A method for producing a high solids aqueous slurry of particulate calcium carbonate having highly stable aging characteristics, comprising dispersing in water at at least 70% by weight solids, a finely divided particulate calcium carbonate, utilizing as a dispersing agent from 20 to 34 lbs/ton of dry mineral (expressed as 40% actives), of a copolymer of acrylic acid and a sulfonated vinyl monomer, which is converted to the salt form by from about 30 to 50% of its carboxylic acid sites being neutralized with a polyvalent cation, and substantially the balance of said carboxylic sites being neutralized with a monovalent cation.

This invention relates generally to particulate calcium carbonates, and more specifically relates to the production of stable high solids aqueous slurries of such materials, for use, for example, in paper coating and other applications.
In recent years fine particle size calcium carbonates, either of natural calcitic origin or produced by means of chemical precipitation, have come into increasingly widespread use for paper coating and paper filling applications. Both the manufacturer, as well as the ultimate user of these materials, often finds it convenient to handle and/or ship such materials in the form of very high solids aqueous slurries, typically including, for example, 70% or more by weight of the particulate material. Indeed in some instances, it is of interest to attain slurries as high as 75 to 78% solids. In the past, however, it has proved extremely difficult to provide a slurry having such high solids characteristics which is stable over any sustained period. Depending upon the characteristics of the particulate material and on such dispersants as may be used, such high solids slurries, even if initially displaying satisfactory viscosity, show an increase or buildup in viscosity as a function of time (i.e. with aging). In many instances such slurries will actually set after a relatively brief period, sometimes measured in hours to days, into a unusable gelled mass.
Long term viscosity stability, however, is extremely important, as it enables the slurry manufacturer and the paper user to successfully handle, transfer and use the slurry. For example, high solid slurries of calcium carbonate are normally shipped in bulk in railway or truck tanker cars. The slurries are normally transferred from these tanker cars by pumping. The viscosity of the slurry at the transfer point is of critical importance to enable transfer. Similar considerations apply in subsequent storage, handling and use at the papermaker facility.
Prior art dispersants commonly used with calcium carbonate slurries include various types of water soluble polymeric dispersants. Among the most common and relatively effective agents used for these purposes, are the Dispex.RTM. products of Allied Colloids of Great Britain. In general, these constitute water soluble salts of polyacrylic or polymethacrylic acid and/or water soluble copolymers or water soluble copolymer derivatives of the type described e.g. in British Patent Specification No. 1,414,964.
While these prior art types of dispersing agents are generally effective where relatively limited periods of time are involved, it is found that the viscosity of high solids calcium carbonate slurries, based upon these materials, tends to increase rather rapidly over a period of several days or weeks.
More recently, dispersants have been introduced which are superior to the aforementioned products, particularly as regards longer term stability. These dispersants are produced by co-polymerization of a sulfonic acid containing monomer with acrylic acid which tends to produce a dispersant that adds charge stabilization to the steric stabilization that a pure polyacrylic acid type dispersant offers. Examples of these sulfonated copolymers are the Allied Colloids products DP 2020 and DP 2157. See European Patent Publications Nos. 0108842 and 0129329, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,509,987. These polymer products are fully neutralized with sodium cation. These sulfonated copolymers are more expensive than the prior art sodium polyacrylate Dispex.RTM. type dispersants. They also tend to be sensitive to the dosage level used in forming the dispersion. In particular, at lower dosage rates the salutary effects and stability provided by the newer materials are rapidly impaired.
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,775,420, and 4,868,228 to Gonnet et al, further types of dispersing agents are described in combination with mineral particles such as kaolins, carbonates and the like, including especially in combination with mixtures of such pigments, which are said to provide long term stability as well as good initial viscosities. The dispersing agents used are water soluble carboxyl-containing polymers which are converted to the salt form by at least one salt-forming agent which has a polyvalent function. The cation used may comprise calcium, magnesium, zinc, copper, lead, aluminum, and chromium. Various carboxyl-containing polymers are described, including those derived from (meth)acrylic acid, itaconic acid, crotonic acid, etc. The acid sites of the dispersing agent which are not neutralized by the polyvalent cation, can be neutralized by a salt-forming agent having a monovalent function to render the dispersant fully neutralized.
A commercial dispersant product believed to be in accord with the disclosures of the above Gonnet et al patents, is available from Coatex, S.A. Long term stability of high solids carbonate slurries prepared with this type of product is acceptable; however, higher dosages are required to achieve this result.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,840,985 to Gonnet et al discloses a process for preparing a stable aqueous mineral suspension of calcium carbonate using a grinding agent which may be a homopolymer or copolymers which are predominantly acrylic acid and contain at least one monomer selected from the group consisting of (meth)acrylic acid, etc., wherein from 40 to 80% of the acid groups of the homopolymer and copolymers have been neutralized with neutralizing agent, at least one of which has a monovalent function. Thus, the polymer dispersants are partially neutralized.
In accordance with the foregoing, it may be regarded as an object of the present invention, to provide a method for producing a high solids aqueous slurry of particulate calcium carbonate, wherein the resultant slurry possesses excellent viscosity characteristics, which characteristics are maintained over a very sustained period of time, whereby the viscosity buildup normally associated with slurry aging is avoided.
It is a further object of the invention, to provide a method of the foregoing character wherein the dispersant utilized is such that in practice of the method, the same outstanding results are achieved at lower dosage rates, and without undue sensitivity to excess dosage levels.
A yet further object of the invention, is to provide new dispersing compositions which are highly useful in producing high solids slurries of mineral particles, such as a calcium carbonate slurry, which slurries are stable over very long periods of time.

Method for production of high solid aqueous calcium carbonate suspensions


A method of manufacturing a micro-passage heat exchanger includes preparing a substrate of multiple square tubes, configuring multiple layers of the square tubes in a vertical plane, interposing between each layer a braze alloy to form a core, bonding the multiple layers of multiple tubes to form a core mass, forming in alternate tube layers counter flow fluid channels, providing the core mass with sides and manifolds, and brazing the heat exchanger.

The production of compact heat exchangers using very small flow passages has yielded highly variable results due to the fact that conventional fabrication methods cannot be controlled sufficiently well to yield consistent flow passage dimensions. Compact gas-gas heat exchangers are usually of the plate-fin type and are fabricated from thin sheets of material or plates to which are bonded, such as by furnace brazing, thin fins which are fabricated from strips of the same material used for the plates. The strips and a sheet of braze foil are tack welded together prior to firing the assembly in a braze furnace. The tack welding of the many hundreds of fins is usually done by hand. Manifolds are usually welded to pre-inserted weld stubs which are included with the braze assembly. When the assembly of very small flow passage heat exchangers is attempted, distortion of the thin sheet-metal fins, weld splatter, and braze drop through form significant and uncontrollable flow path obstructions.
Structural improvements in such heat exchangers are desired to enhance the ease of manufacture and reduce complexity while maintaining or improving durability and reliability. Design flexibility is also important to allow selection of the number of passages, etc. with minimal change in the structure and the manufacturing process.

Method of manufacturing a micro-passage plate fin heat exchanger


Maintaining accurate out-of-office notifications can be resource intensive and error-prone. This is compounded by duplicating efforts, such as between a telephony system and an email system. By automatically creating and presenting a personal interactive voice response (IVR) or dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) signaling in response to menu option, generated from an email system, a telephony system may automatically be updated to provide options for a caller to select delegates for a particular user. The delegates may further be identified by subject matter or other categorization. As a result, a user may maintain one system and, as a result, enable a second system to automatically present and process delegate selection without additional human input.

Users often utilize out-of-office messages for their telephone and email applications to notify contacting parties that the user may be unresponsive or not view the message for a period of time. Out-of-office messages may also include alternative contacts, such as individuals to contact for a particular subjects or questions.
An email application may receive a message and automatically generate and send a reply to the sender notifying them that the recipient is out-of-office and optionally alternative contacts. Similarly, a telephone system may include out-of-office content in a greeting so that a caller may now that, should they leave a message, the recipient may not hear it for a period of time or others that may be contacted for a particular subject matter.

Unifying presence data and communication routing based thereon


A punch press tool includes a cylindrical punch guide in which a punch body provided with a punch tip for press forming is fit slidably. The punch tip consists of an appropriate number of long forming punch tips each including a press forming portion in the leading end thereof. The punch tip also consists of an appropriate number of clamping punch tips each with a shorter length compared with the forming punch tips. Both of the tips are attached to the punch body detachably and exchangeably.

