A retaining wall assembly having a plurality of face plates, which interlock with tie-backs. The face blocks in one embodiment have a substantially cross-shaped front face and recesses along top, bottom, left and right-hand sides, which interlock with tie-back flanges. Each tie-back, through its interlocking flange, interlocks with four adjacent face plates. The tie-backs have anchors which provide stability and anti torsion, and comprise elongated rods joined to a key block at a forward end, which is further provided with a stiffener plate. The back feet, which are preferably rebars, are welded to the key block and extend rearwardly therefrom. A plurality of anchor plates are arranged at spaced (preferably equi-spaced) intervals therealong and are joined thereto preferably by welding. Tie-backs of a plurality of lengths N.times.K are provided where N is a real integer and K is a given length. In addition, tie-back extensions may be joined to a tie-back or another tie-back extension in the field. At least one anchor plate of a tie-back and at least one anchor plate of a tie-back extension are interlocked and then bolted together after being interlocked to extend tie-back lengths where necessary in the field. The rebar, together with the anchors and key plates are preferably formed of galvanized steel.

Retaining walls are typically provided adjacent to highways, bridges, overpasses and the like and are designed to support highway fills or cuts especially in those applications where there is insufficient room adjacent such highways, bridges, overpasses and the like for providing an unsupported and natural slope.
Conventional retaining wall assemblies are typically comprised of substantially T-shaped or L-shaped members which include a face block and an integral elongated bar extending away from the face plate. Such integral members may be cast as a unitary structure from a suitable casting material such as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,684,294, issued Aug. 4, 1987 or alternatively, may be cast of a casting material and further provided with a metallic reinforcing bar such as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,067,166, issued Jan. 10, 1978. The above-mentioned structures are extremely heavy and significantly complicate the fabrication, handling and assembly of such large and bulky components. In addition, the elements have limited interlocking capabilities which degrade the strength, stability and ruggedness of the completed retaining wall assembly. Other systems reduce the weight of the overall structure by utilizing metallic bars which are mechanically fastened between face plates and anchor members, typically being anchored to the face plates and wrapped about the anchor members as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,514,113, issued Apr. 30, 1985. These structures have the disadvantage of experiencing significant corrosion in use requiring replacement at a much more frequent rate than retaining wall assemblies formed of rugged, non-corrosive materials, such as concrete. U.S. Pat. No. 4,514,113 describes a retaining wall system employing metallic rods joining the face plates and anchor members. The face plates of the retaining wall assembly disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,514,113 also fails to disclose interlocking means for reinforcing, stabilizing and strengthening the face plates when fully assembled.
In order to overcome the disadvantages of the above retaining wall assemblies, the inventors of the present application developed the novel retainer wall assembly described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,770, issued Jul. 7, 1992, which is incorporated herein by reference thereto and which describes a retainer wall assembly characterized by comprising separate face plates and tie-backs incorporating a suitable casting material and which interlock with one another in a unique and simple fashion to provide a rugged, stable and durable retainer wall assembly.
In one preferred embodiment, each face plate has a substantially cross-shaped outline and is provided with recesses along its top, bottom, left and right sides, which recesses cooperate with interlocking flanges provided at the forward end of each tie-back, the interlocking flanges causing each tie-back to interengage and lock in place four adjacent face plates. The face plates are interengaged by the tie-back/anchors in a unique fashion to further enhance the structural strength and alignment of the face of the retaining wall. Each tie-back extends rearwardly a distance which is a function of the height of the retaining wall and the free end of each tie-back is provided with stabilizing, anchoring feet extending in opposite directions from the tie-back to add further stability of the retaining wall assembly by resisting horizontal forces of the tie-backs and hence the face plates. Each member of the retaining wall assembly is simply aligned and lowered into place upon associated members and is automatically interlocked into the assembled position during the lowering operation thus simplifying assembly operations and totally eliminating the need for separate fastening members. Each face plate is cast of a suitable non-corrosive casting material which eliminates the need for metallic coupling bars, or other coupling elements employed in existing retaining wall systems, as a result of the unique interlocking arrangement thereby preventing the need for early repair and replacement of the retaining wall assembly due to corrosion.
The retaining wall assembly requires only two types of face plates, namely a face plate having a flat bottom edge for use as the first course of the retaining wall assembly; and a second type of face plate of the cross-shaped outline. The tie-backs, although identical in design regardless of which course they are employed in, preferably vary in length as a function of the height of the retaining wall assembly. Various lengths of tie-back/anchors may be employed for constructing a retaining wall. The longest are approximately 80% of wall height.
Each of the face plates of the preferred embodiment is provided with a substantially flat forward and rearward surface. As an alternative embodiment, however, the forward surfaces of the face plates may be made flat and the face plates may be provided with integral projections which extend rearwardly and are each provided with a recess for receiving and engaging the locking flanges of a cooperating tie-back. This alternative embodiment reduces the weight of the face plate.
In still another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the cross-shaped face plates may be substituted by face plates having a rectangular shape and provided with a pair of substantially T-shaped recesses along the top and bottom sides thereof for receiving and locking with the interengaging flanges of four tie-backs in such a manner that each face plate is interlocked with four adjacent face plates by way of the tie-backs. This latter embodiment requires only one type of face plate, thus reducing the number of components required to construct a retaining wall assembly.


A light source arrangement has a first light source, a second light source and a dichroic mirror. The dichroic mirror is disposed with the first and second light sources and configured to reflect a predetermined portion of the light emitted from the first light source and to transmit the remaining portion. The dichroic mirror is also configured to reflect light emitted from the second light source so that it propagates in the same direction as the remaining portion of the light from the first light source which is transmitted through the dichroic mirror.

Most arc lamps are often deficient in the red end of the spectrum. Thus, digital projectors which rely on these type of arc lamps for a source of light, tend to be deficient in the red region of the spectrum. Compensating for this requires a complex arrangement utilizing elliptical reflectors and is exacerbated in that it is difficult to design dichroic mirrors that function over a broad range of angles. A practical solution to this problem is therefore required.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A system for organizing images includes an extraction component that extracts visual information (e.g., faces, scenes, etc.) from the images. The extracted visual information is provided to a comparison component which computes similarity confidence data between the extracted visual information. The similarity confidence data is an indication of the likelihood that items of extracted visual information are similar. The comparison component then generates a visual distribution of the extracted visual information based upon the similarity confidence data. The visual distribution can include groupings of the extracted visual information based on computed similarity confidence data. For example, the visual distribution can be a two-dimensional layout of faces organized based on the computed similarity confidence data—with faces in closer proximity faces computed to have a greater probability of representing the same person. The visual distribution can then be utilized by a user to sort, organize and/or tag images.

Digital cameras provide a relatively inexpensive means to record digital images. Quite frequently, digital camera users capture a greater quantity of digital images than the users would have with a traditional film camera. The availability of computer storage, for example, on local hard drives, removable memory storage devices and Internet web servers has dramatically increased the amount of digital images that users store. As such, users can be inundated with unorganized volumes of digital images.
The stored digital images can have non-descriptive files names such as "IMAGE0001". Oftentimes, users are unfamiliar with the procedure for setting and associating a date and/or timestamp with the digital image. Users can be confronted with literally thousands of digital images to review in order to locate a particular digital image. Thus, the inability to easily retrieve a particular digital image can be frustrating for the user.
Conventional digital image organization systems have allowed users to manually tag digital images with descriptive metadata. For example, a user can manually create a tag descriptive of an event associated with the digital image (e.g., "John's birthday party") and/or of a subject of the digital image (e.g., "John"). The manual process of reviewing and tagging each digital image with one or more tags can be an arduous task.

Image organization based on image content


Disclosed herein is an implant for bone fixation comprising an elongated member configured to be wound around bone parts that are to be fixed, an engagement member coupled to the elongated member and configured to engage a portion of the elongated member so as to secure the implant in a loop around the bone parts, and a fastening member arranged between and coupled to the elongated member and the engagement member. The fastening member comprises at least two separate pieces each comprising one opening for receiving a bone fastener, wherein the separate pieces are coupled to each other by a material having a lower material strength than a material from which the separate pieces are made.

