Tools and methods of making tools that are swung toward a work-piece are more accurate and/or safer to use because of a moveable grip provided on the tool handle. The tool handle slides through the moveable grip, with minimal or no rotation or shifting relative to the grip. The movable grip eliminates the need for the forward hand of the user to loosen its grip during portions or all of the swing, eliminates the need for the hand itself to slide along the surface of the handle, and, importantly, greatly reduces or eliminates the chance that the tool and the impact head of the tool hand will rotate or shift relative to user's hand(s). The moveable grip and handle are preferably rigid and hard and mated in shape and size so that rotation and shifting is reduced or eliminated. The preferred embodiment includes one or more control members for retaining or latching the moveable grip in one or more desired locations on the handle, so that the moveable grip may be prevented from sliding along the handle until the user desires it to slide.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to hand-operated tools, and especially tools that a user swings to make an impact upon a work-piece, whether the impact is for hitting, chipping, or cutting the work-piece. The present invention relates more especially to sledge hammers, axes, hatchets, picks, adzes, pulaskis, pick-axes, or other hitting, picking, chipping, or cutting tools that are moved, during use, in a direction including at least a component that is transverse to the longitudinal axis of the tool handle.
2. Background and Related Art
Traditional sledge hammers, picks, axes, and other impact tools that are swung, comprise an elongated handle and an impact, pick, chipping, or cutting head that is generally transverse to the longitudinal axis of the handle. These tools are used by swinging the tool toward the work-piece in an arc swing, wherein the swing moves through a plane that is generally perpendicular to the plane of the work-piece, or at least generally perpendicular to the plane of the desired impact. Frequently, the work piece is orientated so that the surface to be impacted is generally horizontal, and the swing plane is generally vertical. A vertical swing plane is common, for example, when a user is splitting wood for a woodpile or hammering a post into the ground. Alternatively, the work piece may be orientated so that the surface to be impacted is non-horizontal, and the swing plane is non-vertical. A non-vertical, possibly even horizontal, swing plane is common, for example, when a user is chopping down a tree or sledge-hammering a wall during building demolition.
For most swings of the tools of interest in this document, the swing action may be described as an arc swing wherein the user's shoulder(s) or elbow(s) act as a rotation point and the arm(s) swing the tool toward the work-piece in such a way that the tool head hits the work-piece, said swinging having at least a component of movement/force that is transverse to the longitudinal axis of the handle and is parallel to the axis of the tool head. In a vertical or generally vertical swing plane, the user usually prepares by lifting or swinging the tool generally over his/her shoulder to place the tool in a position of potential energy above the work-piece. The user typically grasps the handle of the tool with both hands, and raises the tool above his shoulder by various means, depending upon the tool, the user's strength and preference, and the obstructions around the user. The user may, for example, lift the tool up in front him/her and back generally over his/her shoulder in about a 180 degree arc before pausing and reversing the direction his/her arm movement to produce the forward, downward swing at the target. Alternatively, the user may lift the tool up beside or behind him/her to the position generally over his/her shoulder, prior to producing the forward, downward swing at the target. In a non-vertical swing, the user typically moves the tool rearward to a position behind him/her, and then, mainly using his/her own strength rather than gravity, swings the tool forward toward the target at whatever level and whatever angle is appropriate for reaching the target.
In any event, the user typically has his/her hands separated from each other during the preparatory part of the swing, that is, the lifting of the tool above the shoulder or the moving of the tool rearward to prepare for the forward swing. In the preparatory part of the swing, one hand typically is nearer the rear end (proximal end) of the handle and the other hand nearer the tool head (near the distal end of the handle). This hand separation helps the user more easily lift the typically-heavy tool head, before proceeding to deliver the forward swing and blow to the work-piece.
As the user swings the tool to deliver an impact, the user's rearward hand stays in place, or substantially in place, on the handle, and the forward hand typically slides proximally along the handle toward the rear end of the handle and, hence, toward the rear hand. This allows the tool to swing forward from the user to hit the work-piece without requiring the user to bend over very far. This also maximizes the force of the long-handled tool impacting the work-piece, as both hands are near the proximal end of the handle and increase leverage. This is the natural swing when using such tools, and it allows the user to use his/her strength to best advantage to produce a large impact of the tool against the work-piece.
Blaker (U.S. Pat. No. 271,303, issued Jan. 30, 1883) and Curry (U.S. Pat. No. 3,981,043, issued Sep. 21, 1976) disclose members that may be placed around conventional ax handles for gripping by the user's forward hand. Both of Blaker and Curry disclose flexible or compressible sleeve systems for reducing blistering of the hand or for shock absorption.
Blaker describes his device as a "slidable grip, formed of leather, vulcanized rubber, canvas, or other suitable materials, fitting the handle loosely, and of such size as to be readily and conveniently clasped in the hand, which grip is slipped on the handle before the lower grip is put on. This sliding grip will be found to be of the greatest usefulness in connection with the spring-handle, for a spring-handle is necessarily too small to be conveniently grasped or held in the hand, and if it were cased to secure a good hand-hold the casing would interfere with its elasticity, and the sliding grip is therefore a primary necessity in connection with a spring-hand, and moreover, it saves the hands from the blistering caused by the ordinary wooden handles until the hands get calloused or hardened."
Curry describes his device as "a new and improved hand grip for the handle of a tool . . . to permit one hand of the user to either firmly grasp the handle of a tool or to slide along the handle of a tool wherein the tool handle requires grasping by both hands of the user . . . a new and improved hand grip adapted for sliding movement between stopping means disposed proximate both ends of a tool handle . . . Disposed between the stops is a hand grip sized to receive one hand of the user and so as to substantially circle the tool handle . . . The hand grip may be compressible in directions perpendicular to the length of the tool handle to permit non-sliding grasping of the handle when desired and may also be provided with end pieces compressible in directions parallel to the length of the tool handle to absorb shocks resulting from impact of the hand grip with the stops."
Although Blaker and/or Curry may provide hand protection and/or cushioning, the inventor believes that these prior art devices do not address other inherent problems in the natural swing of the tools that is described above. In a typical swing, the user loosens his/her forward hand so that it can slide proximally along the handle toward the rear end of the handle, as described above. This loosening is problematic because it allows inaccuracy in the swing and the impact. Ideally, the handle and head both should be aligned in the swing plane as they approach and impact the work-piece, but, once the forward (distal) hand is loosened, the user has less control over the direction and orientation of the tool and especially over the direction and orientation of the tool head, and the tool frequently rotates 20-30 degrees and even up to 45 degrees or more, in the user's hands during the swing and before impact. This causes an inaccurate and/or inconsistent swing and impact. Because the user's forward hand is loosened and because the user's rearward hand is naturally flexible/compressible, the inventor believes that the tool frequently rotates to an extent that moves the tool head longitudinal axis TL out of the plane of the swing and changes the point and direction of impact on the target. Thus, "glancing blows" or off-center blows are often delivered or the target is completely missed.
The prior art devices of Blaker and Curry do not solve this problem because, the inventor believes, they provide a member that can move on the handle of the impact tool in more than just a longitudinal direction parallel to the length of the handle, and/or they provide a member that compresses, flexes, or shifts to allow the location of the central axis L of the handle relative to the hand to change during the swing. The inventor believes that a major problem in the "natural swing" and in devices such as Blaker and Curry is that they allow rotation of the slidable member that is provided on the handle and/or they allow the handle central axis L to shift relative to the slidable member, thus allowing rotation of the tool in the user's hand(s) and/or transverse shifting of the tool in the user's hands. The inventor believes, therefore, that there is a need for his invention that includes a slidable sleeve system with a system for preventing rotation or twisting and preventing transverse shifting, of the tool in the user's hand(s).