Conventionally, in order to form a bent part through, for example, a downward or upward cut-and-raising and bending process being performed on a portion of a workpiece that is to be used for, for example, electronic parts, a punch tool or die tool is made corresponding to the width of the bent part, and such tools are exchanged to be used for different widths.
However, using the individual tools discussed above causes a problem that it is necessary to make and prepare a large number of tools corresponding to various widths of respective bent parts. Moreover, there is another problem that the width of each of the bent parts cannot be designed freely.
The present invention is intended to solve the problems described above, and an object of the invention is to provide a punch press tool that is capable of forming a bent part with a freely-designed width by downward or upward cut-and-raising and bending.


The method of laying and clamping an elastic tubular covering on an element consists in using a rigid tubular support mounted on the element and previously provided with said covering expanded thereon. In the laying method and the corresponding assembly, flexible associated auxiliary means that are strong in traction and not stretchable are provided for temporarily mechanically securing the expanded covering on said support to said element on which said covering is thus mounted and positioned. The invention is applicable to use at an end of an electric cable or at a junction thereof.

Document FR-A-2 592 825 describes an assembly for tightly laying such a covering on an element such as a cable or two cables that are electrically and mechanically interconnected. That assembly includes a rigid tubular support of dimensions designed so as to enable it to be mounted freely on the element, and the support is provided with a flexible film having a low coefficient of friction. The film is fixed to one end of the support and it extends freely over its outside surface. The covering is mounted on the laying assembly by being expanded so as to be positioned over the element. It is laid and simultaneously shrunk in place on the element by taking away the laying element from beneath the covering, while manually holding the covering in position over the element. As the rigid support is taken away, the film turns inside-out beneath the in-place shrunk covering. The film is taken away in turn from beneath the fully shrunk and in-place covering.
Document FR-A-2 706 976 discloses a laying assembly of the above-specified type but in which the flexible film having a low coefficient of friction is not fixed to the end of the support but is associated with means for guiding it and driving it around said end and over the inside surface of the support as the support is taken away from beneath the expanded covering that it carries.
The problem posed by such laying assemblies, or by any other laying assembly that can be taken away from beneath the expanded covering thereon, is that the covering is not always laid accurately on the desired location of the element, but moves to a greater or lesser extent together with the laying assembly which needs to be pulled hard in order to take it away.
To avoid such a problem, document FR-A-2 724 444 proposes in particular adopting a laying assembly of the kind described above but in which the rigid support is in the form of two mutually independent tubular portions which are placed end to end for receiving the expanded covering over both of them and which are taken away from beneath the covering one after the other, with means then being provided for fixing to the element the second of the two portions that is to be taken away from beneath the covering, while the first portion is itself being taken away.
The dispositions provided thereby are generally satisfactory, but they nevertheless require sufficient space in both directions along the element at either end of the assembly for laying the covering on the element to enable first one and then the other of the two portions to be taken away. They make it necessary to use a two-portion support even when it would be advantageous, if possible, to use a laying assembly having a support that is in a single portion, particularly for reasons associated with the overall time of the operations concerned and with the resulting overall cost. However, it is sometimes impossible to ensure sufficient space in only one or other of the two directions and thus impossible to use such dispositions, and in any event it is advantageous if only one space needs to be provided in one or other of the two directions in which the laying assembly can be taken away. These considerations mean that, whenever possible, it is preferable for the laying assembly to be constituted by a single portion, in which case it cannot be fixed to the element.

Method and an assembly for positioning an elastic tubular covering on an element


A method of forming an image on a three-dimensional printed object includes operating first plurality of ejectors to form a first layer of a blocking material having an opacity level that prevents transmission of incident visible light to another layer in the three-dimensional printed object, operating a second plurality of ejectors to form a second layer of a primer material over the first layer, and operating a third plurality of ejectors to form a printed image from at least one marking agent over the primer material. The layers of blocking material and primer material reduce or eliminate hue shift in the image.

Three-dimensional printing, also known as additive manufacturing, is a process of making a three-dimensional solid object from a digital model of virtually any shape. Many three-dimensional printing technologies use an additive process in which an additive manufacturing device forms successive layers of the part on top of previously deposited layers. Some of these technologies use inkjet printing, where one or more printheads eject successive layers of material. Three-dimensional printing is distinguishable from traditional object-forming techniques, which mostly rely on the removal of material from a work piece by a subtractive process, such as cutting or drilling.
Many existing three-dimensional printers form the printed objects using one or more build materials with little or no regard to the appearance of the surface of the object. However, some three-dimensional object printers also form two-dimensional printed images on a surface of the three-dimensional printed objects. The printer forms two-dimensional images on the object to improve the aesthetics of the three-dimensional printed object and to convey information such as printed instructions, part labels, barcodes, and the like. Many three-dimensional object printers apply a layer of a primer material to the outer surface of the three-dimensional printed object and form the two-dimensional printed image on the primer layer.
The build material that forms many three-dimensional printed objects can have an adverse impact on the quality of printed images. For example, a hue shift occurs when light passes through a portion of the printed image and scatters through a translucent build material in the object. FIG. 4 depicts an outer layer of build material 448, a primer material layer 450, and a layer of ink in a printed image 454 on the surface of the primer material layer 450. An incident light ray 404 strikes the ink layer 454. Some of the light penetrates through the ink layer 454 and reflects from the primer layer 450 as depicted by the ray 408. However, in the prior art printed object 454, a portion of the light ray 404 penetrates deeper in to the primer layer 450 and build material layer 448. The light ray scatters laterally as depicted by the ray 412. Some of the scattered light, such as the light ray 416, emerges from the surface of the primer layer 450 at a location outside of the printed ink layer 454. In the example of FIG. 4, the ink layer 454 is formed from a magenta ink. The scattered light 416 that emerges from the primer layer 450 also assumes a magenta hue that produces a "hue shift" in the apparent appearance of a region that is outside of the printed magenta ink layer 454.
FIG. 4 depicts the light scattering phenomenon, which is known to the art as the Yule-Nielsen effect. The Yule-Nielsen effect produces the hue shift in the color of the surface of the three-dimensional object. The hue shift changes the apparent color of regions of the three-dimensional printed object that are outside of the printed areas for different ink colors, and may change the appearance of the object in an undesirable manner. Consequently, improved systems and methods that form printed images on the surfaces of three-dimensional printed objects with reduced hue shift would be beneficial.

System and method for reducing or eliminating hue shift in three-dimensional printed objects


An architecture for a state machine used to control the data processing operations performed on the memory cells contained in a memory array. The architecture is designed to control the performance of the operations and sub-operations used to erase and program the memory array. The architecture of the present invention does not utilize separate state machines for each primary operation, but instead is based on a single state machine which is capable of controlling the various functions common to the data processing operations carried out on the memory cells. A sequencer which acts upon commands input from an external microprocessor is used to determine which set of sub-operations or functions needs to be performed to implement the commanded operation. The sequencer activates a timer which acts to trigger the functions controlled by a loop controller as they are needed for a particular operation. The sequencer provides input signals to the loop controller which are used to determine the parameters of the signals generated by the loop controller. These signals are used to control the high voltage supplies which produce the pulses for erasing or programming the cells and other modules used during the data processing operations.