Various surgical procedures require the surgeon to access the thoracic region of a patient. A known approach to access the thoracic region is to cut the sternum in two parts and separate these two parts from each other for gaining access to the thoracic region. After completion of the surgical procedure, the separated parts of the sternum are brought back to their initial positions and fixed, for example, with a bone plate attached to the sternum parts or a wire tensioned around the circumference of the sternum.
After the thoracic procedure such as, for example, a bypass operation has been carried out on a patient and the sternum parts have been fixed using a suitable fixation assembly, the patient is normally kept under surveillance. If it is detected that the surgical procedure has failed or that complications occur, it may be desirable for the surgeon to again open the fixation system for accessing the thoracic region. The time required for this opening procedure may be critical for the patient's health and even life.
In other situations, a cable or wire tensioned around the sternum parts (so-called "primary closure") might become loose or break due to the load applied to the thoracic region of the patient. In such cases, the sternum part fixation may need to be stabilized by, for example, a bone plate (so-called "secondary closure").
Similar or related problems occur in connection with other surgical procedures in which two or more bone parts need to be fixed.
EP 0 597 259 A2 discloses a closure element to be looped around a human sternum. The closure element comprises a strap, which is inserted through and retained by a tightening plate.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,460,295 B2 discloses a sternum repair device including a central body and a plurality of bands extending from the central body. The bands are wrapped around the sternum to keep the sternum parts together. The central body includes a view window, which is used by a surgeon to line up the device during installation on the sternum.
WO 2010/042946 A1 discloses a cerclage system including a cable that encircles the sternum parts and a bone plate having channels to receive segments of the cable. The bone plate further includes a pair of locking studs to lock the cable within the channels to the bone plate.
EP 0 608 592 B1 discloses an assembly for banding a sternum. The assembly comprises an elongated flexible band, a needle at one end of the band and a buckle proximate the other end of the band. A main section of the band includes a plurality of spaced apart slots, which can engage at a locking mechanism.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Stryker European Operations Holdings LLC


A gel-pack for chilling bottled beverages comprising a flexible plastic envelope, sealed around its perimeter, provided with a spaced array of holes therethrough whereby the gel-pack can be draped over a plurality of beverage bottles, with the necks of the bottles protruding through the holes in the gel-pack.

Freezable gel-packs for cooling are fairly common, and usually comprise a sealed plastic rectangular envelope, filled with a composition such as a mixture of propylene glycol, carboxymethyl cellulose sodium and water that will retain a gel-like consistency when frozen. These gel-packs are useful for cooling beverage containers because of their flexibility. That is, they can be wrapped or draped around a container to obtain a large degree of surface contact, thereby to enhance cooling of the beverage.
In order to cool, or help keep cool, a number of beverage bottles at one time, gel-packs are not usually the method of choice. This is because if the bottles are standing, it is difficult and inconvenient to squeeze a large number of frozen gel-packs between the bottles. Merely placing the bases of the bottles on the gel-packs is awkward and placing the gel-packs on top of the bottles is inefficient because there is a head space of gas in a bottle above the liquid held therein that will act as an insulator.
As an alternative to gel-packs as described above, a variety of styles of hard ice packs have been developed for use with bottles. These include packs that are shaped to fit between and among bottles, such as the packs shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,095,718. Such packs are quite efficient, and maintain good surface contact with bottles. However, it is necessary to use a large number of such packs to cool a plurality of bottles, and therefore they will fill a large freezer space when they are being chilled.
A second type of hard freezer pack is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,554,798, and comprises a large, rectangular hard pack with holes therein for accommodating the necks of bottles, and shaped cavities associated with the holes, so that this hard pack can be placed on an array of bottles, and rest on the shoulders thereof, with the necks protruding through the holes in the hard pack. This is an efficient device, but large, and therefore inconvenient to chill. Moreover, because it is moulded, it will fit onto only one shape of bottle, whereas beverages are marketed in a variety of bottle shapes.


Water-redispersible polymer powder compositions based on a) homo- or copolymers of one or more monomers from the group consisting of vinyl esters of unbranched or branched C1-15 alkylcarboxylic acids methacrylic esters and acrylic esters of C1-15 alcohols, vinylaromatics, olefins, dienes, and vinyl halides, with one or more protective colloids, and optionally, one or more antiblocking agents, in conjunction with one or more alkali metal or alkaline earth metal C1-4 carboxylates as setting accelerants added following polymerization accelerate the setting of construction chemistry products with hydraulically setting binders.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the use of water-redispersible polymer powder compositions with accelerated-setting action, in hydraulically setting systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Polymers based on vinyl esters, vinyl chloride, (meth)acrylate monomers, styrene, butadiene, and ethylene are used in a wide variety of applications, especially in the form of their aqueous dispersions or water-redispersible polymer powders, for example as coating compositions or adhesives for a very wide variety of substrates. Protective colloids or low-molecular-weight surface-active compounds are used to stabilize these polymers. The protective colloids generally used comprise polyvinyl alcohols.
These products are in particular used as binders in hydraulically setting adhesives, for example in tile adhesives based on cements or calcium sulfate.
Concrete is a very versatile material whose properties can be controlled via numerous parameters. Important properties are, inter alia, workability as a function of time and strength (early strength and final strength) of the concrete. Workability reduces with time as the hydration of the material proceeds. On account of this effect it is possible to add either more water or "superplasticizers". However, both have an adverse effect on the initial and final strength of the concrete. To compensate for these disadvantages, "accelerators" or materials which promote early strength are added, these leading to higher initial and final strength.
EP-A 1136507 describes tertiary alkanolamines as accelerators long known to the person skilled in the art. A disadvantage is that these compounds are highly active nucleophiles and therefore hydrolyze the ester groups in the polymer-containing binders mostly used, based on vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymers or on styrene-acrylate copolymers, and degrade the effectiveness of the binders. In EP-A 1136507 the alkanolamines are therefore linked by a complicated method to a polymer skeleton.
EP-A 1167317 describes the use of alkali metal hydroxides, of alkali metal carbonates, of alkaline earth metal chlorides, and particularly of aluminum salts, as setting accelerators and hardening accelerators for concrete. A disadvantage with the acceleration of cement setting by means of these compounds is, however, the decrease in mechanical strength.

Use of redispersion powder compositions with accelerated-setting action


An image sensor includes unit pixels of a first pixel group sharing a first floating diffusion region and associated with a single color filter, and unit pixels of a second pixel group sharing a second floating diffusion region and associated with the single color filter. Control logic may generate an image by obtaining capacitance having a first value from the first floating diffusion region at a first time, and obtaining capacitance having a second value different from the first value from the second floating diffusion region at a second time following the first time. The first pixel group and the second pixel s group have different sensitivity levels.

The present disclosure relates to image sensor(s) and operating method(s) for image sensor(s).
Image sensors are semiconductor-based elements capable of converting received electromagnetic energy having a defined bandwidth (e.g., "incident light") into a corresponding electrical signal. Image sensors may include an array of many pixels, as well as various logic circuits configured to drive the pixel array. Each pixel may include a photodiode that generates electrical charge in proportion to incident light and a pixel circuit that converts the charge generated by the photodiode into an electrical signal. Various image sensors are widely applied in many consumer products, such as smartphones, cameras, tablet computers, personal computers (PCs), laptop PCs, televisions, vehicles, household appliances, security systems, etc.
With increased use into a greater variety of products, an increasing demand exists for image sensors having improved noise characteristics, greater dynamic range, faster and more efficient operation and the like.


A marker apparatus for placing an elongate mark on a marking medium surface, including a first chamber having a first chamber proximal end, a first chamber distal end with a first chamber wick port, and containing a first pigmented marking liquid; a second chamber having a second chamber proximal end, a second chamber distal end with a second chamber wick port, and containing a second pigmented marking liquid; a first wick segment in liquid communication with the first pigmented marking liquid protruding from the first chamber wick port for contact with a surface of a marking medium; a second wick segment in liquid communication with the second pigmented marking liquid protruding from the second chamber wick port for contact with a surface of a marking medium; and a chamber retaining structure retaining the first chamber and the second chamber so that the first wick segment is positioned substantially adjacent to the second wick segment. The chamber retaining structure preferably includes an open-ended housing containing the first and second chambers. The first and second wick segments protrude from the housing opening.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of writing and printing equipment. More specifically the present invention relates to a marking apparatus including an open-ended elongate housing containing a plurality of chambers filled with pigmented marking liquid, the marking liquid within the first chamber having a pigment different from that of the marking liquid within the second, and possible third, chamber.
A porous wick segment extends into a wick port in each of the plurality of chambers and protrudes from the housing opening. The wick segments join to form a nib to simultaneously deposit adjacent overlapping trails of both marking liquids onto a marking medium such as paper, to create a mark with a blended array of color that may resemble a rainbow like effect. That is because the nib has a rectilinear and continuous marking end, in which the edges of color trails of the differently pigmented liquids blend together slightly. As a result the array of color trials deposited onto the marking medium are pure at their mid-regions, where primary colors may appear, but overlap at their edges, where they may form secondary colors. Alternatively, notches may be provided in the nib marking end to separate the deposited color trails. The wick segments and marking segment are all preferably made of felt, although use of other materials is contemplated. The marking liquid is preferably either ink or paint.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There have long been pens and markers filled with pigmented liquid for depositing a trial of the liquid onto a medium surface. Most prior pens, for example, contain a single pigmented liquid. A few contain multiple ink cartridges, but only one of these at a time may be selected for writing. Thus, while the many available pigments have provided numerous color choices, all known prior pens and markers deposit only one distinct color of liquid at a time.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a marking apparatus which simultaneously deposits multiple liquids containing different pigments in parallel, adjacent overlapping trails, to create a mark with a rainbow appearance.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such an apparatus which has separate and independently replaceable liquid chambers.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide such an apparatus in which adjacent primary color trails may blend together at their edges to create secondary colors, or may remain separate and distinct.
It is finally an object of the present invention to provide such an apparatus which is compact, reliable and inexpensive.