A drive assembly for a mobile attached device. The assembly comprises a hydraulic motor, a torsional coupling, and a mobile attachment device having a housing and plurality of teeth combined with a rotor shaft. The torsional coupling is combined with the assembly between the hydraulic motor and the mobile attachment device.

The invention generally relates to a mobile attachment device. More particularly, the invention relates to a drive assembly for a mobile attachment device wherein the drive assembly comprises a torsional coupling to minimize unwanted torsion impact from being transmitted between the mobile attachment device and the motor.
Land clearing and mobile construction devices are used in a wide range of industries for many different purposes. Examples of land clearing devices include mowers, soil conditioners, wood chippers, stump grinders, and brush cutters. Examples of mobile construction devices include sweepers, cold planers, and rock saws. Collectively, land clearing and mobile construction devices are sometimes referred to herein as mobile attachment devices. These mobile attachment devices are typically attachments mounted to a prime mover such as a tractor, excavator, or skid steer loader. Most mobile attachment devices include protruding members such as blades, knives, picks, brushes, cutting tools, hammers, or teeth (collectively, "teeth") mounted on a shaft which rotates at a high rate of speed to create the force necessary to cut, crush, or sweep material contacting the teeth. In many mobile attachment devices the shaft is rotated by a hydraulic motor which may be powered by the prime mover.
During operation the teeth may encounter different types of material. Some material may be easier to cut and/or crush than other types of material. For example, in some cases the teeth may inadvertently encounter a rock or other solid object which significantly slows down the rotational movement of the shaft. The slowing and/or stopping of the teeth/shaft during operation may cause an impulse load on the hydraulic motor which can damage the motor.
Existing technologies have tried to prevent or minimize impulse loads from being transferred between the shaft and the motor. Some existing devices use belt drives or rubber isolation discs to help absorb these impulse loads to protect the hydraulic motor. The prior art rubber isolation discs comprise a two-piece flange/bearing housing that contains the rubber isolation disc. The rubber disc is combined with the mobile attachment housing by another retaining ring flange. Within the bearing housing are two angular contact bearings, or tapered roller bearings which require a pre-set preload during assembly. The bearing housing is capped with a flange to mount the hydraulic motor. The complexity of this prior art solution assembly leads to higher costs and poor serviceability. Additionally, the rubber isolation disc can deteriorate from exposure to ultraviolet light and time. The rubber isolation disc when absorbing an impact can deflect the rotor causing a reduction of working rotor speed.
There is therefore a need for an improved drive assembly for a hydraulically powered mobile attachment device which helps to minimize or prevent impulse loads from being transferred between the mobile attachment device and the motor.

Torsional coupling for a mobile attachment device


Systems and methods for determining a query for a data store are described. A natural language text may be analyzed using heuristic processing and one or more machine learning models. Query parameters may be determined from the heuristic processing and machine learning and combined to form a query in a query language. In the heuristic processing, parsing rules may be used to remove conditional terms to generate a base question. The base question may be input to the one or more machine learning model to generate a base query which may be combined with query parameters related to the conditional terms.

Large amounts of data are collected and stored using scalable database systems. However, in order to gain insights and conduct data analysis on this stored data, the data must be retrieved using a database query in a query language, such as structured query language (SQL), to extract data from a database system. The use of query languages may make the data inaccessible to many non-technical users despite the relatively simple syntax of these languages as compared to other high-level programming languages such as C++ and Java. Conventional approaches are inflexible and may not be applicable to specific use cases. Thus, there is a need for more sophisticated methods and systems for querying data stores.

Systems and methods for advanced query generation


A shoe-shaped magnetic coil system for the treatment of foot pain which has an electrical pulse generator and a magnetic coil system connected to the electrical pulse generator. The magnetic coil system is in the general shape of a shoe with the electric current pulses flowing through magnetic coils of the magnetic coil system being capable of creation of intense magnetic pulses within a patient's foot and ankle. The coil of wire is formed of coil sections having a smallest area in the region of the patient's toes with a generally increasing area of the coil sections as the ankle region is approached.

It is well known that there are literally millions of patients throughout the world who suffer pain in various parts of their bodies. Three of the most frequent sites for pain are: (1) foot pain caused by chemotherapy or diabetic neuropathy; (2) shoulder pain often resulting from a tear or inflammation of the rotator cuff; and (3) lower back pain caused by a large variety of medical problems, particularly associated with the spine and the nerves surrounding the vertebrae. Although there are many pain medications to reduce the level of pain experienced by such patients, these drugs often are not sufficiently palliative and they typically can cause serious side effects.
One early invention to utilize magnetic fields to treat pain is described by Robert R, Holcomb in International Publication Number: WO 91/15263. The invention described in that document consists of four magnetic coils that are placed in the back of a chair or under a table where the patient's back would be exposed to the magnetic field. A DC current is placed through the four coils which results in an unchanging magnetic field to be experienced by the patient.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,402,678, Robert E. Fischell, et al describe a device to be placed on the head which can eliminate or reduce the pain of migraine headaches by the application of a series of intense magnetic pulses. This device was approved by the US FDA on May 22, 2014 and is currently in use to treat patients with migraine headaches. The Fischell, et al migraine treatment device operates by charging capacitors to a high voltage and then discharging them into a magnetic coil to create a magnetic pulse as high as 0.8 Tesla in intensity. By Faraday's law, this changing magnetic pulse creates an electrical pulse within the skull that has been shown to eliminate migraine headaches. Because it takes about 45 seconds to charge the condensers from a battery within this Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) device, the rate of applying magnetic pulses to the brain is extremely slow; i.e., typically about one pulse in about one minute. Even at that, the time rate of change of the magnetic field within the brain results in an electrical current in some neurons which eliminates most migraine headaches. However, the application of more pulses per unit time and at a higher magnetic field intensity with specially shaped magnetic coils could result in a more effective treatment for the relief of pain from other parts of the human body such as the feet for patients who suffer from diabetic neuropathy or cancer chemotherapy.
An existing system that is currently available to treat lower back pain is called TENS which is an acronym for Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulator. This device has two adhesive covered electrodes that are pasted onto the skin along the lower back. The device can then be turned on and adjusted so that the pain in the skin is acceptable while some electrical pulses enter the body in the vicinity of the spine where they can provide some relief for lower back pain. However, it would be highly advantageous to use a system that could provide higher intensity electrical pulses much deeper into the body without causing any skin pain. That can be accomplished with TransCutaneous Magnetic Stimulation or TCMS as described herein.
There is one issued patent and three patent applications by Donald Burnett et al namely U.S. Pat. No. 6,701,185 (the '185 patent), and the patent publications US2003/0158585 (the '585 publication), US2004/0210254 (the '254 publication) and US2012/0302821 (the '821 publication). The inventions described in the Burnett et al patent and publications all have a consistent design for the use of magnetic pulsations for the treatment of pain, namely, comparatively small wire coils with all wires being in circular form and placed against the skin of the foot or wrapped around the knee or elbow with the use of comparatively low electrical currents. Specifically, this prior art has the following numbers of generally circular or curved magnetic coils: the '185 reference 6 coils; the '585 reference, 10 coils; the '254 reference, 9 coils; and the '821 reference, 30 coils. Not even one of these 49 coil designs has even one straight wire section for placement anywhere on a human body. The Burnett et al references describe 23 different coil designs placed against the side of the foot and three different designs that are needles placed against the side of the foot. At no point in any of these prior art documents is there any design surrounding the foot and no Burnett et al design even closely approximates a shoe-shaped coil that is placed around the foot which is undoubtedly the optimum configuration for the application of magnetic pulsations to treat foot pain.

