Delivering Real Time Transport Protocol (RTP) packets in a VoIP network is not as predictable. Because of the unpredictable nature of packet networks, voice calls routed over packet networks tend to be less reliable. Call failures caused by this unreliability may be more common.
In the realm of VoIP calls, an area served is typically referred to as a service group or packet group. A certain number of IP addresses may be allocated to a service group. If too many calls are routed to a service group or if a service group is experiencing technical difficulties, call failures may occur in configuring an RTP session between two IP endpoints. This type of call failure may occur before a bearer is allocated at the RTP server, which may cause call failures. If too many call failures occur, calls may need to be re-routed to a different service group. Or, if call failures are frequent, the number of IP addresses allocated to a service group may have to be modified. Thus, the number failures and types of failures occurring in a service group must be monitored.

Voice over IP system recovery apparatus for service and packet groups based on failure detection thresholds


An electrochemically active hydrogen diffusion barrier which comprises an anode layer, a cathode layer, and an intermediate electrolyte layer, which is conductive to protons and substantially impermeable to hydrogen. A catalytic metal present in or adjacent to the anode layer catalyzes an electrochemical reaction that converts any hydrogen that diffuses through the electrolyte layer to protons and electrons. The protons and electrons are transported to the cathode layer and reacted to form hydrogen. The hydrogen diffusion barrier is applied to a polymeric substrate used in a storage tank to store hydrogen under high pressure. A storage tank equipped with the electrochemically active hydrogen diffusion barrier, a method of fabricating the storage tank, and a method of preventing hydrogen from diffusing out of a storage tank are also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
An electrochemically active gas diffusion barrier is disclosed. The electrochemically active barrier may be used in a high-pressure storage tank to prevent hydrogen from diffusing out of the storage tank.
2. State of the Art
Compressed gases, such as natural gas and hydrogen, are being developed as alternative fuels to replace gasoline and diesel fuels. In order to use compressed gases as fuel sources in vehicles, the vehicles are modified or redesigned to use these alternative fuel sources. For instance, conventional storage tanks for gasoline and diesel fuels cannot withstand high pressures associated with the use of compressed gases. A storage tank of a vehicle that runs on such alternative fuels is configured with an internal shape to withstand the high pressures. The storage tank is also limited in its size and external shape by the space, or available storage envelope, under or within the vehicle that is available for mounting the storage tank. In addition, weight of the storage tank is desirably kept to a minimum so that it does not increase the overall weight of the vehicle. Conventional storage tanks for vehicles that run on alternative fuels are bottle-shaped and are mounted to the underside of the vehicle.
A conformable storage tank for compressed natural gas is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,577,630 to Blair et al. ("Blair"), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The conformable storage tank is formed from a polymeric liner that is purported to be impermeable to the compressed natural gas stored in the storage tank. The polymeric liner is overwrapped with a composite material to form a reinforcement layer over the polymeric liner. The polymeric liner is a thin layer of a polyamide, a polyethylene, a polypropylene, a polyurethane, or a blend or copolymer of these materials. The composite material is typically a carbon, glass, graphite, aramid, or other fiber bound in a thermoplastic or thermoset epoxy resin. The conformable storage tank has a normal operating pressure to 3,600 pounds per square inch ("psi") and a burst strength of 11,000 psi.
While the polymeric liner of Blair is used to prevent compressed natural gas from diffusing out of the storage tank, this polymeric liner is not useful to store hydrogen under any significant pressure because hydrogen has a significantly higher permeability rate through polymers than natural gas. The permeability rate of hydrogen is up to 80 times greater than that of natural gas, depending on the polymeric material used in the polymeric liner. If hydrogen is stored in a storage tank having a polymeric liner similar to that in Blair, hydrogen pressure is gradually lost as the hydrogen diffuses out of the storage tank. The diffusing hydrogen also affects the bonding between the polymeric liner and the reinforcement layer because the hydrogen weakens the bond between the two layers.
While other materials are less permeable to hydrogen than polymers, these materials are not currently feasible for coating a polymeric liner of a storage tank to prevent the diffusion of hydrogen and, in addition, exhibit other undesirable characteristics for vehicular applications. Metals and ceramics are less permeable to hydrogen than polymers, but have a higher stiffness or modulus value. If metal or ceramic coatings are formed on the polymeric liner, the coatings would crack when the storage tank was pressurized with hydrogen due to the different stiffnesses of the polymeric liner and the coating, causing the more yieldable polymeric liner to flex before the stiffer coating. Amorphous metals or ceramics also have low hydrogen permeability, but have even higher modulus values. Furthermore, these amorphous metals and ceramics are not easily formed in thin coatings. Coating techniques, such as sputtering or chemical vapor deposition, are problematic because sputtering equipment is not available for coating the inside of a storage tank and chemical vapor deposition requires high temperatures that would damage or destroy the polymeric liner. Using metals and ceramics to coat the polymeric liner is further problematic because such materials are heavier than polymers and drastically increase the overall weight of a storage tank.
It would be desirable to store high-pressure hydrogen in a storage tank that is effectively impermeable to hydrogen diffusion. It would be further desirable to reduce the permeability of hydrogen through polymeric liners so that storage tanks currently used to store compressed natural gas may be modified to store hydrogen.

