The invention provides a biologically active substance transfer sheet which can be formed with simple steps, a cell culture kit which comprises a cell culture plate and a biologically active substance transfer sheet, a producing method therefor, and a method for screening cell culture conditions with cells. The transfer sheet is prepared by providing biologically active substances having biological activity in plural areas on a sheet base, and biologically active substances are supplied from the sheet to culture regions provided on the plate.

In recent years, studies of culturing animal or plant cells under various conditions and studies of products of cultured cells have been actively carried out. Particularly, studies on production of substances, of which artificial synthesis is impossible or very difficult, utilizing certain cell activities are carried out in various fields. Also studies are carried out to identify substances that affect cellular growth and differentiation so as to obtain proliferation or differentiation of certain cells with them according to the purpose. Also with the rapid progress in cell engineering and medical engineering, minute biosensors, artificial organs, neurocomputers and the like are attracting attentions and actively studied.
In order to utilize cells in vitro as explained above, it is essential to dispose cells to control their proliferation, differentiation and substance production in a desired manner. However, the mechanisms of cell disposition, cell proliferation and differentiation, and substance production have not been sufficiently clarified, so that the cell culture under controlled conditions is extremely difficult impeding researches utilizing cells.
Also tailor-made therapy considering individual difference in the sensitivity to drugs, of which concept has recently been widely recognized, is strongly desired, but the influence of biologically active substances has been investigated on the function of respective substances, particularly because of technical reasons, and there has not been established an effective method of easily investigating presence/absence of effects of plural drugs, or a required dose thereof or a combined effect thereof.
As an attempt to control cell disposition, U.S. Pat. No. 6,368,838 discloses a method for culturing cells by forming a pattern of cell adhesive portions on a substrate to control arrangement of cells of plural species. U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,926 also describes formation of a pattern on a substrate by applying a cell-adhering protein using an ink jet printer and cell culture thereon. These methods allow to; culture cells on the formed pattern of the cell-adhering protein, but not to control the proliferation, differentiation and substance production of the cells or to achieve screening of cell culture conditions. Also "Protein, Nucleic acid and Enzyme", vol. 45, 727-734(2000) describes immobilization of a cell growth factor, which affects cell proliferation or differentiation, on a substrate using photolithography, thereby investigating its influence on the cell proliferation and differentiation. However, the substrate on which the cell growth factor is immobilized is not used for screening, and the photolithography has problems that a rare biological substance is wasted and the production process is complicated requiring repetition of exposure and development steps.
Japanese translation of PCT international application No. 2000-512009 proposes a cell screening method by immobilizing onto a substrate a substance that affects cell adhesion. In this method, reactive functional groups provided on the substrate and the cell-adhering substance are bonded through a divalent crosslinking reagent, and photolithographic technology is used to bond the reactive functional group and the cell-adhering substance. However it has a problem, in addition to the aforementioned problems, that when plural cell-adhering substances are immobilized, it is extremely difficult to avoid a situation that an already immobilized substance and a substance to be newly immobilized are bonded by the divalent crosslinking reagent in undesired positions, that is, it is extremely difficult to arrange cell-adhering substances in desired positions. Also the proposed method is not to immobilize a substance influencing the cell proliferation, differentiation and substance production. That method is to screen cells by immobilizing cells in individual wells through the immobilized adhering substance, culturing the cells in a culture medium and detecting a certain substance produced by the cells. Thus it is not intended for screening a substance which influences at least one of adhesive property, proliferation, differentiation, survival, maintenance of an undifferentiated state, death and material production of cells, as intended in the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,103,479 discloses a method that allows effective confirmation of effects of a physiologically active substance using cells, where different cells are immobilized on a substrate to form an array to which an physiologically active substance is applied. This method, however, does not consider immobilization of physiologically active substances onto a substrate. This method requires a microfluidic delivery system to delivery the physiologically active substance to the substrate, and when plural physiologically active substances are used, complicated operations are required to load them onto the apparatus.
Also Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2062-355025 discloses a method of forming a screening substrate characterized in immobilizing plural screening substances by using liquid discharge means in desired areas of a base, thereby providing different screening functions. In this invention, since the substances for screening are immobilized to the screening substrate, cells often cannot intake the screening substance into the cells. Therefore, this invention is not effective in the case where only the screening substance taken into the cells can affect at least one of the cellular functions including proliferation, differentiation, survival, maintenance of an undifferentiated state, death and substance production.
Also Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-328124 discloses a screening method with a higher order combination of biological active substances, but this is to evaluate an effect of a function of biological active substances provided to a substrate, so it cannot be used for screening effects of biological active substances that function in vivo in a state immobilized on the extracellular matrix, or an effect induced by successive addition of biological active substances.
Also Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-33177 proposes a simple assay of chemical substances such as drugs or toxic substances, preparing a cell array divided into plural areas and providing a biologically active substance to each area to carry out simultaneous screening of plural samples. In such a method, however, each biologically active substance is provided to the cultured cells by using a dispensing means. Thus there is a risk of contamination in the dispensing step and it requires a specific apparatus for dispensing the biologically active substances, far from convenient use.

Transfer sheet for transferring biologically active substance to culture plate


The present invention relates generally to exercising equipment, and more particularly, to an improved multi-use weight lifting apparatus. The present weight lifting apparatus comprises a frame (12), a vertical guide member (52), at least one horizontal guide member (46), a weight bearing bar (60), and a safety catch mechanism (70). This weight lifting apparatus allows a weight lifter to perform exercise with vertical and horizontal ranges of motion that simulate the natural motions of using free weights while providing safety mechanisms that are not available with free weights.

The present invention relates generally to exercising equipment, and more particularly, to an improved multi-use weightlifting apparatus.
Weightlifters perform various exercises in order to develop muscles throughout the body. These exercises can be performed through the use of free weights, such as barbells, or by way of weightlifting machines. Many weightlifters prefer using free weights over machines because free weights allow the weightlifter to perform exercises in a natural motion while utilizing pure body leverage in performing the exercises. This allows the weightlifter to utilize many muscle groups simultaneously, to better isolate the muscles the exercise is intended to develop, and to mimic real athletic sports motions.
In many instances, a weightlifter utilizing free weights requires the assistance of a second person, commonly known as a spotter, during a weightlifting routine. A spotter functions as a "safety net" in order to prevent injury to the weightlifter. A spotter also functions to prolong the weightlifting exercise by providing just enough aid to the weightlifter during the weightlifting repetitions so that the weightlifter may complete additional repetitions beyond the point that the weightlifter could no longer lift the weights without assistance. This allows the weightlifter to improve muscle stamina and increase muscle mass.
However, a spotter is not always available to aid the weightlifter so the weightlifter may use a machine. Many weightlifting machines provide safety features that allow the weightlifter to complete his weightlifting exercises without the aid of a spotter and to terminate the exercise at anytime in the routine on his own without being injured by the weights.
Weightlifting machines also have drawbacks. Many weightlifting machines cannot perform all of the functions of a spotter. Also, many weightlifting machines do not allow a weightlifter to utilize many different muscle groups simultaneously or to isolate intended muscles. For example, many weightlifting machines only allow a lifting motion along a predetermined straight or arcuate path, thereby limiting the number of muscles that are worked during the lifting. In addition, many weightlifting machines can restrict a weightlifter's natural range of motion due to the mechanical limitations inherent in the machines.
A need exists to provide the weightlifter with the benefits of free weights and machines, while reducing the drawbacks of free weights and machines. The present invention is a weightlifting apparatus that is relatively simple in construction and use which allows the weightlifter to perform exercises in a natural, unrestricted motion while providing for the safety of the weightlifter. In addition, the present invention allows a weightlifter to perform squatting exercises with vertical and horizontal ranges of motion that simulate the natural motions of using free weights. This invention also provides a safety mechanism that is not available when free weights are used without a spotter.
An exemplary weightlifting apparatus of the present invention comprises a frame, horizontal and vertical guide members, a weight-bearing bar, a shoulder bar, and a safety catch mechanism. Specifically, the frame may be comprised of a single upright support member, two angled support members, a base and a top member. The upright support member and the two angled support members may form an inverted "Y" shape, while the top member may attach to the top end of the upright support member and the base may attach to the lower ends of the angled support members thereby defining the frame.
A horizontal guide member may be attached to the top end of the upright support member, while a second horizontal guide member may be attached to the lower end of the upright support member. The top end of a vertical guide member and a vertical safety bar may be attached to the upper horizontal guide member by a horizontal sleeve, while the lower end of the vertical guide member and the vertical safety bar may be attached to a lower horizontal guide member by another horizontal sleeve. Each horizontal sleeve may slide on its corresponding horizontal guide member allowing the vertical guide member and vertical safety member to move in a horizontal direction towards and away from the weightlifter.
A weight-bearing bar may be attached to the vertical guide member by a vertical guide sleeve. The vertical guide sleeve may move in a vertical direction along the vertical guide member as a weightlifter performs squatting exercises with the shoulder bar resting on his shoulders. Specifically, the squatting exercises may be performed by the weightlifter squatting while the shoulder bar is resting on his shoulders or by exerting an upward force on the shoulder bar. In an exemplary embodiment, the shoulder bar is angularly attached to the weight-bearing bar near its midpoint.
The safety mechanism may be comprised of a vertical safety bar with a plurality of openings evenly spaced on at least one side, at least one safety catch, and at least one handhold bar. A weightlifter may push the handhold bar away from his body to release the safety catch so that the weight-bearing bar is released and the exercises may be performed. When needed, the weightlifter may release the handhold bar to its resting position so that the safety catch will be inserted into one of the openings on the vertical safety bar, thereby locking the weight-bearing bar in position and removing the force of the weights from the weightlifter.
In an exemplary embodiment of the weightlifting apparatus, the components are comprised of strong and durable metal. The framework of the components may be rigidly fixed together by bolts, welding, rivets or any other similar, conventional, or suitable means.
In addition to the novel features and advantages mentioned above, other objects and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent from the following descriptions of the drawings and exemplary embodiments.