In early integrated circuit memory systems, the detailed operation of the memory system was controlled directly by a processor unit which utilized the memory. Since the operation of many memory systems requires a substantial amount of processor overhead, many such systems now include an internal state machine for controlling the detailed operation of the memory system. The internal state machine controls the primary operations of the memory system, including the reading, programming and erasing operations performed on the memory elements. Each of these primary operations is comprised of a large number of sub-operations which are necessary to carry out the primary operations, with these suboperations also being controlled by the primary state machine or in some cases by a secondary one.
FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a conventional flash memory system 100. The core of memory system 100 is an array 112 of flash memory cells. The individual cells in array 112 are arranged in rows and columns, with there being, for example, a total of 256K eight bit words in array 112. The individual memory cells (not shown) are accessed by using an eighteen bit address A0-A17, which is input by means of address pins 113. Nine of the eighteen address bits are used by X decoder 114 to select the row of array 112 in which a desired memory cell is located and the remaining nine bits are used by Y decoder 116 to select the appropriate column of array 112 in which the desired cell is located. Sense amplifiers 119 are used to read the data contained in a memory cell during a read operation or a data verification step in which the state of a cell is determined after a programming, pre-programming, or erase operation. This circuitry can be combined with the data compare and verify circuits used to compare the state of a cell to a desired state or to input data.
Memory system 100 contains an internal state machine (ISM) 120 which controls the data processing operations and sub-operations performed on memory array 112. These include the steps necessary for carrying out programming, reading and erasing operations on the memory cells of array 112. In addition, internal state machine 120 controls such operations as reading or clearing status register 126, identifying memory system 100 in response to an identification command, and suspending an erase operation. State machine 120 functions to reduce the overhead required of an external processor (not depicted) typically used in association with memory system 100.
For example, if memory cell array 112 is to be erased (typically, all or large blocks of cells are erased at the same time), the external processor causes the output enable pin OE to be inactive (high), and the chip enable CE and write enable WE pins to be active (low). The processor then issues an 8 bit command 20H (0010 0000) on data I/O pins 115 (DQ0-DQ7), typically called an Erase Setup command. This is followed by the issuance of a second eight bit command D0H (1101 0000), typically called an Erase Confirm command. Two separate commands are used to initiate the erase operation so as to minimize the possibility of inadvertently beginning an erase procedure.
The commands issued on I/O pins 115 are transferred to data input buffer 122 and then to command execution logic unit 124. Command execution logic unit 124 receives and interprets the commands which instruct state machine 120 to initiate the steps required for erasing array 112 or carrying out another desired operation. Once the desired operation sequence is completed, state machine 120 updates 8 bit status register 126. The contents of status register 126 is transferred to data output buffer 128, which makes the contents available on data I/O pins 115 of memory system 100. Status register 126 permits the external processor to monitor certain aspects of the status of state machine 120 during memory array write and erase operations. The external processor periodically polls data I/O pins 115 to read the contents of status register 126 in order to determine whether an erase sequence (or other operation) has been completed and whether the operation was successful.
FIG. 2 is a state diagram showing the states of an erase state machine during the performance of an erase operation on a memory system such as that shown in FIG. 1. As indicated by the figure, an erase operation includes pre-program 200, high voltage (internal) erase 220, and erase healing (distribution adjustment) 240 stages. As shown in the figure, each of these primary stages in an erase operation is typically implemented in the form of a separate state machine.
The erase operation begins with an erase set-up stage 260 which is initiated by application of the appropriate commands on data I/O pins 115 (DQ0-DQ7) of FIG. 1, and any other appropriate control signals applied on the relevant lines. The function of stage 260 is to set up a node that indicates that the part is being erased. From this state, the state machine either transitions to pre-program state 200 along path 262, or if instructed to skip that stage, along path 264. If the state machine transitions to the pre-program stage, pre-program state machine 200 then carries out that operation. This sub-operation programs all the elements in the memory array to a logic 0 value to make sure that the erase process starts from a known cell threshold voltage level. This part of the complete erase operation is used to reduce the possibility of over erasure of some of the memory elements during the later steps. When the pre-program operation has been completed on the memory elements, the erase state machine transitions along path 265 to the next stage, unless the state machine has been instructed to suspend the erase operation. If a problem occurs during the pre-program stage, control is passed out of that stage along path 263.
When the pre-program operation is complete, or if that operation was skipped, the erase state machine transitions to erase high voltage (internal erase) stage 220. As noted in FIG. 2, this stage is typically implemented in the form of a state machine. In the erase high voltage stage, the memory system performs a block erase operation on all of the cells contained in a block of memory. This has the effect of erasing all of the memory elements to a logic 1 value.
Upon successful completion of the high voltage erase operation, the erase state machine transitions to either the erase healing stage 240 or to the erase clean up stage 270. If the erase operation was successful and the heal operation has not been performed, the erase state machine transitions along path 266 to healing state machine 240. In the erase healing operation, the memory cells in the array are corrected (if necessary) for the effects of accidental over-erasure, in which case the threshold voltage of a cell has been driven down to zero or a negative value. When this operation has been completed for the block of memory elements which has been erased, the erase state machine transitions back along path 268 to the erase high voltage state machine 220. This is because the erase high voltage operation may need to be repeated to further adjust the threshold voltage levels of the memory cells after they have been altered by the healing operation. This cycle can be repeated until the erase high voltage operation and the healing operation have produced a desired range of threshold voltage levels. At that point, the erase state machine transitions along path 267 to erase clean up state 270. This stage is used to condition all internal nodes of the memory array to default values in order to prepare the memory system for the next operation. In addition, if an erase high voltage state error occurs, the state machine transitions along path 269 to erase clean up state 270.
FIG. 3 is a state diagram showing the states of the erase state machine of FIG. 2 in greater detail, and in particular the states of the pre-program, erase high voltage, and healing state machines shown in that figure. The pre-program cycle begins with pre-program state machine 200 initiating an operation which increments the address of the memory cell which is to be pre-programmed 202. This is done because the pre-programming operation is executed on a cell by cell basis. This step is followed by a high voltage level set-up stage 204 which prepares the system for application of the high voltage levels (typically, about 12 volts is applied to the gate of each memory cell and 6 volts to the drain) used for programming or erasing a cell. The high voltage level used for writing to (programming) the cell is then applied in stage 206.
The appropriate voltage levels for executing the data verification sequence (reading the data pre-programmed in the cell and comparing it to a desired value) are checked for at stage 208. This is followed by a program verification stage 210 which verifies that the programmed cell has sufficient margin. This is typically accomplished by reading the data stored in a cell and comparing it to a logic 0 value. If the verification operation was not successful, steps 204, 206, 208, and 210 are repeated. Once the verification stage for a particular memory cell is successfully completed, it is followed by a program clean up stage 212. Program clean up stage 212 conditions all internal nodes of the memory array to default values in order to prepare the memory system for the next operation. This concludes the pre-programming cycle for a given memory cell. The address of the cell to be operated on is then incremented at stage 202 and the process repeats itself until the last cell in a memory block to be erased is programmed. At this time, the incremented address will be set to the first address location in the block, which is the first address for the next operation. When this occurs, all of the memory cells have been successfully pre-programmed and control is passed to the erase high voltage state machine 220.
In the high voltage erase cycle, the memory system performs a block erase operation on all of the cells contained in a block of memory. The first stage in the cycle is a high voltage level set-up stage 222 which prepares the memory block for application of the high voltage pulse(es) used for erasing the cells. This is followed by a high voltage stage 224 in which a high voltage pulse is applied to erase all of the memory cells in the block of cells. This is followed by a set-up verify stage 226 which checks to see that the appropriate voltage levels for the data verification stage are present. The next stage is an erase verify stage 228 which verifies that the erase operation was successfully carried out on each cell in the block. This is accomplished by stepping through the cells, address by address and reading the data in a cell and comparing it to a logic value of 1.
If the erase operation was not successfully carried out (a cell was not erased to the proper threshold voltage margin to have the desired logic value), control is passed back to the high voltage level set-up stage 222 and the high voltage cycle is carried out again to erase the entire block of cells. If the erase operation was successful for the cell under consideration, the address of the memory cell is incremented 230 and the next cell is tested for verification of the erase operation. Thus, if the maximum address of the cells in the block of memory has not been reached, the erase verify stage is carried out on the next memory cell in the block. If the maximum address for cells in the block has been reached (meaning that all cells in the memory block have been successfully erased), control is passed to the distribution adjustment or healing state machine 240.
The distribution adjustment sub-operation 240 is used to tighten the distribution (reduce the variance) of the threshold voltages of the erased memory elements. The distribution adjustment or healing operation is implemented by applying high voltages (i.e., 12 volts) to the gates of all the memory cells in the memory block, with the memory cell drains floating and the sources at ground potential. This is designed to compensate for the effects of over erasure of any of the memory cells and to tighten the distribution of threshold voltages of the cells. The distribution adjustment cycle begins with a high voltage set-up stage 242, which is followed by a high voltage stage 244 in which the voltages used to perform the healing operation are applied. This is followed by a set-up verification 246 stage which checks to see that the appropriate voltage levels for the data verification operation are present, and erase verification 248 stage which acts to insure that all of the erased cells are still in an erased state. If the erase verification procedure fails, a final erase 249 stage may be executed. In the final erase stage, a short erase pulse is applied to the cells in the block.
After completion of the healing cycle, control is passed back to the erase high voltage state machine 220 along path 268 of FIG. 2. The erase state machine then transitions to erase clean up state 270 of FIG. 2. Erase clean up stage 270 conditions all internal nodes of the memory array to default values in order to prepare the memory system for the next operation. At this point the erase operation is completed.
FIG. 4 is a state diagram showing the states of a program state machine during the performance of a programming operation on a memory system such as that shown in FIG. 1. It is noted that a programming operation can be carried out by following the states shown in the pre-program cycle of the complete erase operation of FIG. 3. In particular, stages 204 through 212 of FIG. 3 describe the primary functions carried out in a regular programming operation. As a program operation is typically carried out on a specific memory cell, the increment address state 202 used in the pre-program cycle to facilitate pre-programming of every cell in the memory array is not accessed.
Another difference between the programming and pre-programming operations is that in a programming operation, program verify state 210 is designed to read the programmed data and compare it to the input data, rather than to a logic value of 0, as in the pre-programming operation. Increment counter state 211 of FIG. 4 is used to increment the pulse counter in the event that the programming operation failed. This allows the state machine to track the number of voltage pulses applied to a cell when the programming operation is re-tried on that cell. If the maximum pulse count value has not been reached, the state machine transitions back to program level setup state 204 and the programming operation is tried again on that cell. If the maximum pulse count value has been reached, the state machine transitions to program clean up state 212.
It is noted that the distinct stages of the operation of the data processing operations performed on the memory cells shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 are typically implemented as separate circuits. Thus, the erase pulse control, program pulse control, and heal pulse control functions are usually executed by separate circuits, leading to the duplication of some of the functionality. The same situation occurs for erase verify stage 228 and program verify state 210, thus resulting in additional duplication of circuitry.
While the state machine architecture of FIGS. 2-4 can be used to control the programming and erase operations carried out on a memory cell, it does have significant disadvantages. Firstly, a separate state machine is typically used to perform each function, and as noted, in some cases sub-functions. Since each state machine is constructed from multiple logic gates, this means that an enormous number of gates are required to construct a complete state machine of this design. A direct implementation of the state machines shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 would require approximately 20-25 states, and with 20 logic gates per state, this would give a total of 400 to 500 gates for the entire state machine. As some of the operations carried out by different state machines are similar in function, this results in a duplication of some of the logic gates. For example, the stages of a pre-program operation largely duplicate those of a program operation, and the set-up and application of voltage pulses stages, the set-up verification and date verification stage are common at a functional level in both the programming and erase operations. This duplication of functions produces an inefficient, less compact, and more expensive design for the complete state machine.
A second disadvantage to the state machine architecture of FIGS. 2-4 is that it produces a basically linear or sequential process flow. By this is meant that each state machine contains a set of operations which are carried out in a prescribed order prior to passing control to the next state machine, with the state machines themselves being implemented in a prescribed order. This structure is related to the previously mentioned problem, as this process flow leads to the duplication of functions in the state machine and in the modules controlled by the state machine, such as timers and counters. A disadvantage of this organization is that it reduces the ability to vary the process flow in order to test a product or produce specialized parts.
What is desired is a state machine architecture for controlling the data processing operations performed on the memory cells of a memory array which is implemented in a more efficient and flexible manner than currently used architectures. These and other advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the following Detailed Description of the Invention together with the drawings.