Polymeric hydrogen diffusion barrier, high-pressure storage tank so equipped, method of fabricating a storage tank and method of preventing hydrogen diffusion


A method for synthesizing a nucleic acid includes providing an initiator having a 3′ end having an unprotected hydroxyl group, providing a nucleic acid polymerase having at least a conservative catalytic polymerase domain of a family-B DNA polymerase, providing a nucleotide monomer, and exposing the initiator to the nucleotide monomer in the presence of the nucleic acid polymerase and a metal cofactor which is a bivalent cation, and in the absence of a template, such that the nucleotide monomer is incorporated to the initiator. The kit includes the initiator, the nucleic acid polymerase, and the nucleotide monomer, and is used according to the method.

De novo DNA synthesis dispensing with a DNA template has been developed during past decades. Among the currently available template-independent DNA synthesis methods, the phosphoramidite-based chemical DNA synthesis has been well-known since early 1980's, but basically has remained unchanged since then. The phosphoramidite-based chemical DNA Synthesis requires four consecutive reaction steps, including de-blocking, coupling, capping, and oxidation steps, to add one nucleoside to another nucleoside tethered to a solid support. However, one of the major drawbacks of the phosphoramidite-based chemical DNA synthesis is inevitable use of hazardous chemicals in the aforesaid reaction steps.
Due to growing demand for environmental protection, green technology applicable to DNA synthesis has drawn attention of researchers. Therefore, enzymatic DNA synthesis, which can greatly reduce use of hazardous chemicals, seems promising since such synthesis has merits such as longer strand generation, a lower error rate, a faster cycle time, a lower production cost, etc.
Speaking of template-independent enzymatic DNA synthesis, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT) has been found to be a template-independent DNA polymerase that adds all four deoxynucleoside triphosphates (dNTPs) to the 3′ termini of DNA strands. TdT belongs to the X Family of low-fidelity DNA polymerases. The TdT-based DNA synthesis requires only two reaction steps, namely, a single-nucleotide addition by TdT and subsequent removal of the 3′-protective group from the extended 3′-end of the single-stranded DNA strand being synthesized. Even though TdT and its homologs have been applied to numerous DNA synthesis platforms, template-independent enzymatic DNA synthesis based on TdT can be hardly commercialized due to unsatisfactory product length, reagent reusability, cycle time, and so forth.

Method and kit for template-independent nucleic acid synthesis


A lubricating oil composition may include a base oil (A), an olefin copolymer (B), and a poly(alkyl(meth)acrylate) (C), in which a weight average molecular weight of the olefin copolymer (B) is 10,000 to 80,000, a content of the olefin copolymer (B) is 0.01% to 0.23% by mass based on the total amount of the lubricating oil composition, and a content of the poly(alkyl(meth)acrylate) (C) is 0.02% to 0.40% by mass based on the total amount of the lubricating oil composition.

A lubricating oil composition used for lubricating the sliding parts of various devices such as a hydraulic system, a stationary transmission, and an automotive transmission is required to have properties that an oil film is easily formed while having a certain fluidity in both high-temperature and low-temperature environments.
In general, the viscosity of the lubricating oil composition is likely to change when the temperature changes. For example, when the viscosity is significantly decreased, it tends to be difficult for an oil film to be formed; however, when the viscosity is significantly increased, the fluidity is impaired, which is problematic. For this reason, the lubricating oil composition must have a small temperature dependency on viscosity.
Another function of the lubricating oil composition is the cooling effect. The lubricating oil composition cooled by an oil cooler or the like can cool the sliding part and the surrounding part thereof.
For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses, as a drive-system lubricating oil composition with viscosity characteristics, shear stability, and less heat generation due to friction, a drive-system lubricating oil composition consisting of 85% to 99.9% by mass of a lubricating oil base oil having predetermined kinetic viscosity and viscosity index and 0.1% to 15% by mass of an ethylene-α-olefin copolymer having predetermined properties.