A device including a tube for winding and unwinding a screen which is controlled in rotation by a gear motor and which is supported on a fixed head and wherein a rotational part mounted within the tube is kinematically linked to rotate with the tube with the part including elements that are used to reflect a position of the rotational part and which elements are detected by senors that are connected to an electronic processing unit. A tightly sealed partition secured to the head is further provided to define, on one side, a first compartment for receiving at least the rotational part and, on the other side, a second compartment for receiving at least the electronic processing unit.

In an installation having an opening, a screen, which may be a supple screen body or a rigid or semi-rigid panel, is displaced opposite the opening in order to selectively obturate the latter. In order to make the movement of the screen automatic, it has been proposed in the past to equip it with means for automatically detecting a position and/or a displacement of the screen and thus to use pre-defined positions to control electrical power supply to a screen drive motor, particularly the top and bottom ends of stroke and possibly intermediate positions in which the electrical supply to the motor is interrupted or modified in order to stop the screen or vary its speed and/or its drive torque.
An example of such an automatic drive device is given in FR-A-2 654 229.
Although the afore-mentioned device is satisfactory as to its function of automatic control of the drive of the screen, it presents a drawback concerning its tightness or sealing of components, particularly the tightness or sealing of the electronic processing unit that it contains with respect to the ambient environment. In effect, this type of device is likely to be installed outside and thus to be subjected to bad weather. This results in considerable risks of water infiltrating inside the tube and therefore reaching the electronic processing unit and the electric motor, particularly via the opening necessary for the kinematic links between a transmission means and a ring that rotatably supports the tube. It is difficult to seal this opening tight due to the mobility of the ring which, in addition, must present axial and radial clearances sufficient in order, on one hand, to match winding tubes of various origins whose dimensions are imprecise due to their mode of manufacture and, on another hand, to compensate for clearances of expansion associated with the functioning of the motor and climatic conditions.
In order to overcome this problem, one or more O-rings may be interposed between the ring and the fixed head and it may be attempted to adjust the ring around the fixed head as best possible. Furthermore, as described in EP-A-0 965 724, a ring of magnets of alternate polarities may be mounted around a circular support. These solutions are not economical as they require more voluminous parts, particular geometries at the level of the elements in contact and/or a complex process of assembly. In the device known from EP-A-0 965 724, the ring of magnets is expensive and the precision of measurement depends on the angular deviation between the peripheral magnets. This deviation being fixed by the diameter of the support which depends on the type of motor used, it cannot be adjusted easily.
In the domain of automatically controlled electric motors, U.S. Pat. No. 4,952,830 proposes embedding in an appropriate resin electronic sensors for detecting the displacement of the rotor of a motor, these sensors being kinematically linked to the stator. The tightness of the sensors is thus ensured but this solution does not guarantee tightness of the conductors connecting the sensors to an electronic unit for processing the signals furnished by these sensors. In other words, the potential problems of tightness do not affect the sensors as such but concern the more remote electronic components of the processing unit.
It is an object of the present invention to propose a device of the afore-mentioned type, in which the parts of the device sensitive to water are efficiently protected, particularly the electronic components of this device.

Device for driving a closing or sun-protection screen and installation comprising such a device


Speech is modeled as a cognitively-driven sensory-motor activity where the form of speech is the result of categorization processes that any given subject recreates by focusing on creating sound patterns that are represented by syllables. These syllables are then combined in characteristic patterns to form words, which are in turn, combined in characteristic patterns to form utterances. A speech recognition process first identifies syllables in an electronic waveform representing ongoing speech. The pattern of syllables is then deconstructed into a standard form that is used to identify words. The words are then concatenated to identify an utterance. Similarly, a speech synthesis process converts written words into patterns of syllables. The pattern of syllables is then processed to produce the characteristic rhythmic sound of naturally spoken words. The words are then assembled into an utterance which is also processed to produce a natural sounding speech.

Speech recognition technology converts words spoken by arbitrary speakers into written text. This technology has many uses, such as voice control applications including voice dialing, call routing and appliance control, and other applications, such as searching audio recordings, data entry, document preparation and speech-to-text processing.
Speech synthesis technology produces audible human speech by artificial means, such as a speech synthesizer. A variant of this technology, called a "text-to-speech system", converts written normal language text into audible speech. Synthesized speech can be created by concatenating sound patterns, representations of which are stored in a database. The representations are retrieved from the database and combined in different patterns to drive a speaker system that produces the audible speech. Alternatively, a speech synthesizer can incorporate a model of the vocal tract and other human voice characteristics which can be driven by the stored representations to create a completely "synthetic" speech output.
Speech recognition and speech synthesis technologies are based on underlying models of human speech. Current prior art speech synthesis and speech recognition systems are built upon one of two theoretical models or an eclectic combination of the two models. In accordance with the first or "segmental" model, speech can be produced by linearly arranging short sound segments called "phones" or "phonemes" to form spoken words or sentences. Therefore, it should be possible to exhaustively pair a particular sound segment arrangement with a corresponding chain of alphabetic letters. However, this goal has proven to be elusive; when such sound segments are stored in a database and retrieved in accordance with alphabetic chains to synthesize speech, the resulting speech is often unclear and "artificial" sounding. Similarly, breaking speech into these segments and combining them to look for a corresponding word in a database produces many incorrect words. Accordingly, other approaches statistically exploit correlations of scattered features and interspersed (nonexhaustive) acoustic segments for speech recognition and synthesis.
In accordance with a prior art second or "articulatory phonology" model, speech is modeled as the result of a series of ongoing and simultaneous "gestures". Each gesture is a modification of the human vocal tract produced by specific neuro-muscular systems and is classified by the anatomical structures that together produce that gesture. These structures are lips, tongue tip, tongue body, velum (together with nasal cavities) and glottis. Since these gestures may have different temporal spans, the challenge for this approach has been to systematically account for their synchronization. This is typically done by defining "phases" between gestures, but the exact determination of these phases has only been achieved on an ad hoc basis. Hence, "constellation" or "molecule" metaphors are used to bundle gestures together as a basis for speech synthesis.
None of the prior art approaches have provided a systematic and accurate model from which speech synthesis and speech recognition systems can be developed.