Provided is a method of treating a surface of a mold to achieve good demoldability and capable of preventing wearing of the mold by avoiding load concentration on one part of the surface of the mold. After a first blasting is performed on the surface of the mold to remove a hardened layer produced on the surface and/or to adjust the surface roughness, a second blasting is performed to create fine irregularities on the surface. Then, an elastic abrasive in which abrasive grains are carried on an elastic body, or a plate-like abrasive having a planar shape with a maximum length that is 1.5 to 100 times the thickness thereof, is ejected onto the surface of the mold at an inclined ejection angle such that the abrasive is caused to slide along the mold surface to flatten peaks of the irregularities created on the mold surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of treating a surface of a mold, form or die (in the text, called "mold" for both terms) and to a mold having a surface treated by said method, and more specifically, it relates to a method of treating a surface of a mold which can improve the demoldability of molded products from the mold and to a mold having a surface treated by this method to achieve excellent demoldability.
2. Description of the Related Art
In case that a mold used for molding metal or resin has rough irregularities on its molding surface, such irregularities are transferred to a molded product (workpiece). Thus, finishing of the surface of the workpiece is required after molding. In addition, because the surface of the workpiece is engaged with the irregularities on the surface of the mold, which decreases the demoldability, the productivity significantly decreases during molding.
Therefore, typically, surfaces of molds are polished to a mirror finish by hand. This not only enables works to be finished in smooth surfaces, but also provides the required demoldability for works.
However, in recent years, the number of molds having a complex shape has been increasing, and demands for quick delivery of molds are rising. Thus, mirror-polishing of surfaces of molds by hand, which consumes a lot of time and effort, is an obstacle to meeting such demands and causes an increase in fabrication cost of the molds.
Moreover, depending on the shape and material of workpieces to be molded, the required demoldability cannot always be obtained even by mirror-polishing of surfaces of molds.
Thus, methods that can be substituted for mirror-polishing by hand have been proposed to improve the demoldability of works. Examples of such methods include increasing the draft angle of a cavity of a mold and subjecting the surface of the mold to treatment for improving slip, e.g., forming a diamond-like carbon film (DLC).
In contrast to applying a mirror finish to a surface of a mold, methods in which irregularities having a predetermined shape are formed on a surface of a mold have been proposed. An example of such methods is ejecting spherical abrasive particles at high speed onto the surface of the mold for molding rubber products to create spherical dimples with a diameter of from 10 μm to 30 μm, and then forming a hard chromium coating thereon (see Claim 1 of the Publication of Japanese Patent No. 3154033).
The reasons for applying a mirror finish to a surface of a mold as described above are that, irregularities occurring on the surface of the mold are transferred to the surface of a workpiece, forming unwanted irregularities on the surface of the workpiece, and that the workpiece cannot be removed from the mold (for example, the workpiece cannot be moved parallel to the surface of the cavity of the mold) if the irregularities on the surface of the mold are engaged with the irregularities on the surface of the workpiece transferred from the mold.
On the other hand, excellent demoldability cannot always be obtained by mirror-finished surfaces of molds. According to one report, the demoldability can be improved by forming relatively fine recesses in the surface of the mold in the case of molding rubber products for cars (see the Publication of Japanese Patent No. 3154033).
However, when recesses are formed by blasting as described in the aforementioned Publication of Japanese Patent No. 3154033, not only are recesses formed in the surface of the mold by the collision of spherical abrasive particles, but also protrusions appear on the surface of the mold as a result of the base material of the mold being pushed out by the collision of the abrasive particles (see the enlarged view in FIG. 1B).
The protrusions generated in this way makes inroads into the surface of the workpiece produced by molding and thus interfere with the workpiece when the workpiece is removed from the mold, which decreases the demoldability.
Furthermore, when recesses are formed by the above-described method, the sharp protrusions generated simultaneously with the recesses serve as contact portions with the surface of the workpiece which make sliding contact with the surface of the mold when the workpiece is removed from the mold. Thus, the surface of the mold comes into point contact with the workpiece, leaving scratches on the surface of the workpiece when the workpiece is removed from the mold. Furthermore, because the load is concentrated on the peaks of the protrusions, the surface of the mold is easily worn.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide advantages in that improved demoldability achieved by creating irregularities are further enhanced by creating, on the mold surface, irregularities with the peaks being evened out and flattened by a blasting, that the surface of the workpiece is prevented from being scratched, and that wear of the mold is prevented by avoiding load concentration on one part of the surface of the mold with relative ease and without the need for laborious work such as polishing by hand.


A selection valve (10) for use with a multi-chambered fluid container having outlet openings in communication with the fluid container chambers. The selection valve (10) utilizes an outer housing (12) having a bore (14) for receiving a fluid from the multi-chambered container. An upper gasket (20) engages an inner surface (16) of the outer housing (12) and an inner housing (28) having intake ports (34) that interface with the upper gasket, permitting communication between the outer housing (12) and the fluid container. A spring detent (46) is disposed upon the inner housing with protruding pins (48) that ride upon a rotating detent ring (50). When the housing (12) and the detent ring (50) rotate, the pins (48) enter radial grooves (54) and (55) causing the housing to remain at a desired location. A closure assembly is snapped onto the inner housing to permit a fluid path to be formed between a specific compartment in the container and the bore (14) in the outer housing.

Previously, there have been many types of valves used to provide an effective means to pre-select a specific fluid from a multi-chambered container.
A search of the prior art did not disclose any patents that possess the novelty of the instant invention, however the following U.S. patents are considered related:
U.S. Pat. No.InventorIssue Date3,685,739VanierAug. 22, 19723,701,478TadaOct. 31, 19725,152,431Gardner, et al.Oct. 6, 19925,370,275Mills et al.Dec. 6, 19945,433,350GraubartJul. 18, 19955,685,351Kazarian, et al.Nov. 11, 1997
U.S. Pat. No. 3,685,739 discloses a combined closure and liquid pumping device that screws onto a container. The invention also includes a pump with a nozzle connected to a conduit within the container. The pump includes check valves and the nozzle has the capability of being adjustable to the extent that it may be shut off completely.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,701,478 discloses a hand sprayer that has a body with a cylinder and stock portion, along with a piston and a handle. The piston includes a through passage integrally formed therein, and a check valve with a one piece resilient element. A spraying cartridge with a resilient element having a recess in which a spring seats forms a piston ring, thus preventing leakage. A spring returns the piston after operation of the handle.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,152,431 discloses a single pump used to dispense liquid from one of a number of compartments in a container. The pump is mounted on the container vessel and rotates with respect to the container to select the liquid to be pumped and dispensed. An elbow tube is positioned above a dip tube located in each chamber of the container, and an O-ring in each tube prevents leakage while allowing the desired compartment to be in communication with the pump.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,370,275 is my prior patent upon which the instant improvements are based. The invention is for an adapter that is mounted between a liquid containing vessel having multiple chambers, and a conventional hand sprayer pump. The adapter has at least two inlet ports that are in respective communication with a single outlet port. An outer housing is affixed to the pump head and an inner housing is releasably affixed to reservoirs. The position of the outer housing may be manually rotated with respect to the inner housing and its location is determined by means of a compression spring-loaded detent. Rotation of the outer housing sequentially selects the desired intake port of the fluid container.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,350 discloses a pump apparatus for dispensing a selected compartment in a container having multiple compartments. Each compartment is communicated with dip tubes opening through bores located in a base disposed at the top of the container. A thumb wheel with a single bore is rotated to select the appropriate bore. The thumb wheel is accessed through a window in the pump with indicia indicating the selection.
Kazarian, et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,685,351 discloses my filler adapter mounted on the open end of a multichambered container. The device permits individual chambers to be emptied or filled without contaminating adjacent chambers. The adapter has a closing means that engages the container and includes plugs and a gasket that seals all but a selected chamber. An opening overlays the selected chamber and communicates with a conical lumen within the adapter. A funnel may be placed in the opening of the conical lumen for filling. Draining is accomplished by inverting the container.

