A lift trailer device configured to load and unload a payload from the ground or a loading dock or any height inbetween.

There exists a wide variety of different types of commercial vehicles and trailers for loading, transporting and unloading a payload. One such handy commercial vehicle is a truck having a lift gate provided on the back end thereof. The lift gate eliminates the need for a loading dock to lift and lower heavy payload items into and out of the truck. However, this type of arrangement is expensive, and only suitable for businesses shipping and transporting goods on a regular basis (e.g. daily). Further, the size (length and width) of the lift gate is fairly limited so as to prevent larger or longer items to be loaded into the truck by the lift gate.
Trailers have the advantage of being significantly less expensive than a commercial truck or vehicle. Further, trailers are designed to be pulled by a vehicle, in particular a commercial vehicle, and come in a wide variety of sizes and duties. Many trailers on the market today are configured with a tilting bed so that the bed can be tilted to lower the back edge of the trailer bed down to the loading surface. However, due to the height of the trailer bed when in a raised position, the bed makes a substantial angle with the loading surface when in the lowered position. Thus, it still is difficult or impossible to load heavy items onto the tilt trailer even if loading ramps are used with the tilt trailer. Thus, there exists a need for a trailer having a bed that can be raised and lowered, and be positioned substantially horizontal or at a slight angle relative to the loading surface.
Further, there exists a need for a trailer that can load and unload payloads from the ground or a loading dock or at various heights inbetween. The present invention overcomes the problems associated with tilting trailers.


A method for restoring a remote server that is not responding due to a memory constraint is provided. The method comprises providing a remote server connected to a network communications channel, pinning a reserve memory segment program to the memory in the remote server to control a reserve memory segment allocated within the memory in the remote server when a memory constraint arises. The method further comprises continuously running the reserve memory segment program to listen for a request packet to release the reserve memory segment that is allocated, releasing the reserve memory segment within the memory in the remote server in response to the request packet received, and performing any corrective action at the remote server for restoring the remote server when the reserve memory segment is released.

In today's business environment, organizations and/or businesses utilize a wide variety of distributed computing systems to communicate between application programs hosted on numerous workstations and/or servers. Further, recent trends have seen a steady increase in the number of servers used in businesses and/or organizations. Accordingly, many distributed computing systems employ additional types of servers that carryout specific functions and which servers are positioned at different locations within a business and/or organization, rather than at one central location. While data placed on these servers is considered critical to the business, there remains insufficient means for ensuring the proper operation of these servers from a single service site when these servers are spread out in different locations. Accordingly, there is a need to simplify the process of maintaining proper operation of such servers, while at the same time controlling any costs associated with such maintenance

Method, apparatus and program product for remotely restoring a non-responsive computing system

International Business Machines Corporation


A competitive protein binding assay for rapamycin and biologically-active metabolites, derivatives and analogues thereof in blood and other biological fluids is disclosed, wherein the binding reagent is a specific rapamycin binding protein either substantially purified from the soluble cytoplasm of target cells of rapamycin action, particularly normal or transformed lymphocytes, freshly collected or in established cell lines, or synthesized by recombinant DNA techniques. Solution phase and solid state assay systems are disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to assays for drugs in blood and other biological fluids. More particularly, it relates to isolated binding proteins for the immunosuppressive drug, rapamycin, and the use of these proteins in a quantitative competitive protein binding assay for rapamycin in blood and other biological fluids.
2. Description of the Background Art
Rapamycin ("RAP") is an antifungal macrocyclictriene antibiotic extracted from Streptomyces hygroscopicus isolated from an Easter Island soil sample.sup.1. It is highly active against Candida species, especially Candida albicans. See, formula (1) below.
Early animal studies demonstrated that RAP is immunosuppressive; it totally prevented the development of experimental immunopathies and the formation of IgE-like antibody in rats.sup.2.
Since these early reports, RAP has received little attention. However, interest in this molecule has recently been rekindled with the discovery that the macrolide antibiotic, FK-506, a product of Streptomyces tsukubaensis.sup.3, bears structural similarity to RAP.sup.4,5 (1). ##STR1##
FK-506 is capable of inhibiting immune responses with a potency some 100-500 fold greater than that of cyclosporine A.sup.6 ("CsA"), currently the favored therapeutic agent for prevention of graft rejection after organ and bone marrow transplantation.sup.7-9. FK-506 has performed remarkably well in initial human clinical transplantation trials.sup.10,11, despite reports of toxic effects in animals.sup.12.
RAP inhibits T cell activation at concentrations comparable to those of the structurally related FK-506, yet with mechanisms reportedly strikingly different from those mediated by FK-506, and thus cyclosporine A.sup.13. A bright future for RAP as a clinically useful immunosuppressive agent is predicted.
The reportedly predominant cyclosporine binding protein is a cytosolic molecule of Mr 17,739 termed cyclophilin.sup.14. However, high specific binding of CsA to cytosolic proteins larger (e.g., 50-58 kDa) and smaller (e.g., 10-12 kDa) than cyclophilin have been identified in circulating and cultured lymphocytes, isolated, and used as a reagent in a competitive protein binding assay for CsA and its biologically active metabolites.sup.15-17.
Binding of CsA to a 50 kDa protein was found to correlate well with a bioassay.sup.17,18.
The reportedly predominant FK-506 binding protein in calf thymus, human spleen and the T cell line JURKAT, termed FKBP, is a heat stable protein of mass of about 10 kDa to 12 kDa.sup.19-23. However, I have identified and isolated specific receptor proteins for FK-506 in the range of 40 kDa to 60 kDa, particularly 51 kDa, and made the 51 kDa protein the basis of a competitive protein binding assay for FK-506 in biological fluids.sup.24,25.
Both cyclophilin and FKBP are reported to exhibit peptidyl-prolyl isomerase activity.sup.21,26. This enzyme activity is inhibited by CsA and FK-506, respectively.
Recently, FKBP isolated from yeast, calf thymus and human T cells (JURKAT) has been shown to bind RAP with a Kd of about 0.2 nM, greater than the Kd (0.4 nM) for FK-506, and RAP is also reportedly a potent inhibitor of the aforementioned isomerase activity of FKBP.sup.27.
There currently is no quantitative assay for RAP in blood and biological fluids suitable for use in a clinical setting. The only reported assay for RAP in serum or tissues is a microbiological bioassay.sup.28. Such assays are far too cumbersome, time consuming and expensive, and with far too little throughput of data, to be useful in a hospital clinical laboratory setting. The development of a suitable assay is critical to the clinical use of RAP.
The critical need in medicine for a rapid and specific assay for rapamycin and its biologically active metabolites, derivatives and analogues in blood and other biological samples is now filled by the competitive protein binding assay disclosed and claimed below.


A virtual network (VN) realization method and system are provided. The method includes setting a VN-AP in a data center network and/or a broadband network. A service deployment and management function entity receives a VN service request from a user to generate feature information of the VN; a PC/VM automatically discovers the VN-AP, the automatically discovered VN-AP generates the VN forwarding table entry of the PC/VM after the PC/VM passes the identity authentication of the VN, and performs tunnel encapsulation according to the VN forwarding table entry to forward a packet from the PC/VM. By discovering a VN-AP for processing a VN automatically, the disclosure realizes the automatic and rapid deployment of the VN.