Disclosed is a wireless communication apparatus which synthesize signals received from a plurality of antennas to separate the signals into synthesis signals of a plurality of logical channels. The apparatus has a first phase corrector correcting a phase of a reception signal by estimating an amount of phase correction by a frequency offset of each reception signal from the plurality of antennas; a synthesizer synthesizing reception signals after phase correction by the first phase corrector to separate the reception signals into synthesis signals of a plurality of logical channels; and a second phase corrector correcting a phase of a synthesis signal by estimating an amount of phase correction by a residual frequency offset after phase correction by the first phase corrector based on the synthesis signal synthesized by the synthesizer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wireless communication apparatus and a wireless communication method for realizing broadband wireless transmission between a plurality of wireless stations, such as a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) or PAN (Personal Area Network). In particular, the invention relates to a wireless communication apparatus and a wireless communication method for expanding the transmission capacity by carrying out MIMO (Multi Input Multi Output) communication which uses spatial multiplexing and forms a plurality of logical channels, pairing a transmitter having a plurality of antennas with a receiver having a plurality of antennas.
More specifically, the invention relates to a wireless communication apparatus and a wireless communication method for solving the problem of a frequency error of a reception signal when a receiver performs MIMO synthesis on signals received from a plurality of antennas to spatially separate the signals into a plurality of orthogonal MIMO channels. In particular, the invention relates to a wireless communication apparatus and a wireless communication method for solving the problem of a frequency error and a timing drift when a receiver performs MIMO synthesis on signals received from a plurality of antennas to spatially separate the signals into a plurality of orthogonal MIMO channels in a MIMO communication system that employs multicarrier modulation.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a technology for realizing a higher speed of wireless communication, MIMO (Multi-Input Multi-Output) communication is coming to attention. This technology is for expanding transmission capacity and achieving improvement in communication speed by realizing spatially multiplexed transmission channels (hereinafter also referred to as "MIMO channels") with a plurality of antenna elements at a transmitter and a receiver respectively.
In a MIMO communication system, a transmitter distributes transmission data to a plurality of antennas and transmits it through a plurality of virtual/logical MIMO channels, and a receiver obtains reception data by processing signals received by a plurality of antennas. In this manner, the MIMO communication system utilizes channel characteristics and differs from a simple transmission/reception adaptive array. The MIMO communication can increase the channel capacity according to the number of antennas without increase of the frequency band and accordingly has higher efficiency of frequency utilization.
FIG. 7 schematically shows the configuration of a MIMO communication system. As shown in FIG. 7, each of a transmitter and a receiver is equipped with a plurality of antennas. The transmitter space-time encodes a plurality of transmission data, multiplexes the encoded data, distributes the multiplexed signals to M antennas, and transmits them into a plurality of MIMO channels. The receiver receives the multiplexed transmission signals by N antennas through the MIMO channels and space-time decodes the received transmission signals to obtain reception data. In this case, the channel model is composed of a radio wave environment around the transmitter (transfer function), a structure of the channel space (transfer function), and a radio wave environment around the receiver (transfer function). Multiplexing the signals transmitted from the antennas involves crosstalk. However, it is possible to correctly extract the multiplexed signals without crosstalk through signal processing at the receiver.
Before transmitting the multiplexed signals, the MIMO transmitter transmits a training signal, e.g., for each antenna in a time-division manner, with which the receiver performs channel estimation. On the other hand, the MIMO receiver performs channel estimation at a channel estimation unit using training signals and calculates a channel information matrix H corresponding to the antenna pairs. Based on the channel information matrix H, the receiver improves the signal-to-noise ratio to enhance the degree of certainty of decoding.
Further, the MIMO transmitter space-time encodes a plurality of transmission data, multiplexes the encoded data, distributes the multiplexed signals to M antennas, and transmits them into a plurality of MIMO channels. The receiver receives the multiplexed transmission signals by N antennas through the MIMO channels and space-time decodes the received transmission signals to obtain reception data. Multiplexing the signals transmitted from the antennas involves crosstalk. However, it is possible to correctly extract the multiplexed signals without crosstalk through appropriate signal processing using the channel matrix at the receiver.
There are proposed a variety of methods for making up the MIMO transmission. However, it is an issue how channel information is exchanged between the transmitter and the receiver in accordance with an antenna configuration. MIMO transmission systems fall into two main types: an open-loop type of MIMO transmission system for performing spatial multiplexing transmission between the transmitter and the receiver being independent of each other, and as an extension of the open-loop type, a closed-loop type of MIMO transmission system for producing ideal spatial orthogonal channels between the transmitter and the receiver by feedback of channel information also from the receiver to the transmitter.
The open-loop type of MIMO transmission system can include V-BLAST (Vertical Bell Laboratories Layered Space Time) system (e.g., see patent document 1). The transmitter does not provide an antenna weighting coefficient matrix, but simply multiplexes a signal for each antenna and transmits. In this case, a feedback procedure for obtaining the antenna weighting coefficient matrix is all omitted.
Further, as an ideal form of the closed-loop type of MIMO transmission, there is known an SVD-MIMO system utilizing singular value decomposition (SVD) of a propagation function (e.g., see non-patent document 1). In the SVD-MIMO transmission, UDVH is obtained by performing the singular value decomposition of a numerical matrix whose elements denote channel information corresponding to respective antenna pairs, namely a channel information matrix H, and thus a transmission antenna weighting coefficient matrix V and a reception antenna weighting coefficient matrix UH are obtained. Thereby, each MIMO channel is expressed as a diagonal matrix D having the diagonal elements that are the square root of each eigenvalue λi, and signals can be multiplexed to be transmitted without any crosstalk. According to the SVD-MIMO transmission system, it is possible to realize a plurality of logically independent, spatially divided (i.e., spatially-multiplexed orthogonal) transmission channels at both the transmitter and the receiver. In theory, it is possible to achieve the maximum channel capacity. For example, if the transmitter and the receiver have two antennas each, it is possible to acquire double the transmission capacity at the maximum.
On the other hand, in the case of constructing a wireless network in a room, there is formed a multipath environment in which the receiver receives the superposition of direct waves and a plurality of reflected waves and delayed waves. A multipath produces delay distortion (or frequency selective fading), thereby causing an error in communication and interference between symbols.
Principal countermeasures against the delay distortion can include a multicarrier transmission system. In the multicarrier transmission system, transmission data is divided into multiple carriers having different frequencies for transmission. Accordingly, the bandwidth of each carrier becomes narrow, thereby being resistant to frequency selective fading.
For example, in an OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) system which is one of the multicarrier transmission systems, the frequencies of carriers are set such that the carriers are orthogonal to each other in a symbol section. During information transmission, the transmitter converts information from serial to parallel form for each symbol period which is slower than an information transmission rate, assigns a plurality of converted data to each carrier, modulates the amplitude and phase of each carrier, transforms the modulated signals into time-domain signals while maintaining the orthogonality of each carrier in the frequency domain by performing an inverse FFT on the multiple carriers, and transmits the transformed signals. Further, during reception, as the inverse operations, the receiver transforms the time-domain signals to frequency-domain signals by performing an FFT, demodulates each carrier in accordance with each modulation scheme, and converts the demodulated signals from parallel to serial form to reproduce the information of an original serial signal.
IEEE802.11a/n which is a MIMO-transmission-applied LAN system adopts the OFDM modulation scheme.
In a general communication system, a preamble composed of known patterns is added to the head of a transmission frame (or packet) from the transmitter. Using the preamble, the receiver acquires synchronization and corrects a frequency offset to the transmitter. However, there is a problem of a residual frequency offset that an error remains in the case where an error arises in calculating a frequency offset due to noise etc.
In the case of a communication system to which the OFDM modulation scheme is applied, a frequency offset causes all subcarriers to rotate uniformly for each OFDM symbol. FIG. 8 shows in three dimensions the ratios between modulation points and subcarriers after channel correction on the phase space (constellation). The residual frequency offset is not so large that interference between subcarriers occurs. However, since the receiver merely corrects frequency offsets at the head (preamble) of a packet, as shown in FIG. 8 phase shifts are accumulated as OFDM symbols continue, thereby degrading the communication quality.
Further, in the multicarrier transmission system, there is a problem that a timing drift occurs during long continuous data symbols. A timing drift causes a twist of subcarrier phases. Since the receiver merely corrects frequency offsets at the head (preamble) of a packet, timing drifts are accumulated as OFDM symbols continue, and consequently the phase twist becomes larger as shown in FIG. 9, thereby degrading the communication quality. Further, both a frequency offset and a timing offset cause all subcarriers to rotate uniformly and twist, as shown in FIG. 10.
For example, in a SISO system in which data transmission is performed between a transmitter and a receiver each having a single antenna, it is possible to perform a phase track of a residual frequency estimation error of a reception signal using a pilot subcarrier (e.g., see non-patent document 2).
Further, in a multicarrier communication apparatus of the SISO type, by reproducing a reference phase and amplitude at the burst head, estimating a residual frequency offset from pilot information included in a detecting symbol and the preceding reference phase information, and generating reference phase information which is used at the time of detecting a symbol from the estimated residual frequency offset, it is possible to perform excellent demodulation (e.g., see patent document 4).
On the other hand, the MIMO receiver which synthesizes signals received from a plurality of antennas can perform synchronization acquisition and frequency correction using the preambles of the reception signals before MIMO synthesis; however, there is a problem that errors after frequency correction, i.e., residual frequency offsets are subjected to MIMO synthesis.
As described above, in the case of a long packet length, the MIMO-synthesized residual errors are accumulated as data symbols continue, thereby causing the phase rotation and phase twist which lead to errors. Especially in high modulation modes such as 64QAM and 256QAM, the communication is more susceptible to residual errors, thereby obstructing the achievement of high-throughput data transmission.
For example, there is proposed a wireless apparatus having a structure for compensating a frequency offset at the time of transmitting and receiving a signal with the MIMO system (e.g., see patent document 2). The wireless apparatus includes a plurality of antennas, a carrier oscillator which generates carriers for synchronization detection, multipliers which perform detection processing by multiplying a plurality of reception signals from a plurality of antennas by respective carriers, a frequency offset estimator which estimates one frequency offset based on the signals from the respective multipliers, and a frequency offset corrector which performs correction processing of the frequency offset on the signals from the respective multipliers based on a frequency offset estimate.
In the structure of the wireless apparatus, synchronization acquisition and frequency correction are performed before MIMO synthesis of the reception signals (i.e., spatial separation into each MIMO channel). The frequency offset estimator of the wireless apparatus is a common circuit for performing frequency offset estimation before MIMO synthesis, and no mention is made of how to process a residual estimation error after MIMO channel synthesis.
Further, there is proposed a wireless signal receiving apparatus which prevents the degradation of communication quality that occurs in the case of performing frequency correction by applying a carrier frequency error estimate obtained for each antenna route in the MIMO transmission (e.g., see patent document 3). In this case, the wireless signal receiving apparatus controls a carrier frequency error arising from multipath fading and thermal noise by obtaining a phase variation arising from the carrier frequency error after averaging autocorrelation values of pilot signals calculated for each antenna route, and provides commonality of the center frequencies of baseband signals among antenna routes by using the same carrier frequency correction value in all antenna routes, thereby improving the accuracy of the inverse function of a transfer function.
However, the wireless signal receiving apparatus extracts only pilot subcarriers having fixed phases before MIMO synthesis and estimates frequency errors by calculating the autocorrelation among OFDM symbols. In other words, residual components after the frequency correction are not treated; therefore, it may be impossible to eliminate the influence of phase rotations and phase twists by the MIMO-synthesized residual errors.
[Patent document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-84324
[Patent document 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-283359
[Patent document 3] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-72458
[Patent document 4] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 13-69113
[Non-patent document 1] http://radio3.ee.uec.ac.jp/MIMO(IEICE_TS).pdf (as of Oct. 24, 2003)
[Non-patent document 2] "802.11 high-speed wireless LAN textbook" by Matsue and Morikura (IDC Japan, IDC Information Series, 194 pages, First Edition: March 2003)

Wireless communication apparatus and wireless communication method


A housing has a first positioning hole that penetrates the housing in the vertical direction. A suction cap includes a suction plate part to be sucked by a suction nozzle, and a plurality of positioning protrusion parts, each of which is to be inserted into a first positioning hole of the housing of an input/output board-side connector and a CPU board-side connector in the state where the suction cap holds the input/output board-side connector and the CPU board-side connector. Each positioning protrusion part is inserted into each corresponding first positioning hole in the state where the suction cap holds the input/output board-side connector and the CPU board-side connector, which achieves the positioning of the input/output board-side connector and the CPU board-side connector with respect to the suction cap.

