A crane game is provided with a gantry supporting a claw mechanism for grabbing bundles of tickets having RFID tags. A solid playing floor supports the bundles of tickets. An internal housing unit is supported on the playing floor and defines a prize chute. A claw mechanism grabs a bundle of tickets. The claw mechanism is lowered into the internal housing unit where a shielded RFID reader reads the RFID tag of the bundle of tickets. The internal housing unit has internal first, second, and third deflection walls that meet with one another at a peak and they slope in a direction towards the playing floor. If a bundle of tickets falls out of the claw mechanism while it is in the internal housing unit, then the bundle of tickets hit one of the first, second, or third deflection walls and exits through first, second, or third internal housing unit exits.

Many people enjoy visiting entertainment centers that have arcade games and, in particular, crane games. Entertainment centers are currently expanding across the country because many of these businesses not only offer amusement games, but also offer food and beverages. This makes entertainment centers suitable for hosting parties, birthday parties, graduation parties, and business parties for adults. While the children play, the parents can also play games, eat, or socialize. Entertainment centers have traditional games such as pinball and have many other arcade games and crane games.
Players, especially children, enjoy going to these entertainment centers so they can play traditional games such as pinball games and so they can play skill games where the player directly interacts with the game. For example, there are crane games equipped with joysticks and buttons. The crane game has a claw that the player can move along a gantry in the X-axis and the Y-axis directions. Once at a desired location, the player can press a button and drop the claw causing the claw to fall in the direction of the Z-axis. Traditionally, crane games were filled with a number of different prizes. In order to win a prize, the player would manipulate the crane over the desired prize within the game playing floor and deploy the crane to try to grab the prize. If the crane successfully picked up the prize, the prize would be dispensed to the player through a chute leading to the outside of the game.
More recently, developments in the arcade gaming industry have led to changes in how prizes are managed and the types of prizes included in many arcades. One common arrangement is for players to be awarded tickets by various games within an arcade. A player can accumulate tickets from many different arcade games and then redeem the tickets for a variety of prizes that are assigned ticket values. For this reason, crane games have been developed where the prizes, such as toys and novelty items have been replaced by bundles of tickets or other physical items that are marked with a ticket value.
Crane games have an electronic control system and a mechanical system that allows a player to purchase a chance to win a bundle of tickets by skillful manipulation of player controls. The controls include a joystick and/or buttons. These controls allow the player to move a motor-operated crane head in front/back (X-axis) and left/right (Y-axis) directions above a supply of bundle of tickets and then drop a claw which will pick up a bundle of tickets if skillfully and properly manipulated. When the claw drops to the bottom of its travel, the electronic control system closes the claw. The closing of the claw may grasp one or more bundle of tickets, or may remain empty. The control system then raises the claw, positions it over a delivery chute and releases any bundle of tickets held by the claw.
An additional development has been the addition of an RFID tag to the bundle of tickets. In this way, the bundle of tickets does not need to be handled by the user or player. Rather, the ticket value can be included on the particular RFID tag and then an RFID reader scans the RFID tag associated with a particular bundle of tickets.
Upon coming into contact with a bundle of tickets that have RFID tags, the claw closes on the bundle of tickets. After the claw closes it moves vertically upward in the direction of the Z-axis. Then the claw moves horizontally in the direction of the X-axis and Y-axis until it is positioned over a chute. The chute leads to an opening defined in the floor of the game. The claw opens and if there are any bundles of tickets in the claw they fall out of the claw. The opening in the floor of the game has an RFID reader. If the RFID reader detects a bundle(s) of tickets as it moves through the opening in the floor, then the player wins the number of tickets associated with the RFID tag. The game dispenses the number of tickets won to the player. The tickets are paper and there is a redemption counter where the player can trade the tickets for a prize, for example a stuffed animal. Thus, from the player's point of view the tickets are a form of money. Alternatively, the number of tickets may be written onto a game card. Each player has his or her own game card and it includes information about how many credits the player has for playing games and information about how many tickets the player has won. The ticket value on the card can be turned in for actual prizes.
Unfortunately, the crane games that lift, move, and drop the bundles of tickets with RFID tags are not without problems. When the bundles of tickets with RFID tags fall out of the claw, they are read by an RFID reader and then fall in a basket that is positioned below the playing floor of the game. The bundles of tickets stack up on top of one another and over time the entertainment center must have a worker empty the basket. If this is not done, then the game may run out of bundles of tickets for the players to grab and the bundles of tickets may start overflowing from the basket. It is also possible that the bundles of tickets may fall into the internal workings of the crane game and cause damage to the internal components.
Thus, there is a need for an improved crane game that eliminates the need for baskets for collecting bundles of tickets and eliminates the time wasted emptying baskets filled with bundles of tickets.

Innovative Concepts in Entertainment, Inc.


A self-aligning connector mechanism for electrical or optical connectors having an elongate member with a first end for mating with a coupling member, and a second end having a curved surface. A base member comprising a curved surface mates with the curved surface of the elongate member. The curved surface of the elongate member is slidably movable with respect to said curved surface of the base member, such that the slidable movement of the curved surface of the elongate member pivots the elongate member and the pivot point of said movement is located at the first end of the elongate member to provide rotational alignment. Lateral movement of the elongate member to provide translational alignment is enabled by planar surfaces in the base member on which the elongate member can slide sideways.

Connectors of numerous types have been widely used in a variety of applications including machinery, electronics, and fiber optics. Typical connectors comprise a male member forming a first connector member which inserts into or mates with a female member forming a second connector member.
Many applications require extremely close tolerances between connecting members. This is particularly true of fiber optic connectors. Fiber optic connectors typically comprise two connector halves. Each half contains a connector portion, typically either a plug or a receptacle, which is used for aligning mating optical fibers or an optical fiber to an electro-optic device. The plug and receptacle have a common axis along which the fiber optic signal is transmitted. When the connector portions are misaligned, the axis of the plug relative the axis of the receptacle is offset, resulting in signal attenuation or elimination.
In prior art connectors, the connector portions are typically joined to the connector half in cantilever fashion at points located farthest away from the mating point. Thus, if one of the connector portions is misaligned, the misalignment can only be corrected by pivoting of at least one of the portions at the point farthest from the mating junction. This results in the greatest bending moment being applied against the sidewalls connector portions. This can result in bending or distortion of the members.
Compliant structures provide for the automatic correction of misaligned structures without the need for feedback. See "Using Compliance In Lieu of Sensory Feedback For Automatic Assembly" (1977), Doctor of Science Thesis by Samuel Hunt Drake of M.I.T., Cambridge, Mass., which illustrates the use of self correcting compliant structures in mechanical systems. Drake discloses the use of such structures in manipulators used in the assembly of an alternator and power tools.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,849, entitled "Connector Guide Means", assigned to AMP Incorporated, assignee of the present invention, discloses a connector guide means for a fiber optic connector. This patent illustrates an electronic package which includes a mounting structure which may comprise a printed circuit board carrying circuit traces to electronic components such as logic and memory devices. The device includes a connector half having a pair of signal ports suitably interconnected to components which convert optical to electrical signals and electrical to optical signals. The optical signal ports disclosed in the '849 patent are not self correcting if misaligned.
It would be desirable to provide a self-aligning connector or device which could be connected to another connector or device. Such a self-aligning connector could function to correct for connector portion misalignment, thereby assuring signal transmission with a minimum of attenuation and stress imposed on the connector components. It would be further desirable to provide a self-aligning device which can eliminate translational and angular errors that occur during mating of connectors. Such a self-aligning mechanism could be adapted for a wide variety of applications including use in electrical and fiber optic connector systems.

Connectors having translational and rotational compliance about the leading edge


The present invention is an automated ice vending machine for delivering ice to consumers. The machine of the present invention includes an insulated enclosure, an ice manufacturing apparatus, a cooling unit, an ice inventory storage bin, an ice agitating device, an incline ice transport device, and a bagger assembly. The present invention also includes a method of vending ice to a consumer.

Ice bagging machines and ice vending machines are known in the art in general. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,932,124 discloses an automated ice bagging apparatus that transports ice in a substantially horizontal direction out of a holding bin to a second transport device that transports said ice to a scale to allocate a predetermined amount of ice to a bag. Additional examples of ice vending, ice bagging and vending machines are set forth in the background section of U.S. Pat. No. 6,932,124. Many known ice vending and bagging machines contain multiple components for transporting ice from a holding bin to a bag. What is needed in the art is an ice vending and bagging machine that uses gravity to transport ice out of a holding bin to a transport device which transports ice pieces from a holding bin to a bag for delivery to a consumer.

