Provided herein are compounds according to Formula (I)

Acetylcholine, a major neurotransmitter in the central and peripheral nervous system, signals by activating its ionotropic (nicotinic) and G-protein coupled (muscarinic) receptors. Five muscarinic receptors (M1-M5) have been identified with differential expression and signaling. The M1, M3 and M5 receptors are coupled to Gq proteins that activate phospholipase C. Phospholipase C hydrolyses membrane phosphoinositides into inositol triphosphate (IP3) and diacylglycerol (DAG), which elevate intracellular calcium and activate a number of signaling pathways. The M2 and M4 receptors are coupled to Gi/o proteins which inhibit adenylyl cyclase production and decrease cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) levels, having an inhibitory effect on cell function. The M1 receptors are predominantly expressed in the forebrain (cortex, hippocampus, striatum and thalamus) and on salivary glands (Brain Res Mol Brain Res 2005, 133(1):6-11; Br. J. Pharmacol 2006, 148, 565-578; Pharmacol Ther 2008, 117: 232-243). The M2 receptors are expressed in the brain, and also highly expressed in the heart where they mediate vagal nerve innervation and can affect the heart rate (Br. J. Pharmacol 2006, 148, 565-578; Pharmacol Ther 2008, 117: 232-243). The M3 receptors are mostly expressed in the smooth muscles of peripheral tissues, including the gastrointestinal track, bladder, eye, and sweat and salivary glands (Br. J. Pharmacol 2006, 148, 565-578). The M4 receptors are enriched in the brain and are mainly expressed in the striatum, a brain area involved in dopamine release and signaling (J Neurosci 1994 14(5):3351-3363; Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1999, 96(18): 10483-10488; Pharmacol Ther 2008, 117: 232-243). The M5 receptors are expressed on vasculature, including the cerebral blood vessels (Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2001, 98(24):14096-14101).
In the central nervous system, muscarinic receptors have been shown to play a central role in cognition and regulation of dopaminergic signaling (Neuron 2017, 94(3): 431-446). Of particular interest are M4 receptors that are highly expressed in the striatum. Genetic deletion of M4 receptors causes a hyper-dopaminergic phenotype in rodents. M4 knock-out mice have been shown to have elevated striatal dopamine levels and increased locomotor activity (Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1999, 96(18): 10483-10488.; FASEB J 2004, 18(12):1410-1412). Consistent with these observations, pharmacological activation of M4 receptors decreases amphetamine-induced dopamine release and reverses amphetamine hyperlocomotion in mice (Neuropsychopharm 2004, 39: 1578-1593). Thus, these results indicate that M4 receptors can act as a negative regulator of dopamine release and signaling in the striatum.
Increased dopamine tone in the striatum is strongly associated with psychotic symptoms in schizophrenia and other disorders, including psychotic depression, bipolar disorder, Huntington's disease and Alzheimer's disease (Lancet 1988, 2:119-125; Schizophr Bull 2009, 35:549-562). Current antipsychotic drugs act primarily by blocking the action of dopamine at D2 receptors. However, they have limited efficacy and serious side effects, including drug-induced Parkinsonism, tardive dyskinesia, Q-Tc prolongation, weight gain and metabolic syndrome which lead to poor patient compliance (N Engl J Med 2005, 353:1209-23).
Activation of muscarinic M4 receptors has been shown to downregulate striatal dopamine signaling and thereby may provide an alternative way to treat psychosis. In support of this notion, the muscarinic agonist xanomeline showed robust antipsychotic efficacy when tested in two clinical trials in Alzheimer disease (Arch Neurol 1997, 54(4):465-473) and schizophrenia patients (Am J Psychiatry 2008, 165(8):1033-1039). However, its treatment was associated with a number of side effects, including nausea, vomiting, excessive salivation, dyspepsia and chills, which stopped its clinical development. Xanomeline is a pan muscarinic agonist that activates all muscarinic receptor subtypes. Studies suggest that the antipsychotic efficacy of xanomeline is primarily mediated by the activation of M4 receptors. The M4 receptors are highly expressed in the human striatum (Schizophr Res 2015, 169: 83-88.) and the antipsychotic-like effects of xanomeline on dopamine-mediated behaviors are eliminated in M4 knock-out mice (Eur J Pharmacol 2009, 603: 147-149; J Neurosci 2011, 31(16):5905-5908.). In contrast, xanomeline's side effects are most likely due to the activation of M2 and M3 receptors which are expressed in the heart, digestive tract and salivary glands (CNS Drug Rev 2003, 9:159-186; Br. J. Pharmacol 2006, 148, 565-578). Thus, M4 selective agonists are likely to retain xanomeline's antipsychotic efficacy without causing cholinergic side effects.
Consequently, compounds that act as M4 receptor agonists may be useful for treatment of M4 related conditions.

2-azaspiro[3.4]octane derivatives as M4 agonists

Abstract: or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein R1, R2, R3, R5, and R7 are defined herein. Also provided herein are pharmaceutical compositions comprising a compound of Formula (I) as well as the use of such compounds as M4 receptor agonists.


A mold clamping system for exothermic reaction welding adapted to be power-operated by a power device, the combination comprising a first member adapted to support a first mold portion; a second member adapted to support a second mold portion; and a drive mechanism, adapted to be coupled to the power device, coupled to at least one of said first and second members and capable of moving the first and second members between a first position, in which the first and second mold portions are spaced apart, and a second position, in which the first and second mold portions are engaged, upon actuation of the power device in a first and a second direction, respectively.

Exothermic reaction welding is commonly used for joining stranded metal cables to each other and for joining ground rods to other metal parts. A two-piece mold made of graphite, ceramic or other refractory material contains an internal crucible in which a powdered weld mixture is placed after the mold sections are clamped together. The weld mixture typically consists of copper oxide and aluminum. The bottom of the crucible forms a seat for a metal retainer disc that supports the powdered material. Ignition of the powdered material results in an exothermic reaction in the crucible that liquefies the powder, which then melts the metal disc. The molten metal then is free to flow through a tap hole or passageway into a weld cavity that contains the metal parts to be welded. After the weld is completed the mold sections are separated and removed from the weld site, and are then cleaned and prepared for reuse.
The mold sections typically are manually moved relative to each other using handle clamps, which have projecting pins that engage bores in the mold sections and bracket-mounted thumbscrews that tighten the clamps in position. Some clamps have pivoted toggle frames that enable the mold sections to close and open through relative pivotal motion. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,533,662, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. Other clamps have mold-engaging portions that close and open the mold sections through relative linear motion. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,660,317, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. Other devices used to open and close the mold halves in exothermic reaction welding include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,954,261; 6,382,496; 6,776,386; 6,789,724; and 7,240,717, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.

Power-operated mold clamping system for exothermic reaction welding


A non-AP/PCP communication apparatus comprises: a receiver which receives a measurement request which is transmitted from an AP/PCP communication apparatus and which requests measurement used in SPSH executability determination; and a transmitter which transmits to the AP/PCP communication apparatus the result of carrying out the measurement on the basis of the measurement request. Using a first period, which is a period in which communication is to be carried out with a first non-AP/PCP communication apparatus, the transmitter and the receiver carry out communication with the first device using a first protocol, and in a second period which is included in the measurement request and in which communication is not carried out with the first device, the receiver carries out measurement of a received signal using the first protocol. The result includes information relating to the measurement of the received signal and information relating to the first protocol.

The present disclosure relates to wireless communications, more specifically, a method for achieving Spatial Sharing (SPSH) in a directional Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) system. The IEEE 802.11ay standard (referred to as "11 ay standard") has been developed as a system for providing high-speed data transmission by using SPSH in millimeter-wave communication (see Non-Patent Literatures (hereinafter, referred to as "NPLs") 1 and 2).

Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America


The present invention relates to methods for embedded a micrometer and/or nanometer pattern into an injection molding tool. In a first main aspect, a micro/nanometer structured imprinting device is applied in, or on, an active surface so as to transfer the micro/nanometer patterned structure to the tool while the imprinting device is, at least partly, within a cavity of the injection molding tool. In a second main aspect, a base plate with a micro/nanometer structured pattern positioned on an upper part is positioned on the active surface within the tool, the lower part of the base plate facing the tool, the active surface receiving the base plate being non-planar on a macroscopic scale. Both aspects enable a simple and effective way of transferring the pattern, and the pattern may be transferred on the active working site of tool immediately prior to molding without the need for extensive preparations or remounting of the tool before performing the molding process.

