A method for producing yield enhancement data from integrated circuits on a substrate. A database of defects on the substrate is compared to a database of design information for the integrated circuits. The defects on the substrate are associated with classes of design information to produce the yield enhancement data.

Integrated circuits have developed into enormously complex structures. Not only are there millions of devices in a state of the art integrated circuit, but the number of such devices tends to double every eighteen months or so. In addition to having a greater number of devices, integrated circuits are being fabricated with devices that are continually reduced in size, and disposed at ever decreasing distances one from another. Thus, integrated circuits are becoming smaller and more complex, all at the same time.
Because there are more and smaller devices within each integrated circuit, a physical defect on the substrate, such as may be caused by contamination or a processing flaw, tends to be very detrimental to the proper operation of the integrated circuit. One reason for this is that any defect on the substrate tends to impact the proper formation of one or more of the devices within the integrated circuit, since there are so many devices, and the devices are placed so close to one another. By way of comparison, in the past, when devices were generally larger and placed farther apart, there was more room on the substrate where a defect could occur, and which did not touch any of the devices of the integrated circuit, or perhaps was not the type of defect which would damage the few devices that it did touch. This situation no longer exists.
Thus, there is a great deal of attention paid to ensuring that the processes and materials that are used in integrated circuit fabrication do not contain or create defects on the substrate. For example, integrated circuits are typically formed on substrates that include a semiconducting portion, such as Group IV materials like silicon and germanium, or Group III-V compounds such as gallium arsenide, or composites of such materials. Much attention is given to ensure that these substrates are defect free at the on-set of processing, so that there are no known defects that would decrease the expected yield of the integrated circuits at the end of the fabrication process.
Similar precautions are taken with the other materials that are used during the fabrication process. For example, all of the gasses, liquids, metals, dielectrics, and organics that are used during the fabrication process are refined to an extremely pure state, so that they do not introduce materials that might behave in a unknown or undesirable manner during processing, or otherwise introduce defects, such as by contaminating the substrate.
Further, the processes that are used to fabricate the integrated circuits are inspected and controlled to a high degree, typically using techniques such as statistical process control, to ensure that the processes themselves do not create defects within the integrated circuits. For example, certain processes are closely watched to ensure that they do not create flakes or chips that might deposit onto the surface of the substrate, and thereby create defects in the integrated circuits. Process reaction chambers are periodically cleaned to prevent such flaking and other forms of contamination, so that the processing itself does not create defects.
Defect information, such as is determined by inspections during the fabrication process, is also correlated with electrical or other functional failures of integrated circuits, both at the testing down at the end of the substrate level fabrication process, generally known as wafer sort, and also after the individual integrated circuits are packaged, generally known as final test. Such correlations can be extended to a determination of whether the failure of the integrated circuit was due to a processing problem or a materials problem.
However, even though there is good correlation between processing problems and defects, and between materials problems and defects, and between defects and electrical failures, more information in regard to the correlation and correction of defect issues is needed. There is a need, therefore, for a system whereby defects are correlated with integrated circuit designs, such as the structures that are formed during integrated circuit fabrication.


An electronic information system and method pursuant to which at least one user interface is adapted for interaction with a user; at least one database comprising adult digital content associated with a server is remotely accessible and accessed by the user, and a network provides remote access to the at least one database to enable downloading of adult digital content.

The growth and widespread use of the Internet in recent years has made it possible for large volumes of digital content to be available for user review. One particular field of content, adult digital content, has yet to see a convenient approach to enabling users to search for, access, download and organize libraries of files. Adult digital content presents unique issues as compared with other content types, such as music. For example, users often desire to remain anonymous. Additionally, there is an undesirably large volume of junk e-mail or "spam" that is generated when a user accesses an adult website. Adult digital content also tends largely to comprise images or video files, and thus commands the ability of a system to manage large scale volumes of data. There is thus a need for an improved method, software and system for managing, sharing and distributing electronic information and particularly electronic files including adult content.

Adult digital content management, playback and delivery


A dispenser box for medical bandages including orthopedic splints is described. The dispenser box includes at least one moisture impermeable container connected with a face plate containing a periphery gasket. The bandage exits through a slot in the face plate. A door is pivotally connected to and mechanically biased against the face plate. When the door is closed, a moisture resistant environment is maintained for the stored bandage materials.

Medical bandages frequently are manufactured and distributed in rolls. Examples of these medical bandage rolls are tubular gauze and layered splints. Tubular gauze bandages are cylindrical bandages used to cover body appendages such as fingers, arms, and legs. Layered splint bandages are used in orthopedic casting and typically harden after exposure to moisture. These medical bandage rolls are very frequently used in hospitals, clinics, and physician offices. The bandage rolls may be packaged in a specially sealed bag or pouch. Furthermore, some of these bandage rolls are delivered in a pouch that further includes a disposable outer cardboard container or dispenser. Other bandage roll dispensers are reusable, and accept a disposable packaged roll of tubular gauze or splint.
Current dispensers have an opening in the front of the dispenser. Typically, a free end of the bandage passes through the opening in the dispenser, and a similar such opening in the pouch. One disadvantage of dispensers with front openings is that the free end of the bandage material may retract back into the pouch. The protective pouch must have a large enough opening to gain access to the free end. This results in exposure of the entire roll to atmospheric moisture when the pouch is widely opened in order to again grasp the free end.
Another object of medical bandage dispensers is to attempt to keep moisture out of the bandage material. This is especially important when the bandage material is an orthopedic splint that is sensitive to moisture. U.S. Pat. No. 4,411,262 (von Bonin, et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,502,479 (Garwood, et al.) disclose an orthopedic splinting material, useful for orthopedic casting, and comprising a flexible fabric impregnated with a resin that hardens when exposed to water. This splinting material may be distributed as a bandage roll. Although an improvement over plaster of paris orthopedic splints which are heavy, and deteriorate if the patient gets the cast wet, moisture-curing resin splinting material does have a disadvantage. Whereas plaster of paris splints have a long shelf life, moisture-curing resin splints are extremely sensitive to the presence of any moisture. Even atmospheric moisture may activate the resin, hardening the stored splint material prior to use. Therefore this splinting material must be enclosed in moisture resistant packaging for storage until just prior to use. Once a package of such splinting bandage is opened, the entire roll must be used within a very short time to prevent premature curing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,003,970 (Parker, et al.) attempts to address the problem of moisture entering stored resin splint bandages by providing an outer container and having an elongate product dispensing sleeve which is moisture proof and has a sealable opening. The Parker '970 dispenser, however, has several disadvantages. It is difficult to securely seal the end of the dispensing sleeve after cutting off a portion of the splint for use. One disclosed method of sealing the sleeve includes resealable zipper seals. In practical use, though, it is difficult to determine when these types of "zip-lock" seals have been closed moisture-tight. Also disclosed in the Parker '970 patent is a tape used to provide a seal, but repeated opening and closing of the tape adhesive is likely to weaken the adhesive seal over repeated use. Also disclosed is a clamp that may be used to seal the dispensing sleeve after the dispenser sleeve is opened. However, the clamp is prone to be misplaced or lost. Finally, heat sealing is impractical in a busy clinical setting.
Applying the seal in all of the prior art methods disclosed requires that the splint bandage not be present at the very end of the dispenser sleeve. Sealing requires that the end of the dispenser sleeve not have any intervening bandage in order to effect the seal. The seal may be applied, and the splint bandage maintained in a waterproof condition, only after the bandage is pushed back into the dispensing sleeve. The need to push bandage back up the dispensing sleeve, in order to effect a seal, is a significant disadvantage to the prior art devices. This makes it extremely difficult to grasp the free end of the splint bandage during subsequent uses and leads to increased time to seal the package up after each use.


Methods and apparatus for acquiring expansion read only memory size information prior to operating system execution are disclosed. The disclosed methods and apparatus access an instance of a data structure generated prior to execution of an operating system and display boot phase memory usage information associated with an expansion read only memory.