Multi-chambered container fluid selection valve


Portable automated systems and methods can be used to perform field testing of patient blood chemistry to determine whether biological death has occurred in a clinically dead patient, and therefore whether the patient is a viable candidate for resuscitation efforts. A blood sample is received in a detector, which analyzes the blood sample to generate a signal representing at least one blood chemistry parameter of the blood sample and transmits a signal representing the at least one blood chemistry parameter to a processor. The processor compares the at least one blood chemistry parameter to a corresponding at least one resuscitatability parameter and, based on the comparison, causes an indicator to emit a resuscitatability indicator signal indicating potential resuscitatability, such as “resuscitatable”, “non-resuscitatable” or “borderline”/“indeterminate”.

"There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead." Those were the words of the character Miracle Max (played by Billy Crystal) in the classic film "The Princess Bride". Although the film is set in a fictional medieval world, Miracle Max's words carry an important truth in the age of modern medicine. Modern practitioners speak of patients being either clinically dead, or biologically dead. The term "clinical death" refers to a case where a patient has stopped breathing and has no heartbeat, whereas "biological death" is the point at which the tissues and organs die from lack of blood and oxygen. An individual who has suffered clinical death but not biological death ("mostly dead") can potentially be resuscitated, whereas an individual who is biologically dead ("all dead") cannot be resuscitated because the relevant aspects of the patient's biochemistry have deteriorated too far. More particularly, biological death typically occurs some time after clinical death, and it is often possible, by application of appropriate emergency treatment such as CPR and defibrillation, to prevent a clinically dead individual from deteriorating to the point of biological death. This may enable the cause(s) of clinical death to be treated so that the patient can eventually be revived. The application of medical treatment designed to prevent the onset of biological death in a clinically dead individual is referred to herein as "resuscitation".


An optical electronic coupling device (100) including a molded waveguide (101, 301, 401) having a plurality of core regions (105) surrounded by a cladding region (103). Cross-sections of the core regions (105) are exposed in an opening (113, 213,313) at one end of the waveguide. An optical cable (102, 303) having a plurality of optical fibers (107, 108, 109, 300) with core regions (123, 124, 125) is inserted into the opening (113, 213, 313), thereby aligning the core regions (123, 124, 125) of the optical fibers (107, 108, 109, 300) with the exposed cross-sections (122) of the core regions (105) of the optical electronic device (100).

This invention relates, generally, to optics, and more particularly, to coupling of optical fibers to a waveguide.
At present, an optical fiber or optical fibers are coupled to optoelectronic devices by a multistep process. First, an end of the optical fiber is aligned or positioned to an end of a core region of a waveguide. Second, once the end of the optical fiber is aligned to the core region of the waveguide, the end of the optical fiber is affixed to the core region of the waveguide, thus permanently fixing the optical fiber to the core region of the waveguide.
Generally, the alignment of the end of the optical fiber to the core region is accomplished by either an active or a passive alignment procedure. The active alignment procedure requires that a light signal be passed through the optical fiber and the core region of the waveguide, as well as having the light signal being detectable when the optical fiber and the core region are aligned. Once the optical fiber and the core region are aligned, the optical fiber is held and cemented or affixed in place. However, active alignment has several disadvantages, such as being labor intensive, being slow, and having a high cost, thus making active alignment an unattractive approach in a high volume manufacturing environment.
Alternatively, the passive alignment procedure aligns the optical fiber to the core region by mechanically placing the optical fiber to the core region of the waveguide. However, as passive alignment is presently practiced, passive alignment has several disadvantages such as poor alignment quality that results in poor quality of product as a whole or a product that is defective and cannot be sold, thus resulting in the product having a high cost. Further, passive alignment requires that machining tools and alignment tools have extremely high alignment and positioning tolerances and accuracies, thus further increasing the cost and difficulty of manufacture in a high volume manufacturing environment.
By now it should be apparent, that the presently used coupling methods for connecting optical fibers to waveguides have several problems that severely limit their use in a production environment. Further, it should be pointed out that alignment of optical fibers to waveguides typically is achieved by aligning the optical fibers to the core region by hand, thus incurring a high cost in manufacturing of coupling optical waveguides to optical fibers. Thus, a method for connecting optical fibers to waveguides that is cost effective and manufacturable in a high volume environment would be highly desirable.

Optoelectronic coupling device and method of making


A washing machine appliance having an integrated nozzle and valve body assembly for dispensing fluids to a wash basket of the washing machine appliance is provided. The nozzle assembly also includes features for evenly dispensing fluids the wash basket and for preventing moisture intrusion into the cabinet of the washing machine appliance. The nozzle assembly further includes features for preventing fluid entrapment in the nozzle assembly.

Washing machine appliances generally form wash and rinse fluids to clean clothing articles disposed within a wash basket of the appliance. The wash and rinse fluids can be formed in a wash tub of a washing machine appliance and can include water and various fluid additives such as, e.g., detergent, fabric softener, and/or bleach. The wash and rinse fluids are typically dispensed to the wash basket through one or more nozzles during certain periods of the wash and rinse cycles. However, air may become trapped in a typical nozzle such that not all of the fluid introduced into the nozzle is dispensed during the allotted period of time. Thus, if the trapped air dissipates during the remainder of the wash or rinse cycle, the fluid retained in the nozzle could flow to the wash basket during undesirable periods of the wash or rinse cycles.
Also, fluid dispensing nozzles for washing machine appliances are generally formed as one or more parts, and one or more valves are assembled with the nozzles to control fluid flow through the nozzle. The assembly of the nozzle and the valves requires hoses, clamps, and the like, which have the potential to leak. Moreover, the use of multiple component parts increases the materials and manufacturing costs of the washing machine appliance, as more parts require more labor and time to assemble.
Further, washing machine appliances may dispense a volume of fluid to a load of articles in the wash basket to sense, e.g., the load size, the type of articles (such as, e.g., cotton, synthetic, or a blend of cotton and synthetic) within the load, and/or whether the articles were wet when loaded into the wash basket. To accurately sense, e.g., the size of the load of articles, the volume of fluid preferably is evenly dispensed to the load of articles. Also, rinse fluids are preferably evenly dispensed to the articles in the wash basket to adequately rinse the load of articles. However, typical nozzles for dispensing fluid to the wash basket have a narrow range of distribution of the fluid to the wash basket, which can hinder accurate wet load sensing and inadequately distribute fluid for rinse cycles of the washing machine.
Additionally, fluid dispensing nozzles typically are installed through an opening in a top panel or a portion of the cabinet of the washing machine appliance and are positioned to spray fluid into the wash basket. Fluid, such as, e.g., water vapor or splash, that escapes through the opening for the nozzle and into the cabinet could harm components positioned within the cabinet or could leak onto the floor beneath the washing machine appliance. Thus, fluid preferably should be prevented from passing around the nozzle and through the opening in which the nozzle is installed.
Accordingly, a washing machine appliance having an integrated nozzle and valve body assembly for dispensing fluids to the wash basket of the washing machine would be beneficial. In addition, a nozzle assembly for a washing machine appliance that evenly dispenses fluid to a wash basket of the washing machine appliance would be useful. Further, a nozzle assembly with features for preventing moisture intrusion into the cabinet of the washing machine appliance and for preventing fluid entrapment in the nozzle assembly would be advantageous.