Architecture for state machine for controlling internal operations of flash memory


An apparatus for charging a portable wireless listening device including a housing having a socket to receive the portable wireless listening device; a battery; wireless circuitry that enables the apparatus to communicate wirelessly with a host device; power transmitting circuitry configured to provide power to the portable wireless listening device when the device is received in the socket to charge a battery within the portable wireless listening device; and a processor configured to configured to establish a wireless communication protocol between the portable wireless listening device and the host device.

Headsets for providing hands-free communications are known in the art. Such headsets typically can be used in conjunction with a cellular telephone or a computer (e.g., Voice over IP). Some existing headsets include a microphone, a speaker (also referred to as a receiver), electronics for controlling the headset and communicating with another device (e.g., a cellular telephone), a battery and a connector for re-charging the battery.
There are many aspects involved in the design of headsets. For example, the size and weight of headsets can be key issues because of how they typically mount to a user's ear. A heavy or large headset can pull on a user's ear, creating an uncomfortable fit. The shape of headset earpieces (e.g., earbuds) may also be an important design consideration to take into account as it is desirable for earpieces to fit comfortably in, on, or over a wide range of different sizes and shapes of ears.
Additionally, the acoustic performance of headsets, such as receiver sound generation quality and microphone sound reception quality (e.g., ability to pick up a user's voice without undue background noise), can be important design considerations. Achieving desired receiver and microphone acoustic performance can become increasingly difficult as the size of a headset decreases.
Another example of an important design consideration can be the user interface of a headset. It may be desirable for a user interface to be intuitive for a first-time user, yet convenient for an experienced user.
Aesthetics may be yet another important design consideration for headsets.
Further still, ease of manufacturing headsets can be another design consideration. For example, it can be desirable to design a headset that can be mass produced in an affordable fashion.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for an improved headset that addresses one or more of the above-identified considerations.


A system to deliver data at very high data transmission speeds to many units in a distributed processing system simultaneously. A distributed processing system is supplied with a local area network (LAN) which is connected to each unit of the distributed processing system. Each unit is also equipped with a LAN interface card so that it may receive messages (and send messages if necessary) between itself and the system supplying the data. Speed of data delivery is increased to the speed of the LAN, which may be many times greater than is currently possible.

Distribution of software, and specifically object code, for use in processing systems has been a problem since the beginning of stored program controlled systems. For example, in the area of telephone switching systems, stored program control has been used since the middle 1960's. In order to distribute a new operational programs (software) that operates these systems, initially a technician had to go to each switching office and physically remove magnetically encoded cards and install new magnetically encoded cards. As technology improved, magnetic tapes were used to transport programs from the point at which they are made to their point of utilization; in fact, magnetic tapes are still used for generic updates which currently involve large quantities (70-100 mega-bytes (MB)) of object code. All such systems required manual steps and high transportation costs for delivery of such software, especially as the size of the software loads grew over time.
Some recent systems rely on telephone data links for distribution of software. For example, the prior art system of FIG. 4 illustrates a typical software distribution system for various switching systems in a telephone network. Such switching systems could be local central office switches supported by a particular manufacturer, such as 5ESS.RTM. switches manufactured and supported by AT&T, or, alternatively, may be long distance-type switches such as the 4ESS.TM. switch, also manufactured and supported by AT&T. Other types of program-controlled systems may benefit from this invention without departing from the scope of the appended claims.
Each switch is connected to a software change and notification system (SCANS) 102. SCANS, as known in the art, provides software updates for switching systems 104-118 by way of data transmissions over lines 120-134 using dedicated point-to-point communication links operating at 9600 bits per second with an X.25 protocol.
FIG. 5 illustrates such a prior art SCANS-to-switching system connection. In the system of FIG. 5, SCANS 100 includes an application program 500, which processes the data to be sent (in the example of switching offices, the object code required). Application program 500 delivers the processed object code to a plurality of communications terminal processes 502-5NN, which communicate with the switching offices. In each communications terminal process 502-5NN, there is a send module 504 and a receive module 506. Send module sends the object code (again, for purposes of this example) over line 122 to switching system 104. Receive module 506 in terminal process 502 of SCANS 100 receives acknowledgement requests for re-tries, etc., as is known in the art, from switching module 104, via line 120.
At the switching system side, switching systems (in this example 102 and 104), also include a terminal process 508-508' which contain a send module 504 and a receive module 506 which are the same, or substantially similar, to the send 504 and receive processes 506 in the communications terminal process 502 of SCANS 100. Terminal process 508 in switching system 104 receives data in receive process 506 and delivers the received data to terminal process 508. Terminal process 508 determines whether data is received in tact, and if so, sends acknowledgements of good reception through send process 504 or re-try requests for data if the data appeared to be corrupted. Switching systems 104 and 102 are shown as having several layers that communicate with communications terminal process 508. First there is a SCANS interface 510 which performs protocol verification, etc. and other functions, as known in the art, with SCANS 100. If the data received appears correct, then SCANS interface 510 passes the received data to input/output process 512, which causes administrative module 514 to further distribute the received software (where the other processes reside). This hierarchy is very much like the system of FIG. 2.
In this manner, changes to the programs which run switching systems 102-118 may be made through a central location, for example, at a SCANS facility 100 outside of Chicago, and then sent to each switching system which requires the change. Furthermore, software updates, where entire sections of programs change, may also be sent to each switch 102-118 in this manner. Finally, an entire generic update (changing the entire operating code) may be sent from SCANS system 102, via lines 120-134, to all switching systems 102-118 which subscribe to or purchase the new generic. Therefore, the size of the data load being transmitted to each switch may vary from a few hundred bytes for a small bug fix to several hundred megabytes for an entire generic.
Turning now to FIG. 6, a prior art system is shown, wherein a switching office is connected to SCANS 100 by way of data line 120. Switching office 104 is, for example, a 5ESS switch, as manufactured by AT&T. As is known in the art, a 5ESS switch (local switch 104) may be a distributed control ISDN electronic telephone switching system such as the system disclosed in U. S. Pat. No. 4,592,048, issued to M. W. Beckner, et al. on May 27, 1986, and assigned to the assignee of this application. Alternatively, local switch 104 may be a digital switch such as a 5ESS switch manufactured by AT&T and described in the AT&T Technical Journal, Vol. 64, Number 6, July/August, 1995, pages 1303-1564.
The architecture of switch 104 includes a communication module 602 as a hub, with switching modules 604, 606, and 608 illustrated (there may be other switching modules but these are not shown for clarity) and an administrative module (AM) 610, emanating from communication module 602. Communication module 602 includes a time-shared, space division switch or time-multiplexed (TM) switch as a fabric for communications among switch modules 604, 606, 608, and between switch modules 604, 606 and 608 the AM 610. AM 610 provides coordination of the functional components of switch 104 and human-machine interface. Switch modules 604, 606, and 608 terminate analog and/or digital subscriber lines through line units (not shown but well-known in the art) and analog or digital trunk units (again, not shown but well known in the art) and communicate with CM 602 over control timeslot 611 (for sending control data) and other timeslots 613 (used for call processing). AM 610 also provides connections to other switching systems through, for example, a signaling system 612 (such as a common-channel-signaling network) by which the switching systems in a network communicate, and to SCANS 100 via connection 120.
In the current art, SCANS 100 sends data on line 120 at approximately 9600 baud. This data rate is adequate when SCANS 100 is sending small changes (or "patches") for code to switching office 104. However, when SCANS 100 is sending major updates or a generic update over line 120, this transmission may take many hours, depending on the size of the load or generic which is being sent to the administrative module 610.
The burden of distributing large software loads, particularly object code, at 9600 bps to AM 610 may slow down or delay other processing work of AM 610. For example, receiving an entire generic causes AM 610 to respond more slowly to signaling messages from signaling network 612 and for routing and administrative function requests from SMs 604-608 and CM 602. Therefore, it has been proposed that AM 610 be assisted by a work station, such as 614 (shown in phantom). Work station 614 is connected to SCANS 100 (instead of AM 610) and then communicates with AM 610 to build loads and otherwise direct AM 610 with the information delivered from SCANS 100. However, there is still a great deal of time involved delivering data from SCANS 100 to work station 614; work station 614 merely eases some of the processing burden on AM 610.
When the load is distributed to the various modules within switch 104, it takes resources and time away from other, more important (i.e., call processing) activities. After work station 614 or administration module AM 610 finish processing the new generic (or other update), then the operational code or other data must be delivered to its final destination module.
AM 610 communicates with communication module 602 over a standard bus connection, as is known in the art. Communication module 602 communicates with each of the switch modules 604, 606, and 608, via a plurality of timeslots. There are types of timeslots, control timeslots 611 and timeslots 613. Timeslots 613 are used for communication purposes, such as telephone calls, data calls, etc. Timeslots 611 are used to control the switch modules themselves. When there is an operating system update of any size, control timeslots 611 are used for transporting the data from communication module 602 to each of the switch modules 604, 606, and 608. Thus, it may take a long time (from minutes to hours) in order to migrate all of the code necessary to replace an entire generic in a switch module.
Therefore, a problem in the art is that there is no method for delivering data at a high rate of speed to multiple units in a distributed processing system simultaneously, while still maintaining reliability of applications processing.

