In lane keep control apparatus and method for an automotive vehicle, a deceleration controlled variable is calculated on the basis of a state of a tendency of a vehicular deviation from a traffic lane on which the vehicle is traveling and a braking force acted upon each of driven wheels of the vehicle is controlled on the basis of the calculated deceleration controlled variable.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to lane keep control apparatus and method for an automotive vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
A Japanese Patent Application First Publication No. Heisei 11-96497 published on Apr. 9, 1999 exemplifies a first previously proposed lane keep control apparatus for an automotive vehicle. In the first previously proposed lane keep control apparatus disclosed in the above-identified Japanese Patent Application First Publication, a steering torque is controlled to develop a yaw moment in a direction returning to a center position of a traffic lane on which the vehicle is traveling in accordance with a deviation quantity of a lateral displacement of the vehicle with respect to a center line of the traffic lane so as to prevent the vehicle from traveling under a deviation (a divergence) from the traffic lane (keep the vehicle in travel on the traffic lane).
In addition, a Japanese Patent Application First Publication No. 2000-33860 published on Mar. 20, 2003 exemplifies a second previously proposed lane keep control apparatus in which, when the vehicle is about to be deviated from the traffic lane on which the vehicle is to travel, the braking force acted upon each driven wheel is controlled to develop a yaw moment in the direction returning to the center line of the traffic lane on which the vehicle is traveling in accordance with the deviation quantity of the lateral displacement of the vehicle with respect to the center line of the traffic lane so as to prevent the vehicle from traveling with the deviation of the traffic lane (keep the vehicle travel within the same traffic lane).

Lane keep control apparatus and method for automotive vehicle


A substance delivery system has a three dimensional structure with outermost surface features and spaces for containing a substance. The substance has a level below the outermost surface features such that the substance is protected from inadvertent contact with external surfaces. The substance remains protected until the three dimensional structure is sufficiently deformed into a substantially two dimensional structure and the substance is thereby exposed to contact an external surface without compliance of the external surface being necessary. Deforming is preferably achieved by a compression force, wherein the outermost surface features of the three dimensional structure deform in a direction of the compression force. A method of making the three dimensional material includes the steps of coating a substance onto a forming surface, transferring the coating of substance from the forming surface to a piece of material, and forming the piece of material into a three dimensional structure on the forming surface while the substance is in contact with the forming surface.

There exist articles which are coated or impregnated with useful substances intended to be utilized when the article is contacted with a target surface. While there are advantages with having the substance present on or near the surface of such articles, there is often the drawback that the useful substance is unprotected and is subject to inadvertent contact before intended use. One broad category of such articles encompasses the area of tapes and labels.
In the art of tapes, labels, and other articles using pressure sensitive adhesive to adhere an adhesive coated surface to a target surface, there has been recognized the problem of premature sticking to the target surface. That is, before the adhesive coated surface can be properly positioned over a target surface, inadvertent contact of the adhesive with the target surface causes premature sticking at one or more locations, thereby inhibiting proper positioning. Premature sticking may also cause contamination or degradation of the adhesive prior to final positioning at the target surface.
Others have attempted to overcome this problem by providing standoffs on a material surface, between which adhesive elements are located. Standoffs include any means extending outwardly from an adhesive surface which is contacted first before the adhesive surface is exposed to contact by another surface. Protecting an adhesive from premature contact by another surface has been achieved by adding strips of polymer foam to form deformable standoffs on an adhesive surface, for example. Polymer foams, however, tend to spring back and exert a peel force on the adhesive bond to the target surface. Thus, a more aggressive adhesive may be required to overcome this undesirable peel force.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,141,790 to Calhoun et al. discloses one-time repositionable pressure sensitive tapes with an adhesive coated surface having clumps of particles spaced out on the adhesive to keep the adhesive from touching a target surface until the sheet is pressed against the target surface. The particles are smaller than the thickness of the adhesive layer so that when pressed, the particles sink below the surface of the adhesive and no longer provide their spacing function. Since adhesive may be the most expensive component of a tape, and since the overall surface is coated with a thick layer of adhesive, Calhoun et al. would offer an expensive solution.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,061,820 to Magid et al. discloses a foam with cells. The foam is compressed to open cell cavities at the foam surface so that pressure sensitive adhesive can be applied to the open cells. When the foam is released, the cells close and hide the adhesive. When the foam is pressed, the cells bring pressure sensitive adhesive to the surface for sticking the foam to a target surface. This too is believed to be an expensive solution to the problem, and defining continuous or interconnected patterns of adhesive would not be possible. Also, polymer foams provide undesirable spring back force, which acts to undo the adhesive bond to a target surface. Furthermore, in some applications transparency may be beneficial, such as for accurate placement, and the foam of Magid et al. would not be transparent.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,959,265 to Wood et al. discloses an adhesively coated substrate having bluntly pointed stems protruding beyond a layer of pressure sensitive adhesive. The back of this substrate may be bonded to a sanitary napkin. The napkin may then be installed onto a foraminous fabric by pressing to force the stems to penetrate the fabric to a depth where the fabric contacts the adhesive. By penetrating fabric, the stems significantly reinforce the adhesion of the fastener. The stems should be resistant to compression and bending, even thought they may be quite supple. The backing with its stems preferably is formed from a tough thermoplastic resin by cast molding or extrusion molding. The stems protrude 20 microns to 3 mm above the adhesive level, depending on the coarseness of the fabric to be penetrated. The adhesive area is preferably between 3 and 30 times the area occupied by the stems. Rigid target surfaces are obviously inoperable with Wood et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,344,693 to Sanders discloses a substrate having a plurality of non-interconnecting spacing means extending outwardly from an adhesive coated surface to space the surface from another surface until the surfaces are pressed together. The spacing means of Sanders is non-deformable. The spacing members are spaced up to 80 times the dimension of each spacer. Since few spacing members provide the standoff function, Sanders would need a stiff web between members as well as stiff members to prevent inadvertent adhesive contact. Stiffness in Sanders' configuration corresponds to thick, and therefore expensive materials. Sanders discusses his invention for use with reclosable bags. Sanders, like Wood et al., would not be compatible with rigid target surfaces where the members deform instead of the target surface.
A commonly assigned, co-pending U.S. patent application, Ser. No. 08/584,638, filed Jan. 10, 1996 by the same inventors as in the present application, discloses a film formed to have deformable hollow protrusions which are very closely spaced and a continuous layer of pressure sensitive adhesive located between the protrusions. This co-pending application is hereby incorporated herein by reference. The close spacing between protrusions enables the web material to be very thin and flexible yet resistant to inadvertent deformation because of the high density of standoffs per unit area. However, the co-pending application focuses on formed films which have pressure sensitive adhesive between protrusions. The same inventors have discovered much broader constructions for their new material, as well as alternative methods of making it.
Methods for making articles and surfaces having adhesive surfaces protected by standoffs are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,453,296 to Lauritzen et al. Lauritzen et al. describes methods for making a sanitary napkin which has a recessed adhesive pattern for attaching it to a user's undergarment. Lauritzen et al. forms depressions in a fluid-impervious barrier film. The depressions create raised areas in the barrier film on the side of the napkin which attaches to the undergarment. Adhesive is placed onto the barrier film side having the raised areas in discrete patterns between the raised areas. In an alternative, Lauritzen et al. applies adhesive to the tips of the raised areas of the barrier film and then inverts the raised areas to form depressions. The adhesive is thereby conveniently placed in the depressions. Lauritzen et al.'s discrete adhesive placement fails to enable an air-tight adhesive seal with a target surface, however.
Lauritzen et al. also notes that standoffs must be formed such that they are strong enough to protect the adhesive from inadvertent contact during shipping and storage, yet are deformable for activation. Lauritzen et al. states that sufficient rigidity is available from 0.03 inch (0.08 cm) to 0.06 inch (0.15 cm) thick foam. In one embodiment, conical depressions have diameters at their open ends of 0.1 inches (0.25 cm) to 0.5 inches (1.27 cm) and depths of 0.1 inches (0.25 cm) to 0.25 inches (0.64 cm). Such large depressions and thick foam preclude the ability to wind up the material in a compact roll for consumer delivery. Also, large sized standoffs provide greater opportunity for an interrupted seal instead of a continuous seal, especially when dealing with a narrow target surface. Smaller, more closely spaced standoffs increase the frequency of adhesive contact to the target surface to better approximates a continuous seal.
In still another Lauritzen et al. embodiment, a printing device transfers adhesive to a printing belt, which transfers adhesive to a release belt, and then to the barrier foam web. This system is used to first print a pattern of discrete patches of adhesive onto the barrier foam web. Then the foam web is registered with a vacuum plate. When each patch of adhesive is disposed above a recess in the forming plate, vacuum forms adhesive containing depressions. Because of registration requirements, the invention is believed limited to relatively large and well spaced standoffs. A fine pattern of very small standoffs would be difficult to make using Lauritzen et al.'s methods because registration for forming would require high accuracy. Lauritzen et al.'s methods are believed to limit material constructions to those having macro patterns of low number density of standoffs, compared to the micro pattern of high number density of standoffs of co-pending U.S. patent application, Ser. No. 08/584,638.

