An image display apparatus and a method for operating the same are disclosed. The method for operating an image display apparatus includes entering a three-dimensional (3D) setting menu, upon receipt of a 3D view input, displaying the 3D setting menu on a display, for setting at least one of a 3D format or an ordering of left-eye and right-eye images that form a 3D image, and displaying a 3D image obtained by performing 3D processing on an input image according to the set 3D format or the set ordering of left-eye and right-eye images on the display.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image display apparatus and a method for operating the same, and more particularly, to an image display apparatus for increasing user convenience when displaying a three-dimensional (3D) image and a method for operating the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image display apparatus has a function of displaying images viewable to a user. The image display apparatus can display a broadcast program selected by the user on a display from among broadcast programs transmitted from broadcasting stations. The recent trend in broadcasting is a worldwide shift from analog broadcasting to digital broadcasting.
As it transmits digital audio and video signals, digital broadcasting offers many advantages over analog broadcasting such as robustness against noise, less data loss, ease of error correction, and the ability to provide high-definition, clear images. Digital broadcasting also allows interactive services for viewers.
Many studies have recently been conducted on 3D imaging and stereoscopy is being widely accepted and popular in computer graphics and other various environments and technologies.

Image display apparatus and method for operating the same


An image pickup apparatus includes an electronic-flash charging capacitor and first and second battery storage areas separately disposed from each other so as to have the electronic-flash charging capacitor sandwiched therebetween.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the arrangement of components of an image pickup apparatus for reducing the size thereof by effectively disposing batteries therein.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, image pickup apparatuses such, as a digital still camera, displaying images captured by image pickup devices or recording the images in recording media have been widely used. In such an image pickup apparatus, a large number of electrical components are used. Among these components, in particular, a plurality of batteries used as a power source occupies a large portion of the space in the image pickup apparatus.
In the known image pickup apparatus, as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 11-008786 and 8-186768, a plurality of battery storage areas are disposed so as to lie adjacent to each other in a holding portion of the image pickup apparatus.
However, the components of the foregoing known image pickup apparatus are not effectively arranged from the view point of reducing the size of the image pickup apparatus.
Also, since a plurality of main batteries are disposed so as to lie adjacent to each other, there is a risk in that the temperature of the battery storage areas may increase or the battery storage areas may come into contact with a high-voltage component, and there ins a problem in that liquid leak of one of the main batteries may affect to the other batteries.

Image pickup apparatus employing separate first and second battery storage areas


There is provided a device for placing a capsule into a container, slitting the capsule to release its content, washing the capsule and that part of the device which is in direct contact with the capsule and its content for quantitatively transferring the total content into said container for subsequent analysis.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a capsule transfer device of the type wherein means are provided to place a capsule into a container, slitting the capsule to release its content, washing the slitted capsule and that part of the device which is in direct contact with the capsule and content so as to quantitatively transfer all the content of the sample into the container for volumetric or other analysis.
2. Reported Developments
The prior art provides various devices for handling pharmaceutical and/or chemical samples to be analyzed in research pursuits for checking raw materials and semi-finished products during the manufacturing processes, and in the quality control of finished products. Illustrative examples of such devices are shown in the following patents.
Micheletti, U.S. Pat. No. 3,002,387, discloses a sample injector for gas chromatography capable to receive and rupture a frangible ampule and release the sample contained therein into the gas chromatography for analysis.
Cosgrove et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,578,244, discloses an automated sampling apparatus for use in obtaining fluid samples in a dissolution testing system which is operable to receive a plurality of sampling containers and to transport them to a sampling station where fluid can be introduced into the containers and samples can be withdrawn therefrom for analysis in a suitable analytical device.
Scordato et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,821,586, discloses an electronically programmed and operated pipette capable of aspirating and discharging a preselected volume of liquids.
In working with gelatin capsules to chemically assay their content, it is necessary to quantitatively transfer their content to a volumetric flask and fill the flask to a predetermined volume with a solvent, such as water or alcohol. Proper aliquot then can be withdrawn from the flask for further quantitative dilution and subsequent chemical analysis. Gelatin capsules are conventionally opened in an open dish or vessel, such as a beaker, by slitting with a razor blade and then transferring the capsules and their contents form the open dish into a volumetric flask. Such a process often results in the spurting of the capsules contents out of the disk and the consequent failure out of the disk and the consequent failure of the assay. In addition, holding the capsules by hand while slitting them open and then transferring their content requires the use of rinsing the hand, the capsules and the razor blade so as to quantitatively preserve the capsules' contents for analysis.
It has now been discovered that these problems can be obviated with a capsule transfer device which provides for easy handling, slitting, washing the capsule and convenient transfer of the capsule content into a volumetric flask for subsequent analysis.


In accordance with one embodiment, an image forming apparatus comprises a paper pickup section configured to pick up paper from a cassette; a calculating section configured to measure the time from the moment the paper is picked up to the moment the conveyance of the paper is detected by a sensor arranged at a given distance away from the paper pickup section, to calculate a delay time with respect to a specified time; and a control section configured to count the number of times the calculated delay time exceeds a delay time stored in a storage section in which a plurality of delay times different in length are stored, and output message information different from each other according to the length of the calculated delay time and the counted times when a plurality of paper is fed.

Conventionally, in an image forming apparatus, paper picked up from a paper feed cassette is conveyed to an image forming section to form an image on the paper. A pickup roller for picking up the paper from the paper feed cassette is arranged in the paper feed cassette. Further, a paper feed roller is arranged nearby the pickup roller.
Incidentally, the paper picking up operation and the paper conveyance operation of the pickup roller and the paper feed roller slow down at the end of their service lives. Thus, the number of the paper picked up from the paper feed cassette is counted, and when the count value reaches a preset number, a message asking for the exchange of the pickup roller and the paper feed roller is displayed on a display section.
Further, conventionally, there is an example in which a sensor is arranged at a distance from the paper feed cassette, and the time from the moment the paper feeding operation is started to the moment the paper is detected by the sensor is measured. In this example, it is determined that the service life is to end if the detected time delays many times with respect to a preset time.
However, the conventional apparatus only asks for the exchange when it is determined that the service life is to end according to the number of the used paper and the like, and no useful information is provided.

Image forming apparatus and message display method for presenting multiple status conditions of the image forming apparatus


A coder assembly for printing on containers or on labels that can be applied to containers. The coder assembly includes a base, a support member movably coupled to the base, and a coder supported by the support member and movable with the support member relative to the base.

Coders are known and utilized in the bottling industry to imprint labels that are affixed to bottles. Typically, laser coders or ink jet coders are used to imprint information specific to the bottles on which the labels are applied. Such information may include, for example, the particular bottling date (i.e., the "born-on" date) of the beverage contained in the bottle. The coder may be positioned in a bottling machine such that labels are imprinted before being applied to the bottles, or the coder may be positioned in the bottling machine such that the labels are imprinted after they are applied to the bottles. In such an application where labels are imprinted before they are applied to the bottles, the coder is typically positioned with a labeler assembly, which typically singulates labels from a stack of labels.
Both the coder and the labeler assembly are typically supported on a machine surface, which is the top surface of the bottling machine, and which is elevated from a floor on which the entire bottling machine is situated. The coder is typically mounted to an adjustment mechanism that permits adjustment of the coder with respect to the labels to be imprinted. The adjustment mechanism, in turn, is typically mounted to a base situated on the machine surface.
During operation of the bottling machine, the lens of a laser coder may become contaminated, thus necessitating access to the lens for cleaning. To gain access to the lens of the laser coder for cleaning, a labor-intensive process must be performed, including disconnecting or unbolting the base of the laser coder from the base of the labeler assembly and sliding or lifting the base of the laser coder and the laser coder away from the labeler assembly. This process is typically complicated and lengthy, thus necessitating a relatively large amount of downtime.
In addition, the base of the laser coder typically occupies a relatively large amount of space on the machine floor. As a result, it is usually difficult to gain access to portions of the machine floor beneath and/or around the base of the laser coder when it is desired to clean the machine floor (e.g., after spillage of the beverage contained in the bottles).


A gravel packing apparatus includes: a screen assembly including at least one screen configured to be disposed in a borehole in an earth formation, the screen configured to prevent particulate matter from passing therethrough; an axially extending conduit configured to transmit a gravel slurry from a remote location to a borehole region located between the screen and a portion of the borehole wall; and an exit port including an opening having a first end in fluid communication with the conduit and a second end in fluid communication with the borehole region, the exit port including at least one standoff member extending radially from the second end and configured to prevent blockage of the opening.

Various tools are utilized in the hydrocarbon exploration, drilling and completion industry to increase or maximize production efficiency. Sand control devices such as gravel packs are utilized to control the ingress of particulate contaminants into production fluid and to aid in stabilizing production formations.
When gravel packing joints or components are lowered into a borehole, there is potential for gravel slurry exit or injection ports to be impeded by, for example, a borehole casing or side wall. This has the potential to reduce the effectiveness and/or efficiency of deployment of gravel packs or other completion tools.

