An edge protector (10) for a brick package (20) is provided. The edge protector (10) comprises a length of pliable material (11) having a fixed width (13) and corrugated profile (15). The edge protector (10) is installed on the edges of the brick package (20) such that a general "L" shape is formed, thus protecting bricks (22) during shipping.

Masonry products such as bricks (as well as pavers, cement or glass blocks and other similar building materials) are typically shipped in large cubes consisting of stacks of bricks. These cubes are placed on pallets or have openings in the cubes to accept a forklift. The different layers of brick are separated by paper and the bricks are secured by steel or plastic straps encircling the brick packages. In order to protect the edges of the bricks and hold the packaging together, a longitudinally disposed edge protector is often provided. This edge protector is perpendicular to the strap and is placed along four edges of the cube and under the straps. The edge protectors take on an "L" shape when placed on the bricks and serve to both protect the edges of the bricks and hold the packages together. One such edge protector is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,329,262, entitled "Elastic Protective Corner and Tensioning Strips for Transportable Brick Packages" and issued to Martin et al. on Jul. 4, 1967.
While this is a popular way of transporting bricks, the edge protectors can slip when the straps used to secure the cubes are applied. This is especially true when modern plastic straps are used. This results in exposed edges, damage to the bricks or blocks and loss of packaging integrity.
Additionally, current edge protectors are made flat and are bent to the required "L" shape using a special form die when applied to the packaging. Due to the smooth texture of the surface of the strip, a correct "L" shape is not always formed, resulting in unsatisfactory packaging.
Also, edges of bricks are often very sharp. Current flat edge protectors fail to offer sufficient cushioning against this sharp edge and will tear or otherwise become non-functional.

Edge protector for masonry products and a system for its application


A method of forming a multiple-thickness semiconductor-on-insulator, comprising the following steps. A wafer is provided comprising a semiconductor film (having at least two regions) overlying a buried insulator layer overlying a substrate. The semiconductor film within one of the at least two regions is masked to provide at least one semiconductor film masked portion having a first thickness, leaving exposed the semiconductor film within at least one of the at least two regions to provide at least one semiconductor film exposed portion having the first thickness. In one embodiment, at least a portion of the at least one exposed semiconductor film portion is oxidized to provide at least one partially oxidized, exposed semiconductor film portion. Then the oxidized portion of the exposed semiconductor film is removed to leave a portion of the semiconductor film having a second thickness less than the first thickness.

The desire for higher performance circuits has driven the development of high-speed sub-100 nanometer (nm) silicon-on-insulator (SOI) complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. In SOI technology, transistors are formed on a thin layer of silicon overlying a layer of insulating material. Devices formed on SOI offer many advantages over their bulk counterparts, including absence of reverse body effect, absence of latch-up, soft-error immunity, and elimination of junction capacitance typically encountered in bulk silicon devices. SOI technology therefore enables higher speed performance, higher packing density, and reduced power consumption.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,952,695 to Ellis-Monaghan et al. discloses silicon-on-insulator and CMOS-on-SOI double film structures. Electrostatic discharge (ESD) characteristics of the SOI device is improved by having a thick double layer of silicon in selected regions.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,222,234 B1 to Imai discloses a semiconductor device with a fully-depleted SOI MOSFET and a partially-depleted SOI MOSFET on the same SOI substrate through isolation by an element isolation film.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,414,355 B1 and 6,448,114 B1 both to An et al. disclose, respectively, a silicon-on-insulator chip having an active layer of non-uniform thickness and a method of fabricating same.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,096,584 to Ellis-Monaghan et al. describes a silicon-on-insulator and CMOS-on-SOI double film fabrication process with a coplanar silicon and isolation layer and adding a second silicon layer on one region.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,399,989 to Dockerty et al. describes a radiation hardened silicon-on-insulator transistor.
The article entitled "Ultra-Thin Body PMOSFET's with Selectively Deposited Ge Source/Drain;" Yang-Kyu Choi et al.; 2001 Symposium on VLSI Technology Digest of Technical Papers held Jun. 12 to 14, 2001 in Kyoto Japan; pages 19 and 20; describes ultra-thin body MOSFETs with body thicknesses down to 4 μm and selectively deposited germanium (Ge) raised source and drains.
The article entitled "A 50 nm Depleted-Substrate CMOS Transistor (DST);" Robert Chau et al.; International Electron Device Meeting 2001 held Dec. 2 to 5, 2001 in Washington, D.C., pages 621 to 624; describes depleted-substrate transistor (DST) technology wherein depleted-substrate CMOS transistors were fabricated on thin silicon body (≦30 nm) with physical gate lengths down to 50 nm which show steeper subthreshold slopes (≦75 mV/decade) and improved DIBL (≦50 mV/V) over both partially-depleted (P-D) SOI and bulk Si, for both PMOS and NMOS transistors.

Silicon-on-insulator ULSI devices with multiple silicon film thicknesses

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


Provided are a method for parsing a bit stream including multiple data formats, and an apparatus and computer program including a set of parsers and parser-selection and invocation capabilities for handling parsing of multiple data formats. A first parser is selected and invoked to handle a first formatted component of the bit stream, and this selected parser selects and invokes a next parser which is capable of handling a differently formatted next component of the bit stream. This is differentiated from systems which rely on a single generic parser or a single high-level parser selection process, and is especially advantageous when parsing messages to enable message processing in systems in which a message can include multiple different, nested data formats.

Parsing of data typically involves an initial lexical analysis step which involves breaking up the input data into logically separate components, such as field names, constants, operators (the lexical analyser outputs a string of 'tokens') and then a syntactic analysis step which involves processing the tokens to determine the syntactic structure of the data as defined by a grammar. A lexical analyser may also remove redundant spaces and may deal with character-set mappings (e.g. replacing upper case letters with lower case). The term parser is used to refer to a program which performs such analysis. The output of a syntax analyser may be a syntax tree (also known as a parse tree) which represents the syntactic structure of the string of data being parsed. Parsing is well known in the context of compilers, but is a required step for many data processing operations. For example, a message processing program may need to parse an input message to model the message structure before it can begin processing the message—for example to understand the structure and format of the message before performing format conversion. This may include separating a message descriptor into a set of fields comprising name-value pairs so that the different values in the named fields can be processed, and similarly separating a stream of bits comprising the message data into name-value pairs so that the data can be processed.
It is now very common for a computing network to integrate many heterogeneous systems, and individual messages sent across these networks may include different data formats within headers inserted by the different systems through which the message passes. It is therefore important for a network-wide messaging service to be capable of handling a number of different data formats within a single message, to support the increasing requirement for business and system integration. It is a feature of some existing messaging products to be able to parse an incoming message which includes a number of different format components, splitting the message into its differently formatted constituent parts and separately parsing these parts to generate an output message for further processing.
In the past, these messaging products have relied on predefined message formats and either a generic parser or a single parser-selection process which has access to a repository of message formats. Either the generic parser analyses all components itself or a process scans through the message to identify the differently formatted components, comparing the identified formats with those in the repository, and then a selector assigns each component to a specific parser which is capable of performing syntactic analysis for that component.
This approach has proven satisfactory for situations in which only a small number of formats are possible and the format and sequence of all the message components is known in advance, since this knowledge enables the selection of appropriate parsers for the different components. It may also be possible in some cases, although inefficient, to rely on a generic parser to perform an initial analysis and resulting parser-selection before the main syntactic analysis begins. However, this would require the generic parser to be capable of analysing all data formats within each message so that the first scan of the message could break the message into components and could provide the information to determine which specific parser should handle which components. It may be very difficult to implement such capability within a single generic parser. Secondly, separating syntactic analysis into separate first and second steps would entail processing delays and would tend to duplicate some of the analysis.
An alternative to this initial step of a generic parser analysing the whole message is for individual selected parsers to perform syntactic analysis of specific parts of a message, including identifying the data format or data type of the next message component in the sequence of bytes which makes up the message. In this case, a parser-selection process can identify the format of a first component and select a first specific parser; the selected parser can then parse this first component, identify the format or type of the next component and send this format or type information to the parser-selector to invoke another specific parser for this next message component. As noted above, such solutions rely on knowledge of predefined message formats and predictable sequences of message components. This has proven satisfactory for handling differently formatted message headers, if the selected parsers are given the knowledge of which field to read to determine the format of the next message component, and if the data within the body of the message has a single format such that a single parser can parse the entire contents of the message body. The class name of the required parser can be included in a format field of a message descriptor or another header of the message, and this can be read to select and then invoke the appropriate parser.
A problem arises with the above solution when a message body includes multiple nested data formats, since then the reliance on the single parser-selector to call the appropriate program at the required time involves an excessive number of communication flows between the specific selected parsers and the parser-selector. It also requires the parser-selector to be able to invoke a suitable specific parser for all formats and for unpredictable nested structures, such that the selector needs a detailed knowledge of an ever increasing number of formats. The problems of this approach will become clear in future as the number of message data formats and the complexity of message contents increases with increasing systems and business integration.
Thus, there remains a requirement for an efficient solution to parsing of messages which include multiple data formats, especially when the different formats can be nested within one another and the structure of the message is not known in advance of its receipt and analysis by a messaging program. The problems of known solutions are especially acute for messages in which either individual components or the sequence of components do not have a predictable structure, since then a message analysis is required as part of the run-time operation of the messaging program before it is possible to select a parser to analyse a next component of the message.