Material having a substance protected by deformable standoffs and method of making


A tag punch system for punching symbols into livestock identification tags or other target materials comprises a handle system, a pressure positioning system located on a first handle of the handle system, and a punching system located on a second handle of the handle system. The punching system has one or more stencil chains, having a plurality of user-selectable stencils. A target material is positioned and secured over a slider stencil of the pressure positioning system, a desired stencil is selected and brought into position, and the two handles are squeezed together causing the stencil symbol to be punched into the target material.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tag punch system for producing tags to be attached to livestock and the like.
2. Background of the Prior Art
Cattle and other livestock are labeled or otherwise tagged with an identification number. This number serves as part of an accounting system for the owner and also serves to identify the owner of the livestock should the livestock become loose or otherwise become separated from the owner. Furthermore, the identification tag is an invaluable aid at livestock auctions where the hectic pace makes livestock identification tags a necessary item for smooth functioning of the sales operation.
Livestock tags generally take one of two methods. One method of identifying livestock is to place a "waterproof" identification mark into the livestock's ear. Such a method is relatively permanent and accomplishes the identification process well. However, such a method suffers from certain drawbacks. First, the waterproof ink used to make the waterproof mark tends to fade in hot and humid climates such as those found in the major livestock regions of Florida, Texas, Argentina, and others. The mark will either fade or blur making proper identification of the livestock impossible. Furthermore, such marking systems are restricted to the size of the livestock ear. As such, a person desiring to identify the mark must be in close proximity to the livestock in order to ascertain the nature of the mark. Such a system proves inefficient.
A second type of livestock identification method is to place a tag into the ear of the livestock. The tag, which is created beforehand, is clipped or otherwise pierced into the ear and permanently remains attached to the ear. The tag can be created from material that is relatively immune to the effects of the heat and humidity of major livestock producing regions. This type of livestock identification system works relatively well. However, it is not without drawbacks. The current tag systems that are placed onto livestock are difficult and expensive to produce. Such systems require that the particular identification number to be produced, be requisitioned well in advance. Any change in the number is cumbersome.
A livestock identification system is needed that can be attached to livestock in order to specifically identify that particular item of livestock. Such a system must be immune to the heat and humidity that is found in many livestock producing regions around the globe. Furthermore, such a system must be relatively simple and straightforward to use and must be able to quickly produce unique identification numbers at the discretion of the user of the device. Preferably, such a system should be simple and straightforward to manufacture.


Large algorithms can be run on a quantum computer only if quantum error correction is used to lower logical qubit errors. The energy deposited by cosmic-ray muons produces a quasiparticle “heat” pulse that causes the qubits to decay in energy quickly, with errors correlated in space and time, so that error correction fails. Metal layers comprising normal metal and/or small-gap superconductors channel this energy away from the qubit into benign structures so that qubit performance is not degraded. These structures are designed according to the electron-phonon interactions and constraints from electromagnetic radiation to make large reductions in the induced errors so that error correction works properly.

This invention relates generally to quantum computing, and more particularly to reducing qubit energy decay and correlated errors from cosmic rays in quantum processors.
Quantum computers perform calculations that cannot be run by classical supercomputers, such as efficient prime factorization or solving how molecules bind using quantum chemistry. Such difficult problems can only be solved by embedding the algorithm in a large quantum computer that is running quantum error correction. However, error correction fails when physical quantum bit (qubit) errors are large or correlated.
Quantum computers have intrinsic errors, so algorithms can be natively run with typically only a few hundred to thousand logic operations. To run the most powerful and useful algorithms (e.g., with millions to billions of logic gates), errors should be reduced to a parts per million or billion range, or lower. Fortunately, this is possible using quantum error correction. The basic idea is to redundantly encode the qubit state in many physical qubits, in a way similar to classical error correction, so that errors in the physical qubit states can be selectively measured, decoded and corrected. For example, the surface code error correction scheme encodes a protected "logical" state with about 1000 physical qubits. If physical errors are small (about 0.1%) and occur randomly and independently among these 1000 qubits, then the logical error can be less than 0.1 part per billion. But if errors are large or correlated, occurring in bunches either together in time or together across the chip in space, then error correction fails. When the logical errors are large, the memory of the quantum computer is lost, and the algorithm fails.
Cosmic rays are a radiation source that produce large and correlated errors in the quantum chip. Cosmic rays naturally occur from high energy particles impinging from space to the atmosphere, where they are converted into muon particles that deeply penetrate all matter on the surface of the earth. When the muons go through the quantum chip, they deposit a large amount of energy in the substrate of the quantum processor (about 200 keV), which then briefly "heats" the chip. In presently designed chips, the qubits then have a short memory time (about 1-10% of normal memory time), both in space (across the entire chip) and for a long time duration (about 10 ms). The qubit errors during this event are thus so large and correlated that error correction stops working and the stored logical qubit state is destroyed. Cosmic ray muons impinge on the quantum chip every few seconds and thus will render inoperable any reasonably powerful algorithm running on the quantum computer.
For normal electronic devices, the effect of cosmic rays and other radiation is well known. In such electronic devices, the radiation creates charge carriers that move through the device and changes its electrical properties, creating both temporary (pulsed) and permanent changes. In quantum electronic devices, however, a different effect of cosmic rays comes from the "heat pulse" of the phonon energy after the energy is deposited. Because the operating principle of qubits—specifically superconducting qubits—differs from normal electronic devices, the mitigation strategy from this energy pulse has to be solved in a different way.
Although it is possible to operate a quantum computer deep underground, as has been done for some physics experiments, this is not a good commercial solution. In addition, there is always natural background radiation (from decay of heavy elements like Uranium) that produces similar energy events, depositing energy into the chip and destroying the qubit state. Redesign of the quantum chip is thus needed to channel (redirect) the deposited energy from the qubit components to benign structures.

Reducing qubit energy decay and correlated errors from cosmic rays in quantum processors


A reduced cost solid oxide fuel cell having enhanced surface exchange rates and diffusivity of oxide ions is provided. The invention cell includes a first porous electrode and a second porous electrode, where the porous electrodes have a layer of electronically conductive porous non-precious metal, and the porous non-precious metal layer is a gas diffusion layer. The porous electrodes further include at least one atomic layer of catalytic metal deposited on the non-precious metal layer, and an electrolyte layer disposed between the first porous electrode and the second porous electrode. The electrolyte layer includes a first dense ion-conductive doped oxide film layer, and a second dense ion-conductive doped oxide film layer deposited on the first doped oxide film layer, where the catalytic metal layer on the conductive porous non-metal layer enhances surface exchange rates and diffusivity of the oxide ions, thus the material costs of the fuel cell are reduced.

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) are of much interest due to their potential for high efficiency and fuel flexibility. SOFC generate electricity directly from an electrochemical reaction of fuels and oxidants. Unlike other types of fuel cells, SOFC's consist entirely of anhydrous solid-state components, such as an oxide electrolyte membrane that contains charged vacancies for oxide ion conduction and electrodes on both sides of the electrolyte membrane for current collection and catalysis. The SOFC reactions that represent reduction of oxygen into oxide ions at the cathodes and oxidation of oxide ions with fuel into water or other final products at the anodes mostly takes at or near contact boundaries between electrodes and electrolytes.
Typically, SOFC's operate at high temperatures. For example, temperatures between 700 and 1000° C. are useful for quick start-up and to reducing energy loss by electrical resistance through electrolytes or at the electrode-electrolyte boundaries. However, high temperature operation enhances breakdown of cell components. For this reason, there are efforts to reduce operation temperature. These efforts include engineering new materials used as fuel cell components, such as replacing yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ), a typical electrolyte oxide of SOFC, with new materials such as samaria or gadolinia-doped ceria (SDC or GDC) that show higher oxide ion conductivity than YSZ's, or by replacing lanthanum strontium cobaltite ferrite (LSCF), a typical cathode of SOFC, with barium strontium cobaltite ferrite (BSCF) that shows lower electrolyte-electrode resistance.
Typically, SOFC electrodes use precious metal materials for catalysts such as platinum, ruthenium, palladium etc. These materials are very expensive and impact the overall fuel cell cost, which is very important for the commercialization of SOFC's. Desirable properties of these materials are good chemical stability and the ability to demonstrate high electrochemical activities i.e. high oxygen surface exchange rate.
Accordingly, there is a need to develop reduced cost solid oxide fuel cell having enhanced surface exchange rates and diffusivity of oxide ions.