The principle of injection molding is apparently simple: Melted polymer is used to fill up a mold for the fabrication of a part. In reality, it is a complex process with many parameters. The basic process is: 1) injection of liquid polymer into the mold 2) cooling so the polymer solidifies, and 3) de-molding of the part. An injection molding machine converts thermoplastic granular or pellets into finished parts.
An injection mold is also known as a molding tool, and typically it has an exchangeable mold cavity. This prolongs the tool life, since only the cavity need replacement when the mold cavity is worn out.
Nanostructures may already be injection molded on 2D surfaces e.g. in the production of Blu-ray disc and DVDs. However, the current structure size limit for so-called freeform injection molding is approximately 50 μm. Free form surfaces are generally designed using computer aided design (CAD) techniques, and are usually not bound by rigid radial coordinates like planes, cylinders, conic surfaces, etc. Thus, there is a need for a more advanced injection molding techniques capable of molding constructional details below the effective 50 μm limit.
WO 2009/028745 (to LG Electronic Inc.) discloses an injection-molding apparatus. The injection-molding apparatus comprises: a mold having a cavity; a core mold having a core surface to form a molding space for injection moldings when being joined to the cavity mold; a heating unit for heating the cavity mold or the core mold; a cooling unit for cooling the cavity mold or the core mold; and a patterning stamp having a micrometer or nanometer sized pattern and provided on an inner surface of the molding space. A micrometer or nanometer sized pattern is formed on a surface of injection moldings so as to have a super-hydrophobic characteristic and an optical characteristic, and a micrometer or nanometer sized pattern of a complex structure can be implemented by placing the patterning stamp inside the mold cavity.
However, this molding apparatus is inherently limited to patterning stamps that are prepared outside of the molding apparatus, and subsequently inserted into the dedicated position within the molding tool and is limited to micro- and nanometer patterning of planar or simple curved surfaces (bend planes like cylinders). This, in turn, also limits the available forms that are possible to pattern because of the high pressure and/or high temperature in an injection molding system when molding. Thus, more complex forms are not easily patterned by this method. Accordingly, the disclosed method is rather inflexible due to limited forms available.
Hence, an improved injection molding tool would be advantageous, and in particular a more efficient and/or reliable molding tool would be advantageous.

Injection molding tools with micro/nano-meter pattern


A grape or fruit box includes a pair of laterally spaced, rigid ends, to which is secured a wrap assembly of paper overlay laminated veneer, extending substantially about the sides and bottom of the box. The ends are each formed with a groove extending from the right to left side of the end, and relatively closely adjacent the upper edge of the end. The groove extends parallel to the upper side of the end, and the lower edge of the groove is chamfered or bevelled along its entire length. The box lid or cover pad comprises a relatively thin and flexible sheet of laminated veneer or heavyweight paper. To secure the cover pad to the box, one end of the lid may be inserted in one groove of one end, and the lid then bowed upwardly in its center area, so that the opposite end of the lid may be located below the groove in the opposite end. By then pulling upwardly on that opposite pad end, the latter will snap into the groove, facilitated by the lower, chamfered edge of the groove.

There is currently a grape or fruit box in widespread use which nevertheless has certain disadvantages in terms of the number of parts required to make the box, its manner of assembly, and its ease of use in the field. This well known box construction is illustrated in FIG. 1 at 10 and includes a pair of wood ends 12 and 14 (angled at all four corners) connected by a wrap assembly 16 which forms a bottom wall 18 and a remaining pair of opposed sides 20, 22. The wrap 16 is typically constructed of three relatively rigid sheets of wood veneer 18a, 20a and 22a which are used to form the sides 20, 22 and the box bottom wall 18, respectively. These sheets are covered with Kraft paper shown at 16a, and nailed or stapled to the lower edges respectively of ends 12, 14 (one such edge shown at 24) as well as along the front and back edges 26, 28 of end 14 and corresponding edges (one shown at 30) of end 12. The sides 20, 22 terminate short of the upper edges of the ends 12 and 14 to insure adequate ventilation. The wrap 16 may also include a plurality of ventilation apertures (not shown) in the areas between the veneer sheets.
In this commonly utilized construction, the upper edges of ends 12, 14, (one shown at 32) are each provided with a pair of nails 34, 36 and 38, 40 all of which extend upwardly from their respective associated edges a carefully chosen, uniform height.
A box lid 42, typically formed of a 1/20" thick veneer laminated with paper on either side, is stitched, stapled or otherwise secured to a pair of upper side cleats 44, 46 which may be nominal 2 inch.times.1 inch strips of wood. The cleats may be 111/2 inches in length, extending from side to side at the ends of the box, whereas the ends 12, 14 may be 131/2 inches in length. Cleats 44 and 46 are each provided with a pair of vertical slots (one pair shown at 48, 50) which open away from the respective ends of the box. It will be appreciated that the flexible nature of the lid 42 permits the lid to be bowed upwardly to thereby allow the lid to be placed on the box with nails 38, 40 received in slots 48, 50 and nails 34, 36 then received in similar but unseen slots in the cleat 44. With this arrangement, the nails and slots retain the lid 42 in place on the box 10 until such time as the lid is pulled upwardly a distance sufficient to dislodge at least one pair of nails from their associated slots in one of the upper cleats. The upward bowing of the lid also accommodates a level of contents in the box which exceeds in some areas the upper edges of the ends 12 and 14.
Bottom cleats 52, 54 are fixed to the lower edges of ends 12, 14, and provide a stacking base which will be aligned with and supported by a pair of upper cleats on an underlying box.
With the above described construction, it will be apparent that the precise matching of nail location to cleat slot location is critical to the ability of the box to function in its desired manner. The presence of nails 34, 36 and 38, 40 during initial shipment to the site of adjacent boxes is cumbersome and can result in damage to adjacent boxes. Of course, the loss of any of the nails renders the lid incapable of adequate securement to the box. Finally, the box/lid assembly as described above requires the addition of the bottom cleats 52, 54 to facilitate stacking after the boxes have been filled and lids applied, i.e., to provide sufficient clearance to avoid crushing the upwardly bowed lid of the box immediately below.


A method for guaranteeing a consumer a best price on an item purchased from a vendor in a first transaction at a first price, the method including recording the first price and information identifying the consumer, monitoring the sales price of the item for a predetermined time period after the first transaction, noting any price lower than the first price for the item during the predetermined time period, calculating a money-value difference between the first price and said any price lower than the first price, and refunding to the consumer an amount equal to the money-value difference.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to improvements to business systems with which a customer can be in direct electronic communication with a vendor, e.g., via a system such as the Internet global communications system. In certain aspects, this invention relates to such systems that also provide guaranteed pricing for a predetermined time period so that a consumer is assured that an item purchased will not be sold in the near future at a discount or sale price which is not made available to the consumer.
2. Description of Related Art
Filed on even date herewith is the application entitled "Business System" naming Sunil Thakur and Zulfiqar Momin as inventors. This application is incorporated fully herein for all purposes including its discussion of Related Art.
There has long been a need, recognized by the present inventor, for a system that provides to a consumer the assurance that the consumer will not buy an item or service and then find out in the near future that the item or service was made available at a much lower price. There has long been a need for such a system usable with Internet business systems and network systems.


Damping valve assembly includes a first damping valve, which, in a first operating range, opens as the flow velocity of the damping medium increases, where a second operating range with a progressive damping force characteristic is influenced by a throttle in conjunction with a control slide, which can be moved into a closed position. The control slide has a pressure-actuated surface, which, as a function of the flow velocity of the damping medium, acts in the closing direction on the control slide.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to a damping valve assembly for a vibration damper having a piston which moves in a damping medium in a cylinder, the assembly including a first damping valve which, in a first operating range, opens as the flow velocity of the damping medium increases; and a first control slide which, in a second operating range with a progressive damping characteristic, can move in a closing direction to close a throttle.
2. Description of the Related Art
DE 35 33 386 A1 describes a two-tube vibration damper, the piston of which carries a compression spring. The spring moves a control slide on a bottom valve into a closed position as a function of the stroke of the piston to produce a progressive damping force characteristic shortly before the end of the stroke. In a vehicle being driven at comparatively high speed over a section of bad road, it is possible for a wheel to move inward very abruptly and to be braked along the further course of its inward travel by the maximum damping force available, which is determined by a set of valve disks on the bottom valve. If the stop spring then meets the control slide on the bottom valve side of the damper, only a comparatively small amount of residual stroke is left to absorb the energy of the inward-traveling wheel. It is possible for the area of the vehicle body connected to the vibration damper to be affected by this unabsorbed force.
What appears to be the simplest possibility at first glance is simply to reinforce the vehicle body in the endangered area, but this would make it necessary to accept a considerable increase in weight.
Another disadvantage of this principle is that the stop spring on the piston side causes a real loss of stroke. In this context, DE 36 02 224 A2 should also be mentioned, which describes the same operative principle.
GB 2,070,730 discloses a vibration damper, which has a damping valve device with two valves, which are connected hydraulically in parallel. A first damping valve comprises a throttle cross section, which, as the speed of the piston rod increases, is reduced in size by a valve body, e.g., an elastic disk, as a function of the speed of the piston rod, so that a progressive damping force characteristic is obtained. If the load becomes excessive, a pressure-relief valve, which connects the two working spaces of the vibration damper to each other, can go into effect. Various problems occur in practice when the solution according to DE 31 07 517 A1 is used. For example, the damping force is very small at comparatively low speeds and then increases parabolically, so that, as the vehicle is being driven, a more-or-less spongy and imprecise feeling is conveyed. Even at low speeds, it is desirable to perceive a certain measure of damping force. When the piston rod travels at an intermediate speed, the damping force should follow a degressive or linear characteristic and should not show a progressive damping force behavior until very high piston speeds. A damping force characteristic of this type can be achieved with a small pilot cross section, which in many cases remains open at all times, to which a spring-preloaded damping valve is connected hydraulically in parallel, which opens only after the speed of the piston exceeds a certain defined value.