An impedance matching network and network assembly employ one or more variable inductive elements, wherein one or more of the variable inductive elements includes a high temperature ferrite core, a helical coil, and a means for physically translating the magnetic core through the helical coil. An impedance matching network may alternatively or additionally employ one or more variable inductive elements, wherein one or more of the variable inductive elements is cooled using a fan assembly. Further, the impedance matching network and network assembly may alternatively or additionally employ one or more variable inductive elements, wherein the cooling of one or more of the variable inductive elements is facilitated by increasing the surface area of the variable inductive element core.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to impedance matching; more particularly, the present invention relates to impedance matching networks and network assemblies, and impedance matching techniques.
2. Description of Related Art
In many materials processing applications and in the manufacturing and processing of semiconductors, Integrated Circuits (IC), displays and other electrical devices, a plasma reacts, or facilitates a reaction, with a substrate, such as a semiconductor wafer. For example, in order to fabricate ICs, modem semiconductor processing systems may utilize plasma assisted techniques such as Reactive Ion Etching (RIE), Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD), sputtering, reactive sputtering, and ion-assisted Plasma Vapor Deposition (PVD). Thus, in such known systems, a processing plasma is often employed to assist both etch and deposition processes. The processing plasma can, for example, be formed by coupling Radio Frequency (RF) power to the processing plasma, either capacitively through electrodes or inductively through a coil. In both cases, impedance matching networks are used to improve the transfer of RF power to the processing plasma.

Method and assembly for providing impedance matching network and network assembly


According to one embodiment, a memory device includes a stacked film stacked in a superlattice structure. The stacked film includes a first layer, a second layer, and a third layer different in composition. The first layer is provided between the second layer and the third layer. The second layer includes a first atom reversibly moved by application of energy. The third layer includes a second atom reversibly moved by application of energy. The second atom is different from the first atom.

As a new type of nonvolatile memory, a phase change memory utilizing the change of crystal states has been proposed. Furthermore, in order to improve the energy efficiency required for phase change, a phase change film of a superlattice structure has been proposed. With regard to such a new type of nonvolatile memory, multilevel operation and on/off ratio improvement have been less studied yet, and practical performance has not been achieved.


Method for estimating the Hessian of the objective function, times a vector, in order to compute an update in an iterative optimization solution to a partial differential equation such as the wave equation, used for example in full wave field inversion of seismic data. The Hessian times vector operation is approximated as one forward wave propagation (24) and one gradient computation (25) in a modified subsurface model (23). The modified subsurface model may be a linear combination of the current subsurface model (20) and the vector (21) to be multiplied by the Hessian matrix. The forward-modeled data from the modified model are treated as a field measurement in the data residual of the objective function for the gradient computation in the modified model. In model parameter estimation by iterative inversion of geophysical data, the vector in the first iteration may be the gradient of the objective function.