Solid oxide fuel cell components tuned by atomic layer deposition

The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University


A method for fabricating a thin film array substrate for a liquid crystal display includes steps of forming a gate line assembly and a common electrode line assembly on a first substrate. The gate line assembly includes a plurality of gate lines and gate pads, and the common electrode line assembly includes common signal lines and common electrodes. Thereafter, a gate insulating layer is formed on the first substrate, and a semiconductor pattern and an ohmic contact pattern are formed on the gate insulating layer. A data line assembly and pixel electrodes are then formed on the first substrate. The data line assembly includes a plurality of data lines, data pads, and source and drain electrodes. The pixel electrodes are connected to the drain electrodes while proceeding parallel to the common electrodes. A passivation layer is formed on the substrate. The passivation layer and the gate insulating layer are etched such that the gate pads and the data pads are exposed to the outside. At this time, the etching is performed after an assembly process where a second substrate is arranged to face the first substrate and assembled together and the passivation layer and the gate insulating layer are exposed outside of the second substrate.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thin film transistor (TFT) array substrate for a liquid crystal display, and a method for fabricating the same.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display is one of flat panel display devices that has been currently used in a most extensive manner. The liquid crystal display has two substrates, and a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the substrates. One of the substrates is provided with thin film transistors (TFTs), and pixel electrodes. The TFT array substrate is fabricated through forming thin films on the substrate, and repeatedly performing photolithography on the thin films.
The number of masks employed in the photolithography process that represents the number of processing steps becomes to be a critical factor to reduce the production cost. In order to lower the production cost, it is required that the number of masks for the photolithography process should be reduced.

Thin film transistor array substrate for a liquid crystal display and the method for fabricating the same


An information processing device, including an acquiring unit that acquires relationship information indicating a relationship between a plurality of first objects indicated by symbols input by a user, and a file control unit that generates display information related to display of second objects including position information indicating positions of the second objects corresponding to the first objects in a document file on the basis of the relationship information.

In recent years, in various scenes represented by business scenes, document files have been used as an information transfer medium. For such a document file, in order to generate desired display information as display information related to display of an object included in the file, there are cases in which it takes time and effort to input much information. In this regard, a technique for improving efficiency of generation of desired display information for an object in a document file has been proposed.
For example, a technique for a device including a feature quantity calculation unit that receives learning data that is accumulated such that a differential feature quantity which is a difference between slides of feature quantities of slides whose slide order is known and a classification result indicating an anteroposterior relation of a slide corresponding to the difference feature quantity are learned and a new slide whose slide order is unknown and calculates a feature quantity of the new slide in order to automatically prepare a presentation material from slides whose content or order is not arranged, a differential feature quantity calculation unit that calculates a differential feature quantity between new slides, a classification unit that receives the differential feature quantity between the new slides and outputs a classification result corresponding to the differential feature quantity from the learning data, and a new slide order deciding unit that decides an order of the new slide on the basis of the anteroposterior relation of the slide indicated by the classification result has been proposed in Patent Literature 1.

Information processing device and information processing method


A rack-mounted KVM module is configured for a server rack. An L-shaped supporting frame, which has a vertical plane and a horizontal plane, is coupled to the sever rack. A flat panel display is coupled to the vertical sliding rail to move along the L-shaped supporting frame horizontally. A keyboard module is coupled to the horizontal sliding rail to move along the L-shaped supporting frame horizontally. A positioning mechanism is disposed in the horizontal sliding rail. The positioning mechanism consists mainly of an outer rail, an inner rail, a link bracket, a latch and a positioning switch. The latch is swiveled to engage a notch of the latch in a block portion of the outer rail or to remove the notch thereof from the block portion to respectively lock or unlock a fixed position when the link bracket is slid along the inner rail by moving the positioning switch.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention generally relates to a KVM (keyboard, Video, and Mouse) module. More particularly, this invention relates to a rack-mounted KVM module with a positioning mechanism.
2. Description of Related Art
Information technology and the computer industry are highly developed now. People rely heavily on computer systems. Due to increasingly reduced office space, area occupied by computer servers must also be reduced. The space occupied by one computer server is typically greater than or equal to that of a desktop computer. Accordingly, the management of computer servers is difficult and space utilization is tightened. Some companies have two or three computer servers, while others may have more than a thousand computer servers. Computer server management and space utilization become more critical in companies with more computer servers.
Assembling computer servers on standard server racks is the mainstream arrangement such that computer servers and racks can be centrally managed and easily stacked. In practice, KVM switches are utilized to monitor and control the computer servers more effectively. With KVM switches, it is possible to manage multiple computers with only one set of keyboard, video monitor and mouse, which saves both space and cost. The KVM switches are usually mounted in the standard server rack. A KVM switch may also be integrated with a flat panel display, a keyboard and a cursor control device. In such an integrated KVM module, usually called a LCD KVM or a KVM drawer, the KVM switch is usually stationary and the flat panel display, the keyboard and the cursor control device can be slid out from the system rack to a extend position for operation and slid back into the system rack to a closed position for storage.
However, due to the sliding characteristic of the rack-mounted KVM modules, vibrations may cause unexpected withdrawal or motion to damage the components. Further, it might also be possible that system operators get injured by the sliding components. Thus, rack-mounted KVM modules need further stability improvements to provide a sturdy, reliable and user-friendly working environment for users.

Rack-mounted KVM module with positioning mechanism


As either regular entry or as an assist to the user of existing computer text entry systems, the invention makes possible an alternative method of Chinese character entry by entering a Chinese character assumed by the user to be a rhyme of the character the user desires to enter. Entry methods for such rhyme alternative entry include phonetic and non-phonetic entry of Chinese characters, including keyboard stroke-category input, and handwritten entry using an electronic surface. The invention is not only helpful for entry of difficult Chinese characters but provides an approach to the use of supplementing input methods for most if not all written languages.

The average student in China is said to know about 3500 characters when the student leaves secondary school. For those educated beyond the secondary school level the numbers are said to be significantly higher. But many people, even the best educated, find that sometimes they can not call to mind the exact look of a character even though they recognize it easily when they see it in print.
Not surprisingly, then, a continuing problem for even the most competent users of computer text-entry methods for Chinese is that they sometimes find themselves at a loss when trying to enter a character with non-phonetic entry methods, including keyboard entry and handwriting on an electronic pad or screen. Another barrier to such non-phonetic character entry is that the user sometimes forgets not only the look of the character but the standard stroke order of the character; each of these problems not only creates difficulties for handwriting input on an electronic pad or screen but also for non-phonetic keyboard entry. Another issue for handwriting recognition is that since handwriting recognition software is based on statistical data gained from a sample of possible users, the user of handwriting recognition programs not only can have the problem of not remembering the look of the character or the stroke order, but also may find that the computer does not recognize the entry simply because of the user's handwriting style. And handwriting acceptance by the recognition program usually will vary from character to character for an individual user.
Partly because of such problems with non-phonetic character entry, phonetic keyboard entry remains the character entry method most commonly used.
But neither are phonetic entry methods immune to character entry problems. Pinyin, a method of using Western alphabet to spell out the sounds of Chinese characters, is taught in virtually all of China's elementary schools. But many fail to master Pinyin so completely as to have great confidence in its use. Pinyin spelling is sometimes forgotten just when a user needs to input the character. This is especially true for those whose native tongue is not Beijing Mandarin (referred to also as Putonghua—'the common language', which is the standard taught in the schools) but another dialect of Chinese. It can also create difficulties for those whose native language is Mandarin but whose local pronunciation differs from Beijing Mandarin (the Putonghua standard) as much as does that between speakers of U.S. English in New England and Alabama. Yet another problem for phonetic character entry is that obviously neither Pinyin nor any other phonetic input method can be used to enter characters which the user cannot pronounce, a problem that can result both with unfamiliar characters as well as from common variations in pronunciation.
When the user's pronunciation of the needed character is not standard, or the user needs to input an unfamiliar character the difficulty of phonetic input often causes the user to turn to non-phonetic entry of the character, which as noted heretofore presents problems of its own.
Many methods of Chinese character input have a steep learning curve—which varies for each user—and all entry methods are imperfect. What is needed is a simple alternative method of text input which will allow a user to more easily input characters that the user can neither spell nor pronounce in standard Putonghua, and/or cannot visualize, and/or has forgotten the stroke order of, and/or has difficulty writing clearly on an electronic pad. Not only would this provide help to users of phonetic text input, it also would enhance the appeal of non-phonetic character input. Since the beginning of computer entry of Chinese characters several decades ago, difficulty with character image recall has been a significant barrier to widespread adoption of non-phonetic input methods, and continues to be so today.