Automated ice vending machine and method of vending ice


A new and distinct cultivar of Gardenia plant named ‘ST-07-20’ is disclosed, characterized by fragrant, double white flowers, abundant large flowers in spring with reblooming to fall, lustrous, dark green foliage, columnar growth habit, cold hardy to USDA Hardiness Zone 7. The new cultivar is a Gardenia, suitable for ornamental garden purposes.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Gardenia jasminoides, a member of the Rubiaceae family, hereinafter referred to by its cultivar name 'ST-07-20'. This cultivar is grown primarily as an ornamental for landscape use and for use as a potted plant.
The new Gardenia cultivar originated from an open pollination of Gardenia jasminoides 'PIIGA-ll', U.S. Plant Pat. No. 27,258, in Watkinsville, Ga., in 2020 and was selected from the progeny by continued evaluation for growth habit, foliage, and floral characteristics.
'ST-07-20' has been asexually reproduced first by softwood cuttings in Watkinsville, Ga. during 2020. This and subsequent propagation of the new variety have shown the characteristics of the cultivar are stable and reproduced true-to-type in successive vegetative generations


An optical fiber cable comprises a central tube containing at least one optical fiber, a plurality of outer tubes, each containing at least one optical fiber, and at least two strength members, wherein the outer tubes and strength members are disposed around and in contact with the central tube, the strength members being between intermediate pairs of outer tubes. Preferably, a cord is wound around the outer tubes and strength members to hold them against the outer tube. Preferably, the optical fiber in the central tube is part of an optical fiber ribbon. Preferably, a plurality of individual optical fibers are provided in the outer tubes. The optical fibers are loosely contained within the central and outer tubes. One or several additional tubes containing insulated copper pairs or a coaxial cable may also be provided. Preferably, the cable tubes and the strength members are disposed in a reverse oscillating lay or S-Z fashion around the central tube.

Optical fibers are relatively fragile and must be protected during manufacture and installation. A variety of protective measures are therefore provided in cables containing optical fibers. The optical fiber or fibers are typically enclosed in a plastic buffer tube having a bore of a cross-sectional area larger than the cross-sectional area of the fiber or fibers within it. This is referred to as a "loose" configuration. The material of the tube typically has a relatively high temperature coefficient of expansion and a relatively low tensile strength. Frequently, the axial length of the tube is shorter than the linear length of the fibers or ribbons. The tube can move or be flexed a certain degree by external forces or by thermal expansion and contraction, without bending the optical fiber ribbon.
To further resist thermal expansion and contraction, strength members of metal wires, high strength non-metallic rods or fibers, such as glass rods or fibers or aramid in a matrix of resin, can be provided adjacent the tube or tubes containing the optical fibers. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,509,097 and 5,229,851, assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
Strength members have been provided in the outer jacket or sheath to resist pulling, such as pulling which occurs during installation of a cable. Additional layers of materials, such as armoring for crushing and rodent protection, can also be provided. For moisture protection, the tube is typically filled with a water blocking compound which permits the fibers or ribbons to move within the buffer tubes. The water blocking compound may be a gel or grease-like, and non-hygroscopic and/or thixotropic.
Optical fiber cables are available in a variety of configurations. For example, optical fiber cables are available comprising one or more optical fibers, an optical fiber ribbon or an optical fiber bundle loosely contained within a central tube. Optical fiber ribbons are typically preferred where high fiber counts are required, such as feeder and distribution segments of an optical fiber network. They are also used to connect locations separated by long distances, referred to as long haul applications, such as connecting central telephone stations to local networks. Such cables could also be used in cable TV networks or as data links between computers. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,509,097, described above, the central tube loosely contains an optical fiber ribbon.
Optical fiber cables are also available comprising a plurality of tubes, each containing a plurality of optical fibers in a loose configuration and disposed around a central strength member to resist thermal expansion and contraction. Further strength members can also be provided in an outer protective jacket. Such cables are typically used where the ability to splice to different local points is required. For higher fiber count applications, optical fiber ribbons can be disposed in each of the tubes. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,229,851.
Optical fiber cables have been proposed which include both a central tube containing optical fibers for long haul applications and a plurality of outer tubes containing optical fibers for shorter distance connections. U.S. Pat. No. 4,822,132, to Oestreich, for example, discloses an optical communications cable for use in local cable networks comprising an inner central tube surrounded by a plurality of smaller tubes, each containing fewer optical fibers than the central tube. The outer tubes are stranded about the central tube in an alternating twist or reverse oscillating lay configuration. The outer tubes are accessible for splicing and branching while the central tube can continue through branching locations to cable terminals. No strength member system is provided to resist longitudinal forces, such as the forces due to installation and thermal expansion and contraction.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,230,395 to Dean et al., discloses an optical fiber cable comprising a plurality of optical fibers loosely contained within a plurality of tubes, surrounded by a sheath. A central tube containing optical fibers can also be provided, and is surrounded by the plurality of non-stranded tubes. Reinforcing members extending parallel to the cable axis are embedded in the sheath, in the tube walls, or can be between the plurality of tubes and the sheath but spaced from the central tube. Thus, the reinforcing members do not resist longitudinal expansion and contraction of the central tube.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,078,853 to Kempf et al., discloses an optical fiber cable comprising a plurality of tubes, each loosely containing an optical fiber ribbon, helically stranded around a central tube, also containing an optical fiber ribbon. An outer jacket reinforced with strength members surrounds the tubes.
However, none of the references cited hereinbefore suggests that when outer tubes containing optical fibers are disposed around a central tube containing optical fibers, structural strength members should be placed between the outer tubes and in contact with the central tube or that the outer tubes with the structural strength members therebetween should be wound around the central tube. It is unexpected that such a configuration would provide better protection for the optical fibers contained within the outer tubes and the central tube from thermal expansion and contraction, because the strength members are not substantially rectilinear and parallel with the cable axis, as in the prior art.

Combination loose tube optical fiber cable with reverse oscillating lay


An explosive charge carrier is provided which is lowered into a well pipe casing. The carrier includes wear plates that slide along the inner diameter of the pipe and which are biased against the inner wall of the well pipe casing. A string of explosive charges having a density of up to six charges per foot are mounted between disks of the carrier which are separated by 12 inches. Spaced about the periphery of the separated disks are a maximum density of six strings of charges separated by 60.degree. for 36 explosive charges. Alternately, four strings of charges may be spaced about the periphery of the separated disks at a spacing of 90.degree. for 16 explosive charges.

In the oil and gas industry, it is necessary when abandoning a well or isolating different zones of the well to seal an annular space between a central string of pipes and a surrounding protective string of pipes. To seal the annular space, it is desired to punch a hole in an innermost pipe of a series of at least two concentric strings of pipe so as to only penetrate the innermost pipe string without damaging or penetrating any other surrounding pipe strings in the well. Further, the punched pipe must not be fractured or damaged except for a limited size hole punched in a side wall.
Since it is impossible to effect a perfectly vertical well bore, there is always some degree of offset from a perfectly vertical orientation of the well bore to produce a high and a low side. Therefore, previous to the present invention, a zero degree phase gun has been lowered into a well bore and, due to the effect of gravity, the gun lays along one side (the low side) of a central casing of the well bore. A magnetizer holds the gun against the one side of the steel central casing.
The zero degree phase gun explodes a charge against the low side of the well bore.
Cement is then fed through the central casing and passed through the opening produced by the explosive charge to fill an annular gap between a central casing and a surrounding protection casing. It is important to seal the annular gap between the central casing and only the next adjacent protective pipe string so as to seal any naturally produced gases or to isolate different zones of the well bore. If an additional string of pipe is perforated by accident, it is not possible to assure that gases are being sealed by the filling with cement of the annular gap between the innermost and the most adjacent string of pipe.
Further, with a zero degree phase gun, an electrical line must be fed down through the well casing with a magnetic decentralizer gun, which ensures contact of the gun with a side wall of the steel well casing. As mentioned above, this contact with the well casing will be, due to gravity, on the low side of the well casing. Cement therefore poured through the well casing which is supposed to pass through the opening produced by the explosive charge into the space between the well casing and the protective casing does not usually fill this space on the high side of the well casing, leaving pockets or "channelling" through which it is possible for natural pressure to escape to the surface.
Examples of perforating charges lowered into a pipe string are disclosed is U.S. Pat. No. 4,688,640 to Pritchard, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 4,552,234 to Revett, U.S. Pat. No. 3,426,850 to McDuffie, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 3,280,913 to Smith, U.S. Pat. No. 4,352,397 to Christopher, U.S. Pat. No. 4,760,883 to Dunn, U.S. Pat. No. 3,011,550 to Kenneday, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,366,188 to Hicks.
The most common method of punching holes today is to use a 1 11/16 inch outside diameter steel carrier gun with a zero degree phase and a 1 11/16 inch magnetic decentralizer which is magnetized on one side. The magnet and perforating charge must face the same direction. This tool automatically finds the low side of the well bore and always perforates the casing on this low side. This results in a poor cementing of the annular space between a central string of pipe and a surrounding protection casing.


