The present invention relates to immunogenic compositions comprising neisserial blebs with upregulated levels of the NMB0964 antigens such that bacterial antibodies are generated against said antigen. Methods are also provided to upregulate expression through removal of the zinc repression mechanism of the cell or promoter or through removal of zinc from the culture medium.

Neisserial strains of bacteria are the causative agents for a number of human pathologies, against which there is a need for effective vaccines to be developed. In particular Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Neisseria meningitidis cause pathologies which could be treated by vaccination.
Neisseria gonorrhoeae is the etiologic agent of gonorrhea, one of the most frequently reported sexually transmitted diseases in the world with an estimated annual incidence of 62 million cases (Gerbase et al 1998 Lancet 351; (Suppl 3) 2-4). The clinical manifestations of gonorrhea include inflammation of the mucus membranes of the urogenital tract, throat or rectum and neonatal eye infections. Ascending gonococcal infections in women can lead to infertility, ectopic pregnancy, chronic pelvic inflammatory disease and tubo-ovarian abscess formation. Septicemia, arthritis, endocarditis and menigitis are associated with complicated gonorrhea.
The high number of gonococcal strains with resistance to antibiotics contributes to increased morbidity and complications associated with gonorrhea. An attractive alternative to treatment of gonorrhea with antibiotics would be its prevention using vaccination. No vaccine currently exists for N. gonorrhoeae infections.
Neisseria meningitidis is an important pathogen, particularly in children and young adults. Septicemia and meningitis are the most life-threatening forms of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD). This disease has become a worldwide health problem because of its high morbidity and mortality.
Thirteen N. meningitidis serogroups have been identified based on antigenic differences in the capsular polysaccharides, the most common being A, B and C which are responsible for 90% of disease worldwide. Serogroup B is the most common cause of meningococcal disease in Europe, USA and several countries in Latin America.
Vaccines based on the capsular polysaccharide of serogroups A, C, W and Y have been developed and have been shown to control outbreaks of meningococcal disease (Peltola et al 1985 Pediatrics 76; 91-96). However serogroup B is poorly immunogenic and induces only a transient antibody response of a predominantly IgM isotype (Ala'Aldeen D and Cartwright K 1996, J. Infect. 33; 153-157). There is therefore no broadly effective vaccine currently available against the serogroup B meningococcus which is responsible for the majority of disease in most temperate countries. This is particularly problematic since the incidence of serotype B disease is increasing in Europe, Australia and America, mostly in children under 5. The development of a vaccine against serogroup B meningococcus presents particular difficulties because the polysaccharide capsule is poorly immunogenic owing to its immunologic similarity to human neural cell adhesion molecule. Strategies for vaccine production have therefore concentrated on the surface exposed structures of the meningococcal outer membrane but have been hampered by the marked variation in these antigens among strains.
Further developments have led to the introduction of vaccines made up of outer membrane vesicles which will contain a number of proteins that make up the normal content of the bacterial membrane. One of these is the VA-MENGOC-BC Cuban vaccine against N. meningitidis serogroups B and C (Rodriguez et al 1999 Mem Inst. Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro 94; 433-440). This vaccine was designed to combat an invasive meningococcal disease outbreak in Cuba which had not been eliminated by a vaccination programme using a capsular polysaccharide AC vaccine. The prevailing serogroups were B and C and the VA-MENGOC-BC vaccine was successful at controlling the outbreak with an estimated vaccine efficiency of 83% against serogroup B strains of N. meningitidis (Sierra et al 1990 In Neisseria, Walter Gruyter, Berlin, M. Achtman et al (eds) p 129-134, Sierra et al 1991, NIPH Ann 14; 195-210). This vaccine was effective against a specific outbreak, however the immune response elicited would not protect against other strains of N. meningitidis.
Subsequent efficacy studies conducted in Latin America during epidemics caused by homologous and heterologous serogroup B meningococcal strains have shown some efficacy in older children and adults but its effectiveness was significantly lower in younger children who are at greatest risk of infection (Milagres et al 1994, Infect. Immun. 62; 4419-4424). It is questionable how effective such a vaccine would be in countries with multistrain endemic disease such as the UK. Studies of immunogenicity against heterologous strains have demonstrated only limited cross-reactive serum bactericidal activity, especially in infants (Tappero et al 1999, JAMA 281; 1520-1527).
A second outer membrane vesicle vaccine was developed in Norway using a serotype B isolate typical of those prevalent in Scandinavia (Fredriksen et al 1991, NIPH Ann, 14; 67-80). This vaccine was tested in clinical trials and found to have a protective efficacy after 29 months of 57% (Bjune et al 1991, Lancet, 338; 1093-1096).
There are diverse problems with the anti-meningococcal vaccines currently available. The protein based outer membrane vaccines tend to be specific and effective against only a few strains. The polysaccharide vaccines are also suboptimal since they tend to elicit poor and short immune responses, particularly against serogroup B (Lepow et al 1986; Peltola 1998, Pediatrics 76; 91-96).
Neisseria infections represent a considerable health care problem for which no vaccines are available in the case of N. gonorrhoeae or vaccines with limitations on their efficacy and ability to protect against heterologous strains are available in the case of N. meningitidis. Clearly there is a need to develop superior vaccines against Neisserial infections that will improve on the efficacy of currently available vaccines and allow for protection against a wider range of strains.


A method and system to minimize the affects of thermal gradient distortion in reticles. A heat source and filter or filters are used to control which part or parts of the reticle receive additional radiation. The heat created by this additional radiation minimizes any thermal gradients across the mask by supplying a constant heat flux to the entire surface of the mask. The heat source can also be used to preheat the reticle to minimize any transient start-up effects.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to advanced lithographic masks. Particularly, it relates to projection lithography employing soft x-ray radiation or extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation and, more particularly, to methods and systems that provide for the reduction of thermal gradients on extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) reticles during scanning.
2. Background of the Invention
Extreme ultraviolet lithography is a leading candidate for the production of integrated circuits with feature sizes of 65 nm and below. EUVL is different from other lithographic technologies in that it is based on reflective lithographic technologies when compared to conventional transmissive optical lithography. In a simplified description of this technology, a patterned EUVL mask is exposed to EUV or soft x-ray radiation and the corresponding pattern is eventually reflected rather than transmitted onto a resist coated substrate, where the resist is exposed and the desired pattern is formed.
An EUVL mask consists of an absorbing film deposited on a multilayer reflective coating which is deposited on a substrate. Additional films such as a buffer layer or etch stop layer can be deposited between the multilayer stack and absorber film to aid in certain aspects of the mask manufacturing process if desired. The substrate is typically a material that has very low thermal expansion characteristics. The multilayer reflective coating is a Bragg mirror consisting of 40 bilayers of silicon and molybdenum. The use of silicon and molybdenum as the bilayers is specifically optimized for a peak EUV reflectivity wavelength of 13.4 nm. Other combinations, such as beryllium and silicon, can be used as well, although the peak reflectivity wavelength may differ. The absorber film is any element, compound, or alloy, such as chrome or tantalum nitride, deposited at a thickness such that over 99% of the EUV radiation is absorbed. To create a patterned mask, the absorber layer, as well as any underlying layers between the multilayer stack and absorber layer, are removed in specific areas by known manufacturing processes to create a desired pattern. Where the absorber and underlying layers are removed (the patterned area), the EUV radiation is reflected by the multilayer stack. Where the absorber remains (the unpatterned area), the EUV radiation is absorbed.
The entire mask is not exposed all at once, but the EUVL reticle is scanned across a segment of EUV radiation which exposes only a small portion of the mask, leaving the remainder of the mask unexposed. The radiation exposes both patterned and unpatterned areas.
The absorption of the radiation in the unpatterned areas can lead to noticeable temperature gradients on areas of the mask, which can produce mask distortion due to thermal expansion and consequently image size and placement errors. Modeling results from the University of Wisconsin have shown that thermal gradients of up to 1.9° C. can exist across an EUV mask during continuous exposure. For individual points on the mask, the simulation results indicated that temperature variations up 0.48° C. can exist due to the localized heating and cooling during the exposure. These results also indicated that in-plane displacements (IPD) can be up to 1.33 nm. Magnification correction has been shown to reduce the IPD's. However, the cyclic heating and cooling during the exposure reduced its effectiveness as did changes in the pattern density. After magnification correction, the maximum IPD was simulated to be 0.6 nm. (See C. Martin, R. Englestad, E. Lovell, "Thermomechanical Modelling of an EUV Reticle During Exposure," Computational Mechanics Center, University of Wisconsin—Madison, Mar. 7, 2001.) Since these are simulation results, the trends of the results are more important rather than the actual numbers. Because the simulations are based on ideal assumptions and conditions, the actual values are expected to be somewhat higher.
Others have identified thermal gradients as a problem for EUV mask operation and have tried to solve it using substrate cooling or heating systems or processes. For example, European Patent Application EP 1 120 690 A2 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,098,408 issued to Levinson et al. provide such processes. These methods, however, can not account for various pattern densities across a mask. Others have attempted to solve this problem by selective placement or omission of coating on the reticle, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,316,150 issued to Gianoulakis et al.