Cloud computing has become a hotspot in information industry in recent years. In the general background of cloud computing, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Infrastructure-as-a-Service (Iaas) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) have become hotspot services, and there is a trend towards Everything-as-a-Service (XaaS). Under the influence of the thought of XaaS and in the light of the development thought of electric systems (users use power only but not construct their own power plants for power supply), Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) may be provided for small and medium-sized enterprises or even for large-scale enterprises, that is, the network of each enterprise user is provided by a service provider, rather than that the service provider provides Internet network connection for the enterprise user network and the user himself constructs his own internal network/Intranet, the IT system and other related service systems. In this way, on one hand, new business growth can be brought for the service providers, and on the other hand, for enterprise users, especially for small and medium-sized enterprise users, benefits are gained such as the achievement of a standard network security and obtaining of the network at less expenditure.
Further, with the deployment of IaaS, network services need to be provided for a great number of users in a data center network, that is, it is needed to provide separated networks for a great many users in a data center network. Under the current technical conditions, the networks are separated via a Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) or a Layer 3/Layer 2 Virtual Private Network (L3/L2 VPN).
However, as most of existing data center networks have a big L2 access network and related L3 networks, an L3/L2 VPN is not much applicable mainly for the sake of the necessity to deploy new network function entities (PE) in the network, and as the number of VLANs is limited not more than 4096, generally, VLAN cannot meet the demand for service provision by a large data center. Thus, at present, based on an idea of constructing and isolating virtual networks using different tunnel technologies on the existing networks, virtual networks of a data center are realized by overlay networks, which, meanwhile, addresses the problem of extendibility. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, in a data center network, overlaid tunnels are encapsulated by introducing End Point of Virtual Tunnel (VTEP), thereby realizing virtual networks for a plurality of users (that is, a plurality of tenants). The typical technologies used include Virtual Extensible Local Area Network (VXLAN), Network Virtualization Using Generic Routing Encapsulation (NVGRE) and so on. In view of the realization of Network-as-a Service, the connection condition between an L2 network and an L3 network should be paid attention to, and the description is given here based on the technical background of VXLAN. That is, a tunnel technology is introduced into an L3 network to encapsulate, transmit and connect an L2 network via the L3 network, specifically, VTEP may be a Hypervisor, an access switch or a router, wherein the Hypervisor may specifically be a software system supporting the running of a virtual machine on a physical computer.
The specific realization flow of a virtual network, as shown in FIG. 2, includes: connecting a Virtual Machine (VM) with an access switch via a vSwitch in a Hypervisor, that is, connecting the VM with the access switch via a vNIC and a vSwitch. To separate traffics of different VMs in the same physical machine, a VLAN technology is needed if the VMs belong to different user networks. As shown in FIG. 2, Personal Computers may not be virtualized as VMs, but directly access/constitute a VN instead.
Step 201: VMs are connected with a VTEP and allocated to different VNs.
In this step, different VNs are identified by network names, wherein the network names are employed for being used by operators easily and identifying VNs conveniently, further, the network names can be mapped to network identifiers for network transmission, and usually, the identifiers use a 24-bit field, that is, up to 16 million VN can be identified. It should be appreciated that the field of other bits, for example, 32 bits, can be used to provide a wider virtual network range.
Step 202: The VTEP generates corresponding VN forwarding table entry for a specific VM;
specifically, the VTEP acquires the correspondence relationship between the Medium/Media Access Control (MAC) address and/or Internet Protocol (IP) address of the VM and the IP address of the VTEP according to preset information and generates a VN forwarding table.
Step 203: The VTEP may send the correspondence relationship between the VM MAC and the IP address of the VTEP to all related VTEPs in the virtual network via MP-BGP or extended protocols of MP-BGP;
here, the VN forwarding tables also may be synchronized using an approach similar to the conventional learning mechanism of the data plane of an Ethernet switch, without using MP-BGP.
Step 204: All the related VTEPs generate corresponding VN forwarding table entry for the specific VM.
Step 205: When there is a packet needing to be forwarded, the VTEP looks up the VN forwarding table for the entry corresponding to the VM for information such as the destination address of the message and performs tunnel encapsulation;
specifically, the VTEP looks up the VN forwarding table entry corresponding to the VM for the destination IP address and the MAC address of the correspondent VTEP according to the destination address of the packet and performs tunnel encapsulation, that is, performs IP encapsulation on an L2 packet/frame, and forwards the encapsulated packet via an L3 network.
It should be further noted that as the VTEP may be in the L2 network, L2 encapsulation may be further performed for the encapsulated IP packet.
Step 206: The VTEP sends the packet to the correspondent VTEP.
Step 207: After receiving the related virtual network encapsulated packet, the correspondent VTEP decapsulates the received packet to obtain the L2 packet and forwards the L2 packet to the correspondent PC/VM;
it should be appreciated that the returning of a packet from the correspondent PC/VM is similar to the foregoing flow and is therefore not described here repeatedly.
The foregoing flow is similar to the conventional network service deployment of a Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) Virtual Private Network (VPN). From the point of view of protocol, with a manually configured VTEP in combination with the protocols used between VTEPs or a learning mechanism of a data plane, a service can be deployed. However, it is a huge amount of work to manually configure VNs when there is a great many of PC servers, for example, when there is a data center which has hundreds of thousands of computers each of which further may create dozens of virtual machines; furthermore, the dynamic joining or departing of a VM to or from a VN complicates the service deployment of the VN.

Method and system for realizing virtual network


The present invention provides methods for generating oligodendrocyte progenitor cells from pluripotent cells, as well as methods for sustaining these oligodendrocyte progenitor cells in relatively pure cultures for long periods of time. The present invention also provides methods for further differentiating these oligodendrocyte progenitor cells into various glial cells.

In the following discussion certain articles and methods will be described for background and introductory purposes. Nothing contained herein is to be construed as an "admission" of prior art. Applicant expressly reserves the right to demonstrate, where appropriate, that the articles and methods referenced herein do not constitute prior art under the applicable statutory provisions.
Effective conduction of action potentials in the mammalian central nervous system (CNS) requires proper ensheathment and insulation of neuron axons by myelin. Impairments of oligodendrocyte cells, the myelinogenic cells of the mammalian CNS, cause a number of debilitating and often fatal human conditions. The incapacitating effects of myelin defects are typified by motor and sometimes cognitive deficiencies and are readily apparent in congenital dysmyelinating disorders as well as acquired demyelinating conditions such as multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy. Treatment via remyelination necessitates either the restoration of the myelinating capacity of endogenous cells or transplantation of exogenous, myelinating cells.
Transplantation of fetal human glial progenitor cells has been shown to lead to recovery in a lethally hypomyelinated mouse model (Windrem, et al., Cell Stem Cell, 2(6):553-65 (2008). While clearly establishing proof-of-principle for translation to human patients, cells from aborted human fetuses not only face ethical and immunological challenges; however, providing the number of cells needed on a clinical scale currently is not realistic. Thus, a major limiting factor to the understanding and treatment of myelin-related neurodegenerative disorders is the lack of a scalable and tractable platform for the study of oligodendrocyte development and for screening of pharmaceuticals.
Stem cell biology has garnered much attention due to the potential to impact human health through disease modeling and cell replacement therapy. Pluripotent stem cells in particular theoretically offer an abundant source of glial cells and their progenitors. While previous studies have created excitement for myelin repair by clearly demonstrating that oligodendrocytes can be derived from pluripotent cells, results have yet to yield a system to study oligodendrocyte lineage that provides high cell population homogeneity without reliance on immunopanning, antibiotic resistance, or cell sorting techniques to improve population characteristics. The excitement for myelin repair has thus been tempered since pure populations of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) are difficult to obtain in clinically-relevant quantities. Methods for providing pure and plentiful glial cells are necessary to enable therapy through transplantation.
There is thus a need in the art for production of cells and cell populations of the glial lineages, and in particular for OPCs and oligodendrocytes. The present invention addresses this need.

Differentiation method for production of glial cell populations


A machine tool having a drive motor includes an electronic unit and a switch for switching the drive motor on/off. An additional contact module is connected to the electronic unit, the drive motor being electrically connected only to the contact module. Also, the switch is connected to the contact module.

Electric tools have, in a housing, various electrical and electronic components, for example an electric motor, electronics units, switches etc., which are connected to one another by means of electrical cables. In the process, care should be taken to route the cable in an ergonomic manner, in order to keep the effort required for assembling the electric tool as low as possible while at the same time providing a high level of reliability in respect of assembly. Further criteria are orderly arrangement of the cables such that installation space is optimized, in order to minimize the possibility of dirt and dust, which are produced when processing workpieces, for example, being deposited and also in order to keep the required installation space as low as possible. Furthermore, it should be possible to carry out repairs in a simple manner. The electrical and electronic components generally have to satisfy high loading requirements both in a mechanical and in an electrical respect.


In a PTC thermistor comprising at least a pair of electrodes disposed so as to face each other and a thermistor element disposed between the electrodes and having a positive resistance-temperature characteristic, the thermistor element is a molded body constituted by a high molecular matrix, a low molecular organic compound, and conductive particles having electric conductivity, the molecular weight of the high molecular matrix is between 10,000 and 400,000, the molecular weight of the low molecular organic compound is between 100 and 3,000, and the high molecular matrix is an olefin-type high molecular compound having a melting start temperature of between 85 and 95° C.

A PTC (Positive Temperature Coefficient) thermistor comprises at least a pair of electrodes disposed so as to face one another, and a thermistor element disposed between the pair of electrodes. The thermistor element has a "positive resistance-temperature characteristic" according to which the resistance value of the thermistor element increases rapidly with increasing temperature in a fixed temperature range.
A PTC thermistor employs this characteristic to protect the circuits of electronic devices such as self-regulating heaters, temperature sensors, current-limiting elements, overcurrent protection elements, and so on, for example. For use in these and other applications, demands are being made for PTC thermistors having a low room temperature resistance value when inoperative, a large rate of change between the room temperature resistance value when inoperative and the resistance value when operative, little variation in the resistance value when operated repeatedly (i.e. a small difference between the resistance value upon an initial stage of usage and the resistance value after repeated usage), an excellent cutoff characteristic, and an element with a low heat generation temperature. Demands are also being made for small size, light weight, and low cost.
A typical PTC thermistor is loaded with a thermistor element constituted by a ceramic material. However, this type of PTC thermistor has a poor cutoff characteristic and a thermistor element with a high heat generation temperature, and is difficult to reduce in size, weight, and cost. Particularly when used as an overcurrent protection element for a battery such as a lithium ion battery, the operating temperature of the PTC thermistor is preferably no more than 100° C., and more preferably between 80 and 95° C., but it is difficult for this type of PTC thermistor to satisfy such an operating temperature.
In response to such demands for a lower operating temperature and so on, a PTC thermistor (to be referred to where necessary as a "P-PTC thermistor" hereinafter) comprising a molded body constituted by a thermoplastic resin (high molecular matrix) and conductive particles as a thermistor element is under investigation.
An example of such a P-PTC thermistor, loaded with a thermistor element formed using low-density polyethylene as the high molecular matrix and nickel powder as the conductive particles (conductive filler) has been proposed (for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication H11-168005). This P-PTC thermistor is intended to have a comparatively low operating temperature (no more than 100° C., and preferably between 80 and 95° C.).