The present disclosure relates to a connector assembly.
Patent Literature 1 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H11-40243) discloses an electric connector assembly 103 that includes a first electric connector 100, a second electric connector 101, and a cap 102 made of resin as shown in FIG. 15 of the present application.
The cap 102 includes a first cap part 104 to hold the first electric connector 100 and a second cap part 105 to hold the second electric connector 101.
The first cap part 104 has a groove 107 which a mating part 106 of the first electric connector 100 is to mate with. Likewise, the second cap part 105 has a groove 109 which a mating part 108 of the second electric connector 101 is to mate with.
Then, by mating the mating part 106 of the first electric connector 100 with the groove 107 of the first cap part 104, and mating the mating part 108 of the second electric connector 101 with the groove 109 of the second cap part 105, the cap 102 aligns the first electric connector 100 and the second electric connector 101 and also simultaneously holds the first electric connector 100 and the second electric connector 101.

Japan Aviation Electronics Industry, Ltd.


A positive electrode active material includes: a lithium complex oxide expressed by chemical formula (1); a highly thermal conductive compound; and graphene or multilayer graphene.LixM1yM21-yO2  (1)In the formula (1), M1 is at least one metal selected from Ni, Co, and Mn, M2 is at least one metal selected from the group consisting of Al, Fe, Ti, Cr, Mg, Cu, Ga, Zn, Sn, B, V, Ca, and Sr, and x and y are numbers such that 0.05≤x≤1.2 and 0.3≤y≤1.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a positive electrode active material, a positive electrode using the same, and a lithium ion secondary battery.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, researches have been widely conducted on the use of lithium cobalt oxide, lithium nickel oxide, lithium manganese oxide and the like as the positive electrode active material for lithium ion secondary batteries, as these materials enable the generation of an electromotive force in excess of 4 V.
With regard to the positive electrode active material for lithium ion secondary batteries, there is a trend for increasing the charge voltage so as to achieve an increase in discharge capacity. However, when the discharge capacity is increased by increasing the charge voltage, the amount of heat generated by the battery also increases. The heat may degrade the cycle characteristics of the battery.
Particularly, in a battery system including lithium cobalt oxide, lithium nickel oxide, lithium manganese oxide, or the like as the positive electrode active material, sufficient cycle characteristics may not be obtained when there is a large amount of heat due to the increase in charge voltage. This problem is particularly pronounced in a high temperature environment.
The cycle characteristics of lithium cobalt oxide are described in JP-A-2006-164758, for example. The literature reports that the cycle characteristics can be increased by substituting a part of cobalt and/or lithium of the lithium cobalt oxide with other metal elements. However, the improvement in thermal instability during charging that can be achieved is not sufficient, and there is a need for a further increase in cycle characteristics. In the following, a lithium ion secondary battery may be referred to as "a battery" depending on the context.

Positive electrode active material, positive electrode, and lithium ion secondary battery


A secondary media stream is displayed within a primary media stream. In response to receiving a first user selection of two media streams for simultaneous viewing on a display device, a second user selection of a primary media stream and a secondary media stream from the two media streams selected for simultaneous viewing is received. A set of inset definitions is extracted from metadata in the secondary media stream. A third user selection of an inset definition from the set of inset definitions is received. A user input is received to display the primary media stream to accommodate a size of the inset definition selected. The primary media stream is displayed to create an inset area for displaying the secondary media stream within the primary media stream based on the user input. The secondary media stream is displayed within the inset area of the displayed primary media stream for user viewing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system and more specifically to a computer implemented method, system, and computer usable program code for overlaying a portion of a broadcasted television channel onto a portion of another broadcasted television channel or recorded programming.
2. Description of the Related Art
A digital video recorder (DVR) or personal video recorder (PVR) is a device that records video in a digital format onto a hard disk drive or other storage medium. The term DVR includes stand-alone set-top boxes and software for personal computers, which enable video capture and playback to and from a hard disk drive. It is estimated that by the year 2009, 47.4 million households in the United States will have a DVR.
DVRs provide several enhancements to similar devices, such as videocassette recorders (VCRs), including convenient "time shifting." Time shifting is the recording of programming to a storage medium to be viewed or listened to at a more convenient time to the user. Additionally, a DVR enables "trick modes," such as pausing live television (TV), instant replay of interesting scenes, chasing playback, and skipping advertising. Pausing live TV is a feature of DVRs that enables a user to stop the video and display a still frame. Often, the user may resume the video at the point of the pause. Instant replay is a feature of DVRs that enables a user to quickly review recently rendered video. Chase play is a time shifting function of DVRs. Chase play allows a user to simultaneously watch, stop, or pause live TV, while continuing to record a program to its conclusion. Most DVRs use the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) format for encoding analog video signals.
Additionally, many DVRs and TV receivers provide a feature known as Picture-in-Picture (PiP). PiP allows viewers to view two pieces of media simultaneously using two separate tuners. Typically, the main media selection is viewed in full screen with audio, while the second media selection is displayed in an inset window. PiP technology allows users to select two media streams or channels to view, but the entire frame of each media stream is displayed. The media streams are displayed, for example, in side by side, top and bottom, or full screen with movable inset window, but in all cases the entire media stream or "screen" of both media sources is displayed.

Digital video recorder broadcast overlays

International Business Machines Corporation


A case hardening bearing steel having an excellent rolling contact fatigue life in intermediate temperature, in addition, excellent toughness at room temperature is provided. Specific means for solving the problems are as follows. The composition contains, by mass percent, C of 0.15 to 0.30 mass percent, Si of 0.5 to 2.0 mass percent, Mn of 0.3 to 2.0 mass percent, Cr of 1.3 to 2.5 mass percent, Mo of 0.3 to 1.0 mass percent, and O of not more than 0.0012 mass percent in a range where (Si+Mo)≧1.0 mass percent is satisfied, and contains iron and inevitable impurities as remnant; the maximum size of oxide nonmetallic inclusion is not more than 12.5 μm when examined area is 320 mm2; number of the oxide nonmetallic inclusion having a diameter of equivalent circle of 3 μm or more is not more than 250 when the examined area is 320 mm2; in addition, C density of an outer layer is adjusted to be in a range from 0.7 to 1.2 mass percent by carburization.

Heat-resistant bearing material for use in the ball-and-roller bearing is required to have a long rolling contact fatigue life. For this purpose, for example, in JP-B-54-41014, improvement of the characteristic at normal and high temperatures is designed by adding a large amount of element that forms carbides. JP-A-3-253542, focusing on retardation of softening during tempering, proposes a steel in which Si or Mo content is increased. However, when a bearing steel of which the toughness is originally low is added with such element, the toughness is further deteriorated. There has been limitation or various restrictions in use.
Alternatively, JP-A-63-60257 proposes a carburized steel having improved pitting resistant or durability by reducing certain components in a composition, in particular, S and O. However, again in this steel, the stable rolling contact fatigue life has not always been achieved in the intermediate temperature.

Case hardening bearing steel having excellent toughness and rolling contact fatigue life in intermediate temperature


Independent power supply systems are provided for a peripheral circuit other than a column decoder, an array-relevant circuit, and a column decoder respectively, so that a peripheral power supply voltage, an array power supply voltage, and a column decoder power supply voltage generated independently of each other are supplied to the peripheral circuit, the array-relevant circuit, and the column decoder as an operating power supply voltage, respectively. Preferably, the column decoder power supply voltage during normal operation is set as an intermediate voltage between the peripheral power supply voltage and the array power supply voltage. Thus, an array configuration suitable for driving a transistor with a low voltage in order to achieve lower power consumption can be obtained.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor memory device, and more particularly to a semiconductor memory device including an array configuration suitable for attaining lower power consumption.
2. Description of the Background Art
In order to enhance operation characteristics and layout efficiency of a semiconductor memory device so as to adapt to drive with a lower voltage for attaining lower power consumption, an array configuration in which a configuration of an internal power supply system or a circuit configuration of a peripheral circuit is devised is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laying-Open Nos. 8-55480, 2000-21170, and 9-198867.
In recent years particularly, a semiconductor memory device attaining a smaller size and lower power consumption is further strongly demanded, considering mount on a portable instrument or the like premised on drive by a battery. Accordingly, a transistor (represented by an MOS (Metal Oxide Semiconductor) transistor) disposed on the semiconductor memory device has come to achieve a smaller size and a lower threshold voltage. Under such circumstances, aiming to achieve a stabilized operation under low voltage drive as well as optimal design of a power supply system, further improvement in the array configuration has been demanded.

Semiconductor memory device driven with low voltage


The disclosure provides for coating compositions comprising macrocycles and salts in aqueous buffer and the use of the coating composition to prevent absorption of small molecules into polymeric surfaces.