System and method for controlling formation fluid particulates


Techniques are provided for versioning and refactoring of mashups. During the design phase of a mashup that is operable to access multiple external services, design information that defines or modifies a plurality of design elements included in the mashup is received from a user. Without receiving from the user any input that causes the plurality of design elements to be versioned, current versions of the plurality of design elements are automatically stored in a repository when the plurality of design elements are saved during development of the mashup. The mashup is deployed to one or more servers. Without receiving any input from the user that causes the mashup to be versioned, deploying the mashup comprises automatically storing in the repository a current version of the mashup and versioning information that associates the current version of the mashup with the current versions of the plurality of design elements.

The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.
Traditional approaches for versioning a software product during the product's design, development, and deployment phases require a software developer to set up a versioning environment. The software developer typically sets up the versioning environment by choosing which modules, data and code files, and other product components to version and by determining a schedule according to which the various components of the software product are to be versioned. As a result of the software developer's choices and to the extent thereto, the versioning environment may be used to determine and track various versions of the software product, including any test versions, beta versions, and release versions.
In a typical example, a team of software developers would use an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) system to develop a software product, and the IDE system would provide versioning functionality in the form of a versioning add-on module. To set up versioning for the software product, a software developer (typically a team leader or a project manager) would enter in the versioning add-on module all information that is necessary to define when, how, and what components of the software product would be versioned. As a result, the team of software developers would be able to track various versions of their software product during the design, development, testing, and release phases of the product's life-cycle.
The traditional approaches for versioning of software products, however, do not work well when used in conjunction with two recent trends in computing—mashups and On-Demand delivery of software. In general, a mashup is a composite application that is operable to integrate and present data provided by multiple external sources such as, for example, web services. On-Demand delivery of software (also known as Software as a Service, or SaaS) refers to a software delivery model where software vendors provide software capabilities on a subscription basis through software services, which are hosted by the vendors and which can be accessed by various subscribers when needed. For example, SaaS applications may be delivered to subscribers through web browsers, thus allowing the software vendors to host the underlying services and to benefit from the economies of scale. The SaaS model provides a good environment for the delivery and use of various types of mashups because mashups typically interact with external services, many of which can be provided on-demand.
One disadvantage of using the traditional versioning approaches for mashups is that these traditional approaches require access to the entire software product being developed in order to ensure consistency and integrity between the various components and versions of the product. However mashups, especially mashups deployed in a SaaS model, rely extensively on external services over which the mashup developers have no control. Thus, a mashup developer would not be able to set up a stable versioning environment for her mashup because the developer would simply lack the knowledge necessary to reflect any versioning dependencies dictated by the external services. For example, since changes in even one external service accessed by the mashup are likely cause the mashup to break, and since the mashup developer has no knowledge of or control over these changes, any prior versions of the mashup are likely to be useless.
Another disadvantage of using the traditional versioning approaches for mashups in SaaS models is that the traditional versioning approaches typically require very complicated setups, which can only be accomplished by sophisticated users such as software developers. However, mashups can be fairly easily designed and developed by unsophisticated software users such as business users. The reason for this is that many software vendors provide user-friendly and easy-to-use development tools that expose SaaS and other web services, and allow the rapid development of mashups that integrate and present various data from these services. Thus, a business user using such a development tool may be able to easily and rapidly develop a mashup, but will not be able to version the mashup because setting up a versioning environment would require technical knowledge which the business user is unlikely to have.
The disadvantages of the traditional versioning approaches described herein are not unique to any particular types of mashups or to any particular types of services. Rather, similar disadvantages are encountered for various types of mashups, such as data mashups, presentation mashups, and business mashups, and for various types of services, such as web services and enterprise intranet services.

Versioning and refactoring of business mashups in on-demand environments


A windscreen wiper device comprising an elastic, elongated carrier element, as well as an elongated wiper blade of a flexible material, which wiper blade includes opposing longitudinal grooves on its longitudinal sides, in which grooves spaced-apart longitudinal strips of the carrier element are disposed, which windscreen wiper device comprises a connecting device for a oscillating arm comprising two longitudinal arm sections connected to each other by means of a curved intermediate section, wherein said oscillating arm is pivotally connected to the connecting device about a pivot axis, with the special feature that the oscillating arm is pivotally connected to the connecting device about the pivot axis, with the interposition of a joint part, wherein the joint part comprises a resilient tongue engaging in a correspondingly shaped hole provided in the oscillating arm, and wherein the joint part and the connecting device are pivotally connected to each other by mutually cooperating protrusion/hole means, the protrusion/hole means, the protrusion/hole means being located below the longitudinal center plane between the two longitudinal arm sections.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a windscreen wiper device comprising an elastic, elongated carrier element, as well as an elongated wiper blade of a flexible material, which can be placed in abutment with a windscreen to be wiped, which wiper blade includes opposing longitudinal grooves on its longitudinal sides, in which grooves spaced-apart longitudinal strips of the carrier element are disposed, wherein neighbouring ends of the longitudinal strips are interconnected by a respective connecting piece, which windscreen wiper device comprises a connecting device for a oscillating arm comprising two longitudinal arm sections connected to each other by means of a curved intermediate section, wherein the oscillating arm is pivotally connected to the connecting device about a pivot axis.
2. Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,179,767 (Robert Bosch GmbH) describes a windscreen wiper device designed as a traditional wiper device, wherein use is made of several yokes pivotally connected to each other. In this prior art windscreen wiper device the joint part comprises one resilient tongue engaging in a correspondingly shaped hole provided in the hook-shaped oscillating arm. In order to connect the wiper blade onto the oscillating arm, the resilient tongue is initially pushed in against a spring force—as if it were a push button—and then allowed to spring back into the hole provided in the oscillating arm, thus snapping, that is clipping the resilient tongue into the hole. By subsequently pushing in again the resilient tongue against the spring force, the wiper blade may be released from the oscillating arm.


The invention relates to a method for manufacturing tubes and profiles with variable wall thickness over the length. The method comprises the steps of flexible rolling of continuous material strip with variable thickness in the longitudinal direction of the strip material to a final wall thickness which is continuously reduced with respect to the original wall thickness, reshaping the material strip to form a continuous tube or profile and cutting to length individual tube or profile pieces from the continuous tube or profile.

DE 104 875 teaches the roll out of flat or strip-shaped pieces of sheet metal such that parallel strips of different wall thickness are formed on the piece of sheet metal. Thereafter the piece of sheet metal is bent transverse to these strips and soldered to form a tube, whereby the tube has longitudinal sections of different wall thickness.
EP 0 788 849 A1 describes a similar method for manufacturing tubes having sections of different wall thickness in which regions of different wall thickness running parallel to one another are formed from initially flat sheet metal by specific partial reduction in wall thickness. In this case, the rolled sheet metal is cut to size, shaped into a tube and joined along the butting edges and welded.
DD 244 083 A1 describes a known method for the production of tubes and profiles having a variable inner diameter over the length. Herein defined portions of a metal strip are rolled, while other portions of the strip remain unrolled and thereby maintain their original wall thickness. The metal strip rolled that way is then formed to a tube or profile in a profiling apparatus.
The periodical change from rolled portions to unrolled portions limits the rolling speed and can weaken the strip at the regions of transition When the unrolled portions pass the rolling apparatus, there is no guiding of the metal strip. From this there is no exact measurement of length of the unrolled metal strip portions possible.

Method for manufacturing tubes and profiles


A system is proposed including an intramedullary nail with a longitudinal nail axis, a first lateral portion, a second lateral portion opposite to the first lateral portion, and a longitudinal bore. The nail has a locking hole arrangement having a first bore being formed in the first lateral portion and a second bore being formed in the second lateral portion. An axis of the first bore and an axis of the second bore are arranged with an offset from each other, and are arranged so that a locking member such as a screw may frictionally engage within both the first bore and the second bore.