Parsing messages with multiple data formats

International Business Machines Corporation


The invention is a pull-out bed attachment apparatus for supporting a bed spread or similar articles. e.g. luggage at night. The attachment comprises a flat, stationary base board abutting the end of the bed, usually a mattress and box spring. The base board is in connection with at least two support boards that lie perpendicular to the base board and support the base board from between the mattresses. Movable dowel rods slide through apertures in the base board and are connected to a third board-the extension board. The dowel rods slide under the mattress and the extension board is pushed flush against the base board when not in use-typically during the day. When in use, the extension board and dowel rods provide an extended platform for supporting the bed spread.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of beds and mattress and attachments thereto. In particular, the invention relates to a pull-out extension apparatus that is held between the mattresses when not in use. The apparatus pulls out at night in order to support quilts, comforters and other coverings that may not be needed. Oftentimes, quilts and other coverings are not needed at night as it is too hot for them. However, the quilts remain on the bed during the day as that is a convenient place to store them. Instead of having to place the quilt on the floor at night, the spread saver provides a supporting surface in close connection with the bed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
No prior art that applicant is aware of is used to support bed spreads by extending out from near the foot of the bed. Nor is he aware of any prior art device that retracts underneath the mattress for storage during the day.


A transmission system of an embodiment is provided with an active transmitter, a backup transmitter, and a system controller to integrally control the active transmitter and the backup transmitter. The backup transmitter is provided with a setting table which stores a setting value relating to a frequency and a level of a signal outputted from the active transmitter, a power amplifier to amplify an input signal and output an amplified signal, and a modulator/exciter which converts, based on the setting table, the input signal into a modulation signal of a prescribed broadcast type in which nonlinear distortion by the power amplifier has been compensated. The system controller, at the time of adjusting the output level of the active transmitter, controls the backup transmitter so that content of the setting table of the backup transmitter becomes a setting value corresponding to the adjusted output level.

Conventional transmission systems for broadcasting have each a backup transmitter for backup, in many cases, in addition to a transmitter to be used for actual broadcasting, in order to secure the redundancy of a transmission apparatus. As one of the simplest systems, there is an active/backup system which has one backup transmitter for one transmitter. In this system, the number of required backup transmitters is equal to the number of transmitters. For this reason, in the case of a broadcast station having a plurality of transmitters, a lot of backup transmitters are required, and thereby the burden of capital investment thereof becomes large. As one means to suppress the burden of capital investment and secure a backup transmitter, there is an (N+1) system which has one backup transmitter for a plurality of transmitters.
At the time of switching to a backup transmitter, switching is performed so that an input signal is inputted to the backup transmitter, and an output signal from the backup transmitter is outputted. In an (N+1) system, since the backup transmitter becomes a backup for not less than two transmitters, change in a frequency and an output level and so on is required, at the time of switching. At this time, since the frequency is previously known, it is possible to previously adjust the backup transmitter in accordance with the frequency.
In addition, it is possible to previously adjust the output level similarly, but the output level may be changed during operation. When the output level is changed, at the time of switching to the backup transmitter, it becomes necessary to adjust the output level in accordance with the change.
In addition, in a digital transmitter, in order to compensate nonlinear distortion of the amplifier, there is a case to perform control for compensation of the nonlinear distortion, by feeding back an output signal of the amplifier. In this case, when the output level fluctuates, it is necessary to perform adjustment again in accordance with the fluctuation.
As described above, in the conventional art, when adjustment of an output level of a transmitter is performed during operation, adjustment of the output level is required at the time of switching to a backup transmitter.
In addition, when nonlinear distortion compensation of a feedback system is performed, it is necessary to perform switching after the setting in accordance with adjustment of a feedback level and the changed nonlinear distortion characteristic is performed. For this reason, when adjustment of an output level of a transmitter is performed during operation, there was a problem that a switching time is excessively required.

Transmission system and control method of same


An air conditioner including notification device is provided. The device may include an input device receiving input information regarding operation of the air conditioner, a controller comparing the input information with previously mapped information and controlling the operation of the air conditioner, and an output device outputting primary information regarding the operation of the air conditioner based on a control command received from the controller. Secondary information may be visually or audibly changed and output by the output device corresponding to a change in the primary information. A method of controlling such a device may include changing input information regarding operation of the air conditioner, changing and outputting primary information in response to the change in the input information, and visually or audibly changing and outputting the secondary information based on the change in the primary information.

1. Field
This relates to a display device for an air conditioner and a method of controlling the display device.
2. Background
Air conditioners maintain indoor air in a cool state in summer and in a warm state in winter, control humidity of indoor air, and purify indoor air. An air conditioner, in which a refrigeration cycle is driven, may include a compressor, a condenser, an expansion device, and an evaporator. Air conditioners may be classified into split type air conditioners with indoor units and outdoor units separated from one another and integral type air conditioners with indoor units and outdoor units integrally coupled with one another as a single unit. Air conditioners may also be classified, based on installation methods, into wall-mounted type air conditioners, frame type air conditioners, and free-standing slim type air conditioners.
Such air conditioners may include a suction part suctioning air from an indoor space, a heat exchanger performing heat-exchange with the air suctioned in via the suction part, and a discharge part discharging the heat-exchanged air into the indoor space. A blowing fan may generate air movement from the suction part to the discharge part.

Display device for air conditioner and method of controlling the display device


An image reading device includes: a controller which performs a first drive operation for rotating the discharge roller, and a second drive operation for moving the discharge guide between the third position and the fourth position. The controller stops the first drive operation when performing the second drive operation, and stops the second drive operation when performing the first drive operation.

JP-A-2005-008283 discloses is a document feeding device which is an example of an image reading device of the related art. The document feeding device is provided with a sheet feed tray, a sheet discharge tray, and a conveyance guide. The sheet feed tray supports a document to be supplied. The sheet discharge tray is positioned below the sheet feed tray and supports the document to be discharged. The conveyance guide conveys the document from the sheet feed tray to the sheet discharge tray. In the middle of the conveyance guide, an image reading position for reading an image on the document to be conveyed on the conveyance guide is set.
The sheet feed tray moves upward according to a decrease of sheets supported by the sheet feed tray and approaches a document pickup unit. The document feeding device further includes a swing conveyance unit and a discharge roller. The swing conveyance unit includes a discharge opening for discharging the document conveyed by the conveyance guide to the sheet discharge tray. The swing conveyance unit moves upward according to a decrease of the document supported by the sheet feed tray, thereby separating the discharge opening from the sheet discharge tray. Specifically, a link member is installed between the sheet feed tray and the swing conveyance unit, and the discharge opening of the swing conveyance unit ascends and descends according to the ascent and descent of the sheet feed tray. The discharge roller discharges the sheet through the discharge opening. In JP-A-2005-008283, a configuration of a rotation drive of the discharge roller is not disclosed.
Meanwhile, an image reading device including the same configuration as that of the document feeding device described above is assumed to be adopted. The image reading device is provided with a supply tray including a movable body, a discharge guide, and a discharge roller. The discharge guide includes a discharge opening for discharging a sheet to a discharge tray. A link member is installed between a movable plate of the supply tray and the discharge guide. The discharge opening of the discharge guide ascends and descends according to the ascent and descent of the movable plate of the supply tray. The discharge roller discharges the sheet through the discharge opening.
However, since a configuration of a rotation drive of the discharge roller is not disclosed in JP-A-2005-008283, and the configuration of the rotation drive of the discharge roller is not apparent even in the image reading device, there is a possibility that a movement of the discharge guide influences a sheet in contact with the discharge roller when the discharge roller rotates and a reading sensor performs a reading operation. In this case, a conveyance speed of the sheet may fluctuate, thereby causing a possibility that reading accuracy of the reading sensor deteriorates.


An interface apparatus comprises a plurality of contact pins, an upper housing, a lower housing, a plurality of conductive members and a resilient supporter. The upper housing holds the contact pins with their upper end portions upwardly projecting from the upper housing, respectively. The resilient supporter is held by the lower housing and movably supports the upper housing. Upon a test of an IC package, package terminals of the IC package are brought into contact with the upper end portions of the contact pins generally by the resilient supporter; its spring force is independent from the sizes of the package terminals, resulting reliable contacts between the contact pins and the package terminals even if the package terminals become smaller.

This invention relates to an interface apparatus for testing an integrated circuit (IC) package. The interface apparatus is also referred to as an interconnect apparatus or IC socket for test
For example, a conventional interface apparatus is disclosed in JP-A 2003-329707, having a plurality of spring-containing probe pins. Each of the spring-containing probe pins comprises an upper contact pin, a lower contact pin, at least one spring, and a barrel holding the upper and the lower contact pins as well as the spring, wherein the spring provides the upper contact pin with a spring force which urges the upper contact pin to project from the barrel upwardly.
However, the conventional interface apparatus has a problem in downsizing of an IC package, especially solder balls thereof. According to the structure of the conventional interface apparatus, its probe pins have decreased spring forces if an IC package has downsized solder balls, because the spring forces depend on diameters of the springs, respectively.
Therefore, there is a need for a new structure of an interface apparatus which can ensure reliable contacts between contact pins and solder balls of an IC package even if the IC package has downsized solder balls.