A liquid crystal display (LCD) and a method of driving the same are provided. The LCD includes a liquid crystal panel partitioned into a plurality of panel regions, each panel region being independently driven and having data lines and gate lines; a backlight unit that is partitioned into a plurality of backlight regions corresponding to the plurality of panel regions and which irradiates light to the plurality of panel regions; and a driver unit driving the plurality of panel regions.

1. Field of the Invention
Apparatuses and methods consistent with the present invention relate to a liquid crystal display (LCD) and a method of driving the same, and more particularly, to an LCD with an improved frame rate and brightness and a method of driving the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
LCDs display images by applying a voltage to each pixel on a liquid crystal panel according to an input image signal and adjusting transmittance of light for each pixel and are used in notebooks, desktop computers, LCD-TVs, and mobile communication terminals. An LCD is a non-emissive flat panel display that needs external light to produce images since it does not emit light. Thus, an LCD requires a backlight unit that is located behind a liquid crystal panel and a driver unit for driving the liquid crystal panel.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a related LCD. Referring to FIG. 1, the related LCD includes a liquid crystal panel 10, a backlight unit 35 supplying light to the liquid crystal panel 10, and a driver unit driving the liquid crystal panel 10. The liquid crystal panel 10 includes m×n liquid crystal pixels arranged in a matrix form, m data lines D1 through Dm and n gate lines G1 through Gn arranged to intersect each other, and thin film transistors (TFTs) disposed at positions where the data lines D1 through Dm and the gate lines G1 through Gn intersect. The driver unit includes a data driver 15 supplying data signals to the data lines D1 through Dm, a gate driver 20 supplying scan signals to the gate lines G1 through Gn, a timing controller 25 controlling the data driver 15 and the gate driver 20 using a synchronization signal, and an inverter 30 driving the backlight unit 35.
The TFT formed in each liquid crystal pixel performs a switching operation according to a data signal supplied from a corresponding one of the data lines D1 through Dm in response to a scan signal supplied from a corresponding one of the gate lines G1 through Gn.
The timing controller 25 uses a vertical/horizontal synchronization signal to generate control signals for the gate driver 20 and the data driver 15. The data driver 15 converts digital image signals into analog data signals in response to the control signal received from the timing controller 25 and supplies the analog data signals to the data lines D1 through Dm. The gate driver 20 sequentially supplies scan pulses to the gate lines G1 through Gn in response to the control signal received from the timing controller 25 and selects horizontal lines of the liquid crystal panel to which data signals are supplied. The inverter 30 supplies a driving voltage to the backlight unit 35. The backlight unit 35 generates a beam corresponding to the driving voltage and supplies the beam to the liquid crystal panel 10.
TFTs are the most common type of switching devices used in LCDs, and LCDs using TFTs as switching devices are referred to as TFT-LCDs. Producing a color image in a LCD is accomplished by spatial division in which each pixel represents one of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) or time division in which every pixel sequentially represents R, G, and B colors. When the time division method is used, the LCD includes R, G, and B light sources that are sequentially turned on. More specifically, after all pixels are scanned according to the operation of a gate driver and a data driver, a red light source is turned on and then off. All pixels are scanned again and then a green light source is turned on. The green light source is turned off and all pixels are scanned again before a blue light source is turned on. On the other hand, according to the spatial division method, R, G, and B color filters are disposed in respective regions corresponding to pixel electrodes to realize respective colors. Thus, when an LCD operates at the same frame frequency, the time division method requires a shorter time during which each color light source is turned on than taken using the spatial division method.
Meanwhile, to display a moving image, the response rate and operating speed of liquid crystals must be equal to or greater than the number of frames in the moving images. Further, LCD frame frequency must be increased to realize a high-resolution precise moving image. When the response rate and operating speed of liquid crystals are low, the screen may appear crumpled or scattered because there is insufficient time to arrange the liquid crystals in a liquid crystal panel. Moreover, because the response rate and operating speed of liquid crystals can be increased only by limited degree, it is also difficult to increase frame frequency.
FIG. 2 illustrates arranging lines of a liquid crystal panel with respect to time showing a process of aligning liquid crystals according to data supplied from a data driver and corresponding color light being supplied with respect to time.
The time during which liquid crystals are switched from an "off" state to an "on" state according to a data signal is called rising time (τ) and the time during which all liquid crystals are switched from an "on" state to an "off" state is called falling time. The designations S, U, and T denote a rising interval, an interval during which the liquid crystals remain in the on state, and a falling interval, respectively. A backlight unit supplies light during interval U. This process is repeated sequentially for R, G, and B colors. For example, when the total time taken for the liquid crystal panel to display an image frame is 16 msec, data is supplied for less than 2 msec, and all TFTs are turned on for less than 8 msec to align liquid crystals, light must be supplied for less than 6 msec. Thus, as frame frequency decreases, the time during which light is supplied becomes shorter, thus resulting in significant degradation of brightness. Further, as LCD screen size increases, brightness degradation becomes more severe because the time taken for the liquid crystal panel to turn on increases.

Liquid crystal display and method of driving the same


An armrest (1) comprising an armrest body provided with a cavity (2) under a cocktail tray to house a television set (4), and a hinge mechanism (6) provided with a turning unit (10) and attached to the upper front end of the armrest body so that the turning unit (10) can be turned into and out of the cavity (2). A television set is mounted on the extremity of the turning unit (10). The television set (4) is held in an operating position by the turning unit (10). When not used, the television set (4) is housed in the cavity (2). The armrest (1) capable of housing the television set (4) is applied to seats to be installed on aircraft, railway rolling stocks and vehicles including buses.

Generally, an armrest, such as a center armrest, for a seat to be installed on aircraft or a vehicle is provided with a cocktail tray in its front upper portion, retractable tables under an armrest cushion, and tiltable pockets for containing small personal effects, such as glasses and a cigarette package, on its side walls.
Such a conventional center armrest, however, is unable to be provided with a liquid crystal television set because the cocktail tray or the table interferes with the liquid crystal television set. A conventional side armrest, similarly to the center armrest, is unable to be provided with a television set.
The present invention has been made in view of the foregoing problems in the conventional armrest, and it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an armrest for a seat, capable of holding a television set having a comparatively large display unit for free personal use and provided in its front portion with a cavity capable of snugly housing the television set.

Seat arm rest capable of housing television receiver therein


An exercise system stimulates the learning and memory of a user by detecting a stress level of the user with one or more biometric sensor devices, determining that the user's stress level is within a stress zone that is suitable for memory retention by the user, and presenting educational content to the user at one or more output devices.

Physical exercise benefits the general health of the human body. For example, physical exercise can bring about enhanced muscle tone, decreased body fat, increased cardiovascular health, increased mental health, reduction of the effects of stress, etc. In addition, physical exercise may bring about increased cognitive abilities, including an increased ability of the brain to form and retain memories. For example, research has shown that physical exercise can increase the production of some neurotrophic factors, or proteins that are capable of signaling neurons to survive, to differentiate, to grow, etc. (see, e.g., "Exercise: a behavioral intervention to enhance brain health and plasticity" by Cotman and Berchtold, Trends in Neuroscience, 2002). In particular, Cotman finds that rats or mice that participate in voluntary "wheel running" produce increased levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) (among other proteins) in their hippocampus. BDNF has been found to be an important neurotrophic factor for developing long-term memory, and the hippocampus is normally associated with higher cognitive function, such as learning and memory. As such, physical exercise, which induces the production of BDNF and other proteins, may also enhance learning, including the ability to record and retain memories.