Nozzle assembly with multiple spray curvatures and air-lock release geometry


A support designed for hybrid optoelectronics, including at least one integrated optical guide and including a substrate on which the optical guide has been created by depositing a suitable material on the substrate to create a lower confinement layer, a guide core layer, and an upper confinement layer. The optical guide is designed to be optically connected to an optoelectronic component mounted on the support, in which the support positions the component to ensure its optical alignment with the optical guide. The support includes abutments located at the core level, or defined in a confinement layer in relation to the core layer, to ensure the vertical positioning of the component. The invention also relates to processes for producing the support.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vertical positioning of an optoelectronic component on a support that connects it optically with an optical guide integrated into said support.
2. Discussion of the Background
The development of integrated optics and the miniaturization of optoelectronic components have brought about the creation of hybrid apparatuses in which components (normally of the active type such as laser diodes, modulators, photodetectors, etc.) are mounted on a support where they can be optically connected to components described as passive (e.g. optical guides) integrated onto or into said support. Such a support may consist of a silicon substrate on which silica is deposited to produce one or more optical guides.
A considerable amount of work has been devoted to producing hybrid optoelectronic circuits. Most of this work has been on configurations in which the optical alignment between the mounted component and the optical guide may be described as simple: this is typically a photodetector lit by a beam of light conducted by an optical guide. A small proportion of this work concerns configurations in which the optical alignment between the mounted component and the optical guide constitute an optical coupling where great accuracy is required: for example, the alignment of a laser source with an optical guide. It will be understood that in this example alignment must be the best possible to give maximum efficiency of use.
A laser diode designed for mounting on a support to be connected to an integrated optical guide is a component whose transmitting strip is located near one surface of the component in order to be optically connected to an optical guide mounted on the surface of the support. When in place the laser diode is thus upside down.
Alignment is effected in all three spatial planes. When dealing with a flat support, alignment in the two planes of the support can be achieved satisfactorily using various methods known in the art (e.g. using mechanical stops, micronized shot, etc.). However, vertical alignment is difficult to achieve due to the process used to produce the optical guide. A silica on silicon optical guide (e.g. single mode 1.3 .mu.m/1.55 .mu.m) is usually produced by superimposing:
a layer of silica, known as the lower confinement layer, more than 12 .mu.m thick ensuring optical insulation with the silicon support,
a thinner guide core between 4 and 6 .mu.m thick made of silica that has been doped to increase its refractive index. This layer may be etched or not depending on whether a planar or channel-type guide is required,
a layer of silica, known as the upper confinement layer, more than 10 .mu.m thick that insulates the core from the ambient air.
The layers of silica of this type of optical guide may, for example, be deposited using PECVD (plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition) technology. The thickness of these layers is very difficult to determine and relative inaccuracy can be very high: typically up to 10% for the upper confinement layer, i.e. .+-.1 .mu.m, and 3% for the lower confinement layer, i.e. .+-.0.4 .mu.m. Vertical alignment is usually determined in relation to the top of the upper confinement layer, i.e. in relation to the surface of the silicon support on which the silica layers are deposited. Such mechanical references are totally incompatible with correct optical alignment of the optical guide with the mounted component (typically .+-.0.25 .mu.m for a laser diode structure).
Among the documents of the known art that concern the field of the invention, the following articles may be cited:
"Film-Level Hybrid Integration of AlGaAs Laser Diode with Glass Waveguide on Si Substrate" by M. Yanagisawa et al., published in "IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, Vol. 4, No. 1, January 1992, pages 21-23. (Reference 1),
"Silica-based Optical Waveguide on Terraced Silicon Substrate as Hybrid Integration Platform" by Y. Yamada et al., published in "Electronics Letters", Vol. 29, No. 5, pages 444-446. (Reference 2),
"A High-Density, Four-Channel OEIC Transceiver Module Utilizing Planar-Processed Optical Waveguides and Flip-Chip, Solder-Bump Technology" by K. P. Jackson et al., published in "Journal of Lightwave Technology", Vol. 12, No. 7, July 1994, pages 1185-1191. (Reference 3),
"Hybrid Integration of Semiconductor Lasers with Si-based Single-Mode Ridge Waveguides" by E. E. L. Friedrich et al., published in "Journal of Lightwave Technology", Vol. 10, No. 3, March 1992, pages 336-340, (Reference 4),
French patent FR-A-2 694 841 registered by the French Atomic Energy Commission, the equivalent of US patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,321,786. (Reference 5).
In Reference 1 the silicon support constitutes the vertical mechanical reference for mounting the component, a laser diode. The component is adjusted to the thickness of the lower confinement layer by depositing a new layer grown by epitaxis on the surface of the component designed to be positioned relative to the silicon support.
In Reference 2 the silicon support again constitutes the vertical mechanical reference for mounting the component. In this configuration the silicon lower confinement level is worked on to bring the optical guide near to the required level, i.e. close to the mechanical reference constituted by the silicon support.
In Reference 3 the top of the upper confinement layer acts as the mechanical reference; micronized shot welding techniques are also used.
In References 4 and 5, the mechanical reference is obtained by etching from the top of the upper confinement layer. In this technique two uncertainties are added: one related to the deposit and the other related to the etching.

Vertical positioning of an optoelectronic component on a support relative to an optical guide integrated into said support


A carrier and protective case are particularly useful for storing and viewing large format documents, which can be spooled together or inserted in a series of spooled transparent sleeves. The web like spools is stored on two spaced apart rollers that are in rotary engagement with opposing halves of the case, and nested within the case or a frame when the opposing halves are folded together.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for protecting, storing, viewing, and transporting multiple engineering drawings and plans of various sizes.
Field copies of Engineering Drawings are normally "blueprints" copied from the original drawings in various sizes up to 36×44 inches. These sets are rolled into bundles and provided to the various contractors: grading, construction, mechanical, electrical, HVAC, electronic and other servicing vendors. These copies are used in the back of pickup trucks, beds of vans, hoods of vehicles and outdoor tables for viewing reference as the contractor provides the services to the specifications outlined in the drawing. Winds on the job tear or blow the drawings around, rocks or dirt clods used to hold the drawings down, rain, coffee cup, drink cans or bottle rings can alter details of the drawings, requiring the contractor to "best guess" the specifications or obtain another blueprint copy before proceeding with the job. Jobs completed with "best guesses" can result in completion delays and increased costs, as the job has to be redone or corrected. At the end of each work day the plans are normally rerolled into bundles. The rolling and unrolling contribute to the unprotected blueprints deteriorating condition throughout the construction project.
It is therefore a first object of the present invention to provide an improved means to store and transport large format or scrolled documents in a compact space.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved means to open such document from the more compact stored state, and to do so rapidly without damaging the documents.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved means to view and use such documents, while still protecting them from damage, and in particular in field conditions, and to then rapidly return them to storage and select another document for view.

Document and engineering drawing holder/protector


A computer system using a processor with a multimedia functional unit capable of executing an Exclusive OR(XOR) type instruction for performing the RAID functions of storing and recovering bits on an array of disk drives. Blocks of data stored on different disk drives of the array are XORed together by the multimedia functional unit of a processor to form a parity block stored on a parity disk drive of the array. If one of the blocks is lost, the data can be recovered by the multimedia functional unit performing XOR instructions on the remaining data blocks and the parity block.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to computer systems, and more particularly, to computer systems employing Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computer systems in general and International Business Machines (IBM) compatible personal computer systems in particular have attained widespread use for providing computer power to many segments of today's modem society. A personal computer system can usually be defined as a desk top, floor standing, or portable microcomputer that includes a system unit having a system processor and associated volatile and non-volatile memory, a display monitor, a keyboard, one or more diskette drives, a fixed disk storage device, and an optional printer. One of the distinguishing characteristics of these systems is the use of a system board to electrically connect these components together. These personal computer systems are information handling systems which are designed primarily to give independent computing power to a single user (or a relatively small group of users in the case of personal computers which serve as computer server systems) and are inexpensively priced for purchase by individuals or small businesses. A personal computer system may also include one or a plurality of I/O devices (i.e. peripheral devices) which are coupled to the system processor and which perform specialized functions. Examples of I/O devices include modems, sound and video devices or specialized communication devices. Mass storage devices such as disk drive systems which include hard disks drives, CD-ROM drives or magneto-optical drives are also considered to be peripheral devices.
Other types of computer systems include network servers which provide shared storage to a network of computer users.
Today's computer systems face an ever increasing need for more data storage capacity. For some computer systems, such as network servers, this need has long outgrown the capacity of a single disk drive. Multiple disk drive systems have been developed to increase the storage capacity of these systems. One problem of using a multiple disk drive system is how to configure the multiple disk drive system to appear as a single storage entity to several users on a network and still provide high speed and reliable data accessing.
One solution for increased memory capacity is to link the multiple disk drives to make a disk drive array. One method, called Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID), combines a number of individual disk drives to provide a massive, virtual data storage system. In a RAID system, a controller allocates information between drives to make the drives appear as a single logical drive to a computer system. In addition to increasing storage capacity, a RAID can also be used to increase reliability by providing redundant storage of data blocks on more than one disk drive in the array. Thus, if one disk drive falls, the information stored on that drive can be obtained from other drives storing the same information.
With a RAID system, data may be split among the drives at the bit, byte, or block level. For, example, in a four-drive system, one byte of a four byte block could be stored on the first drive, the next byte on the second drive, and so on. Accordingly, the four drives could provide the four byte block to the data stream four times faster than one drive providing four bytes consecutively. This technique of splitting data between various drives is called data striping.
A RAID system can also be configured to provide redundancy in case one drive fails. This can be accomplished by adding another disk drive to contain a parity byte. In the event that one of the drives fails, the byte lost from the failed drive can be reconstructed with the use of the parity byte stored on the parity disk drive. To form the parity byte, a byte from each disk drive is XORed together. The XOR instruction is also used to recover the bytes from the lost disk drive. If the third disk drive is lost, the remaining bytes are XORed with the parity byte to obtain the lost byte. Thus, the XOR instruction is used to perform the RAID functions of forming a parity block of data and recovering a lost block of data.
The XOR instruction is used in various RAID schemes. One RAID scheme is disclosed in Jones, U.S. Pat. No. 5,506,977.
Currently, the XOR function in RAID programs such as the Windows-NT software RAID and the Dell Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) Array is performed by the integer unit of processors conforming to the X86 architecture or to a RISC architecture. Because these RAID -functions require several XOR instructions, the RAID algorithms require a lot of processor time. What is needed is a method to utilize the processor in a more efficient manner by reducing the number of XOR instructions required, and therefore, improve the speed of the RAID functions.
It is known to provide a processor conforming to the X86 architecture with a multimedia function unit. For example, the processor available under the trade designation Pentium from Intel Corporation has incorporated a multimedia functional unit that is referred to as the MMX functional unit. This processor and multimedia technology is described in the "Intel Architecture MMX(TM)Techlology, Programmer's Reference Manual," March 1996, and the "Intel MMX(TM) Technology, Developer's Guide" which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

Raid algorithm using a multimedia functional unit


Data is divided into a plurality of blocks. A unique identifier is assigned to each of the plurality of blocks. A key is generated that identifies how to reconstruct the data from the plurality of blocks. The key and each of the plurality of blocks are transmitted to a recipient.