System and method for quickly distributing program updates in a distributed architecture processing system


The present invention provides an anti-misfit structure for a nail cartridge, which resolves the problems of a typical nail cartridge. For example, when a short collated nail is mistakenly inserted, it is likely lead to different triggering strength, and easier swinging and jamming of nail bodies against stability and safety. The swinging end of the spring of the nail cartridge is provided with a stopper. So, when the nailer head of a short collated nail is mistakenly inserted into the long nailer head dent, the stopper blocks the collated nail, thus preventing any misalignment and subsequent triggering of a nailer for higher stability and safety.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a structure of a nail cartridge, and more particularly to an innovative anti-misfit structure for a nail cartridge.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98.
The nail cartridge is used to accommodate and guide collated nails.
The collated nails are rows of nail bodies linked by a connecting band. Given the currently available types of nailers, the present invention relates more particularly to a nailer with a T-shaped profile, namely, wherein the nails of the nailer have an expanded nail head.
FIG. 1 depicts the typical nail cartridge 10, wherein a nail tank 11 is generally provided with a spring 12 to insert the collated nails for flexible positioning. According to the specified pattern of the nail body, the inlet 13 of the nail tank 11 is formed into a T-shaped inlet to match the collated nails for stable motion. The marketable nail bodies of collated nails are divided into two types. As such, upper and lower T-shaped inlets 131, 132 are located at inlet 13 of nail tank 11 in the nail cartridge 10. If longer collated nails 20a are inserted, as shown in FIG. 1, the nail head 22a of nail body 21a aligns with the upper T-shaped inlet 131 for insertion. Otherwise, if shorter collated nails 20b are inserted, as shown in FIG. 2, the nail head 22b of nail body 21b aligns with lower T-shaped inlet 132 for insertion (as shown for the location of collated nails represented by the broken line in FIG. 2).
This nail cartridge has disadvantages during application. If longer collated nails are inserted and if the maximum size of the inlet of the nail tank matches the longer collated nail, then it is impossible to load nails smoothly because any misalignment or directional errors would affect loading, as shown in FIG. 1. If shorter collated nails 20b are inserted and if inlet 13 of the nail tank 11 has upper and lower T-shaped inlets 131, 132, then it is possible to load the shorter collated nails 20b smoothly into upper T-shaped inlet 131, even with misalignment, as shown in FIG. 2. However, if shorter collated nails are triggered in such a state, the nail ejection strength is far below the expectation due to a longer distance between the bottom of nail body 21b and ejection hole of the nailer. Furthermore, the shorter collated nails triggered in such a state provide a bigger probability of deflection and jamming with increasing instability and risk to nailer applications.
Thus, to overcome the aforementioned problems of the prior art, it would be an advancement in the art to provide an improved structure that can significantly improve efficacy.
To this end, the inventor has provided the present invention of practicability after deliberate design and evaluation based on years of experience in the production, development and design of related products.

Anti-misfit structure for a nail cartridge


Method for producing an iron carboxylate, whereby it becomes possible to prevent the generation of hydrogen during the production of the iron carboxylate by the reaction of a carboxylic acid with metal iron. An embodiment of the present invention is a method for producing an iron carboxylate by reacting metal iron with a carboxylic acid in a reaction solution, wherein the reaction solution contains a non-iron metal having a standard electrode potential of −2.5 to 0.1 inclusive or a metal compound containing the metal, or the reaction solution contains at least one metal selected from the group consisting of Ag, Bi and Pd or a metal compound containing the metal.

Several methods have been suggested as the method for producing an iron carboxylate (for example, Non-Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 1). These methods use iron salt compounds such as iron chloride and iron nitrate as raw materials. Furthermore, other methods include methods of dissolving metal powders in carboxylic acids (Patent Documents 2 and 3). In the iron carboxylates prepared by these other methods, since ion species of halogens and the like do not exist in large amounts with respect to iron, iron carboxylates of high purity can be obtained.


The present invention relates to oil-in-water emulsion compositions that are useful for personal cleansing and for depositing an active ingredient upon the skin surface. The active ingredient in these compositions has a solubility parameter from about 7 to about 13. A preferred active ingredient is salicylic acid.