Interface apparatus for testing IC package


An automotive vehicle headrest system comprises a pair of laterally spaced upstanding support shafts or bolt members for threaded engagement within internally threaded or tapped holes, sockets, or sleeves defined within an automotive vehicle seat frame. The headrest component includes bracket members, having disk members incorporated therein, which are mounted upon the shafts or bolts such that the bracket/disk assemblies are normally mis-aligned with respect to each other, and the disk members define two-point contact systems with the shaft or bolts so as to support the headrest at a predetermined elevational position. Vertical positional adjustment of the headrest is achieved by causing the bracket members to be aligned with each other thereby releasing the two-point contact system defined with the shafts or bolts whereupon movement of the headrest to a new elevational position, the two-point contact system is re-established so as to again permit support of the headrest upon the support shafts or bolt members.

Adjustable headrest systems within automotive vehicles are of course well-known. However, due to dimensional tolerancing or characteristic requirements of both the manufacturing and assembly operations, the automotive headrest components or assemblies of such headrest systems are sometimes difficult to assemble or mount upon, or insert into, the upper portions of the automotive seat frames. In addition, once the headrest components or assemblies of such systems are in fact so assembled or mounted upon, or inserted into, the upper portions of the automotive seat frames, the headrest components or assemblies may also be somewhat difficult to adjust to particular positions or orientations, with respect to the automotive vehicle seats, as may be desired by the automotive drivers or passengers.
In connection with the adjustment of such conventional headrest components or assemblies wherein the headrest components or assemblies are disposed at particularly desired positions or orientations with respect to the automotive vehicle seats, it is also characteristic of such conventional automotive headrest systems that the entire headrest component or assembly, including the vertical shafts upon which the headrest members are supported and which in turn are inserted within the upper portions of the automotive seats, are required to be adjusted with respect to the upper portions of the automotive seats. An adjustment mechanism is usually provided upon the upper exterior or outer surface portions of the vehicle seats so as to permit adjustment of the vehicle headrest components or assemblies with respect to the vehicle seats, however, this adjustment process often proves to be somewhat difficult, unwieldy, and cumbersome due to the fact that the vehicle passenger or driver must use one hand to operate the adjustment or release mechanism upon the vehicle seat while the other hand is used to grasp the vehicle headrest component or assembly and adjustably move the same to the desired position or orientation while the vehicle seat adjustment mechanism is maintained in its released position.
A need therefore exists in the art for a new and improved headrest system for automotive vehicle seats which inherently compensates for tolerances or interactive dimensions between the various members of the system which facilitate or enable the automotive vehicle headrest components or assemblies to be readily and easily mounted or assembled upon, or inserted into, the upper portions of the automotive seats, and which furthermore facilitates or enables the automotive vehicle headrest members to be readily and easily adjusted to particularly desired positions or orientations with respect to the automotive vehicle seats.

Four-way articulating headrest system for automotive seats


An archery bow sight apparatus comprising a mounting frame member having a linear slot and an arcuate slot. A linear slide member has first and second guide bushings which are slidably received in the linear slot. A cam bushing located on an articulated cam member is slidably received in a cam slot on the linear slide member. The articulated cam member is pivotally secured to the mounting frame member, and the articulate cam member extends past the arcuate slot. A tensioning member slidably secures the arcuate cam member to the arcuate slot. A sighting member is secured to the linear slide member, and the sighting member includes an elongated sighting aperture having a fiber optic member positioned therein. Indicia is positioned on the mounting frame member, and an indicator extends from the articulated cam member, to provide alignment data responsive to the position of the bow in relation to the distance to the target. The position of the articulated cam member is manually raised or lowered by the user, in response to the location and distance of the user from the target.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved archery bow sight apparatus, and more particularly a linearly adjustable archery bow sight having a mounting frame member, a linear slide member, an articulated cam member, and a sighting member.
2. Background of the Invention
Numerous bow sights are known having vertically adjustable bow sights to adjust for the trajectory of the arrow in response to the distance to the target. Some of these devices utilize a trial and error adjustment means, which are adjusted by the user in response to actual field use. Other bow sights utilize scale or distance marks to estimate the distance adjustment required for a given distance to the target. Distance adjustments vary by the bow strength, the draw string length, the target elevation, and the target distance, wind conditions, etc.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,092,052 issuing to Samuel Godsey on Mar. 3, 1992 is representative of the prior art apparatus. This apparatus utilizes a linear track on the mounting plate and a complimentary linear track on the rear edge of the sight plate. A slot is required in the sight plate to compensate for the arcuate movement of the adjustment arm. The linear track is subject to jamming in the presence of particles and debris that become lodged in the track.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,109,179, 4,418,479, 4,497,116 and 4,541,179 utilize a quadrilateral linkage to obtain linear movement of the bow sight.
Other U.S. patents relating to adjustable bow sights include U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,642,661, 2,667,692, 3,318,298, 4,473,959, 4,567,668, 4,977,677 and 4,986,001.
What is needed is an easily adjustable archery bow sight apparatus, which is linearly responsive to adjustment by the user, that maintains the desired adjustment inclination, that is rugged in construction, yet simple in operation, is viewable in a variety of light conditions, is compact in design, light weight, and does not interfere with the operation of the bow or its user during normal hunting or target conditions.
The above mentioned and other features and objects of the invention, and the manner of attaining them will be best understood by reference to the following description of an embodiment of the invention, when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings:


A procedure for translating tuples received from a relational database management system (RDBMS) to object-oriented objects is described. The procedure operates by instantiating one or more application objects, and then setting base attributes of the application objects using information in the tuples. One or more intermediate objects are created using information in the tuples to represent those application objects having relationship attributes requiring dereferencing. Relationship attributes in the application objects are then set by swizzling the intermediate objects (rather than by swizzling the application objects themselves).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to databases, and more particularly to a system and method for efficiently translating tuples retrieved from a relational database to object-oriented objects.
2. Related Art
An object-oriented computing environment typically includes an object-oriented database (or multiple object-oriented databases) for storing data according to an object-oriented database schema. The object-oriented database schema specifies the information needed to define the classes and the class hierarchy for the objects stored in the object-oriented database, such as the attributes for each class, the data type of each attribute, etc.
A great amount of data is currently stored in existing relational database management systems (RDBMS), such as DB2 produced by International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation, Oracle produced by Oracle Corp., and Sybase produced by Sybase Inc. Data is stored in a relational database according to a relational database schema, which specifies the tables in the relational database, the number of columns in each table, the nature of such columns, etc.
It would be beneficial if applications operating in object-oriented computing environments could access in an object-oriented manner data in relational database management systems. However, there are many problems that must be overcome before such object-oriented access to relational database management systems can be allowed. These problems stem from the fact that data is stored in a relational database according to a relational database schema, whereas data is stored in an object-oriented database according to an object-oriented database schema.
For example, a relational database management system typically returns tuples (i.e., rows of a table) when it is queried. An object-oriented application, however, does not expect to receive tuples when it makes an object-oriented database query. Instead, the object-oriented application expects to receive objects (or pointers to objects).
Thus, what is required is a system and method for enabling an object-oriented application to access data in a relational database management system in an object-oriented manner. In particular, what is required is a system and method for efficiently translating tuples retrieved from a relational database to object-oriented objects. The object-oriented objects are provided (either directly or via pointers) to the object-oriented application.

System, method, and computer program product for efficiently translating relational tuples to object-oriented objects

International Business Machines Corporation


A friction clutch (440) for use with a 360 degree dual pivot point hinge (106) permits rotation about but one pivot point axis (444 or 445) at a time to assure proper 180 degree operation of each hinge member (411, 413 and 412, 414) associated with the hinge (106), thereby eliminating the misalignment problems typically experienced by dual pivot point hinges.

Electronic housing assemblies for enclosing portable computing and/or communicating devices such as portable computers, palm-top computers, electronic notebooks, portable personal organizers, portable intelligent communicators (PICs) and the like are known. Typically, such enclosures employ a lid or cover which is pivotally connected by a hinge or an equivalent mechanical mechanism to a device base or body. A display screen, integral to the cover, may be employed such that when the cover is closed, the display screen is protected from damage.
In most instances, the cover can only pivot to a limited extent (i.e., 90.degree. to about 180.degree.). As a result, known palm-top and lap-top computers and communicators typically provide a very limited number of screen or display orientations and generally offer the user only one or two ways of orienting the display screen.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/999,515, filed Dec. 30, 1992 and assigned to the assignee of the present application discloses an enclosure for a portable computer, communicator and the like including a body portion and a cover having a user-viewable screen which are connected to each other by a hinge adapted to permit the cover to pivot 360 degrees relative to the body portion. This is accomplished through the use of a 360 degree dual pivot point or polycentric hinge.
As the cover is moved from its fully opened position to its fully closed position it will be appreciated that the cover may freely pivot about both hinge axes, simultaneously. This unrestricted freedom of motion presents a potential problem. The propensity of the hinge to rotate about both pivot points simultaneously during closure tends to cause the hinge to slip out of the position it would otherwise assume if functioning as a standard 180 degree hinge. Such propensity tends to cause the cover to misalign with the body and become ajar when it reaches the fully closed position, thereby failing to latch. The failure of the cover to properly latch, if undetected, could result in the inadvertent opening of the cover and damage to the display screen.