An extendable, personal dive flag including a plurality of tubular segments, the tubular segments being adapted to be matingly engaged with one another and being interchangeably positionable between an extended, interlocking position so as to form a substantially elongate, easily carryable shaft, and a collapsed, compact position so as to form a substantially small, lightweight, and easily portable bundle. A distal segment of the flag including a warning flag fixedly secured thereto such that the personal dive flag can be extended through the water's surface to signal a diver is approaching before the diver actually arrives at the surface. The personal dive flag is structured to automatically extend from its collapsed, compact position to its extended, interlocking position without requiring extensive manipulation by the diver.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an extendable personal dive flag to be utilized by scuba divers, skin divers, or snorkelers to enable them to signal to individuals on the water's surface that they are approaching the water's surface, thereby signalling their presence in the water before they surface.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is a general requirement that divers utilize diver down flags in the area of their dive so as to alert boaters or other vehicle users of their presence beneath the surface. Traditionally, the dive flags are extended from the boat of the diver or are placed on buoys which are allowed to float in the area of the dive. With many active divers, however, placing the stationary dive flags is not effective because after extended swimming they may surface in a location far from their original dive sight. A primary reason for this is that divers are generally guided by what they see underwater and it is difficult to keep track of their original dive location when exploring, doing jobs, or otherwise moving around beneath the surface of the water. For these reasons, it would be highly beneficial to provide a personal dive flag which an individual diver can carry with them and utilize to signal their particular location of surfacing.
There are various types of independently floating diver buoys, such as those disclosed in the patents to Mcintyre, U.S. Pat. No. 4,144,606, Handelman, U.S. Pat. No. 3,760,441, and Galbraith, U.S. Pat. No. 5,179,907, which can be broken down into a number of smaller pieces or otherwise collapsed. These buoys, however, which are adapted to be placed in the water so as to float in the area of a dive during the entire dive, are substantially large and could not be carried under water by an individual both due to their size and the inclusion of flotation means whose purpose is to maintain the buoy on the water's surface. Further, and most importantly, when putting together the buoys, a lengthy process of interconnecting segments and attaching pieces must usually be employed, thereby making it a lengthy and arduous process. In addition to the larger dive buoys which are adapted to be deployed in the general area of the dive, there are some devices adapted to be utilized by the individual diver. Such devices include the safety floats recited in the patents to Conn, U.S. Pat. No. 3,105,459 and Weck, U.S. Pat. No. 183,521. Particularly, the safety float of Conn is adapted to be carried by the user and released, preferably on a rope, when the diver is ready to surface, and the float of Weck trails, on a line, behind the diver during the entire dive. Unfortunately, due to various currents and the like, the location of the safety flag may not always be precise. Also, deployment is not facilitated in situations when a diver makes a quick decision to surface because the diver must wait for the buoy to float to the surface by itself while the tie line unwraps.
In addition to those devices adapted specifically for use by divers, other individual signalling flags have been utilized. Such signalling devices include the patents to Precourt, U.S. Pat. No. 3,775,887 and Coffey, U.S. Pat. No. 5,114,369. Both of these devices, however, require manual extension and are not adapted to be sufficiently elongate to enable a diver to signal through the surface of the water before arriving at the water's surface. Particularly, skin divers or snorkelers find themselves returning to the surface at somewhat frequent rates, and often do not approach the surface until they have used up all of their air. For such skin divers and snorkelers, it would be impractical to have a signalling device which they must manually extend, and/or put together, thereby consuming valuable time beneath the surface of the water. Further, many divers collect items such as shells and the like from beneath the surface of the water, or otherwise carry varying implements and tools to be utilized under water. As a result of the numerous tools or items they will carry back to the surface, it would be highly difficult for a diver who at most has one free hand to pause before arriving at the surface of the water, pull out the signalling flag, and manually extend it every time they wish to surface.
For the reasons previously recited, it would be highly beneficial to provide a personal dive flag which can be easily and conveniently carried by a diver and can be quickly and easily extended by a diver when needed. Further, such a flag should be sufficiently elongate to enable the diver to signal above the water's surface even before they are at the water's surface and should be independently carryable so that a diver is not forced to remain within a specific dive area defined by surface buoys. The device of the present invention is such an apparatus which can be used simply and effectively by any diver so as to provide substantially increased safety in all dive situations.


A UV module of this invention has connection block (optional), connection end cap, shutter, and exhaust end cap assemblies. The connection block has doweled or tapered bayonets for facilitated installation and removal of the UV module. The connection end cap has a drive train with sleeve bearings and/or torque limiting clutches. Each of the sleeve bearing cooperates with a poppet valve in the connection block assembly to assure fluid-tight integrity during assembly and disassembly. Each of the clutches allows for facilitated shutter synchronization and helps prevent drive train breakdown. The shutter assembly may include a novel coolant flow path cross over and/or improved positive and negative positive and negative retainers to eliminate or greatly reduce shutter binding. The shutter end caps may include coolant flow paths and mate with the shutters to achieve a fluid-tight integrity. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract that will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. 37 C.F.R. §1.72(b).

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the printing industry and, in particular, this invention relates to devices for curing ultraviolet sensitive inks printed on substrate.
2. Background
Ultraviolet-sensitive ink is used widely in the printing industry. One reason for its use is that ultraviolet-sensitive ink can be quickly cured by being irradiated with ultraviolet light. Such irradiation is accomplished by directing a light beam, containing high proportions of ultraviolet light, at the printed substrate.
Lamps used to generate light for this purpose also generate considerable amounts of other energy in the form of heat. This heat is usually of little consequence when a printing press is operating, because the light and heat are directed toward the substrate which is in motion during the printing process. However, if the heat and light generated by the lamp is directed at a nonmoving substrate for a sufficient amount of time, the substrate is damaged, often to the point of the ignition. Additionally, other nonmoving components of the printing press may be damaged by the high amount of heat generated from the lamps. When the printing press operation must be halted, for example to clear obstructions or replenish ink supplies, the light generated by the lamp must be prevented from impinging the substrate. One way to prevent irradiating nonmoving substrate is to power down the lamp. However, considerable time is necessary for the lamp to generate sufficient irradiation to cure the ultraviolet-sensitive ink when power is restored. Consequently, preventing irradiation from impinging nonmoving substrate when a printing press is halted has been accomplished by housing the lamp in a structure having shutters, which can be opened to allow irradiation or closed to prevent irradiation from leaving the structure.
As stated above, intense heat is generated by the UV lamp during operation. These high-energy lamps require high-voltage and fairly high current, some requiring 3000 volts and 17 amps and may generate temperatures of 1000 degrees Fahrenheit during operation. Consequently, the structures housing these high-energy lamps are subjected to periods of the extremely high temperatures. These high temperatures inescapably cause the metal components of these structures to expand and warp. One consequence of this expansion and warpage is failure of these structures to properly operate.
There is then a need for an ultraviolet module, which can dependably operate when subjected to the intense heat generated by high-energy ultraviolet lamps.


A power semiconductor module with a bridge circuit is housed in a common case. The module includes a plurality of element chips separated into groups for semiconductor elements, a plurality of drive chips, and a signal processing chip formed as an integrated circuit. Each drive chip is formed as an integrated drive circuit and is connected to each semiconductor element to correspond thereto. Each drive chip operates at a potential corresponding to each semiconductor element. The signal processing chip is connected to the drive chips to be shared commonly by the drive chips. The signal processing chip processes signals associated with the drive chips in such a way that the signals are compatible with the potentials of the drive chips. Cost and performance of the module is improved.

The present invention relates to a power semiconductor module that incorporates a plurality of semiconductor elements constituting a bridge circuit, such as an insulating gate bipolar transistor (hereafter referred to as an "IGBT"), a bipolar transistor, or a MOS transistor, together with related circuits. The module is used to drive a load, such as an electric motor.
The power semiconductor elements, such as IGBTS, described above, which are used to drive various loads, such as electric motors, are generally incorporated in devices as individual elements housed in a package. In 2- or 3-phase bridge circuit devices using four to six power semiconductor elements, however, these semiconductor elements can be mounted as chips on a heat sink or an insulating substrate thermally closely coupled thereto, which is then housed in a case. This module is advantageous due to its reduced overall size and thermal radiation. Furthermore, the recent tendency is to incorporate into this module an integrated circuit chip comprising a combination of the power semiconductor elements and related circuits, such as drive circuits for the elements. This invention relates to a semiconductor module incorporating a plurality of power semiconductor elements together with related circuits as described above, and FIG. 2 shows a typical conventional example.
The module 70 shown in FIG. 2 comprises a 3-phase bridge circuit including six IGBTs 10 and related circuits, both of which are incorporated in a case 60. The module 70 is a small power inverter that receives at its positive and negative input terminals P and N a DC voltage from a power supply 1 (on the left of this figure) to drive a load 2, such as an electric motor, connected to three output terminals U, V, and W (on the right of this figure), in response to instructions from a controller 3 (at the bottom of this figure) that is a microcomputer.
Each of the IGBTs forming the three semiconductor elements 10 on each of the upper and lower arms of the bridge circuit includes an auxiliary emitter 10a for detecting a current and has a free wheeling diode 11 connected in reverse parallel therewith so as to allow the module to function as an inverter. These semiconductor elements 10 and diodes 11 are mounted as chips on a heat sink or a ceramic substrate thermally closely coupled thereto, which are then housed in a plastic frame-like case 60 together with wiring conductors 40 required to connect these elements together or with terminals. An epoxy resin is then poured into the case to integrate the elements into a module 70 having a robust structure. For the purposes of illustration, the input and output terminals are shown to protrude laterally from the case 60, but in fact, they are generally drawn out from the top surface of the case 60.
A circuit for controlling the plurality of power semiconductor elements is integrated as a single chip and incorporated in the case 60 of the module 70 as a controller 80. The controller 80, which includes drive protection circuits 81 and 82 corresponding to the semiconductor elements 10 on the upper and lower arms, is connected to the controller 3 via a bus 3a and a group of terminals Tc, and receives from the controller 3 three control signals (u), (v) and (w) for the output terminals U, V and W for three phases to issue a corresponding drive instruction Sd from the drive protection circuits 81 and 82 to the corresponding semiconductor elements 10. When a defect occurs, the controller 80 receives an electric signal Si from the auxiliary emitter 10a of the semiconductor elements 10 at the drive protection circuits 81 and 82 to stop the drive instruction Sd in order to protect the semiconductor elements 10 while sending a warning signal Sa to the controller 3.
The controller 80 can be operated by applying a low power voltage Ed thereto, and the ground potential Ee can be set at the same potential as the negative input terminal N of the power bridge circuit as shown in the figure. Since, however, the drive protection circuits 81 and 82 must be operated at the same potential as the corresponding semiconductor elements 10, the emitter potentials of the semiconductor elements 10 are provided to these circuits via a potential transmission lines 42. Since the three semiconductor elements on the upper arm operate at different emitter potentials, power voltages Eu, Ev and Ew are provided to the corresponding drive protection circuits 81, respectively, via feeding lines 41. On the other hand, the three semiconductor elements 10 on the lower arm are operated at the same emitter potentials, so a power voltage Ec is commonly provided to the corresponding drive protection circuits 82 via a feeding line 41'. The reference potential for the power voltages Eu, Ev and Ew must be a higher voltage similar to that in the positive input terminal P of the bridge circuit.
Although the size and cost of the conventional module 70 described above are significantly improved as compared to a structure with individual elements, this module has also cost and performance problems as the range of its application increases. The largest problem in cost is the difficulty in reducing the size of the controller chip 80, to thereby cause high cost. This is because a large chip area is required to join and separate the controller body and the drive protection circuits 81 and 82, especially the circuits 81, which operate at different potentials as described above when these components are incorporated into the controller 80. In other words, the area required for such pn junction isolation can not be reduced no matter how highly these circuits are integrated. Accordingly, the chip size cannot be reduced below a certain limit, and this prevents the cost from being reduced sufficiently.
The second problem in cost is the large number of lines including the signal lines 50 between the plurality of semiconductor elements 10 constituting the bridge circuit and the controller 80, and the feeding lines 41 and potential transmission lines 42 to the controller 80, as well as the large amount of labor required to connect these lines. In particular, the improvement of the protection level for the semiconductor elements 10 has recently been requested. Also, in order to provide not only overcurrent protection but also short-circuit and overheat protections, the number of signal lines 50 must be increased correspondingly, resulting in increase of the amount of labor. In addition, in order to prevent the internal connection lines from becoming complicated, the size of the case 60 and thus the module 70 must be increased.
A performance problem is that malfunction caused by entering or invading of noise into the signal lines 50 or the interference of signals with each other happens easily. That is, since the signal lines 50 must be as short as possible due to the structure of the module 70, the lines 50 unavoidably pick up noise. In addition, the drive instruction Sd and the current signal Si are both sharp pulse-like signals and the lines 50 are likely to be complicated or mixed if there are a large number of signal lines 50, so that interference is likely to happen with each other. To avoid noise and signal interference, electrostatic shielding can be effectively applied to the signal lines 50 and the controller chip 80. In this case, however, it must have a disadvantage in size and cost.
In view of the above problems, it is an object of the invention to keep the most of the above advantages that the semiconductor module for the power bridge circuit has and to improve the module in terms of cost and performance.