Full wavefield inversion (FWI) in exploration seismic processing relies on the calculation of the gradient of an objective function with respect to the subsurface model parameters [9]. The gradient of the objective function is used to calculate an update to the model. An objective function E is usually given as an L2 norm as
                              E          =                                    1              2                                                  ∫                              ∫                                  ∫                                                                                                                                                              p                                                                                (                                                                                r                                  g                                                                ,                                                                                r                                    s                                                                    ;                                  t                                                                                )                                                                                -                                                                                p                              b                                                                                (                                                                                r                                  g                                                                ,                                                                                r                                    s                                                                    ;                                  t                                                                                )                                                                                                                            2                                                                                ⅆ                      t                                                                                ⅆ                                              S                        g                                                                                ⅆ                                              S                        s                                                                                ,                            (        1        )            where p and pb are the measured pressure, i.e. seismic amplitude, and the modeled pressure in the background subsurface model at the receiver location rg for a shot located at rs. In iterative inversion processes, the background medium is typically the medium resulting from the previous inversion cycle. In non-iterative inversion processes or migrations, the background medium is typically derived using conventional seismic processing techniques such as migration velocity analysis. The objective function is integrated over all time t, and the surfaces Sg and Ss that are defined by the spread of the receivers and the shots. We define Kd(r)=K(r)−Kb(r) and ρd(r)=ρ(r)−ρb(r), where K(r) and ρ(r) are the true bulk modulus and density, and Kb(r) and ρb(r) are the bulk modulus and the density of the background model at the subsurface location r. (Bulk modulus is used as an example here, but any of the 21 elastic constants might be used instead.) We also define the difference between the measured and the modeled pressure to be pd(rg, rs; t)=p(rg, rs; t)−pb(rg, rs; t).
The measured pressure p, satisfies the wave equation
                                                        ρ                                                                                ∇                                  ·                                      (                                                                  1                        ρ                                                                                ∇                        p                                                              )                                                                        -                                          ρ                K                                                          p                ¨                                              =                                    -                              q                                                  (                  t                  )                                                                                δ                                            (                                  r                  -                                      r                    s                                                  )                                                    ,                            (        2        )            where q(t) is the source signature. It can be shown that the gradient of the objective function E with respect to the bulk modulus Kb(r), for example, is given as
                                                                                ∂                  E                                                  ∂                                                            K                      b                                                                                (                      r                      )                                                                                =                                                          -                                  ∫                                      ∫                                          ∫                                                                        p                          d                                                                                ∂                                                          p                              b                                                                                ∂                                                                                K                                b                                                                                (                                r                                )                                                                                ⅆ                          t                                                                                ⅆ                                                      S                            g                                                                                ⅆ                                                      S                            s                                                                                =                                                                                -                                                                                ρ                                b                                                                                (                                r                                )                                                                                ⅆ                              V                                                                                K                              b                              2                                                                                (                              r                              )                                                                                ∫                                                  ∫                                                                                p                                  .                                                                b                                                                                (                                                                  r                                  ,                                                                                r                                      s                                                                        ;                                    t                                                                                )                                                                                ∫                                                                                ρ                                      b                                                                                (                                                                              r                                        g                                                                            )                                                                                ρ                                      b                                                                                (                                      r                                      )                                                                                g                                    b                                                                                (                                                                          r                                      ,                                                                                r                                          g                                                                                ;                                                                                -                                          t                                                                                )                                                                                *                                                                                p                              .                                                        d                                                                                (                                                                                r                                g                                                            ,                                                                                r                                  s                                                                ;                                t                                                                                )                                                                                ⅆ                                                      S                            g                                                                                ⅆ                          t                                                                                ⅆ                                                      S                            s                                                                                ,                                                                                (        3        )            where gb is the Green's function in the background medium, and dV is an infinitesimal volume around r [9, 3]. The equations for the gradients of other subsurface medium parameters in general elastic cases can be found in Refs. [10, 6, 1]. One can then perform full wavefield inversion by minimizing the value of the objective function E in an iterative manner, using gradient equations for the medium parameters such as that in Eq. 3.
The convergence rate of full wavefield inversion can be improved when information on the Hessian of the objective function E is employed in the inversion process [7, 5]. The Hessian is a matrix of second partial derivatives of a function. The Hessian (with respect to the physical property bulk modulus) of the objective function E in Eq. 1 is given as
                                                        ∂              2                                    E                                              ∂                                                K                  b                                                                  (                  r                  )                                                                                ∂                                                K                  b                                                                  (                                      r                    ′                                    )                                                                    =                  ∫                      ∫                          ∫                                                [                                                                                ∂                                                      p                            d                                                                                ∂                                                                                K                              b                                                                                (                              r                              )                                                                                ∂                                                      p                            d                                                                                ∂                                                                                K                              b                                                                                (                                                              r                                ′                                                            )                                                                                +                                                                  p                        d                                                                                ∂                            2                                                                                p                            d                                                                                ∂                                                                                K                                b                                                                                (                                r                                )                                                                                ∂                                                                                K                                b                                                                                (                                                                  r                                  ′                                                                )                                                                                ]                                                                  ⅆ                  t                                                                                ⅆ                                      S                    s                                                                                ⅆ                                          S                      g                                                        .                                                                                (        4        )            The second term in the right-hand side is the term responsible for multiple scattering, and is often ignored due to difficulty in evaluation [11]. By dropping this second term, one obtains the equation for the Gauss-Newton Hessian,