The early phases of computer or processor system operation (i.e., prior to execution of an operating system by the processor system) following a power up or reset are controlled by a basic input/output system (BIOS). In general, the BIOS is implemented as software or machine readable instructions that are stored in a non-volatile memory coupled to a processor, which executes the BIOS instructions following a reset operation or the application of power. Typically, the BIOS performs one or more hardware and software configuration and test activities prior to executing the operating system. The configuration activities are responsible for establishing the manner in which hardware devices (e.g., disk drives, video controllers, keyboard interfaces, etc.) associated with the processor system interact with the operating system executed by the processor system. The test activities are responsible for collecting system configuration information that may be later used, for example, by the operating system to determine that hardware or devices associated with the system are ready for use and to facilitate debugging activities, configuration management activities, etc.
The System Management BIOS (SMBIOS) standard (e.g., SMBIOS 2.3.1) has been widely adopted by many processor system manufacturers and, thus, has been implemented within many commercially available processor systems. In practice, SMBIOS provides data structures (e.g., in the form of tables) that function as a repository of information collected by the BIOS during the boot process (i.e., prior to execution of the operating system) of a processor system. The information collected by the BIOS during the boot process and stored within the SMBIOS data structures includes information or data describing the make up or configuration of the processor system executing the BIOS. Subsequent to the boot process, the data or information stored within the SMBIOS data structures is accessible by the operating system and/or one or more runtime utilities. Accordingly, a system user or other operator of the processor system may access (e.g., may view via a video monitor) such data or information for the purpose of assessing the configuration of a particular computer or processor system, debugging the computer or processor system, etc.
One early execution environment phase that the BIOS typically performs is commonly referred to as the power on self test (POST) phase. During the POST phase, the processor or computer system scans for option or expansion read only memories (ROMs) that may be located on board (e.g., on the motherboard of the processor system) or within a video card, modem card, etc. installed in an expansion slot of the processor system. During the POST phase, the processor system sequentially expands (i.e., loads) and executes the software routines or machine readable instructions stored in these expansion ROMs. In particular, as the BIOS scan detects the presence of a particular expansion ROM, it suspends the scanning process to expand and execute the firmware routines or machine readable instructions stored in that particular expansion ROM before resuming scanning for another expansion ROM.
Each of the expansion ROMs includes one or more routines or sets of machine readable instructions that require an amount of memory space for their execution. The BIOS typically provides such memory space, which is commonly referred to as legacy expansion ROM memory, for use in executing these routines or instructions. As each routine or set of instructions within a particular scanned expansion ROM is expanded and executed, the routine or instructions may consume an initial amount of memory within the legacy expansion ROM memory space and may release (i.e., make available) some or all of that memory space when the execution of the routine or instructions is complete.
Unfortunately, with many known processor systems the legacy expansion ROM memory space is filled during the scanning process before all of the expansion ROMs have had an opportunity to expand (i.e., load their contents into the legacy expansion ROM memory space) and execute. As a result, the processor system may be unable to support requests made during subsequent execution of the expansion ROM scan, which may result in error messages, software execution failures, etc. that require a re-boot of the processor system.
In some processor systems it is possible to determine at runtime (i.e., when the operating system is executing) the amount of memory that is consumed by successfully expanded and executed expansion ROM routines. While such memory consumption information may prove somewhat useful in determining what expansion ROM routines or instructions were loaded into the legacy expansion ROM memory space and executed by the processor system prior to an operating system boot failure and/or error message, such information is incomplete. In particular, information associated with the memory space requirements of expansion ROM routines or instructions that were not expanded (e.g., due to the legacy expansion ROM space being filled) is not available to the operating system. Furthermore, the initial memory space requirements associated with the expansion ROM routines that were successfully loaded is not accessible to the operating system. Thus, in the event of a boot failure, it is difficult, if not impossible, for a system user or operator to determine what combination of available expansion ROMs can be expanded and executed using the relatively limited legacy expansion ROM space. As a result, users often enable/disable various combinations of expansion ROMs using time consuming trial and error methods until the computer system boots without error.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An oil-resistant sheet material having low resistance to air permeability and being excellent oil resistance, and particularly, being able to be suitably used as a packaging material for food containing edible oil. The oil-resistant sheet material includes at least one coating layer that contains starch and/or polyvinyl alcohol and a fatty acid on at least one side of a substrate in a solid content of 0.5 to 20 g/cm2. When the coating layer further contains a crosslinking agent, the oil resistance is improved. A coating layer that contains a fatty acid as a main component or a coating layer that contains polyvinyl alcohol as a main component may be further applied to the above-mentioned coating layer to form at least two coating layers.

Conventionally, in order to impart oil resistance to paper, an approach has been taken to make the critical surface tension of a treated surface smaller than the surface tension of an oily substance. Chemicals with such function are called oil-resistant agents, and oil-resistant paper treated with a fluorine containing oil-resistant agent has been mainly used.
For example, as Patent Document 1 presents a fluorine containing oil-resistant agent as a novel oil-resistant agent, those in which a fluorine containing compound such as acrylate or phosphoric ester of perfluorocarbon is used have been mainly used as oil-resistant agents for oil-resistant paper because they are inexpensive and effective.
In the case of oil-resistant paper using a fluorine containing oil-resistant agent, no coating is needed to be formed on the surface of the oil-resistant paper because the oil-resistant agent itself has excellent oil repellency and strong water repellency, and consequently the resistance to air permeability of the oil-resistant paper can be made low.
Recently, however, it has been revealed that when fried food is wrapped with such oil-resistant paper using an oil-resistant agent of a fluorine containing compound and heated up in an electronic oven or the like at a high temperature of 100° C. or higher, harmful gas (fluoroalcohol gas, hydrogen fluoride, etc.) that can be accumulated in the human body is generated, and thus use of the fluorine containing oil-resistant agent has posed a serious problem. It has also been pointed out that even without heating by an electronic oven or the like, similar gas may be generated when such paper is used for packaging a food material having a temperature of 100° C. or higher.
In addition, fluorine containing organic compounds have extremely poor biodegradability and there is a global concern for pollution due to these substances. As a reflection of such danger to human health and impact on the global environment as described above, the use of fluorine containing compounds has posed serious social problems.
Patent Document 2 proposes an oil-resistant paper container made of an oil-resistant paper prepared without using any fluorine containing compound, but prepared by forming on the surface of the paper a barrier layer containing crosslinked polyvinyl alcohol and/or starch and a water resistant additive as main components and by applying to the barrier layer a silicone resin and an adhesive for heat sealing. However, this oil-resistant paper container does not always have satisfactory oil resistance, and further involves a problem such that the production cost of the container is high because silicone resin is expensive.
Patent Document 3 proposes an oil-resistant paper prepared by applying a coating layer containing nonionic or cationic polyvinyl alcohol and a coating layer containing a fluorine containing oil-resistant agent in this order. However, the coating layer of polyvinyl alcohol used in this case has a role of preventing permeation of the fluorine containing oil-resistant agent into paper, which is quite different from the subject matter of the present invention.
Patent Document 4, Patent Document 5 and Patent Document 6 propose oil-resistant paper using acrylic emulsion as an oil-resistant agent. However, these kinds of oil-resistant paper proposed in these Patent Documents require a thick acrylic resin coating for satisfying desired oil resistance, resulting in an extremely high resistance to air permeability so as to impair the properties as a food packaging material. When a food packaging material has a high resistance to air permeability and food is heated or kept warm while being wrapped with the packaging material, the inside of the package is filled with vapor generated from food, and food is moistened with condensed dew, and texture and taste of the food are remarkably degraded as the case may be. In addition, when the food is reheated in an electronic oven or the like while being wrapped with the packaging material, rapidly generated vapor cannot be discharged to the outside and the package may be broken. Moreover, in order to form a coating having sufficient oil resistance, a large coating amount is needed, and consequently a problem of increased costs of packaging materials is caused.
When food is heated in an electronic oven or the like while being wrapped with a packaging material, the easiness in discharging of the vapor generated therein to the outside may be represented by the vapor permeability as well as the resistance to air permeability. As a method for measuring the vapor permeability, there is a method referred to as "the moisture permeability measurement method for moisture-proof packaging material" specified in JIS Z-0208 (1976), wherein the moisture permeability is defined as "the amount of the vapor passing through a unit area of a film material in a specified time." However, this measurement method takes very long time, and is not suitable as a method expected to be compatible even with the cases involving such problems at the time of actually being used as food packaging materials that vapor is condensed as dew in the package, and the rapidly generated vapor cannot be discharged to the outside and the package is broken while food is heated in an electronic oven. Accordingly, as an evaluation test of the moisture permeability of such food packaging material as the present invention, it is preferable to examine the dew condensation conditions in a package and the package break conditions as observed by actually placing and heating food or a substitute therefor in the package.
On the other hand, in order to ensure high oil resistance, lamination of film on the surface of paper has been generally practiced. However, when a film is laminated, the resistance to air permeability becomes extremely high, and the resulting food packaging material is defective as described above.
To prevent the resistance to air permeability from becoming extremely high, Patent Document 7 proposes an air-permeable oil-resistant sheet including a substrate such as a sheet of paper having pores and a thermoplastic film having pores similar to those of the substrate and being laminated on at least one side of the substrate. It is also proposed to form a laminate of non-woven fabric and paper. However, there has been a problem that such sheets cannot fully prevent edible oil from bleeding to the outside, and excellent oil resistance has not been achieved.
Patent Document 8 proposes an oil-resistant paper using hydrophobized starch. However, for the purpose of achieving sufficient oil resistance by using only hydrophobized starch, an enormous amount of hydrophobized starch is required to be applied, and this is impractical in terms of the cost. In addition, increase in resistance to air permeability due to the increased coating amount also causes a problem. Further, when oil-resistant paper using hydrophobized starch alone is used as a food packaging material, there has been a problem that the starch is dissolved due to vapor generated from the food being heated and adheres to the surface of the food because the starch is easily soluble in water.
Patent Document 9 proposes oil-resistant paper coated with an oil-resistant agent in which polyvinyl alcohol is used or polyvinyl alcohol and a crosslinking agent are used in combination. A small coating amount of this oil-resistant agent can attain a high oil resistance, and hence the resistance to air permeability is suppressed to be lower as compared to other oil-resistant agents containing no fluorine; however, this oil-resistant agent includes polyvinyl alcohol, and hence the suppression cannot be said to be sufficient. Further, application of this oil-resistant agent with a size press causes a problem of staining of the dryer.
Patent Document 10 proposes oil-resistant paper prepared by making non-sized paper uniformly contain starch, polyvinyl alcohol and an acrylic oil-resistant agent. However, this oil-resistant paper is also insufficient in oil resistance as a food packaging material, and accordingly, in order to ensure sufficient oil resistance, a large amount of coating layer is needed to be formed, resulting in a problem that the resistance to air permeability is increased.
Patent Document 11 proposes oil-resistant paper having on a paper substrate two coating layers, namely, a lower layer that is a coating layer composed of a mixture of an elastomer such as rubber latex or a water-retaining/water-absorbing polymer and a gelatinizable starch and an upper layer that is a coating layer composed of a starch decreased in viscosity or a starch derivative. This oil-resistant paper ensures the oil resistance mainly on the basis of starch and elastomer or a water-retaining/water-absorbing polymer, and hence, in order to ensure sufficient oil resistance, resistance to air permeability is forced to be sacrificed; consequently, no oil-resistant sheet material excellent in oil resistance and low in resistance to air permeability has been able to be obtained. Additionally, in this oil-resistant treated paper, the starch is used for the purpose of forming a film, and the resistance to air permeability is out of the scope of consideration.
As described above, the conventional art has never been able to obtain any oil-resistant paper that can simultaneously satisfy desired oil resistance, resistance to air permeability and productivity so as to be suitable as a food packaging material.
[Patent Document 1]: Japanese Patent Laid Open No. 12-026601
[Patent Document 2]: Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-2373
[Patent Document 3]: Japanese Patent Laid Open No. 8-209590
[Patent Document 4]: Japanese Patent Laid Open No. 9-3795
[Patent Document 5]: Japanese Patent Laid Open No. 9-111693
    [Patent Document 6]: Japanese Patent Laid Open No. 2001-303475[Patent Document 7]: Japanese Patent Laid Open No. 11-021800[Patent Document 8]: Japanese Patent Laid Open No. 2002-69889[Patent Document 9]: Japanese Patent Laid Open No. 2004-68180[Patent Document 10]: Japanese Patent Laid Open No. 2005-29943[Patent Document 11]: Japanese Patent Laid Open No. 2005-29941