Damping valve assembly with a progressive damping force characteristic


A method and device for heating silicon carrier bodies in a deposition reactor are by means of radiated heat. In this method, the carrier bodies are irradiated by means of a heat radiation device which emits radiation having a color temperature of at least 2000.degree. C.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for heating silicon carrier bodies in a deposition reactor by means of radiated heat. The invention also relates to a device for carrying out the method.
2. The Prior Art
Polycrystalline silicon rods, so-called polyrods, are produced by thermal decomposition of gaseous silicon compounds in a deposition reactor, elemental silicon being formed. In the deposition reactor there are heated carrier bodies, so-called slim rods, on which the silicon deposits They are normally also composed of silicon and grow in the course of the deposition to the desired polyrods. The slim rods are brought to the required deposition temperature by direct current passage. They have to be heated beforehand by means of a heat radiation system until the so-called firing temperature is reached at which the ohmic resistance with which they oppose the current flow when a voltage is applied has become sufficiently low. It is only then that further heating to the deposition temperature takes place by direct current passage. The polyrods produced are an important basic material for the production of high-purity silicon, for example for the production of silicon monocrystals. They must therefore meet very strict purity requirements.
In accordance with German Patent No. DE-28 54 707 C2, to fire the slim rods, a heating finger is lowered down from the reactor top to just above the deposition-reactor base with the reactor open. After the firing temperature is reached, the heating finger is retracted from the deposition reactor again and the opening of the deposition reactor is closed by means of a lid. It is particularly unfavourable that the deposition reactor has to be opened comparatively wide, under which circumstances oxygen can easily get in. In particular, there is the danger that particles from the surrounding room air or particles which originate from the heating finger itself get into the deposition reactor and are later incorporated in the polyrods as impurities. Before the deposition of silicon on the carrier bodies can be started, the deposition reactor has to be carefully flushed with inert gas in order to remove entrained oxygen again. Particles which had been entrained previously can, however, only be removed thereby to an inadequate extent.
Heating fingers which comprise a bundle of metal-clad electrical heating coils are used. They are surrounded by a cylindrical quartz sheath which is flushed with inert gas. Current is passed through the heating coils, so that they are heated to about 900.degree. C. and are able to bring the slim rods to firing temperature. Because of the high temperature loading and the presence of traces of oxygen, the heating coils, the metal cladding and the electrical contacts of the heating finger are, in particular, subject to continuous oxidative corrosion. This circumstance makes short maintenance cycles necessary, and during these the heating finger cannot be used. In addition, as a result of the continuing corrosion, particles are continuously formed which may contaminate the polyrods.
Further disadvantages result from the size of the heating finger. Since the heating finger has to extend down to near the base of the deposition reactor so that the slim rods can be heated to the firing temperature, the deposition reactor has to be accommodated in unusually high operating rooms. Only then is there enough room available for the heating finger above the open deposition reactor. In addition, the heating finger is relatively heavy as a result of its weight of about 200 kg and requires a lifting and lowering device which can move such loads reliably

Method and device for heating carrier bodies


Disclosed are a system and a method for controlling functions of a mobile communication terminal when in a predetermined zone. The system includes a function control apparatus for requesting a function list stored in the mobile communication terminal when detecting that the mobile communication terminal has entered a predetermined zone, indicating functions to be deactivated and generating a first function control list when the function list is received from the mobile communication terminal, and transmitting the first function control list to the mobile communication terminal; and the mobile communication terminal for transmitting the function list to the function control apparatus in response to the request for the function list received from the function control apparatus, and updating the stored function list in accordance with the first function control list when the first function control list is received from the function control apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and a method for controlling functions of a mobile communication terminal, and more particularly to a system and a method for controlling predetermined functions of a mobile communication terminal in a predetermined zone.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, with the rapid development of the mobile communication field, mobile communication terminals can perform various functions. For example, camera phones have emerged that can perform camera functions using cameras embedded in the mobile communication terminal, without a separate camera. With the appearance of such mobile communication terminals having camera functions as described above, inappropriate use of camera functions and data transmission in a company or a public place may give rise to inappropriate behavior or social criticism. For instance, taking a photograph of a person in a public bath using a camera phone having a camera function and transmitting the photographed image is very problematic. Another problem associated with camera phones involves preservation of confidential information of a company. Security of such confidential information can be compromised by the ability to photograph by a camera phone and transmit the photograph to an exterior location as a data file.
To prevent the camera function or the data transmission function from being used in a predetermined zone requiring security as described above, conventional methods prohibit a user from carrying the camera phone going into a predetermined zone. However, such conventional methods prevent the mobile communication terminal itself from being used, thereby depriving the user not only of the camera functions and the data transmission function, but also of other functions, such as a communication function, a text transmission function, address book function, planner function or alarm function. The inability to utilize the other functions causes the user to suffer an unnecessary inconvenience.
There exists another conventional method for restricting the functions of the mobile communication terminal in a predetermined zone which utilizes a satellite or a predetermined device. However, such a method may violate individuals' private lives.
The conventional methods described above prevent the camera function or the data transmission function from being used in a predetermined zone by prohibiting a user from carrying a mobile communication terminal itself having these functions into the predetermined zone. Therefore, the user suffers from inconvenience of not being able to access other functions commonly provided in the mobile communication terminal.

System and method for controlling functions of mobile communication terminal in a restricted zone


The present invention relates to DNA constructs provided to improve transgenesis or genomic integration of DNA fragment of interest into nuclear DNA of eukaryotic cell. The DNA constructs of the present invention allow a more efficient procedure by increasing the rate of genomic integration of a DNA fragment. After integration into host cell's DNA, the DNA constructs may provide a mean of screening transgenic cells. An increasing integration means, as well as a method for screening transgenic cells with said DNA construct are disclosed.

(a) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method of transforming eukaryotic cells. More particularly, this invention relates to the use of DNA constructs designed to insert a particular DNA fragment more efficiently into host cell's DNA in the goal of transgenesis.
(b) Description of Prior Art
Using recombinant DNA technology, foreign DNA sequences can be inserted into an organism's genome to alter the phenotype of the host's organism. A variety of different procedures have been described and are utilized to produce stably transformed eukaryotic cells. All of these procedures are based on, first introducing the foreign DNA into the eukaryotic cell, and followed by isolation of those cells containing the foreign DNA into the eukaryotic cell's DNA.
Unfortunately, to produce transgenic animal and plant, all current higher eukaryotic cell transformation procedures produce in very low proportions transformed germinal (oocytes, spermatozoa, zygotes, spermatogonia, blastomers, etc.) or stem cells that contain the introduced foreign DNA inserted throughout the genome. Additionally, the random insertion of introduced DNA into the genome of host cells can be lethal if the foreign DNA happens to insert into, and thus mutate, a unique vital native gene in a critical manner.
Introduction of foreign DNA sequence in the mouse and other laboratory animals is now relatively easy to perform and is currently used in transgenesis. At the moment, progress in adapting the technology to higher plants and animals, particularly to commercially exploited animals (e.g. farm animals), has not reached the integration rate of foreign DNA observed in mice. In mice, transgenesis occurs in about six percent of the zygotes injected, whereas it is only 0.6% in pigs, 0.7% in sheep and 0.5% in cattle.
A technique currently exist for selecting cells after homologous recombination (HR) event between an endogenous gene and a DNA construct carrying a copy of the gene (Smitties et al., 1985, Nature, 317:230). This work has been extended for the replacement of a targeted gene or to cause gene deletion as well as introduction of foreign DNA molecules (Thomas et al., 1987, Cell, 51:503). In general, one homologous recombination (HR) event occurs for every 10.sup.2 to 10.sup.5 non-homologous integration events. The HR approach was also tested for mouse transgenesis by microinjecting the DNA construct directly into the fertilized oocytes (Brinster et al., 1989, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 86:7087) The results demonstrated the feasibility of HR to correct a mutant gene which is inactive in fertilized mouse eggs. However, the gene deletion was corrected by HR in one out of five hundred (1/500) transgenic mice that incorporated the injected DNA.
For all the above-mentioned reasons, it would be highly desirable to be provided with a transformation system which would allow integration of a DNA fragment by targeting a repeated site of the host's genome. Preferably, such a system would also provide a means of preventing any insertion into a vital gene or genetic region existing in a single copy.

Integration cassette for improvement of transgenesis in eukaryotes


A dynamic labyrinth sealing device which includes a stator having an annular engagement flange on a radially inner portion thereof and a rotator having an annular engagement flange on a radially outer portion thereof. The stator annular engagement flange and the rotator annular engagement flange have coacting radially extending openings for mechanically interlocking the stator and the rotator.