Communications sent over a network inherently possess a certain level of security risk. Packet sniffers (also known as network analyzers) can intercept and log traffic passing over a wired or wireless network. As data streams travel back and forth over the network, a packet sniffer can capture each packet and eventually decode and analyze the data. Moreover, devices can pose as intended destinations and receive communications that a sender believes are being sent to another party. Therefore, there is a continuing need to improve network security.

Secure message transport using message segmentation


An electrowetting display device comprising a first support plate, a second support plate and a picture element having a space defined by the first support plate, the second support plate and walls of the first support plate. The space comprises a first fluid and a second fluid immiscible with each other, the second fluid being electroconductive or polar and the walls confining the first fluid to the space. The picture element is electrically switchable between a first state without an electric field applied and a second state with an electric field applied, in which in the first state the first fluid is spread out in the picture element and in the second state the first fluid is contracted near one of the walls. Two of the walls have a side facing the space, the sides having different angles with a plane of the first support plate.

An electrowetting display device is known in which a picture element includes a first fluid in the form of a colored oil acting as an optical switch. An electric field in the picture element is used to displace the oil. Without electric field the oil forms an opaque layer which blocks light; with electric field the oil contracts and allows light to transmit through the picture element.
The electric field in the known picture element is applied by an electrode that covers only part of the area of the picture element. The lower electric field in the area of the picture element without electrode causes the oil to contract to this area. The shape of the electrode provides control of the motion of the oil.
It is desirable to improve the control of the motion of the first fluid on application of an electric field.


A system for tracking the use of medication by a user in real-time generates data pertaining to the medication use including time of consumption and amount of medication available, and transmit the data to a network so the data is readily accessible to at least one party of interest. The system includes a base unit housing affixed to a cover for use with a medication container, the base unit housing having a micro-electro-mechanical system able to detect motion of the cover and determine when the user removes the cover from the medication container, a computing device to generate the medication use data based on information from the micro-electro-mechanical system, and a communication system to transmit the medication use data to a cloud computer via the network, thereby providing the at least one party of interest access to the cloud computer and the medication use data.

The embodiments herein relate generally to the field of tracking medication use of a user. More specifically, embodiments of the invention relate to a system for tracking medication usage and providing alerts, notifications and reports on such usage to parties of interest such as care-givers, nurses, doctors, pharmacists and family members.
Research has shown that errors occur when patients take a prescribed medicine. This is a common occurrence for elderly patients and/or people suffering from a mental illness. Such errors may lead to overdosing if the medication is taken too early or under dosing if the medication is not taken within the proper time frame. There is a further need in the industry to recognize when a user's medication needs to be refilled so there is no interruption in the medication use. Physicians would also like to know if prescribed medication has been taken correctly by the user to better assess the effectiveness of a prescribed dosage. In clinical settings or managed-care facilities and hospital settings, administrators are required to be vigilant about medication dosages, especially in non-intensive facilities where medication usage is left to individual patients or less skilled care-givers.
There exists a variety of systems for tracking medication use by a user through the use of alarms and/or timers that are placed on a medication bottle cap, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,317,390, 7,138,906, 7,382,692, 6,845,064, 6,667,936 and 7,907,477. However, these systems are limited because they do not generate data regarding the user's consumption of the medicine in the bottle, which is then transmitted via a network to other parties of interest.
As such, there is a need in the industry for a system for the real-time tracking of medication use by a user, which generates data pertaining to the medication use and transmits the data to a network so that the data may be readily accessible to parties of interest.

System for real-time tracking of medication use by a user


To provide an improved management structure of memory devices storing service-use applications. A card for a memory device applied to use various services is provided as one child card or more corresponding to each of the services, a parent card-stores data for child-card issue management, and the child-card issue processing is executed based on the parent card, such as parent card authentication. An issue certificate having a parent-card digital signature is stored in the child card, the issue certificate contains a service code and a child-card identification, and thus it becomes possible to confirm a service set in the child card based on the issue certificate as the parent-card signature data.

In recent years, memory devices such as IC cards, etc. are used in various services, for example, for credit cards, bank money cards, hospital medical care cards, employee-ID cards, membership cards of various organizations, or electronic money systems, commuter' tickets, etc. IC cards includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) which has an operation processing function and a memory which stores necessary data, etc. for processing, and performs sending and receiving data with electrically contacted with a predetermined reader/writer (R/W) or non-contacted by utilizing electromagnetic waves, etc.
When using IC cards for electronic money systems and security systems, security, such as data secrecy and prevention of IC card forgery, has importance. In general, personal information is often stored in the memory of the cards, and thus it is a big problem how to prevent personal information from being read illegally from the cards.
Also, when one user has a plurality of cards corresponding to various services, management of these cards is left to each individual. Thus it is anticipated that the possibility of losing cards and illegal use of other person's lost cards increase with increasing number of cards.
A description will be given of the memory structure example of the card-type memory device such as the conventional IC card with reference to the drawings. The memory in FIG. 24 illustrates the memory structure example of the device available, for example, for an electronic money. As shown in FIG. 24, the memory area is mainly divided into three parts. Specifically, the parts are a data area, a memory management area, and a system area.
The data area stores data based on "data structure" stored at the top of each data, for example, a user name, an address, a telephone number, an amount, a memo, and a log. The memory management area stores a storage address, an access method, an access authentication key, etc. for accessing each data in the data area. For example, the example shows that an access to data 1 (user name) in the data area is allowed for read only by using an access authentication key (1233 . . . ). Also, the system area stores a device identification (ID), a memory management key which is an authentication key for obtaining a memory area in the data area, and so on.
The data area of the memory device shown in FIG. 24 can be divided into a plurality of areas. These divided areas can be managed by different service entities, for example, in the case of electronic money, the divided areas can be managed individually by different electronic-money service providing entities (for example, a plurality of different banks). Each divided area data is read, written (ex. update of balance data) by a user, for example, a reader/writer (dedicated reader/writer or PC, etc.), which is a device access machine installed at a store selling products using electronic money in addition to individual service providing entities.
Next, a description will be given of the memory access method for a memory device having a plurality of data area using FIG. 25. The reader/writer on the left side in FIG. 25 is a reader/writer (R/W) for memory access, and is composed of a dedicated R/W or a PC. The reader/writer (R/W) for memory access is provided with a secure NVRAM for holding an access authentication key. In order to access data area of a secure device using a R/W, a device ID is read from the secure device first. Next, in the R/W, an authentication key is generated using an access authentication key and the device ID, and mutual authentication is executed with the secure device using the generated authentication key. After succeeding in mutual authentication, the R/W performs a predetermined access on the data in the data area corresponding to the access authentication key.
At this time, accessing is performed in accordance with the access method defined in the memory management area. For example, when succeeding in access authentication for decrement of data 4 (amount data), it becomes possible to decrement data in data 4.
IC cards have various use forms, for example, an above-described medical care card used in a hospital, an employee-ID card used in an organization such as a company, a commuter's ticket, etc. in addition to an electronic money described above. Thus, the processing executed on an IC card differs depending on the service providing entity (service provider) which provides each service. The application programs necessary for these processing are stored in a memory in an IC card, and when accessing a reader/writer under the control of each service provider, each program is executed to read or write data stored in the IC card.
A memory card, which stores such various data and are capable of executing various applications, stores various personal information as described above. Each service requires different personal information. If one piece of card is formed to be used for all the services, the card becomes necessary to store various personal information, such as a bank account number, an employee-ID number, or a medical history in addition to every personal information, for example, an address, a name, a telephone number, etc. Accumulation of personal information in such a way causes a problem of external exposure of personal information in the case of a card loss or a theft.
Also, in recent years, crimes or illegal procedures using cards, in which a person who is not authorized for acquiring a legitimate card receives the card by pretending a legitimate card acquiring person by making a card issue request using an illegal procedure, etc., have been increased.