A player places an ante wager to participate in the play of the underlying card game. An initial deal of at least one communal partial hand of poker consisting of at least one card is dealt from a single (or multiple) standard deck(s) of cards, standard deck(s) of cards with certain cards removed, or standard deck(s) of cards that is augmented by wild cards or jokers, especially with a partial communal hand consisting of two face-up cards. The player is directed to consider the partial hand and is then directed to choose to play the partial hand as either a 5-card stud game, a 6-card stud game, or a 7-card stud game by placing an additional Play wager on a particular Play Bet circle (i.e., the 5-card game, the 6-card game or the 7-card stud game. Three additional community cards are then dealt face up to complete the 5-card stud hand, and subsequently a 4th and 5th community card. Each wagered hand would then be compared to a predetermined pay table (for the specific game play selected by the player) and winnings would be awarded for certain predetermined combinations or ranks.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a poker game suitable for use in casinos and other gaming establishments as a casino table card game. The invention further relates to casino table gaming wherein the player chooses to play an initial partial hand as either a 5-, 6-, or 7-card stud game.
2. Background of the Art
Games based upon variations of poker have attained enormous popularity as casino-type entertainment games, particularly in the last twenty years. The success of poker games in the gaming industry is partially based on the game's simplicity (i.e., there is widespread public knowledge of the game rules) and the fact that players feel more directly involved in exercising judgment in the play of the game.
Traditional poker as played in card rooms and casinos allow players to compete head to head against other players. The casino typically charges a fee or vigorish for the privilege to play at the table, and so is one of the rare wagering games in which the casino does not have a built-in percentage advantage per game.
Many new approaches to poker have been developed for casino table games that can be played on a blackjack-like table, in which the players compete against the house or against a paytable, and in which the house has an edge or percentage advantage. These poker variations now rival the popularity of blackjack in many venues. Let It Ride™ poker, one of the first variants to gain popularity, is a version of 5-card stud played against a paytable that requires a three-part bet, and allows the withdrawal of up to two parts of the total bet after viewing certain cards. The downside of the game for the player is that simple strategy rules determine whether the player should withdraw part of the wager, so there is a lack of involvement and risk-taking decisions that typify the casino poker player.
Caribbean Stud Poker™ is also a 5-card stud game, but is played against the dealer's qualified hand and a paytable. The dealer must have a specified minimum hand to qualify, so that there is consternation for the player who holds a premium hand and is not allowed to capitalize on it. An optional side bet can be placed to qualify for a progressive jackpot, but the high casino advantage on this wager may discourage the player.
Three Card Poker™ is actually two games in one. Both games are based on hands consisting of three cards and the player may bet on either one, both, and in different amounts. Play begins with a wager on ante. After the player views his three cards he may either raise by putting an equal bet on play or fold and lose the ante bet. If the player does raise then he goes against the dealer's hand. The dealer needs at least a queen high to qualify. The Pair Plus wager is a simple side bet in which the player gets the three cards and is paid according to their value. The dealer's hand is immaterial. There is no raising and no discarding. Dealer qualification can be problematic in this poker variation as in Caribbean Stud, and the Pair Plus wager in fact requires no skill of any kind and so does not excite the decision-making player.
Four Card Poker® is akin to Three Card Poker® games, but as the name signifies, four cards are used instead of three. Other key differences are that there is no dealer qualifying hand, and the player can raise up to three times his ante. The dealer gets one extra card to form his best hand. The object of the game is for the player to form a four-card poker hand higher than, or equal in rank to the dealer's hand. Players use their best four of five cards dealt against the dealer's best four of six cards. However, players may have the perception that the dealer always has the upper hand, since the dealer gets the additional card.
3-5-7 Poker™ is a simple poker-based game that is actually a three-games-in-one wherein the player bets on both 3-card and 5-card hands, and may also bet on a 7-card poker hand, with payoffs set by a standard pay table. Since the 7-card hand usually has the lowest house advantage, all three games should generally be played. Unfortunately for the player, a poor 3-card hand will more likely determine poor 5- and 7-card hands, so the player may have almost no positive anticipation and end up losing all three hands.
There is a need to address these cited shortcomings and to provide alternative games so that the player is offered a quick and compelling poker table game that does not require dealer qualification and allows the player a decision-making process that encourages the player to play at a comfortable risk level.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,569,014 (Walker) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,332,839 (Walker) each disclose a method for playing draw poker wherein an initial hand is dealt, the player selecting to hold certain cards and discard others, if any, replacing the discards with replacement cards, and determining a payout on the resultant hand based on a ranking of the final hand and the number of cards drawn.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,517,074 (Moody); U.S. Pat. No. 6,135,883 (Hachquet); U.S. Pat. No. 6,098,985 (Moody); U.S. Pat. No. 6,050,568 (Hachquet); U.S. Pat. No. 6,007,066 (Moody); and U.S. Pat. No. 5,823,873 (Moody) each disclose a method for playing multiple hands of draw poker wherein an initial hand of cards is dealt, the player selecting none, one or more of the cards to be held, replacing the discards with replacement cards, and evaluating the resultant hand or hands for winning combinations.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,561,898 (Moody) discloses a method wherein the player is provided with the opportunity to increase or decrease the wager on multiple stud hands after the partial hands are shown and before the final hands are completed. Each partial hand contains the same cards, and the player does not choose a particular partial hand.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,511,068 (Sklansky) teaches a method of concurrent multiple communal card poker games wherein the player selects an initial partial hand which is then added to each of a plurality of communal-card flops, each communal-card flop corresponding to the number of poker games to be concurrently played. A plurality of remaining resulting poker hands are also derived, one for each combination of non-selected partial starting hands and each of the communal-cards flops.
The participant's resulting poker hands are compared to the remaining resulting poker hands to determine any winning hands.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,358,144 (Kadlic) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,146,271 (Kadlic) teach a method of providing multiple hands of poker, each being dealt with two cards face up and three cards face down. The player chooses an initial partial hand, which is then duplicated into each of the other hands. The remaining face-down cards in each hand are then revealed, and the player may then discard and draw replacement cards to final hands.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,334,613 (Yoseloff) discloses a method which provides a partial hand which can be played as at least two distinctive games of poker, the nature of the at least two games requiring decisions to be made where a decision with regard to an election of play strategy in one poker game that is intended to have or assist in getting a positive outcome is likely to have a negative effect or comprises an adverse strategy in the play of the second game.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,135,882 (Kadlic) teaches a method of providing multiple hands of poker, each being dealt with two cards face up and three cards face down. The player chooses an initial partial hand, the remaining face down cards in that hand are then revealed, and the player may then discard and draw replacement cards in that hand to provide for a final hand.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,132,311 (Williams) discloses a multiple play method wherein two cards are dealt face up and are the community cards that are common to each hand. The remaining three cards for each hand are dealt face down. The player may discard none, one or both of the face up community cards and receives replacement cards for the discarded cards, if any. The player may double his wager before or after the draw step. The face down cards are revealed, and final hands are evaluated for pays.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,839,731 (Feola) discloses a casino game based on a selected card game in which a player wagers on one or more of a group of hands, and where the chances of winning are not enhanced by the skills of the player and no discretion in the selection of cards is vested in either the player or dealer. A number of stud poker hands are dealt as lines on a playing surface and players wager as to which hand will win. Winning wagers are paid a multiple of the wager, or optionally, the multiple is based on the odds of obtaining the particular winning combination.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,711,525 (Breeding) teaches a method of playing a wagering game with built in probability variations wherein the player makes an initial bet to participate in a base game. Prior to the play of the game, the dealer displays at least one additional card from the deck. After viewing this card or cards, the player is given the opportunity to place an additional wager which would qualify the player for an additional winning.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,100,137 (Fulton) describes a method wherein an electronic, poker-type game provides a player with an opportunity to increase the amount wagered, and therefore to increase a winning payout, even after the player has received a definite indication that the player has won.
U.S. patent application No. 20050040601 (Yoseloff) discloses a multi-player automated casino table card game platform enabling the play of casino table poker-type games according to rules effected through a processor. Rules may include games similar to Let It Ride® stud poker such as playing a wagering game comprising a player placing a wager comprising at least two distinct parts and providing to the player at least a portion of the player's game elements so that partial information or a game outcome is provided; giving the player at least one opportunity, before the player's final game outcome is determined, to withdraw from engagement in the game at least one part of said at least two parts, but less than all of said at least two parts, and continuing play of the game with additional portions of the player's game elements being displayed to the player.
U.S. patent application No. 20040113363 (Moody) discloses a method of play wherein one of the player's wagers is allocated to a full hand of cards and the other wagers are allocated among poker hands that are comprised of various subsets of the full hand.
U.S. patent application No. 20030162424 (Berman) teaches a method of concurrent multiple communal card poker games wherein the player selects an initial partial hand which is then added to each of a plurality of communal-card flops, each communal-card flop corresponding to the number of poker games to be concurrently played. Each of the resulting poker hands for the participant is compared to a pay table to determine corresponding payouts.
U.S. patent application No. 20030119572 (Moody) teaches a method wherein a player makes a wager to play multiple hands of a stud poker game. A plurality of initial partial hands is displayed to the player. Each initial partial hand has the same cards with the cards displayed face up to the player. Each hand is then completed as a stud poker final hand. The player wins or loses depending on the poker hand ranking of each final hand. If the player achieves two or more final hands of the same poker hand ranking, the amount won by the player is increased, preferably as multiples of the original payout amounts.
U.S. patent application No. 20030069055 (Moody) teaches a method wherein one hand of four cards is dealt. The player selects cards from the first hand as cards to be held which are reused from the first hand into all of the other hands. Replacement cards for the non-selected cards are dealt into the first hand and an additional card is dealt so that the first hand has five cards. Additional cards are also dealt to all of the other hands so that each hand is a five card hand. The poker hand ranking of each hand is determined. The player is then paid for any winning poker hands based on a pay table and the amount of the player's wager.
It is an ever-increasing challenge to provide players with new and enticing game play features that will stimulate player interest and increase time at the table.