1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention is related to mechanical joint packing devices, and more particularly, to a labyrinth sealing device for providing a dynamic seal between a rotating shaft and a bearing housing, and a method of assembling the sealing device.
2. Background of the Related Art
Labyrinth type rotary shaft seals are well known in the art. Typically, these devices include two concentric ring structures which define a rotator and a stator. The rotator is sealing engaged with a rotating shaft, and the stator is sealingly engaged with a bearing housing. Specifically contoured pathways or grooves are formed in the interior surfaces of the seal rings to create a maze or labyrinth extending between the exterior of the bearing housing to the interior of the bearing housing. The labyrinth pathway serves as a hydrodynamic barrier to maintain fluid lubricants within the bearing housing and prevent contaminants from entering the bearing housing. The more elaborate the pathway, the less chance there is that contaminating materials will pass through the structure and into the bearing housing. One way of making a more elaborate pathway is to increase the amount of surface area that must be traversed by contaminating materials, i.e., increase the length of the pathway.
In general, the extent of the surface area of the labyrinth pathway will be limited by the degree of mechanical interlock between the two components of the device upon assembly. If the interlocking contact area between the components is relatively small, there will be less surface area to form a labyrinth pathway therebetween. Conversely, if the interlocking contact area between the two components is relatively large, there will be a greater surface area to form a more elaborate labyrinth pathway between the two components.
An example of a prior art labyrinth sealing device in which there is a low degree of mechanical interlock between the rotator and the stator is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,466,620 to Orlowski. In the Orlowski device, the rotator is provided with an axially extending annular flange for engaging a complementary axially extending annular recess formed in the stator. An example of a prior art labyrinth sealing device in which there is a high degree of mechanical interlock between the rotator and the stator is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,316,317 and 5,431,414 to Fedorovich et al. This is mechanical interlock is achieved during assembly by initially heating the connective portion of a the stator to expand the diameter thereof. The connective portion of the rotator is then positioned radially inside of the connective portion of the stator. The stator is then permitted to cool to effect the interlock between the two components.
Although the Fedorovich et al. device provides an elaborate labyrinth pathway to prevent contaminants from passing through the structure, its method of assembly is both time consuming and inefficient. Accordingly, there exists a need in the art to provide a labyrinth type rotary shaft seal in which there is a high degree of mechanical interlock between the component parts thereof that can be assembled quickly and efficiently.

Labyrinth sealing device and method of assembly


A nitrile group-containing highly saturated copolymer rubber composition containing a nitrile group-containing highly saturated copolymer rubber (A) having a Mooney viscosity [ML1+4, 100° C.] of 50 to 200, a nitrile group-containing highly saturated copolymer rubber (B) having a Mooney viscosity [ML1+4, 100° C.] of 5 to 45, and staple fibers (C) having an average fiber length of 0.1 to 12 mm is provided. According to the present invention, a nitrile group-containing highly saturated copolymer rubber composition which can give cross-linked rubber which is extremely high in tensile stress and is excellent in low heat buildup property and has good workability can be provided.

A nitrile group-containing highly saturated copolymer rubber represented by hydrogenated acrylonitrile-butadiene copolymer rubber is more excellent in heat resistance, oil resistance, ozone resistance, etc. compared with acrylonitrile-butadiene copolymer rubber and other general nitrile group-containing copolymer rubber which have many carbon-carbon unsaturated bonds in the main chain structure, so is being often used for various fuel oil hoses, O-rings, belts in oil, etc.
In recent years, the higher outputs of automobiles, the spread of FF configurations, measures against emissions, etc. have prompted various studies on increasing the performance of nitrile group-containing highly saturated copolymer rubber (high tensile stress and low heat buildup property).
In this regard, in the past, it has been known to add staple fibers in the rubber composition so as to improve the obtained cross-linked rubber in tensile strength, tensile stress or other mechanical properties.
For this reason, Patent Document 1 discloses to use a softener at the time of kneading the polymer and staple fibers so as to make the staple fibers disperse in the rubber composition. This art makes the softener permeate through the staple fibers to prevent the staple fibers from becoming entangled with each other and thereby improve the dispersability of the staple fibers in the rubber composition, but to make the softener sufficiently permeate through the staple fibers, a large amount of softener has to be mixed in.
Further, when using acrylonitrile-butadiene copolymer rubber and other relatively high polarity rubber, since the softener and the rubber are poor in solubility with each other, if mixing in a large amount of softener, bleeding ends up occurring and, further, the obtained cross-linked rubber also becomes insufficient for applications where higher performance is demanded.
Furthermore, Patent Document 2 discloses the art of jointly using a liquid rubber with a viscosity so low as to be unable to be measured by the Mooney viscosity measurement method ([ML1+4(100° C.)]) (substantially 1 or less) and staple fibers, but in this case, the obtained cross-linked rubber is not sufficient in tensile stress and low heat buildup property.

Nitrile group-containing highly saturated copolymer rubber composition


An apparatus for facilitating single die backside probing of semiconductor devices includes a chip holder configured for receiving a single integrated circuit die attached thereto, the chip holder maintained in flexible engagement in an X-Y orientation with respect to a lift plate. A lift ring is coupled to the lift plate, the lift ring configured to facilitate adjustment of the lift plate and the chip holder in a Z-direction.

The present invention relates generally to semiconductor device manufacturing, and, more particularly, to an apparatus and method for single die backside probing of semiconductor devices.
In the manufacture of semiconductor devices, the ability to obtain waveform measurements from internal nodes has been found to be an indispensable aspect of carrying out failure analysis and characterization. Often, active areas of the semiconductor devices are obscured by I/O (input/output) circuits, interconnect wiring, packaging, or limitations of the probing apparatus. During the integrated circuit development phase, early engineering hardware is typically characterized by subjecting the device to various test conditions such as speed, temperature, and other parameters. Measuring and diagnosing the performance of these devices is implemented by acquiring waveforms from key circuit nodes within the device such as clock signals, enable signals, address buses, and data buses. However, if the early engineering hardware does not perform adequately, or is non-functional, it then becomes important to be able to trace back signals to the source of the problem.
A convenient mode of detecting a failure source is through the use of waveform analysis. The ability to diagnose problems by waveform analysis is also significant during manufacture, as well as throughout the life of the product so that corrective action can be taken. Those skilled in the art will recognize that waveforms may be acquired from internal circuit nodes by direct-contact mechanical probing or electron beam probing. Additional techniques, such as laser-induced light, have also been utilized.
In order to prepare a device for diagnosis, electrical contact is first established with a tester and one or more of the numerous I/O circuits in the device. In some instances, these I/O circuits are placed in the periphery of the device, or located in a manner to provide some degree of access to the device's active areas by some form of mechanical or electron beam probe during operation. However, as a result of increasing circuit complexity, a trend toward higher density packaging, or the density of the I/O circuits and related probes needed to activate the device, improvements in semiconductor device access for mechanical or electron beam probe are needed.
Thus, to facilitate electrical access to the I/O of the IC, additional circuits and pads are frequently positioned adjacent to, or on the uppermost level of the IC die. Quite frequently, such IC dies with I/O circuit elements situated on the top surface have the disadvantage of obstructing internal circuitry. Additionally, packaging methods (often referred to as a "flip-chip", "C4", or direct chip attach (DCA)) may be attached upside-down, or flipped onto a package substrate, or directly onto a circuit board, flexible cable, or other assembly into which the IC is interconnected. As a result, the internal circuit nodes of the IC are buried and inaccessible for characterizing electrical circuit performance, performing diagnostic testing, or performing failure analysis while the IC is operating normally and in a fully functioning state. In particular, with the emergence of technologies such as embedded dynamic random access memory (eDRAM), system on a chip (SOC), and silicon on insulator (SOI) devices, for example, effective backside electrical characterization techniques are desired given the multiple wiring levels of such devices.
Additionally, in the course of performing failure analysis or diagnosing performance problems with semiconductor devices, it is often necessary to apply image based analysis techniques while exercising a chip using a test system. The chip is also referred to as the Device Under Test (DUT). Many of these image based techniques are performed through the backside of the DUT using tools that operate with wavelengths of light that pass through silicon. Backside light emission microscopy is one example of an image based technique. Presently, there are tools commercially available for performing these backside techniques on die mounted in packages or on whole wafers. However, there is currently no available means for performing backside analysis on single bare die.
A drawback in performing such a backside analysis on a packaged die stems from the fact that time and money is spent mounting the die in a suitable package. Furthermore, performing backside analysis on whole wafers is convenient up until such time the wafer is diced. At that point, the die has heretofore been required to be packaged before performing any further analysis thereon.
On the other hand, the probing of bare die presents a more difficult challenge. A conventional probe station retains the die or wafer on a flat disk (chuck), and probes are lowered onto the probe pads from above. Only the top surface of the chip is typically visible. More recently, manufacturers have introduced backside probing probe stations that utilize special probes or probe cards while the wafer is held face down on the station. Special optics are used in order to see the probe pad pattern, as well as the probe needles from the bottom. A small area of the wafer is then thinned, presumably where the defect is located, and the active area thereafter is observed using the same previously mentioned techniques. Thinning the bulk silicon on a single die or in a small region of the wafer is often necessary to improve light transmission in order to be able to observe the circuitry of a die for navigation purposes.
It is not practical to thin an entire wafer, because the resultant thickness of the wafer is insufficient to provide the mechanical rigidity necessary across an entire wafer for backside probing any die on the wafer. Accordingly, only a few select die can be thinned and observed on a given wafer. The remainder of the wafer is maintained at full thickness, thus providing mechanical stability. The selection of which particular die to thin is determined by using previous test results.
Unfortunately, there are several drawbacks associated with conventional backside probing systems. First, such systems are designed to probe an entire wafer. In other words, there is no effective means for probing individual chips. In addition, special probes and/or probe cards are needed to carry out the backside probing. Thirdly, such systems are "combination systems" in that they are built for conventional topside probing and are convertible to backside probing. As such, the switch from one type of probing to the other type typically requires factory trained personnel to reconfigure the tool after switch to a different type of probing operation.