Using input of rhyming characters for computer text entry of Chinese characters


A crawlspace access panel assembly for covering a crawlspace accessway opening in a building exterior wall is provided. The crawl space access panel assembly having a substantially rigid panel member adapted to cover the opening and a seal attached around a perimeter of the substantially rigid panel. A number of fasteners connected to the substantially rigid panel for removably fastening the substantially rigid panel to the exterior wall, the fasteners being located only on a minimum number of sides of the substantially rigid panel to stably hold the panel to the exterior wall. When fastened the fasteners only on the minimum number of sides of the substantially rigid panel urge the panel against the exterior wall causing the seal to seat around the perimeter so that the substantially rigid panel seals the opening.

1. Field
The present invention relates to a crawlspace access cover.
2. Brief Description of Related Developments
Basements or crawlspaces may allow moisture and water vapor, for example, from dirt or concrete floors, to enter the building structure located above the space causing multiple problems, such as insect infestation or structural problems. A solution exists to provide a lining over the inside of the crawlspace where the lining provides a vapor barrier between the dirt floor or vapor source and the structure to isolate the structure from the high humidity environment. One such system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,575,666, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. Further, the accessway opening of conventional basements or crawlspaces, through the building or foundation outerwalls, may nevertheless remain a cause of undesired moisture and outside air infiltration into the basement/crawlspace that compromises and limits the effectiveness of the vapor barrier. For example, conventional crawlspace access panels are primarily decorative in nature and are not sealed in any way such as for example, to prevent the passage of air through the crawlspace opening. Conventional crawlspace panels are typically made of a very thin material on the order of for example, 0.08 inches thick. These panels are also not fastened to the crawlspace opening in a secure manner. As such, these conventional panels do not offer any type of structural barrier against unwanted entry of exterior moisture or hot air (in the hot climates) and cold air (in cold climates) into the crawlspace. As such there is a desire for a crawlspace access panel that overcomes the above deficiencies of these conventional crawlspace access panels.


A hay feeder for large square bales (e.g., 3′×3′×8′ ones weighting on the order of 700-800 pounds). The feeder is designed to be operable by one person to load the bale into the feeder and includes an elongated chute with four, vertical side members. In use, one of the side members can be pivoted downwardly to a substantially horizontal position and the elongated hay bale positioned on it. Thereafter, it can be raised back to its vertical position to lift the hay bale with it to a vertical position within the elongated chute. The chute and bale have respective upper and lower end sections and the chute has openings at its lower end section to provide access through them to the lower end section of the hay bale. Cover members are provided to selectively cover and uncover the openings to selectively permit and prevent access through them by the livestock.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of hay feeders for livestock such as horses and cattle and more particularly to the field of such feeders for handling large square bales.
2. Discussion of the Background
Hay bales for livestock such as horses and cattle have evolved over the years from relatively small bales (e.g., 16 inches by 18 inches by 3 feet weighing 40-60 pounds) that could easily be lifted manually by one person to very large round bales (e.g., 6 foot diameter by 5 feet wide weighing on the order of 1500 pounds) and large square bales (e.g., 3×3×8 feet weighing about 700-800 pounds) that require loaders and other equipment to lift and manipulate. The trend to larger bales was mostly a result of rising labor costs but other factors were also involved. Although large round bales have been and remain in widespread use because they can be left uncovered if desired in the field without significant deterioration, large square bales are becoming more popular. In this last regard, the price of hay has risen dramatically over the recent years to the extent that even though round bales were previously considered not to significantly deteriorate (e.g., the outer few inches would weather and form somewhat of a protective layer), even such relatively small deterioration still could represent 10 percent or more of the total dry matter of the bale. Consequently and although large square bales normally need to be stacked and covered, the waste is usually then limited and much less in comparison to round bales left uncovered in the field.
Handling large square bales on the order of 3×3×8 feet and 700-800 pounds still does require equipment to lift and manipulate the bales but there is need for a hay feeder for large square bales that can be easily loaded and operated by one person with very little hay waste.
With this and other things in mind, the present invention was developed. In it, a hay feeder is provided that can handle large square bales and can be easily loaded and operated to feed livestock by one person. In one mode of operation, the small and usually busy rancher or horse owner can have an individual bale loaded onto the bed of a truck at the hay seller's site after which the rancher or owner can return to his or her ranch and unload the bale from the truck bed into the feeder by himself or herself saving both time and money. In another mode and if the rancher or owner has a loader, he or she can still easily manipulate the large square bale without anyone else's help into the feeder where it is supported in a vertical position for feeding to the livestock from the lower end section of the vertical bale.


An engine control system for an internal combustion engine of a type having a stratified combustion mode and a homogeneous combustion mode comprises a controller for controlling a swirl flow in the engine with a swirl control valve. The controller effects a changeover of a swirl control mode of the swirl control valve from a weak swirl mode to a strong swirl mode immediately in response to a changeover request signal before an actual changeover of a combustion control mode from the homogeneous combustion mode to the stratified combustion mode. In the case of a changeover from the stratified mode to the homogeneous mode, the controller effects a changeover of the swirl control mode from the strong swirl mode to the weak swirl mode in response to an actual changeover of the combustion control mode, with a delay after the changeover request signal.

The present invention relates to a control system for an internal combustion engine, and more specifically to a control system for controlling a swirl control valve of an intake system for an internal combustion engine of a type having a stratified charge combustion mode and a homogeneous charge combustion mode.
Recently, the technique of in-cylinder direct fuel injection in a spark ignition engine such as gasoline engine is under development to significantly improve the fuel efficiency and emission performance by using stratified charge combustion and homogeneous charge combustion.
In a low and medium load region, a control system for such a type operates an engine in a stratified combustion mode by injecting fuel directly into a combustion chamber during the compression stroke so as to produce a stratified combustible mixture only around the spark plug. The thus-achieved stratified combustion enables stable combustion with an ultra lean mixture, and hence significant improvement in the fuel efficiency and emission performance of the engine.
In a high load region over a predetermined engine load, the engine is operated in a homogeneous combustion mode to meet a demand for higher output torque. In the homogeneous combustion mode, fuel is injected during the intake stroke so as to produce a homogeneous air fuel mixture. (In some examples, a fuel injection valve is provided separately in an intake port.)
The control system changes over the combustion control mode between the stratified combustion mode and the homogeneous combustion in accordance with one or more engine operating conditions.
An in-cylinder air flow condition is important to create a stratified mixture efficiently in a combustion chamber in the stratified combustion mode. A swirl control valve is a device disposed in or near an intake port, for regulating an intake air flow to control the in-cylinder air flow condition. In the stratified combustion mode, the swirl control valve throttles the intake air flow by decreasing its opening and thereby help create a strong swirl to achieve the stratified combustion. In the homogeneous combustion mode in which such a strong swirl is not needed, the opening of the swirl control valve is switched to an opening degree adapted to the homogeneous combustion mode.
Japanese Patent Provisional (Kokai) Publication No. 7(1995)-293260 shows a swirl control system for changing over the opening of a swirl control valve between an opening degree desired for the stratified combustion mode and a degree for the homogeneous combustion mode. This swirl control system closes the swirl control valve to produce the swirl flow in the stratified combustion mode, and in the homogeneous combustion mode in a high load operating region excepting a region near full throttle. The swirl control valve is fully open in the homogeneous combustion mode in the high load operating region near the full throttle.


An electronic search is automatically initiated when a cursor hovers in one location for a predetermined time. A target process associated with a target window is forced to re-render data to the target window in an update region that includes the detected cursor location. From the re-rendered data, a primary word and context words near the cursor location are determined. One or more local or remote electronic data stores are searched for substantive content related to the words. The content is prioritized according to user preference and displayed in a semitransparent window that is persistently visible to a user, yet does not obscure other content in an underlying window and does not shift the focus from an active window. Re-rendering is accomplished by invalidating an update region of the target window, and forcing the operating system to issue a paint message, causing the target process to redraw the update region.