Drug development is a painstaking process with an estimated price tag of $2.6 billion for a single compound. The most time expensive stages of the drug development process occur in the early and late discovery periods, and the most cost taxing stages occur in the preclinical and clinical trials. Nearly 40% of drugs that make it to preclinical trials fail, and 89% of drugs that make it to clinical trials fail resulting in a great loss of resources and time. New models and methods are needed to increase the predictive power of in vitro testing to reduce the number of false positive and false negative candidates. However, such models and system often times have their own independent issues absorption and cross-reactivities.

Macrocyclic polyphenols for universal coatings

The Regents of the University of California


Systems and methods of a memory allocation buffer to reduce heap fragmentation. In one embodiment, the memory allocation buffer structures a memory arena dedicated to a target region that is one of a plurality of regions in a server in a database cluster such as an HBase cluster. The memory area has a chunk size (e.g., 2 MB) and an offset pointer. Data objects in write requests targeted to the region are received and inserted to the memory arena at a location specified by the offset pointer. When the memory arena is filled, a new one is allocated. When a MemStore of the target region is flushed, the entire memory arenas for the target region are freed up. This reduces heap fragmentation that is responsible for long and/or frequent garbage collection pauses.

The amount of memory available on inexpensive commodity servers has dramatically increased. For example, when Apache databases such as HBase project started, typical machines running Hadoop had 4-8 GB of random access memory (RAM). Now, users and customers run with at least 24 G of RAM, and larger amounts like 48 G, 72 G, or even larger are becoming common as costs continue to come down. On the surface, this new memory capacity appears to be advantageous to latency-sensitive databases like HBase, where with a lot of RAM, more data can fit in cache which can avoid expensive disk seeks on reads, and more data can fit in the MemStore, or the memory area that buffers write to before they flush to disk.
In practice, however, as heap sizes for databases have increased, the garbage collection methods and/or systems available in production-quality Java Development Kits (JDKs) have remained largely the same. This has resulted in longer garbage collection pauses. Long garbage collection pauses can result in latency when client requests are stalled and other issues in the system.

Memory allocation buffer for reduction of heap fragmentation


Provided is a flip chip bonder including: a pickup flipping collet configured to flip a chip; and a bonding tool configured to receive the chip flipped with the pickup flipping collet from the pickup flipping collet and to bond the received chip to a circuit board. The pickup flipping collet includes a cooling channel through which cooling air flows to cool the pickup flipping collet. Thus, bonding time can be reduced without lowering bonding quality.

Flip chip bonding in which bump electrodes also called bumps are formed on a chip and the chip is directly connected to a circuit board has become widely employed as a method of mounting a chip on a circuit board. The flip chip bonding is a method for joining a chip and a circuit board by forming a plurality of bumps (bump electrodes) made of a material such as solder on a circuit side of the chip, and heating and melting the bumps to join the bumps to a plurality of electrodes on a circuit board. As compared to a connecting method using the conventional wire bonding, the flip chip bonding has various advantages such as a reduced area for mounting, excellent electric characteristics, and elimination of necessity for mold sealing.
In the flip chip bonding, in order to ensure reliability of connection at a joining portion between a chip and a circuit board, it is required to perform resin molding of a gap between the chip and the circuit board using an underfill material or the like. However, using an underfill material has a problem that filling of a liquid resin requires times, as well as a problem that it has become difficult to inject a liquid resin under a present circumstance that a gap between a chip and a circuit board has become increasingly smaller. Therefore, there is proposed a bonding method in which resin molding between a chip and a circuit board is performed by applying a non-conductive film (NCF) previously to a surface of the chip, and performing melting and hardening of the resin at the same time as joining between the chip and the circuit board.
According to this method, the non-conductive film (NCF) is previously applied to the surface of the chip, and after the chip is suctioned to a holding member and picked up along with the non-conductive film (NCF), the chip is flipped by rotating the holding member, so that the side of the non-conductive film (NCF) faces downward. Then, a bonding tool is brought into contact with the side of the chip opposite of the side to which the non-conductive film (NCF) is applied and caused to suction the chip, and thus the chip is passed from the holding member to the bonding tool. Therefore, when the chip is transferred, the side of the chip to which the non-conductive film (NCF) is applied is in contact with an upper surface of the holding member, and the chip passed to the bonding tool has its side of the non-conductive film (NCF) face downward (the side of the circuit board). Thereafter, when the chip is pressed to the circuit board with the bonding tool, and the temperature of the bonding tool is increased up to the melting temperature of bumps (about 300° C.), the non-conductive film (NCF) melts at the same time as the bumps melt and comes between the chip and the circuit board. Then, after the bonding tool is moved upward, the temperature of the bumps and the non-conductive film (NCF) decreases and the metal of the molten bumps and the molten resin are hardened, and the bonding of the chip to the circuit board is completed.
Upon completion of the bonding, the bonding tool is heated as high as about 300° C. Therefore, if the bonding tool receives a chip coming next from the holding member at this temperature, the non-conductive film (NCF) applied to a chip surface (the side of the holding member) is heated and molten, and then adversely attached to a surface of the holding member when the bonding tool at high temperature is brought into contact with the chip. Accordingly, it is necessary to perform bonding after the bonding tool at high temperature is cooled down below the melting temperature of the non-conductive film (NCF) (e.g., about 50° C.), then the bonding tool receives a chip coming next from the holding member, and the temperature of the bonding tool is increased again. However, as the bonding tool is generally cooled using air at normal temperature (about 25° C. to 30° C.), it takes time to cool the bonding tool at the temperature as high as about 300° C. down to about 50° C. This results in a problem of increased bonding time as a whole.
Therefore, there is proposed a method for reducing bonding time by continuing bonding without cooling the bonding tool in a manner such that the chip is passed from the holding member to the bonding tool while being suctioned to the surface of the bonding tool in a state in which the holding member and the bonding tool are not in contact with each other, i.e., in a state in which transmission of heat to the holding member from the bonding tool is blocked.

Flip chip bonder and flip chip bonding method


An image forming apparatus has a photoconductive element, a developing sleeve, a photosensor and a control device for controlling the dynamic range of an image. A background output VSG is produced from the photosensor when the photoconductive element is rotating and the developing sleeve is rotating and a background output VSG+ is produced from the photosensor when the photoconductive element is rotating and the developing sleeve is not rotating. The control device controls a developing bias, a charge potential, a quantity of exposing light or an amount of toner supply in response to the greater of the two values VSG or VSG+. Also, the gradient of the background output VSG is determined and is used to decide whether the image forming apparatus is in an unusual state or not.