There is a continuing interest in providing consumers with personal cleansing compositions which not only cleanse the skin, but which also provide additional skin care benefits. For example, it would be highly desirable to provide products which both thoroughly cleanse the skin and which also deposit various active ingredients upon the skin surface during the cleansing process. These dual goals of cleansing the skin and depositing an active are difficult to achieve from a single product, because the surfactant ingredients typically found in a skin cleansing product tend to inhibit the deposition of actives from the product and also tend to remove the actives which have deposited. Therefore, the need exists to develop compositions which effectively achieve both of these goals of cleansing and deposition.
A significant segment of the population suffers from acne.
These individuals have special skin cleansing needs. Acne sufferers need to keep their skin clean to remove dirt, oils, bacteria, and other foreign materials. Acne sufferers also need to treat their skin with various medicaments to both ameliorate exisiting acne lesions and to prevent future acne lesions. Even though cleansing products which contain various active ingredients are known and are targeted to acne sufferers, many of these cleansing products do not effectively deposit therapeutic levels of the active ingredients upon the skin. Therefore, acne sufferers need to use two separate products, namely a cleansing product followed by an anti-acne medicament, to obtain effective anti-acne protection.
Not only acne sufferers have the unmet need of finding products which both cleanse and treat the skin. For example, a significant segment of the population is concerned with skin aging effects, i.e. wrinkling, sagging, age spots, and other age-related skin changes. These individuals also have special skin cleansing needs. These individuals need to keep their skin clean and also need to treat their skin to reduce the aging effects which have already occurred and to prevent or diminish future aging effects from occurring. Furthermore, these individuals also have the need to moisturize their skin. As with acne sufferers, there is again a lack of products which both cleanse and treat the skin, thus necessitaing the use of separate cleansing and treatment products.
A wide variety of active ingredients are currently known for treating various skin conditions. Representative of some of these active ingredients is salicylic acid. Salicylic acid is a well known keratoylic agent which is believed to help remove keratin plugs and to aid the skin's exfoliation process. Salicylic acid is described further in C. Huber et al., Arch. Derm. Res. 257, pp. 293-297, 1977). Salicylic acid is known for its anti-acne benefits and is available in numerous over-the-counter products. See C. Huber et al., Arch. Derm. Res. 257, pp. 293-297, 1977. Salicylic acid is also known for its anti-skin aging benefits. See PCT Patent Application No. 9310755, to Blank et al., published Jun. 10, 1993 and PCT Application No. 9310756, to Blank, published Jun. 10, 1993. However, it is difficult to deliver effective levels of salicylic acid to the skin from conventionl skin cleansing products. This challenge is especially difficult in light of FDA regulations which limit the level of salicylic acid in skin care products to only 2%. See, "Topical Acne Drug Products For Over The Counter Human Use Final Monograph", 21 CFR 333, Aug. 16, 1991. Thus the need exists for developing products which thoroughly cleanse the skin and which also deliver therapeutically effective levels of salicylic acid to the skin within the FDA formulation constraints.
It has been found in the present invention that cleansing compositions in the form of oil-in-water emulsions can be formulated which are useful for both cleansing the skin and depositing effective levels of a wide variety of active ingredients during the cleansing process. It has been found that these emulsions are useful for depositing actives having a solubility parameter from about 7 to about 13. It has also been found that these emulsions are especially useful for depositing salicylic acid.
It is an object of the present invention to provide personal cleansing oil-in-water emulsion compositions which are useful for both cleansing the skin and depositing active ingredients upon the skin surface during the cleansing process.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide compositions which are useful for both cleansing the skin and providing an anti-acne benefit.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide compositions which are useful for both cleansing the skin and providing an anti-skin aging benefit.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide compositions which are useful for both cleansing the skin and for depositing salicylic acid upon the skin surface during the cleansing process.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide methods for cleansing the skin and for depositing active ingredients upon the skin surface.
These and other objects of this invention will become apparent in light of the following disclosure.

Personal cleansing compositions containing alkoxylated ether and cationic ammonium salt for deposition of active agent upon the skin


A feeding device includes a rail with a feeding unit and a pushing unit located on two sides of the rail. The feeding unit has a transverse member on which the cylindrical pieces are located and a pivotable arm pivotably connected to the transverse member to push the cylindrical pieces. The pushing unit has at least one connection member connected to the rail and a slot is defined through the connection member. A pushing member is pivotably connected to the connection member and a bolt extends through the pushing member and the slot so that the pushing member can be pivoted along the second slot when in maintenance.

A conventional feeding device for feeding cylindrical pieces into a CNC lathe is shown in FIG. 4 and generally includes a base 6 on which a rail 61 is connected and the rail 61 has a fixed length and a feeding unit (not shown) and a pushing unit 62 are located on two sides of the rail 61. A guide member 63 is located between the rail 61 and the base 6 so that the feeding device can be slidable on the base 6 when needed. The feeding unit 62 are located corresponding to the main shaft of the lathe and the cylindrical pieces are fed into the CNC lathe and clamped by chucks so as to be machined by the lathe. There is only a small gap defined between feeding hole of the main shaft and the feeding unit 62 so that when in maintenance, the bolts 64 have to be loosened to let the feeding unit 62 be slidable on the guide member 63. By this way, the maintainers have sufficient space to maintain the feeding device. This is a time-consuming task and requires a large space to maintain the feeding device.
The present invention intends to provide a feeding device wherein the pushing member can be pivotable along a curve slots in the connection member so that the maintainers can easily access the pushing member when in maintenance.

Feeding device with a pivotable pushing member


A series of progressive ophthalmic lens elements, each lens element including a lens surface having. an upper viewing zone having a surface power to achieve a refracting power corresponding to distance vision; PA1 a lower viewing zone having a greater surface power than the upper viewing zone to achieve a refracting power corresponding to near vision; PA1 a corridor of relatively low surface astigmatism connecting the upper and lower zones, said corridor having a surface power varying from that of the upper viewing zone to that of the lower viewing zone; PA1 a first set of lens elements having a base curve(s) suitable for use in providing a range of distance prescriptions for a first category of patient; and PA1 a second set of lens elements having a base curve(s) suitable for use in providing a range of distance prescriptions for a second category of patient; each lens element within a set differing in prescribed addition power and including a progressive design, in at least one of the upper and lower viewing zones, depending upon the addition power of the lens element;. the progressive ophthalmic tens series including. the lens elements in the first set differing substantively in progressive design from the corresponding lens elements in the second set due to the differences in base curve(s).

Numerous progressive lenses are known in the prior art. Progressive lenses have heretofore been designed on the basis that they have distance, near and intermediate viewing zones. The intermediate zone joins the near and distance zones in a cosmetically acceptable way, in the sense that no discontinuities in the lens should be visible to people observing the lens of the wearer. The design of the intermediate zone is based on a line called the "eye path" along which the optical power of the lens increases more or less uniformly. It is normal to select an eye path to accommodate an assumed convergence of the eyes along the path beginning at a fitting cross in the distance zone and slanting nasally to the near zone.
Applicants have noted that most known progressive lenses are designed based on
1) eyepaths which are optimised in the near viewing region for a refraction distance of 30 cm or closer, a distance at one extreme of the normal range, and PA1 2) eyepaths based on conventional assumptions concerning accommodation converging movement, which do not account for use of the wearer's accommodative reserve, and that PA1 3) the overall design of conventional progressive lenses do not achieve the same balance of useful optical fields of vision for different categories of patients, e.g. myopes, emmetropes and hyperopes. PA1 a) designing a series of progressive lens blanks in which two or more of the lenses have substantially the same addition power and a shared performance characteristic(s) but differ in base curve in order to provide for the differing distance prescriptions of differing categories of patient, including myopes and emmetropes; PA1 b) obtaining a prescription for the patient including a required distance prescription and cylinder correction; PA1 c) selecting a progressive lens blank from the designed series on the basis of distance prescription and cylinder correction thereby obtaining the shared performance characteristic regardless of the category of patient; and PA1 d) finishing the back surface of the lens blank to obtain the prescribed distance prescription and cylinder correction. PA1 a) providing a mathematical or numerical representation of a progressive lens surface having a distance viewing zone, a near viewing zone and an eye path corridor wherein the eye path corridor is centered on a line of approximately zero surface astigmatism and has a progressively varying refractive power. PA1 b) rotating and horizontally off-setting the representation of the lens surface below the distance viewing zone in a nasal direction to account for accommodative reserve and the variation of inset caused by the progressive power increase in the eye path corridor; PA1 c) rotating the representation of the lens surface below the eye path corridor in a temporal direction; PA1 d) modifying the representation of the lens surface on the basis of the location of horizontal mid-points between nasal and temporal isoastigmatism curves of a selected dioptric value; and PA1 e) forming a lens surface corresponding to the modified representation of the lens surface.
Accordingly, it would be a significant advance in the art if the progressive lens could more closely relate to the requirements of the individual wearer. It would be a further significant advance if the optimisation of the near viewing region could be altered to a more representative near refraction distance. It would be yet a further advance in the art if a series of progressive lens elements provided the same balance of useful optical fields for different categories of patients.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to overcome, or at least alleviate, one or more of the difficulties and deficiencies related to the prior art. These and other objects and features of the present invention will be clear from the following disclosure.

Progressive lens elements and methods for designing and using same


A system is provided to position an energy delivery handpiece a desired distance from a treatment site while at the same time protecting the handpiece, and energy transmitting optical fibers, from soiling due to tissue debris. The system includes one or more energy transmissive members that are formed from a material that allows the passage of electromagnetic (e.g., laser) energy therethrough. The energy transmissive members can be removably and replaceably attachable to one end of a spacer member. An opposite end of the spacer member is mountable to the energy delivery handpiece. The energy transmissive member is effective protect the handpiece from tissue eruptions. In one embodiment the energy transmissive member also is effective to focus electromagnetic energy upon the treatment site.