                                                        ∂              2                                    E                                              ∂                                                K                  b                                                                  (                  r                  )                                                                                ∂                                                K                  b                                                                  (                                      r                    ′                                    )                                                                    ≈                  ∫                      ∫                          ∫                                                                    ∂                                          p                      d                                                                            ∂                                                                  K                        b                                                                                (                        r                        )                                                                                ∂                                          p                      d                                                                            ∂                                                                  K                        b                                                                                (                                                  r                          ′                                                )                                                                                ⅆ                  t                                                                                ⅆ                                      S                    s                                                                                ⅆ                                          S                      g                                                        .                                                                                (        5        )
Once the Hessian matrix is computed, the medium parameter update required for the minimization of E can be obtained by multiplying the inverse of the Hessian matrix and the gradient using the Newton's method [5]:
            K      d                  (      r      )        =            -                        (                                                    ∂                2                                          E                                                      ∂                                                      K                    b                                                                          (                    r                    )                                                                                ∂                                                      K                    b                                                                          (                                          r                      ′                                        )                                                                                )                          -          1                      ·                  ∂        E                    ∂                              K            b                                          (            r            )                              Direct computation of the inverse of the Hessian matrix, however, often requires prohibitively large memory space in full wavefield inversion, and so the inverse of the Hessian is computed iteratively using the conjugate gradient (CG) method. This iterative scheme is often referred to as Newton-CG method, which may be used on either the full Hessian from equation 4 or the Gauss-Newton Hessian from equation 5. An example of this Newton-CG method can be found in Algorithm 7.1 of Ref [5], which is reproduced below. For notational convenience, we use H for the Hessian matrix, and ∇E for the gradient vector.
1.Define tolerance δ = min(0.5, {square root over (∥∇E∥)}) ∥∇E∥2.Set z0 = 0, r0 = ∇E, {tilde over (K)}0 = −∇E3.For j = 0, 1, 2,... a.If {tilde over (K)}jTH{tilde over (K)}j ≦ 0 i. If j = 01. Return Kd = −∇Eii. Else1. Return Kd = zj b.Set lj = rjTrj / {tilde over (K)}jTH{tilde over (K)}j c.Set zj+1 = zj + ljdj d.Set rj+1 = rj + ljH{tilde over (K)}j e.If ∥ rj+1 ∥< δ i. Return Kd = zj+1 f.Set βj+1 = rj+1Trj+1 / rjTrj g.Set {tilde over (K)}j+1 = −rj+1 + βj+1{tilde over (K)}j4.Perform line search using Kd as the search direction for the mediumparameter update, starting with the step size of 1 if possible.The algorithm above requires repeated evaluation of the Hessian times vector H{tilde over (K)}j in a loop, where {tilde over (K)}j for j=0 is set as the negative of the gradient. The value of H{tilde over (K)}j is then used to update zj, which eventually becomes the inverse of the Hessian times gradient Kd in 3.a.ii.1 or 3.e.i.
The Newton-CG method requires evaluation of the Hessian matrix times (i.e. multiplied by) a medium perturbation vector {tilde over (K)}, which may be referred to hereafter in this document as the (Gauss-Newton) "Hessian times vector,"
                                                                        ∫                                                                                ∂                        2                                                                  E                                                                                ∂                                                                              K                            b                                                                                (                            r                            )                                                                                ∂                                                                              K                            b                                                                                (                                                          r                              ′                                                        )                                                                                K                      ~                                                                                (                                              r                        ′                                            )                                                                                ⅆ                    V                                                              =                                                                                ∫                                              [                                                  ∫                                                      ∫                                                          ∫                                                                                ∂                                                                          p                                      d                                                                                ∂                                                                                K                                        b                                                                                (                                        r                                        )                                                                                ∂                                                                          p                                      d                                                                                ∂                                                                                K                                        b                                                                                (                                                                                r                                          ′                                                                                )                                                                                ⅆ                                  t                                                                                ⅆ                                                                      S                                    s                                                                                ⅆ                                                                      S                                    g                                                                                ]                                                                                K                          ~                                                                                (                                                      r                            ′                                                    )                                                                                ⅆ                                                  V                          ′                                                                                =                                                                                ∫                                              ∫                                                  ∫                                                                                ∂                                                                  p                                  d                                                                                ∂                                                                                K                                    b                                                                                (                                    r                                    )                                                                                [                                                          ∫                                                                                ∂                                                                          p                                      d                                                                                ∂                                                                                K                                        b                                                                                (                                                                                r                                          ′                                                                                )                                                                                K                                    ~                                                                                (                                                                          r                                      ′                                                                        )                                                                                ⅆ                                                                      V                                    ′                                                                                ]                                                                                ⅆ                          t                                                                                ⅆ                                                      S                            s                                                                                ⅆ                                                      S                            g                                                                                ,                                                                                (        6        )            where the Hessian has been approximated as the Gauss-Newton Hessian. For example, in the estimation of parameters of a physical property model by iterative inversion of geophysical data, the medium perturbation vector will typically initially be the gradient (in model parameter space) of the objective function. As the iterations progress, this vector will gradually diverge from being the gradient, and lose physical meaning as such. Equation (6) may be evaluated by performing two forward-wave-propagation and two reverse-wave-propagation computations. The present invention is a method that allows this equation to be evaluated by performing only one forward-wave-propagation (one forward solve of a partial differential equation, such as the wave equation) and one reverse-wave-propagation computation (i.e., one gradient computation of the objective function), resulting in valuable saving of computer time.