A semiconductor device including a substrate, an insulating layer on the substrate and including a trench, at least one via structure penetrating the substrate and protruding above a bottom surface of the trench, and a conductive structure surrounding the at least one via structure in the trench may be provided.

Embodiments of the inventive concepts relate to semiconductor devices and/or methods for manufacturing the same and, more particularly, to semiconductor devices including a via structure and a pad structure and/or methods for manufacturing the same.
Techniques of stacking semiconductor devices have been developed to improve integration densities and performance of semiconductor products. For example, in a multi-chip package technique, a plurality of chips (or semiconductor devices) may be mounted in one semiconductor package. Further, in a system-in package technique, different kinds of chips (or semiconductor devices) may be stacked in one semiconductor package and operate as one system. When semiconductor devices are stacked, a method for improving a driving speed of the stacked semiconductor devices may be desired. A semiconductor device may be electrically connected to another semiconductor device or a printed circuit board through a conductive via. The conductive via may improve a transmitting speed of electrical signals. Reliable conductive vias have been being desired as semiconductor devices have been highly integrated.

Semiconductor device and method for manufacturing the same


A dual band spectrum allocation system and method for wireless data communications uses discrete bands for upstream and downstream data communications. A preferred embodiment uses unlicensed UNII bands for license-free data transmissions from a subscriber to a hub, and uses relatively interference free licensed bands for data transmissions from a hub to subscribers, thereby allowing use of greater bandwidth, simplifying system licensing and reducing filtering requirements for subscribers.

Currently, there are several so-called "last mile" and "last foot" data transmission systems which are designed to deliver high speed and/or high data capacity from the internet backbone to an end user or to provide high speed data communications in a campus-like setting. Several such systems use RF transmissions to replace copper wire or fiber optic cables. Some of these fixed wireless data communications systems are called point-to-point or point-to-multipoint systems and operate in various licensed and unlicensed RF bands. Point-to-point systems, typically have a pair of transceivers communicating only with each other, for example from one building to another. Point to multi-point systems communicate between a hub station, or the like and a number of subscriber stations, or the like. For example, such a point to multi-point system may broadcast from a central tall building to a number of shorter buildings.
Typically either of these systems utilize one frequency band of operation, generally, transmitting and receiving on separate frequencies within the same basic band employing frequency division duplexing (FDD). Such prior art data communication systems operate entirely within one regulated band. These prior art systems employ a subchannel scheme for upstream and downstream in which the frequencies of such subchannels are relatively closely spaced. That adjacency requires extensive use of filters resulting in increased size and cost for data communication systems, particularly for subscriber stations. The band utilized for communication in such prior art systems may be a licensed band or it may be an unlicensed band. Generally, as employed herein, unless otherwise noted, a band is a generally contiguous portion of the electromagnetic spectrum which is regulated by a governmental entity, such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for the United States, generally under a single designation such as those described below.
Another technique which is used to enable communications within a band of operation is time division duplexing (TDD), whereby a base station or hub transmits part of the time on a frequency, and then a subscriber transmits part of the time on the same frequency, thereby sharing the same frequency. Such a system may employ the entire bandwidth available facilitating broadband communications rather than splitting the available bandwidth between upstream and downstream signals as is required in FDD. A disadvantage in a TDD system is that a large amount of coordination is required, resulting in inefficiencies. The bits-per-megahertz efficiency of the data communicated in a TDD system is greatly degraded because time sharing takes a lot of coordination and/or processing power. Further, units in a TDD system are typically not able to operate autonomously, they must be directed from a central unit such as a hub station in order to provide the aforementioned coordination.
In FDD, a base station may simultaneously transmit and receive, and a subscriber station may simultaneously transmit and receive. This provides a benefit in efficiency with this type of system in that the system does not require a lot of processing power or coordination to determine when to transmit and when to receive as with TDD. This inherent efficiency in an FDD system makes good use of spectrum in wireless data communications when larger amounts of spectrum are available. However, the upstream and downstream communications frequencies are typically in the same regulated band. FDD typically needs a reasonable amount, about one percent of bandwidth, of transmission to reception spacing between upstream and downstream frequencies.
In the prior art, the radio of a hub-station or subscriber station may include a duplexer, which employs filters to filter the upstream out of the downstream, and vice versa. In prior art data communications transceivers, a transmitted signal, and even transmit induced noise can enter the transceiver's receiver, because the receiver is intended to receive a very weak signal. So in the prior art very sophisticated filter systems are required to keep the transmit signal or interference caused by the transmit signal out of the receiver.
The Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service (MMDS) is an FCC regulated communications band that operates in the microwave portion of the radio spectrum, between 2.1 and 2.7 GHz. MMDS. Also known as wireless cable, this band was initially intended for use as a substitute for conventional coaxial cable television. However, the MMDS band has come under wide use for data communication services due to deregulation that allows cable TV companies to provide Internet services. Narrowband channels within MMDS can be used by subscribers to transmit signals to the network. Such narrowband channels were originally intended for use in an educational setting (so-called wireless classrooms). Thusly, the Instructional Television Fixed Service (ITFS) band interleaves with the MMDS band. In ITFS, the FCC allows use of either polarity for transmissions by a license-holder, while in MMDS use of the same spectrum, the FCC requires licensing of the polarity as well as the frequency used for transmission.
Other FCC licensed and regulated bands include the following. Wireless Communications Services (WCS) occupy two fifteen MHz wide bands at 2.3 GHz. WCS is intended for wireless data services. Digital Electronic Message Services (DEMS) at the 24.25 to 24.45 and 25.05 to 25.25 GHz bands offer high data capacity over short distances, particularly useful for providing broadband data services to businesses in dense, urban areas or in a campus environment. Local Multipoint Distribution Services (LMDS) employ the 27.5 to 29.5 GHz and 31.0 to 31.3 GHz bands. Wireless Local Loop and fixed wireless data connection systems such as point-to-point or point-to-consecutive point systems operate in these bands. So called Fixed Wireless Local Loop Services occupy the 38.6 GHz to 40 GHz band.
Problematically, there are only a limited number of licensed bands in any geographic area. Also, in these licensed spectrum bands, limited spectrum problems arise where the licensee may not have as much bandwidth in a particular market as needed to provide broadband services desired by the licensee's customers. Also, problems arise where a licensee has spectrum, but this spectrum is not ideal in terms of a transmit/receive frequency pair. For example, certain amount of spectrum, as a percentage of bandwidth, between the upstream and the downstream (i.e. transmit and receive frequencies) is required to allow state of the art filters to properly operate. Many spectrum licensees do not have sufficient spectrum bandwidth available to provide this separation between employed frequencies.
In 1997 the FCC created a wireless arena called Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (UNII). System operators are free to operate wireless equipment in three sub-bands (5.15 to 5.25 GHz, 5.25 to 5.35 GHz and 5.725 to 5.825 GHz) without acquiring a licensed frequency spectrum. The FCC specifies the conditions for operating wireless equipment in the UNII frequency band. However, operators are not protected from possible interference from other UNII operators transmitting in the vicinity or even other systems or devices which utilize the same frequencies.
A problem that many wireless data communication system operators face is a need to provide the highest possible data rates to subscriber units. One prior art method of providing greater through-put in licensed bands is to have a very large channel bandwidth providing data to the subscriber. To increase through-put to a particular subscriber unit, the bandwidth must necessarily increase or the modulation scheme that is used has to become more complicated. Problematically, bandwidth is limited in both the licensed and unlicensed bands and using a higher modulation scheme causes an increase in the necessary signal to noise ratio or carrier to interference ratio (C/I). For example, increasing from a quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation to a 16 quadrature-amplitude modulation (16QAM), which doubles the throughput, requires a 6 dB increase in C/I. Problematically, such increases in C/I may not be practical, particularly in the unlicensed bands where a significant amount of interference may be present.