Electronic content search and delivery typically involves accessing one or more data stores to obtain content about a requested subject, and providing the content in a manageable form to a user. There are a number of electronic content search and delivery models currently in use. For example, a common Web search model accesses a number of servers and provides a list of links related to keywords entered by a user. Commercial products implementing the Web search model, such as YAHOO!™ and GOOGLE™, are well known. A localized reference model accesses one or more local data stores of content and provides definitions, synonyms, language translations, summaries, or other substantive content related to keywords identified by a user. Commercial products implementing the local reference model include Microsoft Corporation's BOOKSHEL™ 2000. A third model accesses offline or online help information and provides a pop-up box to explain software features, evaluate spelling of text, or provide other brief information. Commercial products implementing the help model include Microsoft Corporation's OFFICE ASSISTANT™, HELP VIEWER™ and TOOLTIPS™.
Combinations of the above models are also available. Some resemble the Web search model, but include aspects of the help model. For example, a product called QUICKCLICK™ (formerly FLYSWAT™—no longer available) evaluated the text of a downloaded Web page and automatically provided links to other Web pages for terms and phrases recognized on the downloaded Web page. Each recognized term and phrase on the Web page was changed to a different color text and associated with a link. A user could then click on one of the colored terms or phrases to be linked to another Web page.
Another commercial product, which is provided by ATOMICA Corporation and called ATOMICA™, extends the Web search model to provide an online version of the localized reference model. This product provides substantive information, rather than links to substantive information, although one option enables a user to search the Web for related information. Although originally owned and commercialized under a different name, details of the product are disclosed in International patent application, publication number WO 01/13245 A1. The ATOMICA software requires software to be downloaded and installed on a user's computer (i.e., on a client computer). When running, the ATOMICA software enables the user to designate a text item displayed in an active window of another software program, such as a word processor, an email program, a browser, a spreadsheet program, etc. ATOMICA retrieves substantive information about the designated text item from an online database and then provides the substantive information through a customized browser window.
As indicated above, the ATOMICA software must be downloaded from a specific Web site and installed by the user on a client computer, based upon an affirmative decision by the user to install the product. A user will likely not know that the software is available, unless informed by another user or by reading a publication that describes the software and indicates where it can be downloaded. Thus, the very existence of this software is somewhat difficult for a user to determine. Even if the ATOMICA software is preinstalled and set to automatically load upon startup of the user's computer, it may not be readily apparent to the user how to activate the software. The ATOMICA software may be set to automatically display a semi-persistent "answer bar." The answer bar is a small window with a drop-down text box. When the answer bar initially appears, the drop-down box is empty, so the user cannot make any selection. The answer bar also does not provide any substantive content. Instead, by trial and error, the user may determine that text can be entered into the drop-down box. It is the user's entries that are then listed in the drop-down box.
However, there is no indication that a user may designate a word in another window. The answer bar may attract the user to type in a word, but the answer bar does not indicate that the ATOMICA software enables a user to initiate a search with a key-click combination. By default, the ATOMICA software requires a user to activate the software by designating a word in a window and then actuating a mouse button while holding down one or more specific keys on the user's keyboard that the user must remember. To determine how to designate a word and activate the software, the user must read instructions, or learn from another user. Because the ATOMICA software does not make it apparent to a novice user how to activate or use the software, its use is also somewhat difficult to discover.
Once the user is aware of the software and determines how to activate the software, the user may find it difficult to remember how to use the software. Specifically, the user may find it difficult to remember the specific key(s) that must be held down and the mouse button that must be pressed at the same time to activate the ATOMICA software to obtain information on a word or phrase. The user may manually simplify word designation by choosing an option to press only the right mouse button without having to hold down a key at the same time. However, the user must first determine how to find and select this option, and be willing to forgo using the selected mouse button for all other purposes. For example, the right mouse button is often used by many software programs to provide a pop-up menu of frequently used functions, such as cut, copy, and paste commands. If the user selects the right mouse button to designate a word for the ATOMICA software, the user loses the pop-up menu of functions.
Although not currently implemented in the publicly available ATOMICA software, International patent application, publication number WO 01/13245 A1, which is assigned to Atomica Corporation, indicates that a user may place a cursor on a word and wait a specified amount of time to indicate that further information is desired about the designated word. However, the publication provides no enabling detail regarding this point-and-wait indication to obtain information.
In the context of clicking on a text item with a mouse, the above international publication indicates that the ATOMICA software determines a word or words from the designated text item by utilizing a text-grabbing algorithm, such as that described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/127,981 and/or an optical character recognition (OCR) algorithm. Knowing the position indicated by the pointing device, the software installed on the user's computer requests information from the application program that has displayed the text item. According to the international publication, the software receives the word from the application program, "perhaps using an application programming interface (API)." No further detail is provided. Alternatively, if the text is transmitted in a separate data stream, such as a data stream associated with a video stream, the international publication indicates that the program may retrieve the text directly from the separate data stream, rather than determining the word or words from display. The publication provides no further detail on the above word determination techniques. As described in this reference, the program also draws context-indicating words from the body of text, typically from the same sentence as that including the designated word, and/or from a title of the body of the text. The International patent application publication number WO 01/13245 A1 indicates that the user's computer sends a list of words from the body of the text, including the designated word, to a server. For example, if a user clicked on the word "stock," which was followed in the sentence by the word "broker," the user's computer would send a list of words including "stock" and "broker." The international publication does not provide any further detail on how the software on the user's computer extracts or determines the context-indicating words to send to the server.
Once the user's computer sends the list of words to the server, the server runs a context-determination algorithm to determine a context of the designated word. Once the proper context is determined, a program running on the server searches online data stored on the server or other machines comprising a network. The server appears to first search for data regarding multiple words. If no matches are found for the multiple words, the server then searches for the single designated word. There does not appear to be any way to modify or override this search order. The user also does not have any control over the data resources that are searched by the server, or any way to prioritize the type of data that are more relevant to the user. For example, the user cannot choose to receive medical data before business data, if a designated word, acronym, or other text, has multiple different meanings in each of these two fields of interest.
The results of the search are then passed by the server back to the user's computer. Although the online database perhaps provides updated information, because of the product's complete dependence on Internet communication and remote processing of selected text, the server is relatively slow to respond compared to the response time for a localized reference model that does not need to communicate over the Internet.
When the information arrives from the server, it is displayed in a customized browser window. Specifically, the ATOMICA product requires that Microsoft Corporation's INTERNET EXPLORER™ (IE) version 4 or higher be installed on the user's system, because the ATOMICA product uses IE's ActiveX Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) control to display lookup results. The customized browser window overlays any content that is displayed under the area encompassed by the customized browser window. Although the customized browser window can be moved about after it is opened on a display, there is no option that enables a user to selectively position the customized browser window to always appear at a specified position relative to a selected word, or at a desired fixed location on the display. The customized browser window includes a toolbar with standard navigation buttons, such as "back" and "forward" buttons. A menu also enables the user to set some limited options, as described herein. The toolbar also includes a data entry box that enables the user to enter a word or words on which a search for information should be done.
Below the toolbar, the customized browser window is divided into two frames, which the user cannot change. A primary frame displays the substantive search results (or error message, if no results were found). If a word is misspelled, the server will perform a spell check and send a list of alternatives for display in the primary frame. The listed suggestions are hyperlinks to substantive information from the ATOMICA database. If substantive information is provided, but the information is not of a desired type, the user may a select an option in a second frame of the customized browser window to view a list of links to possible alternative meanings. Similarly, one or more other options may be provided in the second frame that provide different types of information for the designated word(s). For example, a medical meaning may be available for the designated word(s) as an alternative to a business meaning that is displayed in the primary frame. The user may select yet another option in the second frame to perform a standard Web search for a list of hyperlinks on the Internet. The resulting hyperlinks are displayed in the primary frame.
To remove the customized browser window from display, the user may manually close the window, or click in another window. Manually closing the customized browser window causes the previously active window underlying the customized browser window to become active again (sometimes referred to as "shifting the focus" to the window). The ATOMICA software assumes that the window containing the designated word was the active window. Thus, the ATOMICA software shifts the focus to that window, even if another window was previously active before the word was designated in a different window. Consequently, the user must click the cursor in the previously active window to shift the focus back to that window. This characteristic of continually shifting the focus makes it difficult for a user to designate words in a secondary window and utilize the resulting substantive information for work in the previously active window. For example, a user may be editing a research report in an active window using a word processor and may wish to obtain substantive information about multiple words found in a secondary window that is displayed by a database program. Using the ATOMICA software, the user must continually shift the focus back and forth between the word processor window and the database window.
Closing the customized browser window optionally (by default) also causes the semi-persistent answer bar to appear on the user's display. As discussed above, the answer bar does not provide any substantive information, but instead, simply provides an input text box in which user can enter a word or words on which to conduct a search for information. The answer bar may be minimized to a small tab, but either the tab or the answer bar then remains on top of other displayed items, and obscures anything underneath it in the display.
A somewhat similar commercial product/service provided by Babylon.Com Ltd., called BABYLON™, combines the localized reference model with the help model and optionally utilizes network access and standard Web searching. When a user clicks on a text item with a mouse, the BABYLON program recognizes a word or words comprising the selection and searches local and/or online glossaries for information related to the selected word(s). If found, a small pop-up window includes a definition, a language translation, and/or other content drawn from glossaries selected by the user.
The BABYLON software must be downloaded and installed on the user's computer. Also as is true of the ATOMICA program, if the user is not aware of the existence of the BABYLON program, then the user will not know to download it from the source Web site. Because there is no apparent indication to a novice user that the software is available, the existence of the BABYLON software is thus also somewhat difficult to discover. In addition, as was true of the ATOMICA software, even if the BABYLON software is preinstalled for the user and set to automatically load upon startup of the user's computer, its use will not be readily apparent, since the user will not know how to designate a word to activate the software without receiving instruction, or learning from another person. Accordingly, the manner in which the BABYLON software is employed will also be somewhat difficult for a user to discover.
Like the ATOMICA software, the user presses one or more mouse buttons while holding down one or more keys on the user's keyboard to activate the software, but the BABYLON software default setting enables a user to press a single mouse button to activate the software. To avoid deactivating functions and quick menus that are already associated with the left and right mouse buttons, if one of these is selected to activate the search for information, the BABYLON software alternatively enables a user to select a word with a center mouse button, e.g., by pressing a scroll wheel if the user's mouse is so equipped. For a user having a mouse with a center button, it is a little easier to remember how to activate the program, if the center mouse button is chosen for this purpose. Nevertheless, the user must still perform some affirmative action to activate the software, and will lose any other functions normally associated with the center mouse button or wheel.
As indicated, the software recognizes a mouse click on a single word or on a set of words, such as "prime rate" or "mother-in-law." If the user clicks on a single word in a consecutive set of words (e.g. mother-in-law), the software will first resolve the single word by itself. If the user clicks on the same word again, the software generally resolves the set of words with the surrounding context words.
Whether the single selected word, or the set of words are resolved at all also depends on where the selected word falls in relation to certain punctuation marks. For example, in the above quoted phrases, the BABYLON program fails to recognize a word that is directly bounded by a quotation mark, such as the word "mother" in the quoted phrase of "mother-in-law." However, the BABYLON program recognizes the word "law" in the quoted phrase of "mother-inlaw," apparently because there is a comma or period before the closing quotation mark. A user may also manually enter single or multiple words in a search field of the pop-up window.
Determination of the word or words depends on the glossaries that are preselected by the user. Each glossary contains a collection of information on a related topic, such as a specific language, a field of science, a unique definition for a company, or other reference material. The glossaries may be downloaded and accessed at a client's local computer, may be accessed via a network or over the Internet, or may be accessed as a combination of local and online glossaries. The BABYLON program searches offline glossaries before searching online glossaries. Within that framework, the BABYLON program appears to determine results in the order of the preselected glossaries. The user may modify the order of the user's individual list of preselected glossaries by dragging and dropping a glossary name into the list.
If the selected word is not included in the glossaries that were preselected by the user, the BABYLON program will attempt to identify one or more non-selected glossaries that include the selected word, and enable the user to add those one or more non-selected glossaries to the user's list of glossaries. However, if the selected word is misspelled, or otherwise unrecognized, the BABYLON software will simply issue an error message in the pop-up window, without any further suggestion. Although not automatically suggested by the BABYLON program, the software enables the user to perform a Web search of the selected word(s) or refer to other online sources, such as an online encyclopedia. However, these additional searches are done and displayed through a separate browser window.
A result of a search by the BABYLON program that is returned from a glossary is displayed in a small pop-up window near the location of the selected word(s). The pop-up window overlays any display content disposed under the area of the pop-up window. The user may split the pop-up window into two sides with one side showing the results and the other side showing other preselected glossaries that include information on the selected word(s) and can select one of the other preselected glossaries in the other half of the window to see the information from that preselected glossary.
The pop-up window can be set to automatically close or minimize when the user moves the mouse again. However, even if the pop-up window automatically closes, the user must re-click in the text area to reactivate the window containing the text (bringing the text window back into focus). Once the pop-up window is closed, there is no other persistent supply of information that can be again accessed, without repeating the search for the information.
Although the products discussed above provide some substantive information in response to a user selecting text and activating a search, they share the following inadequacies. First, the products are difficult for a user to initially discover, and even if preinstalled, a user will not necessarily understand how to use the products. Secondly, they require a user to perform some affirmative action to designate a word, rather than providing a persistent flow of information. Third, the required affirmative action can be somewhat difficult for a user to remember. Fourth, the products employ a character recognition of the bitmap portion of the display screen selected by a user to identify a word or words. And fifth, when their display is active, they obscure underlying content.
A product from a Japanese company, Justsystem Corporation, called DR. MOUSE™, attempts to address the second and third of these inadequacies. Rather than requiring an affirmative action by the user to access information about a designated word or phrase, the DR. MOUSE program implements a hover method for designating a word. The user simply positions the cursor over a word, and the DR. MOUSE software provides a Japanese definition or an English/Japanese translation in a pop-up window. However, the DR. MOUSE program appears to combine the local reference model and the local help model. The only aspect of the Web search model appears to be that DR. MOUSE enables a user to invoke a browser to perform a Web search for links related to the designated word. Software is installed on the user's computer and all substantive definitions and translations are provided from the local software. There do not appear to be any other sources of offline or online substantive information available, such as an encyclopedia.
To determine the word over which the cursor is hovering, the DR. MOUSE program uses character recognition. Specifically, DR. MOUSE appears to use the OKREADER™ OCR engine from Sumitomo Electric Systems Co. As is well known in the art, OCR requires scanning a graphical representation and identifying text characters in the graphical representation. These steps require rather sophisticated recognition that takes time to process, especially if multiple fonts or multiple character sets are supported. Such character recognition is also less reliable than processing text characters directly. Character recognition also can have difficulty recognizing words or phrases that wrap to another line.
The DR. MOUSE program displays the definition or translation in the pop-up window near the designated word. As with the other products discussed above, the DR. MOUSE pop-up window obscures any information in the underlying window. When the user moves the mouse over a different word, the pop-up window appears in a new location near the different word. Thus, there is always a pop-up window obscuring some portion of the underlying content.
Although the DR. MOUSE software does not require a user to perform some affirmative action with mouse buttons or a keyboard to designate a word, and does not require the user to remember any keys that must be activated, the program provides only limited information and does not address the remaining inadequacies discussed above. In light of these shortcomings of the prior art programs, it would clearly be desirable to provide an electronic content search and delivery system that is at least easily discoverable by users; doesn't require any affirmative action by the user to designate a word or words in any active or inactive window and obtain substantive information from multiple offline and online sources in an order that can be prioritized by the user; is easy to remember how to use, or doesn't require remembering keys and buttons, being persistently available with continuously updating information; has faster and more reliable word recognition than can readily be achieved with character recognition-based systems; and doesn't obscure information underlying the dialog produced by the program or otherwise take the focus away from the active window in which the text was entered.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Electronic content search and delivery based on cursor location