Casino poker table game with choice of stud hands


A linear guide includes an elongated spacer, a plurality of rollers, and two sliding blocks. The spacer has a plurality of thru-holes arranged in a row along a longitudinal direction thereof. The spacer has two engaging portions respectively arranged at two opposite sides of the row of thru-holes. The rollers are respectively arranged in the thru-holes. Each sliding block has a rolling groove and an engaging groove formed on a bottom portion of the rolling groove, and each rolling groove has two track surfaces spaced apart from each other. The engaging portions are respectively inserted into the engaging grooves such that each sliding block slides with respect to another sliding block only. The track surfaces of each sliding block are respectively arranged at two opposite sides of the spacer, and the rollers are rollably clamped between the track surfaces of the sliding blocks.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The instant disclosure relates to a linear transmission device; more particular, to a linear guideway and a track module thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
The conventional linear guideway has an elongated spacer, a plurality of rollers positioned on the spacer, and two sliding blocks respectively arranged at two opposite sides of the spacer, and the rollers. The rollers are positioned by the spacer, such that the construction of the conventional linear guideway is complex and needs higher accuracy, thereby affecting the manufacturing and assembly of the conventional linear guideway.
To achieve the abovementioned improvement, the inventors strive through industrial experience and academic research to present the instant disclosure, which can provide additional improvement as mentioned above.

Linear guideway and track module thereof


A plectrum or guitar pick and method of manufacture thereof. The plectrum has one or more metal edges that are substantially flush/planar with the body of the plectrum. This edge may be an outer edge of the plectrum itself or an inner edge of a cutout punched into the body of the pick. Alternatively, metal can be plated onto the body of the plectrum. The body of the plectrum may be formed of a metal, plastic or other suitable material. The interior of the body may contain customized designs, print, or cutouts that contain metal. The metal edge of the plectrum is capable of being flush with the body through a novel method of manufacturing plectra on metallic (e.g., copper clad) boards. Thus, the body and edges of the plectrum may remain coplanar as if created from the same material, though retaining benefits of being formed of two separate materials.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, generally, to guitar picks. More particularly, it relates to plectra or guitar picks with flush metal edges.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Guitar picks, or plectra, are very well-known in the art, and various types have been in the art for hundreds of years. Various shapes of guitar picks have been created as well, for example rounded isosceles triangle, equilateral triangle, more-rounded tear drop, or ovular shape, each of which has parallel opposed surfaces adapted for holding between a thumb and forefinger. Guitar picks also have varying thicknesses, typically between about 0.02 inches to about 0.06 inches, depending on the composition and intended use of the pick. Thinner picks can have higher flexibility typically used with thinner strings, and thicker picks can have lower flexibility typically used with thicker strings (e.g., bass guitar). Musicians are continually searching extensively for the optimal shape, material(s), configuration of materials, etc. to provide the best possible sound.
Conventional picks are composed of wood, plastic (e.g., celluloid, nylon, acetal, ultem, lexan, acrylic, delrex, delrin, polyethylene), metals, glass and other materials, such as agate, new tortis, felt, and PHD. Of course, each composition has its strengths and weaknesses. For example, plastic is resilient and is typically used on non-metallic strings. However, resilient picks do not provide the musician knowledge of the precise placement of the pick and plucking of the strings (i.e., lower accuracy) while playing because of how flexible they are, as they do not return to "rest" position as quickly. Softer materials further wear out more quickly, even within a single use, thus interfering with picking accuracy and tone.
Hard metals have been used, typically with metallic strings, for precision plucking of the strings on electrical guitars and similar instruments. However, picks fully formed of metals do not produce optimum sound quality, and because of its composition typically do not have a rounded edge on the pick. Additionally, a pick formed of hard (or even some soft) metals (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,194,680 to "Reineck") does not have the flexibility of other materials and tend to wear down the surface of pick guards, guitar tops, and fretboards.
Attempts have been made to have softer material bodies with metal edges. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/651,195 to "Grant" describes an ovular guitar pick with a raised metal tip along its leading edge. Essentially, metal is disposed in overlying relation to the edge of the guitar pick and thus are not coplanar. Though the metal tip may provide a better quality sound when striking the guitar strings, the raised edge leads to a heightened weight imbalance of the pick, thus leading to a higher degree of mistakes and complications, due to the offset weight and tangling with the strings, among other reasons. Placing a metal tip in overlying relation to the opposite end of the guitar pick may balance the weight in the direction of the metal tips, but the pick would still be imbalanced in other directions, which may affect how a user holds the pick when in use. Disposing metal along the entirety of the outer edge of the pick may alleviate the imbalance, but then the pick becomes rather heavy (leading to lower sound quality and increased wear and tear instrument, as explained), and the raised edge all around the pick leads to inaccurate strumming and inability for the user to use a soft pick, thus requiring the user to have multiple picks potentially even during a single use.
Two commercially-available guitar picks claim to have metal edges but also suffer from similar drawbacks. The Dava Master Control Nickel Silver Guitar Pick uses a plastic housing with a punched piece of metal within one of its edges. The Clayton ZZ-Zinc Guitar Pick is completely made of metal (zinc) with a coat of paint (epoxy) on it to give the illusion that the pick is two different materials.
All referenced publications are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. Furthermore, where a definition or use of a term in a reference, which is incorporated by reference herein is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of that term provided herein applies and the definition of that term in the reference does not apply.
Accordingly, what is needed is resilient-bodied, non-resilient-edged plectrum that contains flush barriers between the body and edge to provide optimum sound quality, while maximizing a user's ease of use. However, in view of the art considered as a whole at the time the present invention was made, it was not obvious to those of ordinary skill in the field of this invention how the shortcomings of the prior art could be overcome.
While certain aspects of conventional technologies have been discussed to facilitate disclosure of the invention, Applicants in no way disclaim these technical aspects, and it is contemplated that the claimed invention may encompass one or more of the conventional technical aspects discussed herein.
The present invention may address one or more of the problems and deficiencies of the prior art discussed above. However, it is contemplated that the invention may prove useful in addressing other problems and deficiencies in a number of technical areas. Therefore, the claimed invention should not necessarily be construed as limited to addressing any of the particular problems or deficiencies discussed herein.
In this specification, where a document, act or item of knowledge is referred to or discussed, this reference or discussion is not an admission that the document, act or item of knowledge or any combination thereof was at the priority date, publicly available, known to the public, part of common general knowledge, or otherwise constitutes prior art under the applicable statutory provisions; or is known to be relevant to an attempt to solve any problem with which this specification is concerned.