Process and apparatus for minimizing thermal gradients across an advanced lithographic mask

International Business Machines Corporation


A storage medium readable by a computer stores a program of instructions executable by the computer to perform a function. The function comprises comparing input image data with reference image data, extracting an annotation contained in the input image data based on a result of comparing, discriminating a geometry of the annotation, and classifying the annotation according to the geometry of the annotation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology of electronically processing an annotation handwritten on paper, and more particularly to a technology of processing an annotation according to geometric properties thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
An annotation is often handwritten on a paper material, such as a document or a drawing, in order to record notes, correct description in the document, or for other purposes. Although such a handwritten annotation is perhaps usually intended for personal use only, there are times when a person may wish to share the annotation with other people, depending on the nature of the document and the purpose of the annotation. For example, if presentation materials displayed at a conference are printed and distributed to participants in the conference, participants may make annotations on the distributed presentation materials. In such cases, it can be of great benefit to share the annotations among the participants.
As one example, the shared use of handwritten annotations is enabled by handling the handwritten annotations on a document converted into electronic form by scanning of the document. Handwritten annotations, however, have a wide variety of geometries, sizes, and locations, which can pose a problem in that handwritten annotations are more difficult to handle than are electronically input annotations. Therefore, handwritten annotations are usually personally kept by each of the participants and not effectively shared among the participants.
For example, in the case of the above-described conference materials, because annotations are often written in the margin of the conference materials, a document portion originally contained in the conference materials must be scaled down to entirely display scanned conference materials on the screen. Further, in such conference materials, multiple participants can make annotations simultaneously on different sheets of the conference materials. If these multiple pages are simply scanned, plural independent files would be created without any link organically connecting the files. Under these circumstances, it is difficult to share the personally-made annotations among the participants. In addition, there is another problem that no adequate scheme has yet been established for handling a situation where a personally-made annotation is not wanted to be disclosed to public.

Media storing a program to extract and classify annotation data, and apparatus and method for processing annotation data


A reactor includes a coil having a winding portion, and a magnetic core including a core piece having an inner core portion disposed inside the winding portion. The core piece is a compact made of a composite material that contains a magnetic powder and a resin. The reactor further includes: a first projection that is integrated with and projects from an outer peripheral face of the inner core portion, and comes into contact with an inner peripheral face of the winding portion so as to position the winding portion in a diameter direction of the winding portion, and a second projection that is integrated with and projects from the core piece at a position opposing an end face of the winding portion, and comes into contact with the end face of the winding portion so as to position the winding portion in an axial direction thereof.

A reactor is one component in a circuit for performing voltage step-up and step-down. For example, JP 2013-135191A discloses a reactor that includes an assembly constituted by a coil provided with a pair of coil elements (winding portions), and a loop-shaped magnetic core that is disposed extending inside and outside the coil elements. The reactor (assembly) disclosed in JP 2013-135191A includes a bobbin that is arranged between the coil and the magnetic core.
In JP 2013-135191A, the bobbin is constituted by inner bobbins that are disposed at the outer peripheral faces of inner core portions of the magnetic core that are disposed inside the coil elements, and frame-shaped bobbins that abut against the end faces of the coil. It is also disclosed that the magnetic core is obtained by combining a plurality of divided core portions (core pieces), and the inner core portions are obtained by alternatingly stacking the divided core portions and gap plates.
Recent years have seen an increase in demand for vehicles such as hybrid automobiles, and this has been accompanied by demand for further improvements in the productivity of reactors used in in-vehicle converters, as well as demand for cost reduction. In view of this, there is desire for the ability to position the coil and the magnetic core with a simple configuration and without using bobbins. There is also demand for further decreases in the size of reactors, and in view of this, there is desire for reduction in the size of the clearance between the inner peripheral faces of the winding portions and the outer peripheral faces of the inner core portions.
In the conventional reactor described above, inner bobbins are disposed between the inner peripheral faces of the winding portions and the outer peripheral faces of the inner core portions so as to position the winding portions in the diameter direction, and the frame-shaped bobbins are disposed abutting the end faces of the winding portions so as to position the winding portions in the axial direction. Accordingly, in the conventional reactor, bobbins (inner bobbins and frame-shaped bobbins) are used in order to position the coil and the magnetic core, and thus a large number of components are used. Also, the bobbins are generally formed from a resin and have a certain thickness (e.g., 2 mm or more) in order to ensure mechanical strength. For this reason, in the conventional reactor that has the inner bobbins disposed at the outer peripheral faces of the inner core portions, a large clearance is formed between the winding portions and the inner core portions. In the case where gaps are formed by disposing gap plates on the inner core portions as in the conventional reactor, there are cases where flux leakage penetrates into the winding portions through the gaps, and eddy current loss occurs in the winding portions. In view of this, in the conventional reactor, in order to suppress the influence of flux leakage through the gaps, it has been necessary for the clearance between the winding portions and the inner core portions to be large to a certain extent. Accordingly, with the conventional reactor, there is a large number of components, it is difficult to meet demand for productivity improvements and cost reduction, and size reduction has been difficult due to the need to provide a large clearance between the winding portions and the inner core portions.
In view of this, an object of the present disclosure is to provide a reactor in which the coil and the magnetic core can be positioned with a simple configuration, and the size of the clearance between the winding portions and the inner core portions can be reduced.


An image rendering apparatus is provided to reduce the amount of data communicated between a shader and a texture unit. The texture unit performs a texture mapping operation for mapping a texture to an object in a three-dimensional space. An input unit receives a single texture address parameter from the shader unit. A coordinate generation unit generates a plurality of texel coordinates based on the texture address parameter. A retrieval unit retrieves a plurality of texel values corresponding respectively to the plurality of generated texel coordinates in a texture cache or in an external texture buffer. An output unit outputs the retrieved texel values to the shader unit in a batch. Since a plurality of texel values are read from a single texture address parameter input, the bandwidth for communications from the shader to the texture unit may be saved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to image rendering technology and, more particularly, to a texture mapping technology for mapping textures to the surface of an object.
2. Description of the Related Art
The image processing performed to display a three dimensional (3-D) image on a two dimensional (2-D) screen comprises geometry process and rendering process. In the geometry process, vertex transformation is performed to vertex coordinates of objects constructing 3-D images. In the rendering process, pixel colors are determined based on the geometry data resulting from the geometry process to create a 2-D image.
In the rendering process, color information for each pixel is computed based on both 2-D coordinate location information and textures, which represents color and pattern of the surface of an object. Then the computed result is written in a frame buffer for display on a screen.
For rendering 3-D images at high speed, it is desirable to address the image data at high speed. The texture mapping needs a large number of addressing operations in order to address texels to be mapped to the surface of objects. However, addressing texels one by one over a certain wide area may increase both the number of instructions and the amount of data communicated from a shader to a texture unit. This may cause a shortage in bandwidth between the shader and the texture unit, resulting in a reduction in processing efficiency.

Texture unit, image rendering apparatus and texel transfer method for transferring texels in a batch


A variable transmission arrangement having enhances power output and high efficiency is disclosed. The arrangement provides paired rollers positioned within retaining rotating elements for co-action with, for example, toroidal disks forming full toroidal cavity. The high efficiency is realized by minimizing spin between contracted rollers and toroidal disks. This is achieved by alignment of the rollers so that all corresponding rotational axes and lines tangential to contacting points, namely the input and output rotational axes as well as those of the rollers themselves intersect, thus minimizing spin. This relationship ensures the highest traction and reduced slip necessary for maximizing the output and power density. As many as nine pairs of wedged rollers can be used for overall ratio of 5:1 with ability to provide adequate and proportional clamping while respecting the geometric imperfections of the contacting surfaces. In a simplest configuration paired balls can be used where the balls exhibit self-alignment properties, thus minimizing the spin.