The invention generally relates to an intramedullary nail. Particularly, the invention relates to an intramedullary nail and a locking member, wherein the intramedullary nail comprises a locking hole arrangement for angularly stable receipt of the locking member. The locking member may be, for example, a cross-locking bone screw. A method of implanting such a nail is also disclosed.
In general, an intramedullary nail may be for example a femur nail, a humeral nail or a tibia nail. Usually, the leading end portion which may at first be introduced into a medullary channel of a bone and which may also be denoted as non-driving end portion of the intramedullary nail, comprises two or more through holes adapted to receive locking screws.
At present inserting locking screws in holes formed in the leading end of implanted intramedullary nails is problematic, namely because of the amount of radiation required during the determination of the position and orientation of transverse locking holes. Furthermore, it is time consuming and ideally requires well-trained and experienced personal. Therefore, it has a significant influence of the overall operation room time required.
Currently, locking of the non-driving end portion of an intramedullary nail is performed mostly freehand, by inserting a first locking screw into and through a first through hole. Due to the fact that the insertion is performed more or less blindly, the screw will in most cases not exactly hit the through hole so that the nail will be slightly displaced or even deformed to accommodate the locking screw extending through the through hole. However, this first screw will be able to move relative to the nail when forces are applied on the nail and screw.
For a locking providing angular stability, a second screw may be inserted through a second through hole adjacent the first hole. Also the second screw will in most cases not exactly hit the second through hole. Accordingly, the second screw has to be urged through the hole, with the result that the combination of the first and second screws will provide an angle-stable fixation of the intramedullary nail, i.e. a fixation with no movement of a screw relative to the nail.
However, such a fixation of an intramedullary nail requires the insertion of two screws, wherein each insertion of a screw through the leading end portion of an intramedullary nail is difficult and thus time consuming.
According to U.S. Pat. No. 7,247,157, a deformable ring may be arranged between a threaded bore and the thread of a bone screw to achieve an angle-stable locking. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0095040 proposes a deformable sleeve on a locking screw, for introducing the screw backlash-free into a transverse hole of a marrow nail. Alternatively, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0064095 proposes a passage extending through a screw head and an external thread generally parallel the longitudinal axis of the screw for accommodating a longitudinal wedge element. As a result, any gap between the locking screw and an intramedullary nail is eliminated and the screw is wedged in position in a transverse hole of the intramedullary nail.

Intramedullary nail locking hole arrangement


A clutching jig used to disassemble a lens socket and a lens component which has a lens base glued on a printed circuit board (PCB) and is fixed in the lens socket by a plurality of buckling pieces of the lens socket abutting on the lens component has a substantially rectangular base. The base defines two opposite first lateral surfaces, a bottom surface, and a slot passing through the first lateral surfaces and the bottom surface to divide the base into a first holding portion and a second holding portion. The bottom surface has a receiving recess communicating with the slot. When the receiving recess receives the lens component, a plurality of resisting slices attached to a periphery of the base inserts into a gap between the lens component and the lens socket for pressing the buckling pieces away from the lens component.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a clutching jig, and more particularly to a clutching jig for conveniently disengaging a lens component from a lens socket.
2. The Related Art
Referring to FIGS. 6-7, a lens module includes a lens component 80 and a lens socket 90 coupled with the lens component 80. The lens component 80 has a rectangular lens base 81 glued on a printed circuit board (PCB) 83 and a round lens body 82 disposed on the lens base 81. The lens base 81 is formed with four receiving grooves 811 at four corners thereof. The lens body 82 has a fool-proof projection 821 extended outwards from a side thereof. The lens socket 90 has an insulating housing 91 and a metal shell 92 enclosing a periphery of the insulating housing 91. The metal shell 92 is provided with buckling pieces 921, 922 at upper portions thereof. The buckling pieces 921, 922 are bent inwards to abut against bottoms of the corresponding receiving grooves 811 for preventing lens component 80 from removing out of the lens socket 90, and lean against the sides of the lens base 81 for preventing the lens component 80 from moving with respect to the lens socket 90, respectively.
Nevertheless, as the PCB 83 and the lens base 81 may have a relative movement therebetween or the glue for connecting with the PCB 83 and the lens base 81 is extruded to overflow and coagulate to form overflowing lumps attached to the outer sides of the PCB 83 or the lens base 81. In the process of disassembly, the lens component 80 can not be disengaged from the lens socket 90 because the buckling pieces 921, 922 rest against the projecting portion of the PCB 83 or the overflowing lumps. Therefore, it is desirable to design a clutching jig which has a simple structure and is capable of addressing the problem mentioned above.


A memory system includes first memory cells and second memory cells. Each of the first memory cells includes first and second pass gates including NMOS transistors. Each of the second memory cells include first and second pass gates including PMOS transistors. The first memory cells are pre-charged by one polarity of a voltage supply. The second memory cells are pre-charged by an opposite polarity of the voltage supply.

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent the work is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Referring now to FIG. 1, a static random access memory (SRAM) cell 10 is shown to include NMOS transistors 14 and 18 arranged as pass gates. Transistor pairs 22 and 24 each include a PMOS transistor having a first terminal connected to VDD and an NMOS transistor having a second terminal connected to VSS. The transistors 14 and 18 include gates connected to a wordline (WL) 40 and first and second terminals connected between the transistor pairs 22 and 24 and bitlines BL 42 and BLB 44, respectively.
If the wordline is not asserted, the transistors 14 and 18 disconnect the SRAM cell 10 from the bitlines BL 42 and BLB 44.
A read cycle is started by pre-charging the bitlines BL 42 and BLB 44 and then asserting the wordline WL 40, which enables both of the transistors 14 and 18. Then the values stored by the transistor pairs 22 and 24 are transferred to the bitlines by leaving either BL or BLB at its pre-charged value and discharging either BLB or BL. A sense amplifier (not shown) senses whether BL or BLB has a higher voltage to determine whether a 1 or 0 is stored.
During a write cycle, a value to be written is applied to the bitlines BL 42 and BLB 44. When writing a 0, a 0 is applied to the bitlines by setting either BL or BLB to 1 and either BLB or BL to 0. This is similar to applying a reset pulse to an SR-latch, which causes the flip flop to change state. A 1 is written by inverting the values of the bitlines BL 42 and BLB 44. The wordline 40 is then asserted and the value that is to be stored is latched.
SRAM designs use NMOS transistors for the pass gates because the NMOS transistors have higher drive strength (Idsat) than the PMOS transistors for a given size. The higher drive strength provides higher read performance, lower area and reduced power consumption for the SRAM cells as compared to SRAM cells using PMOS pass gates.
FIG. 2 shows an example of a wordline segment 100 that includes SRAM cells 102-1, 102-2, . . . 102-T (collectively SRAM cells 102) that are connected together, where T is an integer greater than one. The wordline segment 100 also includes a buffer 106 including two inverters 108 and 110. Each of the SRAM cells 102 uses NMOS transistors as pass gates as described above.
FIG. 3 shows a memory row 118 including wordline segments 100-1, 100-2, . . . 100-R (collectively wordline segments 100) that are connected together, where R is an integer greater than one. A wordline decoder/driver 120 generates control signals to drive the wordline segments 100. In the example in FIG. 3, R=4 and there are a total of 2×4=8 inverters associated with the memory row 118.

Concurrent use of SRAM cells with both NMOS and PMOS pass gates in a memory system


A computer-implemented method of configuring a computing system may include receiving first user-actuated input selecting an existing service provider that processes data objects having a first data object type. The existing service provider may include at least a first class and a second class. Second user-actuated input may be received that identifies the first class and provides a replacement class to use in creating a new service provider to process data objects having a second data object type. An association may be stored in a service provider system between the second data object type, the existing service provider, the first class and the replacement class. During runtime, the service provider system may create the new service provider to process data objects having the second data object type by inheriting the second class from the existing service provider and incorporating the replacement class in place of the first class.

Various entities may use digital information systems to manage information of all kinds. For example, a manufacturing company may use an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to manage its inventory, manufacturing schedules, and product orders. The manufacturing company may use the same system to manage contact information, such as employee, customer and vendor information; accounting information, such as payroll, customer invoices and vendor payments; and sales information, such as completed sales, sales forecasts, region sales summaries, and so on. As another example, a group of physicians may use a digital information system to manage patient medical information. The patient medical information may include patient demographic information; scanned notes from physicians taken during consultations with or examinations of the patient; lab results from any tests or analyses, such as tests of blood or tissue; images that may have been captured, such as x-rays, MRIs (magnetic resonance images), CAT scans (computer-aided tomography), and so. The group of physicians may also use the digital information system to track accounting information, such as payroll, patient invoices and payments, insurance invoices and payments, lab charges, and so on.
Digital information systems may be implemented on a single computer, or on a networked system of computers distributed throughout one building, several buildings, or buildings all over the world. The digital information system may include many different software components. The software components may be provided by a single company or by many different companies. Further, a digital information system may be implemented in various phases. For example, the software components may be designed and coded in a "design" phase. The software components may be integrated during a "configuration" phase of implementation. During the configuration phase, various components may be selected and configured to work together and within a specific system of computer hardware or within a specific network. Also during this configuration, various parameters of the software components may be set in order to implement a digital information system that implements the desired functions. For example, referring to the group of physicians described above, various generic, off-the-shelf ERP software components may be selected and configured, during a configuration phase, to work together and within the group's computer network to implement a system for managing patient medical information. During a "runtime" phase, programming code in the software components may be executed by one or more computer devices or systems to perform functions on the information within the system.