Spectrum allocation system and method for multi-band wireless RF data communications


A fastener system for use in reattaching a skull flap in an opening formed in a patient""s skull during brain surgery is simple, quick and easy to use, and cost effective. The system includes a fastener element and a substantially disc shaped lock element. The fastener element has a shank with a plurality of ratchet teeth, and a plurality ridges extending upwardly from the shank a distance greater than the height of the ratchet teeth, and substantially perpendicular to the ratchet teeth. The ridges engage at least one of the skull and skull flap and either bend or collapse, or cut locking grooves into the skull or skull flap, to provide a force holding the shank in engagement with the skull and skull flap. The lock element may have force concentrating projections extending outwardly toward the fastener head, and the head may have a plurality of resilient[ outrigger leaves.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,022,351 (the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein) has provided a significant advance in the art of bone fastening systems during surgical or related medical procedures, in reattaching a skull flap. The invention provides an improvement over the system and method of the U.S. Pat. No. 6,022,351 patent, particularly in providing an enhanced force holding the shank in engagement with the skull and skull flap, and in addition other features are provided that facilitate holding the locking element in place, and facilitate maintaining the fastener and locking elements clamped together in a position holding the skull flap in place. These advantageous results are provided according to the present invention by utilizing a plurality of ridges extending from the fastener head generally perpendicular to the ratchet teeth, and extending upwardly from the fastener shank substantially flat surfaces; by providing a plurality of force concentrating projections on the locking element disc extending axially with respect to the disc; and by providing side walls on the shank having approximately the height of the ratchet teeth, and engaged in side portions of the opening in the locking element.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a fastening system comprising: A fastener element of bio-compatible radiolucent plastic material comprising a substantially disc shaped head and a shank. The shank having substantially flat first and second substantially parallel surfaces, the surfaces having ratchet teeth thereon. A substantially disc shaped lock element of bio-compatible radiolucent rigid plastic material having a through extending opening and locking teeth defining at least part of the opening, the locking teeth cooperating with the ratchet teeth to allow the shank to pass through the opening so that the head and lock element can be forced toward each other, but not allowing movement away from each other. And, a plurality of ridges extending upwardly from at least one of the first and second substantially parallel surfaces adjacent the head, the ridges extending substantially perpendicular to the ratchet teeth.
The ridges may be of two different types, both of which provide a force holding the shank in engagement with the skull and skull flap. The first type of ridges may be of relatively soft plastic, and constructed so that in use the ridges bend or collapse and provide a wedging action against a bone surface engaged thereby. Another alternative is to provide the ridges out of a hard plastic or metal and construct them so that in use the ridges cut locking grooves in a bone surface engaged thereby. In either case the stability of the fastening system is enhanced, as is its ability to hold the skull flap properly in place.
The ridges may be about 3-7 mm long, and typically substantially abut the fastener head. Desirably the ridges upstand from both the first and second surfaces of the shank, and the distance from the tip of a ridge extending upwardly from the first surface to the tip of a ridge extending upwardly from the second surface is between about 2-5 mm, most desirably about 3-3.5 mm. Typically between two and six ridges are provided (extending upwardly from each of the first and second surfaces). The shank may have a thickness of about 1-1.5 mm.
Also the shank may have first and second exterior side walls extending over a portion of the length thereof including past the ridges, and at least some of the ratchet teeth. The locking element opening has first and second side portions for receiving the side walls. For example the side walls extend upwardly past the first and second shank surfaces a distance approximately equal to the heights of the ratchet teeth, and less than the height of the ridges. For example in one embodiment the shank has a basic thickness of about 1 mm, and at the side walls a thickness of about 2 mm, and at the ridges a thickness of about 3 mm.
The lock element typically has first and second faces and a plurality of force concentrating projections extending outwardly from the first face, toward the fastener head in use. The locking teeth also typically extend outwardly from the first face. The fastener head may have a plurality of resilient outrigger leaves, which may be deformed during the clamping operation, to provide a force enhancing the clamping action.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of reattaching a skull flap, removed during brain surgery and leaving an opening in a patient""s skull, the flap having an area less than the area of the opening but substantially the same shape, and using a fastening system, comprising a fastener element made of bio-compatible radiolucent rigid plastic having a shank with ratchet teeth and a substantially disc shaped lock element with an opening defined at least in part by at least one locking tooth, and a plurality of ridges upstanding from the shank and extending substantially perpendicular to the ratchet teeth. The method comprises: (a) Placing a plurality of fastener heads, with shanks facing outwardly, in the skull opening. (b) Placing the skull flap in the skull opening so that a gap is provided between the outer periphery of the skill flap and the periphery of the skull opening, and the fastener shanks extend through the gap and the ridges engage at least one of the skull and the skull flap and provide a force holding the shank in operative engagement with the skull and skull flap. (c) Placing the lock elements over the shanks. (d) For each fastener forcing the lock toward the head so that the ratchet teeth and at least one locking tooth move with respect to each other, until the head and lock element are locked together holding the skull flap in a position closing the skull opening. And, (e) removing substantially all shank portions extending outwardly from the lock elements.
In the method (b) may be practiced so that the ridges engage both the skull and the skull flap. When the ridges are of soft plastic and constructed so that they bend or collapse, then (b) is practiced so that the ridges bend or collapse so as to provide a wedging action holding the shank between the skull and skull flap. When the ridges are of hard plastic or metal and are constructed so that they can cut locking grooves into the bone, then (b) is practiced so as to cut locking grooves in the skull and skull flap so as to lock the shank in place therebetween. When a locking element has a plurality of substantially axially extending force concentrating projections, then (d) is practiced so as to cause the force concentrating projection to engage at least one of the skull and skull flap to enhance securement of the locking element to the skull and/or skull flap. Preferably (d) is practiced so that the force concentrating elements operatively engage both the skull and skull flap.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a fastener system comprising: A fastener element of bio-compatible radiolucent rigid plastic material comprising a substantially disc shaped head and a shank. The shank having a plurality of ratchet teeth thereon, and a thickness of about 7 mm or less. A substantially disc shaped lock of bio-compatible radiolucent plastic material having a through extending opening into at least one locking tooth defining at least part of the opening, the at least one locking tooth cooperating with the ratchet teeth to allow the shank to pass through the opening so that the head and lock can be forced toward each other, but not allowing movement away from each other. And, wherein the lock element has first and second faces, and a plurality of force concentrating projections extending outwardly from the first face, toward the head in use. The details of the first concentrating projections may be as set forth above.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a fastener system comprising: A fastener element of bio-compatible radiolucent rigid plastic material comprising a substantially disc shaped head and a shank. The shank having a plurality of ratchet teeth thereon, and a thickness of about 7 mm or less. A substantially disc shaped lock of bio-compatible radiolucent plastic material having a through extending opening into at least one locking tooth defining at least part of the opening, the at least one locking tooth cooperating with the ratchet teeth to allow the shank to pass through the opening so that the head and lock can be forced toward each other, but not allowing movement away from each other. And, wherein the head has a plurality of resilient outrigger leaves.
For example in the fastening system set forth above, the shank has a plurality of ridges substantially abutting the head and extending substantially perpendicular to the ratchet teeth a distance of about 3-7 mm from the head; and typically the shank itself has a thickness of about 1-1.5 mm, and the shank including the ridges has a thickness of about 2-5 mm.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a fastener system comprising: A fastener element of bio-compatible radiolucent rigid plastic material comprising a substantially disc shaped head and a shank. The shank having a plurality of ratchet teeth thereon, and a thickness of about 7 mm or less. A substantially disc shaped lock of bio-compatible radiolucent plastic material having a through extending opening into at least one locking tooth defining at least part of the opening, the at least one locking tooth cooperating with the ratchet teeth to allow the shank to pass through the opening so that the head and lock can be forced toward each other, but not allowing movement away from each other. And, wherein the shank has first and second exterior side walls extending over a portion of the length thereof including past at least some of the ratchet teeth; and wherein the locking element opening has first and second side portions for receiving the side walls. In this embodiment typically the side walls extend past the first and second shank surfaces a distance approximately equal to the height of the ratchet teeth, e.g. the total thickness of the shank at the side walls is about 2 mm.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide an enhanced fastening system, and method of utilization thereof, particularly suitable for reattaching a skull flap in a skull after brain surgery. However the invention has other uses in association with other bones and suitable medical procedures. This and other objects of the invention will become clear from an inspection of the detailed description of the invention and from the appended claims.