It has been well established in the art that variable speed and continuously variable transmissions have significant utility and for this reason, the prior art is replete with a great number of innovations in this area wherein even most modern designs are still based on generic devices and configurations devised many decades ago.
Current limitations of use of such devices is generally linked with relatively low power density and efficiency compared with conventional multi-speed gear boxes.
Advantageously a frictional gear continuously variable transmission can offer low noise, smooth operation and speed transition and the possibility of being utilized for a vast scope of applications ranging from micro or nano-mechanical devices where saving of microwatts of power can significantly prolong its autonomous life and to variable speed power generation or power transfer in amounts measured in megawatts.
Many existing systems share a common limitation of their designs where neglecting the negative effect of spin at the contract points of rotating bodies drastically reduces available traction leading to unnecessary elevated slip of traction surface relative to each other and finally leading to waste of available energy converted into heat. Elevated heat in turn requires higher circulation of lubrication fluid, larger heat exchangers and pumps, causing therefore increased complexity and cost for such systems and reducing the overall efficiency even further.
At the same time, many existing devices also fail to ensure a simple "up" and "down" scalability, generally due to the complexity of their controlling, clamping and speed variation systems.
Another common disadvantage of existing toroidal systems is that input and output shafts rotational directions differ, which in many instances complicates retrofit installations in continuously variable transmissions for existing motor vehicles and electric generators.
Turning to prior art and, as an example, Forster et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 2,271,688, issued Feb. 3, 1942, discloses a variable speed friction drive. The innovation in the document relates to the novel spring biased ball assembly which is used as a transmitting medium between a drive member and a driven member. The ball assembly provides the balls in contacting relation along the line forming an acute angle with respect to a line perpendicular to the surface of the disc-shaped driving member. A spring is provided which biases one race containing the balls with respect to the other so as to tend to decrease the angle and thus maintain continuous driving engagement between the driving member, balls and driven member. This provided a significant improvement in the variable speed friction drive arrangements.
In U.S. Pat. No. 1,093,922, issued Apr. 21, 1914 to Dieterich, there is disclosed a power transmission apparatus. The transmission apparatus converts high speed power to low speed power and vice versa and broadly provides the combination of a driving member, a driven member together with a plurality of sets of co-acting rollers for transmitting motion from one to the other. The sets of rollers are adapted to transmit power interposed between coaxial or eccentrically disposed member relative to a shaft of the device.
Jacobsen, in U.S. Pat. No. 1,775,201, issued Sep. 9, 1930, provides for a change of speed friction drive. In this arrangement, the patentee provided a novel arrangement for a change of speed friction drive power transmission which combined an angular raceway, a second angular raceway rolling friction members interposed between the raceways having variable contract therewith and means of forming an axis, to and for supporting the raceway's concentrically and substantially in the same plane and for relative rotation about the axis and including an input shaft held against axial displacement. The shaft is rotatable about the axis and connected to and for rotating these second mentioned raceway to communicate power to the mechanism. The combination further included an output shaft which was held against any axial displacement and which was rotatable about the axis connected to the first angular raceway and rotated thereby.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,870,421, issued Aug. 9, 1932, to Prout provides for a system of friction gearing. In the Patent, the patentee teaches a simple mechanism for transmitting power which is capable of operating quietly and smoothly at a high rate of speed without any possibility of a slippage when presented with a heavy load. In the arrangement, the system provides a drive shaft, a driven shaft parallel thereto, friction wheels having beveled friction surfaces with the friction wheels on the drive shaft comprising different diameters than friction wheels on the driven shaft and intermediate friction wheels having beveled surfaces of different diameters and face angles for engaging friction wheels on the driving and driven shafts. In the embodiment shown, the intermediate friction wheels are mounted for floatable movement above and between the driving and driven friction wheels and driveable in a direction to be drawn into closer contact with the wheels by the tangential forces being transmitted.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,512,717, issued to Dicke, Jun. 27, 1950, there is disclosed power transmission. The focal point of the invention related to power transmissions and particularly to transmissions having infinitely variable drive ratios. The invention comprises a driving friction element and a driven friction element, each of these being frictionally engaged to a rolling member such as a ball and compressed therebetween.
General, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,258,981, issued Jul. 5, 1966, provides a variation on the infinitely variable speed friction drive. In the document, there is a discussion concerning circumferentially spaced rolling friction elements, an example of which is given a steel balls which are used to frictionally transmit a drive between a power input and output race members. In greater detail, the arrangement provided hydrodynamic ball reaction members for the transmission. The reaction ball was supported in a courier having a mating conforming seat supplied with a fluid under pressure to lubricate the ball, but also to provide flotation and reduce frictional losses.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,272,025, issued Sep. 13, 1966, to Stieber, there is disclosed an infinitely variable speed power transmission which is particularly directed to a ball friction transmission. In the document, power transmission between an input and an output shaft is provided by one ball, which is indicated to be displaceable between two conical surface discs at the end of the two shafts. The same is clamped therebetween by a force, the magnitude of which is variable in conformity with the torque derived therefrom.
Further developments in transmissions were promulgated by Brany. The document is U.S. Pat. No. 3,398,592, issued on Aug. 27, 1968, for an arrangement for the control of the movement of balls.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,482,121, issued Nov. 19, 2002, to Okoshi, there is disclosed a drive arrangement which clamps an output disc such as a tire with two driving rollers so as to drive the output disc. The drive arrangement is compact, light-weight, low-noise and inexpensive and can be used for a bicycle equipped with an electrical assist drive or various kinds of welfare-specific vehicles. The drive apparatus includes an input shaft and two output shafts extending in a single plane in parallel to each other. The input shaft has an input roller and each of the output shafts has an output roller. A loading roller is located between the input roller and one of the output rollers and an axis of the loading roller is slightly spaced from the plane of the two out shafts. An outer peripheral surface of each roller is a substantially cylindrical rolling surface. The loading roller is preloaded by a preload spring such that it squeezes between the input roller and one of the output rollers. A friction force generated on the rolling surface by a torque exerted on the input roller pushes in the loading roller between the rolling surfaces of the input roller and one of the output rollers so that a large normal force is produced between the rolling surfaces. A friction force at the rolling surface transmits the torque of the input shaft to the two output shafts.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,697,863, issued Dec. 16, 1997, to Daniel J. Dawe and Charles E. Kraus, there is provided an indefinitely variable traction roller transmission, wherein two toric traction disks are rotatably supported opposite one another and define a torte cavity in which at least two motion transmitting traction rollers are disposed in engagement with the two toric disks and supported by trunnions, the trunnions being pivotally supported to permit changing the ratio of motion transmission between the toric disks. The toric disks each have a different cavity radius, thus causing the circles of contract of the traction rollers with the toric disk to change as the trunnions pivot to various transmission ratio positions, thereby distributing the loads on the traction rollers over a relatively large surface area thus extending the fatigue life of the traction rollers and consequently of the transmission.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,464,086, issued Nov. 7, 1995, to Axel Coelin, a ball deck is disclosed capable of conveying a container having an uneven button surface. The ball deck, having an upper surface, houses a plurality of ball transfer units. Each ball transfer unit has a first housing having an upper end terminating adjacent the upper surface of the ball deck. A first load supporting ball, which is preferably hollow, is disposed in an upper section of the housing and has a portion extending above the upper surface of the ball deck. A second load supporting ball, having a lesser diameter than the first ball, supports the first ball. A spring biases the balls axially upward by allowing the first ball to move between an upward position and a downward position when supporting an irregular load surface.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,424,919, issued Jan. 6, 1981, to Ulrich Menzi, there is provided a variable speed transmission of the friction-drive type comprising a driving shaft having at least two ball-driving elements, the driving shaft having drive means associated therewith for rotation of the ball-driving elements. A first torque transmitting means connected with the driving shaft and associated with the ball driving elements rotating the latter in unison with the drive shaft. A first ball means comprising first cage means and at least two balls each of which balls is in rolling contact with the ball-driving element. A drive-shaft provided compromises at least three driven shafts disposed parallel to one another. A second ball means comprises second cage means and at least two balls, each of which balls is in rolling contact with two of the three driven shafts. A gap between the two adjacent ones of the three driven shafts is smaller than the diameter of the respective ball being in contact with these two adjacent drive shafts.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,224,840, issued Sep. 30, 1980, to Charles E. Kraus, a traction roller transmission is disclosed. The transmission includes coaxial input and output shafts with a sun roller associated with one and a traction ring surrounding the sun roller associated with the other shaft and traction transmitting roller casters disposed in the annular space between and in engagement with the sun roller and the traction ring for the transmission of motion therebetween. Each roller caster includes two transmission rollers whose combined diameters are slightly larger than the gap between the sun roller and the traction ring, one of the transmission rollers being in engagement with the sun roller and the other with the traction ring such that a torque transmitted through the transmission tends to pivot the casters, which are slightly tilted, into a more upright position with respect to the sun roller and traction ring surfaces, thereby forcing the transmission rollers into firm engagement with each other and with the traction ring and the sun roller. The casters have a pivotal support disposed in front of them, with respect to their direction of movement relative to the traction ring and sun roller which both rotate in the same direction, so that the casters swing into perfect parallel alignment with the axis of the sun roller and the traction ring.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,849,025, issued Feb. 1, 2005, to Kazuo Chikraishi, Atsushhi Maeda and Manabu Abe, a frictional roller transmission is provided. The arrangement comprises a first roller and a second roller disposed around two shafts which are separated from each other in such a manner that the two rollers are not brought into contact, a third roller and a fourth roller which are brought into contact with both the first and second rollers and are disposed between the first roller and the second roller and on an opposite side over a line connecting the center of the first roller and that of the second roller. An angle made by a tangential line between the first roller and the third roller (or the fourth roller) and a tangential line between the second roller and the third roller (or the fourth roller) is set at two times as large an angle of friction obtained from a coefficient of friction between the respective rollers or smaller.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,011,765, issued Mar. 15, 1977, to Heinrich Tippman, there is disclosed a ball and cone type variable ratio mechanical transmission in which the cone angles are chosen to provide optimum efficiency, increased power handling capability and extended service life.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,482,461, issued Dec. 9, 1969, to William S. Rouverol, a transmission of the type wherein power is transmitted between a pair of opposed disks by a roller interposed between the disks and mounted on an axis of rotation slantingly disposed relative to the disks. The traction force between the roller and the disks is established by resiliently clamping the roller between the disks.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,424,018, issued Jan. 28, 1969, to Richard E. Alsch, there is provided a variable transmission having symmetrical discs each with oppositely facing planar faces and held in engagement with transmission balls by face-to-face engagement with input and output members. A holding force is exerted on the drive elements in a pure axial sense and axial thrust bearings provide the medium through which that force is applied with the biasing spring directly engaging the thrust bearing. Friction material provides the drive connection to the input disc and the drive member for the input disc extends through a clearance opening in the housing for connection to an external drive. The ball assembly is supported for pivotal movement about a horizontal axis and the balls provide both the medium of transmission between the discs and the bearing between the cage and its saddle. The bearing surfaces of the ball assembly are coated with a material having a low coefficient of friction.
The entire disclosures of all references recited above are incorporated hereon by reference.