Lasers and other such devices are used in various surgical procedures for therapeutically treating tissue, such as skin tissue. For example, medical lasers are used to treat naturally occurring skin lesions and discolorations including freckles, age spots, birth marks, melanomas, nevi, and lentigines. Lasers are also used to remove other visible skin features such as tattoos and "port wine" stain birth marks which are caused by a plurality of enlarged blood vessels. A patient may choose to have such skin features treated for cosmetic reasons and/or medical necessity.
Generally a medical laser for use in treating skin tissue has a handpiece adapted for manipulation by an operator. The handpiece is coupled to a source of laser energy by a cable that can have an optical fiber for carrying the laser energy to the handpiece. The handpiece is guided to a predetermined distance from the treatment area, i.e., skin surface, by a distance gauge or standoff. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,217,455 discloses a method for treating skin tissue with laser energy emitted from a medical laser handpiece having a distance gauge that is placed against the skin to focus the laser energy to a chosen treatment area. The distance gauge is a rod-like member extending from a distal end of the handpiece. U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,807 discloses a catheter-type laser energy delivery system for treating tissue. The catheter used with such a system includes a distal tip assembly having a body with an optical fiber disposed therein. An adjustable standoff extends from alongside the body to maintain a proper distance from the end of the optical fiber and the surface of the tissue to be treated. The above-cited references are incorporated by reference herein.
To treat a portion of skin, a suitably trained operator positions the handpiece in a desired location with the standoff placed in contact with the skin of a patient. The standoff maintains a predetermined distance between the handpiece and the skin surface. The operator activates the handpiece to energize a desired tissue area. As the laser energy contacts skin tissue, debris in the form of energized skin tissue is projected away from the treatment site. This tissue debris can be propelled to the energy-emitting end of the optical fiber thereby distorting and/or blocking the flow of laser energy to the treatment area.
It would be desirable to provide a system for focusing energy to a desired treatment site, while also protecting a energy delivery handpiece from tissue debris emanating from the treatment site.


A shared satellite gateway can be configured to process at least first and second communications signals associated with respective at least first and second space-based components. The at least first and second communications signals are provided to/from the shared satellite gateway by respective at least first and second service links and respective at least first and second feeder links of the respective at least first and second space-based components.

Satellite communications systems and methods are widely used for radioterminal communications. Satellite radioterminal communications systems and methods generally employ at least one space-based component, such as one or more satellites, that is/are configured to wirelessly communicate with a plurality of satellite radioterminals.
A satellite radioterminal communications system or method may utilize a single antenna pattern (or beam) covering an entire area served by the system. Alternatively or in combination with the above, in cellular satellite radioterminal communications systems and methods, multiple antenna patterns (beams or cells) may be provided, each of which may be configured to serve a substantially distinct geographical area in an overall service region, to collectively serve an overall satellite footprint. Thus, a cellular architecture similar to that used in conventional terrestrial cellular/PCS radioterminal systems and methods can be implemented in cellular satellite-based systems and methods. The satellite typically communicates with radioterminals over a bidirectional communications pathway, with radioterminal communications signals being communicated from the satellite to a radioterminal over a downlink or forward link, and from the radioterminal to the satellite over an uplink or return link. The downlink and uplink may be collectively referred to as service links.
The overall design and operation of cellular satellite radioterminal systems and methods are well known to those having skill in the art, and need not be described further herein. Moreover, as used herein, the term "radioterminal" includes cellular and/or satellite radioterminals with or without a multi-line display; Personal Communications System (PCS) terminals that may combine a radioterminal with data processing, facsimile and/or data communications capabilities; Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) that can include a radio frequency transceiver and/or a pager, Internet/Intranet access, Web browser, organizer, calendar and/or a global positioning system (GPS) receiver; and/or conventional laptop and/or palmtop computers or other appliances, which include a radio frequency transceiver. As used herein, the term "radioterminal" also includes any other radiating user device/equipment/source that may have time-varying or fixed geographic coordinates, and may be portable, transportable, installed in a vehicle (aeronautical, maritime, or land-based), or situated and/or configured to operate locally and/or in a distributed fashion at any other location(s) on earth and/or in space. A "radioterminal" also may be referred to herein as a "radiotelephone," "terminal", "wireless terminal" or "wireless user device".
Cellular satellite communications systems and methods may deploy hundreds of cells, each of which corresponds to one or more space-based component antenna patterns (spot beams), collectively spanning a space-based component footprint corresponding to a service area. It will be understood that a large number of cells may be generally desirable, since the frequency reuse and the capacity of a cellular satellite communications system or method may both increase in direct proportion to the number of cells. Moreover, for a given space-based component footprint or service area, increasing the number of cells may also provide a higher gain per cell, which can increase the link robustness and improve the quality of service.
The uplink and downlink communications between the wireless terminals and the satellite may utilize one or more air interfaces, including proprietary air interfaces and/or conventional terrestrial cellular interfaces (and/or modifications thereof), such as Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) and/or Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) air interfaces. A single air interface may be used throughout the cellular satellite system. Alternatively, multiple air interfaces may be used for the satellite communications. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,052,560, issued Apr. 18, 2000, entitled Satellite System Utilizing a Plurality of Air Interface Standards and Method Employing the Same, by the present inventor Karabinis. In general, regardless of the air interface or interfaces that are used, each satellite cell (i.e., each space-based component cell) generally uses at least one carrier frequency to provide service. Thus, one or more return service links and/or one or more forward service links may use one or more carrier frequencies to provide service.
The above description has focused on communications between the space-based component (one or more satellites) and the wireless terminals. However, cellular satellite communications systems and methods also generally employ a bidirectional feeder link for communications between a terrestrial satellite gateway and the space-based component. The bidirectional feeder link includes a forward feeder link from the gateway to the space-based component and a return feeder link from the space-based component to the gateway. The forward feeder link and/or the return feeder link each may use one or more feeder link carrier frequencies.
Terrestrial networks can enhance cellular satellite radioterminal system availability, efficiency and/or economic viability by terrestrially using and/or reusing at least some of the frequencies that are allocated to cellular satellite radioterminal systems. In particular, it is known that it may be difficult for cellular satellite radioterminal systems to reliably serve densely populated areas, because the space-based component signal may be blocked by high-rise structures and/or may not penetrate into buildings. As a result, the satellite spectrum may be underutilized or unutilized in such areas. The terrestrial use and/or reuse of at least some of the satellite system frequencies can reduce or eliminate this potential problem.
Moreover, the capacity of a hybrid system, comprising terrestrial and satellite-based connectivity and configured to terrestrially use and/or reuse at least some of the satellite-band frequencies, may be higher than a corresponding satellite-only system since terrestrial frequency reuse may be much denser than that of the satellite-only system. In fact, capacity may be enhanced where it may be mostly needed, i.e., in densely populated urban/industrial/commercial areas where the connectivity/signal(s) of a satellite-only system may be unreliable. As a result, a hybrid (satellite/terrestrial cellular) system that is configured to use and/or reuse terrestrially at least some of the frequencies of the space-based component may become more economically viable, as it may be able to serve more effectively and reliably a larger subscriber base.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,684,057, to inventor Karabinis, and entitled Systems and Methods for Terrestrial Reuse of Cellular Satellite Frequency Spectrum, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety as if set forth fully herein, describes that a satellite frequency can be reused terrestrially by an ancillary terrestrial network even within the same satellite cell, using interference cancellation techniques. In particular, a system according to some embodiments of U.S. Pat. No. 6,684,057 includes a space-based component that is configured to receive wireless communications from a first radiotelephone in a satellite footprint over a satellite radiotelephone frequency band, and an ancillary terrestrial network that is configured to receive wireless communications from a second radiotelephone in the satellite footprint over the satellite radiotelephone frequency band. The space-based component also receives the wireless communications from the second radiotelephone in the satellite footprint over the satellite radiotelephone frequency band as interference, along with the wireless communications that are received from the first radiotelephone in the satellite footprint over the satellite radiotelephone frequency band. An interference reducer is responsive to the space-based component and to the ancillary terrestrial network that is configured to reduce the interference from the wireless communications that are received by the space-based component from the first radiotelephone in the satellite footprint over the satellite radiotelephone frequency band, using the wireless communications that are received by the ancillary terrestrial network from the second radiotelephone in the satellite footprint over the satellite radiotelephone frequency band.
Satellite radioterminal communications systems and methods that may employ terrestrial use of satellite frequencies are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,684,057 to Karabinis, entitled Systems and Methods for Terrestrial Reuse of Cellular Satellite Frequency Spectrum; 6,785,543 to Karabinis, entitled Filters for Combined Radiotelephone/GPS Terminals; 6,856,787 to Karabinis, entitled Wireless Communications Systems and Methods Using Satellite-Linked Remote Terminal Interface Subsystems; 6,859,652 to Karabinis et al., entitled Integrated or Autonomous System and Method of Satellite-Terrestrial Frequency Reuse Using Signal Attenuation and/or Blockage, Dynamic Assignment of Frequencies and/or Hysteresis; and 6,879,829 to Dutta et al., entitled Systems and Methods for Handover Between Space Based and Terrestrial Radioterminal Communications, and For Monitoring Terrestrially Reused Satellite Frequencies At a Radioterminal to Reduce Potential Interference; and Published U.S. Patent Application Nos. US 2003/0054761 to Karabinis, entitled Spatial Guardbands for Terrestrial Reuse of Satellite Frequencies; US 2003/0054814 to Karabinis et al., entitled Systems and Methods for Monitoring Terrestrially Reused Satellite Frequencies to Reduce Potential Interference; US 2003/0073436 to Karabinis et al., entitled Additional Systems and Methods for Monitoring Terrestrially Reused Satellite Frequencies to Reduce Potential Interference; US 2003/0054762 to Karabinis, entitled Multi-Band/Multi-Mode Satellite Radiotelephone Communications Systems and Methods; US 2003/0224785 to Karabinis, entitled Systems and Methods for Reducing Satellite Feeder Link Bandwidth/Carriers In Cellular Satellite Systems; US 2002/0041575 to Karabinis et al., entitled Coordinated Satellite-Terrestrial Frequency Reuse; US 2003/0068978 to Karabinis et al., entitled Space-Based Network Architectures for Satellite Radiotelephone Systems; US 2003/0153308 to Karabinis, entitled Staggered Sectorization for Terrestrial Reuse of Satellite Frequencies; and US 2003/0054815 to Karabinis, entitled Methods and Systems for Modifying Satellite Antenna Cell Patterns In Response to Terrestrial Reuse of Satellite Frequencies, all of which are assigned to the assignee of the present invention, the disclosures of all of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety as if set forth fully herein.