Methods for approximating hessian times vector operation in full wavefield inversion


A three-dimensional mounting semiconductor device includes a layer structure including a plurality of first substrates with a trench-shaped concavity formed in and a plurality of second substrates with semiconductor elements formed in, which are alternately stacked, wherein an unevenness defined by a size difference between the first substrate and the second substrate is formed on a side surface, and a first through-hole are defined by an inside surface of the trench-shaped concavity and a surface of the second substrate, and a third substrate jointed to the side surface of the layer structure and having an unevenness formed on a surface jointed to the layer structure which are engaged with the unevenness formed on the side surface of the layer structure.

Semiconductor IC chips and the packages, electronic parts, such as car-mounted power semiconductor devices, and electronic apparatuses, etc. are required to mount functions that effectively radiate the heat generated in the operation and are capable of continuously operating with high reliability. In servers and PCs, for example, CPU (Central Processing Units), which generate very much heat are used, and it is required to effectively radiate the heat generated from them to properly maintain the temperature environments inside the casings and installation sites. As the devices are more downsized and are more speeded up, the current density increases, which lead to more heat generation, and it is increasingly required to effectively radiate the heat.
Especially in a three-dimensional mounting semiconductor device having a plurality of semiconductor chips stacked, it is difficult to cool all the semiconductor chips in the stacked layers by a heat radiation device, such as a heat sink or others, provided on the chip surfaces. It is important how to effectively radiate the heat from the inside semiconductor chips.
In such background, as a proposed technique of effectively cooling the respective semiconductor chips of a three-dimensional mounting semiconductor device is noted a cooling technique using a microchannel. This technique is of providing a plurality of microchannels in a three-dimensional mounting semiconductor device and flowing a liquid for cooling in the microchannels to thereby cool the respective semiconductor chips.
The microchannel is a channel of dimensions of the micro-order for flowing a liquid. The flow of the micro-scale is a laminar flow and also generates the effect that the surface force (viscosity effect of liquid) is more influential than the body force, whereby the thermal conductivity can be improved with a low flow rate of the fluid. Thus, the heat generated from heat source can be effectively moved while required cooling efficiency can be provided. Furthermore, a merit is that the width and the height of the channel of the micro-order allows the cooling device to be downsized. Another merit is that a small use quantity of the fluid allows the degree of freedom of the design to be improved for the move area and the storage area of the fluid.
The followings are examples of related: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 05-251601; and Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 06-21291.
To flow a fluid for the cooling through the microchannels provided in the three-dimensional mounting semiconductor device, it is important to ensure the joints among the plural semiconductor chips and with other members endurably to the pressure of the fluid. Especially, in the operation of the semiconductor device, often thermal expansion takes place due to heating, and the reliability of the joints is required to be improved.

Three-dimensional mounting semiconductor device and method of manufacturing three-dimensional mounting semiconductor device


A printhead structure (106) for use in a DEP (Direct Electrostatic Printing) is provided, made from an insulating material comprising a control electrode in combination with printing apertures (107) and being installed between a toner delivery means (101) and a image receiving substrate (109), characterised in that the printhead structure comprises:. (i) one individual control electrode (106a) around each aperture (107) on one side of the insulating material (106d) of the printhead structure, PA1 (ii) one individual shield electrode (106b) around each aperture (107) on the other side of the insulating material (106d) of the printhead structure, wherein each single electrode of the individual control electrodes (106a) and each single electrode of the individual shield electrodes (106b) arranged around each aperture (107) are connected to each other via metallisation (106c) through the single aperture (107), forming a single printing electrode around each aperture (107).