Service provider inheritance in a digital information system


A method and device to protect a grinding mill, at startup from a gravity-balanced condition thereof, used for grinding material therein by rotating the drum so that the material adheres to the drum inner surface and rises therewith over a cascading angle from a startup position at the gravity-balanced condition prior to detach by gravity from the inner surface and tumble into a cascading flow. The method is used for protecting the grinding mill from damages potentially resulting from the material agglomerating into a generally solidified lumped volume that could adhere to the inner surface and rotate therewith more than the cascading angle to a fall angle wherein the lumped volume may detach from the inner surface and impact an impact position within the drum.

The prior art is replete with various types of machines having rotating components for industrial, domestic, recreational and other purposes. Because of particular physical phenomenons associated with rotating movements, rotating components part of various types of machines are subjected to particular operational parameters that may be potentially damaging especially when the rotating components reach critical angular values. The potential for subjecting rotating components to damaging conditions is sometimes compounded when the rotating components are used for imparting a rotational movement to material contained therein, such as for mixing, grinding or other purposes.
So-called grinding mills constitute a typical example of a machine having a rotating component, namely a rotating drum that may be subjected to potentially damaging conditions upon operational parameters of the machine meeting pre-determined critical parameter conditions while the rotating drum reaches a critical angular value. Such grinding mills are used extensively for reducing lumps or large pieces of various kinds of material to smaller sizes.
Conventional grinding mills commonly include a hollow cylindrical or frusto-conical shell or drum mounted for rotation about its longitudinal axis. The drum is typically rotatably arranged about two trunnions by two head portions positioned at opposite longitudinal ends of the drum.
Typically, each conical head portion includes a plurality of segments bolted together to form a composite structure. Each head portion is also typically provided an inner annular flange and an outer annular flange for securing the head portions respectively to a trunnion and to the drum.
Also, conventional grinding mills are typically provided with a gear wheel forming part of the gear mechanism that drives the grinding mill. The gear wheel commonly includes a plurality of segmental rim portions that are bolted together to form an annular rim. Gear teeth are cut into the rim and shaped for cooperation with one or more pinions. The annular rim is typically displaced radially outward of the drum by a rib. The rib is usually provided with a plurality of apertures through which bolts may pass to fasten the rib to the outer annular flange of the head portion and the flange of the drum.
The gear wheel typically forms part of a large speed-reducing gear system intended to transmit the power from a prime mover to the grinding mill. The prime mover, in turn, typically includes an electrical prime mover such as synchronous electrical motors or the like having enhanced starting torque characteristics. In order to compensate for enhanced starting torque, the gear wheel typically has a relatively large diameter.
Different diameters and lengths of shells or drums have been used heretofore, and they normally vary in proportion to the capacity of the mill. During rotation of the drum about its longitudinal axis, the material to be ground is carried up the side of the drum to subsequently fall to the bottom of the drum. The grinding occurs principally by attrition and impact within the grinding mill charge.
In the case of ore, the normal function of the grinding mill is to reduce the size of the ore to particles within a fine sieve range for flotation. Grinding mills used for grinding ores or the like optionally use grinding mediums such as pebbles, steel balls, ceramic balls, or the like to assist in the comminuting process as the mill is rotated.
In other circumstances, the ore may be self-grinding. The axial ends of the drum may be open, and the material to be comminuted may be continuously fed into the mill at one end with the comminuted product continuously emerging from the other end.
In view of the abrasive character of the material being ground, the wear on the inside of the grinding mill has heretofore been a serious problem. Hence, in order to protect the drum from the grinding action and to thereby lengthen the life of the grinding mill, the drum is typically provided with a metal or rubber lining. For example, grinding mills have been lined with cast or wrought abrasion-resistant ferrous alloy liners and, in some cases, rubber or ceramic liners. Typically, these liners are segmented due to the weight and size considerations.
Liner assemblies hence typically include a plurality of separate lining components that are usually retained tightly against the interior or the mill shell or drum by mechanical fastening components such as bolts. Some ores, such as taconite, are relatively highly abrasive. In order to maintain continuous operation of the grinding mill, it is necessary to provide a liner for the drum that is highly abrasion-resistant. The liner also should be tough enough to withstand the continuous impact of ore fragments.
Liners inevitably become worn and, hence, no longer effective. In such situations, the liners are typically replaced at periodic intervals. Other types of maintenance and repair also periodically require the grinding mill to be run at speeds considerably slower than the normal running speed or even to stop the rotation movement of the drum altogether.
As a result of mill shut-down over a period of time, the charge within the mill may "freeze" into a generally solidified, hardened or rigid lump. Upon the mill being rotated after a mill shut-down there exists the possibility that the solidified lump will be carried up the side of the drum by the rotation of the latter. In such instances, instead of tumbling in a cascading flow upon reaching the position wherein non-solidified charge would cascade, the mass may eventually detach itself from the inner wall of the drum and fall on an impacting location within the drum.
This may prove to be detrimental to various components of the mill including the lining, heads and bearings thereof. Also, since gear wheels are typically constructed with great accuracy, they may also be subjected to deformation by the impact. As can be appreciated, when the lining is affected or when a tooth in a gear wheel is damaged, the liner and the wheel must be replaced. The cost of the occurrence of such events is very burdensome. Not only is the cost of material and repair involved extensive but the high capitalization costs of plants using large autogenous mills may be mobilized by extended non-productive down-time.
A solidified mass falling from the mill inner wall upon rotation of the latter constitutes a typical example of a rotating component that may be subjected to potentially damaging conditions upon the rotating component reaching a critical angular value. Another example of angle-dependent potentially damaging conditions may result from the potential mismatch between actual load and designed torques.
Indeed, as the mill is rotated to the cascade position wherein the charge starts to tumble, the torque required increases quite considerably as the charge is moved away from the gravity-balanced position on a large radius. Once the charge begins to tumble, the required load torque drops. If the developed motor torque matches the load torque plus the friction torque, then the rotation will be smooth and continuous.
It would be desirable to provide an angle-based protection device for protecting rotating component and corresponding supporting component part of machines. More particularly, in some situations the rotating component defines a critical angular value about which an operational parameter of the machine may be used for predicting the occurrence of a potentially damaging condition for the machine. Also, sometimes the potentially damaging condition for the machine is concurrently more susceptible to happen upon the operational parameter meeting predetermined critical parameter conditions while the rotating component reaches a critical angular displacement value. In such situations, it would be desirable to provide an angle-based protection device for reducing the risk of such potentially damaging conditions occurring.
As mentioned previously, it is some times desirable to run the grinding mill at speeds considerably slower than the normal running speed. Typical examples include for the purpose of assuring proper gear, bearing and shaft alignment when a mill is first being installed, also for inspecting and potentially replacing the mill liner when the mill is empty or to start the mill after it has been stopped with a full charge. This slow running is often referred to as "spotting", "inching", "barring" or "turning gear".
Heretofore, inching has been accomplished in several ways. One of the simplest mechanical device used for inching includes a cable sling arrangement attached to an overhead crane. The cable sling arrangement allows for selective mill rotation. However, such a prior art technique is not precise. Also, it requires continuous use of a crane. Furthermore, it is dangerous to personnel who may be installing or re-lining the mill as slings have a known tendency to break.
Another way to provide for inching uses a low frequency power source to provide power to the stator windings of the typically used three-phase synchronous drive motors. The low frequency power source may be a direct current (DC) supply connected to an inching supplied bus for the motors through a series of electromechanical or static switches to produce stepped low frequency three-phase voltages. These switches are typically referred to as sequencing or commutating switches. The switches, however, are relatively costly.
Inching has heretofore also been accomplished through the use of clutches, the clutches may be partially engaged to cause rotation of the mill at lower speeds. This partial clutch closure for long periods however generates considerable heat in the clutches and requires that the wet clutches be installed and provision made to dissipate the heat generated. Also, typically, an installation using wet clutches is more expensive than one using dry clutches.
Yet, another way to provide for inching is to use a removable hydraulic motor that is placed to engage main mill pinion gear. The present invention is particularly well suited for use with such inching devices. However, it can be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the present invention has broader applications and be used in conjunction with other types of machinery for obtaining an angle-based protection device.