Friction clutch for dual pivot point hinge


An intake system for a combustion engine includes an intake passage (12), a suction duct (22) protruding into the intake passage (12) to communicate therewith and having front and rear wall areas (22a and 22b), and a fuel injector (21) positioned upstream of the intake duct (22) for injecting fuel (F) into the suction duct (22). The rear wall area (22b) has a height greater than that of the front wall area (22a).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an intake system for a combustion engine, particularly that used in a motorcycle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As a high power combustion engine for racing motorcycles, the combustion engine has hitherto been well known, in which first and second fuel injectors are employed in each of intake passages leading to respective engine cylinders and are operated simultaneously during a high power operation. The first and second fuel injectors are positioned downstream of a throttle valve in a throttle body and upstream of an suction duct protruding into an air cleaner forming a part of the intake passage, respectively. In this combustion engine, the distance between an injection port of the second fuel injector and a combustion chamber of the engine is set relatively long by positioning the second fuel injector within the air cleaner distant from the combustion chamber. This structural feature is effective to facilitate a fine atomization of fuel being injected into the combustion chamber.
However, with compactization of the motorcycle advanced, the fuel intake passages in the conventional intake system are limited as to their size and shape. In particular, since the second fuel injector is arranged above (upstream of) the suction duct that protrudes into the air cleaner as discussed above, the air intake space above the suction duct is limited, resulting in the intake efficiency being lowered. See, for example, the Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2004-60552.


A combination magnetic tag (10) is described comprising an optical part (20) and a magnetic part (30), the optical part including a plurality of optical elements for conveying an optical code and the magnetic part including a plurality of magnetic elements for conveying a magnetic code, the optical and magnetic codes being mutually complementary for verifying authenticity of the tag (10). Incorporation of both optical and magnetic codes into the tag is of advantage in that they are capable of rendering the tag less susceptible to copying. The tag (10) is relevant to appropriate to anti-counterfeiting applications.

Optical tags, for example bar codes, are well known. They are widely used for labeling consumer products in retailing premises such a supermarkets. Moreover, they have received widespread acceptance on account of their low cost and the ease with which they can be interrogated using scanned laser beams. In many cases, such bar codes are of printed form and an integral part of product package labeling, for example on paper sleeves around packaged food items. Alternatively, in other cases, the optical tags are retrospectively added to package labels by way of non-contact ink-jet printing.
Optical tags have the disadvantage that they are often susceptible to being copied with relative ease. Such copying can render it difficult to determine the authenticity of counterfeit merchandise bearing similar optical bar codes to corresponding genuine merchandise. In order to address this difficulty, some types of optical tag are arranged to be a covert part of existing labels or product graphical design detail, for example as in documents of value such as bank notes or bills of exchange. For example, it is known to incorporate optical tag features as part of a picture on labels, the picture appearing normal to the human eye and the optical tag features being subtly incorporated so that they are not discernible on cursory human visual inspection.
The inventors of the present invention have appreciated that there exists a need for optical tags which are more difficult to copy and provide a higher degree of authenticity validation to products onto which they are affixed or are an integral part.


A locking device for locking a first part to a second part, including a shaft which connects the first part and the second part to one another in a pivotable manner. A rotational movement of the shaft entrains the first part in rotation, and the second part is rotatably mounted on the shaft. The first part is arranged on the shaft in an axially moveable fashion and can be engaged with the second part, and at least one damping element is assigned to the shaft and to the first part.

WO 03 060 267 A1 presents a locking device in which a first part can be locked to a second part. The first part is connected to a shaft, a rotational movement of the shaft causing the first part to be entrained in rotation. The second part is rotatably mounted on the shaft so that a rotational movement of the shaft rotates the first part with respect to the second part. The first part is arranged on the shaft in an axially moveable fashion, with a force accummulator acting on the first part in the direction of the second part. A damping device which has a spindle is provided between the first part and the force accumulator, said damping device bringing about a damping movement of the first part in the direction of axial engagement with the second part. A disadvantage with this type of locking device is the fact that a radial distance is formed between the first part and the shaft owing to fabrication tolerances, as a result of which it is possible for the first part to tilt with respect to the shaft, producing disruptive noise during the locking as a result of the first part striking against the shaft. In addition, a spindle-like coupling of the damping device creates severe problems when tuning the system. Noise which arises at the bushing of the first part on the shaft owing to the necessary tolerance or play is not sufficiently prevented despite the large number of components and the resulting complex assembly process. Moreover, when excessively high loads occur the locking device which is connected to the door hinge of a motor vehicle is damaged to the extent that the locking device secures the hinge and it is no longer possible to pivot the door.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,457,207 B1 presents a locking device in which a first part is rotated with respect to a second part by means of a rotational movement of the shaft, with the second part being rotatably mounted on the shaft. The first part is provided on the shaft in an axially moveable fashion, with the first part and the second part being capable of being engaged with one another.
FR 2 835 276 A1 presents a locking device for locking a first part to a second part, with the first part being pivoted with respect to the second part by means of a rotational movement of a shaft, with the second part being rotatably mounted on the shaft. The first part is provided on the shaft in an axially moveable fashion, with a spring element acting on the first part in the direction of the second part and being capable of being engaged with the second part.
The object of the invention is to specify a locking device which permits the first part to be locked securely to the second part while generating little noise.


A trailer for carrying cargo includes a frame, at least two axles mounted to the frame, and a deck. The axles have wheels at opposite ends of the axles for movably supporting the frame above the ground. The deck is pivotally mounted to the frame and is pivotable about a first axis relative to the frame and a second axis relative to the frame via at least two supports. The first axis extends generally longitudinally along the deck and the second axis extends generally laterally across the deck and generally normal to the first axis. The deck is also slidable generally along the first axis relative to the frame and/or one of the supports. The deck thus may be adjusted about multiple axes and may be moved forwardly or rearwardly relative to the frame to position the deck in a desired location and orientation relative to the frame.

Trailers or vehicles for carrying cargo and for loading cargo into vehicles, such as aircraft and the like, are generally known. Such trailers typically have a platform that may be raised upward to position the platform at a loading portion of the vehicle or aircraft to ease loading of the cargo from the trailer to the aircraft. The trailers may be able to adjust the platform to maintain the platform relatively level at the raised position to support the cargo at the desired level at the vehicle. Typically, such trailers or cargo carriers have the cargo lifted upward from the ground and placed on the platform at the trailer prior to transporting the cargo, and then elevate the platform to the desired height at the targeted vehicle or aircraft. Examples of such trailers or vehicles are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,666,127; 3,688,926; 3,944,096; 5,165,838; 5,630,694 and 6,447,044. Such trailers or vehicles often include multiple pivotable arms/linkages which pivot relative to one another and to the frame and platform of the trailer in order to provide the desired elevational adjustments to the trailer. Also, although such trailers or vehicles are often capable of transporting and elevating cargo to a desired elevated loading area, such as at an aircraft or the like, the cargo or articles must first be lifted upward onto the trailer platform, which is often cumbersome and difficult to accomplish, and sometimes requires a forklift or the like.