A dielectric layer is formed over an SOI layer and then masked and etched to define a trench. The sidewalls of the trench are thermally oxidized to form a layer of oxide thereon. A polysilicon gate is then formed within the trench. The layer of oxide laterally bounds the gate and thus serves a sidewall spacer for the gate. Dopants are implanted into portions of the SOI layer lying on opposite sides of the trench to form elevated source and drain regions. A layer of silicide such as, for instance, titanium silicide, may then be formed within surface portions of the elevated source and drain. The elevation of the source and drain allows silicon to be sufficiently sourced during formation of the silicide, thereby minimizing agglomeration within the silicide layer. The channel length of a semiconductor device fabricated using present embodiments is controlled by the thickness of the sidewall spacer.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to silicon-on-insulator (SOI) CMOS devices and specifically to processes for forming SOI devices having a low resistance.
2. Description of Related Art
Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) devices are those which are formed in a thin silicon layer which overlies an insulating layer. The insulating layer, in turn, overlies a second silicon layer. Fabricating integrated circuit (IC) devices in a thin silicon-on-insulator (SOI) layer, as opposed to fabricating such devices in a much thicker bulk silicon structure, allows for lower parasitic capacitances and for greater channel currents which, in turn, allows for faster speeds. The lower parasitic capacitances also allow for reduced substrate crosstalk and, thus, for reduced noise. In order to fully realize these advantages, the SOI layer within which IC devices are fabricated should be less than approximately 1000 .ANG. so that the source and drain regions of these IC devices are proximate to the underlying insulating layer. Further, the source and drain regions of devices formed within an SOI layer should be shallow in order to minimize short channel effects.
Unfortunately, semiconductor devices fabricated in a thin SOI layer and having relatively shallow source and drain regions typically exhibit an unacceptably high series resistance between the source and drain regions. This high series resistance results in slower speeds and therefore may abrogate the superior speeds when using SOI technologies. In order to decrease the series resistance of such semiconductor devices, a layer of silicide is typically formed within the source and drain. The silicide material may be, for instance, Titanium Silicide (TiSi.sub.2) or Cobalt Silicide (CoSi.sub.2).
For instance, a layer of titanium silicide is formed within the source and drain of a transistor by first depositing a thin film of titanium over the surface of the transistor. The transistor is then thermally annealed in a nitrogen ambient at a temperature between approximately 400-700 degrees Celsius for approximately 10-200 seconds to induce reactions between titanium and silicon. Thus, titanium from within the deposited titanium layer and silicon from within the source and drain react to form a titanium silicide (TiSi.sub.x) layer substantially within the source and drain. Since titanium does not significantly react with insulating materials such as, for instance, oxides and nitrides, portions of the titanium layer overlying sidewall spacers and field oxide regions remain in a metallic titanium state. These thermally induced reactions also produce a layer of titanium nitride over the transistor. The titanium nitride layer and un-reacted portions of the deposited titanium layer are removed during a subsequent etching step. The titanium silicide layer lying substantially within the source and drain of the transistor, which is left intact, increases the conductivity of the source and drain and, therefore, reduces the series resistance of the transistor. A second thermal annealing step converts the titanium silicide into a substantially stoichiometric composition. For instance, where the titanium silicide is in the form TiSi.sub.2, the second annealing converts the TiSi.sub.2 from a C.sub.49 phase to a more conductive C.sub.54 phase, thereby further reducing the series resistance of the transistor.
Forming a layer of silicide in the manner described above is, however, problematic if the semiconductor device is fabricated within a thin silicon layer, such as an SOI layer, which has a thickness of less than approximately 1000 .ANG.. These thin silicon layers cannot source enough silicon during thermally induced reactions with titanium and, as a result, an undesirable amount of titanium agglomeration occurs within the resultant titanium silicide layer. The agglomeration of titanium decreases the conductivity of the silicide layer which, as discussed above, produces an undesirable increase in the series resistance of a transistor. The agglomeration of titanium may also degrade the performance and reliability of the transistor.
Increasing the thickness of the underlying silicon layer has been found to reduce the agglomeration of titanium during formation of titanium silicide. However, since increasing the thickness of the silicon layer undesirably increases parasitic capacitances therein, such an approach undesirably involves a difficult trade-off between maximizing the conductivity of the silicide layer and minimizing parasitic capacitances within the silicon layer. In response thereto, another approach has been proposed in which conventional methods of forming an elevated source and drain are applied to the fabrication of semiconductor devices formed in thin silicon layers such as, for instance, an SOI layer. The junction depths of the resultant elevated source and drain are increased, while preserving the thickness portions of the silicon layer lying between the elevated source and drain, i.e., the channel region. The deeper source and drain reduce the agglomeration of titanium during formation of titanium silicide layers therein. Since the thickness of other portions of the silicon layer are not increased, parasitic capacitances within the silicon layer are not significantly increased.
In this approach, a layer of gate oxide is first grown over an SOI layer. A layer of polysilicon is then deposited and patterned to form a control gate of the transistor. After sidewall spacers are formed in a well known manner, portions of the gate oxide overlying portions of the SOI layer where the source and drain will be formed are removed, thereby exposing these portions of the SOI layer. Next, an epitaxial layer of silicon is selectively grown over these exposed portions of the SOI layer and then doped using, for instance, ion implantation, to a desired dopant concentration. The resultant source and drain are formed substantially within the epitaxial layer and, thus, are "elevated" with respect to the gate. The elevated source and drain are then silicided, as described above, to reduce the series resistance of the transistor. Since the elevated source and drain lie substantially above the original SOI layer, a greater amount of silicon is available during formation of the silicide layer within the elevated source and drain. As a result, the titanium agglomerates to a much lesser extent, thereby increasing the conductivity of the silicide layer and, thus, further decreasing the series resistance of the transistor.
Unfortunately, such a method of forming an elevated source and drain of a transistor which is fabricated on a thin SOI layer is not only expensive but also is very difficult to control. Specifically, the thickness and quality of the epitaxial layer grown over portions of the SOI layer tend to vary between wafer runs, thereby undesirably resulting in device specification inconsistencies and reliability problems.
In another approach for forming elevated source and drain regions of a transistor, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,434,093, issued on Jul. 18, 1995 to Chau et al, a dielectric layer is first formed over the substrate. A portion of the dielectric layer is removed using a suitable etchant, thereby forming a trench within the dielectric layer. After a polysilicon gate and associated sidewall spacers are formed within the trench, the dielectric layer is removed, thereby exposing portions of the underlying silicon substrate. Source and drain regions are formed within these exposed portions of the substrate. Since the trench may be etched into the substrate, the source and drain regions are elevated with respect to the gate.
The disadvantage of techniques such as that disclosed in the Chau et al patent is that the channel length of devices formed in accordance thereof is determined by the photo-lithographic and etching process used. Thus, the precision with which channel length may be controlled is limited by alignment tolerances and minimum dimensions of photo-lithography and etching techniques.

Process for forming silicon on insulator devices having elevated source and drain regions


The present disclosure provides example methods operable by computing device. An example method can include receiving an image from a camera. The method can also include comparing one or more parameters of the image with one or more control parameters, where the one or more control parameters comprise information indicative of an image from a substantially unobstructed camera. Based on the comparison, the method can also include determining a score between the one or more parameters of the image and the one or more control parameters. The method can also include accumulating, by a computing device, a count of a number of times the determined score image exceeds a first threshold. Based on the count exceeding a second threshold, the method can also include determining that the camera is at least partially obstructed.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, are providing progressively better cameras that capture higher-quality digital images. Further, stand-alone compact cameras, digital SLR cameras, and mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras, are becoming more popular. Thus, the amount of high-quality images being captured is increasing rapidly. However, images are often captured by devices that are obstructed by dirt, grease or other foreign objects. Despite the progression in image capture technology, images captured with an obstructed camera may be poor in quality.


Apparatus for processing a silicon workpiece uses reflected UV light to measure and control the workpiece temperature. A linearly polarized beam including UV light is directed onto a silicon surface to produce a reflected beam. The reflected beam is cross-polarized to null out much of the light, and the resulting residual reflectivity spectrum is determined. The temperature is determined from the characteristics of this spectrum. A workpiece heating station uses this measuring technique to accurately control the temperature of a silicon workpiece and temperature-dependent processing over a wide range of processing temperatures, including temperatures below 500.degree. C.

Many systems used in the fabrication of silicon devices are essentially systems for controlling the temperature of a silicon workpiece while some process is carried out. For example, dopants are deposited on or implanted in a masked silicon workpiece at prescribed temperatures and the workpiece is then heated to a prescribed higher temperature to provide a desired degree of diffusion or anneal. Similarly, layers of various additional materials such as oxides, nitrides and metals are deposited at prescribed temperatures and subjected to various heat treatments. Thus stations for carefully controlled heating of silicon workpieces are important parts of silicon device fabrication equipment.
A typical silicon workpiece heating station comprises a workpiece support, apparatus for measuring the temperature of the workpiece, and controllable heating elements, such as infrared bulbs, for heating the workpiece. Electronic circuitry receives the measured temperature and controls the heating elements to achieve the desired temperature as a function of time.
As silicon processing technology advances, the performance of conventional workpiece heating stations becomes less satisfactory. A major problem is presented by ongoing efforts to reduce the workpiece temperatures to below 500.degree. C. in many processing steps.
Conventional heating stations use thermocouples or optical pyrometers to measure the temperature of the workpieces. While thermocouples are effective over a wide temperature range, they must attach to the workpiece for accuracy. Such attachment is costly, time-consuming and may contaminate the workpiece. Optical pyrometers need not be attached, but they have reduced accuracy at lower temperatures and lack the required accuracy at temperatures below 500.degree. C.
Various efforts have been made to develop new temperature measuring devices for such applications. All have problems measuring and controlling workpiece temperature with the desired accuracy over the desired temperature range.
One such effort is to improve pyrometers by use of a ripple technique. This technique takes advantage of the thermal modulation of the AC current which powers the heating lamps. The pyrometer measures the oscillating component of light emitted from the workpiece. With this technique, the temperature of a workpiece can be controlled to an accuracy of 12.degree. C. at temperatures near 1100.degree. C., and pyrometers using the technique are effective to near 600.degree. C. with decreasing accuracy. But lower operating temperatures and higher accuracy are required.
A second class of efforts is directed to measure semiconductor workpiece temperature by measuring variation in the reflectivity of the semiconductor near its optical bandgap energy. This band gap is the energy below which the semiconductor is substantially transparent. In some semiconductors, near the bandgap energy, the amount of reflected light changes rapidly with wavelength, and the energy gap shifts slightly as temperature changes. Thus it has been proposed to measure temperature by shining light of such wavelength on a semiconductor and measuring the reflectivity. This method works satisfactorily with direct bandgap semiconductors such a GaAs, but it does not work with silicon because silicon has an unusually weak texture in its reflectivity near its band gap. This is due to the fact that silicon is an indirect bandgap material.
A third group of efforts is to measure the temperature of a semiconductor by the change in the transmitted light near the optical band energy. While the technique will work for pure silicon, it does not work for silicon workpieces modified by the deposition of films on the workpiece surface because many of the materials normally deposited for integrated circuits are significantly absorbing or opaque. Thus, this approach is undesirably sensitive to deposited materials. Accordingly, there is a need for improved apparatus for measuring and controlling temperature of silicon workpieces during the fabrication of silicon devices.