Data processing system, memory device, data processing unit, and data processing method and program


A robot control apparatus includes a control apparatus body fixedly installed and connected to a robot and a portable teaching pendant connected to the control apparatus body to operate the robot through the teaching pendant. The teaching pendant includes an imaging device connector for connecting an imaging device to the teaching pendant so as to enable the image picked up by the imaging device to be directly input to the teaching pendant through the imaging device connector.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a robot control apparatus for controlling a robot using an imaging device, and more particularly to a robot control apparatus for controlling a robot using an imaging device in order to determine a relative position of a workpiece to the robot and correct a teaching point position of an operation program for the robot based on the determined relative positions.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of an industrial robot, an imaging device, such as a camera has been widely used as an eye for a robot. In the case where an imaging device is used for an industrial robot, it is common for the imaging device to be connected to an image processing unit separately provided from or integral with a robot control apparatus and the image processing device and an image display unit for displaying the image thereon are arranged integrally with or in the vicinity of the robot control apparatus. In a factory, it is common to surround the operating range of the robot with a protective fence or the like for the safety of an operator and to arrange the robot control apparatus and the image processing unit outside the protective fence at a sufficient distance from the robot.
As described above, where the image processing unit and the image display unit are installed is often far from the robot, and this poses a problem in that it is difficult to check an image picked up by the imaging device during a robot teaching operation or an adjustment operation of the image processing unit or the imaging device. In order to solve this problem, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-135689, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-191285 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-121458, for example, propose a portable teaching pendant having an image display and used for the operation of the robot or the image processing unit. The use of this teaching pendant makes it possible for the operator to display an image picked up by the imaging device on the teaching pendant. Therefore, an operator, manually operating the robot, can check the image on the teaching pendant during the robot teaching operation or the adjustment operation of the imaging device or the image processing unit.
The imaging device and the image processing unit (hereinafter collectively referred to as a visual sensor) of the industrial robot, as described above, function as an eye of the robot for doing a job and is continuously used while the robot is used. Therefore, once installed, the visual sensor is basically not removed from the robot.
However, in recent years, the visual sensor has been temporarily used only when installing the robot system. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-149299, for example, discloses a teaching position correcting device in which in order to facilitate an operation for correcting teaching points in a robot operation problem at the time of relocation of a robot system, displacement of the relative positions between the installation place of the robot and the workpiece place, which may occur after the relocation of the robot system, is measured by a camera temporarily mounted on the robot to correct positions of teaching points in the robot operation program. The teaching position correcting device 100 disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-149299, as shown in FIG. 5, includes an image processing unit 104 connected to a robot control apparatus 102, and a CCD camera 112 connected to the image processing unit 104 by a camera connecting cable 110. An image is picked up by a CCD camera 112 mounted on a working tool 114 of the robot 106 while an operator is operating a teaching pendant 108 connected to the robot control apparatus 102. The image thus picked up is processed by the image processing unit 104, so that three-dimensional positions of three reference marks 120 provided on a holding unit 118 for holding a workpiece 116 are measured to calculate a change in the position of the holding unit 118 relative to the robot 106 based on the positions of the reference marks 120 measured before and after relocation, and the positions of the teaching points defined in the robot operation program are corrected by the calculated change amount.
The image processing unit 104 used in the teaching position correcting device 100 disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-149299 is similar to the image processing units disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-135689, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-191285 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-121458 and is installed in the vicinity of the robot control apparatus. Further, the CCD camera 112 is connected to the image processing unit 104.
On the other hand, the visual sensor constituted by the CCD camera 112 and the image processing unit 104, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-149299, unlike a conventional visual sensor of the industrial robot, is not fixed to the robot 106, but used temporarily only to measure the positions of the reference marks 120 at the time of relocation, and one CCD camera 112 is generally used for a plurality of robots 106. Therefore, mounting and demounting the CCD camera 112 from the robot 106 and the robot control apparatus 102 is frequently carried out.
However, in starting a job on a robot 106 after finishing a job on another robot 106, the operator needs to move between the robot 106 and the robot control apparatus 102 installed at a distance from the robot 106 in order to reconnect the CCD camera 112 with the image processing unit 104 or the robot control apparatus 102. Especially on an actual production line, the robot 106 is surrounded by a protective fence for the safety of the operator, and the robot control apparatus 102 and the image processing unit 104 are arranged outside the protective fence. Therefore, the robot 106 and the robot control apparatus 102 are generally far from each other. Also, in some cases, the robot control apparatus 102 and the robot 106 are installed on different floors in a factory layout. Therefore, movement between the robot 106 and the robot control apparatus 102 imposes a heavy burden on an operator.


A fuel tank that is substantially impermeable to fuel vapor has a shell with an interior for holding fuel, an opening for receiving fuel into the interior, and a fill nipple with a barrier layer. The fill nipple has an outer surface and an inner surface defining a passage extending between a pair of generally opposed ends of the fill nipple. One of the ends is attached to the shell such that the passage is aligned with the opening to allow fuel to flow through the passage and into the interior of the fuel tank. The fill nipple has an inner layer of material forming the inner surface, and an outer layer of material forming the outer surface, and has at least one intermediate layer of material forming the barrier layer. The intermediate layer is formed from a material that is different in composition from the inner and outer layers.

It is known to blow mold fuel tanks from co-extruded six layer parisons that include inner and outer layers of HDPE, a vapor barrier layer sandwiched between a pair of adhesive layers, and a layer of regrind material between one of the adhesive layers and the outer layer. Wherever the vapor barrier layer is interrupted there is a potential path through which hydrocarbons can more easily escape to the atmosphere from the fuel tank. The vapor barrier layer may be interrupted in, for example, the area of openings through the fuel tank wall and in the area of the pinch or seam formed when the parison is closed for molding.
One opening in the fuel tank is provided to receive fuel into the fuel tank through a fill pipe that is attached to the tank via a fill nipple at one end, and receives a refueling nozzle of a refueling or gas station pump at its other end. Conventional fill nipples where made of monolayer HDPE that easily bonded to the fuel tank, but were not highly effective at reducing or inhibiting hydrocarbon permeation to the atmosphere.
In order to meet increasingly strict emission standards, largely promulgated by governmental agencies, it is desirable to form fuel tank and system components that contact liquid fuel or fuel vapor to limit fuel vapor emissions to the atmosphere.

Fuel system component and method of manufacture


A planned path is received from a vehicle along with a status of a perception subsystem in the vehicle. A remedial action is initiated determining that the status of the perception subsystem is healthy and the planned path deviates by more than a threshold from a detected path.

Autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles include sensors to detect a surrounding environment. Based on data from the sensors, a vehicle computer can be programmed to plan a path for the vehicle to follow. Further, the computer can instruct actuators and/or vehicle components, e.g., braking, steering, propulsion, etc., to actuate to execute the planned path. However, even if vehicle sensors are performing to specifications, i.e., without fault, a vehicle can deviate from a planned path due to faults or failures in actuators and/or components. However, a vehicle may not be able to self-diagnose or detect such deviation from a planned path.

Vehicle monitoring and control infrastructure


An electrical connecting apparatus comprises: a base plate provided with a first and a second mounting portion groups respectively having a plurality of first and second mounting portions arranged so as to be alternately positioned in a first direction; and a first and a second contact groups respectively having a plurality of first and second contacts individually mounted on the first and second mounting portions and in a cantilever state, the first and second contacts being displaced from each other in a second direction intersecting the first direction at the mounting positions on the base plate. This prevents any damage to adjacent mounting portions due to heat at the time of mounting the contacts, so that an arrangement pitch of the contacts can be made small.

A plate-like device under test such as a semiconductor integrated circuit is subjected to an electrical test as to whether or not it is produced as per specification. Such an electrical test is conducted, using an electrical connecting apparatus such as a probe card, a probe block, a probe unit, etc., which are provided with a plurality of probes, i.e., contacts to be individually pressed against electrodes of a device under test. This type of electrical connecting apparatus is utilized to electrically connect the electrodes of the device under test and a tester.
As kinds of such electric connecting apparatus, Patent Documents 1 and 2 describe those with probes, i.e., contacts mounted on a mounting portion of a base plate such as a wiring base plate, a probe sheet or the like in a cantilever state.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Appln. Public Disclosure No. 2003-43064 Official Gazette
Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Appln. Public Disclosure No. 2003-57264 Official Gazette
Both these conventional apparatus comprise at least one contact group with a plurality of contacts arranged in one row, each contact being adhered to a mounting portion such as the wiring and wiring land of a wiring base plate by means of a conductive adhesive such as solder. Since it is technically hard to adhere contacts to a mounting portion, adhesion is made per contact.
In both prior apparatus, however, since mounting positions of the contacts to the mounting portion are coincident in a direction orthogonal to the alignment direction of the contacts, when adhering the contacts by means of solder, adjoining mounting portions are damaged by the heat for soldering. As a result, an arrangement pitch for the contacts should be made large.
Also, when the contacts are mounted on the mounting portion by welding by using a laser beam, adjoining mounting portions are heated to be damaged, so that an arrangement pitch of the contacts should be made large.