Shoe-shaped magnetic coil system for the treatment of foot pain


The present invention relates in particular to a device (1) for fixing a felt for wiping the smooth surface of a cooking appliance, such as the surface of a crepe pan, which includes a gripping member (3) opposite which extends an element (5) with flat smooth surface for receiving a wiping felt (2), characterized by the fact that it includes, at the periphery of said element (5) with flat smooth surface, at least one pinching member (6) and that this element (5) with a flat smooth surface (5) and this pinching member (6) are configured to be selectively moved towards or away from each other to pinch, respectively release, said felt (2).

The present applicant manufactures and markets such cooking appliances, and particularly crepe pans.
For a good use of such apparatus and a better cooking of crepes and pancakes, the necessity of periodically spreading, on the surface of the crepe pan, a small amount of liquid fat such as oil, is well known.
It is also necessary to regularly wipe the cooking plate so as to get rid of food residues that have accumulated thereon.
To this end, the present applicant proposes "pads" that allow applying a small even layer of such a fat. These pads include a gripping member, opposite which extends a surface for receiving a felt, which is regularly soaked with fat.
By the term "felt" is meant throughout the present application, a thin sheet made of a synthetic material configured to retain and release on demand the liquid fat with which it is soaked.
In the case of the aforementioned "pads", the periphery of said surface is provided with a groove in which the contour of the felt is tightly engaged. This operation is not easy to implement because of the relative stiffness of the felt. In addition, it sometimes happens that this felt is unexpectedly partially detached from its support.
In addition, the relative rigidity of this felt is partly due to its significant thickness.
And this causes another problem. Indeed, this pad tends to store the fat with which it is soaked. In other words, it retains more fat than required to treat the entire surface of the crepe pan. As a result, the fat is retained for a relatively long time in the felt, so that it tends to degrade, which is not desirable in terms of food.
Also, there is an unmet need for a device for fixing a felt for wiping the smooth surface of a cooking appliance, such as the surface of a crepe pan, that does not have the aforementioned drawbacks and that allows using a very fine felt that does not store fat and which is of undeniable food quality.

Device for fixing a wiping felt and assembly including the same


The invention relates to a deep-rolling roller head (1) of a deep rolling tool with deep-rolling rollers (2) that are rotatably mounted in roller cages (3) and are at a distance (4) from the center (5) of the underside (6) of the housing (7) of the deep-rolling roller head (1) and are supported on the front (8) at the end of the long leg (9) of two L-shaped holding devices (11) that can be adjusted and fixed in the direction of the center (5). A first screw (13) enters an oblong hole (12) in each long leg (9) to hold the L-shaped holding device (11) on the underside of the housing (7) while a second screw (14) passes through a bore (15) in each short leg (10 and enters a bore (26) in the adjoining front (21) of the housing (7), being provided in order to adjust the precise position of the roller cage (3) relative to the center (5). With the L-shaped holding device (11) shown on the left half of the drawing the front (25) adjoining the underside (6) is at a predetermined first distance (18) from the center (5) over a segment (17) of its length. The appertaining short leg (10) is supported over a segment of its inside on the segment (17) of the housing (7). The front (8) of the appertaining long leg (9) is at a predetermined distance (17) from the segment (17).

Deep-rolling roller heads of the type mentioned above have become known from a comprehensive state of the art. The following printed publications are listed here in this respect:    1. EP 0 661 137 B1, FIG. 6, col. 9, lines 22 to 25,    2. EP 0 683 012 B1, FIG. 4, col. 5, lines 51 to 56,    3. EP 0 839 607 A1, FIG. 1, col. 3, lines 34 to 36,    4. U.S. Pat. No. 5,575,167, FIG. 7, col. 5, lines 30 to 32,    5. U.S. Pat. No. 5,806,184, FIG. 2a, col. 2, lines 58 to 60,    6. DE 100 40 146 A1, FIG. 5, col. 2, line 59 to col. 3, line 14.
Without exception, all the known deep-rolling roller heads have in common that precise adjustment of the deep-rolling rollers relative to the center of the deep-rolling roller head is extremely difficult and requires great skill on the part of the adjusting person schooled in the art. In this case precise adjustment to the center of the deep-rolling roller head is not even desired, but a pre-adjustment in the order of magnitude between 0.1 and 0.2 is effected in the sense opposite to the sense of rotation of the crankshaft. For precise adjustment of the deep-rolling roller devices have therefore been developed that facilitate the adjustment on the part of the person schooled in the art while achieving at the same time an adjusting result of sufficient precision. This becomes understandable when the L-shaped holding devices of the roller cages known from the state of the art must be adjusted and fixed by two screws at each deep-rolling roller head. Overall therefore, four screws per deep-rolling roller head are used by means of which the L-shaped holding devices are fixed, and their precise adjustment is difficult and time consuming.
Therefore there has been no lack of effort in facilitating the adjustment of the L-shaped holding devices and to improve at the same time the precision of adjustment.
In the state of the art known from DE 100 40 146 A1 different embodiments of an L-shaped holding device are already mentioned. While the one holding device still follows the classic design with long leg, oblong hole, first adjustment and fixing screw, short leg, bore, second adjustment and fixing screw, bore, second adjustment and fixing screw, the second L-shaped holding device across from it already lacks the oblong hole and the first adjustment and fixing screw in the long leg. Only the second L-shaped holding device is attached to the housing of the deep-rolling roller head through the short leg and a second screw that is however not adjustable. Mostly pin-shaped bodies are provided for a point-shaped support of the deep-rolling rollers and move within the long leg and along it in an adjustable and fixable manner. The adjustability of the holding device along the long leg was thus reduced to the adjustability of the roller support.
Another solution provided by the present invention consists in simplifying the deep-rolling roller head in a suitable manner so that a fixed stop is created for one of the two roller cages before the second roller cage is adjusted relative to it and is fixed by the appertaining L-shaped holding device as the deep-rolling roller head is inserted. Together with this, the deep-rolling roller head is to be simplified at the same time and the adjustment of the deep-rolling rollers is to be feasible with greater precision and at no additional cost.