A combined oil ring is comprised of a steel oil ring having a generally I-shaped section consisting of upper and lower rails and a web connecting the both rails and a coil expander for forcing the oil ring outwardly. Each of the outer circumferential sliding surfaces of the circumferential outer projecting portions in the upper and lower rails forms a nitrided surface with a hardness of Hv 900 or more, at least one of the upper and lower surfaces in the circumferential outer projecting portion forms a surface with a hardness of lower than Hv 700, and a width of the outer circumferential sliding surface is smaller than 0.25 mm. The other surface of the upper and lower surfaces forms a nitrided surface with a hardness of Hv 900 or more or a surface with a hardness of lower than Hv 700.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a combined oil ring of steel used in an internal combustion engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a two-piece type combined oil ring of cast iron has been normally used in an internal combustion engine, in particular, a diesel engine. In recent years, in place of a cast iron oil ring, a combined steel oil ring has been developed and this has been used in a certain type of engine.
This combined steel oil ring is already described in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,522,412 (Continuation of Ser. No. 436,811) and the gazette of Jap. Pat. Laid-Open No. 61-45172 (Appl. No. 60-167417). The combined oil ring is comprised of a steel oil ring having a generally I-shaped section consisting of upper and lower rigid rails and a thin web connecting the both rails and provided with a plurality of oil holes, and a coil expander forcing the steel oil ring outwardly. The circumferential outer projecting portions of the upper and lower rails of the oil ring have respectively a trapezoidal sectional shape defined by an outer circumferential sliding surface and upper and lower surfaces connecting with the sliding surface. As compared with a cast iron oil ring, a combined steel oil ring has a high strength and a superior conformable characteristic to a cylinder wall, so that it is expected that its practical use will be increased in the future.
In case of the aforesaid combined oil ring, a reduction of width of the outer circumferential sliding surface in the oil ring increases a contact surface pressure with the cylinder and then reduces a thickness of lubricant oil film. In case of the same surface unit pressure as the pressure of conventional ring, its tangential load can be reduced. Since this reduces frictional loss, a reduction of width of the sliding surface is increasingly required more and more in the engines of recent years.
However, as a width of the sliding surface is decreased, a greater anti-wearing characteristic of the outer circumferential sliding surface is required. In general, a sliding surface having a superior anti-wearing characteristic has a lack of toughness. Due to this fact, when a chrome plating or a nitriding treatment or the like was applied to a combined steel oil ring to improve an anti-wearing characteristic, a width of the outer circumferential sliding surface could not be smaller than 0.25 mm. For example, when a thick nitriding treatment which is well known for its superior anti-wearing characteristic is applied to a small circumferential outer projecting portion with a width of the outer circumferential sliding surface smaller than 0.25 mm, the nitriding is advanced from the entire surface of the projecting portion into its inner portion and most of the surface in the section of the projecting portion is nitrided, so that no tough steel bare material is left. Such an oil ring as described above may exhibit chipping off at this part during its machining work or its assemblying work. In this case, a width of the outer circumferential sliding surface of the steel oil ring to which is applied an anti-wearing treatment is normally 0.3 mm to 0.4 mm.