Apparatus and method for single die backside probing of semiconductor devices

International Business Machines Corporation


A double-shielding type focal-plane shutter has a closing blade and an opening blade for closing and opening a shutter opening to perform an exposure operation. A closing lever and an opening lever drive the closing blade and the opening blade, respectively. The closing lever has a first closing lever and a second closing lever supported coaxial with each other for undergoing pivotal movement. The second closing lever has a drive portion at a first end thereof for driving the closing blade and an engagement portion at a second end thereof. A lock lever restricts movement of the closing lever. The lock lever has a first mating engagement portion for engaging the engagement portion of the second closing lever in the predetermined position of the closing lever, and a second mating engagement portion for engaging the engagement portion of the second closing lever short of the predetermined position thereof. A set lever undergoes movement to a set position to set the closing lever, the opening lever and the lock lever to predetermined positions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to focal-plane shutters and, more specifically, to a double-shielding type focal-plane shutter for performing an exposure operation.
2. Background Information
In a focal-plane shutter disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 29839/1991, for example, an exposure operation is conducted by alternately reciprocating an opening shutter blade unit and a closing shutter blade unit over a shutter opening provided on a base plate. The opening and closing blade units are driven by a drive mechanism provided on a rear side of the base plate.
Shutters are classified into a single-shielding type shutter and a double-shielding type shutter in accordance with the manner of movement of the opening and closing blade units. In an initial state of a single-shielding type shutter, a closing blade is in a state in which it retreats from a shutter opening, and an opening blade is in a closed state. In contrast, in an initial state of a double-shielding type shutter, both the closing blade and the opening blade close a shutter opening.
In some single-shielding type focal-plane shutters, a closing blade, which should inherently retreat from a shutter opening in an initial state, acts to close the shutter opening due to shock or some other reason before an opening blade opens the shutter opening. In this state, when the closing blade closes the shutter opening, a closing arm for transmitting a drive force to the closing blade abuts against a pin of an opening lever which drives the opening blade, as shown in FIG. 5, to forcedly drive the opening blade from a holding state to retreat the same from the shutter opening. By the foregoing construction, before a control circuit performs shutter driving control, a flash timing switch is switched ON by the opening lever so that the control circuit can detect an abnormal operation of the shutter.
In double-shielding type focal-plane shutters, there is also the possibility that when a closing blade retreats from a shutter opening after a release operation, the closing blade closes the shutter opening due to some reason before an opening blade retreats from the shutter opening as in the single-shielding type shutter.
When the arrangement described above for the single-shielding type shutter, in which a closing arm is caused to abut against a pin of an opening lever to forcedly drive an opening blade, is applied to the double-shielding type shutter, there results a situation in which at the time of charging the shutter to an initial position, the pin of the opening lever abuts against the closing arm, thereby making it impossible for the opening blade to be returned to the initial position. The reason for this is that while in the single-shielding type shutter the opening lever cannot abut against the closing arm since the closing blade retreats from the shutter opening in an initial position, in the double-shielding type shutter both the opening blade and the closing blade close the shutter opening in an initial position. Thus, the foregoing arrangement employed in single-shielding type shutters cannot be incorporated in double-shielding type shutters. As a result, certain abnormal operations of double-shielding type shutters cannot be effectively detected.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a double-shielding type focal-plane shutter which can effectively detect an abnormal operation of the shutter by providing a closing lever having a drive pin at one end thereof for driving a closing blade and an engagement portion at another end thereof for engaging first and second mating engagement portions of a lock lever for restricting movement of the closing lever.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a double-shielding type focal-plane shutter in which engagement between the second mating engagement portion of the lock lever and the engagement portion of the closing lever places the closing blade in a closed position, in which such engagement is released immediately before the shutter returns to an initial condition, and in which engagement between the engagement portion of the closing lever and the first mating engagement portion of the lock lever causes the closing blade to retreat slightly from the closed position to prevent the drive pin of the opening lever from abutting against a closing arm of the closing blade.
The foregoing and other objects of the present invention are carried out by a double-shielding type focal-plane shutter comprising a closing blade and an opening blade for closing and opening a shutter opening, a closing lever for driving the closing blade, an opening lever for driving the opening blade, a lock lever for restricting motion of the closing lever, and a set lever for setting the closing lever, the opening lever and the lock lever in predetermined positions. The closing lever comprises a first closing lever and a second closing lever. The second closing lever and the first closing lever are supported coaxial with each other and are mounted for undergoing pivotal movement. The second closing lever is provided at one end thereof with a drive portion for driving the closing blade and at the other end thereof with an engagement portion for engaging with the lock lever. The lock lever has a first mating engagement portion and a second mating engagement portion. The engagement portion of the second closing lever engages with the second mating engagement portion of the lock lever short of a position where it is set in the predetermined position and engages with the first mating engagement portion of the lock lever to be set in the predetermined position.
Preferably, the engagement portion of the second closing lever is positioned to engage the second mating engagement portion of the lock lever after termination of an exposure operation and to thereafter release the second mating engagement portion when the set lever sets the closing lever, the opening lever and the lock lever to thereby engage the first mating engagement portion of the lock lever to hold the second closing lever in the predetermined position. Engagement between the first mating engagement portion of the lock lever and the engagement portion of the second closing lever is released when the set lever moves to a retreat position from the set position.

Double-shielding type focal-plane shutter


The invention relates to an exhaust-gas treatment device for processing exhaust gas from a combustion aggregate, especially a diesel engine. Moreover, the present invention relates to a method for processing exhaust gas from a combustion aggregate by means of selective catalytic reaction, and it also relates to a motor vehicle in which the method according to the invention is implemented or which has the exhaust-gas treatment device according to the invention. It is provided that the exhaust-gas treatment device comprises an exhaust-gas system and, arranged in it, an oxidation catalyst, a reduction catalyst for selective catalytic reduction, and a particle filter, whereby the oxidation catalyst is arranged upstream from the reduction catalyst and the reduction catalyst is arranged upstream from the particle filter. The reduction catalyst (50) is arranged in the exhaust-gas system (20) so far upstream in the direction of flow (23) of the exhaust gas that the heat of the exhaust gas passing the reduction catalyst (50) is sufficient to bring the reduction catalyst (50) to the operating temperature.

German patent application DE 102 50 050 A1 discloses that the efficiency of the reduction catalyst can be increased if combustion heat of an internal combustion engine is utilized.
Furthermore, German patent application 10 2008 051 496 A1 indicates that a high exhaust-gas temperature is beneficial for the operation of the reduction catalyst.
German patent application DE 103 23 607 A1 describes a device that is used for the exhaust-gas purification of an internal combustion engine and that has an oxidation catalyst, a particle filter and a reduction catalyst. The reduction catalyst is combined into one structural unit together with the particle filter.

Exhaust gas treatment device, method for processing exhaust gas, and motor vehicle


A fluid metering system includes a housing having a piston chamber with first and second spaced ends, at least one housing inlet passage, and at least one housing outlet passage. The housing inlet and housing passages communicate with the piston chamber. A piston is disposed in the piston chamber for reciprocal movement between the first and second ends of the piston chamber to alternatingly define first and second volumes therein. At least one first slot, and at least one second slot are formed on the outer surface of the piston, and extend from respective ends of the piston toward the respectively opposite ends. The first slot has an opening that is in communication with the first volume, and the second slot has an opening in communication with the second volume. The piston is rotatable within the piston chamber to alternatingly bring one of the first or second slots in registration with the housing inlet passage, while simultaneously bringing the other of the first or second slots in registration with the housing outlet passage. As the piston reciprocates between the first and second ends of the chamber, fluid is alternatingly dispensed from the first and second volumes.

Frequently, it is desired to dispense fluids in discreet, controlled volumes of adhesive to join two or more components of an assembled article. In such applications, the adhesive may be dispensed as discreet shots, dots, or beads of a precise volume of adhesive. Controlled volume dispensing or metering is particularly useful when the dispensed fluid is expensive, or when it is necessary to precisely mix two or more different fluids, such as multi-component adhesives.
Prior fluid metering systems have utilized reciprocating pistons to meter the volume of fluid dispensed. These systems typically utilize air or hydraulic pressure to actuate the piston between fill and dispense directions. Moreover, conventional piston metering systems typically dispense a single shot of fluid per cycle of piston reciprocation, thereby limiting the speed at which the fluid can be dispensed to the reciprocating speed of the piston. While these prior dispensing systems are suitable for certain applications, a need exists for an improved metering system which provides increased dispense rates and simplified construction.


The present disclosure relates to the field of organic light-emitting display, and provides a pixel circuit, a driving method thereof, an organic light-emitting display panel and a display apparatus, comprising a driving transistor, a first storage capacitor, a collecting unit, a writing unit and a light-emitting unit; wherein, the collecting unit is used for collecting the threshold voltage of the driving transistor and storing the threshold voltage into the first storage capacitor, under the control of the first scan signal; the writing unit is used for storing the data voltage inputted from the input terminal for the data voltage under the control of the second scan signal; and the light-emitting unit is used for emitting lights, driven by the data voltage and a voltage inputted from the input terminal for the controllable low voltage, under the control of the light-emitting control signal. Thus an organic light-emitting device is not affected by the threshold voltage shift of the driving transistor, which may enhance the image uniformity of the organic light-emitting display panel effectively, slow down the decay speed of an organic light-emitting device and ensure the uniformity and a constancy of brightness of the organic light-emitting display panel.