In DEP (Direct Electrostatic Printing) the toner or developing material is deposited directly in an imagewise way on a image receiving substrate, the latter not bearing any imagewise latent electrostatic image. The substrate can be an intermediate endless flexible belt (e.g. aluminium, polyimide, etc.). In that case the imagewise deposited toner must be transferred onto another final substrate. Preferentially the toner is deposited directly on the final image receiving substrate, thus offering a possibility to create directly the image on the final image receiving substrate, e.g. plain paper, transparency, etc. This deposition step is followed by a final fusing step.
This makes the method different from classical electrography, in which a latent electrostatic image on a charge retentive surface is developed by a suitable material to make the latent image visible. Further on, either the powder image is fused directly to said charge retentive surface, which then results in a direct electrographic print, or the powder image is subsequently transferred to the final substrate and then fused to that medium. The latter process results in an indirect electrographic print. The final substrate may be a transparent medium, opaque polymeric film, paper, etc.
DEP is also markedly different from electrophotography in which an additional step and additional member is introduced to create the latent electrostatic image. More specifically, a photoconductor is used and a charging/exposure cycle is necessary.
A DEP device is disclosed by Pressman in U.S. Pat. No. 3,689,935. This document discloses an electrostatic line printer having a multi-layered particle modulator or printhead structure comprising:
a layer of insulating material, called isolation layer; PA1 a shield electrode consisting of a continuous layer of conductive material on one side of the isolation layer; PA1 a plurality of control electrodes formed by a segmented layer of conductive material on the other side of the isolation layer; and PA1 at least one row of apertures. PA1 the need for a rather high voltage on the control electrode to close the apertures surrounded by said control electrodes (i.e. to overcome the applied propulsion field), PA1 expensive electronics for changing the overall density between maximum and minimum density, making the apparatus complex and expensive, PA1 easy contamination or even clogging of the printing apertures by toner particles. PA1 1. isolated wires in a cross direction; PA1 2. a flexible PCB with only control electrodes in the cross direction and PA1 3. a flexible PCB with common shield electrode and control electrodes in the cross direction. The different systems according to this disclosure make it possible to change the propulsion field in a group of apertures, tuning the density by setting the voltage of the different control electrodes, and require only moderate printing voltages.
Each control electrode is formed around one aperture and is isolated from each other control electrode. Hereinafter a printhead structure as describe immediately above will be referred to as "classical" printhead.
Selected potentials are applied to each of the control electrodes, while a fixed potential is applied to the shield electrode. An overall applied propulsion field between a toner delivery means and a support for an image receiving substrate projects charged toner particles through a row of apertures of the printhead structure. The intensity of the particle stream is modulated according to the pattern of potentials applied to the control electrodes. The modulated stream of charged particles impinges upon a image receiving substrate, interposed in the modulated particle stream. The image receiving substrate is transported in a direction orthogonal to the printhead structure, to provide a line-by-line scan printing. The shield electrode may face the toner delivery means and the control electrode may face the image receiving substrate. A DC field is applied between the printhead structure and a single back electrode on the support for the image receiving substrate. This propulsion field is responsible for the attraction of toner to the image receiving substrate that is placed between the printhead structure and the back electrode.
Printing with an engine as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,689,935 is quite well possible, but shows also some drawbacks. Important drawbacks, that have been addressed in several disclosure are:
The drawbacks, mentioned above, result in a poor output quality, especially eveness of the density in solid density areas, and a bad long-time stability if the printing engine is used over several hours.
To overcome these problems several modifications have been proposed in the literature.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,912,489 the conventional positional order of shield electrode and the control electrode--as described by Pressman--has been reversed (i.e. the shield electrode faces the image image receiving substrate and the control electrodes the toner source). This results in lower voltages needed for tuning the printing density. In a preferred embodiment, this patent discloses a new printhead structure in which the toner particles from the toner delivery means first enter the printhead structure via larger apertures, surrounded by so-called screening electrodes, further pass via smaller apertures, surrounded by control electrodes and leave the structure via a shield electrode.
In EP-A-0 587 366 an apparatus is described in which the distance between printhead structure and toner delivery means is made very small by using a scratching contact. As a result, the voltage needed on the control electrodes to close the apertures surrounded by said control electrodes (i.e. to overcome the applied propulsion field) is very small. The scratching contact, however, demands a very abrasion resistant top layer on the printhead structure.
An apparatus working at very close distance between the printhead structure and the toner delivery means is also described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,281,982. Here a fixed but very small gap is created in a rigid configuration, making it possible to use a rather low voltage to select wanted packets of toner particles. However, the rigid configuration requires special electrodes in the printhead structure and circuits to provide toner migration via traveling waves.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,568,955 e.g. a segmented support for an image receiving substrate, comprising different galvanically isolated styli as control back electrodes is used in combination with toner particles that are migrated with travelling electrostatic waves. The printing can proceed with lower voltage, but resolution is limited and the image quality depends quite strongly on both the environmental conditions and properties of the image receiving substrate.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,256 some of the problems cited above are addressed by the combination of a "classical" printhead structure, i.e. a printhead structure as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,689,935, and a segmented back electrode (control back electrode), comprising different isolated wires and carrying the image receiving member. For a line printer the density can be tuned by selecting an appropriate voltage for shield electrode, control electrode and control back electrode wire.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,036,341 a device is described comprising a screen- or lattice shaped control back electrode matrix as segmented support for an image receiving substrate. This apparatus has the advantage that matrix-wide image information can be written to the image receiving substrate, but it also suffers from the environmental influences and those caused by the nature of the image receiving substrate.
To overcome these drawbacks in U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,144 another device wherein the segmented back electrode without printhead structure was changed into a two part electrode system, having a printhead structure electrode and a back electrode structure. A first part was placed between the toner delivery means and the image receiving substrate and consisted of parallel, isolated wires, being used as printhead structure. A second part consisted of another set of parallel wires, arranged orthogonally with respect to the first wires and was used as back electrode structure. The support for the image receiving substrate or back electrode structure in all examples consists of isolated wires which are oriented in one direction. As printhead structure, there are described three different configurations:
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,402,158 the above indicated printhead structure 2 (namely a flexible PCB with individually controllable control electrodes without shield electrode) is also used in combination with a non-segmented ("classical") back electrode. This printhead structure, however, has the disadvantage that frictional charging can occur leading to image instabilities for long-term printouts.
This last disadvantage has been partially overcome, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,307,092, by the application of a grounded antistatic overcoat over said single-plane-electrode printhead structure, i.e. in stead of using a metal conductor as shield electrode, an antistatic layer is used.
According to U.S. Pat. No. 4,491,855 the image density can be enhanced by the introduction of an AC-voltage, applied to the toner conveying member. As a result, shorter writing times are possible. But, to obtain a reduced image density, the quite elevated voltage levels must be applied.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,229,794 and the EP-Application 710 897 a printhead structure with individually controllable control electrodes and shield electrodes around every aperture is described. These printhead structures have the advantage that accurate control over potential values at the outer surfaces of the printhead structure are possible, but the electronics needed to drive such a complex printhead structure make a device making use of said printhead structure quite complex and expensive.
The disclosures mentioned above, do solve some of the problems present in the original DEP (Direct Electrostatic Printing) device, but in general the combination of low voltage addressable printing apertures combined with low contamination just fulfil one or a few of the different requirements for an inexpensive DEP device, delivering high-quality images with stable densities.
There is thus still a need to have a DEP system, based on a simple apparatus, yielding high quality images in a reproducible and constant way.