A lightweight, retractable tripod support having three wheels for attachment to virtually all hand-held trimmers, metal detectors and the like. The three-wheeled support being readily retractable to a folded position for transportation and storage and extendible to a deployed or working position. The support having a pair of clamping plates flanking the trimmer's shaft, a rear leg, two lateral side legs, a slider actuator mounted to the rear leg for longitudinal sliding movement during transition between the folded and deployed positions of the support and an articulating linkage joining the actuator to the clamping plates.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,688,376 issued to Donald E. Wolfe, Sr. on Aug. 25, 1987 discloses an adjustable carriage for electric string trimmers which converts a string trimmer into a mower for small lawns. In order to free the trimmer from the carriage, the operator must physically detach the mechanism from the trimmer. A trimmer independent of any support mechanisms produces an uneven cut, while physically straining the operator. It is a highly valuable and efficient objective to develop a mechanism which could transform a hand held trimmer into a mower and convert it back into the independent trimmer without removing the conversion mechanism, thus improving the quality of the trimmer's operation, its safety, efficiency and functionality, and adapting it for trimming slanted banks smoothly and uniformly.
A number of U.S. patents have suggested the installation of wheels on string trimmers. See for example: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,450,715; 5,222,750; 5,092,112; 4,879,869; 4,442,659; and 4,704,849.
These are all heavy, clumsy, awkward devices, lacking convenient adaptability between a wheels-deployed "mower" condition and the wheels-retracted "trimmer" condition.

Quick mount leveling, adjustable and retractable roller stabilizer for string trimmers


A hinge positioned at the intermediate extents of the adjacent rail components to hold such components in an aligned orientation including a saddle with a central button aperture, interior plate apertures and exterior end apertures with associated rail pins for pivotally coupling the saddle and the adjacent interior ends of associated rail components, a pair of hinge plates each with a plate pin coupling the upper end of each plate to a plate aperture of the saddle, each plate having an opening extending therethrough, the plates urged away from each other, a liftable block with an elongated slot and with an associated block pin for slidably coupling the block to the saddle, the button having inclined bearing surfaces on their edges and an inwardly facing projection located at the adjacent interior edge of each adjacent rod segment, each projection having an upper curved surface and a lower planar surface receivable by the bearing opening.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hinge and, more particularly, to a playyard having a hinge adapted to safely and conveniently convert the playyard between a deployed orientation and a collapsed orientation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use playyards for receiving and supporting children is well known. Further, playyards with foldable capabilities are also well known. Such foldable playyards typically have hinges for converting the playyard between an erect deployed orientation and a collapsed orientation for transportation and storage.
One key element to allow playyards to be retained in one orientation or another are hinges. Such hinges, however, must be made safe for the child and convenient for the health care provider. All known hinges suffer from one defect or the other.
The patent literature discloses various playyards with hinge capabilities. Note, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,293,656 and 5,483,710, both to Chan, as well as U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,437 to Dilner.
None of these playyards with their hinges, however, provides the safety and convenience attended with the present invention, the playyard with the new and improved hinge.
The present invention achieves its intended purposes, objects and advantages over the prior art through a new useful and unobvious combination of component elements, through the use of a minimum number of functioning parts, at a reasonable cost to manufacture, and through the utilization of only readily available and conventional materials.
Therefore, the present invention relates to a new and improved hinge positioned at the intermediate extents of the adjacent rail components to hold such components in an aligned orientation including a hinge for a collapsible playyard comprising a saddle in a generally inverted U-shaped configuration with opposed parallel faces and a coupling region thereabove, the opposed faces each having a pair of laterally spaced block apertures with block pins therebetween, a pair of laterally spaced rail apertures with rail pins therebetween, a pair of laterally spaced locking lever apertures with lever pins therethrough and a pair of laterally spaced generally horizontal guide slots with guide pins therethrough; a pair of normally vertically-oriented locking levers, each locking lever having a central aperture for receiving a lever pin, each locking lever having a lower end with a facing curved follower face and an upper end with an aperture receiving a lever pin and with an arcuate facing interior surface at the interior region thereof; a coil spring having a central horizontal axis with an exterior surface received within the facing recesses of the levers and with ends extending downwardly into contact with the exterior faces of the levers tending to move the lower ends of the levers inwardly and the upper ends of the levers outwardly; and a liftable block with generally vertically extending slots adjacent the lateral edges thereof receiving the block pins and adapted to allow the raising and lowering of the block between a lower locking deployed orientation and an upward unlocking collapsed orientation, the block also having a central region with cam surfaces adapted to contact the curved surfaces at the lower ends of the levers whereby movement of the block and the cam surfaces upwardly will urge the lower ends of the levers outwardly and the upper ends of the levers inwardly.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a playyard hinge which overcomes the aforementioned inadequacies of the prior art devices and which constitutes an improvement which is a significant contribution to the advancement of the art.
Another object of the invention is to provide for the convenient deployment and collapse of a playyard with maximum safety.
It is another object of the present invention to maximize the safety of a playyard hinge which may be easily and efficiently manufactured and marketed.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a playyard hinge construction which is of a durable and reliable construction.
The foregoing has outlined some of the more pertinent objects of the present invention. These objects should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the intended invention. Many other beneficial results could be obtained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or modifying the invention within the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the summary of the invention and the detailed description of the preferred embodiment in addition to the scope of the invention as defined by the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


An assembly for launching toy projectiles includes a body having a bore, a plunger extendable from the bore, and a shaft removably attachable to the body. The body includes a first recess having a first diameter for receiving a first projectile. The shaft includes a second diameter for receiving a second projectile therearound and a second recess having a third diameter for receiving a third projectile therein. The first diameter is substantially equal to a diameter of the first projectile, the second diameter is substantially equal to a diameter of the second projectile, and the third diameter is substantially equal to a diameter of the third projectile but smaller than the second diameter. The plunger drives air through the assembly when released from an extended position to eject any one of the first, second, or third projectiles positioned in the first recess, on the shaft, or in the second recess.

Toy projectile launching apparatus, such as toy guns, sling shots, bow and arrows, and darts guns are each individually capable of launching multiple projectiles, but are limited to adequately launching only one kind of projectile. Indeed, their structures are designed and suited particularly for launching only one kind of projectile. This limits the types of games that can be played with one toy projectile launcher and the overall diversity of the launcher. For example, existing toy projectile launchers will include either an elastic string limiting the toy projectile launcher to an arrow-shaped or arrow-like projectile, a barrel sized and configured specifically to receive and eject either a ball projectile or a dart, or a magazine and/or drum sized and configured to receive either a ball or dart/bullet shaped projectile therein. Moreover, these toy projectile launchers include no means for altering their structure to enable interchanging of the types of projectiles launched therewith. Presumably, one could attempt to launch different types of projectiles with any one of the launchers, however, each launcher is not particularly suited for every kind of projectile and as such would not function well and defeat the object of effectively launching a projectile and having fun.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a toy projectile launching assembly capable of launching at least three different kinds of projectiles.
While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or for general use, they would not be as suitable for the purpose of the present disclosure as disclosed hereafter.
In the present disclosure, where a document, act or item of knowledge is referred to or discussed, this reference or discussion is not an admission that the document, act or item of knowledge or any combination thereof was at the priority date, publicly available, known to the public, part of common general knowledge or otherwise constitutes prior art under the applicable statutory provisions; or is known to be relevant to an attempt to solve any problem with which the present disclosure is concerned.
While certain aspects of conventional technologies have been discussed to facilitate the present disclosure, no technical aspects are disclaimed and it is contemplated that the claims may encompass one or more of the conventional technical aspects discussed herein.