With a rapid development of the multimedia society, the technique for semiconductor elements and a display apparatus has got a great and rapid progress.
In terms of the displays, an Active Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode (AMOLED) display meets those characteristic requirements for a display in the multimedia era, because it has advantages such as no limitations on an angle of view, a low manufacture cost, a high response speed (about hundred times and more of that of the liquid crystal), energy saving, self-luminous, being applicable to a direct-current driving for a portable device, a wider operation temperature scope, and a lighter weight while being miniaturized and thinned along with the hardware devices, and the like. Therefore, the Active Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode display has a great potential of development and may be desired to become a next generation of the new flat panel display and to replace the Liquid Crystal Display (LCD).
Currently, there are two ways of manufacturing the Active Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode display panel, one way of which is to utilize a process technique for Thin Film Transistors (TFTs) of the Low Temperature Poly-Silicon (LTPS), and the other way of which is to utilize a process technique for the Thin Film Transistors (TFTs) of the amorphous silicon (α-Si). Herein, the process technique for the Thin Film Transistors of the Low Temperature Poly-Silicon would need more processes for mask manufacturing craft and thus lead to an increasing of the cost. Therefore, the process technique for Thin Film Transistors of the Low Temperature Poly-Silicon is mostly applied to the panel having a small or medium size, while the process technique for the Thin Film Transistors of the amorphous silicon is mostly applied to the panel having a large size.
Generally, for an Active Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode display panel manufactured by the process technique for Thin Film Transistors of the Low Temperature Poly-Silicon, the thin film transistors in the pixel circuit may be P-type or N-type, but no matter whether the P-type or N-type transistors are selected to implement the organic light-emitting diode pixel circuit, the current flowing through an organic light-emitting diode may not only change with the changes caused by a long time stress in a turn-on voltage (Voled_th) of the organic light-emitting diode, but also vary with a threshold voltage shift (Vth shift) in the thin film transistor for driving the organic light-emitting diode. As a result, the brightness uniformity and the brightness constancy of the organic light-emitting display may be affected correspondingly.

Pixel circuit and driving method thereof, organic light-emitting display panel and display apparatus


An accessory for efficiently melting or softening cold solid spreads using the heat emanating from a bread toaster that in turn is easy to use or clean; reduces the risk of spillage; and can be used on any conventional toaster.

One problem in common for those who work, or are involved, in the field of food preparation is the application of cold solid spreads to bread; especially after the bread has been toasted. It is often difficult or cumbersome to achieve an even distribution of these solid spreads across the soft part of the bread (i.e., the crumb). A few solutions have been proposed to address this problem, but all appear to have drawbacks that make these solutions less than ideal, as more particularly describe below. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,639,658 A to Biehls, discloses a bread toaster comprising a removable glass receptacle having downwardly converging bottom wall portions, wherein the receptacle is disposed within a well in the body of the toaster that is in proximity to the resistance elements of the toaster in order to melt butter within the receptacle. The receptacle in Biehls, however, can only be used in a toaster having the well described therein; otherwise, the receptacle would not fit in the body of the toaster. In other words, the receptacle in Biehls would not fit in a conventional toaster unless the toaster had additional space in its body. Accordingly, Biehls does not constitute a cost-effective solution because it can only be used in toasters having the specifications described therein. Furthermore, given that the receptacle has downwardly converging bottom wall portions, any butter residue stuck in that area would be difficult to clean because it would be hard to reach with a wipe or person's finger. As such, Biehls constitutes a less than ideal solution for those concerned with hygiene or for restaurants who need to comply with sanitation standards.
Another example is U.S. Pat. No. 4,276,821 A to Brown, which relates to a device comprising an upright support member that can be detachably secured to the top of the toaster (either magnetically or via a clamping relationship with the toaster) and a ladle which can be removably supported on the support member while the toaster is energized, such that the heat rising from the toaster during the toasting process is directed to the ladle in order to melt the butter contained in the ladle. In this solution, however, the cold solid spread will take longer to melt (or not melt all the way through) because the ladle is a placed a few inches above the bread slots; and as such, is not in close proximity to the toaster's heating element. Thus, the toaster's heat source would have to compete with the environment, which is usually colder than the heat emanating from the toaster. As such, Brown is not an efficient manner to melt cold solid spreads. Moreover, given that the ladle is located inches above the bread slots, it has a high probability of tipping over whenever a user is interacting with the toaster. As such, Brown constitutes a less than ideal solution for those interested in melting cold solids in an efficient manner or in reducing risk of causing spillage when using or interacting with the toaster.
Another example is US Pub. No. 2008/0173185 A1 to Lam, which relates to a unified toaster and cooker wherein the cooker has plural food-heating locations (including a removable pan) arranged around one electrical heating element. The removable pan in Lam, however, can only be used in a toaster having the elements described therein. As such, the pan in Lam would not fit or be compatible with a conventional or traditional toaster. Accordingly, Lam does not constitute a cost-effective solution to drawbacks in the art since it can only be used in toasters having the specific elements recited therein.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have an accessory for efficiently melting or softening cold solid spreads using the heat emanating from a bread toaster that in turn is easy to use or clean; reduces the risk of spillage; and can be used on any conventional toaster.

Bread toaster accessory for melting cold solid spreads


A display apparatus with dynamic blinking backlights, a control method and a device thereof are provided. The dynamic blinking backlight control method for dynamically controlling the lighting status of the backlights of the display panel includes the following steps. First, the motion condition of a frame to be displayed on the display panel is detected for obtaining a motion detection result. The scanning frequency is determined in accordance with the motion detection result. Also, the lighting status of the backlights is controlled sequentially and respectively in accordance with the determined scanning frequency.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a control method and device of a backlight. More particularly, the present invention relates to a control method and device of a dynamic blinking backlight.
2. Description of Related Art
As some types of display panels cannot emit light themselves, they need to be disposed with backlights. For example, liquid crystal displays (LCDs) need backlights for the aid of displaying frames. With considerable improvement of the viewing angle and significant reduction in price, the trend of LCDs replacing cathode ray tube (CRT) displays as computer screens has already developed. And its next ambition focuses on a broader market, the household television. To achieve dynamic image quality display rivaling the CRT display, various well-known LCD manufacturers have started exploring the improvement of the dynamic features of LCDs. Quality degradation of LCDs when displaying dynamic images includes: reduction in dynamic contrast, edge-blur, and stroboscopic motion. The main reason lies in that the response speed of the liquid crystal is slow and the so-called Hold-type data writing feature.
To reduce the influence of the Hold-type data writing feature, the applicable methods can be divided into two categories: image temporary interruption and non-image interruption. The former imitates the CRT display to temporarily interrupt the image, not being received by the visual system; while the later increases the data renewal speed or compensates the dynamic track. Though the blinking backlight is a basic method for improving the dynamic image quality, it causes worries about extra power consumption and decrease in the service life of the lamp.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,958,915 discloses a liquid crystal apparatus, including a method of making the low-level brightness of the blinking backlight synchronous with the period of writing data to the display panel. This conventional technology makes the backlight blink at a fixed frequency, so as to imitate the CRT display to temporarily interrupt the image, thereby improving the dynamic features of LCDs. However, keeping the backlight blinking at a fixed frequency will cause extra power consumption and shorten the service life of the lamp.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 20020154088 discloses a transmissive-type liquid crystal display apparatus. This conventional technology determines the on-and-off time of the cold cathode lamp based on the parameters of dynamic images, so as to turn off all the cold cathode lamps in the vertical blank period of a frame period, thereby improving the dynamic features of LCDs. Therefore, as the cold cathode lamp is kept blinking at a fixed frequency, this conventional technology will also cause extra power consumption and shorten the service life of the cold cathode lamp.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 20040246242 discloses a display apparatus. This conventional technology determines the on-and-off time of the cold cathode lamp in a frame period based on the parameters of dynamic images. In other words, the ratio of lightening time to darkening time of the cold cathode lamp in a frame period is determined by the movement amount of the dynamic images, thereby improving the dynamic features of LCDs. Therefore, as the cold cathode lamp is kept blinking at a fixed frequency, this conventional technology will also cause extra power consumption and shorten the service life of the lamp.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 20040051692 discloses a liquid crystal display device. This conventional technology controls the brightness of the backlight by adjusting the time proportion of the lightening and the darkening period in accordance with the brightness information in the display signal. This conventional cold cathode lamp is kept blinking at a fixed frequency without the capability of dynamically adjusting the blinking frequency in accordance with the features of the displayed image. As the cold cathode lamp is kept blinking at a fixed frequency, it will cause extra power consumption and shorten the service life of the lamp.

Display apparatus with dynamic blinking backlight and control method and device thereof

Industrial Technology Research Institute


A connector housing includes a terminal chamber for accommodating a terminal to which an electric wire is connected. A rear holder is attached to a rear end portion of the connector housing. A waterproof rubber plug has a through hole through which the electric wire is inserted. One end of the rubber plug is configured as a cylindrical sealing portion. The other end of the rubber plug is configured as a proximal end portion integrally provided with a rear end wall of the rear holder. A plug chamber is formed in the rear end portion of the connector housing so as to communicate with the terminal chamber for accommodating the rubber plug therein when the rear holder is attached with the connector housing. The dimension of the plug chamber is determined such that the sealing portion of the rubber plug is accommodated while being compressed by an inner wall of the plug chamber during the attaching operation of the rear holder.