The motorcycle foot support assembly has a foot support member, a rotation arm, a monolithic motorcycle-mounting bracket, and a releaseable bracket-to-arm locking mechanism. The rotation arm is attached between the inner surface of the foot support and the motorcycle-mounting bracket. The monolithic motorcycle-mounting bracket has a motorcycle-attachment portion and an arm-attachment portion, the latter portion for engagement with the rotation arm. The releaseable bracket-to-arm locking mechanism has an engagement pin that selectively engages with one of a plurality of predetermined stop holes whereby the releaseable bracket-to-arm locking mechanism may be selectively engaged to stop the relative rotation between the arm-attachment portion and the rotation-arm first end.

Larger motorcycles are frequently designed for long-distance touring. When used in a touring mode, a passenger frequently rides along with the operator of the motorcycle.
To provide a modicum of passenger comfort, touring motorcycles are typically provided with passenger pegs which allow the passenger to have a foot support upon which to rest his or her feet while riding on a touring motorcycle.
Unfortunately, such foot pegs are placed at a generic location preselected during the manufacturing process and irrespective of the needs of a particular passenger. Such foot pegs, obviously do not take into account relative leg length differences extent within the general population. It would be valuable to provide a passenger foot support which is customizable with regard to height, longitudinal direction, and foot angle.


Moisturizing compositions for a human skin which contain oxyethylene function organosilanes. When used in skin care applications, these compounds exhibit humectant properties. The oxyethylene functional organosilane is a compound having the formula RSiR'.sub.3 in which R is the radical --O(CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 O).sub.x R"; R' is an R group or an alkyl radical having one to six carbon atoms; R" is a radical such as hydrogen; an alkyl group of one to six carbon atoms; and an aryl group; and x is an integer having a value of six to thirty.

This invention is directed to moisturizing compositions for application to human skin which contain certain organosilicon compounds, more particularly oxyethylene functional organosilanes. When used in skin care applications, these compounds exhibit humectant properties.
Effective moisturizing amounts to the treatment of skin so that it can retain and absorb moisture. Typically, emollients such as oils and oleaginous materials, are applied to the skin for the purpose of forming an occlusive film on the skin, and hence emollients are known to relieve skin dryness by retarding the evaporation of moisture from the skin.
Humectants on the other hand, are capable of introducing moisture to the skin from the atmosphere in conditions of moderate or high humidity, and are capable of holding moisture in the skin, in order to maintain normal softness and pliability of the skin.
Organosilicon compounds containing oxyalkylene units are generally regarded as being useful for providing water solubility, surfactancy, and foaming, characteristics. Quite unexpectedly therefore, it has been discovered that certain oxyethylene functional organosilane compounds exhibit humectancy rather than occlusivity, and that these compounds provide humectant properties when applied to the skin.
Accordingly, these oxyethylene functional organosilane compounds can be utilized in a novel approach to skin moisturization, by including them as the skin conditioning agent in various skin care applications, including clear facial cleanser solutions, oil-in-water emulsion moisturizers, and aqueous skin care gels. Moisturization is optimized through the use of these compounds as an ingredient in various skin care formulations and in certain well defined proportions along with other combinations of ingredients.

Moisturizing compositions containing organosilicon compounds


Methods and systems for service transfer are disclosed. An example method can comprise receiving a service at a first/current user device, detecting a movement of the first user device, determining a direction of the movement, and requesting the service be provided to a second/target user device in the direction of the movement. Service can be a communication session, network access, video service, audio service, short message service, multimedia message service, and the like. The movement of a user device can be detected by one or more sensors implemented in the user device. For example, to enable a service transfer, a user can point the first user device to a second user device. The pointing can be achieved, for example, by moving the first user device to the direction of the second user device at certain speed.

Current network technology enables service consumption through different user devices. Service can be transferred from one user device to another, for example, television content can be directed from a television to a desktop computer or from a mobile phone to a laptop. Users can direct the transfer of service between user devices according to a transfer protocol. However, transfer protocols can involve lengthy procedures. There is a need for more convenient methods and systems to simplify service transfer.


The present invention is to provide a surveillance apparatus for monitoring the situation of a visitor through a mobile phone, which comprises a monitor assembly including a microprocessor, a digital/analog converter connected to the microprocessor, an electric bell, a microphone, and a speaker. If the electric bell is pressed, a visit signal will be sent to the microprocessor. After the microprocessor has received the visit signal, a notice signal is sent immediately from a switchboard through at least one base station to a mobile phone. After the mobile phone is connected, a bidirectional signal communication can be made between the mobile phone and the microphone and the speaker.

At present, our world has entered into a blooming technological development stage of a new era, and various electronic or information products derived from a microprocessor are introduced continuously to bring tremendous convenience to people, which is indispensable to our daily life. As all kinds of information and electronic products are developed and improved continuously, people have high demands on quality accordingly. Therefore, it is not difficult to see whether or not the future information and electronic devices will bring us a more convenient, effective, and humanistic service, which is also an important index for evaluating whether or not the development and manufacture technologies for information and electronic products of a country lead other countries.
It should be a common experience for many people that one of our good friends unexpectedly pays us a visit at home while we are out. Then, if such visitor still remembers our mobile phone number, it only takes a phone call for the visitor to contact with us. However, if the visitor forgets our phone number, then the visitor is forced to leave with disappointments
Further, if you want to purchase a set of CDs for learning English, but you are at work while a salesperson knocks at your door to promote the sale of such kind of CDs, then you will miss the chance of buying those CDs from that salesperson. In the meanwhile, it also has a hidden risk that a salesperson may come up with an evil mind of stealing things from your home after that salesperson rings your door bell and nobody answers the door, and it thus confirms that no one is in the house of the visiting family.
If there is a computer device integrated with the popular mobile phone, then we can monitor the situation of a visitor through the mobile phone at a remote end. Such arrangement is definitely a big contribution to the extensive consumers. As to the computer and mobile phone manufacturers, it is a great idea and tool for increasing the sales volume of their products.

Surveillance apparatus integrated with mobile phone


A thermotropic liquid crystalline copolyester containing two different recurring units with each of the units linked to another via an ester bond, the two different recurring units having the respective formulae ##STR1## in which X is ##STR2## wherein m is 4-10, inclusive; and Y is ##STR3## wherein n is 11-18, inclusive; and the molar ratio of X to Y in the copolyester ranging from 9:1 to 2:8.

Thermotropic homopolyesters prepared from 4,4'-dihydroxybiphenyl and aliphatic diacids with a carbon number of 6-12 have been shown to exhibit high liquid crystallinity. See A. Blumstein, et al. Polymer 23:47 (1982); J. Asrar et al. J. Polym. Sci. Polym. Phys. Ed. 21:1119 (1983).
While these homopolyesters demonstrate an obvious liquid crystalline phase, they are too brittle to be used as high quality thermoplastics. The brittleness is attributable to high crystallinity. Thus, it is desirable to reduce the crystallinity of such polymers and thereby enhance their toughness.

Thermotropic copolyester containing units from a mixture of dicarboxylic acids

Industrial Technology Research Institute


A curtain coating apparatus and method in which a catch pan is disposed between a curtain head and a web. The catch pan includes a receiver part used when a curtain film liquid is not coated, an upright level difference part and a shelf part having a slope in the direction of the level difference part. The catch pan is moved in the web running direction or in the opposite direction. The curtain film is received in the receiver part after stopping the coating or before starting the coating, and the tip of the shelf part is moved backward or forward from the curtain film in starting or stopping respectively, whereby an excess coated part is not produced when starting and stopping the coating.