Metal-edged plectrum and method of manufacture thereof


This invention relates to lubricants for two-cycle engines comprising a major amount of at least one oil of lubricating viscosity and a minor amount of at least one compound of the general formula EQU A.sup.y- M.sup.y+ (I). wherein M represents one or more metal ions, y is the total valence of all M and A represents one or more anion containing groups having a total of about y individual anionic moieties and each anion containing group is a group of the formula ##STR1## wherein T is selected from the group consisting of ##STR2## Additive concentrates and lubricant-fuel mixtures for two cycle engines are also disclosed as well as methods for operating two-cycle engines.

Over the past several decades the use of spark-ignited two-cycle (2-stroke) internal combustion engines has steadily increased. They are presently found in power lawn mowers and other power-operated garden equipment, power chain saws, pumps, electrical generators, marine outboard engines, snowmobiles, motorcycles and the like. Two-cycle engines have found limited application as automobile and truck engines. Manufacturers are exploring how to expand this use.
The increasing use of two-cycle engines coupled with increasing severity of the conditions in which they have operated has led to an increased demand for oils to adequately lubricate such engines and which provide enhanced performance. Among the problems associated with two-cycle engines are piston ring sticking, piston scuffing, rusting, lubrication related failure of connecting rod and main bearings and the general formation on the engine's interior surfaces of carbon and varnish deposits. Piston ring sticking is a particularly serious problem. Ring sticking leads to failure of the sealing function of piston rings. Such sealing failure causes loss of cylinder compression which is particularly damaging in two-cycle engines because these engines depend on suction to draw the new fuel charge into the exhausted cylinder. Thus, ring sticking can lead to deterioration in engine performance and unnecessary consumption of fuel and/or lubricant Other problems associated with two-cycle engines include piston lubricity, scuffing or scoring.
All of the aforementioned problems associated with two-cycle engines must be adequately addressed Improved performance is continually being sought. The unique problems and techniques associated with the lubrication of two-cycle engines has led to the recognition by those skilled in the art of two-cycle engine lubricants as a distinct lubricant type. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,085,975; 3,004,837; and 3,753,905.
The compositions of the present invention are effective in controlling the aforementioned problems.
While color, per se, is not often a consideration when evaluating performance of a 2-cycle engine lubricant, it may be a consideration for other reasons.
As is well-known, the equipment operator frequently prepares lubricant-fuel blends. A particularly dark colored lubricant or one that imparts a significant color to the lubricant-fuel blend, while not affecting performance, may be deemed to be objectionable. Furthermore, two-cycle oils frequently contain a small amount of dye, to impart a characteristic color to the lubricant-fuel blend. If the color of the lubricant is pronounced, it may mask the color of the dyed fuel or may lead the user to believe that the lubricant-fuel blend has deteriorated.
The lubricating compositions of the instant invention are considerably lighter in color than many commercially available lubricants.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,425,138 relates to amino phenols used in lubricant fuel mixtures for two-cycle engines U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,663,063 and 4,724,091 issued to Davis relate to a combination of an alkyl phenol and an amino compound in two-cycle engines.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,708,809 and 4,740,321 relate to use of alkylated phenols in two-cycle engine lubricants. U.S. Pat. No. 4,231,757 relates to nitrophenol-amine condensates and the use thereof in two cycle oils.

Two-cycle engine lubricant and method of using same comprising alkali or alkaline earth metal salts of carboxylic aromatic acids


Process for encapsulating an electronic component, in particular an integrated circuit, with an encapsulating material, at least comprising the steps of:. placing the component to be encapsulated in a cavity of a mold; PA1 introducing the encapsulating material at elevated temperature into the cavity between the mold and the component to be encapsulated; PA1 hardening the encapsulating material; and PA1 releasing the encapsulated component from the cavity,. the encapsulating material used comprising 40-65% by weight of the engineering thermoplast and 60-35% by weight of the reactive solvent.

The present invention in the first instance relates to a process for encapsulating an electronic component, in particular an integrated circuit, with an encapsulating material which comprises an engineering thermoplast and a reactive solvent, at least comprising the steps of:
placing the component to be encapsulated in a cavity of a mould; PA1 introducing the encapsulating material at elevated temperature into the cavity between the mould and the component to be encapsulated; PA1 hardening the encapsulating material; and PA1 releasing the encapsulated component from the cavity.


The present disclosure relates to a beverage machine for preparing a single serving of a mixed beverage and a capsule for use with the machine. The capsule includes an open shell defining a reservoir for holding ingredients; a lid for sealing the open shell; and, a guide member disposed within the reservoir of the open shell configured to receive a liquid stream injected by an injection needle of a beverage machine when the lid is pierced by the injection needle and to guide the liquid stream to a mixing zone within the reservoir for mixing the liquid stream with the liquid held in the reservoir to prepare a single serving of mixed beverage to be dispensed from the reservoir via a dispensing needle of the beverage machine when the dispensing needle pierces the open shell . . . .

Various machines have been developed in recent years that enable consumers to quickly prepare a single serving of a hot beverage, such as coffee, tea, soup, or hot chocolate. Such machines use capsules that generally include two chambers: a first chamber that includes a filter with dry, crystallized ingredients and a second chamber for receiving the prepared beverage. When preparing a single cup of a beverage, these machines provide a stream of heated liquid to the first chamber of the capsule. The dry crystallized ingredients within the first chamber capsule dissolve in the liquid stream and the liquid stream is filtered as the liquid stream flows into the second chamber.
Conventional beverage machines and capsules are generally not suitable for preparing a single serving of a mixed beverage (e.g. a single serving of a mixed drink comprising alcohol or juices and water) because conventional machines and capsules generally produce a beverage that lacks the quality, flavour, aesthetic, and consistency required for mixed beverages.