Three-in-one toy projectile launching assembly


A laminate sheet includes an intermediate layer, a first matte layer laminated on a front face side of the intermediate layer, and a second matte layer laminated on a back face side of the intermediate layer. A ratio of a gloss at 60° of a back face of the second matte layer to a gloss at 60° of a front face of the first matte layer is no less than 3/2 and no greater than 10. The gloss at 60° of the front face of the first matte layer is preferably no less than 5 and no greater than 20. The gloss at 60° of the back face of the second matte layer is preferably no less than 30 and no greater than 80. An arithmetic average roughness of the front face of the first matte layer is preferably no less than 0.5 μm and no greater than 1 μm.

Liquid crystal display devices have come into wide use as flat panel displays, taking advantage of their characteristic features such as thinness, lightweight and power saving, and have found an increasingly wide variety of uses for televisions, personal computers, mobile phone terminals such as smartphones, personal digital assistance such as tablet terminals, and the like.
Conventionally, a common liquid crystal display device includes, as shown in FIG. 5(a), a liquid crystal panel 101, various types of optical sheets 102 disposed on a back face side (the side opposite to a viewer) of the liquid crystal panel 101, and a backlight 103 disposed on a back face side of the various types of optical sheets 102. The liquid crystal panel 101 has a structure including a pair of polarizing plates 104 and 105 with a liquid crystal cell 106 therebetween, and various types of display modes such as a twisted nematic (TN) mode, a vertical alignment (VA) mode, and an in plane switching (IPS) mode have been proposed. The backlight 103 illuminates the liquid crystal panel 101 from the back face side, and is commonly an edge-lit (side-lit) backlight, a direct-lit backlight, or the like. The various types of optical sheets 102 are disposed between the liquid crystal panel 101 and the backlight 103 such that rays of light emitted from a front face of the backlight 103 are allowed to enter the entire surface of the liquid crystal panel 101 efficiency and uniformly. A light diffusion sheet having the function of condensing and diffusing the rays of light toward the normal direction, a prism sheet having the function of refracting the rays of light toward the normal direction, and the like are used as the various types of optical sheets 102.
In general, the pair of polarizing plates 104 and 105 to be included in the liquid crystal panel 101 is capable of absorbing one-direction component of light and transmitting the other polarization components of light. In theory, the polarizing plates 104 and 105 absorb 50% of light in order to enable polarization, leading to one cause of the low utilization efficiency of light in the liquid crystal display device.
In an attempt to improve the low utilization efficiency of light caused by the polarizing plates 104 and 105, disposing a reflective polarizing sheet 107 between the liquid crystal panel 101 and the various types of optical sheets 102 is proposed as shown in FIG. 5(b). The reflective polarizing sheet 107 is provided to permit reuse of rays of light by transmitting a specific polarization component of light and reflecting the other polarization components of the light. For example, when the transmission axial orientation of the reflective polarizing sheet 107 coincides with the transmission axial orientation of the polarizing plate 105 disposed on the back face side of the liquid crystal panel 101, light absorption by the polarizing plate 105 is prevented, thereby enabling the utilization efficiency of light to be improved.
The reflective polarizing sheet 107 is also proposed in which diffusion sheets are each laminated on the front and back faces of a reflective polarizer (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2011-75964). Owing to the diffusion sheets each laminated on the front and back faces of the reflective polarizer disclosed in the publication, the reflective polarizing sheet reportedly enables inhibition of the lack in uniformity of luminance caused by the light sources disposed on the back face side and the shape of prism portions of the prism sheet.

Laminate sheet, liquid crystal display module, backlight unit, and production method of laminate sheet


A touch-control method for a liquid crystal display device, includes: switching from a display mode to a touch-control mode; determining whether there is a touch made by an object or whether there is an input made by an active pen; in the case where there is the input made by the active pen, starting an active pen detecting sub-mode in which an X-axis direction common electrode of the liquid crystal display device is defined as an X-axis direction receiving electrode, and a Y-axis direction common electrode or a signal electrode is defined as a Y-axis direction receiving electrode; and determining a position or an action of the active pen according to amplitudes of signals of the X-axis direction receiving electrode and the Y-axis direction receiving electrode. A touch-controllable liquid crystal display device is further provided.

Currently, there are the following common touch-control technologies.
One touch-control technology is mutual capacitance touch sensing technology. As shown in FIG. 1, a touch is determined based on the mutual capacitance by detecting a coupling capacitance between a driving electrode and a receiving electrode. In the case where there is a touch made by a finger, the coupling capacitance Cm1 between the driving electrode and the receiving electrode becomes smaller than the coupling capacitance Cm0 in the case where there is not any touch made by the finger, since the finger may absorb some of the electrical field lines. Thereby, a touch is detected according to that change.
Another touch-control technology is active pen input technology. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the principle of the technology is similar to that of the mutual capacitance touch sensing technology. In the active pen input mode, the active pen is used as the driving electrode and may emit a driving signal. Receiving electrodes intersecting with each other in the touch screen receive the signal from the active pen. When the distance between the active pen and the receiving electrode changes, the coupling capacitance between the active pen and the receiving electrode may also change, and the signal received by the receiving electrode may also change. The position of the pen may be determined by analyzing the signals of the electrodes.
Yet another touch-control technology is In-cell technology. As shown in FIG. 4, the touch-control function and the display function are combined together by integrating the touch-control unit into the pixel of the liquid crystal display device.
In the first two technologies mentioned above, the liquid crystal display device and the touch-control panel are separated. Therefore, the thickness and weight of the product may be increased, which goes against a lighter and thinner product. Moreover, the touch panel may affect the light transmittance and deteriorate the display effect. In the In-cell technology, a layer of touch-control sensing units is embedded into the pixels of the liquid crystal display device. However, the embedded sensing unit may reduce the display area and therefore may deteriorate the display effect.

Touch-control method for liquid display device and touch-controllable liquid crystal display device


Provided is a zoom lens, comprising, in order from an object side to an image side: first to fifth lens units having positive, negative, positive, positive, and negative refractive powers, respectively. During zooming, the first, third, and fifth lens units are immovable, and the second and fourth lens units are moved. The fifth lens unit includes a partial unit (L5n) having a negative refractive power, and a partial unit (L5p) having a positive refractive power. An entire lens length (TL), a focal length (ft) of an entire system at a telephoto end, a focal length (f2) of the second lens unit, a focal length (f4) of the fourth lens unit, and a focal length (f5n) of the partial unit (L5n) are set appropriately.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a zoom lens and an image pickup apparatus including the same, which are suitable for an image pickup apparatus using a solid-state image pickup element, such as a video camera, an electronic still camera, a broadcasting camera, and a monitor camera, or an image pickup apparatus such as a silver-halide film camera.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a zoom lens which has a short total lens length, a compact size, a high zoom ratio, and a high resolving power has been requested for an imaging optical system used in an image pickup apparatus. A positive lead type zoom lens in which a lens unit having a positive refractive power is arranged closest to an object is known as a zoom lens which responds to those requests. As the positive lead type zoom lens, there is known a zoom lens which is constructed of five lens units as a whole.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-178598 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-178769, there is disclosed a zoom lens which includes first to fifth lens units having positive, negative, positive, positive, and negative refractive powers and being arranged in order from an object side to an image side, and which carries out zooming by moving the second lens unit and the fourth lens unit, and carries out focusing by moving the fourth lens unit.
In a zoom lens in general, in order to realize the downsizing of the entire system while the high zoom ratio is ensured, it is only necessary to reduce the number of lenses while increasing the refractive powers of the lens units constructing the zoom lens.
However, in the zoom lens structured in such a manner, a lens thickness increases with an increase in the refractive power of each of the lens surfaces, and an effect of shortening the lens system becomes insufficient. Further, at the same time, various aberrations are frequently generated, and hence the satisfactory correction for the various aberrations becomes difficult to carry out. Thus, the high optical characteristic becomes difficult to obtain.

Zoom lens and image pickup apparatus including the same