(1). Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a curtain coating apparatus for use in coating photographic printing paper, magnetic recording paper, heat-sensitive recording paper, pressure-sensitive recording paper, ink jet image-receiving paper, heat transfer image-receiving paper and pigment-coated paper, specifically to a curtain coating apparatus which inhibits an excess coated part produced in starting and stopping coating, and a coating method.
(2). Description of the Prior Art
A curtain coating apparatus is a coating apparatus of a so-called pre-metered coating type in which metered coating is carried out prior to a coating operation, and unlike a coating process of an after-metered coating system in which metered coating to a prescribed amount is carried out after feeding an excess coating liquid to a web, the liquid composition of the coating liquid does not change with the passage of time, and a coated matter having a stable quality can be obtained over an extended period of time. Further, since multi-coating is possible and the upper limit of the coating speed is high depending on the coating conditions, coated matters can efficiently be obtained.
Thus, because of many advantages of the curtain coating apparatus, it is used in various coating fields such as photographic printing paper, magnetic recording paper, heat-sensitive recording paper, pressure-sensitive paper, ink jet image-receiving paper, heat transfer image-receiving paper and pigment-coated paper.
In general, coating in curtain coating is started by disposing a shielding member between a curtain film which has been formed in advance and a web to capture the whole coating liquid with the shielding member and removing the shielding member to strike the curtain film against the web. The coating is stopped by bringing the shielding member back to a position where it used to be present before starting the coating to shield again the curtain film from the web. As shall be described below in detail, in such operations as starting and stopping the coating, a part (hereinafter referred to as an excess coated part) where an excess coating liquid is fed to the web is formed, wherein the excess coated part passing through a drying zone while the drying is incomplete stains a roll with the coating liquid and makes the coating operation difficult as well as bringing about a serious defect in terms of quality.
The excess coated part in starting the coating is formed in a different step from immediately after stopping the coating. That is, the coating is started by moving and removing the shielding member disposed between the web and the curtain head, wherein the curtain film is cut with the tip of the shielding member, and the end part of the curtain film forms a liquid film thicker than the curtain film by virtue of the surface tension of the coating liquid. When this thick end part strikes against the web, the excess coated part where the coated amount becomes excessive at a coating-starting part is formed.
The excess coated part formed on the web stays in an undried condition in ordinary drying and transfers the excess coating liquid at a part where the web contacts a roll used for transporting the web. Further, a part of the coating liquid transferred on the roll is transferred again to a coated layer on a web surface, or in contrast with this, it disturbs and peels the ordinary coated layer to bring about coating fault. Accordingly, the formation of the excess coated part exerts an adverse effect on the quality of the coated matter. Further, in order to remove the coating liquid which has contaminated the roll, the apparatus has to be stopped, and therefore the production efficiency is obliged to be notably reduced.
On the other hand, the shielding member is inserted into the curtain film in stopping the coating to cut again the curtain film with the tip of the shielding member. After cutting the curtain film with the tip of the shielding member, the curtain film contracts due to the surface tension thereof to become stick-shaped liquid sagging larger than a liquid film thickness, which drops on the web to form the excess coated part. Further, when cutting the curtain film, the coating liquid adheres to the shielding member to become a droplet, which falls on the web to form the excess coated part. Accordingly, the roll is stained with the coating liquid at the excess coated part as is the case with starting the coating. Also in this case, the cleaning work of the roll is inevitably required and results in bringing about a reduction in the production efficiency.
Means for inhibiting the formation of the excess coated part includes a method in which the shield member used in the operations of starting and stopping the coating is brought as close to the web as possible to minimize the excess amount at the excess coated part. While this method is effective, a function of a receiver for receiving some amount of the coating liquid is requested to the shielding member, and therefore a fence having a fixed height is required to be provided at the edge of the shielding member. Accordingly, even if the shielding member is brought close to the web, a point (hereinafter called a curtain film-cutting point) where the curtain film is cut with the tip of the shielding member in order to start or stop the coating becomes high to some extent. On the other hand, in a method of starting and stopping coating used in U.S. Pat. No. 3,508,947, as shown in FIG. 5 of the attached drawings, a preformed curtain film 2, flowing toward a web 3 supported by a roll 4, is intercepted by a deflector 15. The coating liquid forming the curtain film 2 is directed into a receiver 16 by the deflector 15 to stop the coating operation. The coating operation is commenced by rotating the deflector 15 about a pivot axis 18 and keeping the deflector 15 spaced from the curtain film 2, thus allowing the curtain film 2 to flow into contact with the web 3. To prevent air flow from being developed by running movement of the web 3, a wind interceptor (not shown) is set up slightly in front of the coating point.
In this method, starting and stopping of the coating operation are effected by the deflector 15 crossing the curtain film diagonally, but the deflector itself is not required to function as a receiver. However, in order to cause the liquid to fall into the receiver 16 after flowing along the deflector 15, the deflector 15 has to be inclined and a cutting point of the curtain film must be kept a distance from the web 3. As a result, the method requires a distance of several centimeters between a fall-starting point of the film and the web, and therefore does not provide for inhibiting the formation of the excess coated part.
In the methods of starting and stopping curtain film coating described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (through PCT) No. Hei 2-503884 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,851,268, a trapping pan 17 as shown in FIG. 6 is used, and, when coating is commenced, the point of cutting the curtain film 2 may be only a few millimeters above the web 3. However, very slight shaking caused by moving the trapping pan 17 provides a large possibility that the coating liquid received in the trapping pan 17 would be spilled from the trapping pan 17. Actually, it is difficult to cause the function of the receiver to be sufficiently well compatible with having a distance of some millimeters between the cutting-point of the curtain film 2 and the web 3, and as a result, the excess coated part ends up being formed to such an extent that problems remain.
In the method described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (through PCT) No. Hei 2-503884, it would be possible to stop coating without forming an excess coated part by removing the received coating liquid from the trapping pan 17 in advance of stopping the coating operation so as to provide some measure against spilling of the coating liquid from the trapping pan 17.
However, when starting coating, the coating liquid is liable to spill out while moving the trapping pan 17 receiving the coating liquid between the curtain film 2 and the web 3. Therefore, the excess coated part would be formed as well in the method described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (through PCT) No. Hei 2-503884.
That is, in the curtain coating in which a coated layer is formed by causing the curtain film to flow down to strike against the web, it is very difficult to start the coating without forming the excess coated part, and methods therefor have not been present.

Curtain coating commencing/terminating apparatus and the coating process using the same


The invention relates to a method for suppressing noise interference with the following steps:                Gaining of an analytical signal from an input signal (Sin);        Calculation of an instant amplitude signal (IA) from the analytical signal;        Calculation of an instant phase signal (IFI) from the analytical signal;        Non-linear modification of the instant amplitude signal (IA) into a modified instant amplitude signal (IAmod);        Linkage of the modified instant amplitude signal (IAmod) with the instant phase signal (IFI) into an output signal (Sout).

The invention relates to a method for suppressing noise as well as a method for recognizing voice signals in order to enable the effective elimination of noise from the voice signals.
The development of hearing aids has been perfected in the last years to such an extent that technical problems are virtually excluded or irrelevant. The problem is still urgent, however, to process the signals during the amplification in such a way that the useful signals are transmitted as loss-free as possible and noise signals are suppressed to the highest possible extent.
The suppression of noise is also a relevant topic in other applications such as in the field of signaling via phone lines or radio.
A simple approach consists of attenuating certain frequency ranges in which a high share of noise signals is presumed by using high-pass filters, low-pass filters and band-pass filters. Due to the diversity of possible noise signals, such methods have only a limited use and moreover the useful signals, which is usually a voice signal, is distorted and disturbed.

Method for suppressing noise as well as a method for recognizing voice signals


A method of communicating with a memory device through a plurality of sub-channels and a control sub-channel includes; setting a first mode or a second mode. In the first mode, writing or reading first data corresponding to a command synchronized to the control sub-channel through the plurality of sub-channels, and in the second mode, independently writing or reading second data and third data respectively corresponding to different commands synchronized to the control sub-channel through the plurality of sub-channels.

The inventive concept relates generally to memory interfaces, and more particularly, to systems, apparatuses, and methods associated with a memory interface including a reconfigurable channel.
Storage devices are used in many different applications to store data. Among storage devices, semiconductor-based storage devices have been widely adopted as they offer high data storage capacity and may be variously accessed using one or more of channels. In this regard, a greater number of available channels increases the rate at which memory device(s) may be accessed. However, the number of channels in a storage device may be limited by such factors as parasitic components and complexity of connection with memory device(s). Therefore, a memory interface that efficiently accesses high-capacity memory devices is desired.