This invention relates to a small size multi-way waterproof connector in which a waterproof seal between a connector housing and a plurality of wires, each connected to a terminal, is enhanced.
A related waterproof connector, which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 11-329571A, will now be described specifically with reference to FIGS. 6 to 8. A connector housing 11 of the waterproof connector 10 includes an inner housing 12, which is integrally molded of synthetic resin, and has a plurality of terminal chambers 13, an outer housing 17 of synthetic resin, in which the inner housing 12 is fitted, and a spacer 28 of synthetic resin which is provided between the inner housing 12 and the outer housing 17 to retain female terminals 14
As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the inner housing 12 has a box-like body 12a, and upper and lower sides of this box-like body 12a are open at a rear portion thereof. The terminal chambers 13 are formed by a central horizontal wall 12b and upper and lower vertical side walls (serving as partition walls) 12c. The female terminals 14 ale adapted to be received in the terminal chambers 13, respectively. Retaining pawls 15 are integrally formed respectively on opposite side portions and a central portion of each of the upper and lower faces of the body 12a. Insertion holes 12d of a rectangular shape are formed respectively through those portions of a front wall of the body 12a opposed respectively to the terminal chambers 13, and male terminals in a mating connector (not shown) are passed through these insertion holes 12d, respectively. Two pairs of press connecting blades 14b are formed by stamping on opposite side walls of a box-like portion 14a of the female terminal 14 at a rear portion thereof.
As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the outer housing 17 includes an inner wall portion 17a of a substantially square tubular shape, an outer wall portion 17b of a substantially square tubular shape formed around the inner wall portion 17a, and a bottom wall portion 17c interconnecting rear end portions of the inner and outer wall portions 17a and 17b. Thus, the outer housing 17 has a double-wall box 2 shaped construction having an open front side. A central portion of the bottom wall portion 17c is thickened, and rubber plug chambers or recesses 19 of a circular cross-section With a large diameter are formed respectively in those portions of an inner face of this thickened portion opposed respectively to the terminal chambers 13, and waterproof rubber plugs 18 are inserted respectively into these rubber plug chambers 19 by press-fitting or the like. Wire insertion holes 21 of a circular cross-section with a smaller diameter are formed in the outer face of the thickened portion, and communicate with the rubber plug chambers 19, respectively, and wires 20 are passed through the wire insertion holes 21, respectively. The waterproof rubber plug 18 has corrugated, cylindrical inner and outer peripheral faces, and the wire 20 is passed through the bore of the rubber plug 18, with no gap formed therebetween.
Retaining hole of a rectangular shape are formed respectively in opposite side portions o a front portion of each of upper and lower walls of the inner wall portion 17a of the outer housing 17, and the retaining pawls 15, formed respectively on the opposite side portions of the upper and lower faces of the body 12a of the inner housing 12, are releasably engaged in these retaining holes 22, respectively. A rectangular longitudinal retaining hole 23 is formed in a central portion of the front portion of each of the upper and lower walls of the inner wall portion 17a, and the retaining pawls 15, formed respectively on the central portions of the upper and lower faces of the body 12a of the inner housing 12, are releasably engaged in these retaining holes 23, respectively. A V-shaped packing-receiving part 25 for receiving an annular waterproof packing 24 of rubber is formed integrally on the outer face of the inner wall portion 17a of the outer housing 17 at the inner end portion thereof. Those portions of the inner face of the inner wall portion 17a of the outer housing 17, disposed immediately adjacent respectively to front edges of the retaining holes 22 and 23, are formed respectively into tapered faces 26. Retaining holes 27 are formed respectively in upper and lower walls the outer wall portion 17b of the outer housing 17, and elastic retaining arms of the mating connector (not shown) are releasably engaged in these retaining holes 27, respectively.
As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the spacer 28 includes a body 28a of a substantially square tubular shape for fitting in the inner wall portion 17a of the outer housing 17, a flange portion 28b of a substantially square tubular shape, integrally formed on and extending in a stepped manner rearwardly from a front end of the body 28a so a to fit on the inner wall portion 17a of the outer housing 17, and a bottom wall portion 28c closing a rear end of the body 28a. Thus, the spacer 28 has a box-like shape having an open front end.
The body 12a of the inner housing 12 is fitted into the tubular body 28a of the spacer 28. Rib-like projections 29 for preventing disengagement of the terminals are formed integrally on inner faces of upper and lower walls of the body 28a of the spacer 28, and these projections 29 serve to retain the rear edge of the body 12a of the inner housing 12, and also serve to retain the rear edges of the box-like portions 14a of the female terminals 14, received respectively in the terminal chambers 13, respectively.
Notches 30 are formed respectively in those portions of an interconnecting portion (which interconnects the body 28a and the flange portion 28b of the spacer 28), corresponding respectively to the retaining pawls 15 on the inner housing 12, and also notches 31 are formed respectively in those portion of this interconnecting portion corresponding respectively to flanges 16 formed on the inner housing 12. A retaining pawl 32 is formed integrally on the outer face of each of the upper and lower walls of the body 28a of the spacer 28, and is disposed between the upper or lower) notches 30, and these retaining pawls 32 are releasably engages respectively in the retaining holes 23 in the outer housing 17. When the spacer 28 is completely fitted into the outer housing 17, the distal end of the flange portion 28a of the spacer 28 serves to hold the packing 24 retained on the packing-receiving part 25 on the inner wall portion 17a of the outer housing 17.
Wire insertion holes 33 are formed respectively through those portions of the bottom wall portion 28c of the spacer 28 corresponding respectively to the wire insertion holes 21 in the outer housing 17. When the spacer 28 is completely fitted into outer housing 17, the bottom wall portion 28c of the spacer 28 serves to hold the rubber plugs 18 inserted respectively in the rubber plug chambers 19 in the bottom wall portion 17c of the outer housing 17. As shown in FIG. 6, the wires 20 are passed respectively through the wire insertion holes 21 in the outer housing 17, the rubber plugs 18 and the wire insertion holes 33 in the spacer 28, a d each wire 20 is press-fitted into a space between each pair of press-connecting blades 14b of the female terminal 14 received in the associated terminal chamber 13, and the terminal chambers 13 and the wires 20 are sealed by the rubber plugs 18 and the packing 24.
For assembling the waterproof connector 10 of the above construction, the rubber plugs 18 are inserted respectively into the rubber plug chambers 19, formed in the inner face of the bottom wall portion 17c of the outer housing 17 (which forms the outer portion of the connector housing 11), and also the packing 24 is fitted in the packing-receiving part 25 on the inner wall portion 17a of the outer housing 17, as shown in FIG. 8A.
Then, the body 28a of the spacer 28 is fitted into the inner wall portion 17a of the outer housing 17 as shown in FIG. 8B, so that the retaining pawls 32 on the body 28a of the spacer 28 are retaining engaged respectively in the retaining holes 23 in the inner wall portion 17a of the outer housing 17. As a result of the retaining engagement of the retaining pawls 32 (formed on the body 28a of the spacer 28) in he respective retaining holes 23 formed in the inner wall portion 17a of the outer housing 17, the rubber plugs 18 are retained against withdrawal by the bottom wall portion 17c of the outer housing 17, and also the packing 24 is retained against withdrawal by the slanting distal end of the flange portion 28b of the spacer 28, and therefore the waterproof ability of the connector housing is further enhanced.
Then, the wires,, 20 are passed through the respective wire insertion holes 21 in the bottom wall portion 17c of the outer housing 17 from the outer side thereof, the respective rubber plugs 18 and the respective wire insertion holes 33 in the bottom wall portion 28c of the spacer 28, as shown in FIG. 8C. Then, each wire 20 is press-connected to the pairs of press-connecting blades 14b of the female terminal 14 received in the associated terminal chamber 13 in the inner housing 12 (which forms the inner portion of the connector housing 11), as shown in FIG. 8D.
Then, the inner housing 12 is fitted into the body 28a of the spacer 28 as shown in FIG. 8E, so that the retaining pawls 15 on the body 12a of the inner housing 12 are retaining engaged respectively in the retaining holes 23 in the inner wall portion 17a of the outer housing 17, thus completing the assembling operation of the waterproof connector 10. At this time, the rear edge of the body 12a of the inner housing 12, as well as the rear edges of the box-like portions 14aof the female terminals 14, received respectively in the terminal chambers 13, is locked by the projection 29 formed on the inner faces of the upper and lower walls of the body 28a of the spacer 28, and the projections 29 will not be deformed outwardly, and therefore the disengagement of the female terminals 14 from the respective terminal chambers 13 is positively prevented. And besides,. since the retainment of the female terminals 14 and the retainment of the rubber plugs 18 are simultaneously achieved by the spacer 28, it is not necessary to provide any member used exclusively for preventing the withdrawal of the rubber plugs, and therefore the number of the component parts is reduced, thereby reducing the cost. Furthermore, the spacer 28 is retained in a double manner by the retaining engagement of the retaining pawls 32 of the spacer 28 in the respective retaining holds 23 in the outer housing 17 and by the retaining engagement of the retaining pawls 15 of the inner housing 12 in the respective retaining holes 23 in the outer housing 17, and therefore the disengagement of the rubber plugs 18 and the packing 24 is positively prevented, thereby further enhancing the reliability of the waterproof effect.
In the above related waterproof connector 10, however, the rubber plugs 18 are first received respectively in the rubber plug chambers 19 in the outer housing 17 as shown in FIG. 8B, and therefore when passing the wires 20 through the respective wire insertion holes 21 in the outer housing 17 and the respective wire insertion holes 33 in the spacer 28 as shown in FIGS. 8B and 8C and also when fitting the inner housing 12 into the spacer 28, fitted in the outer housing 17 while sliding the wires 21 relative to the wire insertion holes 33 in the spacer 28 and the wire insertion holes 21 in the outer housing 17 as shown in FIGS. 8D and 8E, the wires 20 are liable to be buckled because of the sliding friction between the wires 20 and the rubber plugs 18 as shown in FIG. 9, and this would sometimes affect the production of wire harnesses. Namely, during the wire passing operation for passing the wires 20 and during the housing-fitting operation for fitting the inner housing 12 into the outer housing 17, the operation load due to the sliding Friction between the rubber plugs 18 and the wires 20 increases, which leads to a possibility that the efficiency of the assembling operation of the waterproof connector 10 is lowered.
And besides, the rubber plugs 18 are completely covered with the bottom wall portion 17c of the outer housing 17 and a peripheral wall portion 17d around the rubber plug chambers 19, and therefore during the assembling operation of the waterproof connector 10, it was difficult to confirm from the outer side of the outer housing 17 whether or not the rubber plug 18 was received in each rubber plug chamber 19.
The present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems, and an object of the invention is to provide a small-size multi-way waterproof connector, as well as a method of assembling the same, in which the efficiency of an assembling operation is enhanced.
In order to achieve the above objects, according to the present invention, there is provided a waterproof connector comprising:
a connector housing including a terminal chamber for accommodating a terminal to which an electric wire is connected;
a rear holder attached to a rear end portion of the connector housing;
a waterproof rubber plug having a through hole through which the electric wire is inserted, one end of which is configured as a cylindrical sealing portion, the other end of which is configured as a proximal end portion integrally provided with a rear end wall of the rear holder; and
a plug chamber formed in the rear end portion of the connector housing so as to communicate with the terminal chamber for accommodating the rubber plug therein when the rear holder is attached with the connector housing,
wherein the dimension of the plug chamber is determined such that the sealing portion of the rubber plug is accommodated while being compressed by an inner wall of the plug chamber during the attaching operation of the rear holder.
Preferably, a depth dimension of the plug chamber is determined such that a distal end of the sealing portion of the rubber plug is compressed in the attaching direction of the rear holder when the rear holder is attached with the connector housing.
Since the rubber plug is formed integrally with the rear holder, in the assembling operation in which the wire is passed through the insertion hole of the rubber plug, and then the female terminal is connected to the end portion of the wire, and is received in the terminal chamber in the connector housing, and then the rear holder is fitted into the plug chamber of the connector housing, the insertion resistance bet ween the electric wire and the rubber plug can be efficiently decreased. Thus, the electric wire is prevented from being buckled, thus enhancing the efficiency of the assembling operation of the waterproof connector. Therefore, a wire harness, comprising a bundle of wires, can be easily produced.
And besides, since the sealing portion of the rubber plug is accommodated while being compressed by an inner wall of the plug chamber during the attaching operation of the rear holder, a failure to attach the rubber plug is eliminated, and a, seal between the rubber plug and the plug chamber in the connector housing, as well as a seal between the rubber plug and the wire, can be formed easily and positively, thus enhancing the sealing performance.
Preferably, the dimension of the plug chamber is so determined as to satisfy the following relationship:
A less than Cxe2x88x92B+D
where A is an inner diameter of the plug chamber; B is an inner diameter of the through hole of the rubber plug; C is an outer diameter of the sealing portion of the rubber plug; and D is an outer diameter of the electric wire.
Under the above condition, the efficiency of the assembling operation of the waterproof connecter, as well as the waterproof performance thereof, is further enhanced.
Preferably, the connector housing includes a plurality of terminal chambers and the rear holder includes a plurality of waterproof rubber plugs associated with the terminal chambers respectively. The respective proximal ends of the rubber plugs are exposed to an outer face of the rear end wall of the rear holder and connected with each other via a groove formed on the outer face of the rear holder.
Accordingly, the plurality of rubber plugs can be firmly secured to the rear end wall of the rear holder, and the rubber plugs will not be disengaged from the rear holder even when passing the wires respectively through the insertion holes of the rubber plugs. Therefore, the multi-way waterproof connector, having the excellent sealing performance, can be easily assembled in a short. time, and the efficiency of the overall assembling operation can be further enhanced.