Electrical connecting apparatus and contact


A semiconductor device having a capacitor of large capacitance and the fabrication method thereof are disclosed. The semiconductor device comprises; a first electrode composed of a conductive structure whose entire surface, including sidewalls, are uneven and formed on the semiconductor substrate; a second electrode formed on the first electrode; and a dielectric film formed between the first and second electrodes. Also the method comprises the steps of forming as a first electrode a conductive structure with an uneven surface on a semiconductor structure, forming a dielectric film, and forming a conductive layer as a second electrode on the conductive structure. Accordingly, a capacitor of large capacitance and high reliability can be obtained.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor device having a capacitor and a method for manufacturing the same, and more particularly to a semiconductor device having a capacitor of large capacitance and a method for manufacturing the same.
One type of memory device formed on the semiconductor substrate is the dynamic RAM (hereinafter referred to as DRAM) composed of a MOS transistor and a MOS capacitor. In the above DRAM, data is stored according to whether or not the MOS capacitor is charged. Also, data is read out by discharging the MOS capacitor to a bit line through the MOS transistor and then detecting the change in its potential.
Recently, miniaturization and large-scaled integration of DRAMs have advanced in accordance with the progress of semiconductor technology. A major problem in the large scaled integration of DRAM is how to increase cell capacitance while reducing memory cell size.
It is known that the capacitance of a capacitor is directly proportional to the dielectric constant and the surface area of the dielectric film, and inversely proportional to the thickness of the dielectric film. Therefore, in order to increase the capacitance, it is necessary to use an insulation layer with a larger dielectric constant, enlarge the surface area of the dielectric film, or make the dielectric film thinner. However, it is undesirable to reduce the thickness of the dielectric film to increase the capacitance, because this decreases the reliability of the semiconductor device. Additionally, it has been suggested to use as a dielectric film an insulating layer with large dielectic constant such as a Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5 film, but this is not yet practically in use. Accordingly, it is desirable to enlarge the effective surface area of the capacitor in order to increase its capacitance. A great deal of research has been carried out and various methods for increasing the effective area of a capacitor have been suggested, for example, a capacitor having a trench structure obtained by forming its storage electrode on an etched trench in the semiconductor substrate.
Recently, a method for producing a larger capacitance in a semiconductor memory device without enlarging the area of the cell nor heightening the storage electrode was suggested and is drawing great attention. That is, the technology for forming a polycrystalline silicon layer with an uneven surface as a storage electrode having an enlarged surface area due to this unevenness is disclosed in the 1990 Extended Abstracts of the 22nd Conference on Solid State Device and Materials, pp. 869 to 872 (Yoshio Hayashide et al.) and pp. 873 to 876 (H. Watanabe et al.).
FIG. 1 illustrates a sectional view of a stacked capacitor having uneven surface of the electrode described in the above papers. According to the method of Watanabe et al., after growing a field oxide 2 on a silicon substrate 1 by an LOCOS method, a first impurity-doped polycrystalline silicon layer as a gate electrode 3 is formed and then a source region 4 and a drain region 5 are formed by ion implantion. Then, an oxide layer 6 as an insulation layer is formed. Thereafter, to form a storage electrode 7 as the capacitor's first electrode, polycrystalline silicon is deposited by an LPCVD method at 550.degree. C. to form a first polycrystalline film. The specific temperature, 550.degree. C., corresponds to the transition temperature of the film structure, from amorphos to polycrystalline. The surface area of a polycrystalline silicon film deposited at this is about twice as large as that deposited at different temperatures.
Thereafter, a photoresist (not shown in FIG. 1) is coated on the first polycrystalline silicon film and is exposed and developed using a mask, thereby forming a photoresist pattern. Subsequently, storage electrode 7 is formed by ething the first polycrystalline silicone film using the photoresist pattern as an etching mask and then removing the photoresist pattern. Thereafter, a dielectric film 8 composed of oxide/nitride is formed on the thus-obtained storage electrode 7. A second electrode 9 as a plate electrode of the capacitor is formed by depositing polycrystalline silicon on dielectric film 8 to form a second polycrystalline silicon film.
According to the above method, twice the capacitance can be obtained by applying the above-mentioned polycrystalline silicon film to the storage electrode for a stacked capacitor.
Also, Hayashide et al. teach that a capacitor attains 1.5 times as much capacitance as one with a conventional polycrystalline silicon electrode, when the storage electrode is formed by depositing polycrystalline silicon at 575.degree. C.
However, when manufacturing a capacitor by this method, critical temperature adjustment is necessary when depositing the polycrystalline silicon. Also, the thickness of the polycrystalline silicon film as the storage electrode of the capacitor is an important factor in controlling the surface unevenness. Therefore, it is difficult to obtain various capacitor structures. Moreover, since after the depositing process, the uneven surface of the sidewall thereof is removed since the deposited polycrystalline silicon film is patterned by photolithography and an etching process, thereby reducing the effect of the enlargement of the capacitor's effective surface area. To overcome these problems, the present inventors have conducted many experiments, as a result, have accomplished the present invention.

Method for manufacturing a semiconductor device having increased surface area conductive layer


The invention concerns a device for analyzing a particle beam comprising at least one detector including a fiber-optic network, the network of parallel fibers comprising at least one first plane of parallel optical fibers oriented along a first direction X; the detector is designed to produce a light signal when the particle beam passes through the fiber-optic network, an image sensor coupled with the detector so as to output a signal representing characteristics of the light signal. The invention is characterized in that the image sensor comprises a CCD or CMOS sensor, wherein the ends of the fibers of the fiber-optic network are designed to form an image of the light signal in the plane of the CCD or CMOS sensor.

The present invention relates to the field of particle beam analysis equipment.
It is frequent to want to characterise a particle beam in various applications such as in the fields of fundamental physics, biophysics, machines for the producing synchrotron radiation, and more generally any charged particle beam.
Prior art already knows analysis equipment that makes it possible to detect and characterise a particle beam, such as wire chambers. Such devices require a gas supply involving a supply and regulation device but also a safety system and monitoring by a qualified operator. They are cumbersome, not flexible, difficult to use, to handle and to maintain.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,942,302 is also known describing a device comprising two detectors each coupled to a plane of scintillating fibres respectively extending in a horizontal direction for one and in a vertical direction for the other. Said detectors comprising scintillating optical fibres having a reading system based on photomultiplier tubes (PMT) which obtain a signal which is then amplified then converted into a digital signal.
The present invention more specifically relates to equipment for analysing a particle beam comprising:
at least one detector comprising a network of optical fibres (9), the network of fibres comprising at least one first plane of optical fibres oriented according to a first direction X;
the detector being arranged to produce a light signal when the particle beam passes through the network of optical fibres,
an image sensor coupled with the detector such as to output a signal representing features of the light signal.
Such equipment is known from the French patent application FR 2 849 697. In said patent application, the image sensor comprises a photomultiplier tube. It is well known that such a photomultiplier tube can produce a detector of a light beam only particle by particle. In the equipment described in the abovementioned French application, a dosage of the particle beam is thus produced counting one by one the particles of said beam. Due to said particle by particle counting, the Applicant has demonstrated that such equipment equipped with a photomultiplier tube can only detect less than one million (106) particles per second. To obtain a better detection rate, the current induced in the photomultiplier tube becomes too substantial and extremely complex electronics would be required at the outlet of the photomultiplier tube. For a detection rate greater than one million particles per second, such equipment comprising a photomultiplier tube is therefore very limited by the intensity of the particle beam. For many years, the person skilled in the art has attempted, from such equipment with a photomultiplier tube, to provide an electronics that can process such particle beam intensities.
Furthermore, the photomultiplier tubes have the disadvantage of not being able to be used in the vacuum, where preferably the beams circulate. Furthermore, only a dosage of the particle beam is directly possible with such equipment. In particular, it is not possible, with such equipment, to directly measure the average position and/or intensity and/or the spatial and temporal dispersion of a particle beam.
The invention notably aims to overcome said disadvantages. One aim of the invention is to provide equipment for analysing a particle beam such as above described, which can be effective in a wide range of particle beam intensities, for example between one thousand (103) and ten thousand billion (1013) particles per second. The invention also aims to propose equipment having an easy implementation, suitable for an industrial type structure. The invention also aims to provide equipment which is highly stable over time, requiring no maintenance, and having no saturation phenomenon. The present invention also aims to provide analysis equipment which enables the average position and/or the intensity and/or the spatial and temporal dispersion of a particle beam to be measured.
At least one of said problems is solved by the invention, which relates, as abovementioned, to an equipment for analysing a particle beam comprising:
at least one detector comprising a network of optical fibres (9), the network of parallel fibres comprising at least one first plane of optical fibres oriented according to a first direction X
the detector being arranged to produce a light signal when the particle beam passes through the network of optical fibres,
an image sensor coupled with the detector such as to output a signal representing features of the light signal,
wherein the image sensor comprises a CCD or CMOS sensor, and wherein the ends of the optical fibres of the network of fibres are arranged to form an image of the light signal in the object plane of the CCD or CMOS sensor.
With the aid of the CCD or CMOS sensor, the Applicant has notably demonstrated that much higher particle beam intensities could be analysed satisfactorily. Thus, instead of looking to develop electronics adapted to high intensities, the Applicant has modified the most widespread image sensor of the prior art. Surprisingly, she has demonstrated that the use of CCD or CMOS sensors enabled the abovementioned disadvantages to be overcome.
Furthermore, the CCD or CMOS sensors have the advantage of being useable in cameras comprising processing means suitable for processing the information acquired by the CCD or CMOS sensor for a high particle intensity. The CCD or CMOS sensors also have the advantage of being useable in the vacuum. With the aid of the levels of particle beam intensities obtained according to the invention, the Applicant has demonstrated that it was possible to use the invention for hadrontherapy.
According to the invention, the preferred sensor is a CCD sensor because it enables particle beams to be measured for very high intensities. The CMOS sensor also enables the problems linked to the intensity to be solved, but in an intensity range slightly lower than that of the CCD sensor. According to one embodiment of the invention, the network of fibres can comprise a first plane of parallel optical fibres oriented according to a first direction X and a second plane of parallel optical fibres oriented according to a second direction Y, the ends of the optical fibres of each plane being arranged to form the image of the light signal in the object plane of the CCD or CMOS sensor.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the ends of the optical fibres of the network of optical fibres are brought together at the outlet of the detector to form the image of the light signal in the object plane of the CCD or CMOS sensor. This has the advantage of limiting the size of an objective which can be placed between the ends of the fibres and the object plane of the CCD or CMOS sensor. According to one embodiment, the beam of fibres of the first plane is substantially co-planar with the beam of fibres of the second plane, the end of said two beams of fibres forming two contiguous images. The CCD or CMOS sensor is chosen to be able to receive said two contiguous images, which can be juxtaposed or straddled on the sensor.
According to one embodiment, the ends of the beams of fibres of the first and second plane are brought together in the same object image plane. According to one particular implementation, the equipment comprises an ultra-high vacuum flange, and the object image plane is formed behind the ultra-high vacuum flange. Advantageously, said CCD is directly mounted in the object image plane.
According to one variant, said CCD sensor is built into a CCD camera. According to one mode of implementation, the detector comprises two stages linked by an ultra-high vacuum flange. According to one embodiment, the ultra-high vacuum flange is equipped with a port for passage of the light emitted by the fibres.
According to one embodiment, the first stage comprises two identical armatures wherein the optical fibres are urged to be placed. Advantageously, each of the armatures of the first stage respectively corresponds to the horizontal and vertical coordinates of the particle beam by fixing at 90° the angle between the two planes of fibres. According to one variant, the first stage is located in the vacuum tube of the beam. According to another variant, the second stage comprises an optical system associated to a CCD digital camera.
Advantageously, the scintillating optical fibres are aluminised over their entire length. According to one implementation, the optical fibres are manufactured in polystyrene. According to another embodiment, the second stage benefits from an electromagnetic shielding. According to one variant, the images are transferred on a PC type computer. Advantageously, the CCD sensor is formed by CCD arrays with an associated digital electronics. The invention also concerns the use of the abovementioned analysis equipment for hadrontherapy.