Apparatus for processing silicon devices with improved temperature control


This invention relates to a CSF shunting system that can be used in the human body for the control of hydrocephalus or excess cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the ventricles of the brain. The invention relates to the configuration of a fluid pressure controlling diaphragm which has a substantially planar, non-arched, or slightly convex occluding surface that contacts as its valve mechanism a non-planar opposing surface. The diaphragm element can be made out of silicone rubber or some other flexible material, and the opposing surface can be made from a dissimilar material from the diaphragm element to prevent sticking. The invention also relates to the configuration of this substantially flat diaphragm element, its central stem, and its mounting in a frame so as to facilitate pre-loads, calibrations, and optical, as well as mechanical, tests for quality assurance. The invention further relates to a confirmation of this pressure control invention in a larger shunt body geometry, which provides for modular, distal, and occlusion elements, and articulating shape to better fit the contour of a patient's skull.

The use of fluid shunting systems to shunt the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from the ventricles of the patient's brain to his heart or peritoneum in the treatment of hydrocephalus is common today. Many configurations of shunts and their indwelling pressure control elements have been invented, and the literature is full of their application experience. Many of these devices have membranes or diaphragm type pressure control elements whose characteristic gives a desired pressure flow curve for the CSF fluid that they are shunting. Relevant to the present invention are the shunt configurations of the Heyer-Schulte Company, which have a dome-shaped diaphragm pressure control element, and the Pudenz-Schulte Medical Company, which have an arched shape or mushroom-shaped pressure control element. These are described in their brochures and relate to the U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,364,395; 4,464,168; 4,552,553; and, 4,560,375. Furthermore, the Radionics Company has a shunt which uses a quasi-septum type pressure control element that has a silicone spoon-shaped member as one side of the occluding surface and a Teflon articulating member for the opposing side of the pressure control element. The silicone and the Teflon elements move and open relative to each other to allow passage of fluid under the application of a pressure differential across the element. These pressure control designs are functional, and each has advantages. Furthermore, they are embodied in a larger shunt configuration which involves either a unitized, contoured type base valve, exemplified by the Heyer-Schulte and the Pudenz-Schulte medical companies, which provide in one unitized construction a proximal occlusion, a dome structure for flushing or needling injection, a distal occluder, and a pressure control element with unitized nipple connectors on the proximal and distal end for connecting to the proximal and distal catheters of the shunt system. Descriptions of the use of this contoured or unitized shunt construction are given in the literature and in the brochures. Also in the patents cited above and in the literature there is discussion about how to use these valves and also how to fabricate, test, and perform quality assurance on these valves. Essential here is the method of pre-loading the diaphragm elements so that they will have a specific and reproducible pressure flow characteristic. In general, the description in the patents and the literature are based on stiffness of the diaphragm elements, variation in thickness, and topology of the diaphragm elements, pre-loading methods involving pre-loading and gluing the stems of mushroom-type diaphragm elements, and sample selection of lots and devices. It is also described in the Heyer-Schulte and PS Medical brochures that their contoured valve has a unitized inner platform or body which is made of a relatively hard material, such as polypropylene. This body has a predetermined shape or contour as one looks at it in side section, the idea being that this contour will match the contour of the patient's skull, which is relatively curved when the shunt is implanted. Throughout their literature and patents they teach the use of this firm body with distal and proximal ports for digital or manual flushing of the valve, either proximally or distally, by means of finger pressure on the occluder at either the proximal or distal end followed by pressure on the flexible dome reservoir to flush it. Proximal and distal flushing are also described in the function of the Radionics shunt.
It is an objective of the present invention to provide a shunt valve configuration which has separate proximal occlusion internal body and separate distal occlusion inner body so that the articulation of the shunt can conform to the individualized contour of the patient's skull, unlike the fixed body or unitized body design of Heyer-Schulte and Pudenz-Schulte companies.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a substantially planar or somewhat convex diaphragm shape which occludes against a non-planar surface of different material to constitute the pressure flow controlling element and reflux control closing element. By means of such an essentially planar diaphragm configuration, together with a non-planar opposing surface, facilitation of testing can be done both visually and by pre-loading of the diaphragm stem or other structure.


With the advent of personal digital assistants (PDAs) having modems for information, e.g., facsimile and/or data, transmission over wireless connections, as well as the capability for voice communications, we have recognized that is possible to communicate with a person, wherever they are, in whatever form is desired. In order to do so in a manner that simulates the way a person at a fixed location having a separate telephone, fax machine and data modem would communicate, incorporate into a PDA is a) a receiver for a wireless actuation signal that indicates that a communication of some type is waiting for a called party; b) an outgoing connection origination unit that establishes a connection from the PDA to the waiting communication; c) a discriminator, which makes a determination as to the type of communication that is waiting; and d) a selection unit that routes the information signals received over the connection established by the PDA to an appropriate communication unit within the PDA, e.g., a fax modem, data modem, or voice communication unit, the appropriate communication unit being selected in response to the type of communication that was determined by the discriminator to be waiting. The PDA owner may optionally be alerted only when 1) an information transmission is successfully completed and the received information is waiting in the PDA for access by its owner, or 2) when a voice connection has successfully been established to the communication originator who continues to indicate a readiness to communicate.

A problem with setting up telecommunications connections today is the difficulty of locating called individuals who are highly mobile. This problem is partially alleviated by mobile telephone technology and radio paging systems. In one prior art system, described in copending application Ser. No. 07/843,685 assigned to the same assignee as the present application, a return telephone call is automatically placed from a personal communications unit of a called individual in response to a call from a caller and the called individual is alerted to the existence of the call placed to him only upon an indication that the call from the calling telephone remains in progress. This system assures the called individual that he will be connected to a call that continues to exist when the personal communications unit alerts so that he can speak to the calling party.
However, not all communication is in the form of voice. People also require information communication, which includes facsimile (fax) and data transmissions. Thus, there is a need in the art to provide information communication anytime and anywhere.
In one prior art solution for facsimiles, a facsimile transmitter initiates a call to the intended recipient's fax number, which is routed to a store and forward facsimile system. The facsimile system stores the transmitter's fax and then, in response to completion of the fax, transmits a paging signal to the pager of the intended recipient of the fax indicating that a fax is waiting. The paged recipient then proceeds to a facsimile machine which he uses to call into a predetermined number and retrieve his facsimile from the store and forward facsimile system.


A method for operating an accelerator pedal unit for motor vehicles, wherein a change in position of the pedal plate, which is brought about by a corresponding activation force, with respect to the starting position of said pedal plate counter to a restoring force of a pedal restoring spring brings about an increase in the driving force of the drive motor of the motor vehicle, and when the activation force diminishes the restoring force of the pedal restoring spring moves the pedal plate back in the direction of its starting position, wherein an electromechanical actuator which can be actuated externally is arranged in such a way that an additional restoring force acting on the pedal plate can be set.

In modern motor vehicles there is generally the problem that the vehicle driver is supplied with a large amount of information relating to his motor vehicle. This overstimulation of the vehicle driver by acoustic and optical signals causes the driver to be distracted from the traffic.
As a result, the vehicle driver has a tendency to fail to hear or to ignore the signals, or he can no longer assign the signals to their cause. An accelerator pedal unit of the generic type mentioned at the beginning avoids all the disadvantages of optical and acoustic systems: it is a suitable man/machine interface for longitudinal dynamics functions (inter-vehicle distance information, speed limitation and cruise control) as well as for displaying warnings of hazards or for displaying gearshift displays for a manual shift transmission.
DE 10 2004 025 829 B4, which is incorporated by reference, discloses a device in which the opposing force element is formed by a torque motor with fixed field coils on the stator and with a magnetic disk, with opposing magnetization at various locations, on the rotor. Such torque motors are distinguished by the fact that they make available very high torques. Electrodynamic and geometric nonlinearities are disadvantageous and lead to a situation in which, when identical electrical actuation occurs an identical force sensation is not generated at the driver's foot.