Angle-based method and device for protecting a rotating component


Disclosed herein is an elliptical motion drive device for use in a step screen. The elliptical motion drive device comprises first and second eccentric wheels coupled to a single drive shaft to be eccentrically positioned to each other. Upon rotation of the drive shaft, the first and second eccentric wheels rotate and move along guide rails formed in different directions from each other to transversely and longitudinally rotate movable lattice plates connected to a movable frame of the step screen, thereby achieving elliptical motion of the movable lattice plates.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an elliptical motion drive device for use in a step screen, and more particularly, to an elliptical motion drive device for use in a step screen in which a pair of eccentric wheels, having different eccentricities, are coupled to a single drive shaft to rotate upon receiving a force directly transmitted from the drive shaft, thereby enabling elliptical movement of a movable frame included in the step screen.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, step screens are filtration apparatuses to convey and filter impurities contained in sewage flowing through pipes of sewage treatment plants or industrial wastewater treatment plants. To carry and capture impurities, the step screen comprises a plurality of lattice plates. The lattice plates consist of alternately arranged movable lattice plates and fixed lattice plates, each of which having a plurality of stepped teeth fixed at a predetermined angle. During operation, the movable lattice plates are lifted a predetermined distance every rotation to convey the captured impurities. The step screens are conventionally configured to convey and filter the impurities for post-treatment thereof without leakage of debris.
FIG. 1 is a side elevation view of a step screen according to the prior art. FIG. 2 is a front view of the step screen of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of an elliptical motion drive device for use in the step screen according to the prior art.
FIG. 4 is a partial sectional view of the elliptical motion drive device of FIG. 3. FIG. 5 is a schematic view illustrating the operation of the elliptical motion drive device according to the prior art.
Referring to FIGS. 1 to 5, the step screen of the prior art comprises movable lattice plates 7, which have a plurality of stepped teeth positioned at a sharp angle of more than 45° from the bottom of a sewage system. The movable lattice plates 7 are configured such that they cannot be tilted at a negative angle relative to a horizontal plane and thus are adapted to stably capture and convey impurities contained in sewage while performing elliptical motions. To drive the movable plates 7, the step screen is provided with an elliptical motion drive device. The elliptical motion drive device comprises a transverse eccentric cam 21 coupled at one side thereof to a drive shaft 3, that serves as a power transmission shaft and is rotatably connected to a reduction gear 2 of a drive motor 1. A transverse motion eccentric shaft 22 is coupled at one end thereof to the other end side of the transverse eccentric cam 21, so that a transverse eccentric bearing 24 coupled around the motion eccentric shaft 22 transversely moves along motion guiding rails 31 according to rotation of the traverse eccentric cam 21. The other end of the motion eccentric shaft 22 is coupled to a longitudinal eccentric cam 26, and a longitudinal motion eccentric shaft 27 is also coupled to the longitudinal eccentric cam 26, so that a longitudinal eccentric bearing 29 coupled around the longitudinal motion eccentric shaft 27 longitudinally moves along longitudinal motion guiding rails 32 according to the rotation of the transverse motion eccentric shaft 22.
With the elliptical motion drive device configured as stated above, according to the rotation of the drive shaft 3 of the drive motor 1 installed at the upper side of a fixed frame 4 included in the step screen, the transverse eccentric bearing 24 and the longitudinal eccentric bearing 29 simultaneously reciprocate in both transverse and longitudinal directions, respectively, thereby causing a movable frame 5 of the step screen that is connected with the steep toothed movable lattice plates 7 to elliptically move. Here, the elements realizing the elliptical motion of the movable frame 5 form an elliptical motion drive unit 19. The elliptical motion of the movable frame 5 connected to the elliptical motion device unit 19 is transmitted to the movable lattice plates 7 via links 9 and link arms 10, thereby causing the movable lattice plates 7 to perform regular elliptical motions in a longitudinal direction simultaneously with the movable frame 5. Thereby, the steep toothed movable lattice plates 7 are moved elliptically while being kept at a positive angle relative to the horizontal plane defined by the bottom of the sewage system, thereby effectively capturing impurities contained in the sewage.
In the case of the conventional elliptical motion drive device for use in the step screen as stated above, however, as a result of coupling both the drive shaft 3 and the transverse motion eccentric shaft 22 to the transverse eccentric cam 21 in parallel and as a result of coupling both the transverse motion eccentric shaft 22 and the longitudinal motion eccentric shaft 27 to the longitudinal motion eccentric cam 26 in parallel, the gap between the shafts is restricted, making it impossible to increase the diameter of the shafts in proportion to the increased load due to large-scale step screens.
Further, in spite of the fact that the rotating force of the drive shaft is transmitted to the transverse and longitudinal eccentric bearings by way of the plurality of eccentric shafts and the eccentric bearings must transmit the excessively high degree of rotating force, the conventional elliptical motion drive device takes the form of a cantilevered protruding arm in which the eccentric bearings are positioned far from a boss-coupling position of the drive shaft, resulting in a deteriorated structural integrity and durability.

Elliptical motion drive device for a step screen


The invention provides a processor that processes bundles of instructions preferentially through clusters or execution units according to thread characteristics. The cluster architectures of the invention preferably include capability to process “multi-threaded” instructions. Selectively, the architecture either (a) processes singly-threaded instructions through a single cluster to avoid bypassing and to increase throughput, or (b) processes singly-threaded instructions through multiple processes to increase “per thread” performance. The architecture may be “configurable” to operate in one of two modes: in a “wide” mode of operation, the processor's internal clusters collectively process bundled instructions of one thread of a program at the same time; in a “throughput” mode of operation, those clusters independently process instruction bundles of separate program threads. Clusters are often implemented on a common die, with a core and register file per cluster.

Certain VLSI processor architectures now group execution units as clusters to process bundled instructions. One "bundle" of instructions has three instructions; a cluster operates to process one bundle, or more, of instructions. FIG. 1 illustrates the prior art by showing a processor register file 10 coupled with clusters 12(1), 12(2) . . . 12(N). Each cluster 12 is a physical logic unit that includes multiple pipelines, with bypassing (e.g., as shown in FIG. 2), to parallel process the multiple instructions within the bundles. The advantages of clusters 12 lie primarily in timing efficiencies. Each cluster 12 more quickly processes one bundle as compared to two bundles; appropriate use of clusters may reduce bypassing requirements within processor architectures. However, a loss of performance is also realized in cluster-based architectures when information is shared between clusters, as at least one cycle latency results from moving data between them.
Certain VLSI processor architectures also use "multi-threading" techniques to process instructions through pipeline stages. FIG. 2 shows one exemplary multi-threading architecture 20 of the prior art. Architecture 20 illustratively has two program counters 22(1), 22(2), an instruction fetch unit 24, a multiplexer 26, a plurality of pipelines 28(1), 28(2) . . . 28(N), bypass logic 30, and register file 10. Multiple program counters 22 provide for the multiple program "threads" through pipelines 28; as any one instruction stalls, another instruction may proceed through pipelines 28 to increase collective instruction throughput. As known in the art, each counter 22 is a register that is written with the address of the next instruction at the end of each instruction fetch cycle in the pipeline; each pipeline 28 includes multiple execution stages such as fetch stage F, the decode stage D, the execute stage E, and the write-back stage W. Individual stages of pipelines 28 may transfer speculative data to other execution units through bypass logic 30 and multiplexer 26 to reduce data hazards in providing data forwarding capability for architecture 20. Register file 10 is typically written to, or "loaded," at the write-back stage W on logic lines 32.
The invention advances the state of the art in processing architectures incorporating logic such as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 by providing methods and systems for processing multi-thread instructions through clustered execution units. Several other features of the invention are apparent within the description that follows.

Multi-cluster processor for processing instructions of one or more instruction threads

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


An epitaxial substrate includes: a base member; and a plurality of spaced apart light-transmissive members, each of which is formed on and tapers from an upper surface of the base member, and each of which is made of a light-transmissive material having a refractive index lower than that of the base member. A light-emitting diode having the epitaxial substrate, and methods for making the epitaxial substrate and the light-emitting diode are also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an epitaxial substrate, a light-emitting diode, and methods for making the epitaxial substrate and the light-emitting diode, more particularly to an epitaxial substrate having light-transmissive members, a light-emitting diode having the epitaxial substrate, and methods for making the epitaxial substrate and the light emitting diode.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional light-emitting diode (LED) includes an epitaxial substrate 11, a light-emitting unit 12, and an electrode unit 13. The epitaxial substrate 11 has a rough structure 111 formed thereon. The light-emitting unit 12 includes a first-type semiconductor layer 121 formed on the rough structure 111 of the epitaxial substrate 11, a light-emitting layer 122 formed on a portion of the first-type semiconductor layer 121, and a second-type semiconductor layer 123 formed on the light-emitting layer 122. The electrode unit 13 includes a first electrode 131 electrically connected to the first-type semiconductor layer 121, and a second electrode 132 electrically connected to the second-type semiconductor layer 123. When electricity is supplied to the light-emitting unit 12 through the first and second electrodes 131, 132, the light-emitting unit 12 will emit light by virtue of the photovoltaic effect. After the light from the light-emitting layer 122 travels to the rough structure 111 of the epitaxial substrate 11, it may be reflected or refracted so as to vary the travelling direction of the light to emit the light outwardly, thereby enhancing the light extraction efficiency of the LED.
In the conventional LED, the epitaxial substrate 11 and the rough structure 111 are made of the same material, and the rough structure 111 is usually made by roughening or patterning an upper surface of the epitaxial substrate 11 using an etching process. However, the epitaxial substrate 11 for the LED is commonly made of silicon, silicon carbide, aluminum oxide, etc., and is difficult to be etched. Accordingly, the etching process is time-consuming. Beside, the rough structure 111 may have poor dimensional accuracy, thereby resulting in uneven luminance of the LED.