Device for characterizing a particle beam

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique—CNRS


The present invention relates to solid forms of a substituted benzoxaborole compound, specifically crystalline forms of a compound of formula I,

Boron is a unique, and often misconstrued, element of the periodic table due to its powerfully effective and unpredictable biological properties. Initial innovation in the field of boron chemistry was impaired due to the incapacity to prepare pure boron, especially in its crystalline form. Only recently has boron been explored by skilled organometallic chemists for novel and useful applications across the human/animal health and agriculture spectrum. For example, boron-containing molecules such as oxaboroles and benzoxaboroles demonstrate use as antimicrobials (see WO 2016/128949, U.S. Pat. No. 9,617,285, and WO 2016/164589). However, the duplicitous nature of boron-containing compounds places their activities on a broad continuum ranging from highly toxic to exceptionally benign.
While the use of boron, in the form of boric acid, is well known for its application in agriculture, the construction and characterization of more complex molecules containing boron that are both safe and effective has been less explored. Within the field of plant health, fungal, bacterial, insect, and nematode plant pathogens lead to a wide range of diseases, disorders, and other issues including but not limited to rusts, spots, downy mildews, blasts, blotches, stripes, rots, smuts, pathogenic nematodes, erwinia, insects, and many others that affect all crops, resulting in massive losses. The need for novel chemistries to combat these diverse pathogens is great.
While the use of benzoxaborole compounds in agriculture has been demonstrated to be beneficial, alternative or improved formulations, as well as their methods of use are required to overcome the limitations of current approaches.
Moreover, boron's ability to covalently bond with other molecules makes it both attractive and difficult to work with. The charge and geometry of the benzoxaborole is in a dynamic equilibrium between the neutral trigonal planar state and the ionic tetrahedral state (illustrated in Scheme 1), that can vary drastically depending on the specific environment the benzoxaborole is located in.

In addition, the Lewis acidic empty p-orbital on the boron atom of the benzoxaborole makes the formulation of benzoxaborole active ingredients unpredictable and difficult compared to traditional organic molecules. This Lewis acidic center readily interacts with formulation components (solvents, surfactants, and adjuvants) in unexpected ways. The state of the benzoxaborole or the interaction of formulation components with the benzoxaborole may also have drastic effects on biological efficacy. Therefore, the formulation of benzoxaborole active ingredients requires novel approaches and considerations not previously considered in the formulation of traditional, non-boron containing formulations, whether agricultural or otherwise. Further, the formulation of those compounds may be laborious due to issues such as pKa, pH, and solubility. These combined characteristics make the formulation of benzoxaborole compounds both an unpredictable and challenging endeavor.
A solid form of the benzoxaborole active ingredient adds an additional layer of complexity to the formulation of benzoxaborole active ingredients. A solid form selected for formulation development can be critical where multiple solid forms exist. Solid forms share an identical chemical formula, but differ in their three-dimensional structure. Additionally, their respective physio-chemical properties including crystal shape, hardness, color, melting point, hydroscopicity, density, solubility, dissolution, dissolution rate, suspensibility, thermodynamic stability, mechanical stability, physical and chemical stability, melting behavior, dissolution rate, and biological availability can vary drastically.
Such variations in the physio-chemical properties can have a drastic effect on the development of the active ingredient and/or formulation of the active ingredient; by choosing the correct solid form, better processing conditions, improved dissolution profile, increased stability, and increased shelf life, for example, can be achieved. For example, for some formulation types such as suspension concentrates, the selection of the correct solid form is key; the recrystallization of a less stable form can affect the properties of the formulated product, resulting in a product that is not useable. Additionally, variations in the solid form may also allow for lower effective rates of use (i.e. it is possible to lower the fungicidally effective amount) by improving bioavailability. Alternatively, use of the other solid forms may lead to the inability to create efficacious formulations.
Further, the production of modern agrochemicals must meet strict requirements. For example, products must meet strict specifications defining the impurity profile of the active ingredient and variance between different batches of the same active ingredient to ensure consistency. It is therefore important to produce the same solid form of the active ingredient in each batch.
These factors, alone or in varying combinations, may affect the biological efficacy of the benzoxaborole. Accordingly, a solid form chosen for further development should have properties, which make it more advantageous relative to another solid form (crystalline form or an amorphous form) of the same compound. As described above, the physical, chemical, and biological properties of a solid form can have a significant effect on the development of production methods and formulations. Unfortunately, predicting whether the solid state of a compound may be present as more than one solid form, or the number of forms, is not possible, nor is it possible to predict the properties of any of these forms (e.g. crystalline form or amorphous form). To ensure the selection of an advantageous form, active ingredient must be screened to determine the number of solid forms available and the solid forms must be then tested as one cannot predict which solid form will confer advantageous properties.
The selection of a specific solid form may allow for the use of specific formulation types, a broader range of formulation types, more stable formations, or more economical preparations of different formulation types relative to other crystalline forms or amorphous forms of the same compound. This can be advantageous for several reasons. For example, a suspension concentrate (SC) formulation may be preferred over an emulsion concentrate (EC) formulation because the lack of organic solvent in SC formulations often leads to a less phytotoxic formulation relative to EC formulations. However, if an unstable solid form is used in an SC formulation, unwanted crystal growth or recrystallization can occur during storage or during application. Such crystal growth is detrimental as it leads to, among others, the thickening and potential solidification of the formulation, leading to blockages in application equipment (e.g., in spray nozzles or in agricultural application machinery) as well as uneven application. Additionally, for example, while the amorphous form may be the most soluble solid form, it can recrystallize as another solid form and destroy the formulated product, rendering the product unusable. Solid forms that are hydrates and solvates can lose their solvent or water during the milling process, or solvates/hydrates can be formed during the milling process, either of which may lead to unstable formulations. Additionally, the solubility of a specific solid form may affect what formulation type is selected for commercialization. The discovery, identification, and use of stable solid forms suitable for the specific intended application can overcomes these issues.
Accordingly, a skilled person will appreciate the advantages of discovering and employing a solid form which solves the problems described above. However, it is not possible to predict by molecular structure alone what the crystalline behavior of a compound will be—it can only be determined empirically. Moreover, one of skill in the art will understand that the solid form that is most advantageous for use is unpredictable.
Solid active ingredients may be screened for their structures by conventional methods known in the art. For example, one characterization includes the use of X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD). Other techniques, which may be used, include differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Raman or infrared spectroscopy (IR), NMR, and high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC). Single crystal X-ray diffraction is also useful.
As described above, the variation in properties of the various solid forms of an active ingredient (such as a benzoxaborole) may have a drastic effect on the bioavailability, stability, and manufacturability an agrochemical. Therefore, it is important to recognize the novelty and use of different solid forms of an active ingredient. It is desired to identify and employ physically stable forms of the active ingredient that are suitable for agrochemical use.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Solid forms of substituted benzoxaborole and compositions thereof

Abstract: compositions comprising crystalline forms of the compound of formula (I), and methods of their use.