Beverage machine and capsule for use with the beverage machine


The present invention relates generally to protective padding for golf carts, and more specifically, the invention relates to a protective padded sleeve that comprises a sleeve, a fastener and padding, which is placed over and around the hard plastic hip restraint of a golf cart to prevent a rider from being injured. When a rider sits on the bench-style seat of a golf cart, the rider's hip and leg are in contact with this hip restraint. The invention operates by both absorbing the shock with padding placed between a rider and the hard plastic hip restraint of a golf cart, as well as, completely enclosing the hip restraint to prevent obstacles from protruding through the large opening in the hip restraint and causing injury to the rider. This invention further incorporates an auxiliary power source for wireless devices, a wireless speaker and accessory holders.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a protective padded sleeve for golf carts that provides protection from injury, added comfort to the riders, is capable of holding accessories and enhances the golf carts appearance. More specifically, the invention relates to a protective padded sleeve that comprises a sleeve, a fastener and padding, which is permanently placed over and around the hip restraint of a golf cart to prevent a rider from being injured when contacting the hip restraint or from protruding obstacles that could penetrate the large opening in the center of the hip restraint.
2. Description of Related Art
The sport of golf and recreational use of golf carts has developed into a billion dollar industry throughout the world. Currently, there are approximately 4,500 private golf courses with over 3.6 million golf carts and approximately 11,500 public and municipal courses with over 8 million golf carts in just the United States alone. A typical round of golf lasts approximately 4 hours, and players must navigate a golf course's approximate 4.5 mile length, which usually includes both hilly and rough terrain. As such, on most courses golf carts have become an essential part of the game. In addition, golf carts are now routinely used for transportation purposes at sporting events, hospitals, airports, national parks, college campuses, military bases and many businesses. In retirement communities, golf carts have become the primary means of transportation. The number of golf carts used for transportation in these other areas outside of golf is estimated to exceed 10 million.
As golf carts are used in more settings both on and off the golf course, the number of documented injuries has risen. According to an article in the July 2008 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, from 1990 until 2006, the injury rate rose more than 130 percent. During this period, nearly 150,000 golf cart-related injuries were recorded in people as young as 2 months and as old as 96 years. In a 2010 study and publication, according to the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC), there are approximately 15,000 golf cart related injuries requiring emergency room treatment in the US each year. Soft tissue damage and severe bruising accounted for 47.7% of all injuries. Contusions and abrasions were the most common diagnosis for the hip and lower extremity region. In addition to operating the cart, getting into or out of a cart was noted as one of the main causes of injury.
The current design of golf carts has evolved over the past ten years and the metal tubular arm rests on prior carts has been replaced with hard plastic hip restraints. These hip restraints now installed on both sides of the carts bench-style seat are irregularly shaped with an open center. These hip restraints serve multiple purposes. First, the hip restraints prevent riders from sliding off the bench-style seat. Second, in addition to the handle provided on the carts roof, these hip restraints serve as a handle when the passengers are entering or exiting the cart. Third, they serve to act as a handle for lifting the seat, for providing access to the battery compartment under the seat for maintenance of the golf cart.
The typical hip restraints on current golf carts are made of a solid one-piece forged hard plastic material in a substantially irregular, but generally triangular shape with an open center. The typical golf cart bench-style seat is approximately 39 inches wide, which makes it a very confining space for two average sized adult riders. This makes it very likely for the rider's hip and upper leg to be in constant contact with the hard plastic hip restraint during the normal operation of the golf cart. As evidenced by the annual number of injuries, this hard plastic hip restraint is both uncomfortable and is prone to cause bruising and contusions to a rider when entering or exiting the cart or during normal operation when turns are made or when the golf cart traverses over rough terrain. This can especially be a problem for people with a history of hip problems or older riders, which make up a large percentage of both golfers and residents in retirement communities where golf carts have become the primary means of transportation. In addition, the large opening in the center of the hip restraint allows for obstacles such as tree limbs to penetrate through the hip restraint and cause injury to the rider.
Many accessories have become an integral part of the game of golf such as balls, tees, brushes, markers, sun-glasses, and more recently GPS systems, wireless mobile devices, wireless devices for playing music, wireless speakers and other accessories that golfers like to have ready access to when they are either riding in the golf cart or outside of the cart looking for or preparing to hit their ball. Other users of carts also want to have easy access to important accessories they regularly carry. Although carts have an open area in the front interior for storing accessories, these storage areas have become insufficient in view of the ever-increasing number and types of accessories that are used on the golf course or in the many other uses of golf carts. These existing storage areas are especially inefficient for certain items that a golfer or other users of carts regularly use such as wireless communication devices and wireless speakers. In the carts front storage areas these type devices are hard to reach, exposed to significant shock and vibration and prone to damage or bouncing out of the cart when hitting bumps or rough terrain. Additionally, because rounds of golf generally take at least four hours, most players need or desire to have convenient and frequent access to their wireless communications devices. Current cart designs do not offer a convenient and safe place for all users of carts to keep these type devices and other valuable items that they would prefer to have in an easily accessible and secure place.
Most golf carts do not have any power source for accessories such as wireless communication devices, devices for playing music and wireless speakers, especially those at Private and Public Golf Courses. A power source is not typically provided in the golf cart due to the adverse effect it would have on the very expensive batteries that are used to power most golf carts. Due to the typical round of golf lasting approximately 4 hours it is desirable for golfers and other users of golf carts to have alternative back-up sources of power for these devices, so that while golfing or using the cart they do not lose the use of these devises due to loss of battery power. This is especially true with wireless communication devices that need to be available in case of an emergency or if a golf cart users profession is such that of a physician where they must be on-call 24 hours a day.
It is therefore desirable to have a protective padded sleeve that is permanently secured and completely covers and is tightly secured to the hip restraint. The protective padded sleeve has substantial firm padding on the exterior side to provide adequate protection for the riders hip and leg from obstacles protruding through the opening in the hip restraint and substantial foam-like padding on the interior and top side to provide cushioning for the passenger's hip, leg and arm for the purpose of eliminating injuries from contact with the hip restraint while also significantly improving the comfort of riding in a golf cart. The protective padded sleeve still allows the hip restraint to perform its other intended functions of serving as a handle for riders to grasp and as a handle for lifting the seat. The protective padded sleeve also integrates a back-up source of power for electronic devices, a wireless speaker for listening to music and a holder for storing accessories, which increases the space for carrying additional accessories in a golf cart.

Protective padded sleeve for hip restraints on golf carts


An apparatus for flushing a plurality of randomly spaced packages with an inert gas includes a linear conveyor for conveying the packages, a linear servo motor, comprising a closed loop, positioned generally above the linear conveyor. The arrangement includes a plurality of gas-flushing nozzles which are mounted on the linear servo motor for movement in concert with the packages on the conveyor. Each nozzle can be selectively angularly positioned and articulated with respect to the linear servo motor to facilitate insertion into, and withdrawal from, each package to effect flushing of the contents of each package with an inert gas.

Many products which are generally granular or chunk-like in nature, such as pet food and the like, are packaged in bag-like flexible packaging for subsequent shipment, storage and consumption. The freshness of the package contents in maintained by sealing each package after filling, thereby limiting the egress of oxygen into the package, which can diminish freshness.
In order to further promote the freshness of the package contents, it can be advantageous to inject and flush the contents of each package with a relatively inert gas, such as nitrogen, argon, carbon dioxide, or the like, which acts to displace oxygen from the interior of each package to better maintain the freshness of the contents. As will be appreciated, however, effective flushing of each package with a suitable gas can be particularly problematic in a typical product-filling process, in which filled packages are typically presented for sealing on a linear conveyor, frequently in randomly spaced relationship to each other.
The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus by which filled packages which are linearly conveyed in randomly spaced relationship can be efficiently and consistently flushed with gas to maintain the freshness of the contents of each package.

Apparatus for flushing packages with gas


Methods and apparatus for use in configuring a wireless access point (AP) which serves as a handoff indication mechanism (“AP tripwire”) in a wireless local area network (WLAN) for mobile device handoffs between the WLAN and a wireless wide area network (WWAN) are described. During a configuration procedure or training mode of operation of the wireless AP, radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted from a plurality of communication devices are received at the wireless AP. The plurality of communication devices include a first group of communication devices positioned at locations of undesired RF coverage of the wireless AP, outside of an RF coverage boundary of a WLAN coverage region of one or more other wireless APs of the WLAN. The plurality of communication devices also include a second group of communication devices positioned at locations of desired RF coverage of the wireless AP, around the RF coverage boundary of the WLAN coverage region and within the WWAN coverage region. Wireless transceiver parameters of the wireless AP are automatically determined and set to adjust boundaries of an RF coverage region, such that RF signal coverage of the first group of communication devices is minimized but RF signal coverage of the second group of communication devices is maximized. Preferably, the parameters of the wireless transceiver are determined through use of an adaptive beamforming technique (e.g. a minimax optimization) which is performed automatically by the wireless AP without user intervention. After the configuration procedure, the wireless AP operates with use of the configured wireless transceiver parameters in a normal, steady-state mode of operation as the AP tripwire of the WLAN.

1. Field of the Technology
The present disclosure relates generally to wireless access points (APs) in wireless local area networks (WLANs), and more particularly to adaptive beamforming configuration methods and apparatus for wireless APs which serve as tripwires in WLANs.
2. Description of the Related Art
A mobile communication device may be designed to operate on two different types of heterogeneous wireless networks, such as a wireless local area network (WLAN) (e.g. IEEE 802.11 based wireless network) and a wireless wide area network (WWAN) (e.g. a cellular telecommunications network). With these types of mobile communication devices, it is convenient to have advance notice of when the mobile device will be handed-off from the WLAN to the WWAN, so that voice communication sessions of the mobile device may be seamlessly maintained during the handoff. For example, if the mobile device and/or network may be made aware in advance that the mobile device is about to leave the WLAN, a connection may be established between the mobile device and the WWAN before the connection with the WLAN is lost. For this reason, a wireless access point (AP) may be deployed specifically to cover regions of ingress and/or egress of the WLAN and serve as a "tripwire" to provide such advance handoff notice. If such AP tripwires had suitable coverage regions that could be easily configured, the reliability and timeliness of handoffs may be enhanced.
Accordingly, what are needed are methods and apparatus to improve handoffs for mobile devices as described.

Adaptive beamforming configuration methods and apparatus for wireless access points serving as handoff indication mechanisms in wireless local area networks


A static memory cell comprises a first PMOS transistor including a drain 319, a channel 344, a source 317, and a lightly doped drain 360 and a first NMOS transistor including a source 323, a channel 346, and a drain 321. A first gate 334 insulatively overlies the channel 344 and the lightly doped drain region 360 of the first PMOS transistor as well as the channel 346 of the first NMOS transistor. The memory cell also includes a second PMOS transistor which in turn includes a source 327, a channel 362, a source 325, and a lightly doped drain 364 and a second NMOS transistor which includes a source 323, a channel 368, and a drain 329. A second gate 338 insulatively overlies the channel 362 and the lightly doped drain region 364 of the second PMOS transistor and the channel 368 of the second NMOS transistor. A first gated resistor is coupled between the drain 319 of the first PMOS transistor and the second gate 338 and a second gated resistor is coupled between the drain 327 of the second PMOS transistor and the first gate 334. Other systems and methods are also disclosed.