A method and apparatus for drilling a well is set forth. In one aspect, a typical drill stem is assembled from a set of drill pipe and delivers a flow of drilling mud to the drill bit. A smaller tubing string is placed on the interior and connects to a mixing valve just above the drill bit. A gas flow is placed in the tubing which flows to the mixing valve where the gas is mixed in a desired ratio with the drilling mud so the mud weight is reduced, and thereby enables drilling, at a faster rate with an underbalanced condition. Steps are set forth in which the pressure is changed to an overbalanced condition.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure is directed toward a multiphase drilling system and one which attains an underbalance in system pressure. More specifically, in drilling an oil well, the most popular approach is drilling the well with a drill bit affixed to the end of a string of drill pipe which is used to pump down drilling mud circulating through the drill bit at the end of the pipe where the mud is returned to the surface on the exterior of the drill pipe flowing upwardly in the annular space on the outside of the drill pipe. The mud is kept at a specific weight, typically measured in pounds per gallon, so the weight of the column of mud in the partially drilled well is equal to and preferably greater than the pressure that would prevail in the formations as the well is drilled to deeper depths.
2. Background of the Art
There is a preexistent pressure on the formations of the earth which, in general, increases as a function of depth due to the weight of the overburden on a particular strata. Intuitively, this weight increases with depth so the prevailing or quiescent bottom hole pressure is increased in a linear fashion with respect to depth. Thus, as the well depth is doubled. the pressure is likewise doubled. There are, however, some formations which have a fluid drive which is at a higher pressure. When a drill string or "drill stem" penetrates such a formation, fluid may flow in the formation toward the open hole and flow into the annular space, thereby venting and changing the mud pressure balance. This is especially true when a formation is entered where there is a relatively high pressure fluid drive and the formation also includes a significant portion of natural gas. The gas may readily flow out of the formation into the well borehole and bubble upwardly. The formation may produce natural gas in such volumes that the standing column of drilling fluid which maintains bottom hole pressure equal to or greater than the pressure at that depth may be significantly reduced. So to speak, the column of drilling mud is foamed and can become so light that a blowout occurs.
Blowouts are a threat to drilling operations, and especially create significant risk to personnel. Since the well borehole may puncture a formation, perhaps at an expected location or perhaps in an unexpected fashion, it is possible for a significant unexpected flow of natural gas to be encountered. In the past, the first warning on the rig floor at the surface has been a threatening reduction in mud weight. That, however, is difficult to visually inspect at the surface. Even worse, in catastrophic circumstances, the first warning at the rig floor is that the gas flow released from the confined formation punctured by the well borehole is sufficient to lift the drill string. In the worst occasion, the drill pipe has actually been blown back out of the partly completed well. The gas cut mud is blown up through the annulus, forced from the well, and gas begins to flow without limit.
Protection has been obtained, with some success but with occasional failures by installing a blowout preventer (BOP hereinafter) at the rig floor. Indeed, safety demands BOP installation and it is mandatory that a BOP is installed. They, however, do not always work in sufficient time to maintain and keep control over a blowout.
One approach used heretofore has been to drill the well using drilling mud which provides an overbalance in pressure at the bottom of the partly complete well borehole. An overbalanced is attained by increasing the density of the drilling fluid. If only water were used, the specific density would be minimal. The weight is increased by adding weight materials which are typically clay products. The density can be raised significantly by adding the weight materials to the drilling mud. That provides a substantial measure of safety because the weight of the mud can be increased so much that overbalancing of the bottom hole pressure is always a prevailing fact.
The column of drilling mud in the annual space is increased in weight until the weight is so high there is no risk. One detrimental aspect to this is, as the weight is increased, the rate of penetration of the drill bit is decreased. The drill bit operates by rotating cutting teeth jammed against the bottom face of the partly completed well borehole. They tend to fracture pieces of the formation then being drilled. The formation, however, is held in place by the column of drilling mud. If the column of mud were omitted, the formation would more readily fracture, and the rate of penetration of the well into the earth would be substantially increased.
Some have attempted to do this by air drilling. Air drilling is a process which involves the circulation of air through the string of drill pipe. Air drill has met with only modest success. It is perhaps most successful in stone quarries and the like. Air is conducted down the string of drill pipe and out through the drill bit. The air is less effective than drilling mud in maintaining bottom hole pressure blunt it enables all increase in the rate of penetration.
One aspect of successful operation in drilling with air is that increased rate of penetration. Cuttings are blown away but they are not carried as readily through the annular space. They are more readily removed by the column of drilling mud which serves a cleaning and scavenging purpose. The column of return mud is intended to carry all cuttings out of the well borehole and that is normally the case. In addition, the drilling mud cools the drill bit which generates substantial heat as a result of the frictional aspect of the drilling process. In part, this has been dealt with by adding water mist to high pressure air pumped into an air drilling rig. There is some cooling from the water. In addition, it tends to wet the dust which is formed by the drilling and enables an improved return rate with some reduction in dust.

Air and mud control system for underbalanced drilling


In order to perform processing of analyzing card data in an appropriate amount of time depending on the number of tracks actually present on a magnetic stripe with use of a single demodulation circuit, the single demodulation circuit produces, based on magnetic data read by a magnetic head, a single common card running signal obtained by ORing card running signals of tracks present on the magnetic stripe of the magnetic card, a clock signal of each track present on the magnetic stripe, and a data signal of each track present on the magnetic stripe. A card running signal generation circuit generates, based on the common card running signal and the clock signal of each track, an individual card running signal of each track present on the magnetic stripe. A data analysis processing unit determines, based on presence or absence of the individual card running signal, presence or absence of a track on the magnetic stripe to perform processing of analyzing the data signal only for the track determined to be present on the magnetic stripe.

In a terminal having a magnetic card reader function to enable payment through magnetic cards such as a credit card and a debit card, in order to read each of the magnetic cards, a function of reading three tracks (ISO 1 track, ISO 2 track, and JIS-II track) formed on a magnetic stripe is required (for example, see Patent Literatures 1 to 3).


A multi-axial screw assembly comprises a receiver, a base member, and a crown. The receiver comprises a channel for receiving a rod and an aperture extending from a bottom portion of the receiver. The base member comprises an aperture extending through the base member and an opening on a bottom portion of the base member. The base member is configured to couple to the receiver such that the aperture of the receiver is generally aligned with the aperture of the base member. The base member is rotatable relative to the receiver. The crown is received in the receiver and configured to mate to the base member. The crown has a mating feature configured to couple to the base member such that the crown rotates the base member when the crown is rotated.

Typical implant systems include several pieces, which may be associated or useful with only specific other pieces. Among such pieces are screws, hooks rods, plates and similar longitudinal members for supporting, holding and/or correcting one or more bones. Such longitudinal members can be fastened to bones via direct or indirect connection to hooks, screws, bolts or other fasteners, and may be linked to each other by a variety of connectors. In the spinal field, for example, screws or other fasteners can be attached to two or more vertebrae, the vertebrae can be adjusted into their normal or a therapeutically better position, and longitudinal members are connected to the fasteners so that the vertebrae are held in the normal or therapeutically improved position.
Accordingly, known bone screws, hooks, clamps and other bone fasteners or fixation devices can be connected or adjoined to a particular bone or bones as a connection between the remainder of the implant and the bone(s). Where a rod is used as a support and stabilizing member, commonly a series of two or more screws are inserted into two or more vertebrae to be instrumented. A rod is then placed within or coupled to the heads of the screws, or is placed within a connecting device that links the rod and a screw head, and the connections are tightened. In this way, a rigid supporting structure is fixed to the vertebrae, with the rod providing the support that maintains and/or promotes correction of the vertebral malformation or injury.
Some devices allow one or more degrees of freedom between a fastening portion or fastening member and a receiving portion or member, reducing the required precision of placement of the fixation device, since a head portion of the fixation device is multi-axially positionable around the bone-threaded or hook portion. The head can thus be positioned so as to easily receive the rod, limiting or removing much of the positioning difficulty inherent in prior devices. However, such devices provide a single maximum angle between the fastening portion and the receiving portion for every relative orientation of those parts. Other devices have made possible a larger maximum angle between the fastening portion and the receiving portion when the fastening portion occupies one position with respect to the receiving portion, but allow only a smaller maximum angle when the fastening portion occupies any other position with respect to the fastening portion.
The description herein of problems and disadvantages of known apparatuses, methods, and devices is not intended to limit the invention to the exclusion of these known entities. Indeed, embodiments of the invention may include, as a part of the embodiment, portions or all of one or more of the known apparatus, methods, and devices without suffering from the disadvantages and problems noted herein.