System device, and method for memory interface including reconfigurable channel


A computerized computer program in an Internet Web site with input and output capabilities for the sale, issue and dispensing of debit cards that includes automated teller machine as dispensers for debit cards that include each one a unique identification number on a storage member thereon. A purchaser clicks the Web site address through his or her personal computer, then, following the program steps, enters his/her particulars and those of the transaction which are merged with one of the unique identification numbers and transmitted to a remote computer facility that acts as clearing house for the users' transactions. The remote facility includes input and output means to communicate with the debit card issuer(s), the dispensers and the associated circuitry to obtain the identification numbers of the debit cards being issued and dispensed and the particulars of the holders and the transactions. Adequate software is provided in the remote facility to permit holders to access the same line of credit opened for one or more debit cards so that different users can remotely access and affect one or more lines of credit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computerized program for the purchase of debit cards through the facilities of a programmed Internet Web site which provides the sale, issue and dispensing of debit cards
2. Description of the Related Art
Applicant believes that there is not a closest reference. The present invention differs from present systems and ways of soliciting and purchasing of debit and other types of bank cards. Through the use of cyberspace and Internet, subscribers will apply for a debit card with any select line of credit that can be used with more than one card to transfer funds and other incentives. The debit card will be issued by a participating bank or financial institution and can be dispensed by an Automated Teller Machine, or received directly at the participating issuing bank office, or mailed, if so desired by purchaser.
Other ways of applying for and purchasing of a debit card provide for a number of more or less complicated features that fail to solve the problem of obtaining a debit card in an efficient and economical way. None of those suggest the novel features of the present invention.

Internet web site program for the purchase, issue and dispensing of debit cards


A flash-memory system provides solid-state mass storage as a replacement to a hard disk. A unified re-map table in a RAM is used to arbitrarily re-map all logical addresses from a host system to physical addresses of flash-memory devices. Each entry in the unified re-map table contains a physical block address (PBA) of the flash memory allocated to the logical address, and a cache valid bit and a cache index. When the cache valid bit is set, the data is read or written to a line in the cache pointed to by the cache index. A separate cache tag RAM is not needed. When the cache valid bit is cleared, the data is read from the flash memory block pointed to by the PBA. Two write count values are stored with the PBA in the table entry. A total-write count indicates a total number of writes to the flash block since manufacture. An incremental-write count indicates the number of writes since the last wear-leveling operation that moved the block. Wear-leveling is performed on a block being written when both total and incremental counts exceed system-wide total and incremental thresholds. The incremental-write count is cleared after a block is wear-leveled, but the total-write count is never cleared. The incremental-write count prevents moving a block again immediately after wear-leveling. The thresholds are adjusted as the system ages to provide even wear.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to non-volatile memory storage systems, and more particularly to wear-leveling, caching, and re-mapping of flash memory.
2. Description of the Related Art
Non-volatile semiconductor memory is useful for relatively long-term storage in computer systems. Often the computer's hard disk is replaced by an array of non-volatile random-access memories (NVRAM's) or non-volatile flash memories. Battery-backed DRAM is sometimes used. These memory devices use electrically-erasable programmable read-only-memory (EEPROM) technology for storage cells. Floating polysilicon gates in these storage cells retain charge and state when power is lost, providing non-volatile storage.
Flash EEPROM chips are divided into pages and blocks. A 64 Mbit flash chip typically has 512-byte pages which happens to match the sector size for IDE and SCSI hard disks. Rather than writing to just one word in the page, the entire page must be written at the same time; individual bytes cannot be written. The page must be cleared of any previous data before being written; clearing is accomplished by a flash erase cycle. An entire block pages (typically 16 pages) is erased at once. Thus a block of 16 pages must be erased together, while all 512 bytes on a page must be written together. EEPROM memory cells are not as reliable as static or dynamic RAM cells. Indeed, one or two percent of the pages on a new flash chip are usually defective when sold to the customer. EEPROM cells wear out as they are written and erased because some charge is trapped in the insulating oxide layers surrounding the floating gate. Eventually this trapped charge increases until it prevents an applied voltage from sufficiently reading the cell. Thus a scheme is needed to identify such defective memory cells and replace them with good cells.
FIG. 1 is a prior-art replacement scheme for re-mapping defective pages of flash memory. Flash chip 10 has a memory array of EEPROM cells arranged into pages. Each page contains a 512-byte data field 12, and an additional 16-byte pointer field 14. Pointer field 14 contains a re-map bit (not shown) that is set when a defect is found in any of the 512 bytes of data in the page. When a page is read, the re-map bit is also read to determine if the page is defective. If defective, a pointer to another page is read from pointer field 14. The new page pointed to contains the replaced data.
For example, page 1 of FIG. 1 is defective. When page 1 at address 001 is read and found to be defective, pointer field 14 is also read. Pointer field 14 for page 1 contains the pointer 110. The address is changed to 110 so that the replacement page at address 110 is read to obtain the data for page 1. Thus address 001 to page 1 is re-mapped by pointer field 14 to replacement page 6 at address 110. Page 6 was initially reserved as a spare page for later replacement of a defective page.
An extra read of the flash memory may be necessary to read the bad data with the pointer. Another problem with using pointer field 14 for re-mapping is that the 16 bytes of the pointer field must be good. When a defect occurs in the data field 12 of a page, and in pointer field 14, then the defective page cannot be re-mapped and bad data can be read. It is thus critical that the pointer field 14 contain good memory cells.
FIG. 2 shows a prior-art re-mapping scheme using a bit-map table. To work around the problems of using the pointer fields in the flash memory pages, a separate re-map table in SRAM is used. SRAM re-map table 15 is accessed when the flash memory chip is accessed. Most logical addresses are simply passed through without translation or re-mapping since the corresponding bit in re-map table 15 is a zero. However, when a logical address's entry in re-map table 15 is a one, the logical address is re-mapped to a different physical address so that a replacement page is accessed.
When a one is encountered when reading re-map table 15, a separate address re-map table (not shown) is consulted to find the physical address. This address re-map table is typically stored in the last block of each flash device. Unfortunately, this scheme requires that the last block of the flash device is defect-free and not wear out; otherwise the address re-map table can re-map to the wrong page.
More complex re-mapping or address translation tables have been used with flash memory devices. Assar et al. in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,479,638, and 5,485,595, assigned to Cirrus Logic of Fremont, Calif., teaches a content-addressable memory for a re-map table, using CAM, EEPROM, DRAM, or SRAM cells. This table includes an erase counter field which is incremented as a page is erased and written. Once a page reaches a threshold erase count, it is moved to an unused page. Once all unused pages are depleted, a clean-out erase cycle is performed to clear all erase counters to zero. The process then repeats. Thus the wear on pages of flash memory is spread out or leveled among all pages.
Periodically clearing the erase counters is undesirable because there is no way to determine the total number of erase/write cycles to a given block of flash memory. Some blocks can be use heavily while others are lightly used; yet their erase counters are periodically cleared to zero regardless of the usage. Thus while wear-leveling occurs between erase-counter clears, longer-term wear leveling beyond the erase-counter clears is not performed.
Not periodically clearing the erase counters allows the total number of erase/writes to be stored, but then pages can be swapped unnecessarily when their erase counts hover around the threshold. This thrashing of pages is similar to the problem seen in processor caches.
Other flash memory systems with wear-leveling are taught by Kaki et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,530,828, assigned to Hitachi of Tokyo, Japan, and Harari et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,602,987, assigned to SanDisk Corp. of Sunnyvale, Calif. Kaki et al. use a management table with a counter that counts bytes written as the 512 bytes are written to a page. Harari et al. uses a data cache to buffer writes to the flash memory and reduce the total number of writes to flash.
While these flash memory systems are useful, a more effective flash memory system is desired. A more efficient and exact wear-leveling scheme is desired. It is desired to minimize excess writes to flash memory while re-mapping addresses to pages of flash memory. A unified table for re-mapping, wear-leveling, and caching flash memories is desirable.

Unified re-map and cache-index table with dual write-counters for wear-leveling of non-volatile flash RAM mass storage