DEP printhead structure and printing device having an improved printing electrode structure


A video lottery game having a video-display and a processor for enabling a player to play and a method of playing a video lottery game are provided. Jackpot prize schedules are calculated and displayed for viewing by the player. Responsive to the displayed jackpot prize schedules, a player's bet is received and displayed. A plurality of objects are randomly selected and are then displayed at a speed responsive to a player selection. Game results are evaluated and displayed responsive to the randomly selected and displayed objects.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the field of lottery games, and more particularly to a video lottery game.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Known lottery games generally include instant scratch-off ticket and on-line computerized games. An advantage of instant scratch-off ticket games is that a player knows instantly whether or not he has won a prize. Typically both instant scratch-off tickets and on-line computerized systems provide prize amounts that are paid on a pari-mutual basis. As a result, significantly decreased sales of instant scratch-off tickets can result after it is known that large prizes have been paid.
Many of the on-line computerized system games provide limited excitement for the players due to required waiting for drawings that determine the winning tickets. Further, a lottery agent often is required to operate the lottery terminal.
Video draw poker games often are skill-based games that do not require a lottery agent and can provide instant prize results. For example, a computer video draw poker game is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,743,022. However, a non-skill game or a game of pure chance is a more suitable lottery game so that the less intelligent player is not penalized.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,652,998 discloses a video gaming system including consumer operated terminals each having a video amusement game display and connected to a central controller which supervises the network of terminals. The consumer operated terminals can be customized for different types of games. The video gaming system includes a prize distribution arrangement with the central controller assigning a minipool to each terminal. The minipool represents a fixed number of game plays and a predetermined number of prizes. Examples of skill and non-skill games are disclosed.
It is desirable to provide a video lottery gaming system and video lottery gaming method that increases player participation and lottery sales.


The invention relates to organic/inorganic hybrid polymer blends and hybrid polymer blend membranes that are composed of: one polymer acid halide containing SO2X, POX2 or COX groups (X═, Cl, Br, I); one elemental or metallic oxide or hydroxide, obtained by the hydrolysis and/or the sol/gel reaction of an elemental and/or organometallic compound during the membrane forming process and/or by subsequently treating the membrane in aqueous acidic, alkaline or neutral electrolytes. The invention further relates to hybrid blends and hybrid blend membranes containing polymers that carry SO3H, PO3H2 and/or COOH groups, obtained by aqueous, alkaline or acidic hydrolysis of the polymer acid halides contained in the polymer blend or the polymer blend membrane. The invention also relates to methods for producing the inventive hybrid blends and hybrid blend membranes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to membranes of polymers. In particular, the present invention relates to organic/inorganic hybrid polymer blend membranes.
2. Discussion of the Related Art (State of the Art and its Disadvantages)
The state of the art regarding acid chloride/inorganic hybrid composites is disclosed in the following article: "Chemical modification of a Nafion™ sulfonyl fluoride precursor via in situ sol-gel reactions," by A. J. Greso, R. B. Moore, K. M. Cable, W. L. Jarrett, K. A. Mauritz Polymer 38, 1345-1356 (1997)
Nafion™ sulfonyl fluoride precursor membranes are preswollen in perfluorohydrophenanthrene and immersed in 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane. Thereafter excess silane is washed out with EtOH. Hybrids are formed, in which by hydrolysis of silane and by reaction of silanes with SO2F groups SiO2 networks partially cross-linked with the polymer are formed in the membrane matrix.
Disadvantage of the described system is that the sol/gel reaction takes place in a preformed membrane and consequently the content of the inorganic polymer phase formed by hydrolysis, of the polymer composite can not be set at will.
Also hybrid systems of nonionic polymers and metallic respectively elemental oxides have been described in the literature:
(a) composites of poly(n-butylmethacrylate) and titanium oxide, made by water vapor hydrolysis of titan alkoxides, which had been added to alcoholic solutions of a poly(n-butylmethacrylate) polymer solution, in the polymer matrix after evaporation of the solvent. This procedure is disclosed in "Novel Poly(n-Butyl Methacrylate)/Titanium Oxide Alloys Produced by the Sol-Gel process for Titanium Alkoxides," by K. A. Mauritz, C. K. Jones, J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 40, 1401-1420 (1990).
(b) composite membranes of polyetherimide and nanodispersed silicium oxide, made by hydrolysis of TEOS in solutions of polyetherimide Ultem® in NMP by addition of 0.15 M HCl solution. After hydrolysis dense or phase inversed membranes are made from this polymer solution. Compatibility of the inorganic with the organic phase was obtained by extra addition of 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane (AS). This procedure is disclosed in "Novel Poly(n-Butyl Methacrylate)/Titanium Oxide Alloys Produced by the Sol-Gel process for Titanium Alkoxides," by K. A. Mauritz, C. K. Jones, J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 40, 1401-1420 (1990