Directional control for a multi-axial screw assembly


A method for forming a semiconductor device of the present invention solves problems in a process for forming a fin type gate including a recess region, such as, a complicated process, low production margin, and difficulty in forming an accurate fin shape. In a process for forming an isolation dielectric film defining an active region, a nitride film pattern is formed in such a manner that the size of the nitride film is adjusted according to line width of a fin portion in a fin type active region formed in a subsequent process step, and an isolation dielectric film is formed in every region except for the nitride film pattern of a semiconductor substrate. Then, a recess is etched, and the isolation dielectric film is removed from a region where the line width of the nitride film pattern was reduced to a certain degree. Consequently, a process margin for forming a fin type active region is increased, and the shape of a fin shaped portion can be adjusted accurately, which together contribute to improved electrical properties in the semiconductor devices.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method for forming a semiconductor device. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved method for forming a fin type gate including a recess region, which solves problems associated with prior art methods, such as, a complicated process, low production margin, and difficulty in forming an accurate fin shape. In a process for forming an isolation dielectric film defining an active region, a nitride film pattern is formed in such a manner that the size of the nitride film is adjusted according to a line width of a fin portion in a fin type active region formed in a subsequent process step, and an isolation dielectric film is formed in every region except for the nitride film pattern of a semiconductor substrate. Then, a recess is etched, and the isolation dielectric film is removed from a region where the line width of the nitride film pattern was reduced to a certain degree. Consequently, a process margin for forming a fin type active region is increased, and the shape of a fin-shaped portion can be adjusted accurately, which together contribute to the improvement of electrical properties of semiconductor devices.
2. Related Technology
With high integration trends for semiconductor devices, a process margin defining an active region and an isolation dielectric film is decreasing. A short channel effect also can occur due to a decrease in the channel length resulted from a narrowed line width of a gate. To overcome this, a multi-channel FET (McFET) such as a recess gate and a fin-type gate was introduced. Here, a recess gate structure is formed by etching a semiconductor substrate in an intended gate region to a designated depth, so as to increase the channel length. Meanwhile, a fin-type gate structure is formed by increasing a contact area between an active region and a gate, so as to increase drive capability of the gate and further, to improve electrical properties of a semiconductor device.
FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a conventional method for forming a semiconductor device.
In particular, an SRAM cell region shown in the drawing defines a bar-shaped active region over a semiconductor substrate 10.
Next, an isolation dielectric film 50 is formed in a region between active regions 20.
A gate 90 is then formed in such a manner that a designated region thereof overlaps with the active region 20. At this time, the gate 90 preferably includes a recess region and a fin-type active region.
FIGS. 2a through 2g are cross-sectional views showing a conventional method for forming a semiconductor device stepwise. In each drawing, (i) illustrates a cross-section taken along line XX′ of FIG. 1, and (ii) illustrates a cross-section taken along line YY′ of FIG. 1.
Referring to FIG. 2a, a first dielectric film pattern 25 and a first nitride film pattern 30 defining an active region are formed on a semiconductor substrate 10. The semiconductor substrate 10 is etched using the first nitride film pattern 30 as a mask, and the etched region is filled up with a dielectric film layer to form an isolation dielectric film 50. At this time, a first photoresist pattern is used to form the first dielectric film pattern 25 and the first nitride film pattern 30. However, a problem in forming the isolation dielectric film 50 is that after the first dielectric pattern 25 and the first nitride film pattern 30 are formed, the first photoresist pattern has to be removed and CMP process has to be performed all over again.
Referring to FIG. 2b, a second photoresist pattern (not shown) defining a recess region is formed over the first nitride film pattern 30, and the first nitride film pattern 30 is etched using the second photoresist pattern as a mask. The second photoresist pattern is removed again to provide a first nitride film pattern 35 defining a recess region.
Referring to FIG. 2c, a second dielectric film 40 is formed in a region between the isolation dielectric film 50 and the first nitride film pattern 35 defining a recess region, and CMP process is performed until the first nitride film pattern 35 defining a recess region is exposed.
Referring to FIG. 2d, the first nitride film pattern 35 defining a recess region is removed to form a second nitride film 45 on a sidewall of the second dielectric film 40.
Next, with the second dielectric film 40 and the second nitride film 45 as a mask, the semiconductor substrate 10 is etched to form a recess region 60. At this time, the recess region 60 and the isolation dielectric film 50 in a neighboring region are removed to form a fin type gate. Here, an active region 20 that is not etched by the second nitride film 45 becomes a fin, so the line width of the second nitride film 45 becomes the line width in a fin type active region. However, it is not easy to adjust the thickness of the second nitride film 45 formed like a spacer on the second dielectric film 40, and an etch selection ratio of the nitride film against the semiconductor substrate is not high. These cause the process margin for forming an accurate fin type active region to decrease.
Referring to FIG. 2e, the first dielectric film pattern 25, the second dielectric film 40, and the second nitride film 45 on the semiconductor substrate 10 are all removed, and the portion of the isolation dielectric film 50 that is adjacent to the recess region 60 and that overlaps with an intended gate region, is etched to form the fin type active region. At this time, the etching process needs to be carefully controlled in such a way that a portion of the fin type active region for forming a fin is as high as the recess region 60. In doing so, an unnecessary channel region in the longitudinal direction of the gate is also etched, making it difficult to adjust the shape of a fin.
Referring to FIG. 2f, after a gate dielectric film 70 is formed on the surface of the active region 20, a gate polysilicon layer 75, a gate conductive layer 80, and a gate insulating layer 85 are formed one after another on the entire surface of the semiconductor substrate 10.
Referring to FIG. 2g, the gate insulating layer 85, the gate conductive layer 80, and the gate polysilicon layer 75 are etched one after another by a mask defining a gate, to form a gate 90 defining the recess region 60 and the fin type active region.
As has been explained, the conventional method for forming a semiconductor device has a complicated process and a low production margin because it uses the first and second dielectric films as well as the first and second nitride films to form a recess region, and it is therefore necessary to repeatedly perform the photoresist mask pattern formation process and the CMP process for each. In addition, according to the conventional method, when the fin type active region is formed, the line width of a fin is determined by the second nitride film of FIG. 2d. However, it is not easy to adjust the thickness of the second nitride film that is formed like a spacer, and the etch selection ratio of the nitride film to the semiconductor substrate is not high, making it hard to provide an accurate fin shape.