Method for operating an accelerator pedal unit for motor vehicles


A light-driven energy generation system using proteorhodopsin is provided. Proteorhodopsin sequences were retrieved and amplified from naturally occurring members of the domain Bacteria using proteorhodopsin-specific polymerase chain reaction primers. Proteorhodopsin sequences were placed in expression vectors for production of proteorhodopsin proteins in a host, for instance, E. coli and other bacteria. The system also includes a light source and a source of retinal, that allows the system to convert light into biochemical energy. The generated biochemical energy could be mediated into electrical energy by a mediator.

Retinal (vitamin A aldehyde) is a chromophore that binds integral membrane proteins (opsins) to form light-absorbing pigments called rhodopsins. Rhodopsins are currently known to belong to two distinct protein families. The visual rhodopsins, found in the eye throughout the animal kingdom, are photosensory pigments. Archaeal rhodopsins, found in extreme halophilic environments, function as light-driven protons pumps (bacteriorhodopsins), chloride ion pumps (halorhodopsins), or photosensory receptors (sensory rhodopsins). The two protein families show no significant sequence similarity and may have different origins. They do, however, share identical topologies characterized by seven transmembrane α-helices that form a pocket in which retinal is covalently linked, as a pronated Schiff base (helix G).
The archaeal rhodopsins are able to generate a photocycle which produces a chemiosmotic membrane potential in response to light, as such light energy is converted into biochemical energy. Recently, a protein with high sequence similarity to the archaeal rhodopsins has also been retrieved in the eukaryote Neurospora crassa (J. A. Bieszke et al., Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences USA 96:8034, 1999). The eucaryal rhodopsin formed a photochemically reactive pigment when bound to all-trans retinal and exhibited photocycle kinetics similar to those of archaeal sensory rhodopsins (J. A. Bieszke et al., Biochemistry 38:14138, 1999). To date, however, no rhodopsin-like sequences have been reported in members of the domain Bacteria, and no light-driven proton pumps based on rhodopsin have ever before been functionally expressed in E coli.
The phototropic conversion of light energy into biochemical energy using bacteriorhodopsin can be harnessed for a variety of processes and applications, such as bio-electronic applications and bio-materials, as has been reported in U.S. Pat. No. 5,757,525 for optical devices, U.S. Pat. No. 5,854,710 for optical Fourier processing, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,470,690 for optical information storage. Bacteriorhodopsin in bio-electronic applications is aimed to interface, integrate, or substitute the silicon based microelectronics systems as well as molecular devices. Bacteriorhodopsin as a bio-material is integrated, for instance, in optical films for light mediated computer memory applications and pattern recognition.
Previously, archaeal rhodopsins capable of generating a chemiosmotic membrane potential in response to light had only been found in halophilic archaea. Therefore, rhodopsins that originate from archaea adapted to highly saline environments cannot be functionally expressed in E. coli. Finally, the isolation and cultivation of halorhodopsins is an elaborate process. At present one does not foresee an economic utilization possible for this process (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 5,290,699).
Accordingly, as one skilled in the art might readily acknowledge, there is a strong need to retrieve and provide rhodopsin-like sequences from naturally occurring members of the domain Bacteria.

Light-driven energy generation using proteorhodopsin

Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute


Description and specifications of a new and distinct blackberry cultivar named ‘Osage’ which originated from seed produced by a hand pollinated cross of Ark. Selection ‘A-1719T’ (non-patented, unreleased genotype)×‘A-2108T’ (non-patented, unreleased genotype) is provided. This new blackberry cultivar can be distinguished by its excellent flavor, thornless canes, even drupelet fill and lack of white drupelets on berries, medium berry size, excellent postharvest storage potential, mid-early season ripening, high yields and healthy plants.

The new floricane-fruiting cultivar of blackberry called 'Osage' is described herein. The new cultivar originated from a hand-pollinated cross of Arkansas selections 'A-1719'בA-2108' made in 2000. The seeds resulting from this controlled hybridization were germinated in a greenhouse in the spring of 2001 and planted in a field near Clarksville, Ark. (West-Central Arkansas). The seedlings fruited in the summer of 2003 and one seedling, designated 'A-2362', was selected in 2003 for its excellent flavor, thornless canes, even drupelet fill and lack of white drupelets on berries, medium berry size, excellent postharvest storage potential, mid-early season ripening, high yields and healthy plants.

THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS


A bipolar electrosurgical scraper device is provided comprising a handle, a blade having a thickness and a beveled distal end with the beveled distal end terminating distally in a scraping edge. The beveled distal end includes a first electrode and a second electrode with the first electrode and the second electrode provided along a width of the blade and spaced apart with respect to the thickness of the blade. The device also comprises a fluid passage at least one fluid outlet in fluid communication with the fluid passage.

The human spinal column is composed of bone vertebrae which support the upper body. Around and attached to the vertebrae are, among other things, various muscles which act on the vertebrae to affect movement of the upper body. While a vast majority of the population has a normally shaped spinal column, a portion of the population suffers from an abnormal curvature of the spinal column known as scoliosis.
Scoliosis is treated by fusing various vertebrae together along the curvature to straighten the spine column. During a fusion procedure, the surgeon first retracts the soft tissue connected to the vertebrae to be fused, and thereafter removes certain of the processes (bone projections) from the vertebrae. The vertebrae are then aligned to straighten the spinal column, and stabilized relative to one another by a steel rod which is attached to the vertebrae by numerous fastening techniques. The surgeon then places bone graphs across the exposed surfaces of adjoining vertebrae and restores the location of the soft tissue to cover the bone graphs and vertebrae. The graphs regenerate, grow into bone and fuse the vertebrae together, with the rod functioning as a temporary splint which stabilizes the spinal column while the bone fuses together over a period of months.
Fusion procedures to treat scoliosis generally take many hours. In some cases, the entire length of the spinal column is substantially exposed and the surgical procedure may take eight hours or more. Consequently, blood loss during the procedure can be significant. A great amount of this blood loss occurs when the soft tissue is removed from the vertebrae, generally with a device that scrapes along the hard vertebrae surface and simultaneously strips the soft tissue from the vertebrae. Generally the soft tissue is first removed from the vertebrae with a first handheld non-powered instrument, and then the separated tissue is treated to reduce blood loss with a second instrument, typically an electrosurgical monopolar (Bovie) pencil. What is needed is a single surgical instrument which reduces the need to switch between different instruments, and offers the surgeon the ability to treat tissue against blood loss simultaneously with the separation of soft tissue from bone, resulting in reduced surgical time.

Fluid-assisted medical devices and methods


An object of preventing a reduction in the output efficiency of a motor in the high speed rotation range and reducing the noise of the motor in the low speed rotation range is to be achieved. Since, if a signal that corresponds to the rotation rate has a value equal to or smaller than a specific value, the timing with which a switch performs switching is retarded relative to the timing used when the signal corresponding to the rotation rate has a value larger than the specific value, once the operation shifts to the low speed rotation range, the switching timing is retarded to shift from the setting that gives priority to efficiency, to the setting for achieving noise reduction as long as the switching timing is set in advance so that an optimal output efficiency is achieved in the high speed rotation range.

The present invention relates to a drive control apparatus for a brushless motor that controls the timing with which current is supplied to exciting coils based upon signals provided by Hall elements that detect the position of a rotor.
A brushless motor in the prior art comprises a rotor provided with permanent magnets, a stator provided with exciting coils wound around it for imparting a rotating magnetic field to the rotor, Hall elements that detect the position of the rotor and switching elements constituted of FETs or the like that switch the exciting coils to which electric current is supplied as disclosed in, for instance, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. S 60-204286 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H 5-91789. The timing of switching performed by the switching elements, i.e. the timing with which power is supplied to the exciting coils, is controlled based upon output signals from the Hall elements
However, in the structure described above, if the timing with which power is supplied to the exciting coils is set in advance with the output efficiency of the motor as a primary factor, while no significant problems arise in the high speed rotation range, there is a problem in that, the noise of the motor in the low speed rotation range increases. If, on the other hand, the power supply timing is set with priority given to reducing the motor noise, while no significant problem arises in the low speed rotation range, there is a problem in that the output of the motor becomes insufficient in the high speed rotation range, when a large output is required.
Generally speaking, it is desirable to give priority to noise reduction in the low speed rotation range even though it somewhat reduces the output efficiency of the motor, since the need for driving the motor is not so stringent in this range, whereas it is desirable to give priority to achieving a high degree of output efficiency for the motor over a reduction in the noise in the high speed rotation range, since the need for driving the motor is acute in this range.

Drive control apparatus for brushless motor


A method of manufacturing a through conductor that penetrates from an upper surface of a silicon substrate to its lower surface. The through conductor is manufactured in steps which provide a first conductor which extends in the direction of thickness of the silicon substrate from the upper surface of the silicon substrate, and a second conductor which has a size in the direction orthogonal to the thickness direction is smaller than that of the first conductor and which penetrates the silicon substrate from a bottom face of the first conductor to the lower surface of the silicon substrate.