A liquid crystal display device includes a first substrate and a second substrate each including an active area and a non-active area; a black matrix on the first substrate in the non-active area; a color filter layer on the black matrix; a common electrode on the color filter layer and black matrix; an array element on the second substrate in the active area; a plurality of signal lines and a common bridge line in the non-active area; a protective layer on the array element, signal lines and a common bridge line; a transparent pattern connected to the common bridge line and extending to a border region between the active and non-active areas; a seal pattern formed in an edge portion of the first and second substrates; and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the first and second substrates.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display (LCD) device and the method of fabricating the same, and more particularly to a method of fabricating the LCD device to prevent a malfunction due to the continuous inflow of direct current voltage into the outermost area of the LCD device.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Typical liquid crystal display (LCD) devices use an optical anisotropic property and polarization properties of liquid crystal molecules to display images. The liquid crystal molecules have directional orientation characteristics resulting from their thin and long shape. An arrangement direction of the liquid crystal molecules can be controlled by applying an electrical field. Accordingly, when the electric field is applied, the polarization properties of light are changed according to the arrangement of the liquid crystal molecules such that the LCD devices display images.
The LCD device includes a first substrate, a second substrate and a liquid crystal layer interposed therebetween. A common electrode and a pixel electrode are respectively formed on the first and second substrates. The first and second substrates may be referred to as a color filter substrate and an array substrate, respectively. The liquid crystal layer is driven by a vertical electric field induced between the common and pixel electrodes. The LCD device usually has excellent transmittance and aperture ratio.
Among the known types of LCD devices, active matrix LCD (AM-LCD) devices, which have thin film transistors (TFTs) arranged in a matrix form, are the subject of significant research and development because of their high resolution and superior ability to display moving images.
FIG. 1 is a plan view of a pixel region of the array substrate according to the related art. As shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of gate lines 120 and a plurality of data lines 130 are formed on the substrate 110. The gate and data lines 120 and 130 cross each other to define a pixel region P on the substrate 110. A common line 150 spaced apart from each of the gate lines 120 is formed in the middle of the pixel region P.
A TFT "T" including a gate electrode 125, a semiconductor layer (not shown), a source electrode 132 and a drain electrode 134 is disposed at a crossing portion of the gate and data lines 120 and 130. The gate electrode 125 and the source electrode 134 are connected to the gate lines 120 and the data lines 130, respectively. The source and drain electrodes 132 and 134 are spaced apart from each other on the semiconductor layer. A pixel electrode 170 is formed in the pixel region "P" and contacts the drain electrode 134 through a drain contact hole CH1.
Accordingly, the common line 150 functions as a first electrode of a storage capacitor Cst. The pixel electrode 170 overlapped with a part of the common line 150 functions as a second electrode of the storage capacitor Cst. Therefore, the first and second electrodes and a gate insulating layer (not shown) made of a dielectric material and between the first and second electrodes constitute the storage capacitor Cst.
FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an outermost area of an array substrate for the LCD device according to the related art. As shown in FIG. 2, an array substrate 110 includes an active area AA and a non-active area NAA. The active area AA is a region in which images are displayed and the non-active area NAA is a region in which images are not displayed. The signal for the active area AA is transmitted through the signal line 165 and the common bridge line 175. Although not shown in FIG. 2, the signal line 165 may include diverse signal lines such as a gate bridge line, a data bridge line and a multi pattern search line. The diverse signal lines may be spaced apart from one another.
Since the common bridge line 175 is connected to the common line 150 (of FIG. 1), a common signal can be transmitted from a common voltage generator (not shown) on the array substrate 110 to the common electrode (not shown) on a color filter substrate (not shown) via the common bridge line 175. When the LCD device is driven, the voltage of the signal line 165 is not equal to the voltage of the common electrode at the non-active area NAA. Since the non-equality causes the potential difference between the common electrode and the signal line 165, direct current voltage DCV is continuously generated. The direct current voltage DCV continuously generated influences an array element (not shown) formed at the active area AA of the array substrate 110 via a liquid crystal layer (not shown). As a result, malfunctions such as flicker, cross talk and image sticking can occur in the LCD device.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along lines III-III of FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 3, the LCD device includes a first substrate 105, a second substrate 110 and a liquid crystal layer 115 interposed therebetween. The first and the second substrates 105 and 110 face and are spaced apart from each other. The first and second substrates 105 and 110 include an active area AA and a non-active area NAA. The active area AA is a region in which images are displayed and the non-active area NAA is a region in which images are not displayed.
Moreover, a seal pattern 195 is formed at the edge portion of the first and second substrates 105 and 110. The seal pattern 195 may be made of thermosetting resin including a conductive material such as Ag paste and Au ball. Therefore, the seal pattern 195 can have electrical conductivity. A black matrix 192, a color filter layer 190 including R, G, B sub-color filters (not shown) and a common electrode 180 are sequentially formed on an inner surface of the first substrate 105. The common electrode 180 includes a transparent material such as an indium-tin-oxide (ITO) and an indium-zinc-oxide (IZO).
An array element, such as gate lines 120 (of FIG. 1), data lines 130 (of FIG. 1), a TFT T (of FIG. 1) and a pixel electrode 170 (of FIG. 1), is formed on an inner surface of the second substrate 110 corresponding to the active area AA. The signal line 165 and the common bridge line 175 spaced apart from each other are formed in the non-active area NAA. The common bridge line 175 transmits a common signal from a common voltage generator (not shown) on the second substrate 110 to the common electrode 180 on the first substrate 105 via a transparent pattern 185 and a seal pattern 195.
Even though the potentials of the common bridge line 175 and the common electrode 180 facing each other are substantially equal, the potentials of the signal line 165 and the common electrode 180 are different from each other. The potential difference between the signal line 165 and the common electrode 180 causes a continuous generation of direct current voltage DCV.
Accordingly, the liquid crystal molecules interposed in the liquid crystal layer 115 corresponding to the common electrode 180 and the signal line 165 may be degraded by the continuously generated direct current voltage DCV.
The liquid crystal molecules degraded by the direct current voltage DCV may move to the active area AA to cause a malfunction such as flicker, cross talk and image sticking, in the LCD device. As a result, the display quality of the LCD device is deteriorated.

Liquid crystal display device and method of fabricating the same


Vertical alignment of a movable bridge with a doorway of an aircraft is achieved by moving a sensor disposed on the movable bridge in a generally downward direction so as to sense a position of an upper surface of the aircraft. The upper surface of the aircraft has a known elevational relationship relative to the doorway of the aircraft, which is used along with the sensed position to align an aircraft engaging portion of the movable bridge with the doorway. The method accommodates different heights of a same model of aircraft resulting from differences in the aircraft loads and is easily implemented using non-contact sensors.