A color-image forming device is provided with: a color-image forming unit for forming a color image by superimposing a plurality of images corresponding to a plurality of colors onto a recording medium. An automatic color-drift correction executes color-drift correction of color drift generated during the superimposition of the images. A color-drift correction execution interval setting unit variably sets the color-drift correction execution intervals, at which intervals the automatic color-drift correction executes the color-drift correction. The functions of the automatic color-drift correction and the color-drift correction execution interval setting unit are realized by the system control unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a color-image forming device that forms a color image by sequentially superimposing toner images of respective color components. In particular, the present invention relates to a color-image forming device, by means of which the timing for starting color-drift correction and the timing for canceling color-drift correction can be controlled.
2. Description of the Related Art
Among various color-image forming devices for color image outputs, a color-image forming device that utilizes the electrophotographic process forms the color image using, for example, toners of four different colors, such as Yellow, Magenta, Cyan, and blacK. Unless high position precision is provided when superimposing the toner images of the four colors, color drift, which is the artifact observed on the final color image, may be generated due to the positional deviation of each toner images, and thus the image quality may be degraded. Accordingly, in such a color-image forming device, a color-drift correction is executed in order to correct the color drift.
Specifically, in the color-image forming device, image-forming parts are provided for the four colors. Each image-forming parts is provided with a photoconductor, and an electric charging part, an exposure part, a developing part, and a cleaner, all of which are provided around the photoconductor. The surface of the photoconductor is uniformly and electrically charged by the electric charging part, the electrically charged surface is exposed to the laser beam emitted from the exposure part, and an electrostatic latent image is formed on the photoconductor. The latent image is developed by the developing part.
Meanwhile, a recording medium is provided to a first image-forming part (yellow), where the toner image on the photoconductor is transferred onto the recording medium. The recording medium is sequentially provided to other image-forming parts corresponding to other colors and at the respective image-forming parts, the toner images of respective colors are transferred onto the recording medium. When the transfer of image is completed, unnecessary toner left on the surface of the photoconductor is cleaned by the cleaner and is prepared for the next image formation. The recording medium having the toner images of respective colors transferred thereon is provided to a fixing part, where the toner is fixed onto the recording medium, and the final image is output.
In such a color-image forming device, when the positional deviation from the predetermined transfer position generates during the transferring of the toner images of respective colors onto the recording medium, the color drift generates due to misalignment of the toner images and therefore, the image quality of the color image to be formed degrades significantly.
As for the cause of the positional deviation of the toner images, sub-scanning registration deviation due to difference between the axes of photoconductors provided in the respective image-forming parts, inclination deviation due to misalignment of inclination in the main-scanning direction of the photoconductor and inclination of the optic systems, main-scanning registration deviation due to deviation of writing position of the images, and magnification deviation due to the difference in the length of scanning lines for respective colors may be considered.
In order to cope with such positional deviation of the toner images, various positional deviation adjustment methods are employed conventionally. For the sub-scanning registration deviation and the main-scanning registration deviation, a method of adjusting the scanning timing of the writing of the latent image by the exposure part may be employed. For the inclination deviation, a method of adjusting the inclination of a reflection mirror provided on the light path of the image-forming part may be employed. For the magnification deviation, a method of changing writing clocks of the writing of the latent image or a method of displacing the reflection mirror may be employed.
Further, as shown in FIG. 1, for example, three sensors 100 may be arranged in the main-scanning direction orthogonal to the feeding direction (rotational direction and sub-scanning direction) of a transfer belt 200. The number of sensors is arbitrary. At a plurality of positions on the surface of the transfer belt 200, which positions are to be read by the sensors, a toner mark (pattern) 300 (see also, FIG. 2) for position detection is formed by respective image-forming parts. Each sensor reads the toner mark, and the positional deviation of the toner image is detected based on the output from the sensors. Depending on the condition of the positional deviation of the toner images detected based on the output, the positions of the images formed by the image-forming parts on the photoconductor are adjusted so as to correct the color drift generated due to the positional deviation of the toner images. For the details of the above-mentioned. technique, see for example, Japanese Laid-Out Application No. 2003-186278.
For example, when the automatic color-drift correction is executed, a mark for color-drift correction is written onto an intermediate transfer medium, the written marks are detected by a sensor, and the writing position color-drift correction is electrically or mechanically executed depending on the detected result. (See for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2000-305340.)
However, a single operation of such a color-drift correction in a single color-image forming device is not satisfactory. Rather, such a color-drift correction is to be executed according to various condition changes including, for example, ambient atmospheric changes such as temperature and relative humidity, variation per hour of the color-image forming device, exchange timing of toners or photoconductors, etc. In other words, various factors such as mentioned above may lead to the generation of such color drift.
In general, the color-drift correction is automatically executed in response to the condition changes such as mentioned above. However, the color-drift correction needs a predetermined amount of time (ranging from a few seconds to a few minutes) and therefore, there arises a problem in that the color-image forming device is not ready for use until the color-drift correction is completed even when a user of the device wishes to use it right away.
In addition, in the case when the color-image forming device has not been used for a predetermined period and when such a device is given a task (for example, for printing out), there arises a problem in that the device first begins the color-drift correction operation and thus the printing output cannot be quickly obtained.

Color-image forming device and method of controlling the same


The inspection unit has an engagement structure of a resilient locking finger and a finger deflection inspecting pin. The locking finger is provided in a terminal accommodation chamber defined in a connector housing for locking a terminal received in the terminal accommodation chamber. The finger deflection inspecting pin is provided in the inspection unit for inspecting an incomplete insertion state of the terminal. The finger deflection inspecting pin has a forward end portion formed with a concave surface. The locking finger has an extended forward end with a round head. When the extended forward end portion is received in and abuts against the concave surface, the extended forward end portion is guided by the concave surface due to the engagement structure. The concave surface may have a U-shaped section.

The present invention relates to an electrical continuity inspection unit for a connector, which has an engagement structure consisting of a resilient locking finger and a finger deflection inspecting pin. The locking finger is provided in a terminal accommodation chamber defined in a connector housing for locking a terminal received in the terminal accommodation chamber. The finger deflection inspecting pin is provided in the connector continuity inspection unit for inspecting an incomplete insertion state of the terminal.
Referring to FIG. 7 or 8, a connector continuity inspection unit 1 has a frame 2 provided with a connector holding portion 4 having a pair of guide posts for receiving a connector 3. The inspection unit 1 also has an inspection part 5 moving forward and backward relative to the connector holding portion 4. The inspection part 5 includes a hollow, rectangular extended main body 6. The extended main body 6 is provided with a plurality of continuity sensing pins 8 each contacting one of terminals 7 arranged in the connector 3. The extended main body 6 is also provided with a plurality of finger deflection inspecting pins 9 each for sensing an incomplete state of one of the terminals 7. Each continuity sensing pin 8 is formed integrally with each finger deflection inspecting pin 9.
Between each continuity sensing pin 8 and each finger deflection inspecting pin 9, there is provided an insulating sleeve 10 secured to the pin by press fit for electrically isolating the pin. The continuity sensing pin 8 is resiliently urged by a coil spring 11 toward the connector holding portion 4.
The connector holding portion 4 is fixed on the frame 2, and the extended main body 6 slides on the frame 2 through a link (not shown) by pivoting a lever 12.
In FIG. 7, the connector 3 is inserted downward into the connector holding portion 4, and the counterclockwise pivoting of the lever 12 moves the extended main body 6 toward the connector 3. Thereby, as illustrated in FIG. 8, a fore half of the connector 3 is received in the extended main body 6, so that the leading end of the continuity sensing pin 8 abuts against an end of the terminal 7. The terminal 7 is connected to an electrical wire 13 (see FIG. 7), and the continuity sensing pin 8 is connected to another electrical wire 14 (see FIG. 7). The wires are connected to a checker (not shown) so that the lightening of a lamp (not shown) of the checker indicates the electrical continuity of the terminal 7.
Meanwhile, an upper terminal 7a of FIG. 8 is incompletely inserted into a terminal accommodation chamber 16 of a connector housing 15. In this state, the connector housing 15 has a locking finger 17 which has been deflecting in a deflection space 18 of the connector housing 15, and the leading end of the finger deflection inspecting pin 9 abuts against a fore end portion of the locking finger 17 so that the continuity sensing pin 8 can not move further forward. Thereby, the terminal 7a is spaced from the continuity sensing pin 8, detecting electrical discontinuity of the terminal 7a to know incomplete insertion of the terminal 7a.
It is noted that, in the above prior art, there is a possibility of misalignment of the finger deflection inspecting pin 9 with the locking finger 17 when the leading end of the finger deflection inspecting pin 9 should abut against the fore end of the locking finger 17. That is because the finger deflection inspecting pin 9 may swing in an arrow direction P or Q and the locking finger 17 may swing in an arrow direction R or S, as illustrated in FIG. 9, during the engagement of thereof. The dynamic engagement force may further move the finger deflection inspecting pin 9 in the arrow direction P or Q. Thereby, even an incompletely inserted terminal like the terminal 7a may be wrongly determined to be in a normal state due to the electrical continuity of the terminal.
Note that the misalignment is also caused by dimensional tolerances of the positioning of the locking finger 17 and the size of the terminal 7.
In view of the above disadvantage, an object of the present invention is to provide an electrical continuity inspection unit for a connector, which has an engagement structure of a locking finger disposed in a connector and a finger deflection inspecting pin of a connector continuity inspection unit for reliably inspecting an incomplete insertion state of a terminal.
For achieving the object, an electrical continuity inspection unit for a connector has an engagement structure of a resilient locking finger and a finger deflection inspecting pin according to the present invention. The locking finger is provided in a terminal accommodation chamber defined in a connector housing for locking a terminal received in the terminal accommodation chamber. The finger deflection inspecting pin is provided in a connector continuity inspection unit for inspecting an incomplete insertion state of the terminal. The finger deflection inspecting pin has a forward end portion with a concave surface, and the locking finger has an extended forward end portion progressively smaller in section. The concave surface guides and engages with the extended forward end portion.
Preferably, the concave surface has a U-shaped section.
In the present invention described above, the leading end of the finger deflection inspecting pin surely abuts against the fore end of the locking finger, since the locking finger has been deflecting in the terminal accommodation chamber when the terminal is incompletely inserted into the terminal accommodation chamber of the connector housing. That is because the extended forward end portion of the locking finger is guided by and engages with the concave surface of the finger deflection inspecting pin.
The finger deflection inspecting pin does not disengage from the fore end of the locking finger even when the finger deflection inspecting pin tends to swing due to the dynamic abutting force between the finger deflection inspecting pin and the locking finger. That is because the extended forward end portion has been caught by the concave surface. Even with dimensional tolerances of the positioning of the locking finger and the size of the terminal, the finger deflection inspecting pin does not disengage from the fore end of the locking finger, since the extended forward end portion is caught by the concave surface.
Along the U-shaped concave surface, the extended forward end portion is easily guided. Furthermore, the U-shaped concave surface advantageously provides an elongated guide portion.
Thus, the present invention advantageously serves to reliably detect an incomplete insertion state of the terminal.