The present invention relates to a through conductor such as a through electrode which penetrates a silicon substrate such as a package substrate with a semiconductor chip mounted thereon, a chip substrate of the semiconductor chip or the like and electrically connects the front and back sides of the silicon substrate, and a method for manufacturing the through conductor.
As a conventional through electrode, e.g., a through electrode provided in its corresponding semiconductor chip employed in a semiconductor package in which a plurality of semiconductor chips are laminated, there is formed a through electrode of a silicon (Si) substrate such as a wafer used as a chip substrate of the semiconductor chip, which is characterized by forming a mask pattern in a region excluding a region for forming the through electrode, etching the silicon substrate exposed by dry etching to form an electrode forming hole with a bottom, covering the bottom face and side face of the electrode forming hole with an insulating film comprised of silicon dioxide (SiO2) by a CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) method, thereafter forming a seed film by sputter, the CVD method or the like, embedding a conductor formed of a metal having conductivity into the electrode forming hole by a plating method or the like, and thereafter polishing the lower surface of the silicon substrate to expose the conductor to the bottom face of the electrode forming hole, thereby penetrating from an upper surface of the silicon substrate to its lower surface so as to electrically connect the upper surface side and the lower surface side (refer to, for example, a patent document 1 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 10 (1998)-223833 (paragraph 0061 in page 6-paragraph 0082 in page 7, FIG. 4 and FIG. 5)).
However, the above prior art has problems in that since the through electrode is formed as a circular cylinder which penetrates from the upper surface of the silicon substrate to the lower surface thereof, an electrolytic solution is hard to enter the electrode forming hole upon embedding of the conductor by an electrolytic plating method or the like when the aspect ratio (ratio between the diameter of hole and its depth) of its through electrode hole exceeds 10, and the mouth of the electrode forming hole is first blocked off, thereby causing the difficulty of filling the electrode forming hole with the conductor.

Method for manufacturing a through conductor


An eletrophotographic image forming apparatus may include a developing unit; a toner buffer unit which feeds a toner to the developing unit, and includes an agitating member agitating the toner contained inside the toner buffer unit and a first carrying member carrying the toner contained inside the toner buffer unit to the developing unit; a toner cartridge which feeds the toner to the toner buffer unit, and includes a second carrying member carrying the toner contained inside the toner cartridge to the toner buffer unit; and a control unit which controls a first driving unit driving the second carrying member and a second driving unit driving the agitating member and the first carrying member, and the control unit includes a first feed mode, a second feed mode and a toner supplement mode.

1. Field
One or more embodiments relate to an eletrophotographic image forming apparatus which prints an image by feeding toner to an electrostatic latent image formed on a photoconductor, developing the electrostatic latent image, transferring the developed image to a recoding medium, and fixing the developed image to the recoding medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Eletrophotographic image forming apparatuses print out an image on a recording medium by irradiating modulated light corresponding to image information to a photoconductor, forming an electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photoconductor, feeding toner to this electrostatic latent image to develop a visible image, transferring the visible image to a recording medium, and fixing the visible image to the recording medium.
A developer that develops an electrostatic latent image to a photoconductor may receive the toner from a toner cartridge. A toner buffer unit, which receives the toner from the toner cartridge and feeds the toner to the developer, may be arranged between the developer and the toner cartridge. Thus, the toner may be fed from the toner cartridge to the developer via the toner buffer unit.
The toner buffer unit may include an agitating member to agitate the toner contained inside the agitating member and a carrying member to feed the toner to the developer.
When the agitating member and the carrying member are driven by a single motor, the agitating member and the carrying member are driven altogether. When the agitating member is driven to supplement the toner from the toner cartridge to the toner buffer unit, the carrying member is simultaneously driven. Thus the toner is fed to the developer. In this case, although feeding the toner to the developer is unnecessary, the toner may be continuously fed to the developer due to driving of the carrying member. Finally, the concentration of the toner in the developer may exceed a reference concentration. This may lead to a decrease in the image quality.
On the other hand, when the agitating member and the carrying member are driven by separate motors in order to prevent overfeeding of the toner to the developer, the number of motors is doubled, and, thus increases in size and price of a developing device may occur.

Electrophotographic image forming apparatus to control the supply of toner to the developer


A thermal transfer ink sheet composed of a substrate, a thermal transfer ink layer formed on one side of the substrate, and a back coat layer formed on the other side of the substrate, characterized in that the back coat layer has a kinetic friction coefficient smaller than 0.25 (with respect to the thermal head) which varies depending on whether printing is going on or not, such that it has a value of .mu..sub.1 when printing is going on and a value of .mu..sub.2 when printing is not going on, with the ratio of .mu..sub.1 /.mu..sub.2 being from 0.8 to 1.2. The kinetic friction coefficient in the specified range can be obtained by employing a slip agent which does not greatly change the kinetic friction coefficient of the back coat layer depending on whether printing is going on or not, or by employing two slip agents in combination, one giving the back coat layer a kinetic friction coefficient which is higher when printing is going on than when printing is not going on, the other giving the back coat layer a kinetic friction coefficient which is lower when printing is going on than when printing is not going on. The thermal transfer ink sheet runs smoothly without imposing unnecessary loads to the thermal head and hence gives rise to a high-quality print image free of printing pitch fluctuation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thermal transfer ink sheet to be used for the printing of an image on printing paper by means of a thermal head, and more particularly, to a thermal transfer ink sheet provided with a back coat layer having a kinetic friction coefficient within a certain range for the elimination of printing pitch fluctuation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are two kinds of thermal transfer ink sheets--that of hot-melt transfer type and that of thermal dye (sublimation) transfer type. Both of them are constructed such that the substrate sheet has an ink layer (of either sublimation type or thermal transfer type) on one side thereof and a back coat layer on the other side thereof. The back coat layer prevents the thermal transfer ink sheet from sticking to the thermal head, thereby ensuring its smooth run. It is usually made of a heat-resistant resin such as silicone resin, fluorocarbon resin, acrylsilicone resin, and nitrocellulose resin, containing or not containing a slip agent such as silicone oil, fluorocarbon powder, and high-molecular weight slip polymer.
The conventional thermal transfer ink sheet has a disadvantage that it causes the printing pitch fluctuation because the back coat layer greatly varies in the kinetic friction coefficient depending on whether printing is going on or not. This holds true particularly of that of sublimation type which needs higher printing energy than that of hot-melt type and hence has a back coat layer which is formed so as to exhibit the maximum slip properties and heat resistance at the time of printing.
The printing pitch fluctuation is salient in the printing of digital signals, in which case the printing position is greatly dislocated, and in the printing of gradated images, in which case the image density greatly varies from one point to another.
FIG. 1 illustrates how the printing pitch fluctuation occurs in the printing by a line printer. FIGS. 2 and 3 show the examples of printing pitch fluctuation.
In FIG. 1, the thermal head of a line printer is schematically shown together with its nearby components. The thermal head 1 is opposite to the platen 2, with the thermal transfer ink sheet 3 interposed between them such that the thermal head 1 heats the thermal transfer ink sheet 3 through its back coat layer, thereby transferring an image onto the printing paper 4. The platen 2 turns to run the thermal ink sheet 3 and printing paper 4 in their respective directions indicated by arrows.
In the case of the printer constructed as mentioned above, the thermal head 1 have resistors whose center is slightly offset from the center of the platen 2 in anticipation of the thermal head 1 deforming during printing, (as indicated by a). During printing, the thermal head 1 receives a load in the rightward direction due to friction between the thermal head 1 and the thermal ink sheet 3. This load deforms the thermal head 1 rightward, causing the center of the resistor to coincide with the center of the platen 2, (as indicated by b). Ink transfer takes place when the resistor is at this position. However, smooth ink transfer will not take place if the back coat layer 3 of the thermal transfer ink sheet 3 varies in the kinetic friction coefficient depending on whether printing is going on or not. Such variation causes the thermal head 1 to deform in different amounts, and hence to cause the center position of the resistor to vary, depending on whether printing is going or not. This is the reason for the image pitch fluctuation.
If the kinetic friction coefficient is small when printing is going on and large when printing is not going on, the center of the resistor 1 will be at position c and position d, respectively, as shown in FIG. 1. This situation poses a problem in the case where a long line and a short line are printed alternately and repeatedly, with a blank line interposed between them, as shown in FIG. 2. When a long line is being printed, the center of the resistor is at position c in FIG. 1; however, when a short line is being printed or no printing is being performed, the center of the resistor is at position d in FIG. 1. The result is that the long lines and short lines to be printed at the same intervals (i=ii) are printed at different intervals (i<ii), as shown in FIG. 2. The foregoing also applies to the printing of halftone with blanks. In this case, thick lines (iii) and thin lines (iv) appear on the printing paper, as shown in FIG. 3.
What is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 is true of the case where the kinetic friction coefficient is large when printing is going on and small when printing is not going on. However, the situation may be reversed, in which case the printing of alternating long and short lines, with a blank line interposed between them, has uneven intervals (i>ii) or the printing of halftone with blanks has thin lines (iii) and thick lines (iv).
The present invention was completed to solve the problem associated with the printing pitch fluctuation which occurs when the conventional thermal transfer ink sheet is employed. It is an object of the present invention to provide a thermal transfer ink sheet which runs smoothly without imposing unnecessary loads to the thermal head, thereby producing a high-quality transferred image free from printing pitch fluctuation even in the case of printing by digital signals.