Epitaxial substrate, light-emitting diode, and methods for making the epitaxial substrate and the light-emitting diode


Disclosed are a precursor for a rechargeable lithium battery, a positive active material including the same, a preparation method thereof, and a rechargeable lithium battery including the positive active material. More particularly, the present invention relates to a precursor including a sheet-shaped plate having a thickness of about 1 nm to about 30 nm and that is represented by the following Chemical Formula 1.NixCoyMn1-x-y-zMz(OH)2  [Chemical Formula 1]

(a) Field of the Invention
A positive active material precursor for a rechargeable lithium battery, a positive active material including the same, a preparation method thereof, and a rechargeable lithium battery including the same are disclosed.
(b) Description of the Related Art
As use of small portable electric/electronic devices has widely increased, a new rechargeable battery such as a nickel hydrogen battery or a rechargeable lithium battery has been actively developed. The rechargeable lithium battery uses carbon such as graphite and the like as a negative active material, a metal oxide including lithium as a positive active material, and a non-aqueous solvent as an electrolyte solution. The lithium is a metal having high ionization tendency and may realize a high voltage, and thus is used to develop a battery having high energy density.
The rechargeable lithium batteries mainly use a lithium transition metal oxide including lithium as a positive active material, and specifically, 90% or more use a layered lithium transition metal oxide such as cobalt-based and nickel-based lithium transition metal oxides, a three component-based lithium transition metal oxide in which cobalt, nickel, and manganese coexist, and the like.
However, the layered lithium transition metal oxide that is widely used as a conventional positive active material has reversible capacity of less than or equal to 200 mAhg−1 and thus has a limit in terms of energy density. Accordingly, in order to solve the problem of a rechargeable lithium battery due to the limited reversible capacity of a positive electrode, research on a lithium-rich layered oxide (OLO) excessively including lithium instead of the layered lithium transition metal oxide being undertaken.
A positive active material including the lithium-rich layered oxide has a solid solution structure in which a Li2MnO3 phase is combined with the conventional layered lithium transition metal oxide, and may realize high capacity of greater than or equal to 200 mAhg−1 since oxygen is dissociated from the Li2MnO3, and lithium is extracted therefrom when initially charged at 4.6 V.
However, since the positive active material including the lithium-rich layered oxide is difficult to uniformly prepare during preparation of its precursor and has lower density or non-uniform composition depending on a depth, the positive active material is not sufficiently electrochemically activated, and thus decreases discharge capacity of a battery and aggravates manganese (Mn) elution at high temperature and high voltage, and resultantly, deteriorates battery performance and cycle-life characteristics.
Accordingly, attempts to improve discharge capacity and cycle-life characteristics of the battery have been continuously made by increasing uniformity and density of particles of the lithium-rich layered oxide. The present invention solves this problem and increases discharge capacity of the rechargeable lithium battery by improving uniformity and density of the lithium-rich layered oxide particles.

Precursor of a cathode active material for a lithium secondary battery, cathode active material, method for manufacturing the cathode active material, and lithium secondary battery including the cathode active material

Abstract: In the above Chemical Formula 1,                0<x<1, 0≦y<1, 0.5≦1-x-y-z, and 0≦z<1,and M is at least one kind of metal selected from the group consisting of Al, Mg, Fe, Cu, Zn, Cr, Ag, Ca, Na, K, In, Ga, Ge, V, Mo, Nb, Si, Ti, and Zr.


Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods, devices and apparatuses of channel state information (CSI) reporting for multiple reception point (TRP) transmission. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a method may include transmitting a first CSI report on a first TRP of multiple TRPs serving a terminal device for a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resource set for CSI acquisition. The method may further include transmitting a second CSI report on a second TRP of the multiple TRPs serving the terminal device for the CSI-RS resource set. With embodiments of the present disclosure, it is possible to support CSI reporting for multiple TRP transmission.

New radio access system, which is also called as NR system or NR network, is the next generation communication system. In Radio Access Network (RAN) #71 meeting for the third generation Partnership Project (3GPP) working group, study of the NR system was approved. The NR system will consider frequency ranging up to 100 Ghz with an object of a single technical framework addressing all usage scenarios, requirements and deployment scenarios defined in Technical Report TR 38.913, which includes requirements such as enhanced mobile broadband, massive machine-type communications, and ultra-reliable and low latency communications.
A discussion on multi-antenna technologies for the NR was started since May 2016 and it involves several aspects including multi-antenna scheme, beam management, Channel State Information (CSI) acquisition, and reference signal and quasi-co-located (QCL). Both single TRP transmission and multiple TRP transmission were agreed in the NR system.
Regarding the codeword (CW) to layer mapping in NR, it was already agreed that:                NR supports the following number of CWs per PDSCH/PUSCH assignment per UE:                    For 1 to 4-layer transmission: 1 CW            For 5 to 8-layer transmission: 2 CWs                        Confirm the following working assumption as an agreement:                    For 3 and 4-layer transmission, NR supports 1 CW per Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH)/Physical Uplink Shared Channel PUSCH assignment per UE                            For Further Study (FFS): the support of mapping 2-CW to 3 layers and 2-CW to 4 layers                                                DMRS port groups belonging to one CW can have different QCL assumptions        One Uplink (UL)—or Downlink (DL)-related Downlink Control Indication (DCI) includes one Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) per CW.        One Channel Quality Indication (CQI) is calculated per CW
With regard to CSI reporting in NR, it was also agreed to add the following content:                "When UE is configured with the higher layer parameter ReportQuantity set to 'CSI-RS Resource Indication(CRI)/Rank Indication(RI)/Precoding Matrix Indicator (PMI)/Channel Quality Indicator(CQI)', 'CRT/RI/i1', 'CRI/RI/i1/CQI', 'CRI/RI/CQI' or 'CRI/RI/Layer indicator(LI)/PMI/CQI', and multiple resources are configured in the corresponding resource set for channel measurement, the UE shall derive the CSI parameters other than CRI conditioned on the reported CRI."
Regarding single and multiple PDSCH from separate TRPs, it was further agreed that                Adopt the following for NR reception:                    A single NR-PDCCH schedules a single NR-PDSCH where separate layers are transmitted from separate TRPs            Multiple NR-PDCCHs each scheduling a respective NR-PDSCH where each NR-PDSCH is transmitted from a separate TRP            Note: the case of single NR-PDCCH scheduling single NR-PDSCH where each layer is transmitted from all TRPs jointly can be done in a spec-transparent manner            Note: CSI feedback details for the above case can be discussed separately
Multiple TRPs/panels transmission was down-prioritized and thus not discussed in details in Rel. 15. Thus, the current NR, CSI-RS configuration and TCI state configuration are based on single TRP/panel. For the multiple TRP transmission, TRPs are not QCLed and thus solutions of the CSI measurement and reporting for the single TRP transmission cannot applied to the multiple TRP transmission.

CSI reporting for multiple TRP transmission/panel


A method of producing a mask blank has a resist film forming (resist coating) process of dispensing a resist solution containing a resist material and a solvent onto a square-like substrate, and rotating the substrate to spread the dispensed resist solution over the substrate and to dry the resist solution on the substrate, thereby forming a resist film on the substrate. While the substrate is rotated in the resist film forming (resist coating) process, an exhausting member performs an exhausting operation to cause an airflow along an upper surface of the substrate from the center of the substrate towards an outer peripheral portion of the substrate so that a puddle of the resist solution formed at a peripheral end portion of the substrate is prevented from being moved towards the center of the substrate by the rotation of the substrate.