Electrical continuity inspection unit for connector


A CT Fluoro system having an architecture and algorithms which facilitate increasing the frame rate and providing acceptable image quality is described. Generally, and in one embodiment, the system includes apparatus and algorithms that speed-up image reconstruction and reduce image artifacts that may result from such fast reconstruction. The fast reconstruction is achieved by performing, for example, view compression, channel compression, backprojection with reduced delay, and parallel processing.

In at least one known CT system configuration, an x-ray source projects a fan-shaped beam which is collimated to lie within an X-Y plane of a Cartesian coordinate system and generally referred to as the "imaging plane". The x-ray beam passes through the object being imaged, such as a patient. The beam, after being attenuated by the object, impinges upon an array of radiation detectors. The intensity of the attenuated beam radiation received at the detector array is dependent upon the attenuation of the x-ray beam by the object. Each detector element of the array produces a separate electrical signal that is a measurement of the beam attenuation at the detector location. The attenuation measurements from all the detectors are acquired separately to produce a transmission profile.
In known third generation CT systems, the x-ray source and the detector array are rotated with a gantry within the imaging plane and around the object to be imaged so that the angle at which the x-ray beam intersects the object constantly changes. A group of x-ray attenuation measurements, i.e., projection data, from the detector array at one gantry angle is referred to as a "view". A "scan" of the object comprises a set of views made at different gantry angles, or view angles, during one revolution of the x-ray source and detector. In an axial scan, the projection data is processed to construct an image that corresponds to a two dimensional slice taken through the object. One method for reconstructing an image from a set of projection data is referred to in the art as the filtered back projection technique. This process converts the attenuation measurements from a scan into integers called "CT numbers" or "Hounsfield units", which are used to control the brightness of a corresponding pixel on a cathode ray tube display.
To reduce the total scan time, a "helical" scan may be performed. To perform a "helical" scan, the patient is moved while the data for the prescribed number of slices is acquired. Such a system generates a single helix from a one fan beam helical scan. The helix mapped out by the fan beam yields projection data from which images in each prescribed slice may be reconstructed.
Reconstruction algorithms for helical scanning typically use helical weighting ("HW") algorithms which weight the collected data as a function of view angle and detector channel index. Specifically, prior to filtered back projection, the data is weighted according to a helical weighting factor, which is a function of both the view angle and detector angle. As with underscan weighting, in a HW algorithm, projection data is filtered, weighted, and backprojected to generate each image.
In CT fluoroscopic systems ("CT Fluoro"), data collected from a helical scan may be utilized to generate sequential frames of images to help, for example, in guiding a needle to a desired location within a patient. A frame, like a view, corresponds to a two dimensional slice taken through the imaged object. Particularly, projection data is processed at a frame rate to construct an image frame of the object.
With known CT Fluoro systems, the general objective is to increase the frame rate while minimizing image degradation. Increasing the frame rate provides many advantages including, for example, that an operator physician is provided with more timely (or more up to date) information regarding the location of a biopsy needle. Typically, however, increasing the frame rate is at odds with minimizing image degradation. For example, the more often projection data is filtered, weighted and backprojected, the slower the frame rate. The frame rate is thus limited to the computational capabilities of the CT Fluoro system.
It would be desirable to provide a CT Fluoro system that has an increased frame rate without significantly adversely affecting image quality.

Image reconstruction in a CT fluoroscopy system


In a casino enterprise, players earn reward credits from their betting activity at gaming machines, tables and devices. Base credits are earned by players at a fixed rate according to their coin-in; bonus credits are earned at a variable rate as a function of their worth as players to the casino or the property at which they are gaming. Preferably the fixed credit rate is published to the players while the variable rate(s) are not disclosed. The earned credits are combined for the player into a single account balance, from which the player can redeem credits for comps.

Casinos have treated important players with free or reduced cost goods and services for many years. Until the early 1990's determining which players were "high rollers" who were worth giving "comps" to, was essentially ad hoc and entirely up the judgment of the casino manager, without any significant element of technological support. As a result, comping was typically limited to players of table games (e.g., blackjack, crap, baccarat), where the player's betting could be observed by a table or pit boss, who "rated" the player, based on the boss's estimate of the amount of time the player gambled and their average bet. Slot tracking programs then developed in the late 1980's offered the capability to track player betting in slot machines, enabling the casino to more precisely determine how much a particular player had gambled in a particular period of time on one or more slot machines. The first of these slot clubs were limited to operating at individual casinos. As a result, the casinos became more able to comp slot players who were valuable to the casino, and not merely high roller table players. In 1996 Harrah's Entertainment introduced the first player tracking club that operated at multiple properties and nationwide. This allowed its casinos to capture the betting behavior of any player at any of its multiple casinos, and thereby base decisions on whether and how much to comp such a player according to their overall level of betting across the multiple casinos. Multiple property player tracking clubs for tracking slot play are just now becoming more common with the introduction of several such multiple property clubs in the past several years.
Given the computer and networking infrastructure used to support a player tracking program, the casino must decide how to reward players who participate in the player tracking program. Each casino typically uses a different combination of comps and incentives that it believes most appropriately rewards such players for their gaming activity. One such program gives players rewards players by granting credits (called "points") that can be redeemed for cash or cash equivalents. Significantly, the credits are earned at a fixed rate, and this rate is published to the players. Thus, players earn four "points" for each dollar that they bet. Points are accumulated over time, and then can be redeemed by the player for free meals, room, and entertainment. Because the rate (or schedule) at which points are earned is published to the players, players can readily determine how many points they will earn from their betting during particular gaming session or from any other activity for which points are rewarded. The problem with this approach is that it prevents the casino property from individually differentially comping players based on their value to the casino. In other words, with a fixed rate schedule, every player earns points in the same way, at the same rate, for the same activities. Both the "high roller" who bets thousands of dollars an hour, and the nickel slot player earn points and comps at the same rate, even though the high roller is worth more to casino. This fixed and published schedule for earning points thus fails to adequately differentiate players based on their value to the casino.
Other casinos attempt to overcome this problem by using a comp system that is not published. Instead, the casino maintains in secret the formulas or rates used to award comp to the players based on their gaming and other activities. This does allow the casino to treat players more individually by rewarding different players at different rates or with different comps. However, it also makes it impossible for individual players to know with certainty that they are earning comps, since it appears that the casino acts entirely at its own discretion. Even where players know that the more they bet the more they are comped, this level of knowledge is not sufficient for players to specifically understand the relationship between their gaming behavior and the amount of points or credits that the are earning.
Finally, even when a casino has provided both points and comps, the mechanisms by which points and comps were earned were kept entirely separate. Thus, players would earn points in an account based on certain aspects of their betting behavior, and may have separately earned comps, but there was no relationship between the two forms of incentives in terms of how they were earned, accounted for, or redeemed.