A shoulder press exercise machine has a main frame, a user support frame movably mounted on the frame for supporting a user in an exercise ready position, at least one exercise arm movably mounted on one of the frames and movable between a start position in which handles are located in front of the shoulders of a user on the user support frame and an end position in which the handles are located above the head of the user. A connecting linkage connects movement of the exercise arm to movement of the user support frame, so that movement of the exercise arm from the start to the end position simultaneously moves the user support frame. A load resists movement of at least one of the moving parts of the machine. The combined motion of the user, user support frame and exercise arm between the start and end position substantially replicates the natural movement of the upper part of a human body when performing a free weight shoulder press exercise.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to exercise machines, and is particularly concerned with an exercise machine for performing shoulder press exercises which has a moving user support.
2. Related Art
Free weight shoulder press exercises using barbells or dumbbells involve an exerciser in a standing position holding dumbbells at a position just above their shoulders, and then raising the weights over their head. The free standing shoulder press movement is one of the most fundamental exercises and is one of the standard measures of strength. However, it can be difficult for many people to perform. It requires balance and coordination as well as strength for someone to raise a weight or weights over their head with a slight arcing motion while maintaining balance. This is a compound or multi-joint movement which involves the front and outer deltoid muscles of the shoulder. Improper form during the exercise (jerking or swinging the weights upward, leaning forward or arcing backward) can throw the exerciser off balance, which makes the exercise more difficult, increases stress to the joints, and can lead to possible injury.
In order to help the less conditioned exerciser perform this basic exercise, the seated shoulder press bench was developed. This provided stabilizing support by placing the user in a seated position with back support, preventing the user from swinging the weights, walking with the weights, or arching their back while performing the exercise. A further safety development replaced the free weight movement with a machine utilizing an exercise arm pivotally attached to the stationary bench or user seat. Such machines typically have an exercise arm movably mounted on a stationary frame with a seat and back pad or user support rigidly mounted on a stationary frame, with plate loading, selectorized weight stack, hydraulic, pneumatic or elastic bands for resistance.
Some known shoulder press exercise machines are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,554,089 of Jones, U.S. Pat. No. 5,810,701 of Ellis, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,562,577 of Jones. Each of these machines has a main frame, a user support rigidly mounted to the main frame, and a plate-loaded exercise arm pivotally mounted on the main frame. All three of these machines have exercise arms that provide a converging exercise motion, because the user engaging handles are forced inwards as the exercise arm is urged upward in performing a shoulder press exercise. Each of the machines has weight receiving pegs on the outboard side of the exercise arm, increasing the overall size of the machine and creating a safety hazard as the weight swings during exercise machine use. Jones and Ellis provide an exaggerated arc in the exercise motion, preventing the user engaging handles from ending up in line with the side centerline of the user's body at the end of the exercise, as is the case with the free weight shoulder press.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,456 of Habing describes a machine providing multiple exercises, including a forward inclined shoulder press. Again, the user support is fixed in position, and an exaggerated arc is provided by the pivoting exercise arm. Back supported shoulder press exercise capability is also provided in the machines described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,447,480 and 5,549,530 of Fulks, but again the pivoted exercise arm provides an exaggerated arc and prevents the user engaging handles from ending up in the optimum finish position for a shoulder press exercise. U.S. Pat. No. 6,080,091 of Habing describes an exercise machine with a pressing arm assembly comprising a main arm pivotally mounted on the main frame and two handle arms pivotally coupled to the main arm cross beam. The handle arms can pivot freely inwardly and outwardly. The exercise resistance, in this case a weight stack, is associated with the main arm. This design provides a straight pressing motion as well as an inward converging press motion and an outward to inward "fly" motion. Again, the user seat or support is fixed in position on the frame.
Some known multi-purpose exercise machines for performing various different types of exercise have movable seats or user supports. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,330,405 of Habing, the machine has a stationary base frame, a lever arm pivotally mounted on the frame, and a sub frame pivotally connected to the base frame and supported by the lever arm. The sub frame comprises a user support and an exercise arm linked to the lever arm by cables and pulleys. The exercise arm for performing pressing exercises is pivotally connected to a portion of the sub frame at a location above the user. In order to perform a shoulder press, the user must sit on the user support leaning forward at an angle without benefit of back support, pressing the exercise arm forward and rotating it about its pivotal connection to the sub frame in order to pull the cables and cause the sub frame to lift.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,669,865 of Gordon describes a multi-purpose user support with a hinged, two-piece user support that folds and unfolds with each exercise repetition. The user support comprises a seat portion and a back portion which are pivotally connected together, and is pivotally connected to the main frame. A first exercise arm pivoted to the frame provides pressing and pull down exercises. The seat and back rest do not travel in a fixed relationship to each other, but fold and unfold during the exercise, working the abdominal and low back muscles even when other exercises are being performed. Due to the separate motion of the seat and back rest, additional supports such as a foot rest, safety belts, and thigh gripping surfaces are required to keep the user properly and safely positioned. In this machine, most of the combined weight of the user and user support remains on one side of the gravitational centerline of the user support, and this weight is used as a partial exercise resistance. Due to the working of the abdominal and low back muscles in every exercise movement, including press exercises, the exerciser cannot properly isolate any one specific muscle or muscle group. Because of this, the exerciser cannot fully fatigue other muscles, since the abdominals and lower back will always fatigue first.
None of the prior art exercise machines for performing shoulder press exercises properly simulate the slight arcing motion as well as the start and finish positions found in a free weight shoulder press exercise, while properly supporting the user's body throughout the exercise movement. Most or all shoulder press exercise machines with fixed user supports have an exaggerated and unnatural arcing movement during the exercise, and do not provide the proper starting and finishing alignment between the user and exercise arm handles.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A versatile electrical connector housing 12 with strain relief, includes a first housing section 26 and a second housing section 30. First back ridge 44 being offset from and in combination with a second back ridge 48 provide a strain relief. A vertical passage 50 in combination with a horizontal passage 52 allows an electrical transmission cable 16 to enter into the electrical connector within the profile of the electrical connector.

The invention relates to a back housing for a multi-position electrical connector which terminates a flat electrical transmission cable, and, in particular, to a housing having a slotted entrance passage which provides versatile routing of the cable either 180 or 90 degrees from the housing and increased strain relief.
Strain relief devices protect the integrity of the connections made between an electrical transmission cable and an electrical connector. As a force is applied to the electrical transmission cable, the strain relief device provides resistance to the force preventing any destruction of the connections between the electrical transmission cable and an electrical connector.
Previous strain relief features in electrical connectors have included mechanical clampings and potting compositions. The clamps limit the versatility in which the cable may be routed from the housing. Potting composition basically consists of filling the back shell with an epoxy which cements the electrical transmission cable within the connector housing. The use of potting compositions requires additional steps and materials in the termination process.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,111,512 discloses a common strain relief in which a tortuous path is created by requiring the electrical transmission cable to turn upon itself. As a result, the cable extends beyond the profile of the connector housing, and utilizes more space than the physical strain relief assembly. A problem with such a strain relief occurs in many applications because the space in the chassis for placing the electrical connector is limited. In applications where the cable enters the housing at a bend such as 90 degrees, extension of the cable past the housing makes installation difficult. The space constraints make it infeasible to waste space beyond the profile housing containing the strain relief.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a back housing for an electrical connector which affords strain relief protection to an electrical transmission cable and requires minimal clearance between the cable and an associated electrical housing as the cable terminates into the electrical connector.
Additional problems arise where the strain relief restricts the flexibility of the electrical transmission cable in connection with the electrical connector. Most strain reliefs only provide for relief in one dimension and hence limit the incorporation of such strain reliefs to applications in which that one dimension is available. U.S. Pat. No. 4,493,523 discloses a plug for a standard electrical cord which provides routing of the cord at 90 degrees from the plug housing.
Henceforth, another object of the present invention is to provide the electrical transmission cable with the capability of versatile routing allowing the cable to enter the electrical connector with strain relief at various angles in conjunction with providing a strain relief with any desired routing.


A semiconductor device includes a channel structure arranged on a substrate and extending in a first direction perpendicular to a top surface of the substrate, the channel structure including a channel layer and a gate insulating layer; a plurality of insulating layers arranged on the substrate and surrounding the channel structure, the plurality of insulating layers spaced apart from each other in the first direction; a plurality of first gate electrodes surrounding the channel structure; and a plurality of second gate electrodes surrounding the channel structure. Between adjacent insulating layers from among the plurality of insulating layers are arranged a first gate electrode from among the plurality of first gate electrodes spaced apart along the first direction from a second gate electrode from among the plurality of second gate electrodes.

The inventive concepts herein relate to semiconductor devices and manufacturing methods of semiconductor devices, and more particularly to semiconductor devices including a channel structure extending in a vertical direction and manufacturing methods of such semiconductor devices.
As the degree of integration of memory devices increases, memory devices having vertical transistor structure in contrast to generally planar transistor structure have been developed. Memory devices having vertical transistor structure include a channel structure extending in a vertical direction on a substrate. However, as the integration degree of memory devices increases, the number of gate electrode layers stacked in the vertical direction increases, and thus the difficulty of manufacturing processes may increase.

Semiconductor device with reduced vertical height


The present invention provides a method and system for the reference, archival and retrieval of symbolically linked information despite idiosyncratic symbol usage. A master symbol database stores a plurality of master symbols, wherein each master symbol is formatted according to a predetermined structure. Each master symbol in the master symbol database is linked to a parent identifier that identifies a unique object. Users may archive or retrieve symbolically linked information in an information database by providing an input symbol. The input symbol is normalized and the master symbol database is searched to find a matching master symbol. The parent identifier linked to the matching master symbol is then used to retrieve or archive information in the information database.