A static memory is a device in which the stored data is retained at all times during which power is applied to the memory device. In a random-access memory (RAM), data words are stored in locations which may be independently accessed.
One method of storing data is to use two inverters connected such that the output of the first inverter is coupled to the input of the second inverter and the output of the second is coupled to the input of the first inverter. Here, if the output of the first inverter, and therefore the input of the second inverter, is a logical "1", the output of the second inverter is a logical "0". This node is also of the input of the first inverter and therefore maintains the output of the first inverter at a logical "1".
As computer systems become faster and more complex there is a continuing desire to have memory cells which are faster and smaller. If each individual cell is smaller, more cells may be formed on a given chip which in turn lowers systems costs and increases design flexibility. In addition, as cells get smaller the operation is faster.
Also, as dimensions are decreased, memory cells become increasingly sensitive to upset by energetic particles such as cosmic rays in space or alpha particles emitted from common packaging material. One approach to decrease the sensitivity of SRAM cells to upset is to add resistance to the cross-coupling of the two inverters. However, this approach can increase the size of the cell.
Accordingly, improvements in the overall size of static memory cells, particularly with improved resistance to upset, are presently desirable.

Method for forming a transistor device with resistive coupling


High quality epitaxial layers of GaN can be grown overlying large silicon wafers (200) by forming an amorphous layer (210) on the substrate. The amorphous layer dissipates strain and permits the growth of a high quality GaN layer (208). Any lattice mismatch between the GaN layer and the underlying substrate is taken care of by the amorphous layer.

Semiconductor devices typically include multiple layers of conductive, insulating, and semiconductive layers. Often, the desirable properties of such layers improve with the crystallinity of the layer. For example, the electron mobility and optical properties of semiconductive layers improves as the crystallinity of the layer increases. Similarly, the free electron concentration of conductive layers and the electron charge displacement and electron energy recoverability of insulative or dielectric films improves as the crystallinity of these layers increases.
For many years, attempts have been made to grow various monolithic thin films on a foreign substrate, such as silicon (Si). To achieve optimal characteristics of the various monolithic layers, however, a monocrystalline film of high crystalline quality is desired. Attempts have been made, for example, to grow various monocrystalline layers on a substrate such as germanium, silicon, and various insulators. These attempts have generally been unsuccessful because lattice mismatches between the host crystal and the grown crystal have caused the resulting layer of monocrystalline material to be of low crystalline quality.
If a large area thin film of high quality monocrystalline material was available at low cost, a variety of semiconductor devices could advantageously be fabricated in that film at a low cost compared to the cost of fabricating such devices beginning with a bulk wafer of semiconductor material or in an epitaxial film of such material on a bulk wafer of semiconductor material. In addition, if a thin film of high quality monocrystalline material could be realized beginning with a bulk wafer such as a silicon wafer, an integrated device structure could be achieved that took advantage of the best properties of both the silicon and the high quality monocrystalline material.
Accordingly, a need exists for a semiconductor structure that provides a high quality monocrystalline film or layer over another monocrystalline material and for a process for making such a structure.
This structure and process could have extensive applications. One such application of this structure and process involves the fabrication of electrical and optical devices from cubic GaN films. To simplify the following discussion, a reference to GaN is to be understood as including GaN, GaInN, AlGaN, SiN and AlN, unless the context makes it clear that only GaN is intended. GaN has a large, direct bandgap, structural stability and high thermal stability which makes it suitable for a wide range of electrical and optical device applications such as lasers, light emitting devices in the blue and green wavelengths, high temperature devices and solar blind detectors.
One significant challenge to large scale production of cubic GaN devices is the lack of bulk substrates formed of suitable lattice-matched material for subsequent high quality epitaxial GaN growth. Currently, GaN film growth is carried out on sapphire substrates or SiC substrates, both substrates of which present disadvantages. SiC substrates are of small size and are expensive. Further, GaN on sapphire is hexagonal and exhibits lower mobility than cubic GaN. In addition, sapphire has a lattice constant and thermal conductivity significantly different from III-V nitrides such as GaN and is electrically insulating. For example, the lattice constant for GaN differs by approximately 13–16% from that of sapphire. These significant differences lead to mechanical stresses in the subsequent film growth above the critical thickness, which results in fracturing and voids in the GaN layer. Another disadvantage of typical GaN films grown on sapphire is the high number of defect dislocations in the GaN layers. These defects impact the electrical and optical performance of the GaN devices. For example, in optical devices, the defects act as scattering centers requiring a higher laser threshold current density. In electrical devices, dislocations can create deep defect energy levels that increase the leakage current.
Accordingly, a need exists for a semiconductor structure that provides high quality electrical and optical devices formed of GaN films and for a process for making such a structure.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.

Structure and method for fabricating GaN devices utilizing the formation of a compliant substrate


A power circuit for an LED lighting device using discrete components is provided. The power circuit includes a filtering unit configured to filter an inputted AC and a rectifying unit configured to convert an AC to a DC. The power circuit also includes a transformer connected to the rectifying unit. Further, the power circuit includes a first switch and a second switch that are field effect transistors, wherein a grid electrode of the first switch is connected to a drain electrode of the second switch. Further, a drain electrode of the first switch is connected to the transformer. A source electrode of the first switch is connected to a source electrode of the second switch through a detection resistor. A grid electrode of the second switch is connected to the source electrode of the first switch through a thermistor.

LED lighting may generally provide advantages in energy conservation, environmental protection, controllable lighting, solid state lighting, and long operational lifetime. LED lamps thus have been widely used in various areas for public, commercial, and/or indoor lightings.
Often, LED lamps may have lamp-head structures designed similar to incandescent lamps, energy saving lamps, and other conventional lamps. Presumably, LED lamps may be used to replace other conventional lamps by an easy installation without changing original structures of a lighting system including other conventional lamps. However, existing LED power and control circuits are integrated circuits and the structures are very complicated. For the LED power and control circuits formed by discrete components, a master switch often may be a triode. The control device of the master switch may also be a triode. In general, the working temperature of the LED lamps is relatively high. Therefore, the disadvantages of this control mode may include large temperature drifts, unstable output electrical currents of the LED, and low efficiencies.
The disclosed LED power circuit using discrete components and configuration methods are directed to solve one or more problems set forth above and other problems.


A device for retracting gingival tissue away from a tooth or plurality of teeth prepared to receive a dental prosthesis comprising a retraction/impression material associated with a custom impression coping to be packed into a sulcus associated with the prepared tooth, and coincidentally obtaining an impression of said tooth or teeth. The device is preferably compressible, deformably rigid, extensile and non-elastic and will not stick to the gingiva or tooth structure thereby allowing for atraumatic removal. A method of use is also disclosed.