In a processing system distributed over a large geographic area, data are transferred from one system to another by a combination of as needed basis and a continually executing background utility. To transfer voice mailboxes and voicemail processing to a newly installed or under-utilized system, a communication network is established between at least one source system and a destination system. The migration function is activated on the destination system by specifying one or more migration ranges of mailboxes. When a call is received for one of the mailboxes in the migration range(s), if the destination system does not have the mailbox information in its database, a query is sent to the source system to retrieve the mailbox information which is stored at the destination system. Messages are retrieved from the source system by the destination system using remote play capabilities. The background migration utility sequences through mailboxes in the specified migration range(s) and transfers all mailbox information which has not yet been transferred by queries. When the background utility is finished, the migration function can be deactivated and the mailboxes on the source system can be deleted when all of the voice messages of the migrated mailboxes have expired.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to transferring subscriber records and, as needed, messages for subscribers from one information services system to another and, more particularly, to performing such a transfer when each information services system operates on a local area network servicing tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of subscribers.
2. Description of the Related Art
It has been become increasingly common, particularly in North America, for telephone companies to provide information services, such as voicemail, to subscribers. Examples of systems which enable public telephone companies to provide such services are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,029,199; 5,193,110; and 5,260,990, all of which are assigned to the assignee of this application and are incorporated herein by reference. The systems are connected to a central office of a local telephone company or to a private branch exchange or other system handling calls for a large number of telephones When one of the telephones serviced by the central office or other system is not answered, the calling party is given an opportunity to leave a telephone message which is stored for later reproduction by the user of the called telephone. The mailbox owner is given the ability to reproduce, store or dispose of the messages in his or her voice mailbox.
Several of these information services systems may be connected at various nodes in a telephone network. The nodes may be all within a single local telephone company, or in several different local telephone companies, such as those within one or more of the regional Bell companies. Although these systems are designed to be easily expandable, the great popularity of the services provided, particularly voicemail, has required the installation of additional information services systems to service areas previously serviced by a single system. When the new system is installed, it is desirable to distribute the work done by old and new systems until they carry about the same load. Conventionally, a bulk transfer is used with removable media, such as magnetic tape, or via a direct connection between the two information services systems.
There are several drawbacks to using a bulk transfer to redistribute the subscriber data from one information services system to another. Scheduling a bulk transfer can be difficult, since a bulk transfer may cause a large load on system resources and at least the old system should be able to be used by subscribers during the transfer. Existing systems have such a large number of subscribers that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to prevent bulk transfers from impacting on the ability of the old information services system's ability to perform normal functions. It may even be necessary for the new and old information services systems to be out of service for a significant period of time during the transfer of data; although if magnetic media, such as tape, is used, the systems may be out of service at different periods of time.
Another problem with bulk transfers is the potential for loss of data or disruption of service for subscribers. For example, assume subscriber data on the old system are copied to a tape which is physically transported to the new system. Any messages left for the subscribers whose data are stored on the tape between the time that the data are copied and the new system begins taking messages for the subscribers, will be lost. Even if a bulk transfer is performed directly, e.g., via a wide area network (WAN), messages can be lost due to the lag between transfer of data and switching of service for a subscriber from the old system to the new system The only way to prevent lost messages in a bulk transfer method is to suspend service for the subscribers who have data being transferred This is an undesirable solution, since it may take many hours to create a tape, physically transport the tape to the new system, load the new system with data and switchover responsibility for handling the subscribers.


A game having a ring with a peripheral outer surface to be engaged with and rolled over a subjacent surface supporting the ring and a pusher for propelling the ring by rolling thereof. The pusher is a rod having a proximal and a distal end with the proximal end being configured to be gripped by a user. The distal end of the rod cooperates with the ring in such a manner that the user can selectively pull and push the ring through the pusher to accelerate and decelerate rolling of the ring over the surface.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an action game for ambulatory children and adults and, more particularly, to a game in which a ring is propelled along a surface as the user thereof either walks or runs.
2. Background Art
Many decades ago, a game was devised utilizing a ring which a user continuously rolled as he/she walked or ran. The object of the game was to keep the ring rolling along a desired course and often to see how rapid a rate the ring could be kept moving at.
The game included an elongate pusher to be held by the user. The pusher had an elongate rod with a proximal end to be grasped by the hand of the user to conveniently hold the pusher in an elevated position. A contact bar was provided at the distal end of the rod and extended at a right angle to the length thereof so as to define a T-shaped configuration. The contact bar defined a surface to be directly engaged with the peripheral surface of the ring.
To start the game, the user would set the ring on the ground and place it in motion. The user would then hold the pusher and place the contact bar thereon directly against the rolling ring and effect propulsion thereof.
The game was devised for several reasons. First, it served as a diversion to those taking an otherwise monotonous walk. It afforded a challenge to the user who might try to achieve personal goals or compete with others. It further provided an inducement for individuals who wanted to realize the benefits of walking or running. It also served the function of providing pure entertainment.
The inventor herein believes that the above game lost popularity for several reasons. First of all, the ring was normally made from a lightweight material having a circular cross section, similar to the shape of a conventional hula hoop. As the ring rolled, it tended to twist and skid uncontrollably in that there was no significant traction surface thereon.
Another problem with the above game was that it was difficult to maintain control of the ring, particularly on inclined surfaces and irregular terrain. The user was required to place a relatively small and flat contact bar surface against the curved peripheral surface of the ring as the ring moved oft times at fairly rapid speeds. This not only caused frustration on the part of the user but introduced the element of danger. The user would have to focus his/her attention on propelling the ring and in so doing could have their attention diverted sufficiently that the user could unknowingly walk dangerously into a street or surrounding objects or could trip on an uneven terrain. This problem was aggravated by the poor traction that the ring had on virtually all types of surfaces.
As a result, this game became impractical and is particularly so in today's environment where there is such a tremendous focus on safety in games, particularly children games.


Delegated administration of permissions using a contactless card. In one example, a permissions module may receive a request from a first account to grant a second account access to a computing resource. The permissions module may receive permissions data of the first account from a contactless card and encrypted data generated by the contactless card. The permissions module may transmit the permissions data and the encrypted data to an authentication server, which may verify the encrypted data based at least in part on the private key, and determine, based on the permissions data, that the first account has permissions to grant access to the computing resource. The permissions module may receive, from the authentication server, an indication of the verification of the encrypted data and a permissions vector associated with the second account, the permissions vector reflecting the grant of access to the computing resource to the second account.

Users often must have permissions to access computing resources and/or perform actions using computing resources. The complexity and difficulty in managing permissions in an organization increases as the number of users in the organization increase. Conventional solutions to managing permissions require substantial user effort and often lack robust security measures.


An indirect communication system and a method of indirect communication include a mobile phone as either a calling device or receiving device. The mobile phone calls another device to set up a prospective communication, and then uses Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to communicate with the other device over the Internet. The receiving device receives a generated signal notifying the receiving device of a proposed communication with the calling device. A server sets up a meeting point channel after the calling device has connected to the server. The server receives outgoing VoIP packets from the calling device and redirects the outgoing VoIP packets to the receiving device.

1. Field
The invention relates generally to a device and method of making and receiving relatively low cost, high quality phone calls using a mobile phone with wireless media and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).
2. Description of the Related Art
A1. The International Dialing Convention (IDC)
The International Dialing Convention (IDC) is a method to identify every individual phone (mobile phone or landline phone) in the world uniquely regardless the country and region status. The format is
+(Country Code) (Area Code) (Local Number)
The plus sign "+", is the international dialing prefix follow by the "Country Code" representing each country in the world. For example, "+1" represents "USA", and "+44" is "United Kingdom". The area code is usually used to identify the city of the country. Together with the local number, each phone can be identified uniquely such as:
+44 7927 176753—A mobile phone (12345678) in UK
+1 202 87654321—A phone (87654321) in Washington D.C., USA

Using indirect communication to provide a solution to use international dialing convention and incorporating phone numbers for non-phone devices


A method and system for network wide fault isolation in an optical network are described. A single fault in a network can produce a large number of alarms at different points in an optical network. The described method and system identify the root cause alarm while masking all correlated alarms. In the embodiment of the invention, the method and system are based on a wavelength tracker technology allowing identification and tracking of individual channels in the optical network.

An optical network is subject to intermittent faults that may raise alarms in the system. A single fault in the system can however give rise to multiple alarms detected at multiple points in the network. Finding the root cause alarm corresponding to the fault that has triggered these alarms is important for fault isolation and repair.
In the absence of an automatic fault isolation system, the network operator has to manually go through the list of alarms and identify the root cause alarm triggered by a fault that needs to be alleviated. This can be a long and arduous task in large networks. It cannot only overwhelm even an experienced network operator but can also increase the time for the detection of the failure. This in turn can significantly increase the time required for returning service to the network.
Alarm correlation has been addressed by prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 6,707,795 B1 to Noorhooseini et al. issued Mar. 16, 2004, which describes an alarm correlation method for use in a network management device. Using a hierarchical network model, the method performs a correlation between the root cause alarm and other alarms raised by network elements that satisfy particular relationships with the network element that produced the root cause alarm.
Another method and apparatus for incremental alarm correlation is described in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,604,208 B1 to Gosselin et al. issued Aug. 5, 2003. The method partitions the alarms into correlation sets in such a way that the alarms within a set have a high probability of being caused by the same network fault.
Partitioning of alarms is also performed by an invention described in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,253,339 B1 to Tse et al. issued Jun. 26, 2001. This patent provides a method and system for correlating alarms for a number of network elements. The system uses an alarm correlator that partitions the alarms into correlated alarm clusters. The clusters are constructed in such a way that the alarms in a given cluster have a high probability of being caused by the same network fault.
A method for processing data such as alarms concerns U.S. Pat. No. 6,356,885 B2 to Ross et al. issued Mar. 12, 2002. The method performs alarm correlation for a set of managed units. When one of the managed units is notified of an event such as an alarm, the cause of an alarm is determined by using a virtual model. The model comprises the managed units corresponding to the network entities. Each unit contains information about the services offered and received by its entity to and from other entities. A unit uses its knowledge-based reasoning capacity for adapting the model by using this information.
Yet another method and apparatus for fault correlation in a networking system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,006,016 to Faigon et al. issued Dec. 21, 1999. In this patent, occurrences of faults are detected and correlated by using a set of rules that are based on the number of times a specific fault event is generated during a time threshold.
A number of algorithms for alarm correlation and the determination of the possible location of faults in a large communication network is presented in U.S. Pat. No. 5,309,448 to Bouloutas et al. issued May 3, 1994. The techniques described in this patent differ in the degree of accuracy in fault location and in their algorithmic complexity.
Fault correlation in packet switched networks is considered in U.S. Pat. No. 5,949,759 to Cretegny et al. issued Sep. 7, 1999. It describes a method that registers a failure in a high-speed packet switched network such that the failure information can be retrieved by the network management system.
Notification of faults and load balancing of the data traffic among multiple paths in an overlay mesh network is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,725,401 B1 to Lindhorst-Ko issued Apr. 20, 2004.
The above cited prior art indicates that there have been multiple attempts to solve the problem of identifying faults but there is still a need in the industry for further developments of an efficient method and system for identifying and isolating faults in the network.