Many types of information are referenced and archived in everyday life using a symbolic code. Typically a symbolic code is employed by a community of users who require a consistent and convenient language to refer to a particular set of signified objects—entities in the real world signified by the symbols of the code. However, in fact, most symbolic codes are not formalized and therefore users do not employ these codes in a coordinated and consistent manner. Thus, interpretation of symbols is problematic.
For example, in the financial world, financial exchanges each use a different set of exchange (ticker) symbols to refer to companies and their securities. Although within the United States, local exchanges coordinate symbol names, in general, worldwide exchanges each use a particular symbol set and symbol structure for identifying companies and their securities. For example, both the PSE (Pacific Stock Exchange) and the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) use the symbol 'IBM' to signify a security of IBM. However, in the United States the symbol 'T' refers to an AT&T security while in Canada 'T' refers to a security of the company Telos. In Britain the symbol 'T' may refer to the security of a different company.
Vendors of financial information such as Reuters, Bloomberg, Bridge, etc. also employ unique symbol sets and structures to refer to companies and their securities. Many vendors of financial information use a structured symbol code segmented into two portions separated by a delimiter character. For example, a vendor may use the symbol structure ROOT[delimiter character]SOURCE where the ROOT segment refers to a particular company's security and the SOURCE segment refers to a country or exchange where that security is traded. The delimiter character is typically a character such as '@' or '.'.
Because of the multiplicity of symbol sets in circulation, interpreting a symbol in order to identify a security and a company it belongs to is problematic. For example, a single vendor may use the symbol 'IBM.FR' to refer to an IBM security traded in France and 'IBM.GB' to refer to the same IBM security traded in Great Britain. In either case, both symbols IBM.GB and IBM.FR are associated with the same company IBM. However, two vendors may use the same root and source segments to refer to two different securities issued by two different companies. For example, a first vendor might use the symbol 'T.US' to refer to an AT&T security traded in the United States while a second vendor might employ the symbol 'T@US' to refer to a security of a different company. On the other hand, two different vendors may use different root and source symbols to refer to the same security of a company. For example, a first vendor might use the symbol 'IBM.UK' to refer to an IBM security traded in Great Britain while a second vendor may use the symbol 'IB.EG' to refer to the same IBM security.
The need for a consistent system to reference financial information linked to particular companies has grown even more important as online financial research has increased. Document repositories storing financial documents are accessible to investors and researchers via public networks such as the Internet or private networks. Contributors may submit research documents related to particular companies or securities to a document repository for archival and clients (i.e., investors or researchers) of the document repository may retrieve documents related to particular companies or securities of interest.
In the archival process, contributors typically submit a document along with an input string that refers to the company or security that is the subject of the submitted document. However, because of the multiplicity of symbol sets in use, accurate archival and retrieval of documents is highly problematic. Contributors will typically submit an input string using any of the various vendor symbols and exchange symbols in circulation or possibly may use an idiosyncratic symbol unique to that contributor. Thus, identifying a company security referred to by a contributor is difficult. Similarly, clients desiring to retrieve documents regarding a particular company will submit input symbols in a variety of formats including vendor symbols, exchange symbols or an isolated root symbol, which complicates the retrieval process.
The difficulties regarding the interpretation of security symbols illustrate a general need for a consistent and unambiguous system for referencing symbolically linked information so that the information may be accurately archived and retrieved.

Method and system for referencing, archiving and retrieving symbolically linked information


In a casting device, positions of discharge ends discharging cooling gas, of respective gas supply nozzles are adjusted in response to movement of a mold. This makes it possible to stably achieve high cooling performance for the mold by blowing of the cooling gas. To adjust the positions of the respective discharge ends, the gas supply nozzles are advanced or retreated, or are expanded or contracted. Further, a cooling chamber may include a radiation cooling portion that cools the mold by radiation, and the radiation cooling portion is disposed below the gas supply nozzles that are provided directly below a heat shielding body partitioning a heating chamber and the cooling chamber.

For example, in a turbine blade and other components, the suppression of creep deformation and the improvement of fatigue strength have been sought by using precision casting by means of directional solidification to make the crystal structure columnar crystalline or single crystalline. The casting device sequentially cools a mold poured with a molten metal from one end part toward the other end, normally from a lower end part toward an upper end part, thereby achieving the directional solidification. The casting device includes a heating chamber and a cooling chamber that are adjacent to each other, and the mold poured with the molten metal in the heating chamber is moved, from the lower end part, to the cooling chamber at a slow speed.
As described above, to achieve the directional solidification, the mold is moved to the cooling chamber at a slow speed and solidification advances while maintaining a state where temperature gradient at a solidification interface of the molten metal is large. To reduce casting defect and to obtain a sound columnar crystal or a sound single crystal, it is important to increase the temperature gradient to accelerate solidification (or cooling).
As means to accelerate the solidification, cooling gas containing inert gas is blown to the mold in the cooling chamber, for example, as disclosed in JP3919256 B2.


A general purpose charge mode, analog operation circuit provides adder, multiplier, divider (D/A converter) and other functions using a single hardware configuration to be used in different modes. A two-dimensional lattice circuit including electrical charge transfer devices, each driven by charge transfer electrodes, all or a portion of which having structures allowing independent control, and a plurality of the electrical charge transfer devices adjacent to each other in the circuit are controlled successively with respect to the analog circuit charge signals to provide operation functions such as addition, multiplication, division, and sign inversion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns general purpose charge mode analog operation circuit for attaining, on the same hardware, an adder, multiplier, divider (A/D converter) and other functions according to the difference of their operation status.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recent developments in digital technology have achieved massive and systematic stacks of microscopic structures of extremely simple elements based on cascadic signal processing modes unified by a simple standard referred to as binary logic.
On the other hand, miniaturization and pursuit of higher speed of digital circuits through the development of processing technology tends to increase power consumption giving rise to more serious problems of supplying more power and handling greater heat dissipation.
Analog technology however utilizes the interaction of devices, so that standardization is difficult and developments with respect to miniaturization or introduction higher functions is extremely slow compared with digital technology.
However, systems involved with physical phenomena must always have some portion for handling analog signals, and in many cases depending on the objective, it is more efficient in terms of cost, power consumption and accuracy to process directly an analog signal, rather than use digital technology. However progress is needed towards standardized processing in analog circuits in the future to conquer current problems such as variations in accuracy, drift and circuit size.
The charge transfer device is particularly unique among devices because of its ability to handle a sampled analog signal so as to enable information processing; essentially of the cascade type, and having properties making it ideal for analog circuit standardization along with extremely low power consumption.
Though slightly differing from the topic of analog signal processing, it has been proposed to use a CCD, which is one kind of charge transfer device, as multi-value memory and arrange them in arrays for use in a digital processing system (please refer to: J. HAN; PROGRESS IN COMPUTER-AIDED VLSI DESIGN; VOL.3; IMPLEMENTATIONS; pp.67-118; ABLEX PUBLISHING, 1989 or H. G.KERKHOFF et al.; IEEE trans. on Computers, C-30, No.9; 1981; PP.644-652), however, as a result of abandoning the advantage of charge transfer device of "enabling analog signal processing", the configuration becomes complex and many restrictions are imposed without realizing a sufficient function, so that the CCD has not been widely used in this field.
On the other hand, efforts have been made elsewhere implementing a multiplier using a CCD. As shown in FIG. 13, for example, Chiang et al. have prepared charge input gates of the number corresponding to bit number, manufactured by way of a trial a multiplier wherein multiplication type D/A conversion is performed by adding signals in the charge domain, and confirmed some performance. [Please refer to: (U.S. Pat. No. 4,464,726 CHARGE DOMAIN PARALLEL PROCESSING NETWORK (A. M. CHIANG 1984) or U.S. Pat. No. 5,089,983 CHARGE DOMAIN VECTOR-MATRIX PRODUCT PROCESSING SYSTEM (A. M. CHIANG 1992).]
Now, as shown in FIG. 14, the inventors have proposed a method comprising a multiplication type converter by directly dividing the charge input and selectively accumulating them according to a digital signal bit and, moreover, have proposed an A/D converter of similar composition. [Please refer to: Tokkaihei No.6-237173, "D/A converter or multiplier using charge transfer device", Tokuganhei No. 5-154513, "D/A converter for charge signal", Tokuganhei No. 5-154514, "A device for dividing charge signal into two equal parts", Tokuganhei No. 5-312640, "Systolic array processor", Tokuganhei No. 6-200255, "Multiplier using charge transfer device".]
All these embodiments have a specialized configuration for achieving a single function and do not have flexibility for allowing to a multiplier used as an adder; however among them, the system proposed by the inventors is relatively easy to standardize because of its simple composition.

General purpose charge mode analog operation circuit


A vent for a roof, said vent 2 includes a box 4, shaped to be a somewhat vertical chimney, in order to maximize an upward hot air flow out of the vent. The box has an upper rim and the rim has sides. A translucent hatch extends beyond the rim to provide overhangs of several inches and thereby provide rain protection at the rim when the hatch is open. A hinge allows lifting the hatch at all sides of the rim, to allow a breeze from any direction to venturi air from the chimney, without creating an air-scoop that would cause a downdraft, which downdraft would counteract the upward hot air flow. Above a preset temperature, a heat-actuated lifter lifts the hatch. The lifter increases the lift distance at higher temperatures, and decreases the lift distance at lower temperatures. The lifter closes the hatch below the pre-set temperature. The translucent hatch admits light, and inside surfaces of the box transmit that light by reflection to a space below.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of roof vents and skylights for residential and commercial spaces.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98.
Greenhouses have long used expanding wax-operated temperature-sensitive vents to control the greenhouse temperature. These are powered by thermal expansion and don't require electrical power. But greenhouses are not damaged by the entry of rain or insects into an open roof. Residential and Commercial spaces are sensitive to water damage. An unscreened automatic vent that does not close in response to rain has not seemed like a good idea for a residence or business.