There many conventional dental procedures that require the taking of an impression of a tooth, or even more commonly, a tooth abutment. When taking an impression, as would evident, it is usually desirable to get the most accurate impression possible. One of the more difficult parts of the tooth or tooth abutment to accurately capture in the area around the base of tooth, and particularly in the area at the base of the tooth next to another tooth. One of the reasons for this difficulty is that a groove, called a sulcus, is formed in the gum tissue surrounding a tooth at the base thereof. This groove interferes with the taking of an impression.
Therefore, the process of retracting gum tissue forming the sulcus away from a moth abutment is customarily done prior to the taking of a dental impression. (Although some dentists claim that they can take impressions without the step of retraction, those impressions are often inaccurate and faulty, and depend on what is known in the art as a "total wash technique", using a low durometer material placed into a pre-set high durometer material, that creates a casting which is too tight and has an inaccurate fit.)
The purpose of retraction of the gingival tissue prior to the taking of an impression has been necessary in order to displace the gingival tissues away from the tooth and to create an open and dry sulcus. This will provide an impression that will be free of bubbles and other distortions (as the sulcus is open, dry and clear of bubbles, blood, saliva, and other debris), thereby producing an accurate impression.
Unfortunately, all current retraction systems and techniques have drawbacks. For example, most cord-type retraction systems are tedious, ineffective and traumatic to tissues. A known effort to improve the use of cords is the use of a kaolin type material that is mixed with an astringent salt and is simply placed about a prepared tooth to absorb the moisture to cause the gum tissue to shrink. Such a product is marketed by Sybron Dental Specialties under the brand name EXPASYL™. However, such kaolin type material is packaged in a cartridges that are inserted into a dispensing gun. The cartridges and the gun are expensive, and often break. The Kaolin is difficult to insert into the sulcus and requires rinsing and drying which often creates additional unwanted bleeding.
Another known retraction technique is to use a non-cord retraction and hemostasis such as that disclosed in Dragan, U.S. Pat. No. 5,676,543. Disclosed therein is a generally two-part process utilizing two different viscosities of a condensation silicone material to effect the cordless retraction and hemostasis of the gingival sulcus. This process is, however, time consuming and expensive and compresses the gingival in an inaccurate, ineffective and unpredictable manner. The gingival crest around the prepared abutment is compressed coincidentally with the compression into the sulcus thereby placing axial pressure on the sulcus. This causes the sulcus to partially collapse and renders a less accurate impression. Additionally, the same pressure is exerted on the abutments as is placed on the adjacent teeth which leads to inaccuracies and loss of operator control.
Most two step impression techniques are inaccurate in that the primary or preliminary impression is allowed to set over the teeth or gingiva to be restored, and then said impression is filled with a wash or impression material of a lesser durometer and reseated. Undercuts in the teeth and surrounding structures prevent the re-seating of the secondary impression leading to distortion and inaccuracies. Jahn, U.S. Pat. No. 3,882,601 and Pumphrey, U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2006-0172253 try to address the problem of distortion due to inaccurate repositioning of a secondary impression by creating an interstice or spacer material between the primary and secondary impression that is removed prior to taking the secondary impression, thereby reducing the undercuts and resultant distortion. Both of these inventions, however, require additional steps, are expensive, non-precise, inaccurate, and do not provide for simultaneous retraction as well as impression of the teeth and supporting structures. The result is frequent entrapment of bubbles and defective margins. When no spacer is utilized, two step impression techniques create inaccuracies and excessively tight fitting castings in that the softer or lower durometer wash impression material is overly compressed. If any part of the secondary impression is faulty or fails to adequately capture a tooth margin or other aspect of the structure to be restored, the entire impression technique must be completely repeated from the beginning because of the undercuts and repositioning inaccuracies as mentioned above.
Yet another retraction method is the use of a pressure cap. A pressure cap is a cap made of a spongy material that is fitted around the tooth and causes retraction of the gingival tissue through the application of pressure. The difficulty with retraction caps is that the shape of the cap is even and constant while that of the sulcus (both depth and width) is not. Therefore this method is imprecise and does not ensure accurate nor sufficient retraction. For these reasons, it is presently only used to ensure haemostatis after a procedure of gingival eviction.
Still additional retraction method is termed gingival eviction. In this method the gingival tissue is retracted by electric bistoury, laser, or by a diamond charged drill ("diamond curettage"). These procedures, however, are not without their drawbacks as well. Electric bistoury and laser generally mutilate the gingival tissue and are therefore quite painful and require local anaesthesia. Similarly diamond curettage is also quite painful and causes prolific bleeding. Each of these procedures is traumatic and creates gingival shrinkage and recessions leading to undesirable unprotected root coverage.
One final retraction method is that disclosed in United States Patent Application Publication No. 2005-0118552-A1, entitled "Gingival Retraction Device and Method", published Jun. 2, 2005, and invented by the inventor of the present application. Disclosed in that application is a device for retracting gingival tissue away from a tooth or plurality of teeth prepared to receive a dental prosthesis comprising a retraction material associated with a provisional restoration to be packed into a sulcus associated with the prepared tooth. The device is preferably compressible, deformably rigid, extensile and non-elastic and will not stick to the gingiva or tooth structure thereby allowing for atraumatic removal leaving a dry open sulcus. A method of use is also disclosed. While that invention was believed to be an improvement over prior retraction methods. It did leave one drawback, namely that it was still an extra step in the process of creating an impression.
There is therefore a need in the art for an improved apparatus for, and method of obtaining an accurate impression, wherein retraction of the gingiva and impression of a tooth abutment or plurality of teeth abutments that have been prepared by drilling or other means to receive a dental restoration (such as a crown, inlay, onlay or implant supported prosthesis) are occur more efficiently while at the same time being no more traumatic than conventional methods (and preferably as atraumatic as possible).

Custom impression coping and methods of manufacture and use thereof


Proxy FC ports in an FC network are connected between first and second FC (Fibre Channel) devices having reception buffers and first and second FC transfer apparatuses connected to each other through a WAN (Wide Area Network). The proxy FC ports transfer signals to be exchanged between the first and second FC devices. The proxy FC ports include Frame FIFOs and transmission control sections. The Frame FIFOs have larger capacities than the reception buffers. The transmission control section performs flow control on the first and second FC devices on the basis of the remaining capacities of the Frame FIFOs. An FC network system and FC transfer method are also dislosed.

The present invention relates to a proxy FC (Fibre Channel) port, an FC network system, and an FC transparent transfer method used therefor and, more particularly, to an FC transparent transfer method of transparently transferring FC signals on a WAN (Wide Area Network).
FC is a communication protocol used to build a SAN (Storage Area Network) by connecting a plurality of storage devices and host computers.
The specifications of FC are standardized by "ANSI X3.230-1994, Fibre Channel Physical and Signaling Interface (FC-PH)" and the like.
A wide area SAN can be built by long-distance-connecting two FC devices through a WAN using a technique (FC transparent transfer) of transparently transferring FC signals on an existing WAN. An apparatus which implements FC transparent transfer can be manufactured at a low cost by using simple hardware because there is no need to terminate a protocol higher than the FC-1 layer in converting signals.
A connection example for a network using the above FC transparent transfer will be described with reference to FIG. 12. Referring to FIG. 12, FC devices 41, 44, 45-1 to 45-3, and 46-1 to 46-3 are devices having FC interfaces, e.g., storage devices and host computers.
Each of FC transparent transfer apparatuses 42 and 43 has a function of transparently transferring FC signals on a WAN 400. The FC signal transmitted from the FC device 41 to the FC device 44 is converted into a signal for the WAN 400 by the FC transparent transfer apparatus 42, and transferred to the FC transparent transfer apparatus 43.
The FC transparent transfer apparatus 43 reconstructs an FC signal from the sign al received from the WAN 400, and transfers the signal to the FC device 44. The same processing is performed for the FC signal transmitted from the FC device 44 to the FC device 41.
When a frame is to be transferred between the FC devices 41 and 44, frame loss is prevented by BB flow control (Buffer-to-buffer flow control). BB flow control processing will be described below.
Reception buffers exist in the interface sections of the FC devices 41, 44, 45-1 to 45-3, and 46-1 to 46-3. The maximum number of frames that can be stored in each reception buffer is called BB_Credit (Buffer-to-Buffer Credit).
The two FC devices 41 and 44 connected by FC exchange their BB_Credits by using a predetermined protocol to know the reception buffer sizes of the respective remote devices. Each of the FC devices 41, 44, 45-1 to 45-3, and 46-1 to 46-3 returns a control signal called R_RDY (Receiver Ready) to a transmission source FC device every time one frame is received.
The FC device on the transmitting side counts the number of frames transmitted and the number of R_RDYs received to monitor the remaining amount (remaining capacity) of the reception buffer of the remote device. When the difference between the number of frames transmitted and the number of R_RDYs received reaches the value of BB_Credit in the remote device, there may be no remaining capacity in the reception buffer of the remote device. Therefore the FC device stops transmitting the next frame until R_RDY is received.
Continuous transfer of frames from the FC device 41 to the FC device 44 in the above arrangement of the FC network will be described with reference to FIGS. 13A and 13B.
Assume that both BB_Credits of the FC devices 41 and 44 are "4", i.e., a maximum of four frames can be stored in each reception buffer. Referring to FIG. 13, the horizontal direction represents the physical position of each device, and the vertical direction represents the time. Each number written on the left side of each drawing indicates the value of the credit counter managed by the FC device 41.
Upon receiving a notification of BB_Credit from the FC device 44, the FC device 41 initializes the credit counter with the value of BB_Credit. The FC device 41 also decrements the credit counter by "1" every time a frame is transmitted, and increments the credit counter by "1" every time R_RDY is received.
When the value of the credit counter becomes "0", there may be no remaining capacity in the reception buffer of the FC device 44. The FC device 41 stops transmitting a frame.
According to the above conventional FC transparent transfer method, when the FC devices 41 and 44 are short-distance-connected to each other as shown in FIG. 13A, since R_RDYs are returned at a rate sufficiently higher than the frame transmission rate, no problem arises.
If, however, the FC devices 41 and 44 are long-distance-connected to each other as shown in FIG. 13B, the frame transmitted from the FC device 41 arrives at the FC device 44 with a larger delay, and R_RDY returned from the FC device 44 arrives at the FC device 41 with a larger delay.
In the case shown in FIG. 13B, when the fourth frame is transmitted, the credit counter becomes "0", transmission of the fifth frame is stopped until next R_RDY is received. As described above, as the connection distance between the FC devices 41 and 44 increases, the data transfer rate decrease.
As is obvious from FIG. 13B, if the FC device 44 incorporates a reception buffer large enough for connection distance, no reduction occurs in data transfer rate.
However, the FC interfaces incorporated in storage devices and host computers are designed on the assumption that they are connected to FC switches over short distances, and hence small-capacity reception buffers are used. For this reason, the connection distance is limited to about several km.
Although some interfaces for connecting FC switches to each other have reception buffers large enough for connection over several 10 km, there is hardly any FC interface having a reception buffer large enough for connection over several 100 km or more. In addition, it is impossible to additionally mount a reception buffer in an existing FC device.

Proxy FC port, FC network system, and FC transfer method used therefor