A buffering cushion with a suspending layer hung between inward-bent air columns is provided. The quick-inflatable buffering cushion includes a first buffering member, a second buffering member, a third buffering member, a pair of vertical walls and a suspending layer. The second and third buffering members are bent to form a rectangular casing that has one pend end and a U-like sectional shape. A hammock-like suspending layer is integratedly extended from ends of the vertical walls for carrying an external object while providing buffering protection. The vertical walls form together with the second and third buffering member dual lateral buffering protection, respectively. The suspending layer is a non-inflatable piece, and thus is unlikely to be punctured by a sharp portion of the external object. Thereby, the external object is well protected in all directions by the buffering cushion and secured from damage during transport.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to buffering cushions for packaging, and more particularly to a buffering cushion with a suspending layer hung between inward-bent air columns, wherein the air columns can be inflated quickly and the suspending layer is hung between the inward-bent air columns.
2. Description of Related Art
With the vigorous development of the technical industry, electronic and telecommunication products, such as smart phones, tablet computers and flat LCD TV sets, become more and more exquisite in terms of structure. For ensuring the integrity of these products throughout their packing, transport and delivery, packaging materials play an important role. In early days, foam and other soft, loose material were placed in cartons for providing buffering protection. However, their effects are limited as they are unable to be uniformly arranged and they tend to scatter around.
For overcoming the foregoing shortcomings, some packaging dealers started to use an inflatable air pack as cushioning material. Such an inflatable air pack has a piece-like shape constructed from a plurality of air columns, and is to be placed around an object to be protected or filled in a packaging box. However, one air pack can only protect one side of the object, and in order to achieve all-around protection, many of such air packs have to be used simultaneously. This nevertheless means troublesome installing operation. Furthermore, since the air packs are independent of each other, they tend to have displacement after the foregoing time-consuming installation. One more defect of the known air packs is that as they are in nature inflated thin-film bubbles, when directly contacting an object to be protected, the sharp portion of the object or its other packaging material, such as binding needles, can easily puncture the film-made air packs. Particularly, at the bottom of the object to be protected, the punctured air packs can soon lose air and become functionless. If such puncture happens during transport and the broken air packs cannot be replaced timely, the object losing protection is put in high risk of damage.
In view of this, there is a need of an air pack that is unlikely to be punctured by sharp things and provides all-around buffering protection.

Buffering cushion with suspending layer hung between inward-bent air columns


A method for determining at least one formation property calculated from neutron measurements acquired with a downhole tool includes emitting neutrons from a source in the tool into the formation, detecting neutrons with at least one detector in the downhole tool, calculating a first slowing-down length (L1) based on the detected neutrons, and deriving a second slowing-down length (L2) based on the first slowing-down length (L1). Further steps include deriving a correlation function for relating slowing-down lengths from a first tool to slowing-down lengths associated with a different source, wherein the correlation function depends on formation properties such as bulk density; and applying the correlation function to the slowing-down length of the first tool to derive the slowing-down length of the second tool. A method for determining a thermal neutron formation porosity based on a slowing-down length from epithermal neutron measurements from an electronic neutron source includes converting the slowing-down length into a computed neutron slowing-down length from thermal neutron measurements from a chemical neutron source, wherein the converting uses a correlation function that depends on formation bulk density; deriving a thermal neutron countrate ratio based on the computed neutron slowing-down length, wherein the deriving uses a function that depends on the formation bulk density and formation sigma; and computing the thermal neutron formation porosity from the thermal neutron countrate ratio.

1. Field of invention
This invention relates to the determination of formation porosity using neutron measurements.
2. Background Art
In hydrocarbon exploration and production, it is important to determine whether an earth formation contains hydrocarbon and how much hydrocarbon is in the formation. Neutron "porosity" tools are traditionally used to determine the amount of hydrocarbon and water present in pore spaces of earth formations.
A neutron tool contains a neutron-emitting source (either a chemical source or a neutron generator) and one or more axially spaced detectors that respond to the flux of impinging neutrons resulting from the interactions of neutrons with nuclei within the borehole and formation in the vicinity of the borehole. The basic concept of a neutron porosity tool is predicated on the fact that (a) hydrogen is the most effective moderator of neutrons and that (b) most hydrogen found in earth formations is contained in liquid in the pore space of the formation, either as water or as liquid hydrocarbon or gas. For neutrons emitted with a fixed energy by the source, the count rates recorded by the neutron detectors decrease as the volumetric concentration of hydrogen (e.g., porosity) increases.
FIG. 1 shows a simplified schematic illustrating a wireline neutron logging operation. As shown in FIG. 1, a neutron tool 11 is disposed in a wellbore 12. The neutron tool 11 includes a neutron source 13 and one or more neutron detectors 14. The neutron source, which may be a chemical source or an electronic neutron generator, emits neutrons into the formation 15 surrounding the wellbore 12. The emitted neutrons traverse the formation 15 and interact with matter in the formation. As a result of such interactions, the neutrons lose some of their energy. Consequently, the neutrons may arrive at the detector 14 with lower energies. By analyzing the response of the detectors to these neutrons, it is possible to deduce the properties of the surrounding formations. Although discussed by way of example in terms of a wireline tool, it should he noted that the disclosed subject matter may be employed in a while drilling environment. For example, FIG. 1b illustrates a detector neutron porosity device embodied as a logging-while-drilling tool. In this example, a source of fast neutrons 1, a near detector 2 and a far detector 3 are positioned within a drill collar. Various other configurations of detector(s) are also contemplated. The LWD tool 4 is suspended by means of a drill string 5 within a borehole 6 penetrating an earth formation 7 via action of the drill bit 8.
Since neutrons interact with hydrogenous materials, borehole fluids will interfere with neutron measurements. To correct for borehole effects, two detectors are typically used; one at a shorter spacing from the neutron source and the other at a longer spacing. With the dual detectors, it becomes possible to compensate for the borehole effects. Typically, count rate ratios between the count rates detected by the near and far detectors are used to provide a more accurate measurement of formation porosity. Examples of dual detector neutron tools are described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,483,376 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,767,510.
Traditional tools with chemical sources are able to measure the porosity of a formation in the form of a thermal neutron porosity reading. The chemical source typically relies on (α,Be) reactions in an 241 AmBe mixture. Beryllium releases a neutron of approximately 4 MeV when struck by an alpha particle, which is produced by the americium. These high-energy neutrons interact with nuclei in the formation and become slowed mainly by elastic scattering to near thermal energies. The slowing-down process is dominated by hydrogen. At thermal energies, the neutrons diffuse through the material until they undergo thermal capture. Capture is dominated by hydrogen and other thermal neutron absorbers.
Some modern neutron tools are equipped with electronic neutron sources (minitrons). In a typical electronic neutron source, deuterium (2D) and tritium (3T) ions are accelerated towards a target containing the same isotopes. When 2D and 3T collide, they react to produce high-energy neutrons (about 14 MeV). These high-energy neutrons, when emitted into formations, interact with matter in the formations and gradually lose energy. This process is referred to as slowing down. The slowing-down process is dominated by hydrogen, and is characterized by a slowing-down length (Ls). By measuring neutrons at epithermal energies, rather than thermal energies, the response provides a better estimate of hydrogen index, unaffected by thermal absorbers. Thermal neutrons typically have an average energy corresponding to a kinetic energy of 0.025 eV at room temperature, while epithermal neutrons typically have energies corresponding to kinetic energies in the range of 0.4-10 eV. However, some epithermal neutrons may have energies as high as 1 keV. One of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that these energy ranges are general guidelines, rather than clear-cut demarcations
FIGS. 2A and 2B show two different examples of neutron tools: a traditional chemical source neutron tool 20 (e.g., CNL® tool from Schlumberger Technology Corp., Houston, Tex.) and an electronic neutron generator tool 21 (e.g., APS® tool from Schlumberger Technology Corp., Houston, Tex.), respectively. In a chemical source neutron tool 20 shown in FIG. 2A, the chemical source 25 includes a radioactive material, such as AmBe. The chemical source neutron tool 20 also includes a near detector 24 and a far detector 22 to provide a countrate ratio, which is used to calculate the porosity of a formation. The near detector 24 and far detector 22 are thermal neutron detectors. In addition, the tool 20 includes shielding materials 23 that prevent the neutrons generated by the chemical sources from directly reaching the detectors, minimizing the interference from the neutron source 25.
As shown in FIG. 2B, an electronic source neutron tool 21 uses an electronic neutron source 40 to produce high-energy (e.g., 14 MeV) neutrons. The high-energy neutrons emitted into formations are slowed to epithermal and thermal energies by interactions with matter in the formations. The epithermal neutrons are detected by detectors on the neutron tool 21, such as near detector 26, array detector 27, and far detector 29. As with the chemical source tool, the tool 21 includes shielding materials 42 that prevent the neutrons generated by the source from directly reaching the detectors. As noted above, by measuring epithermal neutrons, the detector responses are primarily dominated by the hydrogen content in the formation, without complication from neutron absorbers. Thus, the electronic neutron tool 21 conveniently provides measurements for hydrogen index. In addition, the neutron tool 21 may also include an array thermal detector 28 to detect thermal neutrons that returned from the formation. The epithermal neutron and thermal neutron measurements obtained with this tool can be used to derive various formation parameters.
In clean reservoir formations, the hydrogen index measured by epithermal neutron tools compares very well with traditional neutron porosity measured by thermal neutron tools. However, in shales, the epithermal hydrogen index often differs significantly from thermal neutron porosity. Even though the hydrogen index measurements, which are less susceptible to interference from neutron absorbers, can provide more accurate pore space estimates, they are not as commonly used as the thermal neutron porosity measurements obtained with chemical source tools. Because tools using chemical sources have been used in the industry much longer than electronic source neutron tools, users are more familiar with the thermal neutron porosity measurement. In addition, petrophysicists typically use thermal neutron porosity to indicate specific minerals as part of their formation analysis. However, chemical sources are less desirable due to their constant emission of radiation and strict government regulations. In addition, these chemical sources are becoming scarce. Therefore, there is a need for a method of converting measurements obtained with an electronic source neutron tool into measurements that could have been obtained with a traditional chemical source neutron tool.