Method and system for network wide fault isolation in an optical network


In one embodiment of the invention, a word line is coupled to a row of memory cells, and some of the memory cells are accessed before the firing signal has propagated all the way to the back end of the word line. In another embodiment of the invention, a circuit includes a memory row that has a plurality of memory cells, and a word line that is coupled to the memory cells. The word line has a front end and a back end, and is coupled to receive a row-activate signal that propagates from the front end to the back end. The circuit also includes an enable circuit that is operable to prohibit a data transfer to or from a memory cell approximately until the row-activate signal arrives at the memory cell, and is operable to prohibit a data transfer to or from another memory cell approximately until the row-activate signal arrives at the other memory cell.

As technology advances, designers continue to demand memory devices that have faster data access times so that they can design faster electronic systems. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a conventional memory array 10 for a dynamic random access memory (DRAM). The array 10 includes a plurality of memory cells 12, which each include an access transistor 14 and a storage capacitor 16, and which are each coupled to one of two complementary digit lines 18a, b, a word line 20, and a cell plate (not shown) that is biased at a cellplate voltage V.sub.cp. Each complementary pair of digit lines 18 is coupled to a sense amplifier 24, which amplifies the data level on the pair of digit lines 18 so that a read/write circuit 26 can read data from an addressed cell 12. An address decoder 27 activates a word line driver 28 that is associated with the row containing the addressed cell 12. The activated driver 28 generates an active signal level on the word line 20, i.e., fires the word line 20, to enable the addressed cell 12 for a data transfer between itself and the read/write circuit 26.
Each word line 20 has a finite propagation delay associated therewith. A parasitic capacitor 22, which is shown in dashed line, is associated with each memory cell 12 and is modeled as being coupled between the control terminal of the access transistor 14 and ground. Furthermore, a distributed impedance, which is modeled by the resistors 30 shown in dashed line, is associated with each word line 20. Because of the time constant formed by the distributed impedance and the parasitic capacitance, the active level of the firing signal takes a finite amount of time to propagate from the word-line front end, which is coupled to the output of the associated driver 28, to the word-line back end, which is typically coupled to the last cell 12 in the row.
To prevent this word-line delay from causing any data errors, such as may be caused by trying to read an addressed memory cell 12 that is not yet enabled, the array 10 does not enable the sense amplifiers 24 until the firing signal has propagated to the back end of the selected word line 20. To perform this delayed enable of the sense amplifiers 24, the address decoder 27 activates a simulation driver 32 substantially simultaneously with the word-line driver 28. The activated driver 32 generates a "dummy" firing signal that is provided to the input of a word-line-delay simulator 34, which mimics the delay of the fired word line 20. When the simulator 34 determines that the firing signal should have reached the end of the selected word line 20, it turns on a transistor 36, which generates a sense amplifier supply voltage V.sub.SA. In this example, V.sub.SA is approximately equal to ground in a steady state. Thus, as long as the simulator 34 accurately estimates the total propagation time of the firing signal, the sense amplifiers 24 are enabled only after all of the cells 12 in the addressed row are enabled.
There are a number of conventional circuits that can be used for the simulator 34. For example, the simulator 34 may include a dummy word line (not shown in FIG. 1) that is the same length as, and thus has the same distributed impedance as, the word lines 20. Such a dummy word line is coupled to the same number of dummy memory cells (not shown in FIG. 1) as there are storage cells 12 in each row. The dummy cells have the same structure as, and thus the same parasitic capacitance as, the cells 12. Therefore, because the time constants associated with the selected word line 20 and the dummy word line are substantially the same, the dummy firing signal reaches the back end of the dummy word line at substantially the same time as the firing signal reaches the back end of the selected word line 20. Therefore, when the dummy firing signal reaches the back end of the dummy word line, the simulator 34 activates the transistor 36.
One problem with such a simulator 34 is that no data in the addressed row can be accessed until the firing signal propagates all the way to the back end of the selected word line 20. For example, the propagation delay from the front end to the back end of the selected word line 20 may be 8 nanoseconds (ns) or greater. Therefore, there is a delay of at least 8 ns from the time the address decoder 27 fires the selected word line 20 until any addressed memory cell 12 can be accessed even though the memory cells 12 near the front end could be accessed much earlier.
A second problem is that the simultaneous coupling of all the sense amplifiers 24 to ground via the transistor 36 may cause a momentary current surge that is large enough to temporarily alter the voltage level of V.sub.SA from its desired level. Such a voltage spike can negatively affect the operation of the memory array 10, other circuits of the memory device, and other devices in the system that incorporates the memory device.

Memory device having pipelined access and method for pipelining data access


A wireless intelligent switch engine (WISE) is described. The wireless intelligent switch engine provides for automatic switching between different physical wireless interfaces in mobile devices while roaming to maintain a wireless network connection. WISE functions as a bridge between a mobile device and multiple wireless network interfaces to provide automatic and seamless switching among networks while roaming. The mobile device sees WISE as a LAN interface and communicates with WISE using the TCP/IP protocol stack, thus providing a PPP-less configuration that uses the TCP/IP protocol stack regardless of the wireless interface.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to wireless networking, and more particularly to an apparatus and method that provides for automatic switching between different network interfaces in a mobile device so that the mobile device can seamlessly roam among different types of wireless networks.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, wireless network interfaces have become extremely important to the functionality of mobile devices. Examples of mobile devices that use wireless networking are laptop computers and personal digital assistants (PDAs). Wireless connectivity of a mobile device to the Internet or to an intranet can increase mobility, convenience and productivity, but there are certain limitations associated with that connectivity. For example, the widely used IEEE 802.11 (WLAN) wireless networking technology provides high bandwidth but is limited in geographical coverage. On the other hand, while cellular technologies such as CDMA/WDCMA/GSM/GPRS (WAN) provide much wider (and even global) geographical coverage, they do so at a much lower bandwidth than 802.11 networking.
Due to the use of different standards and communications protocols for wireless networking, in order to achieve true global coverage it is currently necessary to utilize a combination of several plug-in or integrated connectivity interfaces and to manually switch between interfaces while roaming through different geographical areas or communication sites. For example, a laptop computer or PDA may have an integrated 802.11b interface and one or more PCMCIA or CF-card slots for swappable add-on cards. This allows the user to, for example, select among IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, CDMA/WCDMA or GSM/GPRS wireless interface cards. Again, however, the user experiences a degree of inconvenience since it is necessary to manually enable, disable or otherwise switch between the interfaces. For example, the user may have to manually switch from an 802.11 module to a CDMA/WCDMA or GSM/GPRS module if the user moves from 802.11 hot spots to cellular networks. With many operating systems, this also requires the user to close the network connection session and restart it again using the new wireless interface.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that network communications typically rely on the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) Reference Model in which there are seven communications layers. Currently, products are available that use OSI Layer 5 to provide proxy-based session level mobility and OSI Layer 3 with Mobile IP to provide network level mobility. However, those products are based on a client/server architecture and roaming connection changes require interactions of both client and server components.
Accordingly, there is a need for seamless roaming capability to be built-in to mobile devices so that different wireless interfaces will automatically be selected while roaming without the need for manual selection and/or restarting the wireless networking session. The present invention satisfies that need as will herein be described.


An apparatus (40) for pretensioning seat belt webbing (16) which is extensible about an occupant of a vehicle seat (14) includes a housing (70) having a fluid chamber (90) and an actuatable pyrotechnic device (150) in fluid communication with the fluid chamber. An actuatable venting mechanism, such as a pyrotechnic plug (160), when actuated, opens a vent opening (96) to enable venting of fluid from the fluid chamber (90). A controller (190) is operatively connected to the pyrotechnic device (150) and to the venting mechanism (160) for controlling the actuation of the pyrotechnic device and of the venting mechanism. The controller (190) actuates only the pyrotechnic device (150) to provide a first pretensioning output level and, alternatively, actuates both the pyrotechnic device (150) and the venting mechanism (160) to provide a second pretensioning output level.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an apparatus for helping to protect a vehicle occupant. In particular, the present invention relates to a seat belt webbing pretensioner apparatus which has multiple pretensioning output levels, one of which levels is provided by venting fluid pressure from the pretensioner apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A typical vehicle seat belt system includes a length of seat belt webbing wound on a spool of a seat belt webbing retractor. The seat belt webbing is extensible about a vehicle occupant to help protect the occupant. The spool rotates in a belt webbing withdrawal direction as the seat belt webbing is withdrawn from the retractor. In the event of a vehicle collision, the spool is prevented from rotating in the belt webbing withdrawal direction.
It is known to pretension, or remove any slack in, the seat belt webbing in the event of a collision. In one known seat belt webbing system, the seat belt webbing is pretensioned by moving a buckle associated with the seat belt webbing through a pretensioning stroke. The force of the pretensioning stroke is typically large enough so that, for an average male occupant, any slack in the seat belt webbing is removed. A variety of pretensioning force levels may be desirable to uniformly restrain all sizes of occupants.