A workload-aware I/O scheduler in a Software-Defined Hybrid Storage (SDHS) system is disclosed. The scheduler includes a queue managing module, a workload property database, a traffic monitoring module, and a traffic modeling module. The queue managing module further has a request receiving sub-module, a request controlling sub-module, and a request dispatching sub-module. With the operations of the queue managing module, requests for accesses of HDDs and SSDs can be separately queued. Thus, performance of the SDHS can be improved. Meanwhile, the scheduler can be used for requests from a number of workloads at the same time while meet performance requirement of each workload.

I/O scheduler is used by computer operating systems to decide in which order block I/O operations will be submitted to storage volumes. Depending on different goals to achieve, one I/O scheduler may minimize time wasted by hard disk seeks, prioritize a certain processes of I/O requests, give a share of the disk bandwidth to each running process, and/or guarantee certain I/O requests being issued before a particular deadline. For example, Deadline scheduler in Linux kernel is used to guarantee a start service time for a request. It does so by imposing a deadline on all I/O operations to prevent starvation of requests. Hence, the deadline scheduler favors reads over writes via use of separate I/O queues. It runs well for database workloads. Another example is Complete Fair Queuing (CFQ) scheduler. The CFQ scheduler places synchronous requests submitted by processes into a number of per-process queues and then allocates time slices for each of the queues to access the disk. Thus, the CFQ scheduler is suitable for sequential read video or audio streaming and workloads from general hosts.
The schedulers mentioned were proposed to improve performance of a HDD or of a storage system composed of HDDs. There are certain characteristics of HDDs described below. First, multiple I/O requests (both read and write) may be merged to form a single request which is processed in one movement of a read-and-write head (r/w head). Therefore, the number of movements of the r/w head can be reduced and that increases HDD's throughput. Second, I/O requests are sorted to improve seek time by reducing forward-and-backward movement of HDD's r/w head. Based on the characteristics, I/O requests waiting in queue for future processing may be merged and sorted. Workloads with different characteristics can be processed with better performance when using different schedulers.
A main stream of storage systems, especially for those of a cloud system, is to use a combination of Solid State Drives (SSDs) and HDDs. Besides HDDs, there are SSDs in the storage systems, thus most current schedulers may not meet their goals when they are applied thereto. Different from HDDs, SSDs have distinct characteristics illustrated below. First, the SSDs don't need to merge and sort SSD I/O requests, which imply no merging and sorting time needed. The I/O requests should be sent to SSD as soon as possible. Second, SSD I/O requests might be parallelized because many modern SSDs have multi-channels, which can accommodate multiple I/O requests at the same time. If the storage system applying the scheduler is a software-defined hybrid storage system, the situation is more complex for the scheduler to handle. Hence, current schedulers should be modified to take the existence of SSDs into consideration.
In addition, traffic characteristics of a workload are another important issue for further investigation. Any workload may have some properties that are different from others. The properties may be an I/O pattern (sequential or random), a read/write ratio, a SSD cache hit ratio, etc. For example, a workload of an On-Line Transaction Processing (OLTP) database has a random I/O pattern, a read/write ratio greater than 1, and smaller storage block size; while another workload of a MongoDB has a sequential I/O pattern, a read/write ratio smaller than 1, and larger storage block size. If the two workloads run over the same hybrid storage system, the current scheduler nowadays cannot meet the performance requirement in the Service Level Agreements (SLA) for both. At least, a noisy neighbor problem exists to affect the workloads.
There are some prior arts regarding solutions for the above requirement. One example is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 8,756,369. In '369, a storage system includes a command sorter to determine a target storage device for at least one of a SSD command and a HDD command, place the command in a SSD ready queue if the SSD command is targeted to a SSD storage device of the storage system, and place the HDD command to a HDD ready queue if the HDD command is targeted to an HDD storage device of the storage system. The storage system also includes a SSD ready queue to queue the SSD command targeted to the SSD storage device, and a HDD ready queue to queue the HDD command targeted to the HDD storage device. Meanwhile, a command scheduler takes the HDD and SSD commands from the ready queues and places the commands into a command processor. The command scheduler places a particular (HDD or SSD) command from its respective ready queue into the command processor based on an availability level of a process queue corresponding to a target device of the particular command. Then, the command processor gives the storage commands to the process queues.
The storage system provided by the '369 differentiates HDD commands (I/O requests) from SSD commands. It helps for hardware operation for one workload. However, if multi-workloads are applied, the storage system may not work as it is set to be. On the other hand, for a variety of workloads run over the storage system, there is no suitable way to coordinate the requests from every workload so that each workload can meet the requirement in the SLA or a Quality of Service (QoS) requirement. Therefore, a workload-aware I/O scheduler in a software-defined hybrid storage system to settle the problems mentioned above is desired.

Workload-aware I/O scheduler in software-defined hybrid storage system