This invention relates to a method of producing mask-blanks (may be referred to as "blanks" or "mask blank" or "mask blanks" or "photomask blank" or "photomask blanks" or "photomask blanks substrate") including a resist coating process of uniformly applying a resist solution and uniformly forming a resist film on a square-like (a square or a rectangular) substrate. This invention also relates to the blanks having the resist film formed on the square-like substrate.
In order to produce the blanks by forming a resist film on a square-like substrate with or without a single-layer or a multi-layer thin film of various types deposited thereon, use is generally made of a spin-coating method using a resist coating apparatus for coating the substrate with the resist film by applying and dispensing a resist solution onto the substrate and rotating the substrate. For example, Japanese Patent Publication (JP-B) No. H4-29215 (corresp. to U.S. Pat. No. 4,748,053) disclosed a resist spin-coating method capable of forming a uniform resist film which is not thickened at four corners of a square-like substrate.
The spin-coating method disclosed in the above-mentioned publication comprises a uniformly coating step and a drying step. In the uniformly coating step, a resist solution is dispensed onto a substrate, and the substrate is rotated at a preselected rotation speed for a preselected rotation time to form a resist film having a uniform thickness within the substrate including four corners of the substrate. The preselected rotation speed and the preselected rotation time are determined so that a product of the preselected rotation speed and the preselected rotation time is less than 24000 (rpm·sec) with maintaining the preselected rotation time less than 20 seconds. In the drying step, the substrate is rotated at a rotation speed lower than the preselected rotation speed in the uniformly coating step to dry the resist film while keeping the resist film uniformity obtained in the uniformly coating step.
In the above-mentioned publication, description is made of a specific embodiment using a chromium-coated substrate (127 mm×127 mm) and a resist solution which contains a main-chain-fragmentation resist comprising a high-molecular-weight resin and solvent and which typically has a relatively high viscosity, such as poly(butene-1-sulfone) having a viscosity of 30 cp or poly(glycidyl methacrylate) having a viscosity of 15 cp. The resist solution is applied and dispensed onto the substrate, and the substrate is rotated under a rotating condition previously selected within the above-mentioned range. Then, the substrate is subjected to a predetermined heating/drying (drying-by-heating) process. Thus, a resist film is formed. Non-uniformity in thickness of the resist film is suppressed below 90 Å and further to 50 Å in an effective pattern forming region (critical area) of 107 mm×107 mm at the center of the substrate where an effective pattern (main pattern or device pattern) to be transferred to an object will be formed.
In recent years, a reduction projection exposure apparatus of a step-and-repeat system (stepper) was adapted to expose a larger exposure area (field). Further, a reduction projection exposure apparatus of a step-and-scan system (scanner) was developed. As a consequence, a transfer mask or reticle (mask, hereafter) and the blanks as a material thereof are increased in substrate size from 127 mm×127 mm to 152.4 mm×152.4 mm. Following the increase in substrate size, the critical area on the mask and the blanks is also enlarged to 132 mm×132 mm. Furthermore, a long side of the critical area (in parallel to a scanning direction of the scanner) is increased in length to 140 mm.
Moreover, there is a recent demand for improvement in CD (Critical Dimension) uniformity (dimensional accuracy) following miniaturization of a pattern to be transferred to a semiconductor substrate or the like by the use of the mask produced from the blanks.
Following the above-mentioned demand, a requirement for the resist film thickness uniformity within a substrate becomes more and more strict. In the critical area mentioned above, the resist film thickness uniformity within a substrate (i.e., the difference between the maximum thickness and the minimum thickness of the resist film within the critical area) is requested to be 100 Å or less, more preferably 50 Å or less.
In addition to the main pattern in the critical area, the mask is also provided with auxiliary patterns, such as an alignment mark, a barcode, and a quality assurance pattern, formed in an outer peripheral portion surrounding the critical area at the center of the mask or the blanks substrate. Since the critical area is enlarged, these auxiliary patterns are formed in an area closely adjacent to the outer peripheral end (the edge) of a principal surface of the substrate.
Further, following the miniaturization of the pattern, a resist material was also changed. For example as a positive resist, use has generally been made of a main-chain-fragmentation resist comprising a high-molecular-weight resin or a dissolution-inhibited resist comprising a novolak resin and a dissolution inhibitor. However, those resists are recently replaced by a chemically amplified resist comprising, for example, a poly(hydroxystyrene) (PHS) resin and a photo acid generator, and assuring a higher resolution and a higher sensitivity.
Furthermore, a part of the resist film formed at a peripheral end portion of the substrate (edge bead) may be stripped off or flaking during handling of the substrate, and may cause dust (particle defect) which may not only result in a product defect but also may prevent the substrate from being accurately handled or held in subsequent processes and steps. In view of the above, it is requested to remove an unnecessary part of the resist film formed at the peripheral end portion (i.e. edge bead) of the blanks substrate. For the mask production, various resist species are proposed till now. As a concourse, it becomes difficult to suppress thickness non-uniformity of the resist film in the critical area to 100 Å or less, further 50 Å or less by the conventional resist spin-coating method which has been used in the blanks production, as a result of enlargement of the blanks substrate size and the critical area mentioned above.
In particular, the chemically amplified resist, which has recently been drawing attention as a resist material and which comprises, for example, a poly(hydroxystyrene) (PHS) resin and a photo acid generator, is dissolved by a solvent to obtain a resist solution. The solvent generally consists of or contains, as a main component, one of propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate (PGMEA), propylene glycol monomethyl ether (PGME), methyl isoamyl ketone (MAK), and ethyl lactate (EL). The above-mentioned resist solution has an average molecular weight less than 100,000 and generally has a low viscosity (less than 10 mPa·s) and is easily dryable. When the conventional spin-coating method is carried out, the resist film is at first uniformly formed on a square-like substrate in the uniformly coating step. However, the resist solution accumulated in the outer peripheral portion of the substrate (in particular, at four corners of the substrate) tends to be drawn back towards the center of the substrate during rotation of the substrate in the uniformly coating step, as well in the drying step following the uniformly coating step, and tends to be dried while being drawn back.
Under the above-mentioned situation where the critical area is enlarged (for example, an area of 132 mm×132 mm at the center of the substrate), desirable resist film thickness uniformity of 100 Å or less or 50 Å or less within the critical area, can hardly be obtained.
As described above, the auxiliary patterns are formed in the area closely adjacent to the outer peripheral end (i.e. edge) of the substrate, as a result of enlargement of the critical area. According to the conventional resist spin-coating method, the resist film thickness becomes extremely large or sometimes extremely small in the outer region where the auxiliary patterns are formed. In this event, the auxiliary patterns can not be formed in exact conformity with a designed dimension or a desired fidelity in shape, and a pattern error can be caused.
Moreover, the chemically amplified resist comprising, for example, the poly(hydroxystyrene) resin and the photo acid generator is generally brittle when the resist film is formed by the spin-coating and the subsequent heating and drying (i.e. baking), as compared with a main-chain-fragmentation resist or a crosslinking resist comprising a high-molecular weight resin and having been used so far. The resist film is stripped off or flaking by contact with a storage container, a delivery container, or various other processing apparatuses, causing dust (particle defect), in case when the resist film formed at the peripheral end portion of the substrate (i.e. edge bead) is not removed. This results in an increase in occurrence of defects of the mask or the blanks (product).

Mask blanks and method of producing the same


A device is disclosed for closing and sealing of cable cutout bushings of major diameters, generally of a rectangular shape, as they are usually provided for leading through electrical cables with premounted plugs that can be used at interfaces of control enclosures or prefabricated walls and bracket systems in coupling or connecting elements as well as for switching cabinets and enclosures for the closing and sealing of major cable bushings. The device is molded mainly out of elastic material in which three functional elements are connected together to form one piece which combines three functional elements together, namely, (a) a sealing flange, (b) a conduit as connection part and (c) a cable sealing element. There is a middle part which in its inside forms a conduit of rectangular cross section with an inner diameter suitable to let serial plugs and a relevant number of cables pass through and an expandable cable sealing element is connected in one piece with a sealing flange which by a simple receptacle, an enclosure, or the connecting element of the bracket is pressed to the surface surrounding the cutout.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention refers to a device for the closing and sealing of cable cutout bushings of major diameters, generally of a rectangular shape, as they are usually provided for leading through electrical cables with premounted plugs. The device can be used at interfaces of control enclosures or prefabricated walls and bracket systems in coupling or connecting elements as well as for switching cabinets and enclosures for the closing and sealing of major cable bushings.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the installation of electrical wires, cables or the like (cables), it is typically necessary to close and form a seal around large cross-section wall openings, generally rectangular in shape, through which cables pass. Frequently, the cables being lead through have plugs already fitted to them.
As the cross-sectional width of the wall openings has to be at least large enough for the plug connectors to pass through, it is usually many times larger than the cross-section of the cables. If a number of cables pass through the same opening, it must be large enough not only for the plug connectors, but also for the relevant number of cables. If such cable access openings are then to be closed over and sealed, devices will be required which hermetically bridge the difference in size between the relatively large opening and the smaller cross-section of the cables, and also form a seal around the rim of the wall opening as well as around the cables.
Devices of this kind display a two-part enclosure divided along the length of the cable opening, such as those shown in German patents DE-OS 27 20 936, DE-GM 89 13 829, and DE 40 20 180 C1. The two parts of the enclosure are fitted to the cables from both sides and are thus joined together enclosing the cables, with a seat attached between the two parts of the enclosure, with foam-rubber sealing rings to form a seal against the cables. The latter, in the nature of things, can only apply a weak sealing pressure, so that it is necessary to provide additional anchorages for the cable inside the enclosure.
Once the enclosure shells have been joined together to form an enclosure around the cables, the cables, already fed through the cable opening to a sufficient length together with their plugs, are passed through the cable opening into the enclosure or into a control cabinet. Only then, are the cables connected to the enclosure for the purpose of covering the cable opening with the enclosure or control cabinet wall. If additional cables are led through the opening later, or if cables have to be replaced, the whole device has to be released from the enclosure or control cabinet wall and the two enclosure halves taken apart. In order to allow cables to be attached to and released from the wall more quickly than is possible with direct screw connections, a device described in DE-GM 89 13 829 possesses a frame element permanently mounted around the opening and representing a mounting for the two-piece enclosure. The holding frame and the enclosure can be easily released with the aid of swivelling or tension bars fastened to the frame and connected to the enclosure with pins. Although such device can be fixed to and removed from the frame quickly in this way, the frame represents additional cost and installation effort and this improvement does nothing to change the difficulties caused by the fact that the enclosure consists of two parts and the installation has to be made in a disadvantageous sequence.
The device described in DE 40 20 180 C1 is characterized by a reduction of the effort required to connect it to the wall. It is fastened by means of a leaf-spring element inserted into the rear side which reaches in through specially shaped protrusions and holds on to the inside of the wall. However, in this case there is still a two-part device which has to be mounted in advance around the cable with the same cost and installation effort as described above.
The problem which the present invention is intended to solve is to create a device of the general prior art kind which displays a similar construction to the familiar devices for leading cables through an opening and creating a seal around them, but for cables without plugs already mounted on them and with equally simple installation characteristics. In other words, a device to solve the problem must be able to be mounted on the enclosure wall, must be filled with a simple opening through which plugs and cables can be passed, and must afterwards create a seal around the cables, thus allowing for the later insertion of additional cables and the replacement and repositioning of cables without the device having to be dismantled. Such needed device should also be capable of being used at all points where the cable opening has to provide a seal around cables with premounted plugs.