Apparatus for pretensioning seat belt webbing


A silicone adhesive comprises (A) a reaction mixture obtained by subjecting a partially condensed mixture of (i) a hydroxy-terminated diorganopolysiloxane and (ii) an organopolysiloxane copolymer having hydroxyl and alkenyl radicals and comprising R33SiO1/2 units and SiO2 units, and (iii) a silicon compound having a silicon atom-bonded hydrogen atom and a silicon atom-bonded alkoxy radical to addition reaction in the presence of a platinum catalyst and (B) a crosslinking agent. The silicone adhesive exhibits at the initial a tackiness sufficient to fixedly secure a substrate. By press bonding another substrate to the adhesive-bearing substrate and heating them, the substrates can be firmly bonded together.

Like silicone oils and silicone rubbers, silicone-based pressure-sensitive adhesives have heat resistance, freeze resistance, electric insulation, weather resistance, water resistance and non-toxicity characteristic of the polysiloxane structure involved. They are also highly adherent to fluoro-resins and silicone rubbers which are difficult to bond with organic polymer-based pressure-sensitive adhesives. Thus they comply with a wide variety of substrates and are used in a wide range of application. They are especially suited for use in the manufacture of electronic parts, because of high purity, high heat resistance, low Tg, low modulus of elasticity, high electric resistance and low dielectric constant.
Prior art silicone-based pressure-sensitive adhesives are used in the application where bond strength is not so required, for example, as protective tape, securing tape or masking tape and for substrate lamination. However, these adhesives are recently required to develop initially adhesive bond (or tackiness) and subsequently permanent adhesion to various substrates.
In one application, a silicone adhesive which changes from adhesive bond to permanent adhesion is expected, from the reliability standpoint of silicone resin, to find use as a dicing/die bonding tape which is believed useful in the manufacture of semiconductor devices.
In the manufacture of semiconductor devices, a large diameter silicon wafer is secured by a pressure-sensitive adhesive tape (known as dicing tape) and subjected to a dicing (sawing and separating) step where the wafer is divided into semiconductor chips. The chips are then peeled from the dicing tape. The chip thus taken out is secured to a lead frame with a curable liquid adhesive (or die bonding agent) through heat compression bonding. In the current industry, a simpler process is needed, and the contamination of semiconductor parts with fluid ingredients from the liquid adhesive is also an issue of concern. It is then desired to have a dicing/die bonding tape in the form of a pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet serving as both the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer of the dicing tape and the die bonding agent. The pressure-sensitive adhesive (dicing)/die bonding layer needs to develop a tack force (or attachment) to withstand the dicing operation and to adhere to the chip being taken away in the initial dicing step and needs to further develop a strong bond to the lead frame in the subsequent die bonding step.
The pressure-sensitive adhesive (dicing)/die bonding layer of the dicing/die bonding tape is proposed in JP-A 9-67558 as comprising polyimide resins. On account of a high glass transition temperature (Tg) and a high modulus of elasticity, the polyimide resins are insufficient to mitigate the thermal stress between bonded substrates of semiconductor parts. To enhance reliability, there is a need for a dicing/die bonding tape comprising a silicone resin having a low Tg and a low modulus of elasticity enough for stress mitigation.
Silicone pressure-sensitive adhesives of the type that changes from tackiness to permanent adhesiveness are disclosed in JP-A 7-53871, JP-A 7-53942 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,340,887 (JP-A 7-70541). They establish a bond through crosslinking and curing with moisture. However, a long term of several days to several weeks is necessary until these pressure-sensitive adhesives acquire a substantial bond strength. Such extremely low productivity prevents the adhesives from being applied as the dicing/die bonding layer for use in the manufacture of semiconductor devices.

Silicone adhesive and silicone adhesive film


A home appliance, such as a range, for floor-standing operation, including an appliance body, a floor-standing frame supporting the appliance body, the frame including a traverse frame member and an anti-tip bracket mounted to a support surface, the anti-tip bracket including a stanchion and an engagement member projecting from the stanchion in an generally horizontal manner and a tooth projecting downwardly from a distal end of the engagement member for engagement with a portion of the traverse frame member.

The present invention is related broadly to home appliances that may be susceptible to tipping and, more particularly, to a home appliance, such as a range, having a unitary anti-tip bracket.
Home appliances, such as ranges used for cooking are typically relatively large, floor-standing, box-like structures that generally stay firmly in place under their own weight. Nevertheless, if the overall structure is altered, tipping may become a danger. Most ranges include an oven and provide an access opening to the oven. A door is used to cover the access opening and is movable between a closed position wherein the door is against the range body and has no influence in tipping the range, and an open position wherein the door projects away from the range body in a generally horizontal manner. If sufficient downward force is applied to the door, the door can act as a lever that could cause the range to rotate or pivot on its front feet to lift the rear portion off the floor, thereby tipping the range.
In the past, multi-piece anti-tip devices have been mounted near the base in the rear of a range. Generally, one part on the range is fastened to another part attached to a support structure. Such devices can be difficult to successfully manipulate into operation during installation of a range which often involves fitting the range between adjacent cabinet structures which are not readily movable. Further, the relatively precise placement required of both the anti-tip device or bracket and the range can make installation even more difficult. In addition, once the anti-tip device is attached to the range, further height adjustment of the range is usually precluded.
There currently exists a need for a single piece or unitary anti-tip device that makes installation a more straightforward matter and can reduce the cost of current devices.

Home appliance with unitary anti-tip bracket


A composition includes at least one hydrophilic polymer containing primary (—NH2) and/or secondary (—NHR) amine groups and at least one saccharide containing a reducible function. A method of increasing the strength of paper includes the step of contacting the paper with a composition comprising (i) at least one hydrophilic polymer containing at least two groups which are independently the same or different a primary amine group or a secondary amine group and at least one saccharide containing a reducible function. A hydrogel composition is formed from a mixture of at least one hydrophilic polymer containing at least two groups which are independently the same or different a primary amine group or a secondary amine group and at least one saccharide containing a reducible function.

The present invention relates generally to the formation of hydrogels, and, especially, to formation of hydrogels suitable to increase the strength (that is, wet and/or dry strength) of paper and to methods of increasing the strength of paper using such hydrogels.
For many years, the paper-making industry has sought ways of increasing the strength of paper. In that regard, papers fabricated without some additional means of reinforcement thereof can fall apart upon wetting or when subjected to mechanical stress in the dry state. Typically, a material is added to the wet pulp to improve the strength thereof during the formation of sheets prior to ultimate drying. Maintaining paper strength upon wetting is desirable in many applications, including bathroom tissue, paper towels, napkins, and the like. Moreover, additives which increase the strength of a wet paper often increase the dry strength of that paper. Increased dry strength is desirable, for example, in various packaging applications.
A number of wet- and dry-strength increasing additives are known in the art. However, such compositions typically include one or more components which are environmentally unfriendly or even toxic.
For example, some wet-strength additives are condensation products of urea and formaldehyde. Polyamine can be added to make such resins cationic. Other wet-strength additives include organochlorine crosslinked amidoamine compounds. A discussion of wet-strength additives and their mechanisms is presented in "The 65 Mechanism of Wet-Strength Development in Paper: A Review," by Herbert H. ESPY, Tappi Journal, Vol. 78, No. 4, pages 90-97 (April 199 as well as in "Chemistry of Paper Wet-Strength. I. A Survey of Mechanisms of WetStrength Development," by Lars WESTFELT, Cellulose Chemistry and Technology, Vol. 13, pages 813-825 (1979), the contents of which are incorporated by reference as though set forth in full herein.
Chemical compositions purported to increase paper wet strength while being chemically benign or environmentally friendly are set froth in U.S. Pat. No. 6,146,497, which describes a composition including (a) a water-soluble polymeric material comprising at least one nucleophilic polymer, (b) a phenolic compound (phenols or polyphenols) and (c) a component (an oxidizing agent) capable of converting the phenolic compound into a quinone compound. Sugars in conjunction with their corresponding oxidases are contemplated as potential oxidizing agents for the phenolic component of the composition of U.S. Pat. No. 6,146,497. Many phenolic compound, however, are environmentally undesirable. Moreover, many oxidizing agents are also environmentally undesirable (for example, potassium dichromate and potassium permanganate).
It thus remains desirable to develop improved, environmentally friendly compositions for increasing paper wet and/or dry strength.