The present invention relates to color image forming equipment and, more particularly, to a digital color copier of the type using a developer made up of a toner and a carrier, i.e., a two-component developer.
A prerequisite with a digital color copier of the type described is that the toner concentration of the two-component developer be adequately regulated to enhance the reproducibility of tones, especially halftone, of images. To meet this requirement, various toner concentration control methods have heretofore been proposed. The conventional methods may generally be classified into two types, as follows:
Type A: sensing toner concentration or a substitute characteristic and controlling it to a predetermined one; and
Type B: sensing the developing ability of a developer or a substitute characteristic and controlling toner concentration such that the developing ability remains constant.
The type A method consists in, for example, detecting changes in the volume density of a developer (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 5487/1972), detecting changes in the volume density of a developer in terms of changes in magnetic permeability or reactance (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 5138/1972), detecting changes in the volume of a developer (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 19459/1975), detecting changes in the volume of a developer in terms of changes in torque (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 6598/1972), detecting changes in the tone of a developer (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 69527/1973), detecting changes in the electric resistance of a developer (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 38157/1973), or detecting a voltage induced by the counter charge (on a carrier) of a developed toner (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Nos. 57638/1973 and 42739/1973). Type-B methods include formation and developement of a charge pattern which is invariant with any photoconductive body, so as to optically sense the density of a resulting toner image.
Such a prior art method, whether it be of type A or type B, cannot satisfactorily reproduce halftone images. Specifically, toner concentration generally changes with the ambient conditions and due to aging. Hence, the type A method which maintains toner concentration constant causes the developing characteristic of the developer to change due to changes in ambient conditions and aging. This type of method, therefore, is not directly applicable to a color copier which attaches importance to the reproducibility of halftone. In the light of this, there have also been proposed a control method which controls the quantity of exposing light by sensing ambient conditions as well as other factors (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 177153/1988), and a control method which develops a plurality of potential patterns, optically senses the densities of the resulting toner images, and selects adequate one of exposing potential data which were measured in various environments (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 296061/1988). These methods, however, cannot cope with changes in the charging characteristic of a developer due to aging. Although they will be capable of coping with such changes if provided with data covering both the aging and the ambient conditions, preparing such an amount of data is not practical. Moreover, optimizing the developing characteristic by any of the above-mentioned methods is almost impracticable since toner concentration is susceptible to operation modes as well as to aging and ambient conditions.
The type A method is not satisfactory not only from the standpoint of the above-discussed optimization of developing characteristic but also from the standpoint of adequate toner concentration. Specifically, the limit of toner concentration at which the contamination of background and the scattering of toner sharply increase is also susceptible to changes in ambient conditions and aging. It follows that controlling the toner concentration to a predetermined one as with the type A method is apt to bring about the contamination of background and the scattering of toner due to changes in ambient conditions and aging. As a result, even when the developer is still usable, it is often determined that it should be replaced with fresh one. Concerning the type B method which so controls the toner concentration as to maintain the developing ability constant, all the changes in the developer ascribable to the environment and aging are fed back to the toner concentration, broadening the range over which the toner concentration is varied. Consequently, the developing ability of the developer is increased in a high humidity environment or in an aged condition. In this condition, should the toner concentration be reduced to control the developing ability to a usual one, the resulting toner concentration would be excessively low to in turn reduce the maximum amount of development, i.e., saturation image density. For this reason, the halftone reproducibility achievable with the type B method is as poor as the type A method.
We have already proposed control methods capable of eliminating the above problems in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/545,508 filed Jun.29, 1990 and Japanese Patent Application No. 238107/1989. With such methods, it is possible to achieve a stable image density, especially halftone reproducibility, despite the changes in ambient conditions and aging.
Regarding the control over the toner supply, it sometimes occurs that the amount of toner deposition on the photoconductive element abruptly increases due to, among others, the change in the characteristic of the developer ascribable to the ambient conditions and other factors. Especially, in the case of a color toner, since a diffused reflection from the toner deposited on the photoconductive element and, therefore, the quantity of light incident to an optical sensor increases with the increase in the amount of toner deposition. Therefore, the amount of toner deposition is apt to be erroneously determined as being low. Then, the toner supply would be continued to increase the toner density to an excessive degree. To eliminate such an occurrence, it has been customary to control the toner supply on the basis of a relation between the background voltage Vsg+matching the quantity of a reflection from the photoconductive element detected when the developing sleeve was halted and the photoconductive element was in operation, and the background voltage Vsg detected when the developing sleeve was in operation. Specifically, when Vsg+<Vsg, whether (I) Vsp (target value).times.4/Vsg>Vsp or (II) Vsp.times.4/Vsg+<Vsp is determined. The toner is supplied only if the condition (II) is satisfied.
However, the problem with the above-stated scheme is that when the voltage Vsg detected when the developing sleeve was in operation becomes higher than the voltage Vsg+detected when it was in a halt, the condition (II) holds to cause the toner to be continuously supplied. This is also apt to result in the uncontrollable increase in toner concentration. Specifically, the reversal of the relation between the detected voltages of interest stems from the fact that the amount of toner remaining on the background increases when, for example, the photoconductive element is not completely cleaned or when the toner density is increased to an unusual degree. Besides, the control over the toner density often fails when an error occurs in the image forming system including the photoconductive element.

Image forming apparatus for controlling the dynamic range of an image


A pet food product and process for repartitioning nitrogen and increasing colonic blood flow in dogs is provided which involves feeding a dog a diet of a pet food composition containing fermentable fibers which have an organic matter disappearance of 15 to 60 percent when fermented by fecal bacteria for a 24 hour period, the fibers being present in amounts from about 1 to 11 weight percent of supplemental total dietary fiber. The dog is maintained on the diet for a sufficient period of time to allow the fermentable fibers to ferment in the colon of the dog. The fermentation results in an increased quantity of bacteria in the colon of the dog, resulting in increased nitrogen excretion through the feces of the dog.

This invention relates to a pet food product for use in repartitioning nitrogen and increasing colonic blood flow in dogs to promote intestinal health, and more particularly to a process involving a pet food composition containing fermentable fibers.
Many dogs suffer from poor health due to renal insufficiency. It is desirable to reduce the stress placed on the kidneys of dogs with this condition. One factor that contributes to such stress is nitrogen-containing metabolites in the blood.
Nitrogen in the blood is primarily removed by the kidneys. Weakened kidneys can be overworked attempting to remove nitrogen from the blood, resulting in renal failure. Therefore, a need exists for a method of reducing the amount of nitrogen in the blood of dogs without using the kidneys.
In extreme cases, medical devices such as dialysis machines can be used to remove nitrogen in the blood. However, in the case of dogs this approach is usually cost prohibitive. Also, most cases of renal insufficiency are less extreme, therefore, less invasive techniques are desirable. Particularly desirable are low cost techniques that are easy to administer.
Some research has been done in the area of nitrogen repartitioning. This involves using bodily methods of waste removal other than the kidneys to eliminate nitrogen from the blood. Younes et al., FASEB J. 8:A186 (1994) (Abstract) have experimented with using a fermentable fiber-containing diet to increase urea disposal in the rat cecum. However, those experiments were limited to the rat which has a different metabolism than the dog. For example, the dog has a nonsacculated intestine as opposed to the sacculated intestine in the rat; the dog has a nonfunctional cecum as opposed to a functional cecum in the rat; and the dog does not practice coprophagy as does the rat.
Therefore, a need still exists for a low cost, easy to administer method of reducing the amount of nitrogen in the blood of dogs without using the kidneys. There is also a need for a method for increasing blood flow to the colon of a dog to enhance and promote intestinal health.

Composition and method for repartitioning nitrogen and increasing colonic blood flow in dogs to promote intestinal health


A bispecific antibody that simultaneously targets humanized p185 and VEGF, consisting of the four peptide chains: two identical antibody light chains that are the light chains of the antibody that identify the epitope or antigen of p185, and two identical antibody heavy chains that have the amino acid sequence of a recombinant antibody from N- to C-terminus, a light chain sequence of the antibody that recognizes the p185 epitope or the antigen; a constant heavy chain region; a flexible short peptide sequence; and either a single-stranded variable region sequence (ScFv) of anti-VEGF antibody which recognizes the VEGF epitope or antigen, or a receptor domain sequence that binds to VEGF. The bispecific antibody has the ability to bind p185 and VEGF at the same time, inhibits the proliferation of tumor cells, and promotes the expression of IFN-γ by T lymphocytes; it may be applied as anti-tumor antibody drug.

Malignant tumor is the neoplasma induced by tumorigenic factors and characterized by growth of local tissue cells. In 2015, the number of newly developed cancer in China reached 4,292,000 cases, which seriously affected human health.
Tumor molecular biology studies have confirmed that abnormal activation of the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 gene (HER2), Myc gene, and other oncogenes, which causes disorders of cell signaling pathway and thus leads to cell proliferation, is the molecular mechanism of tumorigenesis. HER2 is a member of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) family and locates on human chromosome 17q21. HER2 encodes a transmembrane protein p185 consisting of 1255 amino acids with tyrosine protein kinase activity. P185 consists of extracellular ligand-binding domain, single-stranded transmembrane region, and intracellular protein tyrosine kinase region (amino acids 720-987). The overactivated p185 protein plays a critical role in promoting cell proliferation through activating the membrane receptor tyrosine protein kinase signaling pathway (Ras/Raf/MAPK), phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K/AKT) signaling pathway, and transcriptional activation (STAT) signaling pathway.
The infinite proliferation of tumor cells consumes a large amount of nutrients. In the initial stage of tumor growth, the infiltration of the surrounding tissue is responsible for providing nutrients that maintain its growth. When the tumor grows to 2.0 mm3, new blood vessels grow into the tumor or the central part of the tumor goes through necrosis due to the lack of nutritional supply. At this situation, the tumor tissue is difficult to continue to grow. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) secreted by tumor cells is not only an important angiogenic factor but also the strongest and most specific growth factor in tumor angiogenesis. VEGF gene locates at chromosome 6p21.3, is composed of 8 exons and 7 introns. It encodes a dimer glycoprotein. VEGF can increase not only the intracellular Ca2+ concentration in endothelial cells but also the permeability of macromolecules of micrangium.
The progress of the research on tumor molecular biology provides a solid scientific basis for the renewal of the anti-cancer drug research and development concept. At present, the focus of anti-tumor drug research and development has shifted from the traditional research and development of cytotoxic drugs to the development of the new generation of anti-tumor drugs which target the key component of dysfunction cell signaling pathway. Target-specific antineoplastic drugs, especially antibody drugs, based on gene expression differences between normal cells and tumor cells, have a high specificity and low toxicity of the therapeutic effect.

Bispecific antibody targeting human p185 and vascular endothelial growth factor and application thereof


An alternative power source provides alternating current (AC) through a proper connector into a first outlet of a pre-existing electrical distribution system which is normally powered by an alternating current electrical power supply through main breakers and a breaker box. At least one of the breakers which controls power from the normal AC electrical power supply on the electrical distribution system is opened prior to connecting the alternative power supply. The alternative power supply provides electricity through the proper connector into the first outlet, or node, to provide alternating current to a selected portion of the electrical distribution system, and possibly to both halves of the pre-existing electrical distribution system if the proper connector is connected to a 240 volt outlet, or if two proper connectors are utilized and connected to first and second outlets with the first and second outlets on each of the two phase (power) wires of the pre-existing electrical distribution system.

The present invention relates to alternating current (AC) electrical power supply and method of its use, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for providing alternating current to an existing electrical distribution system involving the disconnection of the normal source of power to the distribution system, i.e., the electric utility company, and the supply of the alternate source of AC power into an outlet receptacle of the distribution system to power other nodes of the distribution system.