Passenger loading bridges are used to quickly transport passengers between an airport terminal and an aircraft and to protect the passengers from weather and other environmental influences. For example, a present day passenger loading bridge comprises a plurality of adjustable modules, including: a rotunda, a telescopic tunnel, a bubble section, a cab, and elevating columns with wheel carriage. Of concern to airlines is to ensure that a passenger loading bridge is aligned with an aircraft as rapidly as possible, thereby minimizing the time to complete passenger deplaning as well as the total time the aircraft spends at the airport terminal. As such, manual, semi-automated and fully-automated bridge alignment systems are known for adjusting the passenger loading bridge relative to the aircraft. Some passenger loading bridges are equipped with controls, which automatically cause the height adjustment mechanism of the passenger loading bridge to move the cab to a predetermined height depending on the aircraft model. However, a major problem is that once the cab of the passenger loading bridge is almost aligned with the door of the aircraft using an automated process, a bridge-operator still has to manually perform the final height adjustment. The reason is because one can retrieve data from memory relating the height of the doorsill to other features of the aircraft, but depending upon the load of the aircraft the height of the doorsill above ground varies substantially.
Schoenberger et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,226,204 describe an automated passenger loading bridge using video cameras to control bridge movement. The system maneuvers the cab of the bridge to a position close to the door of the aircraft, whereupon a bridge-operator controls the bridge movement by looking at images recorded by the video cameras. Suggestions are made in the patent specification that the system could be arranged to operate fully automated using image processing of the recorded video images to calculate the relative position of the passenger loading bridge with respect to the aircraft. However, image processing is time consuming, thus making the bridge movement based thereon slow.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,552,327 in the name of Anderberg, issued Apr. 22, 2003 teaches a device for positioning a passenger loading bridge for controlling at least the vertical movement of the bridge. The device comprises a sensor arranged to transmit electromagnetic radiation in different directions and to detect electromagnetic radiation. The device measures a time difference between the transmission of radiation in at least two different directions and the detection of said radiation for determining the position of the passenger loading bridge in relation to the aircraft. A major disadvantage of Anderberg's device is the need for highly complex sensor and signal processing systems, since accuracy of the positioning depends on the sensing and processing of very small time differences, in particular in situations of final vertical adjustments when the distance between the passenger loading bridge and the aircraft is relatively small.
PCT application WO 03/072435 in the name of Spencer et al., published Sep. 04, 2003 teaches an imaging system for a passenger loading bridge for docking automatically with an aircraft. Light is emitted toward reflective targets mounted to the aircraft. Using a digital camera the reflective light is sensed to provide image data of the targets. The image data are then processed to reveal information for bridge adjustment.
U.S. Patent Application 20030136898 in the name of Oki et al., published Jul. 24, 2003 teaches automatic control of a passenger loading bridge. Light is emitted towards reflective targets mounted to the aircraft. Using sensors the reflected light is sensed and based on the pattern of the sensed light the passenger loading bridge is adjusted.
The employment of reflective targets mounted to the aircraft has numerous disadvantages. Firstly, it is only possible to automatically adjust the passenger loading bridge for those aircraft having reflective targets mounted thereto. Secondly, reliable operation of the automatic adjustment is not always ensured, for example, foreign material that is disposed on the reflective targets, separation of the reflective targets from the aircraft, or adverse weather conditions can substantially impede the performance of this system, or even render it completely inoperative. Furthermore, there also exists the danger that reflective surfaces of ground service equipment or other ramp equipment may inadvertently be mistaken for an aircraft.
It would be advantageous to provide automated elevational adjustment of a passenger loading bridge that is accurate and fast in response for final height adjustment. It would be further advantageous to provide automated elevational adjustment of a passenger loading bridge that is simple, reliable, and does not require modifications of the aircraft serviced by the passenger loading bridge.

Automated elevational adjustment of passenger loading bridge


An organic light-emitting display apparatus includes: a substrate; a display part on the substrate and configured to display an image, the display part including a thin-film transistor (TFT) and an organic light-emitting diode (OLED); and a pad electrode on the substrate and outside the display part, and the pad electrode includes an embossed-shaped conductive reflective layer.

1. Field
One or more aspects of the present invention relate to an organic light-emitting display apparatus and a method of manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to an organic light-emitting display apparatus for using a pad electrode, which includes an embossing-shaped (or embossed-shape) conductive reflective layer and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of Related Art
An organic light-emitting display apparatus is a self-emission display which is formed by using an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) that includes a hole-injection electrode, an electron-injection electrode, and an organic light-emitting layer formed therebetween. The organic light-emitting display apparatus emits light when excitons, which are generated when holes injected from the hole-injection electrode and electrons injected from the electron-injection electrode are combined, drop from an excitation state to a ground state.
Since an organic light-emitting display apparatus which is a self-emission display generally does not use (or need) an additional power source, it may be driven with a low voltage, and may be formed of a light film. Additionally, an organic light-emitting display apparatus may provide higher-quality characteristics such as a wider viewing angle, higher contrast, and a more rapid response. Thus, it generally gains a lot of attention as a next-generation display apparatus.

Organic light-emitting display apparatus and method of manufacturing the same


Common practices in fishing makes it difficult for people to notice when a fish strikes. To address these and other problems associated with common practices in fishing, a fish alert tool can be configured to generate an alert when a fish strikes. The fish alert tool can include a holder for a fishing pole and a spike that is connected to the holder and supports the holder from the ground. The fish alert tool can also include an alarm that generates the alert when the fish strike is detected.

Fishing poles are commonly utilized in a variety of fishing techniques for catching a variety of fish. As these fishing techniques become more advanced, fishing poles have likewise become more specialized as they are adapted for these advanced fishing techniques. As a result, fishing poles are available in a wide variety of sizes, actions, lengths, and configurations. Fishing poles are also made from a wide variety of materials. While several advances have been made in the design and manufacture of fishing poles, advances in fishing accessories have been lacking.


A latch system including a first portion and a second portion which are attached to corresponding pieces. The first portion is engageable with the second portion. A drive device is coupled to at least one of the first portion and the second portion for controllable operation of the device to engage and disengage the first portion and second portion. A controller is provided and coupled to the drive device for controllably operating the drive device to engage and disengage the latch. The first and second portion may be provided in the form of a hook and keeper configuration with one of the hook portion and keeper portion being driven by the drive device. A sensor may be provided on the latch assembly coupled to the controller for detecting at least one condition such as the latch being engaged or the latch being disengaged. Also disclosed is a method of latching using a first portion, second portion, drive device and controller for controllably latching and unlatching a latch assembly.

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/503,660, filed Sep. 17, 2003.
This disclosure relates to latches for use in aerospace applications such as those used on aircraft or other vehicles to hold portions of a housing in a closed position.
Many latch systems are available for holding portions of structures in a closed position even when the structures are subjected to significant forces. One example, which is not limiting on the present application, is the use of such latches in the aerospace industry. The aerospace industry latch may be used to hold the housing portions of an engine nacelle in the closed position around the engine mechanisms. The latch systems undergo significant forces and must be designed to hold the portions of the nacelle in a closed position during operation. Additionally, the latches must be operable so that the nacelles can be opened for access to the engine mechanism.
Features and advantages of the disclosure will be set forth in part in the description which follows and the accompanying drawings described below, wherein an embodiment of the disclosure is described and shown, and in part will become apparent upon examination of the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


A washing machine includes a bearing housing which is installed on a bottom surface of an outer tub, a clutch stopper which is installed on a bottom surface of the bearing housing, and a driving motor which includes a stator and a rotor which are coupled to a lower side of the clutch stopper, in which the clutch stopper includes a base portion which is disposed on the bottom surface of the bearing housing, and a fastening boss which extends from the base portion to the lower side by a predetermined length and is fastened to stator by a fastening member.

The present invention relates to a washing machine.
Generally, a washing machine includes a tub in which washing water is accommodated, and a drum which is rotatably provided in the tub to accommodate clothing, or the like (hereinafter, referred to as "washing cloth"), and as the drum rotates, the washing and dewatering of the washing cloth is performed.
The washing machine is classified into a top loading type in which a rotation center of the drum is formed vertically and is designed to be capable of inputting the washing cloth from an upper side thereof and a front loading type in which the rotation center of the drum is formed horizontally or is formed so as to be inclined in a direction which is lowered toward a rear end and is designed to be capable of inputting the washing cloth from a front side thereof.
The top loading type washing machine can be roughly classified into an agitator type and a pulsator type. The agitation type rotates washing rods rising at the center of the drum to wash the washing cloth and the pulsator type rotates a disc-shaped pulsator or the claim which is formed under the drum to wash the washing cloth.
The front loading type is generally referred to as a drum washing machine, and a lifter is provided on an inner circumferential surface of the drum. As the drum rotates, the lifter lifts and drops the washing cloth to perform the washing.
Korean Patent Laid-Open No. 10-2004-0071430 (Aug. 12, 2004) (hereinafter, referred to as related art) discloses a top loading type automatic washing machine.
The washing machine disclosed in the related art is provided with a driving unit which includes a driving motor for providing a driving force, a dewatering shaft for rotating the tub, a washing shaft for driving the pulsator, and a coupler for selectively driving the dewatering shaft and the washing shaft.
The coupler transfers rotation force generated in the driving motor to the pulsator at the time of washing and at the same time to the pulsator and the tub at the time of dewatering. In other words, the washing shaft is always coupled to the driving motor, and the dewatering shaft is selectively coupled to the driving motor.
To this end, the coupler is engaged with the dewaxing shafts so as to be movable up and down and has a serration that can be engaged with the rotor of the driving motor on the outer circumferential surface thereof. Accordingly, when the coupler is lifted, the coupling between the dewatering shaft and the rotor is released, and when the coupler is lowered, the coupler is engaged with the rotor to transfer the rotation force of the rotor to the dewatering shaft.
Meanwhile, the washing machine disclosed in the related art has the following problems.
First, in the washing machine of the related art, a stator of the driving motor is fastened to a bottom surface of a bearing housing by a fastening member. A clutch stopper is provided between the stator and the bearing housing to restrict rotation of a clutch lever.
At this time, an upper mouthing surface of the stator and a lower surface of the clutch stopper come into direct contact with each other to be fastened. In this case, there is a problem that vibration generated in the driving motor is transferred to a side of the bearing housing through the clutch stopper, thereby generating a large noise.
Second, in the related art, there is no structure for keeping the operation amount (rotation amount) of the clutch lever constant. Therefore, the operation amount of the clutch lever is not kept constant, and friction between the clutch lever and a relative member (for example, coupling) that contacts the clutch lever increases, thereby causing component wear.
Third, the fastening force of the fastening member for fixing the stator is gradually weakened by the vibration caused by the high-speed operation of the motor. When the fastening force of the fastening member is weakened, the abnormal noise due to the eccentricity of the components increases.