Satellite communications systems, components and methods for operating shared satellite gateways


There is provided a polyester resin including: moieties of dicarboxylic acid components including terephthalic acid; and moieties of diol components including 5 to 60 mole % of isosorbide, 10 to 80 mole % of a cyclohexanedimethanol, and the balance of other diol compounds, wherein the polyester resin has an intrinsic viscosity of 0.5 to 1.0 dl/g, and a melt viscosity of the polyester resin measured at a temperature of 280° C. and at a shear rate of 300 rad/s is at least 50% lower than that measured at a temperature of 280° C. and a shear rate of 1 rad/s, and there is also provided a method for preparing the polyester resin, including: esterifying diol components including 5 to 60 mole % of isosorbide, 10 to 80 mole % of a cyclohexanedimethanol, and the balance of other diol compounds, with dicarboxylic acid components including terephthalic acid in the presence of an esterification reaction catalyst including a zinc compound; adding a phosphorus-based stabilizer to the esterification reaction mixture at the time when the degree of esterification reaches at least 80%; and subjecting the esterification reaction product to polycondensation.

Generally, polyester resins are prepared by reacting aromatic and aliphatic dicarboxylic acids with diol compounds. Polyester resins have excellent physical and chemical properties, are highly soluble in general solvents, are highly flexible, have good adhesion to a broad range of materials and good coating workability, etc. Due to these advantages, polyester resins are used in various applications, such as for fibers, films, and adhesives.
However, previously known polyester resins have poor resistance to chemicals, for example surfactants to which humans are frequently exposed in practical life, have colors and appearance properties that are unsuitable for use in particular applications, and have insufficient impact strength. Attempts to solve such problems of polyesters have been made through many methods, for example, methods including adding various starting materials, monomers, or additives in the course of synthesis, or methods including mixing with other resins. Particularly, previous synthetic fibers or synthetic resin products obtained from polyesters tend to yellow in appearance. In attempts to hide or counteract such appearance properties, methods associated with the use of additives such as cobalt-based colorants have been generally used.
It is known that in the synthesis of a polyester resin, the degree of polymerization of the final polyester resin or the proportions of raw materials present in the main chain of the resin vary depending on the reactivity of the raw materials during esterification or transesterification and on the degree of vaporization of the raw materials during polycondensation. Particularly, when it is intended to synthesize a polyester resin using a secondary or tertiary alcohol as a diol component, a sufficiently long reaction time is required or a very low reaction yield is obtained.
A method for synthesizing a polyester resin using an alcohol such as 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol or isosorbide as a reactant has been known in recent years. According to this method, however, the use of the secondary alcohol makes it difficult to achieve a high reaction yield and a markedly improved degree of polymerization of the resin. That is, when isosorbide is used for the purpose of increasing the physical properties (e.g., heat resistance) of the resin, a low degree of polymerization is caused or an excessively large amount of the raw materials remain without participating in the reaction. As a result, the final polyester resin may have problems of low impact resistance or durability and very poor appearance properties.
Furthermore, some already known polyester resins do not substantially lose their viscosity during hot extrusion, making it difficult to mold them into final products with a uniform thickness or to manufacture high-volume or large-area products.
Thus, there is a need to develop a method for preparing a polyester resin with improved physical properties, excellent appearance properties, and good moldability into a final product, by which the efficiency of the polymerization reaction and the residual rate of raw materials in the final product can be increased.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Polyester resin and method for preparing the same


A reconfigurable processor which is capable of carrying out or continuing processing even after occurrence of an error in a data processing unit within the reconfigurable processor. The reconfigurable processor has a processing element matrix comprised of a plurality of processing elements. The reconfigurable processor reconfigures the processing element matrix according to an error of the processing element matrix.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reconfigurable processor and a reconfiguration method executed by the reconfigurable processor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, there has been an increasing demand for a technique for shortening an LSI design period, i.e. time taken to complete the design of an LSI. With an increase in the demand, attention is being given to the use of a dynamically reconfigurable device as one solution to the demand for shortening the LSI design period. The dynamically reconfigurable device is an LSI that incorporates a plurality of processing units (processing elements) each having an arithmetic logic unit (ALU), such that ALU control in each processing unit and connections between the processing units can be dynamically switched to different ones (during the operation of the LSI).
The dynamically reconfigurable device dynamically switches between circuits during execution of an application, thereby making the same LSI thereof compatible with a plurality of applications. The dynamically reconfigurable devices is typified by a DAPDNA and a DRP. Both the DAPDNA and the DRP incorporate hundreds of processing elements to thereby maintain high processing performance.
There have been proposed various techniques related to the dynamically reconfigurable device (see U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0038550).
In general, an LSI incorporates an error detector circuit for identifying the cause of an error, so as to cope with occurrence of a fault (error) during execution of an application by the LSI manufactured. This enables, even if an error occurs during execution of the application, the LSI to detect the error immediately, and perform maintenance suitable for the identified cause of the error. If the error having occurred is fatal, the LSI is replaced by a new one, whereas if the error is not fatal, a countermeasure is taken e.g. for continuing processing with reduced performance.
However, the conventional dynamically reconfigurable device is not provided with an error detecting means. For this reason, when an error occurs in the dynamically reconfigurable device during execution of an application by the LSI, it is impossible to detect the error immediately. This is fatal when the dynamically reconfigurable device is used for a mission critical system (i.e. a backbone system requiring high reliability and fault tolerance). Further, since the dynamically reconfigurable device is not provided with an error detecting means, even when an error that is not fatal occurs, it is required to replace the LSI with a new one, which causes an increase in cost.

Reconfigurable processor and reconfiguration method executed by the reconfigurable processor


A fuel injector including a valve needle, where individual components, such as the valve needle segment and the valve closing element, are rigidly connected with one another by means of using a joining method which does not act on substance. In ideal manner, only pressure connections are present on the valve needle.

German Patent Application No. 40 08 675 describes a conventional fuel injector including a valve needle, which in turn consists of an armature, a valve closing element, and a sleeve-shaped or tube-shaped connecting tube which connects the armature with the valve closing element, which can be spherical, for example. The parts listed represent individual parts which are manufactured separately, and which must be connected by means of joining methods which act on their substance, for example by means of laser-welding. Therefore there are at least two joints which result from the use of such joining methods. Because of the high thermal stress which occurs during methods such as welding or soldering, undesirable deformation of the valve needle can occur. The armature surrounds the connecting tube completely in the radial direction, and at least partially in the axial direction, since the connecting tube is attached in a lengthwise continuous aperture in the armature. The connecting tube itself also has an inner lengthwise continuous aperture, in which the fuel can flow in the direction of the valve closing element, and then exit close to the valve closing element, through crosswise apertures which are made in the wall of the connecting tube, and run radially.