Alternative alternating current power supply


A filament seal for use with stranded or solid metal or thermoplastic filaments comprises a segmented housing defining a chamber in which a locking insert element is positioned, the insert comprising a thin circular disk of hardened stainless steel with a plurality of radially inwardly extending resilient cantilevered fingers each terminating with a tapered sharp pointed tip in abutting or closely space relationship defining a space substantially smaller than the diameter of the filament. The inserted filament bends the fingers and is softer than the insert, the tips digging into the filament during use. When the filament is withdrawn, the finger tips dig further into the filament severing it. If the filament is rotated in an attempt to thread the filament out of the insert, the insert rotates with the filament due to the digging action of the tips into the filament, precluding filament withdrawal from the insert. A hardened steel washer is adjacent to the insert locking element to preclude bending the tips in the withdrawal direction and breakage of the tips, and precluding defeat of the locking action. The fingers are dimensioned to resist distortion in lateral directions during twisting. Various embodiments are disclosed.

This invention relates to security seals of the type wherein a filament is passed into or through a seal body in engagement with a metal locking element located within the body.
Numerous fasteners and seals are known wherein a sheet metal locking member has teeth which engage and grip a filament, shaft or stud inserted there against. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,356,856 to Komenak discloses a detection seal including a tie wire, a cup shaped closure member with an opening for receiving the wire, a cover with an opening through which the wire passes and a detent plate with resilient lips. The wire passes between the lips by threading the wire into the device. The lips flex when the wire is pushed between them. The wire can not be removed in the reverse direction as the lips dig into the wire. The detent plate can shift to permit alignment of the holes with the lips. The lips have parallel straight edges and the detent plate has a relatively large surface. However, it appears that the wire could be unthreaded from the locking engagement with the lips in the same manner it was inserted. This unlocking would defeat the seal and is unsatisfactory.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,740,654 to Orschel discloses a cord seal lock wherein a leaf spring engages a cord at a toothed edge of the spring. An attempt to remove the cord results in the leaf spring edge teeth digging into the cord and preventing its removal. However, it appears that the wire may be removed by a threading action which is undesirable.
U.S. Pat. No. 881,407 to Jewett discloses a bag seal comprising a tubular member with inner facing barbs for gripping a cord in the channel of the member.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,140,320 discloses locking tongues formed in a spring plate which engage a U-shaped shackle. The tongues form lips which indent into the softer shackle, the tongues being enclosed in a cup shaped members.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,458,409 discloses an outlet box connector with spring fingers of different lengths for engaging a cable and securing the cable to an electrical box.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,702,076 discloses an insulator for mounting pipe in a metal wall stud. The device has a plurality of pie shaped gripping segments for gripping a pipe. The segments deflect when the pipe is inserted therebetween.
Also, fastening devices, known as Tinnerman fasteners, employ sheet metal nuts having inner edges used to grip threads so that the nut although sheet metal, can lock to the threads as a nut with multiple axially extending threads. Also, cap type fasteners are known, referred to as speed nuts, which slip over a shaft and grip the shaft with deflecting fingers. This device is not used as a seal.
The problem with all of the above arrangements is that the wire, pipe, cord and so on may be twisted free from the locking engagement. This is undesirable in a security seal wherein it is desired that the seal be broken in order to open it so as to provide evidence of tampering. The present invention is a recognition of a need for a low cost seal wherein a wire or filament severs in order to remove it and the wire or filament can not be twisted free.
A seal according to the present invention which overcomes the above noted problems with the prior art seals comprises a filament; a housing defining a first chamber with a first opening having a transverse dimension, the filament for being received in and passing through the opening into the chamber; and a spring metal filament first locking insert captured in the chamber, the insert having a plurality of radially inwardly extending resilient fingers each of a transverse width and terminating at a tip, at least one of the tips tapering to substantially a point, the tips defining a region therebetween smaller than the filament thickness, the filament for being received in the region in a first insertion direction through the opening, the filament for abutting and flexing the tips such that the tips impose a resilient compressive load against the inserted filament, the filament and insert being of relative hardness such that the at least one tip point digs into the received inserted filament in response to withdrawal of the filament from the chamber in a second direction opposite the first insertion direction such that the filament is severed as the filament is withdrawn. As a result, the severed filament provides tampering evidence.
In one aspect, the chamber and the insert are arranged so that the insert rotates in response to rotation of the inserted received filament at least in response to a force on the insert by the inserted filament in the second withdrawal direction. Thus any attempt to remove the filament by twisting is of no effect because the insert will also rotate with the filament. The insert rotates because the tips digging into the filament provide a grip sufficient to permit a torque to be applied to the insert via the tips. In contrast, a flat edge engagement with the filament as in the prior art devices employing straight gripping edges or relatively large radii on the gripping edges can not receive a sufficient rotational torque from the rotating filament as the filament will merely slide against the edge as the filament rotates.
In a further aspect, the insert comprises an annular array of the fingers, a plurality of the fingers of the array each having a tip tapering substantially to a point.
In a further aspect, at least two fingers have nested complementary tips.
In a further aspect, the insert is a circular element and includes an annular array of identical fingers each with a tip tapering to the point.
In a further aspect, all the tips abut each other in a plane.
In a still further aspect, the filament has a transverse thickness and the tips are in close but spaced relationship, which spaced relationship defines a transverse space substantially smaller than the filament thickness.
In a still further aspect, the insert has a flat periphery lying in a plane with the fingers biased out of the plane and having a given thickness, the fingers each being defined by a radial dimension and a dimension transverse the radial direction which transverse dimension is substantially larger than the given thickness.
Preferably, the housing opening has a transverse dimension, further including a support member in the chamber between the housing opening and the insert, the support member having an aperture for receiving the filament therethrough, the aperture having a transverse dimension smaller than the transverse dimension of the housing opening, the support member for precluding bending of the fingers in the second direction in response of a force applied to the received filament in the second direction.
Preferably the at least one finger has a width and a length forming a rectangular member, the tip being at a radially inward end of the length.
In a further aspect, the insert and fingers lie in a plane, the transverse width of the fingers and the thickness thereof being sufficiently great to preclude lateral circumferential twisting of the fingers in the plane in response to rotation of the inserted filament secured thereto.
In a further aspect, a first portion of the fingers has a first length and a second portion of the tips have a second length different than the first length, the tips of all of the fingers abutting and being complementary to each other.
Preferably, the insert is a circular disk and all of the tips mate at the center of the disk in complementary symmetrical pointed fashion. In addition, the insert preferably is flat at the periphery with the fingers biased away from the plane of the periphery and have a given thickness, the fingers each being defined by a radial dimension and a dimension transverse the radial direction which transverse dimension is substantially larger than the given thickness.
In a further aspect, the housing opening has a transverse dimension, the seal further including a support member in the chamber between the housing opening and the insert, the support member having an aperture for receiving the filament therethrough, the aperture having a transverse dimension smaller than the transverse dimension of the housing opening, the support member for precluding bending of the fingers in the second direction in response of a force applied to the received filament in the second direction. Thus, with the support member present, during withdrawal, the tapered tips of the fingers, which fingers are weak, can not be bent in a reverse withdrawal direction so as to permit the filament to be withdrawn from the seal. Preferably, the insert is a hardened spring steel flat disk and the support member is a hardened spring flat steel disk.
In a further aspect, a connecting element hinges a first housing member to a second complementary housing member, the housing being one piece molded thermoplastic.
In a further aspect, the housing includes two complementary housing portions, a first portion has a cavity and a second portion has a male projection located in the cavity, an end of the filament being located in the cavity between the first and second portions, the housing including a rib member in the cavity for locking the filament end to the housing.
In a still further aspect, the filament has first and second end portions, the first end portion being secured to the first insert in the first chamber, the housing having a second chamber and a second opening in communication with the second chamber, further including a second insert identical to the first insert in the second chamber for receiving the second end for selectively locking the second end to the housing. Thus a padlock type seal may be provided in this embodiment.
In this embodiment, each insert is a steel circular disk, each chamber being circular cylindrical and elongated defining a longitudinal axis, each chamber having an annular recess for receiving the corresponding insert, the recess for releasably retaining the corresponding insert axially in the respective chamber.
In a further aspect, the housing comprises a body including first and second portions, the first opening being in the first portion and the second opening being in the second portion, the body including a third portion having the chambers, the first and second portions being coupled to the third portion by weakening means such that the first and second portions will selectively independently sever from the third portion in response to a withdrawal force on the corresponding insert by the filament. Thus in this aspect, the body portions when separated provide tamper evidence rather than a severed filament since in a padlock arrangement the filament may be a solid wire that is difficult to sever.
In a seal having a housing, a locking insert captured in the housing according to a further aspect of the invention comprises a circular cylindrical disk having a plurality of rectangular radially inwardly extending fingers each finger terminating at a tapered pointed tip, the tips being adjacent and complementary; a tip support member having a central aperture aligned with the complementary pointed tips for receiving a filament therethrough; and means for securing the support member to the disk.