Method for increasing the strength of a cellulosic product


In manufacturing a motor, a second protrusion of a lead bushing is inserted into a second through-hole in a bearing holder. A diameter increased portion on an upper end of the second protrusion fixes the lead bushing to the bearing holder. This configuration thus requires less dimensional accuracy as compared with a case where the lead bushing is press fitted to the bearing holder.

It has been known that a conducting wire serving as a coil of a motor is connected to an external circuit board via a metal terminal. The metal terminal is drawn out of a housing through a resin component, such as a lead bushing, fixed to a through-hole in the housing.
A known motor includes such a resin component.
A sealing member made of rubber has been press fitted to a through-hole in a housing of a motor. A lead wire has been drawn out of the housing through the sealing member. In order to press fit the sealing member into the through-hole in the housing, however, it is necessary to subject the through-hole and the sealing member to work with high dimensional accuracy.


An imaging Doppler lidar (IDL) enables the measurement of the velocity distribution of a large volume, in parallel, and at high spatial resolution in the wake of a wind turbine. Because the IDL is non-scanning, it can be orders of magnitude faster than conventional coherent lidar approaches. Scattering can be obtained from naturally occurring aerosol particles. Furthermore, the wind velocity can be measured directly from Doppler shifts of the laser light, so the measurement can be accomplished at large standoff and at wide fields-of-view.

Wind energy applications require accurate measurement of wind speed and turbulence. For example, optimizing the design and operation of wind farms requires understanding the complex interaction between atmospheric boundary layer flow and wind turbines. In particular, understanding wind turbine wakes is important for optimizing power output and minimizing fatigue loads on the turbine blades, especially within wind farms.
Wind measurements for wind energy applications have been obtained mainly with cup anemometers. However, cup anemometers cannot measure wind direction and require the erection of tall towers that can disturb wake flow. Therefore, there is a need for remote sensing instruments that can perform wind speed measurements without affecting the flow. Light detection and ranging (lidar) systems are now being deployed to measure the velocity of the inflow and the wake of wind turbines.
A Doppler lidar is a remote sensing instrument that measures wind velocity through the evaluation of the Doppler shift of a laser beam emitted into the atmosphere and backscattered from aerosol particles (e.g., dust, droplets) in the atmosphere. The Doppler lidar measures the velocity component along the line-of-sight of the laser beam, derived from the frequency difference between the emitted and backscattered signals. This is often done coherently, by observing the heterodyne signal between the laser light and what is returned from the aerosol. Velocity measurements at locations along the beam can be performed by simply staring the beam along a fixed direction. Alternatively, a two-dimensional measurement can be performed by raster scanning a highly collimated laser beam over the scene of interest. The range or distance at which the measurement is made can be controlled by focusing the laser beam or from the signal round-trip time-of-flight.
FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a wind turbine wake. The far-wake region (at a distance beyond about three rotor diameters (3D) downstream of the wind turbine) is characterized by wake meandering and merging of distinct airflows. In this far-wake region, the maximum wind velocity is about 10 m/s and features are about 1-10 meters in size. RADAR or potentially commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) lidar systems can measure wind velocity in this region. The near-wake region (less than 3D downstream) is characterized by vortices, turbulence, and wake depression. In this near-wake region, the required spatial resolution is about 10 cm to 1 m, with local velocities in excess of 10 m/s, limiting the total measurement time to much less than a second. Downstream distances from 1D to 3D can potentially be measured with existing scanning lidars. However, it is difficult or impossible to measure wake characteristics in the near-rotor region (within one rotor diameter downstream from the wind turbine) using existing lidars. Existing outdoor scanning lidar approaches are too slow to obtain high velocity wind flows in large volumes and typically provide poor range resolution. Wind-tunnel Doppler measurement techniques most often employ continuous wave (CW) lasers to produce sheets of light where scattering is obtained from seeded aerosols. These approaches present problems for wind turbine measurements due to unwanted background signal from the sun, range limitations, slow scanning of the laser sheet and the difficulty of seeding air flow on a large scale. Further, it is desired to obtain three orthogonal components of velocity at each range location to provide a three-dimensional velocity profile of the scene.
Therefore, a need remains for a remote sensing lidar that can measure high speed, vector wind velocities with good range resolution in the wake of a wind turbine.

Imaging doppler lidar for wind turbine wake profiling


A sound of percussion or impact which is produced as a result of a vertical movement of a pressure foot driven in synchronism with a vertical movement of a sewing needle is eliminated. A sphere 15 exposed through the lower surface of a pressure foot 10 as well as a coiled compression spring 16 which urges the sphere are provided, so that the resilience of the spring is effective to suppress a vertical movement of the fabric while allowing a movement of a fabric 9 in a horizontal plane, thus eliminating the need for a vertical movement of the pressure foot as the needle is driven up and down. Alternatively, an independent drive source may be provided to move the pressure foot in synchronism with the vertical motion of the needle through a minimized stroke.

The invention relates to a pressure foot unit for a sewing machine, in particular, a pressure foot unit which is specially adapted for use with an embroidery sewing machine.
Generally in a sewing machine, the shaft (needle bar) of a sewing needle is connected to an upper shaft which is driven for rotation through a cam or the like, and the sewing needle repeats its elevating motion in synchronism with the rotation of the upper shaft. When the sewing needle is raised to be withdrawn from a fabric, the fabric tends to be lifted by being pulled by the upper thread, thereby disturbing the thread tension. In order to prevent this, it is necessary to hold the fabric in position. In particular, a sewing operation of an embroidery sewing machine takes place while moving the fabric in diverse directions, and accordingly there is a high need to suppress the movement of the fabric during the passage of the needle. For this reason, a pressure foot in the form of a plate is disposed adjacent to the sewing needle of a sewing machine. However, it is necessary to unlock the pressure foot when moving the cloth or fabric, and hence the plate serving as a pressure foot is connected with the needle bar, and repeatedly undergoes an up and down movement through a relatively increased stroke as the sewing needle is being elevated. Hence, when the rotational speed of the upper shaft is increased to accelerate the elevating motion of the sewing needle, sounds are produced by percussion or impact as the pressure foot is being elevated.
A prior art for a pressure foot mechanism of a general sewing machine can be known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,981,094 (Class 235), for example.

Programmed pressure foot positioning for control means sewing machine


A Delay Locked Loop (DLL) having a function of periodically executing a locking operation during a power down mode and a locking operation method of the same, which includes a global clock generator, a clock delay unit, and a power down control unit. The power down control unit, in response to some of a plurality of global clock signals, a phase detection signal, and a power down signal, outputs an input clock signal to each of the global clock generator and the clock delay unit. During the power down mode, the clock delay unit is enabled to periodically carry out the locking operation whenever it receives the input clock signal. Therefore, a consumed power of the DLL can be decreased during the power down mode, and a phase difference between an external clock signal and an internal clock signal during the power down mode can be decreased by the periodical locking operation of the clock delay unit, so that the DLL can operate at a fast speed after the power down mode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and more particularly, to a Delay Locked Loop (DLL) generating an internal clock signal.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In general, mobile products such as camcorders, digital cameras, cell phones, MP3 (MPEG-1 Layer3) players, or the like should operate for a long time with a low power, so that consumed powers of the semiconductor devices included in the mobile products should be decreased. Meanwhile, the DLL includes a plurality of delay units which consume a relatively large amount of currents, so that its consumed power increases at the time of locking operation of the DLL. Accordingly, in the case of the semiconductor device including the DLL, the consumed power of the DLL takes up a relatively large amount of the total consumed power of the semiconductor device. Consequently, when the consumed power of the DLL decreases, the total consumed power of the semiconductor device can be significantly decreased. Accordingly, when the semiconductor device enters into a power down mode (or a standby mode) in order to decrease the consumed power of the semiconductor device including the DLL, the DLL can be designed to be disabled. However, when a time (e.g., 7 μs or 8 μs) taken for maintaining the semiconductor device in the power down mode increases, a time taken for the DLL to carry out the locking operation again increases in an active mode after the power down mode. This is because that the DLL, when it enters into the power down mode, is disabled while maintaining the previous locking state. Accordingly, when a phase of an external clock signal before the power down mode becomes different from a phase of the external clock signal after the power down mode, a phase difference between the external clock signal and an internal clock signal occurring while the DLL is locked in the previous locking state significantly increases out of the predetermined range after the power down mode. In this case, the DLL carries out the locking operation so as to make the internal clock signal synchronized with the changed external clock signal, and the locking operation time of the DLL increases when the phase difference between the internal clock signal and the external clock signal increases. That is, the time taken for having the DLL locked increases. As such, when the locking operation time of the DLL increases, an operational speed of the semiconductor device decreases, and an operational performance of the semiconductor device is degraded. Such a phenomenon may be more severe when the time taken for maintaining the semiconductor device in the power down mode increases (i.e., when the time taken for disabling the DLL increases). The DLL may be designed to keep an enabled state even when the semiconductor device enters into the power down mode (or standby mode) in order to increase the operational speed of the semiconductor device including the DLL. However, when the DLL is continuously enabled, the consumed power of the DLL increases, so that the total consumed power of the semiconductor device increases.

Delay locked loop with a function for implementing locking operation periodically during power down mode and locking operation method of the same