Device for closing and sealing of cutouts for cable bushings for cables with premounted plugs


A camera module (40) of the present invention includes: an optical section (1) having an image pickup lens (2) and a lens barrel (3); and a lens driving device (10) including a lens holder (11). The optical section (1) and the lens driving device (10) are provided on an upper side of a sensor cover (23) covering an image pickup element (22) of an image pickup section (20). The lens barrel (3) is positioned at such a location that the lens barrel (3) does not make contact with the sensor cover (23), so that the lens barrel (3) is fixed to the lens holder (11) at the location. Before being fixed to the lens holder (11), the lens barrel (3) is slidable in the optical axis direction with respect to the lens holder (11).

On the recent mobile phone market, types of mobile phones having built-in camera modules have been dominant. These camera modules are meant to be embedded in the mobile phones. Therefore, they face greater demands for being compact and lightweight, compared with camera modules to be embedded in digital cameras.
Among such camera modules, there have been an increasing number of camera modules that (i) operate their autofocus (AF) systems with the use of lens drive devices and (ii) are mounted on electronic devices such as mobile phones. Examples of lens drive devices that have been developed so far encompass those employing stepper motors, piezoelectric elements, and VCM (Voice Coil Motor). Such lens drive devices have already been distributed on the market.
Meanwhile, now that such camera modules having autofocus (AF) systems have become new standards, a system for image stabilization is becoming the focus of attention as a next distinctive feature. Although a system for image stabilization has been widely used for digital cameras and camcorders, there have been only a few mobile phones equipped with systems for image stabilization, due to the issue of a limited size of mobile phone. Nevertheless, it is expected that mobile-phone-specified camera modules having systems for image stabilization will be more widespread in years to come, and, in fact, a new system (configuration) for image stabilization, which can be made compact, has been suggested.
A camera module capable of image stabilization and intended to be incorporated into a mobile phone is disclosed in Patent Literature 1, for example. The technique disclosed in Patent Literature 1 relates to an Optical Image Stabilizer (OIS).
The optical image stabilizer disclosed in Patent Literature 1 has a structure in which a conventional AF camera module called an imaging unit (movable module) is supported by four suspension wires at four corners of the imaging unit, and the imaging unit is driven in directions of two axes each orthogonal to an optical axis, thereby stabilizing an image. A mechanism for driving the imaging unit is such that magnets are provided on four circumferential side surfaces of a cover section on which the imaging unit is mounted, and coils are provided at yokes of a fixed part so as to face the magnets. This mechanism enables the imaging unit (movable module) to stabilize an image independently in the two axes orthogonal to the optical axis. According to Patent Literature 1, the optical image stabilizer disclosed therein is designed such that the imaging unit as a whole is driven in directions orthogonal to the optical axis. A generally employed arrangement for image stabilization is such that relative displacement is provided between an image pickup lens and an image pickup element.
In a case of an AF camera module involving fixing of the lenses to the lens driving device, it is necessary to appropriately set an initial position of the lenses in an optical axis direction with respect to an image pickup element. Otherwise, a defocused image is caused.
In view of this, among the conventional AF camera modules, dominating AF camera modules have a mechanism in which a screw structure is provided in a lens barrel (housing in which a plurality of lenses are built) and a lens holder so that the position of the lenses in an optical axis direction is adjusted.
On the other hand, in a case of a fixed-focus camera module which does not require movement of lenses in carrying out the setting for an initial position of the lenses, it is possible to set the initial position of the lens with high precision by directly attaching the lens or a lens holder holding the lenses to an image pickup element or a member holding the image pickup element.
For example, Patent Literature 2 discloses an AF camera module which does not have a screw structure and in which focus adjustment for the setting of an initial position during the production of the AF camera module is not performed with a screw.
FIG. 23 shows a cross sectional view of a representative example of the AF camera module disclosed in Patent Literature 2.
As shown in FIG. 23, an AF camera module 100 disclosed in Patent Literature 2 includes an optical section 101 serving as an image pickup optical system, a lens driving device 102 which drives the optical section 101, and an image pickup section 103 which carries out photoelectric conversion of light having passed through the optical section 101. The image pickup section 103 includes a sensor section 104 and a substrate 105 on which the sensor section 104 is mounted. The sensor section 104 includes a glass substrate 120, a sensor chip 121, and a sensor cover 122.
The optical section 101 includes a plurality of image pickup lenses 106 and a lens barrel 107 which holds the image pickup lenses 106. The lens barrel 107 is fixed to a lens holder 108 in the lens driving device 102. The lens holder 108 is supported by two (upper and lower) springs 109a and 109b so as to be movable in an optical axis direction with respect to a fixed section. Coils 110 are fixed on the periphery of the lens holder 108. The fixed section includes a yoke 111, a permanent magnet 112, a cover 114, a base 115 etc. The lens driving device 102 is mounted on a sensor cover 122.
The lens barrel 107 and the lens holder 108 are not threaded. Accordingly, the lens barrel 107 is so positioned as to abut the upper surface of the sensor cover 122 while the lens holder 108 is located at a mechanical end on an infinite-distance side, and the lens barrel 107 is adhesively fixed to the lens holder 108 with an adhesive 124.
This configuration enables the height of the image pickup lenses 106 with respect to the sensor chip 121 to have only minor tolerances, such as a tolerance for the thickness of the sensor cover 122 and a tolerance for the position where the image pickup lenses 106 are attached in the lens barrel 107. Consequently, it is possible to determine the initial position of the image pickup lenses 106 with high precision without adjusting the height of the lenses with use of a screw, and so it is possible to omit a focus adjustment process for determining the initial position.

Camera module manufacturing method, camera module, and electronic apparatus


An exhaust volume (20) of the type including a muffler (24) having a casing provided with an inlet (29) and an outlet (30) for passing gases and adapted to enable the muffler to be mounted in an exhaust system (14). The volume further includes an additional enclosure (26) forming an accumulation cavity communicating solely with the casing of the muffler (24) via at least one connection pipe (28), the additional enclosure (26) being placed outside the muffler (24). The additional enclosure (26) is of a structure whose ability to withstand high temperature is lower than that of the structure of the muffler (24).

The present invention relates to an exhaust volume of the type comprising a muffler having a casing provided with an inlet and an outlet for passing gases and adapted to enable the muffler to be mounted in an exhaust system.
The invention also relates to an exhaust system including such an exhaust volume. Finally, the invention relates to a motor vehicle including such an exhaust system.
On mass-produced vehicles, the exhaust volumes for damping sound waves are made by rolling up a sheet of metal and by crimping it together. End walls are then added to the ends of the resulting cylinder. Such exhaust volumes are said to be rolled and crimped.
The cost of manufacturing such exhaust volumes is moderate. Nevertheless, they are unsuitable for making optimum use of the empty space available beneath the body of a vehicle.
Thus, for high-power vehicles that require exhaust volumes of maximum capacity, such exhaust volumes are made by assembling together two stamped half-shells. Stamping half-shells makes it possible to give the shells a shape that is complementary to the bottom surface of the vehicle body. This optimizes use of the space available for the exhaust volume.
Nevertheless, stamped exhaust volumes are relatively expensive to manufacture since they require two half-shells to be shaped and then to be assembled together around their periphery. In addition, a special stamping tool must be manufactured for each type of exhaust volume and for each type of vehicle.
The invention seeks to provide an exhaust volume which enables the space available beneath a vehicle to be used rationally, which is light in weight, and which is of low manufacturing cost.