A folding knife including a blade assembly; a first plate; a first member; a spacer connected to a first end of the first member; and a first button connected to the first member between the first end of the first member and an opposing second end of the first member; wherein the spacer is configured to be inserted into a slot of the blade assembly to lock the blade assembly into an open orientation with respect to the first plate. The first member is configured to be rotated with respect to the first plate by the first button to allow the blade assembly to be unlocked. The first plate has an arcuate slot; wherein the arcuate slot is located closer to a first end of the first plate than to a second end; and wherein the first button is located between the arcuate slot and the second end.

There are various folding knives known in the art.
Nenadic, U.S. Pat. No. 7,062,857 discloses a folding knife 10 with a blade locking arm 18. (Nenadic, col., 2, lns. 32-42). The knife 10 includes a spring 30 for biasing the blade locking arm 18. (Id.) However, in Nenadic, knobs 90 used to manipulate blade 14 from a locked open state to a closed state, are located above and closely adjacent to blade coupling 16, and to blade 14. (Nenadic, col. 7, lns. 60-65; FIGS. 1-3). This means that an individual's fingers would be close to the rotating and sharp blade 14. (Id.) In addition, location of the knobs 90, above the typically large blade coupling 16, and related opening, only allow a small slot for movement of the knobs 90, also making changing from the completely open state to a closed state difficult. (Id.)
A better blade locking mechanism is needed.


In a method and a system for the implementation of multi-layered network object recognition in multi-dimensional space, the structure of a neural recognition network is dynamically generated and adapted to recognize objects. The layers of the network are capable of recognizing key features of the input data by using evaluation rules to establish a hierarchical structure that is independent of data position and orientation, and can adapt varying data densities, geometrical scaling, and faulty or missing data. Adjacent layers of the hierarchy are mutually reinforcing to facilitate the convergence of a solution. Information flow is both bottom-up and top-down during the recognition process providing feedback from higher hierarchical layers to lower layers to cascade the results of higher-level recognition decisions to elements in lower layers.

The invention relates to a method and system for implementing successive multi-layered feature recognition in multi-dimensional space in which recognition cells are dynamically generated to accommodate the input data and are adapted during the recognition process, wherein the recognition cells are structured into groups which have specific recognition features assigned to them.
Three-dimensional laser scan data generated in an industrial plant setting for the purposes of documentation, computation, and analysis has a usefulness that is directly related to the degree or complexity of recognition, the so-called intelligence. For example, recognizing the mere presence of a surface is accomplished by a laser scan, but is not very useful; to recognize that surface as a part of a cylinder is better, but to recognize it as part of a pipe of a certain size with specific end connections allows the generation of useful CAE models of existing plants.
Pattern recognition by means of feature extraction is well known in the art and is the general term applied to the process of recognizing complex objects based on primitive or simplified representations. Recent advances in this field have led to numerous applications of neural network techniques and architectures in commercially available software and progress in related research.
The problem to be solved in any recognition process is firstly the ability to distinguish and recognize the assigned features, and secondly to do so in the presence of disturbances such as noise or artefacts in the raw data, faulty data, or partially missing data. The first aspect of the recognition task may involve more than merely detecting the presence of a certain object at a particular location. Depending on the type of entity to be recognized, it may also be necessary to recognize further auxiliary features or parameters, such as the orientation or size of the object. The difficulties introduced by the second aspect of the recognition task have a detrimental effect on the quality of the first aspect, causing errors or partially incorrect solutions that need to be tested, confirmed, reworked, and optimized. Some type of confirmation mechanism would be advantageous to ensure that the proper solution is found.
Pattern and object recognition by means of successive computation steps generally begins with the loading of an input dataset into a pre-defined set of input variables or units which constitute the lowest recognition layer. During the recognition process, each recognition unit in higher layers generates a response based on the values or responses of a selected subset of units in lower layers (receptive field). The number of layers used, the sizes of the receptive fields, and the rule used by each recognition unit to compute its response vary depending on the type of information to be recognized, that is, the complexity and number of the patterns, and the intermediate features that must be recognized to successfully identify the overall pattern. Sufficiently fine-grained intermediate features, overlapping receptive fields, and strongly converging data paths enable distortion-invariant and position-tolerant recognition.
In commonly available similar recognition systems, the structure and dimension of the recognition layers are generally fixed during the recognition process, requiring that each layer contain enough recognition units or cells to fill the N dimensions of the recognition space in the required resolution. For cases where N>2 the resulting large number of cells makes a computation of the cell responses unfeasible. The process becomes inefficient particularly where the input data is sparsely distributed throughout a large input space.
The feature extraction process itself is intended to solve the problem of recognizing objects from input data that is partially missing or noisy. As detailed by Fukushima, the simple lower-layer representation of the object is replaced by the more intelligent, meaningful and detailed representation in higher recognition layers. This step can succeed if there are merely enough lower layer features present to initiate or suggest the appropriate higher-layer response, and if there are no conflicting or contradicting responses generated. In existing methods, the resolution of conflicts among members of the higher recognition layers is resolved by simple response magnitude comparisons—the stronger response, or the response representing the greater number of lower-level features is considered the winner. The losers, which nevertheless represent some aspect of the recognizable features, are generally neglected. There is generally no procedure to reintegrate or reform the seemingly incorrect responses into the general recognition solution.
Isshiki describes an optical character reading system in which a given character is read several times to produce multiple result signals, from which group the final result is determined by the most frequent occurrence of the same signal. That method actually temporarily generates the above mentioned multitude of response elements which the current invention seeks to avoid by generating cells only where there is data to recognize. Furthermore, the technique of generating a multitude of overlapping responses is well known in the art and is not an aspect of the present invention.
Maney describes a recognition technique in which multi-bit fields are collected into groups but has no provision for confirming the initial grouping based on the results of later or higher groupings. That method also lacks a mechanism for ensuring or at least facilitating that the lower-level multi-bit fields (which are analogous to the cells in the current embodiment) are collected into compatible groups. Furthermore, the method described by Maney finds the same pattern on all levels of the hierarchy and does not construct the final solution from collections of intermediate solutions. It is designed to detect the presence of a given signature somewhere within a larger signal space, and not fully interpret, organize, and structure all of the components of signals that may be present in the signal space. Furthermore the hierarchical grouping represented in FIG. 2 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,198 is an arbitrary grouping that is as such not necessary for the solution of the problem and does not represent a distinguishable point in a recognition hierarchy. The process of dividing a signal space into many subsets and recombining those subsets in various groups is well known in the art and was described by Fukishima to provide his Neocognitron network with the ability to recognize patterns independently of their location in the signal space. Furthermore the system described by Maney bases on a discretization of the recognition space, (as evidenced by the spatial cells which make up the parameter space his pattern recognizers use) which the present invention avoids by generating recognition cells where there is data to recognize.
Filipski describes a method of statistical pattern recognition in which a hierarchical structure is generated to assist in the decision process involved recognizing various classes of objects. The classes used therein are however not structured in their nature in that the constructed hierarchy does not imply a hierarchy of content but only a hierarchy of procedure or order of processing. Therefore it is not necessary to establish a mutually fortifying relationship between pairs of hierarchical levels and there is no ownership relationship between elemental members of the different levels. It is therefore also not possible to implement the bottom-up/top-down information flow which is the subject of the present invention.
Kuratomi et al. describe a neural network system for the recognition of twodimensional images which also is based on multi-layer feature extraction and represents the standard art described earlier by Fukushima. This method however does not generate recognition elements where there is data to recognize, but covers the recognition space with an independent grid which is fully populated with recognition elements. The described method also does not provide for the top-down information flow of the present invention.

Method for implementing n-dimensional object recognition using dynamic adaptive recognition layers