Thermal neutron porosity from neutron slowing-down length, formation thermal neutron capture cross section, and bulk density


A neural network is trained with input data. The neural network is used to rescale the input data. Errors for the rescaled values are determined, and neighborhoods of the errors are used adjust connection weights of the neural network.

Image upscaling typically involves magnifying an entire image or a portion of an image. For example, an image upscaled by a factor of two may have a 2×2 block of pixels corresponding to each pixel in the original image. Pixel values in each 2×2 block of the upscaled image are predicted from pixel values in the original image.
The pixels may be predicted by traditional methods such as bilinear interpolation and bi-cubic interpolation, which involve the use of weighted sums of neighboring pixels to predict the pixel values. However, these traditional methods tend to produce blurring in upscaled images. The blurring is especially noticeable at edges of the upscaled images.
Neural networks can be used to perform image upscaling. The neural networks can be trained to predict values for the upscaled image.
A neural network is typically trained to fit models that produce images having a high peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR). The standard error measure used in neural network training is the sum of square error (SSE). The SSE is inversely related to the PSNR between the upscaled image and a true representation of the image (e.g., a true high resolution image).
Although the neural networks tend to reduce edge blurring, they tend to produce visual artifacts near edges and textured regions. These artifacts can degrade image quality.

Neural network trained with spatial errors

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


There is disclosed a socket for use with an electronic part, which is simple in structure and easily fabricated and in which a reliable contact between electrode terminals of the electronic part and those of a socket body is obtained when the electronic part is mounted or detached. Each electrode portion 1b of a socket body 10b has a sliding contact which contacts with an electrode terminal of the electronic part and whose contact point is movable by pushing of the electronic part against the socket body in a direction B perpendicular to the push, and a spring contact which biases with its degree of contact with the sliding contact increasing in proportion to a movable amount of the sliding contact.

The present invention relates to a socket for an electronic part and, more particularly, to a socket adapted designed so that an electronic part such as a CPU or an MPU is pushed into and received in a socket body to maintain contact of the electrode terminals of the electronic part with the electrode portions of the socket body.
In recent years, electronic part having a large number of electrode terminals such as a CPU or an MPU has been equipped with pin-grid array electrode terminals or cheaper electrode terminals such as ball-grid array electrode terminals and land-grid array electrode terminals. A socket for use with such an electronic part having these electrode terminals is used to mount this electronic part on a printed wiring board and to make electrical connection of the electrode terminals of the electronic part with the circuit of the printed wiring board.
A known socket of this kind for an electronic part has a socket body into which the electronic part is pushed, for maintaining connection of the electrode terminals of the electronic part with the electrode terminals of the socket body. Further concretely, the socket body has one end portion coupled to one end portion of a push member with a hinge member. The push member is swung about the coupled position. After the push member has been urged into the socket body side, a hook which acts as a latch mechanism capable of opening and closing and is mounted to the other end of the push member is engaged on an engaging portion of the socket body. Thus, the electronic part is fixedly mounted to the socket body. The contact of the electrode terminals of the electronic part with the electrode terminals of the socket body is maintained. The use of this kind of socket for the electronic part has a merit in that it facilitates attaching and detaching of the electronic part and its maintenance or the like, unlike the case where electrode terminals are soldered together by a reflow or the like.
The individual electrodes of the electronic part and of the socket body differ from each other due to their materials and fabrication processes. Further, in the electronic part having plural electrode terminals and in the socket body, the surface holding the electrode terminals has a certain area. Therefore, there is the possibility that the load of the push member forced against the socket body is imposed nonuniformly among the plural electrode terminals. These differences and nonuniform application of the load would normally induce poor contact of the electronic part with the socket body. To prevent this, a socket is used which renders movable a terminal member which makes contact with the electrode terminals of the electronic part.
However, it has been found that this socket for an electronic part cannot readily satisfy the following two requirements (1) and (2) simultaneously: (1) when the socket is placed in position, the movable contact member reliably makes contact with a support member, and (2) the movable contact member easily returns to a protruding position. Furthermore, it has been found that this socket becomes complex in structure.


A multi-hopper embosser comprising a card processing apparatus (13, 14, 15) for performing encoding, embossing and tipping processings on a card, plural hoppers (11) which are connected to the card processing apparatus via a loader unit (12) and adapted to stock cards therein, and a control apparatus (18) for controlling the card processing apparatus and the loader unit (12) to take out the card from a selected one of the plural hoppers (11) and perform the encoding, embossing and tipping processings on the card taken out.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus which is generally called as an embosser for embossing cards.
2. Description of Related Art
This type of embosser is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Nos. Sho-60-501054, Sho-58-051393, Sho-56-038281, etc.
There has been hitherto known an embosser in which a card processing apparatus for performing embossing processing on cards is connected to a hopper for stocking cards. In this type of embosser, a card is picked up from the hopper and supplied to the card processing apparatus on the basis of an instruction of a computer, and the embossing processing and the encode processing are performed in the card processing apparatus.
However, the conventional embossers as described above are inadequate in that card processing must be performed on every card type. That is, if another type of card is required to be embossed, an operator must replace one type of card for the other type of card in the hopper. Further, when an error is caused on a card during the encoding processing or the like or when an operator forgets to take out a card, the operator's assistance is indispensable to take out the card or release the error. However, there has not yet been developed any embosser which can avoid the above disadvantage of the conventional embossers.


A linear electromechanical actuator, for a steering system of the ‘center take-off’ type in a motor vehicle comprises: two electric motors each having a stator, and a rotor, a screw mechanism having an axially stationary innerscrew coupled to the rotors of the motor for rotating about an axis, and an outer nut rotationally fixed and axially translatable along the axis, a connection block, axially translatable with the nut, for connecting the nut to two tie rods of the steering system.

The present invention refers to a linear electromechanical actuator for a steering system of a motor vehicle in which control movements to the tie rods connected to the steerable wheels are imparted by an electromechanical actuator which replaces the conventional steering column comprised of a mechanical rack and pinion transmission. Particularly, the invention is intended to be used with a steering system of the "center take-off" type, where the tie rods of the steerable wheels are both connected to a transversely mobile control member located in a central position, essentially at the center-line of the vehicle.
There are known power-assisted steering systems which make use of a ballscrew in combination with an electric motor for assisting the conventional (rack and pinion) mechanical transmission system and therefore reducing the effort on the steering wheel for the driver (see, for example, EP-0 219 939-A1 and EP-0 279 034-A1).

Linear electromechanical actuator for a steering system of a motor vehicle


Package (1) for receiving agricultural or industrial products to be packed comprising a bottom part (2) and a cover part (3), whereby the cover part (3) is provided with an enlarged side surface.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,536,250 discloses another package similar to the one described above in which the flexible flap is an integral part of the upper part. Between the front surface of the upper part and the flexible flap there is a horizontal surface forming a step between the front surface and the flexible flap forming an abutment surface for arresting the upper part. The front surface of this package is provided with channels and projections forming a mechanism for disengaging the upper part. The irregularities in the front surface which is small as in U.S. Pat. No. 3,370,420 make it very difficult to provide this surface with print or text.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a package of the kind referred to above, which allows a major part of the side surface of the package to be provided with text or images. The package according to the invention has a front panel on the cover part which overlaps the front of the bottom part. In this way the front panel of the cover part can cover the whole front of the package, thus allowing for an increased surface to provide text or images.
Another object of the invention is to provide a package that is easier to open and close. The front panel of the cover part can be used to hold the cover part in its closed position without the need for a flexible flap as used in the prior art packages. For this purpose the package can be constructed in such a way that the cover part will come into frictional contact with the bottom part at the end of the closing and at the beginning of the opening movement. For the same purpose also projections can be provided on the front of the bottom part. The corresponding holes for receiving the projections will then be located at the lower part of the front panel of the cover part, and therefore they will not be at the most noticeable part of the front of the package so that they do not disturb.
The front panel of the cover part may extend completely down to the bottom part of the package so that it can rest on the surface carrying the package in order to improve the stability of the package. The cover part may be provided with a planar top surface that defines projections to hold a package stacked onto it in place.
According to a preferred embodiment the package is produced by pulp moulding. The packages are moulded and dried with the cover part in its open position. The freshly moulded product is very weak, and it is necessary for the lid to be supported. For this purpose an edge defined by the planar top surface and the front panel of the cover part can be used.
Further advantages and embodiments of the package according to the present invention and the method for producing said package are set forth in the independent claims.